A novel plant actin-microtubule bridging complex regulates cytoskeletal and ER structure at ER-PM contact sites

In plants, the cortical endoplasmic reticulum (ER) network is connected to the plasma membrane (PM) through the ER-PM contact sites (EPCSs), whose structures are maintained by EPCS resident proteins and the cytoskeleton.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Strong co-alignment between EPCSs and the cytoskeleton is observed in plants,1,8 but little is known of how the cytoskeleton is maintained and regulated at the EPCS. Here, we have used a yeast-two-hybrid screen and subsequent in vivo interaction studies in plants by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) analysis to identify two microtubule binding proteins, KLCR1 (kinesin-light-chain-related protein 1) and IQD2 (IQ67-domain 2), that interact with the actin binding protein NET3C and form a component of plant EPCS that mediates the link between the actin and microtubule networks. The NET3C-KLCR1-IQD2 module, acting as an actin-microtubule bridging complex, has a direct influence on ER morphology and EPCS structure. Their loss-of-function mutants, net3a/NET3C RNAi, klcr1, or iqd2, exhibit defects in pavement cell morphology, which we suggest is linked to the disorganization of both actin filaments and microtubules. In conclusion, our results reveal a novel cytoskeletal-associated complex, which is essential for the maintenance and organization of cytoskeletal structure and ER morphology at the EPCS and for normal plant cell morphogenesis

CHEMampere: Technologies for sustainable chemical production with renewable electricity and CO2, N2, O2, and H2O

The chemical industry must become carbon neutral by 2050, meaning that process-, energy-, and product-related CO2 emissions from fossil sources are completely suppressed. This goal can only be reached by using renewable energy, secondary raw materials, or CO2 as a carbon source. The latter can be done indirectly through the bioeconomy or directly by utilizing CO2 from air or biogenic sources (integrated biorefinery). Until 2030, CO2 waste from fossil-based processes can be utilized to curb fossil CO2 emissions and reach the turning point of global fossil CO2 emissions. A technology mix consisting of recycling technologies, white biotechnology, and carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies is needed to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. In this context, CHEMampere contributes to the goal of carbon neutrality with electricity-based CCU technologies producing green chemicals from CO2, N2, O2, and H2O in a decentralized manner. This is an alternative to the e-Refinery concept, which needs huge capacities of water electrolysis for a centralized CO2 conversion with green hydrogen, whose demand is expected to rise dramatically due to the decarbonization of the energy sector, which would cause a conflict of use between chemistry and energy. Here, CHEMampere's core reactor technologies, that is, electrolyzers, plasma reactors, and ohmic resistance heating of catalysts, are described, and their technical maturity is evaluated for the CHEMampere platform chemicals NH3, NOx, O3, H2O2, H2, CO, and CxHyOz products such as formic acid or methanol. Downstream processing of these chemicals is also addressed by CHEMampere, but it is not discussed here

Project: Islamic Manuscript Database

Project summary: Islamic Manuscript Databas

Legislative Documents

Also, variously referred to as: House bills; House documents; House legislative documents; legislative documents; General Court documents

Die Refaiya aus Damaskus: Eine alte arabische Bibliothek geht in Leipzig online

In Deutschland boomt die Digitalisierung der Bibliotheken und Archive. Der Trend geht eindeutig in Richtung virtuelle Bibliothek mit über das Internet abrufbaren Beständen. Auch die kleinen „Orchideenfächer“ sind aktiv geworden. Erste Projekte zur Digitalisierung von orientalischen Handschriften, Papyri und Ostraka wurden bereits erfolgreich abgeschlossen

“Pandemic Public Health Paradox”: Time Series Analysis of the 2009/10 Influenza A / H1N1 Epidemiology, Media Attention, Risk Perception and Public Reactions in 5 European Countries

In 2009, influenza A H1N1 caused the first pandemic of the 21st century. Although a vaccine against this influenza subtype was offered before or at the onset of the second epidemic wave that caused most of the fatal cases in Europe, vaccination rates for that season were lower than expected. We propose that the contradiction between high risk of infection and low use of available prevention measures represents a pandemic public health paradox. This research aims for a better understanding of this paradox by exploring the time-dependent interplay among changing influenza epidemiology, media attention, pandemic control measures, risk perception and public health behavior among five European countries (Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Spain and the UK). Findings suggest that asynchronicity between media curves and epidemiological curves may potentially explain the pandemic public health paradox; media attention for influenza A H1N1 in Europe declined long before the epidemic reached its peak, and public risk perceptions and behaviors may have followed media logic, rather than epidemiological logic.Public Library of Science open acces