Phylogenomic analyses of non-Dikarya fungi supports horizontal gene transfer driving diversification of secondary metabolism in the amphibian gastrointestinal symbiont, Basidiobolus

Research into secondary metabolism (SM) production by fungi has resulted in the discovery of diverse, biologically active compounds with significant medicinal applications. However, the fungi rich in SM production are taxonomically restricted to Dikarya, two phyla of Kingdom Fungi, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Here, we explore the potential for SM production in Mucoromycota and Zoopagomycota, two phyla of nonflagellated fungi that are not members of Dikarya, by predicting and identifying core genes and gene clusters involved in SM. The majority of non-Dikarya have few genes and gene clusters involved in SM production except for the amphibian gut symbionts in the genus Basidiobolus . Basidiobolus genomes exhibit an enrichment of SM genes involved in siderophore, surfactin-like, and terpene cyclase production, all these with evidence of constitutive gene expression. Gene expression and chemical assays confirm that Basidiobolus has significant siderophore activity. The expansion of SMs in Basidiobolus are partially due to horizontal gene transfer from bacteria, likely as a consequence of its ecology as an amphibian gut endosymbiont

Controlling complex networks: How much energy is needed?

The outstanding problem of controlling complex networks is relevant to many areas of science and engineering, and has the potential to generate technological breakthroughs as well. We address the physically important issue of the energy required for achieving control by deriving and validating scaling laws for the lower and upper energy bounds. These bounds represent a reasonable estimate of the energy cost associated with control, and provide a step forward from the current research on controllability toward ultimate control of complex networked dynamical systems.Comment: 4 pages paper + 5 pages supplement. accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters; http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.21870

Kinerja Sistem Komunikasi FSO (Free Space Optics) Menggunakan Cell-site Diversity Di Daerah Tropis

Kebutuhan masyarakat akan adanya layanan komunikasi multimedia seperti video conference, high speed internet, video streaming, dan lain sebagainya, saat ini terus meningkat. Untuk memenuhi kebutuhan tersebut, perlu adanya suatu sistem komunikasi nirkabel dengan kecepatan tinggi. Salah satunya yaitu dengan menggunakan FSO (Free Space Optics). FSO merupakan sistem komunikasi yang memungkinkan memiliki koneksi layaknya serat optik, namun media transmisi yang digunakan yaitu melalui atmosfer. Penggunaan FSO di daerah tropis memiliki kendala yang cukup serius yaitu tingginya intensitas curah hujan yang dapat mempengaruhi kinerja dari FSO. Semakin tinggi intensitas curah hujan, maka nilai redaman hujan juga semakin besar. Untuk mengatasi dampak redaman hujan tersebut, maka digunakan teknik cell-site diversity dengan selection combining. Penerapan teknik cell-site diversity pada sistem komunikasi FSO menggunakan variasi panjang lintasan 0,5 km, 1 km, 1,5 km, dan 2 km serta variasi sudut antar link sebesar 45°, 90°, 135°, dan 180°. Hasil dari penerapan teknik cell-site diversity menunjukkan bahwa adanya peningkatan kualitas sinyal FSO, dalam hal ini yaitu nilai SNR. Peningkatan nilai SNR terbesar didapatkan pada panjang lintasan 2 km dengan sudut antar link 180° serta pada link availability 99,9 %. Untuk konfigurasi cell-site diversity terbaik didapatkan pada sudut antar link sebesar 90° dan 180°

Isostructural Phase Transition of TiN Under High Pressure

In situ high-pressure energy dispersive x-ray diffraction experiments on polycrystalline powder TiN with NaCl-type structure have been conducted with the pressure up to 30.1 GPa by using the diamond anvil cell instrument with synchrotron radiation at room tempearture. The experimental results suggested that an isostructural phase transition might exist at about 7 GPa as revealed by the discontinuity of V/V0 with pressure.Comment: submitte

One-pot Synthesis of Soluble Nanoscale CIGS Photoactive Functional Materials

Promising alternatives for solar energy utilization are thin film technologies involving various new materials. This contribution describes an easy and inexpensive synthetic method that can be used to prepare soluble nanoscale triphenyl phosphine-coordinated CIGS (TPP-CIGS) photoactive functional materials. This complex is stable in the solid state under the irradiation of the ambient light, but its solution becomes a little bit unstable under the illumination of the low intensity laser

Phase relationships in the La2O3-SrO-Nb2O5 system

The phase relationships in the La2O3---SrO---Nb2O5 system were studied. The isothermal section at 1400[deg]C of this system was determined. Within this system, two niobates, LaSr2Nb2O8.5 (1-2-2) with hexagonal structure and LaSr2NbO6 (1-2-1) with cubic structure occurred. Same family compounds, YSr2Nb2O8.5 and LaSr2Ta2O8.5, could be also synthesized. In the SrO-rich area of the SrO---Nb2O5 subsystem, a tetragonal solid solution with a composition range of Sr2-4NbO4.5-6.5 (i.e. 66.7-80 at.% SrO) was also observed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29252/1/0000309.pd

Corticosterone Administration up-Regulated Expression of Norepinephrine Transporter and Dopamine Β-Hydroxylase in Rat Locus Coeruleus and Its Terminal Regions

Stress has been reported to activate the locus coeruleus (LC)-noradrenergic system. In this study, corticosterone (CORT) was orally administrated to rats for 21 days to mimic stress status. In situ hybridization measurements showed that CORT ingestion significantly increased mRNA levels of norepinephrine transporter (NET) and dopamine β-hydroxylase (DBH) in the LC region. Immunofluorescence staining and western blotting revealed that CORT treatment also increased protein levels of NET and DBH in the LC, as well as NET protein levels in the hippocampus, the frontal cortex and the amygdala. However, CORT-induced increase in DBH protein levels only appeared in the hippocampus and the amygdala. Elevated NET and DBH expression in most of these areas (except for NET protein levels in the LC) was abolished by simultaneous treatment with combination of corticosteroid receptor antagonist mifepristone and spironolactone (s.c. for 21 days). Also, treatment with mifepristone alone prevented CORT-induced increases of NET expression and DBH protein levels in the LC. In addition, behavioral tasks showed that CORT ingestion facilitated escape in avoidance trials using an elevated T-maze, but interestingly, there was no significant effect on the escape trial. Corticosteroid receptor antagonists failed to counteract this response in CORT-treated rats. In the open-field task, CORT treatment resulted in less activity in a defined central zone compared to controls and corticosteroid receptor antagonist treatment alleviated this increase. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that chronic exposure to CORT results in a phenotype that mimics stress-induced alteration of noradrenergic phenotypes, but the effects on behavior are task dependent. As the sucrose consumption test strongly suggests CORT ingestion-induced depression-like behavior, further elucidation of underlying mechanisms may improve our understanding of the correlation between stress and the development of depression