The origin of pine pollen grains captured from air at Calypsobyen, Svalbard

Spitsbergen is the largest island in the Svalbard Archipelago (Norway) that has been permanently populated. The harsh Arctic climate prevents development of large vascular plants such as trees. A two-year aerobiological survey was conducted within the framework of two consecutive polar expeditions (2014 and 2015) in Spitsbergen (Calypsobyen, Bellsund). The air quality was measured continuously from June/July to August using a 7-day volumetric air sampler, Tauber trap and moss specimens. Collected air samples and gravimetric pollen deposits were processed following transfer to sterile laboratory conditions and analyzed with the aid of light microscopy. Days when pine pollen grains were detected in the air were selected for further analysis. Clusters of back-trajectories, computed using the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model in combination with ArcGIS software as well as the Flextra trajectory model, showed the movement of air masses to the sampling location at Hornsund, and thus indicated the likely origin of pollen grains. The GlobCover 2009 and CORINE Land Cover 2012 datasets were employed to establish the distribution of coniferous forests in the areas of interest. Conclusions were drawn based on the analyses of the circulation of air masses, using visualization of global weather conditions forecast to supercomputers. For the first time, we have demonstrated that pine pollen grains occurring in pine-free Spitsbergen, could originate from numerous locations, including Scandinavia, Iceland, Siberia and northern Canada. Pollen grains were transported via air masses for distances exceeding ~2000 km. Both air samples and gravimetric pollen deposits revealed the same pattern of Pinus pollen distributio

The isolated carboxy-terminal domain of human mitochondrial leucyl-tRNA synthetase rescues the pathological phenotype of mitochondrial tRNA mutations in human cells.

Mitochondrial (mt) diseases are multisystem disorders due to mutations in nuclear or mtDNA genes. Among the latter, more than 50% are located in transfer RNA (tRNA) genes and are responsible for a wide range of syndromes, for which no effective treatment is available at present. We show that three human mt aminoacyl-tRNA syntethases, namely leucyl-, valyl-, and isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase are able to improve both viability and bioenergetic proficiency of human transmitochondrial cybrid cells carrying pathogenic mutations in the mt-tRNA(Ile) gene. Importantly, we further demonstrate that the carboxy-terminal domain of human mt leucyl-tRNA synthetase is both necessary and sufficient to improve the pathologic phenotype associated either with these "mild" mutations or with the "severe" m.3243A>G mutation in the mt-tRNA(L)(eu(UUR)) gene. Furthermore, we provide evidence that this small, non-catalytic domain is able to directly and specifically interact in vitro with human mt-tRNA(Leu(UUR)) with high affinity and stability and, with lower affinity, with mt-tRNA(Ile). Taken together, our results sustain the hypothesis that the carboxy-terminal domain of human mt leucyl-tRNA synthetase can be used to correct mt dysfunctions caused by mt-tRNA mutations

Positive Evolutionary Selection of an HD Motif on Alzheimer Precursor Protein Orthologues Suggests a Functional Role

HD amino acid duplex has been found in the active center of many different enzymes. The dyad plays remarkably different roles in their catalytic processes that usually involve metal coordination. An HD motif is positioned directly on the amyloid beta fragment (Aβ) and on the carboxy-terminal region of the extracellular domain (CAED) of the human amyloid precursor protein (APP) and a taxonomically well defined group of APP orthologues (APPOs). In human Aβ HD is part of a presumed, RGD-like integrin-binding motif RHD; however, neither RHD nor RXD demonstrates reasonable conservation in APPOs. The sequences of CAEDs and the position of the HD are not particularly conserved either, yet we show with a novel statistical method using evolutionary modeling that the presence of HD on CAEDs cannot be the result of neutral evolutionary forces (p<0.0001). The motif is positively selected along the evolutionary process in the majority of APPOs, despite the fact that HD motif is underrepresented in the proteomes of all species of the animal kingdom. Position migration can be explained by high probability occurrence of multiple copies of HD on intermediate sequences, from which only one is kept by selective evolutionary forces, in a similar way as in the case of the “transcription binding site turnover.” CAED of all APP orthologues and homologues are predicted to bind metal ions including Amyloid-like protein 1 (APLP1) and Amyloid-like protein 2 (APLP2). Our results suggest that HDs on the CAEDs are most probably key components of metal-binding domains, which facilitate and/or regulate inter- or intra-molecular interactions in a metal ion-dependent or metal ion concentration-dependent manner. The involvement of naturally occurring mutations of HD (Tottori (D7N) and English (H6R) mutations) in early onset Alzheimer's disease gives additional support to our finding that HD has an evolutionary preserved function on APPOs

Progress from ASDEX Upgrade experiments in preparing the physics basis of ITER operation and DEMO scenario development

An overview of recent results obtained at the tokamak ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) is given. A work flow for predictive profile modelling of AUG discharges was established which is able to reproduce experimental H-mode plasma profiles based on engineering parameters only. In the plasma center, theoretical predictions on plasma current redistribution by a dynamo effect were confirmed experimentally. For core transport, the stabilizing effect of fast ion distributions on turbulent transport is shown to be important to explain the core isotope effect and improves the description of hollow low-Z impurity profiles. The L-H power threshold of hydrogen plasmas is not affected by small helium admixtures and it increases continuously from the deuterium to the hydrogen level when the hydrogen concentration is raised from 0 to 100%. One focus of recent campaigns was the search for a fusion relevant integrated plasma scenario without large edge localised modes (ELMs). Results from six different ELM-free confinement regimes are compared with respect to reactor relevance: ELM suppression by magnetic perturbation coils could be attributed to toroidally asymmetric turbulent fluctuations in the vicinity of the separatrix. Stable improved confinement mode plasma phases with a detached inner divertor were obtained using a feedback control of the plasma β. The enhanced D α H-mode regime was extended to higher heating power by feedback controlled radiative cooling with argon. The quasi-coherent exhaust regime was developed into an integrated scenario at high heating power and energy confinement, with a detached divertor and without large ELMs. Small ELMs close to the separatrix lead to peeling-ballooning stability and quasi continuous power exhaust. Helium beam density fluctuation measurements confirm that transport close to the separatrix is important to achieve the different ELM-free regimes. Based on separatrix plasma parameters and interchange-drift-Alfvén turbulence, an analytic model was derived that reproduces the experimentally found important operational boundaries of the density limit and between L- and H-mode confinement. Feedback control for the X-point radiator (XPR) position was established as an important element for divertor detachment control. Stable and detached ELM-free phases with H-mode confinement quality were obtained when the XPR was moved 10 cm above the X-point. Investigations of the plasma in the future flexible snow-flake divertor of AUG by means of first SOLPS-ITER simulations with drifts activated predict beneficial detachment properties and the activation of an additional strike point by the drifts

Integrated scenario with type-III ELMy H-mode edge: extrapolation to ITER

One of the most severe problems for fusion reactors is the power load on the plasma facing components. The challenge is to develop operation scenarios, which combine sufficient energy confinement with benign heat loads to the plasma facing components. The radiative type-III ELMy H-mode seems a possible solution for such an integrated ITER scenario. Nitrogen seeded type-III ELMy H-modes for the standard inductive scenario and the high beta stationary hybrid scenario are investigated with respect to their transient and steady-state power fluxes to the divertor, confinement properties, edge operational space, core operational space, plasma purity andMHDbehaviour. A large database of highly radiative type-III ELMy H-modes on JET is used for extrapolations to ITER. On this basis the transient heat load should be acceptable for ITER. It was found that the scaling of the confinement time with respect to the ion gyroradius is close to the gyro-Bohm scaling. Scalings with respect to the plasma collisionality suggest that the confinement will be good enough for an ITER scenario at 17MA with a power amplification factor (Q) of 10 and might be marginally good enough for aQ = 10 scenario at 15 MA. Those extrapolations are supported by simulations with an integrated core/edge model COREDIV. In addition the hybrid scenario with type-III edge localized modes has been proven to have improved edge conditions without any modification of the central plasma current profile, indicating it is compatible with a high beta operation for a steady-state ITER Q = 5 scenario