The regulation of plant secondary metabolism in response to abiotic stress : interactions between heat shock and elevated CO2

Future climate change is set to have an impact on the physiological performance of global vegetation. Increasing temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentration will affect plant growth, net primary productivity, photosynthetic capability, and other biochemical functions that are essential for normal metabolic function. Alongside the primary metabolic function effects of plant growth and development, the effect of stress on plant secondary metabolism from both biotic and abiotic sources will be impacted by changes in future climate. Using an untargeted metabolomic fingerprinting approach alongside emissions measurements, we investigate for the first time how elevated atmospheric CO2 and temperature both independently and interactively impact on plant secondary metabolism through resource allocation, with a resulting “trade-off” between secondary metabolic processes in Salix spp. and in particular, isoprene biosynthesis. Although it has been previously reported that isoprene is suppressed in times of elevated CO2, and that isoprene emissions increase as a response to short-term heat shock, no study has investigated the interactive effects at the metabolic level. We have demonstrated that at a metabolic level isoprene is still being produced during periods of both elevated CO2 and temperature, and that ultimately temperature has the greater effect. With global temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentrations rising as a result of anthropogenic activity, it is imperative to understand the interactions between atmospheric processes and global vegetation, especially given that global isoprene emissions have the potential to contribute to atmospheric warming mitigation

Froude supercritical flow processes and sedimentary structures: new insights from experiments with a wide range of grain sizes

Recognition of Froude supercritical flow deposits in environments that range from rivers to the ocean floor has triggered a surge of interest in their flow processes, bedforms and sedimentary structures. Interpreting these supercritical flow deposits is especially important because they often represent the most powerful flows in the geological record. Insights from experiments are key to reconstruct palaeo‐flow processes from the sedimentary record. So far, all experimentally produced supercritical flow deposits are of a narrow grain‐size range (fine to medium sand), while deposits in the rock record often consist of a much wider grain‐size distribution. This paper presents results of supercritical‐flow experiments with a grain‐size distribution from clay to gravel. These experiments show that cyclic step instabilities can produce more complex and a larger variety of sedimentary structures than the previously suggested backsets and ‘scour and fill’ structures. The sedimentary structures are composed of irregular lenses, mounds and wedges with backsets and foresets, as well as undulating planar to low‐angle upstream and downstream dipping laminae. The experiments also demonstrate that the Froude number is not the only control on the sedimentary structures formed by supercritical‐flow processes. Additional controls include the size and migration rate of the hydraulic jump and the substrate cohesion. This study further demonstrates that Froude supercritical flow promotes suspension transport of all grain sizes, including gravels. Surprisingly, it was observed that all grain sizes were rapidly deposited just downstream of hydraulic jumps, including silt and clay. These results expand the range of dynamic mud deposition into supercritical‐flow conditions, where local transient shear stress reduction rather than overall flow waning conditions allow for deposition of fines. Comparison of the experimental deposits with outcrop datasets composed of conglomerates to mudstones, shows significant similarities and highlights the role of hydraulic jumps, rather than overall flow condition changes, in producing lithologically and geometrically complex stratigraphy

Interpretation of plasma amino acids in the follow-up of patients: the impact of compartmentation

Results of plasma or urinary amino acids are used for suspicion, confirmation or exclusion of diagnosis, monitoring of treatment, prevention and prognosis in inborn errors of amino acid metabolism. The concentrations in plasma or whole blood do not necessarily reflect the relevant metabolite concentrations in organs such as the brain or in cell compartments; this is especially the case in disorders that are not solely expressed in liver and/or in those which also affect nonessential amino acids. Basic biochemical knowledge has added much to the understanding of zonation and compartmentation of expressed proteins and metabolites in organs, cells and cell organelles. In this paper, selected old and new biochemical findings in PKU, urea cycle disorders and nonketotic hyperglycinaemia are reviewed; the aim is to show that integrating the knowledge gained in the last decades on enzymes and transporters related to amino acid metabolism allows a more extensive interpretation of biochemical results obtained for diagnosis and follow-up of patients and may help to pose new questions and to avoid pitfalls. The analysis and interpretation of amino acid measurements in physiological fluids should not be restricted to a few amino acids but should encompass the whole quantitative profile and include other pathophysiological markers. This is important if the patient appears not to respond as expected to treatment and is needed when investigating new therapies. We suggest that amino acid imbalance in the relevant compartments caused by over-zealous or protocol-driven treatment that is not adjusted to the individual patient's needs may prolong catabolism and must be correcte

Intra‐clinothem variability in sedimentary texture and process regime recorded down slope profiles

Shelf‐margin clinothem successions can archive process interactions at the shelf to slope transition, and their architecture provides constraints on the interplay of factors that control basin‐margin evolution. However, detailed textural analysis and facies distributions from shelf to slope transitions remain poorly documented. This study uses quantitative grain‐size and sorting data from coeval shelf and slope deposits of a single clinothem that crops out along a 5 km long, dip‐parallel transect of the Eocene Sobrarbe Deltaic Complex (Ainsa Basin, south‐central Pyrenees, Spain). Systematic sampling of sandstone beds tied to measured sections has captured vertical and basinward changes in sedimentary texture and facies distributions at an intra‐clinothem scale. Two types of hyperpycnal flow‐related slope deposits, both rich in mica and terrestrial organic matter, are differentiated according to grain size, sorting and bed geometry: (i) sustained hyperpycnal flow deposits, which are physically linked to coarse channelized sediments in the shelf setting and which deposit sand down the complete slope profile; (ii) episodic hyperpycnal flow deposits, which are disconnected from, and incise into, shelf sands and which are associated with sediment bypass of the proximal slope and coarse‐grained sand deposition on the medial and distal slope. Both types of hyperpycnites are interbedded with relatively homogenous, organic‐free and mica‐free, well‐sorted, very fine‐grained sandstones, which are interpreted to be remobilized from wave‐dominated shelf environments; these wave‐dominated deposits are found only on the proximal and medial slope. Coarse‐grained sediment bypass into the deeper‐water slope settings is therefore dominated by episodic hyperpycnal flows, whilst sustained hyperpycnal flows and turbidity currents remobilizing wave‐dominated shelf deposits are responsible for the full range of grain sizes in the proximal and medial slope, thus facilitating clinoform progradation. This novel dataset highlights previously undocumented intra‐clinothem variability related to updip changes in the shelf process‐regime, which is therefore a key factor controlling downdip architecture and resulting sedimentary texture

Magnetic Field Amplification in Galaxy Clusters and its Simulation

We review the present theoretical and numerical understanding of magnetic field amplification in cosmic large-scale structure, on length scales of galaxy clusters and beyond. Structure formation drives compression and turbulence, which amplify tiny magnetic seed fields to the microGauss values that are observed in the intracluster medium. This process is intimately connected to the properties of turbulence and the microphysics of the intra-cluster medium. Additional roles are played by merger induced shocks that sweep through the intra-cluster medium and motions induced by sloshing cool cores. The accurate simulation of magnetic field amplification in clusters still poses a serious challenge for simulations of cosmological structure formation. We review the current literature on cosmological simulations that include magnetic fields and outline theoretical as well as numerical challenges.Comment: 60 pages, 19 Figure

Reviews and syntheses: Changing ecosystem influences on soil thermal regimes in northern high-latitude permafrost regions

Soils in Arctic and boreal ecosystems store twice as much carbon as the atmosphere, a portion of which may be released as high-latitude soils warm. Some of the uncertainty in the timing and magnitude of the permafrost–climate feedback stems from complex interactions between ecosystem properties and soil thermal dynamics. Terrestrial ecosystems fundamentally regulate the response of permafrost to climate change by influencing surface energy partitioning and the thermal properties of soil itself. Here we review how Arctic and boreal ecosystem processes influence thermal dynamics in permafrost soil and how these linkages may evolve in response to climate change. While many of the ecosystem characteristics and processes affecting soil thermal dynamics have been examined individually (e.g., vegetation, soil moisture, and soil structure), interactions among these processes are less understood. Changes in ecosystem type and vegetation characteristics will alter spatial patterns of interactions between climate and permafrost. In addition to shrub expansion, other vegetation responses to changes in climate and rapidly changing disturbance regimes will affect ecosystem surface energy partitioning in ways that are important for permafrost. Lastly, changes in vegetation and ecosystem distribution will lead to regional and global biophysical and biogeochemical climate feedbacks that may compound or offset local impacts on permafrost soils. Consequently, accurate prediction of the permafrost carbon climate feedback will require detailed understanding of changes in terrestrial ecosystem distribution and function, which depend on the net effects of multiple feedback processes operating across scales in space and time

Taxonomy of the order Mononegavirales: update 2016

In 2016, the order Mononegavirales was emended through the addition of two new families (Mymonaviridae and Sunviridae), the elevation of the paramyxoviral subfamily Pneumovirinae to family status (Pneumoviridae), the addition of five free-floating genera (Anphevirus, Arlivirus, Chengtivirus, Crustavirus, and Wastrivirus), and several other changes at the genus and species levels. This article presents the updated taxonomy of the order Mononegavirales as now accepted by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV)

ARIA 2016: Care pathways implementing emerging technologies for predictive medicine in rhinitis and asthma across the life cycle

The Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) initiative commenced during a World Health Organization workshop in 1999. The initial goals were (1) to propose a new allergic rhinitis classification, (2) to promote the concept of multi-morbidity in asthma a

Seasonal acclimatization to temperature in cardueline finches

1. Seasonal variation in body constituents and utilization of lipid, protein, and carbohydrate during cold stress in American goldfinches were studied to determine relations of these functions to the pronounced seasonal shift in thermogenic capacity documented in a previous study (Dawson and Carey, 1976).Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47119/1/360_2004_Article_BF00686746.pd