PCR amplification of ITS rDNA from rust teliospores collected on southwestern rangeland from 1907 to 1995

Evidence of evolutionary change in the rust, Puccinia grindeliae, populations in New Mexico and Arizona, is revealed by use of PCR amplified ITS regions of rDNA. Polymorphic ITS5 - ITS2 fragments were found both within a single community and among geographically and temporally separated collections. These results provide evidence for genetic heterogeneity, possibly resulting from recent evolutionary change in reproductive strategy from clonal to sexual

EORNA, a barley gene and transcript abundance database

A high-quality, barley gene reference transcript dataset (BaRTv1.0), was used to quantify gene and transcript abundances from 22 RNA-seq experiments, covering 843 separate samples. Using the abundance data we developed a Barley Expression Database (EORNA*) to underpin a visualisation tool that displays comparative gene and transcript abundance data on demand as transcripts per million (TPM) across all samples and all the genes. EORNA provides gene and transcript models for all of the transcripts contained in BaRTV1.0, and these can be conveniently identified through either BaRT or HORVU gene names, or by direct BLAST of query sequences. Browsing the quantification data reveals cultivar, tissue and condition specific gene expression and shows changes in the proportions of individual transcripts that have arisen via alternative splicing. TPM values can be easily extracted to allow users to determine the statistical significance of observed transcript abundance variation among samples or perform meta analyses on multiple RNA-seq experiments. * Eòrna is the Scottish Gaelic word for Barley.</p

Ferrocenylmethylphosphanes and the Alpha Process for Methoxycarbonylation: The Original Story

The Lucite Alpha process is the predominant technology for the preparation of acrylics. This two-stage process involves the palladium-catalysed formation of methyl propanoate from ethene, CO, and methanol, followed by the oxidative formylation of methyl propanoate into methyl methacrylate. A range of bis-1,2-disubstituted aminomethylferrocenes has been prepared and characterised. These complexes serve as precursors to a variety of bulky ferrocenylmethyldiphosphanes that, in turn, function as ligands in the palladium-catalysed process. We describe the crystal structures of five ligand precursors and provide a rationale for their design. In situ catalyst testing on palladium complexes derived from ferrocenylphosphanes demonstrates that these are highly selective (>99.5%) catalysts for the formation of methyl propanoate from ethene, CO, and methanol and have turnover numbers exceeding 50,000. This article credits those researchers who worked on this project in the early days, who received little or no credit for their achievements and endeavours

Enhanced surveillance of COVID-19 in Scotland: population-based seroprevalence surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 during the first wave of the epidemic

This work was funded by the Scottish Government.Objectives: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland has been amongst the most severe in Europe. Serological surveillance is critical to determine the overall extent of infection across populations and to inform the public health response. This study aimed to estimate the proportion of people who have antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 ('seroprevalence') in the general population of Scotland and to see if this changes over time. Study Design/Methods: Between International Organization for Standardization (ISO) week 17 (i.e. week commencing 20th April) and ISO week 25 (week commencing 15 June), 4751 residual blood samples were obtained from regional biochemistry laboratories in six participating regional health authority areas covering approximately 75% of the Scottish population. Samples were tested for the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies using the LIAISON®SARS-CoV-2 S1/S2 IgG assay (DiaSorin, Italy). Seroprevalence rates were adjusted for the sensitivity and specificity of the assay using Bayesian methods. Results: The combined adjusted seroprevalence across the study period was 4.3% (95% confidence interval: 4.2%-4.5%). The proportion varied each week between 1.9% and 6.8% with no difference in antibody positivity by age, sex or geographical area. Conclusions: At the end of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, only a small fraction of the Scottish population had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. Control of COVID-19 requires the ability to detect asymptomatic and mild infections that would otherwise remain undetected through existing surveillance systems. This is important to determine the true number of infections within the general population which, in turn, can help to understand transmission, inform control measures and provide a denominator for the estimation of severity measures such as the proportion of infected people who have been hospitalised and/or have died.PostprintPeer reviewe

Global gene expression analysis of human erythroid progenitors

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website. Copyright @ 2011 American Society of Hematology. This article has an erratum: http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/content/118/26/6993.3.Understanding the pattern of gene expression during erythropoiesis is crucial for a synthesis of erythroid developmental biology. Here, we isolated 4 distinct populations at successive erythropoietin-dependent stages of erythropoiesis, including the terminal, pyknotic stage. The transcriptome was determined using Affymetrix arrays. First, we demonstrated the importance of using defined cell populations to identify lineage and temporally specific patterns of gene expression. Cells sorted by surface expression profile not only express significantly fewer genes than unsorted cells but also demonstrate significantly greater differences in the expression levels of particular genes between stages than unsorted cells. Second, using standard software, we identified more than 1000 transcripts not previously observed to be differentially expressed during erythroid maturation, 13 of which are highly significantly terminally regulated, including RFXAP and SMARCA4. Third, using matched filtering, we identified 12 transcripts not previously reported to be continuously up-regulated in maturing human primary erythroblasts. Finally, using transcription factor binding site analysis, we identified potential transcription factors that may regulate gene expression during terminal erythropoiesis. Our stringent lists of differentially regulated and continuously expressed transcripts containing many genes with undiscovered functions in erythroblasts are a resource for future functional studies of erythropoiesis. Our Human Erythroid Maturation database is available at https://cellline.molbiol.ox.ac.uk/eryth/index.html.National Health Service Blood and Transplant, National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center Program, and National Institute for Health Research

On the approximation of local and linear radiative damping in the middle atmosphere

The validity of approximating radiative heating rates in the middle atmosphere by a local linear relaxation to a reference temperature state (i.e., ‘‘Newtonian cooling’’) is investigated. Using radiative heating rate and temperature output from a chemistry–climate model with realistic spatiotemporal variability and realistic chemical and radiative parameterizations, it is found that a linear regressionmodel can capture more than 80% of the variance in longwave heating rates throughout most of the stratosphere and mesosphere, provided that the damping rate is allowed to vary with height, latitude, and season. The linear model describes departures from the climatological mean, not from radiative equilibrium. Photochemical damping rates in the upper stratosphere are similarly diagnosed. Threeimportant exceptions, however, are found.The approximation of linearity breaks down near the edges of the polar vortices in both hemispheres. This nonlinearity can be well captured by including a quadratic term. The use of a scale-independentdamping rate is not well justified in the lower tropical stratosphere because of the presence of a broad spectrum of vertical scales. The local assumption fails entirely during the breakup of the Antarctic vortex, where large fluctuations in temperature near the top of the vortex influence longwave heating rates within the quiescent region below. These results are relevant for mechanistic modeling studies of the middle atmosphere, particularly those investigating the final Antarctic warming

How Ordinary Elimination Became Gaussian Elimination

Newton, in notes that he would rather not have seen published, described a process for solving simultaneous equations that later authors applied specifically to linear equations. This method that Euler did not recommend, that Legendre called "ordinary," and that Gauss called "common" - is now named after Gauss: "Gaussian" elimination. Gauss's name became associated with elimination through the adoption, by professional computers, of a specialized notation that Gauss devised for his own least squares calculations. The notation allowed elimination to be viewed as a sequence of arithmetic operations that were repeatedly optimized for hand computing and eventually were described by matrices.Comment: 56 pages, 21 figures, 1 tabl