Molecular cloning, characterization and functional analysis of a 3-hydroxy-3- methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase gene from Jatropha curcas

3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR, EC: 1.1.1.34) catalyzes the first committed step in mevalonic acid (MVA) pathway for biosynthesis of isoprenoids. The full-length cDNA encoding HMGR was isolated from Jatropha curcas for the first time (designated as JcHMGR), which contained a 1950 bp ORF encoding 584 amino acids. The JcHMGR genomic DNA sequence was also obtained, revealing JcHMGR had 4 exons and 3 introns. The deduced JcHMGR protein showed high identity to other plant HMGRs and contained 2 transmembrane domains and a catalytic domain. The potential significance of JcHMGR gene was also discussed

How do event zones influence visitor behaviour and engagement with host destinations? : A longitudinal study of the Cambridge half marathon (2017–2020)

© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)This work identifies important influencing factors that affect event visitor behaviour in and beyond event zones, utilising a four-year, mixed-method, longitudinal study (n=6212) of the Cambridge Half Marathon (2017–2020). We counter a commonly held view that visitors naturally spill out into local cultural and business precincts, arguing that event zones represent cities within cities that spatially segregate visitors from the host destination; only 7% of the sample engaged in longer and deeper cultural stays. Quantitative data reveals statistically significant demographic and tripographic factors that increase the likelihood of visitors venturing beyond the event zone, whilst qualitative data reveals the behavioural and organisational factors that encourage or discourage engagement. Managerial tactics and strategies for encouraging visitors to venture beyond event zones, across host destinations, to optimise local economic benefits across the host destination are presented.Peer reviewe

Intense vortex pinning enhanced by semicrystalline defect traps in self-aligned nanostructured MgB2

In this work, we report the discovery of a vortex pinning source: semicrystalline defect wells in self-aligned nanostructured MgB2. It is demonstrated that these aperiodic regions trap numerous crystal defects migrating along nanodomain boundaries during self-alignment and act as intense vortex pinning centers that significantly enhance the high-field performance of MgB2. This suggests that the density of trapped defects in the wells is much greater than that found in other vortex pinning sources