Bacterial Evolution: Rewiring Modules to Get in Shape

SummaryBacterial species take on a wide variety of shapes, but the mechanisms by which specific shapes evolve have remained poorly understood. A recent study demonstrates that two Asticcacaulis species repurposed an ancestral regulatory protein to rewire the modules of stalk regulation, localization, and synthesis, thereby generating new shapes

Identifikasi Penyebab Kerusakan dengan Pendekatan Failure Mode and Effect Analysis

Peneltian ini dilakukan pada perusahaan Foundry yang berlokasi di Sumatera Utara, Indonesia. kerusakan yang sering terjadi di perusahaan tersebut  adalah mesin crane . dalam penelitian ini peneliti akan menganalisis kerusakan pada mesin crane dengan menggunakan Metode Failure Mode Effect Analisys (FMEA). Adapun langkah-langkah yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini yaitu, pemeriksaan, mendeteksi kegagalan, tingkat kerusakan, angka probabilitas, angka deteksi, angka risiko. setelah dianalisis didapatkan nilai Risk Priority Number (RPN) Disk brake tidak dapat melakukan pengereman saat motor berjalan (RPN = 294) dan hoist tambahan kondisi tidak aman, coil rusak dan tong yang rusak saat mengangkat coil sehingga jatuh karena posis tidak seimbang (RPN = 98)  . hasil penelitian yaitu didapatkan pada nilai RPN tertinggi pada faktor kerusakan disck brake dan hoist tambahan

Is PCBs concentration variability between and within freshwater fish species explained by their contamination pathways?

Many chemical, physiological, and trophic factors are known to affect ioaccumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in biota. Understanding the primary factors affecting fish contamination is critical for predicting and assessing risks to upper-trophic level consumers, including humans. Here we identify PCB contamination pathways that could explain within- and between-species variability in fish concentration levels. Three freshwater river fish species (barbel, chub and bream) were sampled at three sites along the Rhone River (France) where fish consumption is partially prohibited because of PCB levels exceeding the European health-based benchmark. The trophic position was assessed using an innovative approach based on stable isotope analyses and Bayesian inference, which takes into account both isotope data variability and parameter uncertainty. The effect of foraging habitat on fish contamination was addressed using stable isotope mixing models. The fish trophic position and PCB concentrations were found to be unrelated while the exploitation of sediment detrital carbon as a food source appeared to be a critical factor affecting fish contamination. Fish length, PCB concentration of the sediment, and individual fish foraging habitat (exploitation of detrital versus planktonic carbon sources) explained 80% of within- and between-species variability observed in PCB concentrations. These results, obtained for species that have overlapping TPs and exploit different carbon sources, reveal that the important factor in fish PCB contamination is not only what fish consume, but also and essentially the feeding location

Initial Impact of the Gabíkovo Hydroelectric Scheme on the Species Richness and Composition of 0+ Fish Assemblages in the Slovak Flood Plain, River Danube

Relatively little information exists on the effects of hydroelectric schemes on 0+ fish composition in large European rivers because few or no pre-impact data exist. We compared 0+ fish species richness and composition, relative density, fish size as well as available and used habitat using data from 12 floodplain sites sampled just prior to (1992) and four years after (1996) the start of operations of the Gabíkovo hydropower station on the River Danube (Slovakia). We also used modelling techniques to assess the change in species richness and habitat use and to predict 1996 occurrences from the 1992 data set. The floodplain was greatly modified by the hydroscheme. Only 12 of 27 sites sampled in August 1992 were extant in August 1996. Therefore, all four channel types identified (flowing, abandoned, weir, wing-dam) were more lentic in 1996 than in 1992, with increased width, smaller-sized sediment (silt, clay) and greater amounts of macrophytes. After the operations of the hydroscheme, the overall relative density of fishes (individuals per surface area) of all ages decreased, with the exception of 0+ fishes, despite a slight reduction in 0+ fish density in all channel types except weirs. Species number increased from 25 to 28, although in all channel types there was a change in the composition of the 0+ fish assemblages, with rheophiles generally replaced by limnophiles and migrants from the lower Danube. The two most important microhabitat variables were the proportion of macrophytes and gravel, the latter being the factor distinguishing 0+ fish microhabitat use in 1992 (preferences) and 1996 (indifference or avoidance). Species richness and 0+ fish density in 1996 could be predicted from the 1992 data using simple log-linear models (density, richness, sample number). Species-specific occurrence in 1996 could not be predicted using environmental/fish data from 1992 with multiple regression or generalized additive models (GAM). However, the overall GAM from 1992 could predict overall fish occurrence in 1996

Variabilité à long terme des peuplements de poissons : résultats provenant de rivières françaises et ouest africaines

La variabilité à long terme de 18 peuplements de poissons a été étudiée dans des rivières françaises et ouest africaines. Les principaux résultats sont les suivants : 1) le coefficient de variation (CV) de la richesse spécifique, le CV de l'abondance totale et le CV moyen des espèces constitutives du peuplement augmentent avec la durée de l'étude; 2) selon la classification proposée par GROSSMAN et al. (1990) basée sur le CV moyen de l'abondance des espèces, tous les peuplements étudiés rentrent dans la catégorie des peuplements à fortes fluctuations interannuelles. Cependant certaines populations (les salmonidés en Bretagne par exemple) présentent une faible variabilité de leur densité; 3) dans le Rhône, les peuplements dont les populations manifestent une grande variabilité interannuelle sont ceux présentant le plus grand taux de renouvellement en espèces. Ce résultat est en accord avec l'hypothèse de HORWITZ (1978, "extermination hypothesis"). (Résumé d'auteur

The curved shape of Caulobacter crescentus enhances surface colonization in flow

Each bacterial species has a characteristic shape, but the benefits of specific morphologies remain largely unknown. To understand potential functions for cell shape, we focused on the curved bacterium Caulobacter crescentus. Paradoxically, C. crescentus curvature is robustly maintained in the wild but straight mutants have no known disadvantage in standard laboratory conditions. Here we demonstrate that cell curvature enhances C. crescentus surface colonization in flow. Imaging the formation of microcolonies at high spatial and temporal resolution indicates that flow causes curved cells to orient such that they arc over the surface, thereby decreasing the distance between the surface and polar adhesive pili, and orienting pili to face the surface. C. crescentus thus repurposes pilus retraction, typically used for surface motility, for surface attachment. The benefit provided by curvature is eliminated at high flow intensity, raising the possibility that diversity in curvature adapts related species for life in different flow environments

Phylogeography and historical introgression in smoothtail nine-spined sticklebacks, Pungitius laevis (Gasterosteiformes : Gasterosteidae)

Pleistocene glaciations have strongly affected the biogeography of many species residing in periglacial and previously glaciated regions. Smoothtail nine-spined sticklebacks (Pungitius laevis) have three highly divergent mitochondrial lineages in France, one of which shares the same mitochondrial cluster with a congener P. pungitius. To understand if interspecific introgression has happened between the two species, we carried out phylogeographic and population genetic analyses using mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences. Our results indicated asymmetric mitochondrial introgression from P. pungitius to P. laevis and genetic admixture of these species in one of the P. laevis lineages, suggesting historical hybridization. Deep intraspecific mitochondrial divergence within P. laevis in central and southern France mostly coinciding with major drainages suggests that these areas were important glacial refugia for the species explaining the observed intraspecific divergence. The historical hybridization between P. laevis and P. pungitius likely occurred in a refugium at central France, and the newly formed P. laevis lineage spread northward during postglacial recolonization. The study adds to the long list of species showing complete mitogenome capture owing to historical hybridizations, and highlights the reticulate nature of population differentiation in taxa subject to postglacial range-expansions.Peer reviewe