Evolution des programmierten Zelltods

The simple metazoan Hydra does posses two genes for caspases: Caspase 3A and caspase 3B. We generated antibodies against these caspases. By immunofluorescence staining and cell fractionation we demonstrated that both caspases are localized in mitochondria in vivo.Caspase 3A is a constitutively active enzyme independent of PCD. After induction of apoptosis caspase 3B translocates from the mitochondria to the cytoplasm and is activated. Activity of 3B is DEVD-specific.Der einfache Vielzeller Hydra besitzt zwei Caspasen: Caspase 3A und Caspase 3B. Gegen beide Caspasen wurden Antikoerper hergestellt. Durch Immunfaerbungen und Zellfraktionierung wurde gezeigt, dass Caspasen in Hydra in vivo mitochondrial lokalisi ert sind. 3A ist ein konstitutiv aktives Enzym, das unabhaengig von Apoptose aktiv ist. Caspase 3B transloziert nach Induktion von Apoptose aus den Mitochondrien ins Cytoplasma und wird dort aktiviert. Es handelt sich dabei um eine DEVD-spezifische Aktivitaet

Requirements for the use of impact-based forecasts and warnings by road maintenance services in Germany

Impact-based forecasts and warnings (IBFs) are seen as important drivers for adequate anticipation and assessment of potential threats to public safety as they give a better understanding of the weather event's impacts. To prepare for impacts of weather events and prevent weather-related accidents, road maintenance services are actively using weather information in their daily work routine. This paper looks into the requirements that road maintenance services have for IBFs and how weather forecasts are used at the moment. The study is part of an interdisciplinary research project and follows a qualitative social science research approach. Findings show that the following factors are general user requirements: relevance of information, recognition of spatial and temporal requests, acceptability, comprehensibility, and technical demands. These are also applicable to IBFs with the extension to provide a benefit for road maintenance services in situations that rarely occur and where no embodied knowledge in the organization is existent

Identification and Functional Analysis of in vitro/in vivo Phosphorylation Sites of the Arabidopsis BAK1 Interacting Receptor Kinase BIR2

The recognition of plant pathogens by plants is primarily mediated by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), acting as watchdogs at the plant surface. The leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase (LRR-RLK) BRI1-ASSOCIATED KINASE 1 (BAK1), and other SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS RECEPTOR KINASES (SERKs) play crucial roles as co-receptors of LRR-RLKs in diverse signaling pathways. Signaling has to be tightly controlled, thus the discovery of BAK1-INTERACTING RLK 2 (BIR2) as a negative regulator of BAK1, has added novel aspects to the understanding of regulatory processes in plant immunity. BIR2 can be transphosphorylated by BAK1 in vitro, and kinase complex formations are often mediated by phosphorylation-dependent mechanisms. Subject of this work is the identification of in vivo BIR2 phosphorylation sites (P-sites) by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Selected BIR2 P-sites have been mutated to alanine or aspartate to prevent or mimic phosphorylation. Functional and interaction studies with bir2 mutant lines, complemented with these constructs have revealed the potential action of these BIR2 P-sites. BIR2 transphosphorylation could have a dual function; strengthening and weakening the protein-protein interaction to regulate receptor complex formation and downstream signaling. Nevertheless, BAK1-unrelated BIR2 P-sites were detected, pointing to an involvement of other kinases in BIR2-BAK1 complex action. These findings underline the importance of phosphorylation as a key protein modification for the regulation of receptor complex dynamics

Planetary defence: a duty for world defenders

This poster is an advocacy document. We believe that it is now time for an international coalition of military/industrial/atomic agencies to take on the tasks of designing, building and maintaining in readiness active defenses against asteroids and comets threatening to impact Earth. We visualize a policy environment where a relatively small portion of existing defense resources is redirected to Planetary Defense, with already-established ground and space PD efforts allocated increased backing and increased responsibility in supporting roles. A main part of the needed policy structure is already in place. An International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) and a Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) are functioning under auspices of the UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). In the near term, intercept action will be launched upon validation of an impact threat by IAWN and SMPAG. The activity should start with conventional technology while awaiting needed international policy changes allowing use of nuclear energy, essential in the case of less-likely but more dangerous threats. An important side benefit of the proposed collaborative military involvement would be increased knowledge of the risk and increased trust among nations

A Systematic Literature Review of Machine Learning Approaches for the Prediction of Delivery Dates

Manufacturing companies tend to use standardized delivery times. The actual delivery times requested by the customers and the current capacity utilization of the production are often not taken into account. Therefore, such a simplification likely results in a reduction of the efficiency of the production. For example, it can lead to an obligation to use rush orders, an unrealistic calculation of inventories or an unnecessary exclusion of a Make-to-Order production. In the worst case, this results not only in an economically inadequate production, but also in a low achievement of logistic objectives and therefore in customer complaints. To avoid this, the delivery dates proposed to the customer must be realistic. Given the large number of customer orders, a wide range of products, varying order quantities and times, as well as various delivery times requested by customers, it is impossible to determine individual delivery dates manually. The ongoing digitalization and technological innovations offer new opportunities to support this task. In the literature, various approaches using machine learning methods for specific production planning and control tasks exist. As these methods are in general applicable for different tasks involving predictions, they can also assist during the determination of delivery dates. Therefore, this paper provides a comprehensive review of the state of the art regarding the use of machine learning approaches for the prediction of delivery dates. To identify research gaps the analyzed publications were differentiated according to several criteria, such as the overall objective and the applied methods. The majority of scientific publications addresses delivery dates only as a subordinate aspect while focusing on production planning and control tasks. Therefore, the interrelationships with several production planning and control tasks were considered during the analysis

SYNBIOSAFE e-conference: online community discussion on the societal aspects of synthetic biology

As part of the SYNBIOSAFE project, we carried out an open electronic conference (e-conference), with the aim to stimulate an open debate on the societal issues of synthetic biology in a proactive way. The e-conference attracted 124 registered participants from 23 different countries and different professional backgrounds, who wrote 182 contributions in six different categories: (I) Ethics; (II) Safety; (III) Security; (IV) IPR; (V) Governance and regulation; (VI) and Public perception. In this paper we discuss the main arguments brought up during the e-conference and provide our conclusions about how the community thinks, and thinks differently on the societal impact of synthetic biology. Finally we conclude that there is a chance for an open discourse on the societal issues of synthetic biology happening, and that the rules to govern such a discourse might be set up much easier and be respected more readily than many would suggest