Merrillhassan5016

The Qing-Tibet Plateau is characterized by low oxygen pressure, which is an important biomedical and ecological stressor. However, the variation in gene expression during periods of stay on the plateau has not been well studied. We recruited eight volunteers to stay on the plateau for 3, 7, and 30 days. Human Clariom D arrays were used to measure transcriptome changes in the mRNA expression profiles in these volunteers' blood. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that 699 genes were significantly differentially expressed in response to entering the plateau during hypoxic exposure. The genes with changes in transcript abundance were involved in the terms phosphoprotein, acetylation, protein binding, and protein transport. Furthermore, numerous genes involved in hematopoietic functions, including erythropoiesis and immunoregulation, were differentially expressed in response to hypoxia. This phenomenon may be one of reasons why the majority of people entering the plateau do not have excessive erythrocyte proliferation and are susceptible to infection.Hot spring environments are commonly dominated by silica sinters that precipitate by the rapid cooling of silica-saturated fluids and the activity of microbial communities. However, the potential for preservation of organic traces of life in silica sinters back through time is not well understood. This is important for the exploration of early life on Earth and possibly Mars. Proteinase K order Most previous studies have focused on physical preservation in samples less then 900 years old, with only a few focused on organic biomarkers. In this study, we investigate the organic geochemistry of hot spring samples from El Tatio, Chile and the Taupo Volcanic Zone, with ages varying from modern to ∼9.4 ka. Results show that all samples contain opaline silica and contain hydrocarbons that are indicative of a cyanobacterial origin. A ∼3 ka recrystallized, quartz-bearing sample also contains traces of cyanobacterial biomarkers. No aromatic compounds were detected in a ∼9.4 ka opal-A sample or in a modern sinter breccia sample. All other samples contain naphthalene, with one sample also containing other polyaromatic hydrocarbons. These aromatic hydrocarbons have a thermally mature distribution that is perhaps reflective of geothermal fluids migrating from deep, rather than surface, reservoirs. These data show that hot spring sinters can preserve biomolecules from the local microbial community, and that crystallinity rather than age may be the determining factor in their preservation. This research provides support for the exploration for biomolecules in opaline silica deposits on Mars.Cannabis sativa L. is an important yet controversial plant with a long history of recreational, medicinal, industrial, and agricultural use, and together with its sister genus Humulus, it represents a group of plants with a myriad of academic, agricultural, pharmaceutical, industrial, and social interests. We have performed a meta-analysis of pooled published genomics data, and we present a comprehensive literature review on the evolutionary history of Cannabis and Humulus, including medicinal and industrial applications. We demonstrate that current Cannabis genome assemblies are incomplete, with ∼10% missing, 10-25% unmapped, and 45S and 5S ribosomal DNA clusters as well as centromeres/satellite sequences not represented. These assemblies are also ordered at a low resolution, and their consensus quality clouds the accurate annotation of complete, partial, and pseudogenized gene copies. Considering the importance of genomics in the development of any crop, this analysis underlines the need for a coordinated effort to quantify the genetic and biochemical diversity of this species. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Physical Chemistry, Volume 71 is April 20, 2020. Please see http//www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.The control of gaseous exchange between the leaf and external atmosphere is governed by stomatal conductance (gs); therefore, stomata play a critical role in photosynthesis and transpiration and overall plant productivity. Stomatal conductance is determined by both anatomical features and behavioral characteristics. Here we review some of the osmoregulatory pathways in guard cell metabolism, genes and signals that determine stomatal function and patterning, and the recent work that explores coordination between gs and carbon assimilation (A) and the influence of spatial distribution of functional stomata on underlying mesophyll anatomy. We also evaluate the current literature on mesophyll-driven signals that may coordinate stomatal behavior with mesophyll carbon assimilation and explore stomatal kinetics as a possible target to improve A and water use efficiency. By understanding these processes, we can start to provide insight into manipulation of these regulatory pathways to improve stomatal behavior and identify novel unexploited targets for altering stomatal behavior and improving crop plant productivity. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Plant Biology, Volume 71 is April 29, 2020. Please see http//www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.Background Associations between household chaos and childhood overweight have been identified, but the mechanisms of association are not clearly established in young children, with some studies linking higher chaos to increased obesity risk, whereas other studies link higher chaos to lower obesity risk. Given the lack of consistent findings and early sex differences in vulnerability to chaos, we examined child sex as a moderator of the chaos-child overweight association. We also tested these associations with self-regulation, as self-regulation has been implicated in understanding the chaos-obesity risk association in low-income toddlers. Methods Parent-reported household chaos and observed child self-regulation were collected at baseline [n = 132; M age 23.0 months (standard deviation 2.8)]. Children's body mass index z-score (BMIz) was measured at 33 months. Multivariate linear regression models were used to assess whether child sex moderated the chaos-BMIz association. A three-way interaction between chaos, child sex, and self-regulation was also tested. Results Child sex moderated the chaos-BMIz association (b = -0.11, p = 0.04) such that chaos was positively associated with BMIz among boys (b = 0.12, p = 0.003), but unrelated in girls (b = 0.01, p = 0.78). A three-way interaction with self-regulation indicated that a positive chaos-BMIz association existed only for boys with average (b = 0.12, p = 0.004) and low (b = 0.22, p  less then  0.001) self-regulation. Conclusions Boys with poor self-regulation may be particularly vulnerable to obesogenic effects of chaotic households.Strong plasmon-exciton coupling could occur in hybrid metal-dye/semiconductor nanostructures, where the fast energy exchange between plasmons and excitons leads to two new eigenmodes of the system, known as Rabi splitting. In experiments, strongly coupled nanosystems are difficult to obtain because they require some strict conditions, such as low plasmonic damping, small plasmon mode volume, and good spectral overlap. This work demonstrates strongly coupled metal-semiconductor nanostructures can be constructed using colloidal assembly. Specifically, sandwiched Au-quantum dot-Au nanostructures were created through the assembly of Au nanoparticles and colloidal quantum dots (QDs). The sizes of the QDs and the assembly conditions were varied to control the mode volume of the plasmonic cavity formed between the two Au nanoparticles. With a decreased gap size, Rabi splitting was observed in both dark-field scattering and fluorescence spectra of single Au-QD-Au nanostructures. Theoretical simulations revealed that the strong coupling occurred between the excitons and the octupolar plasmon modes.We present a simple strategy for the synthesis of main chain oligonucleotide rotaxanes with precise control over the position of the macrocycle. The novel DNA-based rotaxanes were analyzed to assess the effect of the mechanical bond on their properties.Cleavage furrow formation during cytokinesis involves extensive membrane remodeling. In the absence of methods to exert dynamic control over these processes, it has been a challenge to examine the basis of this remodeling. Here we used a subcellular optogenetic approach to induce this at will and found that furrow formation is mediated by actomyosin contractility, retrograde plasma membrane flow, localized decrease in membrane tension, and endocytosis. FRAP, 4-D imaging, and inhibition or upregulation of endocytosis or exocytosis show that ARF6 and Exo70 dependent localized exocytosis supports a potential model for intercellular bridge elongation. TIRF and Super Resolution Radial Fluctuation (SRRF) stream microscopy show localized VAMP2-mediated exocytosis and incorporation of membrane lipids from vesicles into the plasma membrane at the front edge of the nascent daughter cell. Thus, spatially separated but coordinated plasma membrane depletion and addition are likely contributors to membrane remodeling during cytokinetic processes.We recently introduced a method called conveyor belt (CB) thermodynamic integration (TI) for the calculation of alchemical free-energy differences based on molecular dynamics simulations. In the present work, the CBTI approach is generalized to conformational free-energy changes, i.e., to the determination of the potential of mean force (PMF) along a conformational coordinate ξ of interest. The proposed conveyor belt umbrella sampling (CBUS) scheme relies on the parallel simulation of K replicas k = 0,1, ..., K - 1 of the system, with K even. For each replica k, the instantaneous value of ξ is restrained to an anchor value λk. The latter anchor points are equally spaced along a forward-turn-backward-turn path (i.e., a CB) between two extreme values defining the ξ-range of interest. The rotation of the CB is controlled by a variable Λ (range from 0 to 2π) which evolves dynamically along the simulation. The evolution of Λ results from the forces exerted by the restraining potentials on the anchor points, taken equal and opposite to those they exert on the replicas. Because these forces tend to cancel out along the CB, the dynamics of Λ is essentially diffusive, and the continuous distribution of ξ-values sampled by the replica system is automatically close to homogeneous. The latter feature represents an advantage over direct counting (DCNT) and traditional umbrella sampling (TRUS), shared to some extent with replica-exchange umbrella sampling (REUS). In this work, the CBUS scheme is introduced and compared to the three latter schemes in the calculation of 45 standard absolute binding free energies. These correspond to the binding of five alkali cations to three crown ethers in three solvents. Different free-energy estimators are considered for the PMF calculation, and the calculated values are also compared to those of a previous study relying on an alchemical path, as well as to experimental data.