The chemistry of sexual deception in an orchid-wasp pollination system

The "sexually deceptive" orchid Chiloglottis trapeziformis attracts males of its pollinator species, the thynnine wasp Neozeleboria cryptoides, by emitting a unique volatile compound, 2-ethyl-5-propylcyclohexan-1,3-dione, which is also produced by female wasps as a male-attracting sex pheromone.     

Cosmogenic and primordial radionuclides in lunar samples by nondestructive gamma-ray spectrometry

The (7)Be, (22)Na, (26)Al, (44)Ti, (46)SC, (48)V (51)Cr, (54)Mn, (56)Co, (57)Co, (57)CO, (40)K, (238)U, and (232)Th were measured in lunar fines and portions of three rocks. Major production of cosmogenic radionuclides is due to solar protons, thus their concentrations are far different than those in meteorites. Surface exposures of the rocks and fines are long compared with the 0.74 million year half-life of (26)Al. Lunar fines show substantially higher concentrations of low energy reaction products. The ratios of thorium to uranium are extremely constant at 3.8, which indicates very little geochemical differentiation and are in good agreement with a common nucleosynthesis for lunar and earth materials.     

European cretaceous flints on the coast of north america

Flint pebbles and nodules from the Upper Cretaceous chalks of Europe occur offshore and at many seaports along the Atlantic coast of North America, where they were brought as ship's ballast. Isolated pieces imported from Europe as gunflints also are present.     

Deep human genealogies reveal a selective advantage to be on an expanding wave front

Since their origin, human populations have colonized the whole planet, but the demographic processes governing range expansions are mostly unknown. We analyzed the genealogy of more than one million individuals resulting from a range expansion in Quebec between 1686 and 1960 and reconstructed the spatial dynamics of the expansion. We find that a majority of the present Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean population can be traced back to ancestors having lived directly on or close to the wave front. Ancestors located on the front contributed significantly more to the current gene pool than those from the range core, likely due to a 20% larger effective fertility of women on the wave front. This fitness component is heritable on the wave front and not in the core, implying that this life-history trait evolves during range expansions.     

Gold-198 Wires Used To Study Movements of Small Mammals

Eastern harvest mice, Reithrodontomys humulis humulis (Audubon and Bachman), were tagged with subcutaneously inserted 20 gauge gold-198 wires 10 mm long and varying in activity from 0.7 to 4.5 mc. None of the tags inserted by this method were lost or had any apparent effect on the animals. The movements of the tagged mice were successfully traced with a portable Geiger counter.     

Bypass of DNA lesions generated during anticancer treatment with cisplatin by DNA polymerase eta

DNA polymerase eta (Pol eta) is a eukaryotic lesion bypass polymerase that helps organisms to survive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and tumor cells to gain resistance against cisplatin-based chemotherapy. It allows cells to replicate across cross-link lesions such as 1,2-d(GpG) cisplatin adducts (Pt-GG) and UV-induced cis-syn thymine dimers. We present structural and biochemical analysis of how Pol eta copies Pt-GG-containing DNA. The damaged DNA is bound in an open DNA binding rim. Nucleotidyl transfer requires the DNA to rotate into an active conformation, driven by hydrogen bonding of the templating base to the dNTP. For the 3'dG of the Pt-GG, this step is accomplished by a Watson-Crick base pair to dCTP and is biochemically efficient and accurate. In contrast, bypass of the 5'dG of the Pt-GG is less efficient and promiscuous for dCTP and dATP as a result of the presence of the rigid Pt cross-link. Our analysis reveals the set of structural features that enable Pol eta to replicate across strongly distorting DNA lesions.     

Synchrony dynamics during initiation, failure, and rescue of the segmentation clock

The "segmentation clock" is thought to coordinate sequential segmentation of the body axis in vertebrate embryos. This clock comprises a multicellular genetic network of synchronized oscillators, coupled by intercellular Delta-Notch signaling. How this synchrony is established and how its loss determines the position of segmentation defects in Delta and Notch mutants are unknown. We analyzed the clock's synchrony dynamics by varying strength and timing of Notch coupling in zebra-fish embryos with techniques for quantitative perturbation of gene function. We developed a physical theory based on coupled phase oscillators explaining the observed onset and rescue of segmentation defects, the clock's robustness against developmental noise, and a critical point beyond which synchrony decays. We conclude that synchrony among these genetic oscillators can be established by simultaneous initiation and self-organization and that the segmentation defect position is determined by the difference between coupling strength and noise.     

稻瘟菌株CH63和TH16杂交后代毒性变异及其无毒基因组成

 报道了两个稻瘟菌株CH63和TH16的杂交后代在36个水稻品种上的致病性分离、遗传分析以及无毒基因组成的分析结果。78个子囊孢子菌株中呈现显著的致病性分离，共出现71种致病类型，在不同品种上分别出现1∶1、1∶3、3∶1、1∶7、1∶15和15∶1等的无毒性/毒性分离，表明供试菌株对不同品种的无毒性/毒性是一个或多个基因控制的。遗传学分析结果表明，亲本菌株对不同品种的无毒性/毒性控制存在多种类型。菌株CH63对品种K 59(Pi-t)、中98－18、特特普、T 641、C 102 TTP(Pi-4)、C 101 TTP 6、E No.11、农虎6号、C 101 PKT(Pi-4a)、C 105 TTP-1(Pi-4)、中156 和中98－19分别持有1个无毒基因；对品种1461选、6392选、麻谷泰引1号、Lemont、宫崎7号、Vandana、长香稻、青珍8号和珍优3号分别持有2个无毒基因；对于品种草笛（Pi-k）、品种20中－1 、C 104 LAC(Pi-1)、C 103 TTP(Pi-1+1b)、K 3(Pi-kh)、梅雨明 (Pi-km)和东农363分别持有2个以上无毒基因；亲本菌株对于品种四丰43、珍龙13、C101LAC和20中－2分别持有2个无毒基因，关东51、欧244持有2个以上的无毒基因，但因亲本菌株对品种的致病型一致，难以判断控制菌株对品种非亲和性的基因来源。