Mutations in a human ROBO gene disrupt hindbrain axon pathway crossing and morphogenesis

The mechanisms controlling axon guidance are of fundamental importance in understanding brain development. Growing corticospinal and somatosensory axons cross the midline in the medulla to reach their targets and thus form the basis of contralateral motor control and sensory input. The motor and sensory projections appeared uncrossed in patients with horizontal gaze palsy with progressive scoliosis (HGPPS). In patients affected with HGPPS, we identified mutations in the ROBO3 gene, which shares homology with roundabout genes important in axon guidance in developing Drosophila, zebrafish, and mouse. Like its murine homolog Rig1/Robo3, but unlike other Robo proteins, ROBO3 is required for hindbrain axon midline crossing.     

The Physcomitrella genome reveals evolutionary insights into the conquest of land by plants

We report the draft genome sequence of the model moss Physcomitrella patens and compare its features with those of flowering plants, from which it is separated by more than 400 million years, and unicellular aquatic algae. This comparison reveals genomic changes concomitant with the evolutionary movement to land, including a general increase in gene family complexity; loss of genes associated with aquatic environments (e.g., flagellar arms); acquisition of genes for tolerating terrestrial stresses (e.g., variation in temperature and water availability); and the development of the auxin and abscisic acid signaling pathways for coordinating multicellular growth and dehydration response. The Physcomitrella genome provides a resource for phylogenetic inferences about gene function and for experimental analysis of plant processes through this plant's unique facility for reverse genetics.     

Ceramide triggers budding of exosome vesicles into multivesicular endosomes

Intraluminal vesicles of multivesicular endosomes are either sorted for cargo degradation into lysosomes or secreted as exosomes into the extracellular milieu. The mechanisms underlying the sorting of membrane into the different populations of intraluminal vesicles are unknown. Here, we find that cargo is segregated into distinct subdomains on the endosomal membrane and that the transfer of exosome-associated domains into the lumen of the endosome did not depend on the function of the ESCRT (endosomal sorting complex required for transport) machinery, but required the sphingolipid ceramide. Purified exosomes were enriched in ceramide, and the release of exosomes was reduced after the inhibition of neutral sphingomyelinases. These results establish a pathway in intraendosomal membrane transport and exosome formation.     

Visualization and functional analysis of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase lattices

Positive-strand RNA viruses such as poliovirus replicate their genomes on intracellular membranes of their eukaryotic hosts. Electron microscopy has revealed that purified poliovirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase forms planar and tubular oligomeric arrays. The structural integrity of these arrays correlates with cooperative RNA binding and RNA elongation and is sensitive to mutations that disrupt intermolecular contacts predicted by the polymerase structure. Membranous vesicles isolated from poliovirus-infected cells contain structures consistent with the presence of two-dimensional polymerase arrays on their surfaces during infection. Therefore, host cytoplasmic membranes may function as physical foundations for two-dimensional polymerase arrays, conferring the advantages of surface catalysis to viral RNA replication.     

Improving the health of the global poor

We analyzed the technical basis for a major global program to reduce disease among the poor. Effective interventions exist against the few diseases which most account for excess mortality among the poor. Achieving high coverage of effective interventions requires a well-functioning health system, as well as overcoming a set of financial and nonfinancial constraints. The annual incremental cost would be between $40 billion and $52 billion by 2015 in 83 low-income and sub-Saharan African countries. Such a program is feasible and would avoid millions of child, maternal, and adult deaths annually in poor countries.     

Heating of basalts with a carbon dioxide laser

Basalts heated strongly with focused infrared laser radiation vaporized and splattered. Electron microprobe analyses of condensate, ejecta, and residue show strong vapor fractionation trends which, for some elements, are different from what would be expected theoretically and from previously reported data on more siliceous materials. It appears that solution effects can account for these differences. Heating of materials by a powerful focused laser beam for the purpose of study of vapor fractionation is a convenient technique that is more versatile than previous methods such as heating in solar or arc image furnaces.     

Microscopic view of structural phase transitions induced by shock waves

Multimillion-atom molecular-dynamics simulations are used to investigate the shock-induced phase transformation of solid iron. Above a critical shock strength, many small close-packed grains nucleate in the shock-compressed body-centered cubic crystal growing on a picosecond time scale to form larger, energetically favored grains. A split two-wave shock structure is observed immediately above this threshold, with an elastic precursor ahead of the lagging transformation wave. For even higher shock strengths, a single, overdriven wave is obtained. The dynamics and orientation of the developing close-packed grains depend on the shock strength and especially on the crystallographic shock direction. Orientational relations between the unshocked and shocked regions are similar to those found for the temperature-driven martensitic transformation in iron and its alloys.     

三种不同方式免疫鸡人工感染MDV后外周血酸性—α—醋酸酯酶阳性淋巴细胞动态变化的对比观察

本文对火鸡疱疹病毒苗(HVT);灭活的马立克氏病毒苗(IMDV)和二者混合的双价苗等免疫过的雏鸡,人工接种鸡马立克氏病毒(MDV)后外周血的酸性—α—醋酸萘酯酶阳性(ANAE+)淋巴细胞的平均百分数(APARL)进行了动态观察。结果表明:免疫雏鸡在接种后7～70天,ANAE+淋巴细胞的平均百分数逐     

Eyes have a role in photoperiodic control of sexual activity of coturnix

In blinded Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) encephalic photoreception of the stimulus from long photoperiods is sufficient to induce and maintain normal gonadal function in females (egg laying) and in males (enlargement of the cloacal gland). However, the termination of sexual activity by short days is dependent on these birds having experienced long days at the time of blinding.