Free-radical oxidants in natural waters

Photooxidation of cumene (isopropylbenzene) and pyridine in dilute solution in natural waters gives products characteristic of reactions with alkylperoxy (RO(2).) and hydroxyl (HO.) radicals. On the basis of the rates of formation of the products, the average concentrations of RO(2). and HO. are estimated to be about 10(-9) and 10(-17) mole per liter, respectively. The concentration of RO(2). is large enough that, for some classes of reactive chemicals, oxidation can be an important process in natural waters.     

Brachiopods in mud: resolution of a dilemma

Assumptions made from studies of sparse living faunas of brachiopods, namely, that they are intolerant of mud, that the free-lying habit is confined to species without pedicles, and that the pedicle of articulate brachiopods is uniform in structure and function, do not withstand critical examination. Studies in New Zealand show that some species in the same area occur in both attached and free-lying populations. Individuals cannot always be differentiated morphologically, but the structure of populations from hard and soft substrates is distinctive. Attachment to a substrate appears to be a larval rather than an adult requirement in most species.     

Radiocarbon dating of East african lake levels

The fluctuations of the key East African lakes discussed are summarized in Fig. 4 which also includes the available evidence from Lake Rukwa (42) and Lake Chad (43) Exceot for Lake Victoria, all of these now lack surface outlets and are situated in much drier climates than the major lakes of the Western Rift Valley, which remain filled to their overflow levels. The apparent differendes among the fluctuations of the lakes are partly due to differendes in the nature of the evidence or the intensity of research or both, although there must also have been important local differences in the histories of the lakes Yet the consistencies are far more striking, most notably the coincidence of early Holocene high stands. Between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago, it seems that lakes in many parts of tropical Africa were greatly enlarged. Where evidence for the previous span of time is well resolved, it appears that transgressions leading to this high stand began about 12,000 years ago, and evidende from three basins (Victoria, Nakuru, and Chad) indicates a pause or minor recession just at or before 10,000 years ago. Wherever information is available for the period preceding 12,000 years ago, it can consistentlybe shown that lakes were much small-er . Several basins (Rudolf, Nakuru, and Chad) also show traces of much earlier phases of lake expansion. which are not yet well dated but which all occurred more then 20,000 years ago. The Holocene record subsequent to the maximum of 10,00 to 8,000 years ago is more complex. Three basins (Rudolf, Nakuru, and Chad) show an apparently concordant, positive oscillation at some point between 6000 and 4000 years ago, but it is uncertain how widely this episode is represented. Although many of these lakes that are now closed filled to overflowing at least once during the late Quaternary, it is evident from Fig. 4 that the periods of expansion were short-lived compared with phases of contraction to levels near those of today. This pattern may be in accord with fragmentary evidence from lower and middle Pleistocene formations, such as those of Olduvai(44)and Paninj (45), within which some relatively short-term lake expansions can be documented, but which lack evidence for any marked long-term departure from a balance of evaporation and precipitation similar to the present one Further, this pattern of brief moist pulsations, with a duration of perhaps 2000 to 5000 years, is also suggested by other late Pleistocene and Holocene sequences (based primarily on geomorphological and palynological evidence) from the Saharan area, Angola, and South Africa (46). In default of radiometric dating, such complex successions of relatively brief moist intervals provide few stratigraphic markers of broad applicability. This, together with the fact that vegetation, weathering processes, montane glaciers, lake size, lake salinity, and so forth are all likely to reflect the diverse aspects of Climatic change differently, underscores the strictures of Cooke (2) and Flint (3) against the use of pluvials and intrlvasas a basis for subdividing Quaternary time in Africa. Positive correlations between high-latitude glacial advances or maxima and intervals of high lake levels have been demonstrated or suggested for many areas of mid-latitude North America and Eurasia (47), and similar patterns have often been regarded as probable for tropical Africa as well. However, the evidence summarized above shows a notable lack of such correlations for the tropical lakes considered here. If glaciation and tropical lake levels were connected at all, then a far more complex-delayed, multiplefactor, or inverse-relationship must be sought for the late Quaternary (48). This renders the introduction of new climato-stratigraphic terms such as hypothermal and interstadial (49) of questionable value in East Africa. Further, whereas the so-called pluvial lakes of higher latitudes were probably due primarily to reduced evaporation (50), our computations for the early Holocene lakes Nakuru and Naivasha, as well as for the oscillations of Lake Rudolf and Lake Victoria in recent decades, suggest that many or most of the high tropical lake levels where associated with a modest but significant increase in precipitation.     

Small phytoplankton and carbon export from the surface ocean

Autotrophic picoplankton dominate primary production over large oceanic regions but are believed to contribute relatively little to carbon export from surface layers. Using analyses of data from the equatorial Pacific Ocean and Arabian Sea, we show that the relative direct and indirect contribution of picoplankton to export is proportional to their total net primary production, despite their small size. We suggest that all primary producers, not just the large cells, can contribute to export from the surface layer of the ocean at rates proportional to their production rates.     

Genome streamlining in a cosmopolitan oceanic bacterium

The SAR11 clade consists of very small, heterotrophic marine alpha-proteobacteria that are found throughout the oceans, where they account for about 25% of all microbial cells. Pelagibacter ubique, the first cultured member of this clade, has the smallest genome and encodes the smallest number of predicted open reading frames known for a free-living microorganism. In contrast to parasitic bacteria and archaea with small genomes, P. ubique has complete biosynthetic pathways for all 20 amino acids and all but a few cofactors. P. ubique has no pseudogenes, introns, transposons, extrachromosomal elements, or inteins; few paralogs; and the shortest intergenic spacers yet observed for any cell.     

Single-molecule kinetics of lambda exonuclease reveal base dependence and dynamic disorder

We used a multiplexed approach based on flow-stretched DNA to monitor the enzymatic digestion of lambda-phage DNA by individual bacteriophage lambda exonuclease molecules. Statistical analyses of multiple single-molecule trajectories observed simultaneously reveal that the catalytic rate is dependent on the local base content of the substrate DNA. By relating single-molecule kinetics to the free energies of hydrogen bonding and base stacking, we establish that the melting of a base from the DNA is the rate-limiting step in the catalytic cycle. The catalytic rate also exhibits large fluctuations independent of the sequence, which we attribute to conformational changes of the enzyme-DNA complex.     

Control of stress-dependent cardiac growth and gene expression by a microRNA

The heart responds to diverse forms of stress by hypertrophic growth accompanied by fibrosis and eventual diminution of contractility, which results from down-regulation of alpha-myosin heavy chain (alphaMHC) and up-regulation of betaMHC, the primary contractile proteins of the heart. We found that a cardiac-specific microRNA (miR-208) encoded by an intron of the alphaMHC gene is required for cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, fibrosis, and expression of betaMHC in response to stress and hypothyroidism. Thus, the alphaMHC gene, in addition to encoding a major cardiac contractile protein, regulates cardiac growth and gene expression in response to stress and hormonal signaling through miR-208.