Islands of euchromatin-like sequence and expressed polymorphic sequences within the short arm of human chromosome 21.

The goals of the human genome project did not include sequencing of the heterochromatic regions. We describe here an initial sequence of 1.1 Mb of the short arm of human chromosome 21 (HSA21p), estimated to be 10% of 21p. This region contains extensive euchromatic-like sequence and includes on average one transcript every 100 kb. These transcripts show multiple inter- and intrachromosomal copies, and extensive copy number and sequence variability. The sequencing of the "heterochromatic" regions of the human genome is likely to reveal many additional functional elements and provide important evolutionary information.

Bonded, Thin-Lift, Non-Reinforced Portland Cement Concrete Resurfacing, HR-191, 1980

A Research Project involving two, three, four and five inches of bonded Portland Cement Concrete Overlay on a 1.3 mile Portland Cement Concrete pavement was conducted in Clayton County, Iowa, during September, 1977, centering on the following objectives: 1. Determine the mixing and proportioning procedures required in using a conventional, central mix proportioning plant to produce a dense Portland Cement Concrete mixture using standard mixes with super-water reducing admixtures; 2. Determine the economics, longevity and maintenance performance of a bonded, thin-lift, non-reinforced Portland Cement Concrete resurfacing course using conventional procedures, equipment and concrete paving mixtures both with and without super-water reducing admixtures; 3. Determine if an adequate bond between the existing pavement and an overlay of thin-lift, dense, non-reinforced Portland Cement Concrete can be obtained with only special surface cleaning and no surface removal or grinding.

Thin Bonded Concrete Overlay with Fast Track Concrete, Final Report, HR-531, 1990

Pavements have been overlaid with thin bonded portland cement concrete (PCC) for several years. These projects have had traffic detoured for a period of 5-10 days. These detours are unacceptable to the traveling public and result in severe criticism. The use of thin bonded fast track overlay was promoted to allow a thin bonded PCC overlay with minimal disruption of local traffic. This project demonstrated the concept of using one lane of the roadway to maintain traffic while the overlay was placed on the other and then with the rapid strength gain of the fast track concrete, the construction and local traffic is maintained on the newly placed, thin bonded overlay. The goals of this project were: 1. Traffic usage immediately after placement and finishing. 2. Reduce traffic disruption on a single lane to less than 5 hours. 3. Reduce traffic disruption on a given section of two-lane roadway to less than 2 days. 4. The procedure must be economically viable and competitive with existing alternatives. 5. Design life for new construction equivalent to or in excess of conventional pavements. 6. A 20 year minimum design life for rehabilitated pavements.

Thin Bonded Concrete Resurfacing U.S. 34 West Burlington, Iowa, HR-34

The Experimental Project was designated as Research Project No. HR-34, sponsored by the Iowa Highway Research Board and constructed by the Iowa Highway Commission. Construction was supervised cooperatively by Engineers of the Iowa Highway Commission and the Portland Cement Association. The objective of the experiment is to study the behavior of relatively thin portland cement concrete resurfacing courses placed with bond on old concrete pavements. The phase of the problem being studied now, involves only pavements in which the old concrete is structurally sound.

Diffusion tensor echo planar imaging using surface coil transceiver with a semiadiabatic RF pulse sequence at 14.1T.

Diffusion magnetic resonance studies of the brain are typically performed using volume coils. Although in human brain this leads to a near optimal filling factor, studies of rodent brain must contend with the fact that only a fraction of the head volume can be ascribed to the brain. The use of surface coil as transceiver increases Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), reduces radiofrequency power requirements and opens the possibility of parallel transmit schemes, likely to allow efficient acquisition schemes, of critical importance for reducing the long scan times implicated in diffusion tensor imaging. This study demonstrates the implementation of a semiadiabatic echo planar imaging sequence (echo time=40 ms, four interleaves) at 14.1T using a quadrature surface coil as transceiver. It resulted in artifact free images with excellent SNR throughout the brain. Diffusion tensor derived parameters obtained within the rat brain were in excellent agreement with reported values.

Molecular hydrogen diffusion in nanostructured amorphous silicon thin films

We study hydrogen stability and its evolution during thermal annealing in nanostructured amorphous silicon thin films. From the simultaneous measurement of heat and hydrogen desorption, we obtain the experimental evidence of molecular diffusion in these materials. In addition, we introduce a simple diffusion model which shows good agreement with the experimental data

Color differences among feral pigeons (Columba livia) are not attributable to sequence variation in the coding region of the melanocortin-1 receptor gene (MC1R)

Genetic variation at the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene is correlated with melanin color variation in many birds. Feral pigeons (Columba livia) show two major melanin-based colorations: a red coloration due to pheomelanic pigment and a black coloration due to eumelanic pigment. Furthermore, within each color type, feral pigeons display continuous variation in the amount of melanin pigment present in the feathers, with individuals varying from pure white to a full dark melanic color. Coloration is highly heritable and it has been suggested that it is under natural or sexual selection, or both. Our objective was to investigate whether MC1R allelic variants are associated with plumage color in feral pigeons.We sequenced 888 bp of the coding sequence of MC1R among pigeons varying both in the type, eumelanin or pheomelanin, and the amount of melanin in their feathers. We detected 10 non-synonymous substitutions and 2 synonymous substitution but none of them were associated with a plumage type. It remains possible that non-synonymous substitutions that influence coloration are present in the short MC1R fragment that we did not sequence but this seems unlikely because we analyzed the entire functionally important region of the gene.Our results show that color differences among feral pigeons are probably not attributable to amino acid variation at the MC1R locus. Therefore, variation in regulatory regions of MC1R or variation in other genes may be responsible for the color polymorphism of feral pigeons.

Full-genome sequence of the plant growth-promoting bacterium Pseudomonas protegens CHA0.

We report the complete genome sequence of the free-living bacterium Pseudomonas protegens (formerly Pseudomonas fluorescens) CHA0, a model organism used in plant-microbe interactions, biological control of phytopathogens, and bacterial genetics.

Complete nucleotide sequence of Birmingham IncP alpha plasmids. Compilation and comparative analysis.

The IncP alpha promiscuous plasmid (R18, R68, RK2, RP1 and RP4) comprises 60,099 bp of nucleotide sequence, encoding at least 74 genes. About 40 kb of the genome, designated the IncP core and including all essential replication and transfer functions, can be aligned with equivalent sequences in the IncP beta plasmid R751. The compiled IncP alpha sequence revealed several previously unidentified reading frames that are potential genes. IncP alpha plasmids carry genetic information very efficiently: the coding sequences of the genes are closely packed but rarely overlap, and occupy almost 86% of the genome's nucleotide sequence. All of the 74 genes should be expressed, although there is as yet experimental evidence for expression of only 60 of them. Six examples of tandem-in-frame initiation sites specifying two gene products each are known. Two overlapping gene arrangements occupy different reading frames of the same region. Intergenic regions include most of the 25 promoters; transcripts are usually polycistronic. Translation of most of the open reading frames seems to be initiated independently, each from its own ribosomal binding and initiation site, although, a few cases of coupled translation have been reported. The most frequently used initiation codon is AUG but translation for a few open reading frames begins at GUG or UUG. The most common stop-codon is UGA followed by UAA and then UAG. Regulatory circuits are complex and largely dependent on two components of the central control operon. KorA and KorB are transcriptional repressors controlling at least seven operons. KorA and KorB act synergistically in several cases by recognizing and binding to conserved nucleotide sequences. Twelve KorB binding sites were found around the IncP alpha sequence and these are conserved in R751 (IncP beta) with respect to both sequence and location. Replication of IncP alpha plasmids requires oriV and the plasmid-encoded initiator protein TrfA in combination with the host-encoded replication machinery. Conjugative plasmid transfer depends on two separate regions occupying about half of the genome. The primary segregational stability system designated Par/Mrs consists of a putative site-specific recombinase, a possible partitioning apparatus and a post-segregational lethality mechanism, all encoded in two divergent operons. Proteins related to the products of F sop and P1 par partitioning genes are separately encoded in the central control operon.

Revisiting G3BP1 as a RasGAP binding protein: sensitization of tumor cells to chemotherapy by the RasGAP 317-326 sequence does not involve G3BP1.

RasGAP is a multifunctional protein that controls Ras activity and that is found in chromosomal passenger complexes. It also negatively or positively regulates apoptosis depending on the extent of its cleavage by caspase-3. RasGAP has been reported to bind to G3BP1 (RasGAP SH3-domain-binding protein 1), a protein regulating mRNA stability and stress granule formation. The region of RasGAP (amino acids 317-326) thought to bind to G3BP1 corresponds exactly to the sequence within fragment N2, a caspase-3-generated fragment of RasGAP, that mediates sensitization of tumor cells to genotoxins. While assessing the contribution of G3BP1 in the anti-cancer function of a cell-permeable peptide containing the 317-326 sequence of RasGAP (TAT-RasGAP₃₁₇₋₃₂₆), we found that, in conditions where G3BP1 and RasGAP bind to known partners, no interaction between G3BP1 and RasGAP could be detected. TAT-RasGAP₃₁₇₋₃₂₆ did not modulate binding of G3BP1 to USP10, stress granule formation or c-myc mRNA levels. Finally, TAT-RasGAP₃₁₇₋₃₂₆ was able to sensitize G3BP1 knock-out cells to cisplatin-induced apoptosis. Collectively these results indicate that G3BP1 and its putative RasGAP binding region have no functional influence on each other. Importantly, our data provide arguments against G3BP1 being a genuine RasGAP-binding partner. Hence, G3BP1-mediated signaling may not involve RasGAP.

Petrology, geochemistry and geodynamic implications of Jurassic island arc magmatism as revealed by mafic volcanic rocks in the Mesozoic low-grade sequence, eastern Rhodope, Bulgaria

In the eastern Bulgarian Rhodope, mafic extrusive rocks and underlying greenschists are found in the Mesozoic low-grade unit, which represents the northern extension of similar sequences including the Evros ophiolites in Thrace (Greece). Both rock types define a suite of low-Ti tholeiitic basalts to transitional boninitic basaltic andesites and andesites and associated metapyroclastites (greenschists), intruded at its base by diorite dikes of a boninitic affinity. Mafic lavas and greenschists display large ion lithophile element (LILE) enrichment relative to high-field strength elements (HFSE), flat REE patterns of a slight light REE depletion, a strong island arc tholeiite (IAT) and weak MORB-like signature. All these rocks are characterized by negative Nb anomalies ascribed to arc lavas. They have positive epsilon Nd(i) values in the range of +4.87 to +6.09, approaching the lower limit of MORB-like source, and relatively high ((207)Pb/(204)Pb)(i) (15.57-15.663) at low ((206)Pb/(204)Pb)(i) (18.13-18.54) ratios. The Nd isotopic compositions coupled with trace element data imply a dominantly depleted MORB-like mantle source and a contribution of subduction modified LILE-enriched component derived from the mantle wedge. The diorite dike has a low eNdi value of -2.61 and is slightly more Pb radiogenic ((207)Pb/(204)Pb)(i) (15.64) and ((206)Pb/(204)Pb)(i) (18.56), respectively, reflecting crustal contamination. Petrologic and geochemical data indicate that the greenschists and mafic extrusive rocks represent a magmatic assemblage formed in an island arc setting. The magmatic suite is interpreted as representing an island arc-accretionary complex related to the southward subduction of the Meliata-Maliac ocean under the supra-subduction back-arc Vardar ocean/island arc system. Magmatic activity appears to have initiated in the north during the inception of the island arc system by the Early-Middle Jurassic time in the eastern Rhodope that most likely graded to back-arc spreading southwards as represented by the Late Jurassic MORB-type Samothraki Island ophiolites. This tectonic scenario is further constrained by paleotectonic reconstructions. The arc-trench system collided with the Rhodope in the Late Jurassic times. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Interpolating and sampling sequences in finite Riemann surfaces

We provide a description of the interpolating and sampling sequences on a space of holomorphic functions on a finite Riemann surface, where a uniform growth restriction is imposed on the holomorphic functions.

Sequence similarity between the viral cp gene and the transgene in transgenic papayas

The Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) coat protein transgene present in 'Rainbow' and 'SunUp' papayas disclose high sequence similarity (>89%) to the cp gene from PRSV BR and TH. Despite this, both isolates are able to break down the resistance in 'Rainbow', while only the latter is able to do so in 'SunUp'. The objective of this work was to evaluate the degree of sequence similarity between the cp gene in the challenge isolate and the cp transgene in transgenic papayas resistant to PRSV. The production of a hybrid virus containing the genome backbone of PRSV HA up to the Apa I site in the NIb gene, and downstream from there, the sequence of PRSV TH was undertaken. This hybrid virus, PRSV HA/TH, was obtained and used to challenge 'Rainbow', 'SunUp', and an R2 population derived from line 63-1, all resistant to PRSV HA. PRSV HA/TH broke down the resistance in both papaya varieties and in the 63-1 population, demonstrating that sequence similarity is a major factor in the mechanism of resistance used by transgenic papayas expressing the cp gene. A comparative analysis of the cp gene present in line 55-1 and 63-1-derived transgenic plants and in PRSV HA, BR, and TH was also performed.

A(-infinity)-interpolation in the ball

We give a necessary and sufficient condition for a sequence [ak}k in the unit ball of C° to be interpolating for the class A~°° of holomorphic functions with polynomial growth. The condition, which goes along the lines of the ones given by Berenstein and Li for some weighted spaces of entire functions and by Amar for H°° functions in the ball, is given in terms of the derivatives of m > n functions F Fm e A~°° vanishing on {ak)k.