ALBERT

Description: Well defined productivity-precipitation relationships of ecosystems are needed as benchmarks for the validation of land-models used for future projections. The productivity-precipitation relationship may be studied in two ways: the spatial approach relates differences in productivity to those in precipitation among sites along a precipitation gradient (the spatial fit, with a steeper slope); the temporal approach relates inter-annual productivity changes to variation in precipitation within sites (the temporal fits, with flatter slopes). Precipitation-reduction experiments in natural ecosystems represent a complement to the fits, because they can reduce precipitation below the natural range and are thus well suited to study potential effects of climate drying. Here, we analyze the effects of dry treatments in eleven multi-year precipitation-manipulation experiments, focusing on changes in the temporal fit. We expected that structural changes in the dry treatments would occur in some experiments, thereby reducing the intercept of the temporal fit and displacing the productivity-precipitation relationship downward the spatial fit. The majority of experiments (72%) showed that dry treatments did not alter the temporal fit. This implies that current temporal fits are to be preferred over the spatial fit to benchmark land-model projections of productivity under future climate within the precipitation ranges covered by the experiments. Moreover, in two experiments, the intercept of the temporal fit unexpectedly increased due to mechanisms that reduced either water- or nutrient losses. The expected decrease of the intercept was observed in only one experiment, and only when distinguishing between the late and the early phases of the experiment. This implies that we currently do not know at which precipitation-reduction level or at which experimental duration structural changes will start to alter ecosystem productivity. Our study highlights the need for experiments with multiple, including more extreme, dry treatments, to identify the precipitation boundaries within which the current temporal fits remain valid. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Description: In both metazoan development and metastatic cancer, migrating cells must carry out a detailed, complex program of sensing cues, binding substrates, and moving their cytoskeletons. The linker cell in Caenorhabditis elegans males undergoes a stereotyped migration that guides gonad organogenesis, occurs with precise timing, and requires the nuclear hormone receptor...

Description: Analytical Chemistry DOI: 10.1021/ac3014548

Description: Non-syndromic arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC) is characterized by multiple congenital contractures resulting from reduced fetal mobility. Genetic mapping and whole exome sequencing (WES) were performed in 31 multiplex and/or consanguineous undiagnosed AMC families. Although this approach identified known AMC genes, we here report pathogenic mutations in two new genes. Homozygous frameshift mutations in CNTNAP1 were found in four unrelated families. Patients showed a marked reduction in motor nerve conduction velocity (〈10 m/s) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of sciatic nerve in the index cases revealed severe abnormalities of both nodes of Ranvier width and myelinated axons. CNTNAP1 encodes CASPR, an essential component of node of Ranvier domains which underlies saltatory conduction of action potentials along the myelinated axons, an important process for neuronal function. A homozygous missense mutation in adenylate cyclase 6 gene ( ADCY6 ) was found in another family characterized by a lack of myelin in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) as determined by TEM. Morpholino knockdown of the zebrafish orthologs led to severe and specific defects in peripheral myelin in spite of the presence of Schwann cells. ADCY6 encodes a protein that belongs to the adenylate cyclase family responsible for the synthesis of cAMP. Elevation of cAMP can mimic axonal contact in vitro and upregulates myelinating signals. Our data indicate an essential and so far unknown role of ADCY6 in PNS myelination likely through the cAMP pathway. Mutations of genes encoding proteins of Ranvier domains or involved in myelination of Schwann cells are responsible for novel and severe human axoglial diseases.

Description: Laanisto and Hutchings claim that the local species pool is a more important predictor of local plant species richness than biomass and that when the species pool is considered, there is no hump-backed relationship between biomass and richness. However, we show that by calculating a more appropriate measure of species pool, community completeness, both regional and local processes shape local richness.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Fraser, Lauchlan H -- Partel, Meelis -- Pither, Jason -- Jentsch, Anke -- Sternberg, Marcelo -- Zobel, Martin -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Dec 4;350(6265):1177. doi: 10.1126/science.aad4874.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC, Canada. lfraser@tru.ca. ; Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. ; Department of Biology, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC, Canada. ; Department of Disturbance Ecology, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany. ; Department of Molecular Biology and Ecology of Plants, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26785471" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The search for predictions of species diversity across environmental gradients has challenged ecologists for decades. The humped-back model (HBM) suggests that plant diversity peaks at intermediate productivity; at low productivity few species can tolerate the environmental stresses, and at high productivity a few highly competitive species dominate. Over time the HBM has become increasingly controversial, and recent studies claim to have refuted it. Here, by using data from coordinated surveys conducted throughout grasslands worldwide and comprising a wide range of site productivities, we provide evidence in support of the HBM pattern at both global and regional extents. The relationships described here provide a foundation for further research into the local, landscape, and historical factors that maintain biodiversity.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Fraser, Lauchlan H -- Pither, Jason -- Jentsch, Anke -- Sternberg, Marcelo -- Zobel, Martin -- Askarizadeh, Diana -- Bartha, Sandor -- Beierkuhnlein, Carl -- Bennett, Jonathan A -- Bittel, Alex -- Boldgiv, Bazartseren -- Boldrini, Ilsi I -- Bork, Edward -- Brown, Leslie -- Cabido, Marcelo -- Cahill, James -- Carlyle, Cameron N -- Campetella, Giandiego -- Chelli, Stefano -- Cohen, Ofer -- Csergo, Anna-Maria -- Diaz, Sandra -- Enrico, Lucas -- Ensing, David -- Fidelis, Alessandra -- Fridley, Jason D -- Foster, Bryan -- Garris, Heath -- Goheen, Jacob R -- Henry, Hugh A L -- Hohn, Maria -- Jouri, Mohammad Hassan -- Klironomos, John -- Koorem, Kadri -- Lawrence-Lodge, Rachael -- Long, Ruijun -- Manning, Pete -- Mitchell, Randall -- Moora, Mari -- Muller, Sandra C -- Nabinger, Carlos -- Naseri, Kamal -- Overbeck, Gerhard E -- Palmer, Todd M -- Parsons, Sheena -- Pesek, Mari -- Pillar, Valerio D -- Pringle, Robert M -- Roccaforte, Kathy -- Schmidt, Amanda -- Shang, Zhanhuan -- Stahlmann, Reinhold -- Stotz, Gisela C -- Sugiyama, Shu-ichi -- Szentes, Szilard -- Thompson, Don -- Tungalag, Radnaakhand -- Undrakhbold, Sainbileg -- van Rooyen, Margaretha -- Wellstein, Camilla -- Wilson, J Bastow -- Zupo, Talita -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jul 17;349(6245):302-5. doi: 10.1126/science.aab3916.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC, Canada. lfraser@tru.ca. ; Department of Biology, University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus, Kelowna, BC, Canada. ; Department of Disturbance Ecology, BayCEER, Uni- versity of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany. ; Department of Molecular Biology and Ecology of Plants, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel. ; Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. ; Faculty of Natural Resources College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Iran. ; MTA Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Vacratot, Hungary, and School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia. ; Department of Biogeography, BayCEER, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany. ; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Manhattan, KS 66047, USA. ; Department of Biology, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. ; Department of Botany, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. ; Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. ; Applied Behavioural Ecology and Ecosystem Research Unit, University of South Africa, Johannesberg, South Africa. ; Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal (IMBIV-CONICET) and Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Cordoba, Espana. ; School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy. ; School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. ; Departamento de Botanica, UNESP - Univ. Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro, Brazil. ; Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA. ; Department of Biology, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA. ; Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA. ; Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. ; Department of Botany, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary. ; Department of Natural Resources, Islamic Azad University, Nour Branch, Iran. ; Department of Botany, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. ; International Centre for Tibetan Plateau Ecosystem Management, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China. ; Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, CH-3013, Bern, Switzerland. ; Department of Ecology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. ; Faculty of Agronomy, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. ; Department of Range and Watershed Management, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. ; Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. ; Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC, Canada. ; Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Japan. ; Institute of Plant Production, Szent Istvan University, Godollo, Hungary. ; Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge Research Centre, Lethbridge, AB, Canada. ; Department of Plant Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. ; Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy. ; Department of Botany, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Landcare Research, Dunedin, New Zealand.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26185249" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Tredennick et al. criticize one of our statistical analyses and emphasize the low explanatory power of models relating productivity to diversity. These criticisms do not detract from our key findings, including evidence consistent with the unimodal constraint relationship predicted by the humped-back model and evidence of scale sensitivities in the form and strength of the relationship.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Pither, Jason -- Fraser, Lauchlan H -- Jentsch, Anke -- Sternberg, Marcelo -- Zobel, Martin -- Cahill, James -- Beierkuhnlein, Carl -- Bartha, Sandor -- Bennett, Jonathan A -- Boldgiv, Bazartseren -- Brown, Leslie R -- Cabido, Marcelo -- Campetella, Giandiego -- Carlyle, Cameron N -- Chelli, Stefano -- Csergo, Anna Maria -- Diaz, Sandra -- Enrico, Lucas -- Ensing, David -- Fidelis, Alessandra -- Garris, Heath W -- Henry, Hugh A L -- Hohn, Maria -- Klironomos, John -- Koorem, Kadri -- Lawrence-Lodge, Rachael -- Manning, Peter -- Mitchell, Randall J -- Moora, Mari -- Pillar, Valerio D -- Stotz, Gisela C -- Sugiyama, Shu-ichi -- Szentes, Szilard -- Tungalag, Radnaakhand -- Undrakhbold, Sainbileg -- Wellstein, Camilla -- Zupo, Talita -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Jan 29;351(6272):457. doi: 10.1126/science.aad8019.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biology, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC, Canada. jason.pither@ubc.ca. ; Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC, Canada. ; Department of Disturbance Ecology, BayCEER, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany. ; Department of Molecular Biology and Ecology of Plants, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel. ; Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. ; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. ; Department of Biogeography, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany. ; Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Vacratot, Hungary. School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia. ; Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. ; Ecology Group, Department of Biology, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. ; Department of Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, Florida, South Africa. ; Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina. ; School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, Plant Diversity and Ecosystems Management Unit, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy. ; Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. ; School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. ; Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal (IMBIV), National Scientific and Technical Research Council and Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina. ; Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. ; Departamento de Botanica, UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil. ; Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. ; Department of Botany, Faculty of Horticultural Science, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary. ; Department of Biology, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC, Canada. ; Department of Botany, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. ; Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft fur Naturforschung, Germany. ; Department of Biology, University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA. ; Department of Ecology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. ; Faculty of Agriculture and Life Science, Hirosaki University, Aomori, Japan. ; Institute of Plant Production, Szent Istvan University, Godollo, Hungary. ; Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26823419" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: We use high-spectral resolution ( R  〉 8000) data covering 3800–13 000 Å to study the physical conditions of the broad-line region (BLR) of nine nearby Seyfert 1 galaxies. Up to six broad H i lines are present in each spectrum. A comparison – for the first time using simultaneous optical to near-infrared observations – to photoionization calculations with our devised simple scheme yields the extinction to the BLR at the same time as determining the density and photon flux, and hence distance from the nucleus, of the emitting gas. This points to a typical density for the H i emitting gas of 10 11  cm –3 and shows that a significant amount of this gas lies at regions near the dust sublimation radius, consistent with theoretical predictions. We also confirm that in many objects, the line ratios are far from case B, the best-fitting intrinsic broad-line Hα/H β ratios being in the range 2.5–6.6 as derived with our photoionization modelling scheme. The extinction to the BLR, based on independent estimates from H i and He ii lines, is A V  ≤ 3 for Seyfert 1–1.5s, while Seyfert 1.8–1.9s have A V in the range 4–8. A comparison of the extinction towards the BLR and narrow-line region (NLR) indicates that the structure obscuring the BLR exists on scales smaller than the NLR. This could be the dusty torus, but dusty nuclear spirals or filaments could also be responsible. The ratios between the X-ray absorbing column N H and the extinction to the BLR are consistent with the Galactic gas-to-dust ratio if N H variations are considered.

Description: Author(s): R. Hong, A. Leredde, Y. Bagdasarova, X. Fléchard, A. García, A. Knecht, P. Müller, O. Naviliat-Cuncic, J. Pedersen, E. Smith, M. Sternberg, D. W. Storm, H. E. Swanson, F. Wauters, and D. Zumwalt The accurate determination of atomic final states following nuclear β decay plays an important role in several experiments. In particular, the charge state distributions of ions following nuclear β decay are important for determinations of the β − ν angular correlation with improved precision. Beyond ... [Phys. Rev. A 96, 053411] Published Mon Nov 13, 2017

Description: Proteomic analysis of rare cells in heterogeneous environments presents difficult challenges. Systematic methods are needed to enrich, identify, and quantify proteins expressed in specific cells in complex biological systems including multicellular plants and animals. Here, we have engineered a Caenorhabditis elegans phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase capable of tagging proteins with the reactive...