ALBERT

Description: A threat of irreversible damage should prompt action to mitigate climate change, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which serves as a basis for international climate policy. CO2-induced climate change is known to be largely irreversible on timescales of many centuries1, as simulated global mean temperature remains approximately constant for such periods following a complete cessation of carbon dioxide emissions while thermosteric sea level continues to rise1,2,3,4,5,6. Here we use simulations with the Canadian Earth System Model to show that ongoing regional changes in temperature and precipitation are significant, following a complete cessation of carbon dioxide emissions in 2100, despite almost constant global mean temperatures. Moreover, our projections show warming at intermediate depths in the Southern Ocean that is many times larger by the year 3000 than that realized in 2100. We suggest that a warming of the intermediate-depth ocean around Antarctica at the scale simulated for the year 3000 could lead to the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which would be associated with a rise in sea level of several metres2,7,8.

Description: A total of 19 naturally occurring bromophenols, with six new and 13 known structures, were isolated and identified from the methanolic extract of the marine red alga Rhodomela confervoides. The new compounds were identified by spectroscopic methods as 3,4-dibromo-5-((methylsulfonyl)methyl)benzene-1,2-diol (1), 3,4-dibromo-5-((2,3-dihydroxypropoxy)methyl)benzene-1,2-diol (2), 5-(aminomethyl)-3,4-dibromobenzene-1,2-diol (3), 2-(2,3-dibromo-4,5-dihydroxyphenyl)acetic acid (4), 2-methoxy-3-bromo-5-hydroxymethylphenol (5), and (E)-4-(2-bromo-4,5-dihydroxyphenyl)but-3-en-2-one (6). Each compound was evaluated for free radical scavenging activity against DPPH (α,α-diphenyl-β-dipicrylhydrazyl) and ABTS [2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)diammonium salt] radicals. Most of them exhibited potent activities stronger than or comparable to the positive controls butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and ascorbic acid. The results from this study suggest that R. confervoides is an excellent source of natural antioxidants, and inclusion of these antioxidant-rich algal components would likely help prevent the oxidative deterioration of food.

Description: Macroalgae have for centuries been consumed whole among the East Asian populations of China, Korea, and Japan. Due to the environment in which they grow, macroalgae produce unique and interesting biologically active compounds. Protein can account for up to 47% of the dry weight of macroalgae depending on species and time of cultivation and harvest. Peptides derived from marcoalgae are proven to have hypotensive effects in the human circulatory system. Hypertension is one of the major, yet controllable, risk factors in cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD is the main cause of death in Europe, accounting for over 4.3 million deaths each year. In the United States it affects one in three individuals. Hypotensive peptides derived from marine and other sources have already been incorporated into functional foods such as beverages and soups. The purpose of this review is to highlight the potential of heart health peptides from macroalgae and to discuss the feasibility of expanding the variety of foods these peptides may be used in.

Description: The conversion of alkylboranes to the corresponding alkanes is classically per-formed via protonolysis of alkylboranes. This simple reaction requires the use of severe reaction conditions, that is, treatment with a carboxylic acid at high temperature (〉150 °C). We report here a mild radical procedure for the transformation of organoboranes to alkanes. 4-tert-Butylcatechol, a well-established radical inhibitor and antioxidant, is acting as a source of hydrogen atoms. An efficient chain reaction is observed due to the exceptional reactivity of phenoxyl radicals toward alkylboranes. The reaction has been applied to a wide range of organoboron derivatives such as B-alkylcatecholboranes, trialkylboranes, pinacolboronates, and alkylboronic acids. Furthermore, the so far elusive rate constants for the hydrogen transfer between secondary alkyl radical and catechol derivatives have been experimentally determined. Interestingly, they are less than 1 order of magnitude slower than that of tin hydride at 80 °C, making catechols particularly attractive for a wide range of transformations involving C−C bond formation.

Description: Cell-based therapies, such as adoptive immunotherapy and stem-cell therapy, have received considerable attention as novel therapeutics in oncological research and clinical practice. The development of effective therapeutic strategies using tumor-targeted cells requires the ability to determine in vivo the location, distribution, and long-term viability of the therapeutic cell populations as well as their biological fate with respect to cell activation and differentiation. In conjunction with various noninvasive imaging modalities, cell-labeling methods, such as exogenous labeling or transfection with a reporter gene, allow visualization of labeled cells in vivo in real time, as well as monitoring and quantifying cell accumulation and function. Such cell-tracking methods also have an important role in basic cancer research, where they serve to elucidate novel biological mechanisms. In this Review, we describe the basic principles of cell-tracking methods, explain various approaches to cell tracking, and highlight recent examples for the application of such methods in animals and humans.

Description: Microscopy, confocal Raman spectroscopy and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) were used for in situ investigations of the CO2-hydrocarbon exchange process in gas hydrates and its driving forces. The study comprises the exposure of simple structure I CH4 hydrate and mixed structure II CH4–C2H6 and CH4–C3H8 hydrates to gaseous CO2 as well as the reverse reaction, i.e., the conversion of CO2-rich structure I hydrate into structure II mixed hydrate. In the case of CH4–C3H8 hydrates, a conversion in the presence of gaseous CO2 from a supposedly more stable structure II hydrate to a less stable structure I CO2-rich hydrate was observed. PXRD data show that the reverse process requires longer initiation times, and structural changes seem to be less complete. Generally, the exchange process can be described as a decomposition and reformation process, in terms of a rearrangement of molecules, and is primarily induced by the chemical potential gradient between hydrate phase and the provided gas phase. The results show furthermore the dependency of the conversion rate on the surface area of the hydrate phase, the thermodynamic stability of the original and resulting hydrate phase, as well as the mobility of guest molecules and formation kinetics of the resulting hydrate phase.

Description: Calculations of the size and density of atmospheric aerosols are complicated by the fact that they can exist at concentrations highly supersaturated with respect to dissolved salts and supercooled with respect to ice. Densities and apparent molar volumes of solutes in aqueous solutions containing the solutes H2SO4, HNO3, HCl, Na2SO4, NaNO3, NaCl, (NH4)2SO4, NH4NO3, and NH4Cl have been critically evaluated and represented using fitted equations from 0 to 50 °C or greater and from infinite dilution to concentrations saturated or supersaturated with respect to the dissolved salts. Using extrapolated densities of high-temperature solutions and melts, the relationship between density and concentration is extended to the hypothetical pure liquid solutes. Above a given reference concentration of a few mol kg−1, it is observed that density increases almost linearly with decreasing temperature, and comparisons with available data below 0 °C suggest that the fitted equations for density can be extrapolated to very low temperatures. As concentration is decreased below the reference concentration, the variation of density with temperature tends to that of water (which decreases as temperature is reduced below 3.98 °C). In this region below the reference concentration, and below 0 °C, densities are calculated using extrapolated apparent molar volumes which are constrained to agree at the reference concentrations with an equation for the directly fitted density. Calculated volume properties agree well with available data at low temperatures, for both concentrated and dilute solutions. Comparisons are made with literature data for temperatures of maximum density. Apparent molar volumes at infinite dilution are consistent, on a single ion basis, to better than ±0.1 cm3 mol−1 from 0 to 50 °C. Volume properties of aqueous NaHSO4, NaOH, and NH3 have also been evaluated, at 25 °C only. In part 2 of this work (ref 1) an ion interaction (Pitzer) model has been used to calculate apparent molar volumes of H2SO4 in 0−3 mol kg−1 aqueous solutions of the pure acid and to represent directly the effect of the HSO4− ↔ H+ + SO42− reaction. The results are incorporated into the treatment of aqueous H2SO4 density described here. Densities and apparent molar volumes from −20 to 50 °C, and from 0 to 100 wt % of solute, are tabulated for the electrolytes listed in the title and have also been incorporated into the extended aerosol inorganics model (E-AIM, http://www.aim.env.uea.ac.uk/aim/aim.php) together with densities of the solid salts and hydrates.

Description: Large-scale transcription profiling via direct cDNA sequencing provides important insights as to how foundation species cope with increasing climatic extremes predicted under global warming. Species distributed along a thermal cline, such as the ecologically important seagrass Zostera marina, provide an opportunity to assess temperature effects on gene expression as a function of their long-term adaptation to heat stress. We exposed a southern and northern European population of Zostera marina from contrasting thermal environments to a realistic heat wave in a common-stress garden. In a fully crossed experiment, eight cDNA libraries, each comprising ∼125 000 reads, were obtained during and after a simulated heat wave, along with nonstressed control treatments. Although gene-expression patterns during stress were similar in both populations and were dominated by classical heat-shock proteins, transcription profiles diverged after the heat wave. Gene-expression patterns in southern genotypes returned to control values immediately, but genotypes from the northern site failed to recover and revealed the induction of genes involved in protein degradation, indicating failed metabolic compensation to high sea-surface temperature. We conclude that the return of gene-expression patterns during recovery provides critical information on thermal adaptation in aquatic habitats under climatic stress. As a unifying concept for ecological genomics, we propose transcriptomic resilience, analogous to ecological resilience, as an important measure to predict the tolerance of individuals and hence the fate of local populations in the face of global warming.

Description: The use of molecular methods is altering our understanding of the microbial biosphere and the complexity of the tree of life. Here, we report a newly discovered uncultured plastid-bearing eukaryotic lineage named the rappemonads. Phylogenies using near-complete plastid ribosomal DNA (rDNA) operons demonstrate that this group represents an evolutionarily distinct lineage branching with haptophyte and cryptophyte algae. Environmental DNA sequencing revealed extensive diversity at North Atlantic, North Pacific, and European freshwater sites, suggesting a broad ecophysiology and wide habitat distribution. Quantitative PCR analyses demonstrate that the rappemonads are often rare but can form transient blooms in the Sargasso Sea, where high 16S rRNA gene copies mL-1 were detected in late winter. This pattern is consistent with these microbes being a member of the rare biosphere, whose constituents have been proposed to play important roles under ecosystem change. Fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed that cells from this unique lineage were 6.6 ± 1.2 x 5.7 ± 1.0 μm, larger than numerically dominant open-ocean phytoplankton, and appear to contain two to four plastids. The rappemonads are unique, widespread, putatively photosynthetic algae that are absent from present-day ecosystem models and current versions of the tree of life.

Description: Microbial degradation of substrates to terminal products is commonly understood as a unidirectional process. In individual enzymatic reactions, however, reversibility (reverse reaction and product back flux) is common. Hence, it is possible that entire pathways of microbial degradation are associated with back flux from the accumulating product pool through intracellular intermediates into the substrate pool. We investigated carbon and sulfur back flux during the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) with sulfate, one of the least exergonic microbial catabolic processes known. The involved enzymes must operate not far from the thermodynamic equilibrium. Such an energetic situation is likely to favor product back flux. Indeed, cultures of highly enriched archaeal–bacterial consortia, performing net AOM with unlabeled methane and sulfate, converted label from 14C-bicarbonate and 35S-sulfide to 14C-methane and 35S-sulfate, respectively. Back fluxes reached 5% and 13%, respectively, of the net AOM rate. The existence of catabolic back fluxes in the reverse direction of net reactions has implications for biogeochemical isotope studies. In environments where biochemical processes are close to thermodynamic equilibrium, measured fluxes of labeled substrates to products are not equal to microbial net rates. Detection of a reaction in situ by labeling may not even indicate a net reaction occurring in the direction of label conversion but may reflect the reverse component of a so far unrecognized net reaction. Furthermore, the natural isotopic composition of the substrate and product pool will be determined by both the forward and back flux. This finding may have to be considered in the interpretation of stable isotope records.