Environmental biology: heat reward for insect pollinators

In neotropical forests, adults of many large scarab beetle species spend most of their time inside the floral chambers of heat-producing flowers, where they feed and mate throughout the night and rest during the following day, before briefly flying to another flower. Here we measure floral temperatures in Philodendron solimoesense (Araceae) in French Guiana and the respiration rates of Cyclocephala colasi beetles at floral and ambient temperatures, and show that the the beetles' extra energy requirements for activity are 2.0-4.8 times greater outside the flower than inside it. This finding indicates that heat produced by the flower constitutes an important energy reward to pollinators, allowing them to feed and mate at a fraction of the energy cost that would be required outside the flower.     

Requirement for hsp70 in the mitochondrial matrix for translocation and folding of precursor proteins

By analysis of a temperature-sensitive yeast mutant, a heat-shock protein in the matrix of mitochondria, mitochondrial hsp70 (Ssc1p), is found to be involved both in translocation of nuclear-encoded precursor proteins across the mitochondrial membranes and in (re)folding of imported proteins in the matrix.     

Differentially methylated forms of histone H3 show unique association patterns with inactive human X chromosomes.

Studies of histone methylation have shown that H3 can be methylated at lysine 4 (Lys4) or lysine 9 (Lys9). Whereas H3-Lys4 methylation has been correlated with active gene expression, H3-Lys9 methylation has been linked to gene silencing and assembly of heterochromatin in mouse and Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The chromodomain of mouse HP1 (and Swi6 in S. pombe) binds H3 methylated at Lys9, and methylation at this site is thought to mark and promote heterochromatin assembly. We have used a well-studied model of mammalian epigenetic silencing, the human inactive X chromosome, to show that enrichment for H3 methylated at Lys9 is also a distinguishing mark of facultative heterochromatin. In contrast, H3 methylated at Lys4 is depleted in the inactive X chromosome, except in three 'hot spots' of enrichment along its length. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses further show that Lys9 methylation is associated with promoters of inactive genes, whereas Lys4 methylation is associated with active genes on the X chromosome. These data demonstrate that differential methylation at two distinct sites of the H3 amino terminus correlates with contrasting gene activities and may be part of a 'histone code' involved in establishing and maintaining facultative heterochromatin.     

铬铁合金电炉烟尘的性质及形成机理研究

通过对铬铁合金烟尘的微观结构、化学成分和物相组成的分析，发现铬铁合金烟尘主要是由小颗粒炉料直接卷入、电极孔飞溅、蒸发以及尾气管中化学反应产物组成。     

Admixture mapping for hypertension loci with genome-scan markers

Identification of genetic variants that contribute to risk of hypertension is challenging. As a complement to linkage and candidate gene association studies, we carried out admixture mapping using genome-scan microsatellite markers among the African American participants in the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Family Blood Pressure Program. This population was assumed to have experienced recent admixture from ancestral groups originating in Africa and Europe. We used a set of unrelated individuals from Nigeria to represent the African ancestral population and used the European Americans in the Family Blood Pressure Program to provide estimates of allele frequencies for the European ancestors. We genotyped a common set of 269 microsatellite markers in the three groups at the same laboratory. The distribution of marker location-specific African ancestry, based on multipoint analysis, was shifted upward in hypertensive cases versus normotensive controls, consistent with linkage to genes conferring susceptibility. This shift was largely due to a small number of loci, including five adjacent markers on chromosome 6q and two on chromosome 21q. These results suggest that chromosome 6q24 and 21q21 may contain genes influencing risk of hypertension in African Americans.     

Solar eclipses of Phobos and Deimos observed from the surface of Mars

The small martian satellites Phobos and Deimos orbit in synchronous rotation with inclinations of only 0.01 degrees and 0.92 degrees , respectively, relative to the planet's equatorial plane. Thus, an observer at near-equatorial latitudes on Mars could occasionally observe solar eclipses by these satellites (see ref. 1, for example). Because the apparent angular diameter of the satellites is much smaller than that of the Sun, however, such events are more appropriately referred to as transits. Transit data can be used for correcting and refining the orbital ephemerides of the moons. For example, Phobos is known to exhibit a secular acceleration that is caused by tidal dissipation within Mars. Long-term, accurate measurements are needed to refine the magnitude and origin of this dissipation within the martian interior as well as to refine the predicted orbital evolution of both satellites. Here we present observations of six transits of Phobos and Deimos across the solar disk from cameras on Mars aboard the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. These are the first direct imaging observations of satellites transiting the Sun from the surface of another planet.     

天空巡礼：双筒望远镜和大视场望远镜天文学

本书是一本长篇巨著．作者从春、夏、秋、冬各个季节的星空论述了恒星、恒星群、星云、星系、球状星团、行星、开放星团、银河及其亮星星云。书中生动地描述了这些可见天体，介绍了如何找到它们，讲解了它们在银河系旋臂结构中的位置，论述了用双筒望远镜和大视场望远镜可以观测到的令人惊奇的许多星系的事件，以及这些事件与我们的关系。书中收集了近100幅彩色和黑白照片，读者通过这些照片可以漫步在银河际空间。     

Blood-borne factors affecting vascular tone

Résumé La «vasoconstrictine» (Battelli 1905), c'est-à-dire l'ensemble des vasoconstricteurs «effectifs» dissous dans le plasma du lapin, consiste en un mélange de sérotonine, SVPx (substance non-identifiée) et d'histamine. Par l'usage d'une antisérotonine sélective, DBMC, et d'une mépyramine antihistaminique, il a été possible de reconnaître et d'isoler SVPx. La concentration des catécholamines dans le plasma n'est pas suffisante pour produire une contraction de la paroi d'une artère.

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This study was supported, in part, by grants from the Ontario Heart Foundation grant No. 5-5, and from the Medical Research Council of Canada, grant No. MA-2046.     

Localisation of the G gamma-, A gamma-, delta- and beta-globin genes on the short arm of human chromosome 11.

Human-mouse somatic cell hybrids have proved invaluable in assigning human genes to their respective human chromosomes. To date, the success of this approach has depended on identifying human proteins which are synthesised in hybrid cells containing a small number of human chromosomes. Consequently, chromosome assignment has been limited mainly to human proteins which are expressed in man-mouse somatic cell hybrids and for which a suitable assay, usually electrophoretic or immunological, exists to distinguish between the human and murine homologous proteins. This technique is therefore unsuitable for the assignment of those human genes which are expressed only in differential cells and not in hybrid cells. Here, we describe how nucleic acid hybridisation and restriction endonuclease mapping of DNA can be combined to test for the presence of human structural gene sequences within hybrid cell DNA. This method can be used to assign any purified human DNA sequence to a human chromosome, and does not require the DNA sequence to be expressed in man-mouse hybrid cells.