Target mimicry provides a new mechanism for regulation of microRNA activity

MicroRNAs (miRNA) regulate key aspects of development and physiology in animals and plants. These regulatory RNAs act as guides of effector complexes to recognize specific mRNA sequences based on sequence complementarity, resulting in translational repression or site-specific cleavage. In plants, most miRNA targets are cleaved and show almost perfect complementarity with the miRNAs around the cleavage site. Here, we examined the non-protein coding gene IPS1 (INDUCED BY PHOSPHATE STARVATION 1) from Arabidopsis thaliana. IPS1 contains a motif with sequence complementarity to the phosphate (Pi) starvation-induced miRNA miR-399, but the pairing is interrupted by a mismatched loop at the expected miRNA cleavage site. We show that IPS1 RNA is not cleaved but instead sequesters miR-399. Thus, IPS1 overexpression results in increased accumulation of the miR-399 target PHO2 mRNA and, concomitantly, in reduced shoot Pi content. Engineering of IPS1 to be cleavable abolishes its inhibitory activity on miR-399. We coin the term 'target mimicry' to define this mechanism of inhibition of miRNA activity. Target mimicry can be generalized beyond the control of Pi homeostasis, as demonstrated using artificial target mimics.     

The unusual γ-ray burst GRB 101225A from a helium star/neutron star merger at redshift 0.33

Long γ-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most dramatic examples of massive stellar deaths, often associated with supernovae. They release ultra-relativistic jets, which produce non-thermal emission through synchrotron radiation as they interact with the surrounding medium. Here we report observations of the unusual GRB 101225A. Its γ-ray emission was exceptionally long-lived and was followed by a bright X-ray transient with a hot thermal component and an unusual optical counterpart. During the first 10 days, the optical emission evolved as an expanding, cooling black body, after which an additional component, consistent with a faint supernova, emerged. We estimate its redshift to be z = 0.33 by fitting the spectral-energy distribution and light curve of the optical emission with a GRB-supernova template. Deep optical observations may have revealed a faint, unresolved host galaxy. Our proposed progenitor is a merger of a helium star with a neutron star that underwent a common envelope phase, expelling its hydrogen envelope. The resulting explosion created a GRB-like jet which became thermalized by interacting with the dense, previously ejected material, thus creating the observed black body, until finally the emission from the supernova dominated. An alternative explanation is a minor body falling onto a neutron star in the Galaxy.     

Anisotropy and Corotation of Galactic Cosmic Rays

Based on some 40 billion cosmic ray events collected from 1997 to 2005 by the Tibet Air Shower Array experiment (a major scientific collaboration between China and Japan) operating at the YangBaJing Cosmic Ray Observatory (90.522 E, 30. 102 N; 4300 m above sea level) near Lhasa in Tibet, a two-dimensiondl cosmic-ray intensity map in the sky was obtained with very high directional granularity and unprecedented precision in intensity at a level of 10-4.     

微量硼对形变TiAl

以形变     

强跟踪滤波器在被动跟踪中的应用

在目标被动式跟踪中广泛应用的伪量测变换估计器(PLE)具有良好的误差收敛性.然而由于等价噪声和状态的相关性,该估计器的估计是有偏的.提出的强跟踪滤波器(STF)通过强制白化残差具有自适应地校正估计偏差和迅速跟踪状态变化的能力.STF已经在非线性系统时滞估计、故障诊断与容错控制方面取得了很好的效果.结合PLE和STF,提出了一种自适应伪量测变换估计器(APLE).APLE减小了状态的估计偏差,同时对目标的初始值具有极强的鲁棒性.计算机仿真验证了APLE算法的有效性.     

混杂系统故障诊断方法综述

评述了混杂系统故障诊断方法的发展状况。首先介绍了混杂系统故障诊断问题的研究背景,然后介绍了主要的混杂系统的故障诊断方法,分析了各种方法的特点,随后介绍了一些典型的应用实例,最后探讨了这一研究领域中有待进一步研究的问题和发展趋势。     

Unexpected diversity of small eukaryotes in deep-sea Antarctic plankton

Phylogenetic information from ribosomal RNA genes directly amplified from the environment changed our view of the biosphere, revealing an extraordinary diversity of previously undetected prokaryotic lineages. Using ribosomal RNA genes from marine picoplankton, several new groups of bacteria and archaea have been identified, some of which are abundant. Little is known, however, about the diversity of the smallest planktonic eukaryotes, and available information in general concerns the phytoplankton of the euphotic region. Here we recover eukaryotes in the size fraction 0.2-5 microm from the aphotic zone (250-3,000 m deep) in the Antarctic polar front. The most diverse and relatively abundant were two new groups of alveolate sequences, related to dinoflagellates that are found at all studied depths. These may be important components of the microbial community in the deep ocean. Their phylogenetic position suggests a radiation early in the evolution of alveolates.     

Mesoscale vertical motion and the size structure of phytoplankton in the ocean

Phytoplankton size structure is acknowledged as a fundamental property determining energy flow through 'microbial' or 'herbivore' pathways. The balance between these two pathways determines the ability of the ecosystem to recycle carbon within the upper layer or to export it to the ocean interior. Small cells are usually characteristic of oligotrophic, stratified ocean waters, in which regenerated ammonium is the only available form of inorganic nitrogen and recycling dominates. Large cells seem to characterize phytoplankton in which inputs of nitrate enter the euphotic layer and exported production is higher. But the size structure of phytoplankton may depend more directly on hydrodynamical forces than on the source of available nitrogen. Here we present an empirical model that relates the magnitude of mesoscale vertical motion to the slope of the size-abundance spectrum of phytoplankton in a frontal ecosystem. Our model indicates that the relative proportion of large cells increases with the magnitude of the upward velocity. This suggests that mesoscale vertical motion-a ubiquitous feature of eddies and unstable fronts-controls directly the size structure of phytoplankton in the ocean.