Test for Heteroscedasticity in Partially Linear Regression Models

Testing heteroscedasticity determines whether the regression model can predict the dependent variable consistently across all values of the explanatory variables. Since the proposed tests could not detect heteroscedasticity in all cases, more precisely in heavy-tailed distributions, the authors established new comprehensive test statistic based on Levene's test. The authors built the asymptotic normality of the test statistic under the null hypothesis of homoscedasticity based on the recent theory of analysis of variance for the infinite factors level. The proposed test uses the residuals from a regression model fit of the mean function with Levene's test to assess homogeneity of variance. Simulation studies show that our test yields better than other methods in almost all cases even if the variance is a nonlinear function. Finally, the proposed method is implemented through a real data-set.     

Coral mucus functions as an energy carrier and particle trap in the reef ecosystem

Zooxanthellae, endosymbiotic algae of reef-building corals, substantially contribute to the high gross primary production of coral reefs, but corals exude up to half of the carbon assimilated by their zooxanthellae as mucus. Here we show that released coral mucus efficiently traps organic matter from the water column and rapidly carries energy and nutrients to the reef lagoon sediment, which acts as a biocatalytic mineralizing filter. In the Great Barrier Reef, the dominant genus of hard corals, Acropora, exudes up to 4.8 litres of mucus per square metre of reef area per day. Between 56% and 80% of this mucus dissolves in the reef water, which is filtered through the lagoon sands. Here, coral mucus is degraded at a turnover rate of at least 7% per hour. Detached undissolved mucus traps suspended particles, increasing its initial organic carbon and nitrogen content by three orders of magnitude within 2 h. Tidal currents concentrate these mucus aggregates into the lagoon, where they rapidly settle. Coral mucus provides light energy harvested by the zooxanthellae and trapped particles to the heterotrophic reef community, thereby establishing a recycling loop that supports benthic life, while reducing loss of energy and nutrients from the reef ecosystem.     

三维聚合物电解质膜燃料电池中水的输运模拟

针对新型螺旋形加压聚合物电解质膜燃料电池,提出了一种液态水生成和输运效应的数值模型.该数值模型基于燃料电池的物理机理、流体流动、传热导、多孔介质中的传质、电化学反应、含相变的多相流动、电流输运、多孔介质和固体导电区域中的位势场以及穿过聚合物膜的水的输运设计优化过程.在分析中还使用了燃料电池模型.例如,电化学模型--用于预测局部电流密度和电压分布;位势场模型--用于预测多孔介质以及固体导电区中的电流和电压;多相混合物模型--用于预测在多孔扩散层中的液态水和气体流;薄膜多相模型--用于研究气体流道中的液态水流.最后给出了聚合物电解质膜燃料电池液态水生成和输运的理论模型的数值结果,包括催化层和膜中的H2,O2和H2O的质量和克分子数的等值线图.     

Global trends of whole-genome duplications revealed by the ciliate Paramecium tetraurelia

The duplication of entire genomes has long been recognized as having great potential for evolutionary novelties, but the mechanisms underlying their resolution through gene loss are poorly understood. Here we show that in the unicellular eukaryote Paramecium tetraurelia, a ciliate, most of the nearly 40,000 genes arose through at least three successive whole-genome duplications. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the most recent duplication coincides with an explosion of speciation events that gave rise to the P. aurelia complex of 15 sibling species. We observed that gene loss occurs over a long timescale, not as an initial massive event. Genes from the same metabolic pathway or protein complex have common patterns of gene loss, and highly expressed genes are over-retained after all duplications. The conclusion of this analysis is that many genes are maintained after whole-genome duplication not because of functional innovation but because of gene dosage constraints.     

Evolutionary relationship and species separation of four morphologically similar stichotrichous ciliates （Protozoa, Ciliophora）

Phylogenetic and taxonomic studies on ciliate protists using molecular approaches have been demonstrated to be very reliable to form strong conclusions and results. In the present work, species separation of some morphologically similar stichotrichous ciliates, two species of Pseudokeronopsis and two species of Apokeronopsis, was reexamined using amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (PCRRFLP). Five of 10 restriction enzymes revealed species-specific polymorphic patterns, of which four similar stichotrichs could be significantly separated and identified. Among them, EcoR I offered almost no significantly different restriction fragment patterns, but the four species could be separated from one another and identified with Hae III. Distinctly different restriction digestion haplotypes and similarity indices separated the species, and were used to construct a phylogeny. Phylogenies based on ITS2 nucleotide sequences and ITS2 secondary structures supported the separation of Pseudokeronopsis and Apokeronopsis using RFLP analysis, although three Pseudokeronopsis carnea populations did not cluster together. In addition, phylogenetic analyses using multiple algorithms confirmed that these two genera formed two distinct groups within the urostylids.     

Translational control of intron splicing in eukaryotes

Most eukaryotic genes are interrupted by non-coding introns that must be accurately removed from pre-messenger RNAs to produce translatable mRNAs. Splicing is guided locally by short conserved sequences, but genes typically contain many potential splice sites, and the mechanisms specifying the correct sites remain poorly understood. In most organisms, short introns recognized by the intron definition mechanism cannot be efficiently predicted solely on the basis of sequence motifs. In multicellular eukaryotes, long introns are recognized through exon definition and most genes produce multiple mRNA variants through alternative splicing. The nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway may further shape the observed sets of variants by selectively degrading those containing premature termination codons, which are frequently produced in mammals. Here we show that the tiny introns of the ciliate Paramecium tetraurelia are under strong selective pressure to cause premature termination of mRNA translation in the event of intron retention, and that the same bias is observed among the short introns of plants, fungi and animals. By knocking down the two P. tetraurelia genes encoding UPF1, a protein that is crucial in NMD, we show that the intrinsic efficiency of splicing varies widely among introns and that NMD activity can significantly reduce the fraction of unspliced mRNAs. The results suggest that, independently of alternative splicing, species with large intron numbers universally rely on NMD to compensate for suboptimal splicing efficiency and accuracy.     

Hes-1 regulates the excitatory fate of neural progenitors through modulation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tlx3 (HOX11L2)</Emphasis> expression

Tlx3 (HOX11L2) is regarded as one of the selector genes in excitatory versus inhibitory fate specification of neurons in distinct regions of the nervous system. Expression of Tlx3 in a post-mitotic immature neuron favors a glutamatergic over GABAergic fate. The factors that regulate Tlx3 have immense importance in the fate specification of glutamatergic neurons. Here, we have shown that Notch target gene, Hes-1, negatively regulates Tlx3 expression, resulting in decreased generation of glutamatergic neurons. Down-regulation of Hes-1 removed the inhibition on Tlx3 promoter, thus promoting glutamatergic differentiation. Promoter–protein interaction studies with truncated/mutated Hes-1 protein suggested that the co-repressor recruitment mediated through WRPW domain of Hes-1 has contributed to the repressive effect. Our results clearly demonstrate a new and unique role for canonical Notch signaling through Hes-1, in neurotransmitter/subtype fate specification of neurons in addition to its known functional role in proliferation/maintenance of neural progenitors.     

Phylogenetic position of three Condylostoma species(Protozoa,Ciliophora,Heterotricheal inferred from the small subunit rRNA gene sequence

The systematically poorly known ciliate genus Conadylostoma was erected by Vincent in 1826.About 10 morphotypes have been reported,but any molecular investigations concerning this group SO far are lacking.In this work,the small subunit ribosomal RNA (SS rRNA)gene of three marine Conaylostoma species was sequenced,by which the phylogenetic trees were constructed by distance-matrix,maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference methods.The results show that(1)all the trees have similar topologies with high supports;(2)Condylostoma is mostly related to the genus Condylostentor;and(3)three Condylostoma species as well as Conadylostentor auriculatus cluster together and form a sister group with other heterotrichs.This is moderately consistent with the assessment of phylo-genetic relationships of Conaylostoma-related heterotrichs from the morphological information.The phylogenetic relationship of some other related heterotrichs,Peritromus,Fotlictllina,Stentor and Blepharisma,has been also discussed.