Plectasin is a peptide antibiotic with therapeutic potential from a saprophytic fungus

Animals and higher plants express endogenous peptide antibiotics called defensins. These small cysteine-rich peptides are active against bacteria, fungi and viruses. Here we describe plectasin-the first defensin to be isolated from a fungus, the saprophytic ascomycete Pseudoplectania nigrella. Plectasin has primary, secondary and tertiary structures that closely resemble those of defensins found in spiders, scorpions, dragonflies and mussels. Recombinant plectasin was produced at a very high, and commercially viable, yield and purity. In vitro, the recombinant peptide was especially active against Streptococcus pneumoniae, including strains resistant to conventional antibiotics. Plectasin showed extremely low toxicity in mice, and cured them of experimental peritonitis and pneumonia caused by S. pneumoniae as efficaciously as vancomycin and penicillin. These findings identify fungi as a novel source of antimicrobial defensins, and show the therapeutic potential of plectasin. They also suggest that the defensins of insects, molluscs and fungi arose from a common ancestral gene.     

CO2 jets formed by sublimation beneath translucent slab ice in Mars' seasonal south polar ice cap

The martian polar caps are among the most dynamic regions on Mars, growing substantially in winter as a significant fraction of the atmosphere freezes out in the form of CO2 ice. Unusual dark spots, fans and blotches form as the south-polar seasonal CO2 ice cap retreats during spring and summer. Small radial channel networks are often associated with the location of spots once the ice disappears. The spots have been proposed to be simply bare, defrosted ground; the formation of the channels has remained uncertain. Here we report infrared and visible observations that show that the spots and fans remain at CO2 ice temperatures well into summer, and must be granular materials that have been brought up to the surface of the ice, requiring a complex suite of processes to get them there. We propose that the seasonal ice cap forms an impermeable, translucent slab of CO2 ice that sublimates from the base, building up high-pressure gas beneath the slab. This gas levitates the ice, which eventually ruptures, producing high-velocity CO2 vents that erupt sand-sized grains in jets to form the spots and erode the channels. These processes are unlike any observed on Earth.     

Responses of ferns to red light are mediated by an unconventional photoreceptor

Efficient photosynthesis is essential for plant survival. To optimize photosynthesis, plants have developed several photoresponses. Stems bend towards a light source (phototropism), chloroplasts move to a place of appropriate light intensity (chloroplast photorelocation) and stomata open to absorb carbon dioxide. These responses are mediated by the blue-light receptors phototropin 1 (phot1) and phototropin 2 (phot2) in Arabidopsis (refs 1-5). In some ferns, phototropism and chloroplast photorelocation are controlled by red light as well as blue light. However, until now, the photoreceptor mediating these red-light responses has not been identified. The fern Adiantum capillus-veneris has an unconventional photoreceptor, phytochrome 3 (phy3), which is a chimaera of the red/far-red light receptor phytochrome and phototropin. We identify here a function of phy3 for red-light-induced phototropism and for red-light-induced chloroplast photorelocation, by using mutational analysis and complementation. Because phy3 greatly enhances the sensitivity to white light in orienting leaves and chloroplasts, and PHY3 homologues exist among various fern species, this chimaeric photoreceptor may have had a central role in the divergence and proliferation of fern species under low-light canopy conditions.     

The DNA sequence and biology of human chromosome 19

Chromosome 19 has the highest gene density of all human chromosomes, more than double the genome-wide average. The large clustered gene families, corresponding high G + C content, CpG islands and density of repetitive DNA indicate a chromosome rich in biological and evolutionary significance. Here we describe 55.8 million base pairs of highly accurate finished sequence representing 99.9% of the euchromatin portion of the chromosome. Manual curation of gene loci reveals 1,461 protein-coding genes and 321 pseudogenes. Among these are genes directly implicated in mendelian disorders, including familial hypercholesterolaemia and insulin-resistant diabetes. Nearly one-quarter of these genes belong to tandemly arranged families, encompassing more than 25% of the chromosome. Comparative analyses show a fascinating picture of conservation and divergence, revealing large blocks of gene orthology with rodents, scattered regions with more recent gene family expansions and deletions, and segments of coding and non-coding conservation with the distant fish species Takifugu.     

一年生杂草正规块状分布的生态场模拟分析

大田杂草多呈块状或斑块分布。精准农业是现代农业的发展方向,它要求对作物-杂草生态系统进行定量描述并按照杂草斑块的性质(大小、密度等)进行定量的控制。本文对杂草正规型斑块进行了定量描述,即呈正规分布的杂草斑块可用同一的模型来描述,其形状在细胞空间中可以从条形变化到圆形。并将个体生态场概念(Wu,etal.,1985)扩展到群体(种群)。应用作者发展的细胞自动机(Wangetal.,2003)方法对杂草正规型斑块进行了模拟,结果表明:在一定范围内,(1)杂草的生态场随(圆形)斑块的增大而增大;(2)杂草的生态场随正规分布杂草斑块的形状变化而变化;(3)正规分布的圆形斑块其生态场随密度增加而增加;(4)通过模拟证实密度较高的杂草斑块,或者较大的杂草斑块需要更大的控制力(除草剂);(5)通过模拟证实杂草斑块的形状影响控制力,因此杂草的精确控制应该考虑杂草的形状。     

New high-pressure phases of lithium

Lithium is considered a 'simple' metal because, under ordinary conditions of pressure and temperature, the motion of conduction electrons is only weakly perturbed by interactions with the cubic lattice of atomic cores. It was recently predicted that at pressures below 100 GPa, dense Li may undergo several structural transitions, possibly leading to a 'paired-atom' phase with low symmetry and near-insulating properties. Here we report synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements that confirm that Li undergoes pronounced structural changes under pressure. Near 39 GPa, the element transforms from a high-pressure face-centred-cubic phase, through an intermediate rhombohedral modification, to a cubic polymorph with 16 atoms per unit cell. This cubic phase has not been observed previously in any element; unusually, its calculated electronic density of states exhibits a pronounced semimetal-like minimum near the Fermi energy. We present total-energy calculations that provide theoretical support for the observed phase transition sequence. Our calculations indicate a large stability range of the 16-atom cubic phase relative to various other crystal structures tested here.     

异型Ti电极直接乙醇燃料电池的制备与性能

采用Pt/C作为阴极催化剂,PtRu/C作为阳极催化剂,Nafion115和Nafion液涂覆膜作为质子交换膜,管状Ti丝(管)和平板式Ti网作为制备异型直接乙醇燃料电池的阴极和阳极的载体材料,制备管状阴极和平板阳极.观察了异型阴极和阳极的组织和结构,并通过单电池试验,研究了异型电极对直接乙醇燃料电池(DEFCs)性能的影响.结果表明,管状阴极涂覆的Nafion膜均匀一致,阳极催化剂与Ti网的结合能力较强,较高的O2流量有利于提高DEFCs单电池的性能,当膜载量达到25.0 mg/cm2以上时,会提高DEFCs单电池阻抗,当膜载量小于20.2 mg/cm2时,电池的使用寿命大大降低.