Recognition of haemagglutinins on virus-infected cells by NKp46 activates lysis by human NK cells

Natural killer (NK) cells destroy virus-infected and tumour cells, apparently without the need for previous antigen stimulation. In part, target cells are recognized by their diminished expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules, which normally interact with inhibitory receptors on the NK cell surface. NK cells also express triggering receptors that are specific for non-MHC ligands; but the nature of the ligands recognized on target cells is undefined. NKp46 is thought to be the main activating receptor for human NK cells. Here we show that a soluble NKp46-immunoglobulin fusion protein binds to both the haemagglutinin of influenza virus and the haemagglutinin-neuraminidase of parainfluenza virus. In a substantial subset of NK cells, recognition by NKp46 is required to lyse cells expressing the corresponding viral glycoproteins. The binding requires the sialylation of NKp46 oligosaccharides, which is consistent with the known sialic binding capacity of the viral glycoproteins. These findings indicate how NKp46-expressing NK cells may recognize target cells infected by influenza or parainfluenza without the decreased expression of target-cell MHC class I protein.     

Group formation stabilizes predator-prey dynamics

Theoretical ecology is largely founded on the principle of mass action, in which uncoordinated populations of predators and prey move in a random and well-mixed fashion across a featureless landscape. The conceptual core of this body of theory is the functional response, predicting the rate of prey consumption by individual predators as a function of predator and/or prey densities. This assumption is seriously violated in many ecosystems in which predators and/or prey form social groups. Here we develop a new set of group-dependent functional responses to consider the ecological implications of sociality and apply the model to the Serengeti ecosystem. All of the prey species typically captured by Serengeti lions (Panthera leo) are gregarious, exhibiting nonlinear relationships between prey-group density and population density. The observed patterns of group formation profoundly reduce food intake rates below the levels expected under random mixing, having as strong an impact on intake rates as the seasonal migratory behaviour of the herbivores. A dynamical system model parameterized for the Serengeti ecosystem (using wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) as a well-studied example) shows that grouping strongly stabilizes interactions between lions and wildebeest. Our results suggest that social groups rather than individuals are the basic building blocks around which predator-prey interactions should be modelled and that group formation may provide the underlying stability of many ecosystems.     

高分子物理概论

高分子概念的形成和高分子科学的出现始于20世纪20年代。当时有些有机化学家开展了缩聚反应及其自由基聚合反应的研究，并通过这些反应相继开发出尼龙（聚酰胺）66、氯丁橡胶、丁苯橡胶和聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯等一大批高分子材料，从而形成了“高分子化学”的研究领域。随着这些合成高分子的出现，解决这些高分子的性能和表征：以及了解其结构对性能的影响等问题也随之变得很必要了。因此从20世纪40年代至50年代，一批化学家、物理学家投入这方面的研究，渐渐形成了“高分子物理”这门新兴的学科。     

Gravity modes as a way to distinguish between hydrogen- and helium-burning red giant stars

Red giants are evolved stars that have exhausted the supply of hydrogen in their cores and instead burn hydrogen in a surrounding shell. Once a red giant is sufficiently evolved, the helium in the core also undergoes fusion. Outstanding issues in our understanding of red giants include uncertainties in the amount of mass lost at the surface before helium ignition and the amount of internal mixing from rotation and other processes. Progress is hampered by our inability to distinguish between red giants burning helium in the core and those still only burning hydrogen in a shell. Asteroseismology offers a way forward, being a powerful tool for probing the internal structures of stars using their natural oscillation frequencies. Here we report observations of gravity-mode period spacings in red giants that permit a distinction between evolutionary stages to be made. We use high-precision photometry obtained by the Kepler spacecraft over more than a year to measure oscillations in several hundred red giants. We find many stars whose dipole modes show sequences with approximately regular period spacings. These stars fall into two clear groups, allowing us to distinguish unambiguously between hydrogen-shell-burning stars (period spacing mostly ～ 50 seconds) and those that are also burning helium (period spacing ～ 100 to 300 seconds).     

Mutations in KERA, encoding keratocan, cause cornea plana

Specialized collagens and small leucine-rich proteoglycans (SLRPs) interact to produce the transparent corneal structure. In cornea plana, the forward convex curvature is flattened, leading to a decrease in refraction. A more severe, recessively inherited form (CNA2; MIM 217300) and a milder, dominantly inherited form (CNA1; MIM 121400) exist. CNA2 is a rare disorder with a worldwide distribution, but a high prevalence in the Finnish population. The gene mutated in CNA2 was assigned by linkage analysis to 12q (refs 4, 5), where there is a cluster of several SLRP genes. We cloned two additional SLRP genes highly expressed in cornea: KERA (encoding keratocan) in 12q and OGN (encoding osteoglycin) in 9q. Here we report mutations in KERA in 47 CNA2 patients: 46 Finnish patients are homozygous for a founder missense mutation, leading to the substitution of a highly conserved amino acid; and one American patient is homozygous for a mutation leading to a premature stop codon that truncates the KERA protein. Our data establish that mutations in KERA cause CNA2. CNA1 patients had no mutations in these proteoglycan genes.     

臭氧与超声耦合提高垃圾渗滤液的降解效率

分别采用单独臭氧(O3)、单独超声(US)和臭氧与超声耦合(O3&US)的方法对垃圾渗滤液进行降解,考察垃圾渗滤液浓度、酸碱环境、电导率、阴阳离子对方法O3&US降解垃圾渗滤液的影响.结果表明:相同条件下,方法O3&US对垃圾渗滤液的降解能力高于方法O3和方法US.随垃圾渗滤液浓度的增大,方法O3&US的降解效果呈现趋势是先增强后降低.在垃圾渗滤液初始COD为300 mg/L时,方法O3&US降解效果最优,其COD、氨氮、总氮去除率分别是46.8％、38.8％、44.3％.碱性条件能提高方法O3&US降解能力,酸性条件则会起抑制作用.垃圾渗滤液电导率提高,方法O3&US对垃圾渗滤液降解能力降低.阴离子HCO3-和CO2-3会抑制方法O3&US中羟基自由基的生产,降低降解能力,且CO2-3的抑制作用大于HCO3-的.     

刈割与品种对白三叶／多年生黑麦草混播种群生长的影响

研究了刈割频率与品种对白三叶／多年生黑麦草混播种群生长动态及种间相容性的影响，刈割频率效应主要表现在夏季，高频率刈割明显提高了草群中白三叶组分比例，而对黑麦草具有抑制作用，尽管３个白三叶供试品种对高频率刈割的反应存在着差异，虽然春，秋季刈割频率效应不显著，但其变化趋势仍是，高频率刈割白三叶组分比例高于低频率刈割。白三叶品种对春，夏，秋各季混播草地组分种群生长动态部产生了极显著的影响，两种刈割频率下     

Quantum critical behaviour in a high-T(c) superconductor

Quantum criticality is associated with a system composed of a nearly infinite number of interacting quantum degrees of freedom at zero temperature, and it implies that the system looks on average the same regardless of the time- and length scale on which it is observed. Electrons on the atomic scale do not exhibit such symmetry, which can only be generated as a collective phenomenon through the interactions between a large number of electrons. In materials with strong electron correlations a quantum phase transition at zero temperature can occur, and a quantum critical state has been predicted, which manifests itself through universal power-law behaviours of the response functions. Candidates have been found both in heavy-fermion systems and in the high-transition temperature (high-T(c)) copper oxide superconductors, but the reality and the physical nature of such a phase transition are still debated. Here we report a universal behaviour that is characteristic of the quantum critical region. We demonstrate that the experimentally measured phase angle agrees precisely with the exponent of the optical conductivity. This points towards a quantum phase transition of an unconventional kind in the high-T(c) superconductors.     

Ultraviolet-radiation-induced methane emissions from meteorites and the Martian atmosphere

Almost a decade after methane was first reported in the atmosphere of Mars there is an intensive discussion about both the reliability of the observations--particularly the suggested seasonal and latitudinal variations--and the sources of methane on Mars. Given that the lifetime of methane in the Martian atmosphere is limited, a process on or below the planet's surface would need to be continuously producing methane. A biological source would provide support for the potential existence of life on Mars, whereas a chemical origin would imply that there are unexpected geological processes. Methane release from carbonaceous meteorites associated with ablation during atmospheric entry is considered negligible. Here we show that methane is produced in much larger quantities from the Murchison meteorite (a type CM2 carbonaceous chondrite) when exposed to ultraviolet radiation under conditions similar to those expected at the Martian surface. Meteorites containing several per cent of intact organic matter reach the Martian surface at high rates, and our experiments suggest that a significant fraction of the organic matter accessible to ultraviolet radiation is converted to methane. Ultraviolet-radiation-induced methane formation from meteorites could explain a substantial fraction of the most recently estimated atmospheric methane mixing ratios. Stable hydrogen isotope analysis unambiguously confirms that the methane released from Murchison is of extraterrestrial origin. The stable carbon isotope composition, in contrast, is similar to that of terrestrial microbial origin; hence, measurements of this signature in future Mars missions may not enable an unambiguous identification of biogenic methane.