Morphological evolution through multiple cis-regulatory mutations at a single gene

One central, and yet unsolved, question in evolutionary biology is the relationship between the genetic variants segregating within species and the causes of morphological differences between species. The classic neo-darwinian view postulates that species differences result from the accumulation of small-effect changes at multiple loci. However, many examples support the possible role of larger abrupt changes in the expression of developmental genes in morphological evolution. Although this evidence might be considered a challenge to a neo-darwinian micromutationist view of evolution, there are currently few examples of the actual genes causing morphological differences between species. Here we examine the genetic basis of a trichome pattern difference between Drosophila species, previously shown to result from the evolution of a single gene, shavenbaby (svb), probably through cis-regulatory changes. We first identified three distinct svb enhancers from D. melanogaster driving reporter gene expression in partly overlapping patterns that together recapitulate endogenous svb expression. All three homologous enhancers from D. sechellia drive expression in modified patterns, in a direction consistent with the evolved svb expression pattern. To test the influence of these enhancers on the actual phenotypic difference, we conducted interspecific genetic mapping at a resolution sufficient to recover multiple intragenic recombinants. This functional analysis revealed that independent genetic regions upstream of svb that overlap the three identified enhancers are collectively required to generate the D. sechellia trichome pattern. Our results demonstrate that the accumulation of multiple small-effect changes at a single locus underlies the evolution of a morphological difference between species. These data support the view that alleles of large effect that distinguish species may sometimes reflect the accumulation of multiple mutations of small effect at select genes.     

An unexpected cooling effect in Saturn's upper atmosphere

The upper atmospheres of the four Solar System giant planets exhibit high temperatures that cannot be explained by the absorption of sunlight. In the case of Saturn the temperatures predicted by models of solar heating are approximately 200 K, compared to temperatures of approximately 400 K observed independently in the polar regions and at 30 degrees latitude. This unexplained 'energy crisis' represents a major gap in our understanding of these planets' atmospheres. An important candidate for the source of the missing energy is the magnetosphere, which injects energy mostly in the polar regions of the planet. This polar energy input is believed to be sufficient to explain the observed temperatures, provided that it is efficiently redistributed globally by winds, a process that is not well understood. Here we show, using a numerical model, that the net effect of the winds driven by the polar energy inputs is not to heat but to cool the low-latitude thermosphere. This surprising result allows us to rule out known polar energy inputs as the solution to the energy crisis at Saturn. There is either an unknown--and large--source of polar energy, or, more probably, some other process heats low latitudes directly.     

Spin-based logic in semiconductors for reconfigurable large-scale circuits

Research in semiconductor spintronics aims to extend the scope of conventional electronics by using the spin degree of freedom of an electron in addition to its charge. Significant scientific advances in this area have been reported, such as the development of diluted ferromagnetic semiconductors, spin injection into semiconductors from ferromagnetic metals and discoveries of new physical phenomena involving electron spin. Yet no viable means of developing spintronics in semiconductors has been presented. Here we report a theoretical design that is a conceptual step forward-spin accumulation is used as the basis of a semiconductor computer circuit. Although the giant magnetoresistance effect in metals has already been commercially exploited, it does not extend to semiconductor/ferromagnet systems, because the effect is too weak for logic operations. We overcome this obstacle by using spin accumulation rather than spin flow. The basic element in our design is a logic gate that consists of a semiconductor structure with multiple magnetic contacts; this serves to perform fast and reprogrammable logic operations in a noisy, room-temperature environment. We then introduce a method to interconnect a large number of these gates to form a 'spin computer'. As the shrinking of conventional complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistors reaches its intrinsic limit, greater computational capability will mean an increase in both circuit area and power dissipation. Our spin-based approach may provide wide margins for further scaling and also greater computational capability per gate.     

黄河山陕峡谷保德-克虎段高阶地砾石层的初步研究

野外考察发现山西黑峪口地区存在七级阶地序列,其中上覆红粘土的T6、T7阶地为晚第三纪阶地.对该区阶地上砾石的岩性和粒径进行了研究,岩性对比表明,T6、T7阶地上砾石的岩性与黄河低阶地上砾石的岩性相似,而与东西向的蔚汾河阶地岩性差别较大;上下游之间对比发现,灰岩砾石岩性由保德地区占主导地位到克虎地区退居次要地位,灰岩砾石的粒径也从上游向下游变小,说明该区晚第三纪阶地并非东西向河流形成的,而是古黄河或古南北向水系的产物.T7阶地上覆盖厚度70m以上的粉、细砂层和晚第三纪红土层,磁性地层研究表明,该层的底部时代在6.8Ma左右,T6阶地上覆红粘土的底部年龄在3.3Ma左右,山陕峡谷由北向南流的古河流在6.8Ma之前已经形成,T6阶地的形成时代与青藏运动A幕相对应.青藏运动A幕以来河流在该区下切了160m,平均下切速率约为青藏运动A幕以前平均下切速率的5倍以上.     

消除7A05铝合金板材各向异性的热处理工艺

为提高7A05铝合金热轧板材的综合力学性能并减少各向异性,对7A05铝合金固溶、预时效、时效和形变处理等工艺对性能的影响进行了系统的研究. 比较了供货态、形变态、回归(RRA)态和采用预时效形变热处理的优化态热处理工艺对综合力学性能的影响. 结果表明:固溶的最佳温度为480 ℃,单级时效最佳工艺为120 ℃,24 h,双级时效中第一级时效最佳工艺为90 ℃,8 h,最佳形变为25%. 通过金相组织和力学性能测试结果表明:由于预时效析出促进形变热处理时亚晶等轴化,优化态强度高,进一步改善了合金性能,减少了轧制板材纵横向力学性能各向异性倾向.     

基于恒等变换的单摆振动解析逼近

应用修正的谐波平衡法构造了单摆大幅振动的解析逼近周期和周期解.通过引入三角变换或反三角变换将单摆振动方程恒等变形为关于新变量的Duffing方程或其他易于处理的非线性振动方程,利用牛顿谐波平衡法构造了单摆振动的解析逼近解.给出的解析逼近周期及周期解简单易用,几乎在振幅(初始摆角)的全部取值范围内,都有很高的逼近精度.