Bottom-up effects of plant diversity on multitrophic interactions in a biodiversity experiment

Biodiversity is rapidly declining, and this may negatively affect ecosystem processes, including economically important ecosystem services. Previous studies have shown that biodiversity has positive effects on organisms and processes across trophic levels. However, only a few studies have so far incorporated an explicit food-web perspective. In an eight-year biodiversity experiment, we studied an unprecedented range of above- and below-ground organisms and multitrophic interactions. A multitrophic data set originating from a single long-term experiment allows mechanistic insights that would not be gained from meta-analysis of different experiments. Here we show that plant diversity effects dampen with increasing trophic level and degree of omnivory. This was true both for abundance and species richness of organisms. Furthermore, we present comprehensive above-ground/below-ground biodiversity food webs. Both above ground and below ground, herbivores responded more strongly to changes in plant diversity than did carnivores or omnivores. Density and richness of carnivorous taxa was independent of vegetation structure. Below-ground responses to plant diversity were consistently weaker than above-ground responses. Responses to increasing plant diversity were generally positive, but were negative for biological invasion, pathogen infestation and hyperparasitism. Our results suggest that plant diversity has strong bottom-up effects on multitrophic interaction networks, with particularly strong effects on lower trophic levels. Effects on higher trophic levels are indirectly mediated through bottom-up trophic cascades.     

A faux 3'-UTR promotes aberrant termination and triggers nonsense-mediated mRNA decay

Nonsense-mediated messenger RNA decay (NMD) is triggered by premature translation termination, but the features distinguishing premature from normal termination are unknown. One model for NMD suggests that decay-inducing factors bound to mRNAs during early processing events are routinely removed by elongating ribosomes but remain associated with mRNAs when termination is premature, triggering rapid turnover. Recent experiments challenge this notion and suggest a model that posits that mRNA decay is activated by the intrinsically aberrant nature of premature termination. Here we use a primer extension inhibition (toeprinting) assay to delineate ribosome positioning and find that premature translation termination in yeast extracts is indeed aberrant. Ribosomes encountering premature UAA or UGA codons in the CAN1 mRNA fail to release and, instead, migrate to upstream AUGs. This anomaly depends on prior nonsense codon recognition and is eliminated in extracts derived from cells lacking the principal NMD factor, Upf1p, or by flanking the nonsense codon with a normal 3'-untranslated region (UTR). Tethered poly(A)-binding protein (Pab1p), used as a mimic of a normal 3'-UTR, recruits the termination factor Sup35p (eRF3) and stabilizes nonsense-containing mRNAs. These findings indicate that efficient termination and mRNA stability are dependent on a properly configured 3'-UTR.     

Chemical reduction of three-dimensional silica micro-assemblies into microporous silicon replicas

The carbothermal reduction of silica into silicon requires the use of temperatures well above the silicon melting point (> or =2,000 degrees C). Solid silicon has recently been generated directly from silica at much lower temperatures (< or =850 degrees C) via electrochemical reduction in molten salts. However, the silicon products of such electrochemical reduction did not retain the microscale morphology of the starting silica reactants. Here we demonstrate a low-temperature (650 degrees C) magnesiothermic reduction process for converting three-dimensional nanostructured silica micro-assemblies into microporous nanocrystalline silicon replicas. The intricate nanostructured silica microshells (frustules) of diatoms (unicellular algae) were converted into co-continuous, nanocrystalline mixtures of silicon and magnesia by reaction with magnesium gas. Selective magnesia dissolution then yielded an interconnected network of silicon nanocrystals that retained the starting three-dimensional frustule morphology. The silicon replicas possessed a high specific surface area (>500 m(2) g(-1)), and contained a significant population of micropores (< or =20 A). The silicon replicas were photoluminescent, and exhibited rapid changes in impedance upon exposure to gaseous nitric oxide (suggesting a possible application in microscale gas sensing). This process enables the syntheses of microporous nanocrystalline silicon micro-assemblies with multifarious three-dimensional shapes inherited from biological or synthetic silica templates for sensor, electronic, optical or biomedical applications.     

The formation of cubic ice under conditions relevant to Earth's atmosphere

An important mechanism for ice cloud formation in the Earth's atmosphere is homogeneous nucleation of ice in aqueous droplets, and this process is generally assumed to produce hexagonal ice. However, there are some reports that the metastable crystalline phase of ice, cubic ice, may form in the Earth's atmosphere. Here we present laboratory experiments demonstrating that cubic ice forms when micrometre-sized droplets of pure water and aqueous solutions freeze homogeneously at cooling rates approaching those found in the atmosphere. We find that the formation of cubic ice is dominant when droplets freeze at temperatures below 190 K, which is in the temperature range relevant for polar stratospheric clouds and clouds in the tropical tropopause region. These results, together with heat transfer calculations, suggest that cubic ice will form in the Earth's atmosphere. If there were a significant fraction of cubic ice in some cold clouds this could increase their water vapour pressure, and modify their microphysics and ice particle size distributions. Under specific conditions this may lead to enhanced dehydration of the tropopause region.     

Structural insight into antibiotic fosfomycin biosynthesis by a mononuclear iron enzyme

The biosynthetic pathway of the clinically important antibiotic fosfomycin uses enzymes that catalyse reactions without precedent in biology. Among these is hydroxypropylphosphonic acid epoxidase, which represents a new subfamily of non-haem mononuclear iron enzymes. Here we present six X-ray structures of this enzyme: the apoenzyme at 2.0 A resolution; a native Fe(II)-bound form at 2.4 A resolution; a tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane-Co(II)-enzyme complex structure at 1.8 A resolution; a substrate-Co(II)-enzyme complex structure at 2.5 A resolution; and two substrate-Fe(II)-enzyme complexes at 2.1 and 2.3 A resolution. These structural data lead us to suggest how this enzyme is able to recognize and respond to its substrate with a conformational change that protects the radical-based intermediates formed during catalysis. Comparisons with other family members suggest why substrate binding is able to prime iron for dioxygen binding in the absence of alpha-ketoglutarate (a co-substrate required by many mononuclear iron enzymes), and how the unique epoxidation reaction of hydroxypropylphosphonic acid epoxidase may occur.     

多伦多地区温度与臭氧剖面的激光雷达与SAGEⅡ卫星测量结果比较分析（Ⅰ）

对加拿大多伦多地区SAGEⅡ卫星及激光雷达探测资料,对2种观测系统所获得的大气温度及臭氧垂直分布进行了比较分析.结果表明①由2种观测系统测量的温度廓线有很好的一致性,特别是在15.5～35.5*!km的垂直区间;②在15.5～40.5*!km的垂直区间,2种观测系统的臭氧混合比的绝对误差的变化范围体积分数是±2×10-6;③大约35*!km以下,由激光雷达获得的臭氧数密度具有较高的精度,反之类推.特别,在包括臭氧数密度极大值层的21.5～35.5*!km范围内,8个剖面平均的相对误差趋于零,其垂直平均值为0.96±7.64%(1σ).     

The menthol receptor TRPM8 is the principal detector of environmental cold

Sensory nerve fibres can detect changes in temperature over a remarkably wide range, a process that has been proposed to involve direct activation of thermosensitive excitatory transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels. One such channel--TRP melastatin 8 (TRPM8) or cold and menthol receptor 1 (CMR1)--is activated by chemical cooling agents (such as menthol) or when ambient temperatures drop below approximately 26 degrees C, suggesting that it mediates the detection of cold thermal stimuli by primary afferent sensory neurons. However, some studies have questioned the contribution of TRPM8 to cold detection or proposed that other excitatory or inhibitory channels are more critical to this sensory modality in vivo. Here we show that cultured sensory neurons and intact sensory nerve fibres from TRPM8-deficient mice exhibit profoundly diminished responses to cold. These animals also show clear behavioural deficits in their ability to discriminate between cold and warm surfaces, or to respond to evaporative cooling. At the same time, TRPM8 mutant mice are not completely insensitive to cold as they avoid contact with surfaces below 10 degrees C, albeit with reduced efficiency. Thus, our findings demonstrate an essential and predominant role for TRPM8 in thermosensation over a wide range of cold temperatures, validating the hypothesis that TRP channels are the principal sensors of thermal stimuli in the peripheral nervous system.     

A Strategic Study of Establishing the Industrial Needs in Pattern Design and Technology in Mainland China

Pattern design and, technology play a very important role in the garment industry. In order to improve the level of pattern making and design of the garment industry, a survey was conducted to investigate the industrial needs in pattern design and technology in mainland China. The data were collected from the employers and employees from the garment industry and students in the major of fashion and clothing studies. It indicated that there was a gap between the employer and employee, especially the requirements of the industrial needs and the course contents covered by the tertiary schools. The employers expected to recruit more experienced pattern designers, at the same time, they were not reluctant to hire fresh graduates and spent more resources on the training of employees. The students knew little about their employment situation of the garment industry, spent too little time on the course study and learned too little practical skills in pattern design. They could not make use of the knowledge which prevented them from being employed by the garment industry. Efforts should be taken by both the tertiary schools and the garment industry. The students should be aspirated towards the profession of pattern cutters and the syllabuses of pattern making should be more practical and industrial orientated. The solution might benefit the garment industry a lot in a long run.