Genome sequence of the ultrasmall unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae 10D

Small, compact genomes of ultrasmall unicellular algae provide information on the basic and essential genes that support the lives of photosynthetic eukaryotes, including higher plants. Here we report the 16,520,305-base-pair sequence of the 20 chromosomes of the unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae 10D as the first complete algal genome. We identified 5,331 genes in total, of which at least 86.3% were expressed. Unique characteristics of this genomic structure include: a lack of introns in all but 26 genes; only three copies of ribosomal DNA units that maintain the nucleolus; and two dynamin genes that are involved only in the division of mitochondria and plastids. The conserved mosaic origin of Calvin cycle enzymes in this red alga and in green plants supports the hypothesis of the existence of single primary plastid endosymbiosis. The lack of a myosin gene, in addition to the unexpressed actin gene, suggests a simpler system of cytokinesis. These results indicate that the C. merolae genome provides a model system with a simple gene composition for studying the origin, evolution and fundamental mechanisms of eukaryotic cells.     

广西兴安严关窑宋代瓷器的研究

选取广西宋代兴安严关窑的瓷器标本，检测它们的物理性质、化学组成和显微结构，并与中国宋代名青瓷进行比较．化学分析结果表明：瓷胎富二氧化硅，具有中国南方古瓷的特点．瓷釉中含氧化钙较高，属石灰釉．显微结构观察到部分古瓷釉层中存在液相分离结构．从而探讨了严关窑宋瓷使用的原料、瓷釉配料及工艺技术．     

Mitochondrial DNA that escapes from autophagy causes inflammation and heart failure

Heart failure is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in industrialized countries. Although infection with microorganisms is not involved in the development of heart failure in most cases, inflammation has been implicated in the pathogenesis of heart failure. However, the mechanisms responsible for initiating and integrating inflammatory responses within the heart remain poorly defined. Mitochondria are evolutionary endosymbionts derived from bacteria and contain DNA similar to bacterial DNA. Mitochondria damaged by external haemodynamic stress are degraded by the autophagy/lysosome system in cardiomyocytes. Here we show that mitochondrial DNA that escapes from autophagy cell-autonomously leads to Toll-like receptor (TLR) 9-mediated inflammatory responses in cardiomyocytes and is capable of inducing myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy. Cardiac-specific deletion of lysosomal deoxyribonuclease (DNase) II showed no cardiac phenotypes under baseline conditions, but increased mortality and caused severe myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy 10 days after treatment with pressure overload. Early in the pathogenesis, DNase II-deficient hearts showed infiltration of inflammatory cells and increased messenger RNA expression of inflammatory cytokines, with accumulation of mitochondrial DNA deposits in autolysosomes in the myocardium. Administration of inhibitory oligodeoxynucleotides against TLR9, which is known to be activated by bacterial DNA, or ablation of Tlr9 attenuated the development of cardiomyopathy in DNase II-deficient mice. Furthermore, Tlr9 ablation improved pressure overload-induced cardiac dysfunction and inflammation even in mice with wild-type Dnase2a alleles. These data provide new perspectives on the mechanism of genesis of chronic inflammation in failing hearts.     

Stochastic Multivariate Mixture Covariance Model

Stochastic covariance models have been explored in recent research to model the interdependence of assets in financial time series. The approach uses a single stochastic model to capture such interdependence. However, it may be inappropriate to assume a single coherence structure at all time t. In this paper, we propose the use of a mixture of stochastic covariance models to generalize the approach and offer greater flexibility in real data applications. Parameter estimation is performed by Bayesian analysis with Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling schemes. We conduct a simulation study on three different model setups and evaluate the performance of estimation and model selection. We also apply our modeling methods to high‐frequency stock data from Hong Kong. Model selection favors a mixture rather than non‐mixture model. In a real data study, we demonstrate that the mixture model is able to identify structural changes in market risk, as evidenced by a drastic change in mixture proportions over time. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A genome-wide association study identifies common variants near LBX1 associated with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is a pediatric spinal deformity affecting 2-3% of school-age children worldwide(1). Genetic factors have been implicated in its etiology(2). Through a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and replication study involving a total of 1,376 Japanese females with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and 11,297 female controls, we identified a locus at chromosome 10q24.31 associated with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis susceptibility. The most significant SNP (rs11190870; combined P = 1.24 × 10(-19); odds ratio (OR) = 1.56) is located near LBX1 (encoding ladybird homeobox 1). The identification of this susceptibility locus provides new insights into the pathogenesis of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.     

Homology of L-gulonolactone oxidase of species belonging to Mammalia, Aves, and Amphibia

Immunological cross-reactivity of L-gulonolactone oxidase of different species (rat, chicken, and bullfrog) was tested by the Ouchterlony technique. Antiserum directed against the enzyme from chicken kidney reacted with rat liver enzyme as well as with bullfrog kidney enzyme. This finding suggests that there is, at least partly, sequence homology among the enzyme from species belonging to the three classes, Mammalian, Aves, and Amphibia.     

棒线材平辊轧制三维流函数法解析

通过对棒线材的轧制来理解三维解析的方法、步骤、计算结果与三维刚塑性有限元法计算的结果基本相近，但由于解析过程比有限元法简单、灵活，且可广泛应用，是一种有效的解析技术。     

棒线材轧制三维流函数法解析泛用型

通过对棒材轧制的三维流函数法解析，进行了泛用型的研究和探讨。本研究主要包括：①速度场的泛用化；②轧辊数配置的泛用化；③轧辊辊形的泛用化；④解析程度的泛用化。通过泛用化提高解析技术的灵活性，通过加工过程的优化、预测，实现数值塑性加工的现代化技术。     

RhoG activates Rac1 by direct interaction with the Dock180-binding protein Elmo

The small GTPase Rac has a central role in regulating the actin cytoskeleton during cell migration and axon guidance. Elmo has been identified as an upstream regulator of Rac1 that binds to and functionally cooperates with Dock180 (refs 2-4). Dock180 does not contain a conventional catalytic domain for guanine nucleotide exchange on Rac, but possesses a domain that directly binds to and specifically activates Rac1 (refs 5, 6). The small GTPase RhoG mediates several cellular morphological processes, such as neurite outgrowth in neuronal cells, through a signalling cascade that activates Rac1 (refs 7-12); however, the downstream target of RhoG and the mechanism by which RhoG regulates Rac1 activity remain unclear. Here we show that RhoG interacts directly with Elmo in a GTP-dependent manner and forms a ternary complex with Dock180 to induce activation of Rac1. The RhoG-Elmo-Dock180 pathway is required for activation of Rac1 and cell spreading mediated by integrin, as well as for neurite outgrowth induced by nerve growth factor. We conclude that RhoG activates Rac1 through Elmo and Dock180 to control cell morphology.