A snapshot of a high density seahorse population in a tropical rocky reef

Seahorses are fishes that suffer high trading pressure in the international market. Three species have been recorded in Brazil, Hippocampus reidi, Hippocampus erectus and Hippocampus patagonicus, already classified as threatened or data deficient. Guaíba Island is an ecologically relevant site due to its position between two bays in Rio de Janeiro state. The present study aimed to survey the seahorse population of Guaíba Island, verifying several population structure parameters. Eight diving sites were selected around the island. Only the longsnout seahorse H. reidi was recorded. The population showed the largest density ever recorded in the world for the species. Sex ratio was 1:1 and seahorses were reproductively active. We observed three juveniles. The mean length recorded was 8.9 ± 1.64 cm. The population structure was similar to others populations studied throughout the Brazilian coast.     

Recognition of SUMO-modified PCNA requires tandem receptor motifs in Srs2

Ubiquitin (Ub) and ubiquitin-like (Ubl) modifiers such as SUMO (also known as Smt3 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae) mediate signal transduction through post-translational modification of substrate proteins in pathways that control differentiation, apoptosis and the cell cycle, and responses to stress such as the DNA damage response. In yeast, the proliferating cell nuclear antigen PCNA (also known as Pol30) is modified by ubiquitin in response to DNA damage and by SUMO during S phase. Whereas Ub-PCNA can signal for recruitment of translesion DNA polymerases, SUMO-PCNA signals for recruitment of the anti-recombinogenic DNA helicase Srs2. It remains unclear how receptors such as Srs2 specifically recognize substrates after conjugation to Ub and Ubls. Here we show, through structural, biochemical and functional studies, that the Srs2 carboxy-terminal domain harbours tandem receptor motifs that interact independently with PCNA and SUMO and that both motifs are required to recognize SUMO-PCNA specifically. The mechanism presented is pertinent to understanding how other receptors specifically recognize Ub- and Ubl-modified substrates to facilitate signal transduction.     

Implementation of a Toffoli gate with superconducting circuits

The Toffoli gate is a three-quantum-bit (three-qubit) operation that inverts the state of a target qubit conditioned on the state of two control qubits. It makes universal reversible classical computation possible and, together with a Hadamard gate, forms a universal set of gates in quantum computation. It is also a key element in quantum error correction schemes. The Toffoli gate has been implemented in nuclear magnetic resonance, linear optics and ion trap systems. Experiments with superconducting qubits have also shown significant progress recently: two-qubit algorithms and two-qubit process tomography have been implemented, three-qubit entangled states have been prepared, first steps towards quantum teleportation have been taken and work on quantum computing architectures has been done. Implementation of the Toffoli gate with only single- and two-qubit gates requires six controlled-NOT gates and ten single-qubit operations, and has not been realized in any system owing to current limits on coherence. Here we implement a Toffoli gate with three superconducting transmon qubits coupled to a microwave resonator. By exploiting the third energy level of the transmon qubits, we have significantly reduced the number of elementary gates needed for the implementation of the Toffoli gate, relative to that required in theoretical proposals using only two-level systems. Using full process tomography and Monte Carlo process certification, we completely characterize the Toffoli gate acting on three independent qubits, measuring a fidelity of 68.5?±?0.5 per cent. A similar approach to realizing characteristic features of a Toffoli-class gate has been demonstrated with two qubits and a resonator and achieved a limited characterization considering only the phase fidelity. Our results reinforce the potential of macroscopic superconducting qubits for the implementation of complex quantum operations with the possibility of quantum error correction.     

Charon's size and an upper limit on its atmosphere from a stellar occultation

Pluto and its satellite, Charon (discovered in 1978; ref. 1), appear to form a double planet, rather than a hierarchical planet/satellite couple. Charon is about half Pluto's size and about one-eighth its mass. The precise radii of Pluto and Charon have remained uncertain, leading to large uncertainties on their densities. Although stellar occultations by Charon are in principle a powerful way of measuring its size, they are rare, as the satellite subtends less than 0.3 microradians (0.06 arcsec) on the sky. One occultation (in 1980) yielded a lower limit of 600 km for the satellite's radius, which was later refined to 601.5 km (ref. 4). Here we report observations from a multi-station stellar occultation by Charon, which we use to derive a radius, R(C) = 603.6 +/- 1.4 km (1sigma), and a density of rho = 1.71 +/- 0.08 g cm(-3). This occultation also provides upper limits of 110 and 15 (3sigma) nanobar for an atmosphere around Charon, assuming respectively a pure nitrogen or pure methane atmosphere.     

Effect of dinitrophenol and glucose on amine release from isolated rabbit blood platelets

Zusammenfassung Agar-aktiviertes Kaninchenplasma (Anaphylatoxin) setztin vitro Histamin und Serotonin aus normalen Kaninchenblutplättchen frei. Dieser Effekt ist vom Stoffwechsel der Thrombocyten abhängig, da er durch Dinitrophenol gehemmt wird. Bei Anwesenheit von Glukose wird die Hemmung aufgehoben.     

Human antisera detect a Plasmodium falciparum genomic clone encoding a nonapeptide repeat

Plasmodium falciparum causes malaria infections in its human host. Its wide distribution in tropical countries is a major world health problem. Before a vaccine can be produced, the identification and characterization of parasite antigens is necessary. This can be achieved by the cloning and subsequent analysis of genes coding for parasite antigens. Recently established cDNA banks allow the expression of cDNA derived from the simian parasite Plasmodium knowlesi and P. falciparum in Escherichia coli. Recombinants encoding parasite antigens have been identified by immunodetection in both banks. Two of them contain repetitive units of 11 (ref. 7) or 12 (ref. 5) amino acids. We describe here the construction of an expression bank made directly from randomly generated fragments of P. falciparum genomic DNA. We detect several clones which react strongly with human African immune sera. One clone expresses an antigenic determinant composed of occasionally degenerated repeats of a peptide nonamer.     

Comparison of the genomes of two Xanthomonas pathogens with differing host specificities

The genus Xanthomonas is a diverse and economically important group of bacterial phytopathogens, belonging to the gamma-subdivision of the Proteobacteria. Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri (Xac) causes citrus canker, which affects most commercial citrus cultivars, resulting in significant losses worldwide. Symptoms include canker lesions, leading to abscission of fruit and leaves and general tree decline. Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) causes black rot, which affects crucifers such as Brassica and Arabidopsis. Symptoms include marginal leaf chlorosis and darkening of vascular tissue, accompanied by extensive wilting and necrosis. Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris is grown commercially to produce the exopolysaccharide xanthan gum, which is used as a viscosifying and stabilizing agent in many industries. Here we report and compare the complete genome sequences of Xac and Xcc. Their distinct disease phenotypes and host ranges belie a high degree of similarity at the genomic level. More than 80% of genes are shared, and gene order is conserved along most of their respective chromosomes. We identified several groups of strain-specific genes, and on the basis of these groups we propose mechanisms that may explain the differing host specificities and pathogenic processes.     

Alpha-CaMKII-dependent plasticity in the cortex is required for permanent memory

Cortical plasticity seems to be critical for the establishment of permanent memory traces. Little is known, however, about the molecular and cellular processes that support consolidation of memories in cortical networks. Here we show that mice heterozygous for a null mutation of alpha-calcium-calmodulin kinase II (alpha-CaMKII+/-) show normal learning and memory 1-3 days after training in two hippocampus-dependent tasks. However, their memory is severely impaired at longer retention delays (10-50 days). Consistent with this, we found that alpha-CaMKII+/- mice have impaired cortical, but not hippocampal, long-term potentiation. Our results represent a first step in unveiling the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the establishment of permanent memories, and they indicate that alpha-CaMKII may modulate the synaptic events required for the consolidation of memory traces in cortical networks.