Tracking unstable states: ecosystem dynamics in a changing world

Ecological systems can show complex and sometimes abrupt responses to environmental change, with important implications for their resilience. Theories of alternate stable states have been used to predict regime shifts of ecosystems as equilibrium responses to sufficiently slow environmental change. The actual rate of environmental change is a key factor affecting the response, yet we are still lacking a non-equilibrium theory that explicitly considers the influence of this rate of environmental change. We present a metacommunity model of predator–prey interactions displaying multiple stable states, and we impose an explicit rate of environmental change in habitat quality (carrying capacity) and connectivity (dispersal rate). We study how regime shifts depend on the rate of environmental change and compare the outcome with a stability analysis in the corresponding constant environment. Our results reveal that in a changing environment, the community can track states that are unstable in the constant environment. This tracking can lead to regime shifts, including local extinctions, that are not predicted by alternative stable state theory. In our metacommunity, tracking unstable states also controls the maintenance of spatial heterogeneity and spatial synchrony. Tracking unstable states can also lead to regime shifts that may be reversible or irreversible. Our study extends current regime shift theories to integrate rate-dependent responses to environmental change. It reveals the key role of unstable states for predicting transient dynamics and long-term resilience of ecological systems to climate change.     

Knock-down of glucose transporter and sucrose non-fermenting gene in the hemibiotrophic fungus Colletotrichum falcatum causing sugarcane red rot

Molecular Biology Reports - Red rot caused by Colletotrichum falcatum, is one of the economically important disease of sugarcane and breeding for resistant varieties is considered to be the major...     

The atlas of RNase H antisense oligonucleotide distribution and activity in the CNS of rodents and non-human primates following central administration

Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) have emerged as a new class of drugs to treat a wide range of diseases, including neurological indications. Spinraza, an ASO that modulates splicing of SMN2 RNA, has shown profound disease modifying effects in Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) patients, energizing efforts to develop ASOs for other neurological diseases. While SMA specifically affects spinal motor neurons, other neurological diseases affect different central nervous system (CNS) regions, neuronal and non-neuronal cells. Therefore, it is important to characterize ASO distribution and activity in all major CNS structures and cell types to have a better understanding of which neurological diseases are amenable to ASO therapy. Here we present for the first time the atlas of ASO distribution and activity in the CNS of mice, rats, and non-human primates (NHP), species commonly used in preclinical therapeutic development. Following central administration of an ASO to rodents, we observe widespread distribution and target RNA reduction throughout the CNS in neurons, oligodendrocytes, astrocytes and microglia. This is also the case in NHP, despite a larger CNS volume and more complex neuroarchitecture. Our results demonstrate that ASO drugs are well suited for treating a wide range of neurological diseases for which no effective treatments are available.     

Dynamic large branching hash tree based secure and efficient dynamic auditing protocol for cloud environment

Cluster Computing - Cloud computing model offers various platforms services and provides a scalable, on-demand service at any time-anywhere manner. However, in the outsourcing strategy, users no...     

Design,Synthesis and Molecular Docking Studies of Novel Indole–Isoxazole–Triazole Conjugates as Potent Antibacterial Agents

Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry - In search of better antibacterial agents, a series of novel 5-((aryl)methyl)-3-(1H-indol-2-yl)isoxazole (IIIa–e) and...     

Influence of sowing windows and genotypes on growth,radiation interception,conversion efficiency and yield of guar

Crop growth largely depends on radiation. Radiation is the main impetus for photosynthesis and movement of photosynthates from source to sink. Therefore, identification of the optimum sowing windows and suitable cultivars for efficient utilization of radiation is of prime importance. A field study was conducted in red clay soil during 2014 and 2015 Kharif season and the treatments consisted of three genotypes and three sowing windows by using randomized complete block design with three replications. The effect of genotypes and sowing windows was found significant with respect to number of trifoliate leaves, leaf area ratio, dry matter production, grain numbers, pod length, test weight, grain yield, and stover yield of guar during 2014 as compared to 2015 sown crop. Statistically significant plant height, number of trifoliate leaves, number of branches, leaf area ratio, absolute growth rate, leaf area index, dry matter, grain number, pod length, grain yield, stover yield and a higher cumulative radiation interception were recorded with 15th August sown crop as compared to other sowing windows. The plant height, number of trifoliate leaves, number of branches, leaf area ratio, absolute growth rate, leaf area index, dry matter, grain number, pod length, grain yield, stover yield and maximum cumulative interception of radiation were significant with RGC-1003 as compared to RGC-936 and HG-365. It is observed that the incident PAR to dry matter accumulation conversion efficiency was varied with cultivars and different sowing windows which ranges from 0.74 g MJ⁻¹ to 0.79 g MJ⁻¹.     

Detection of Breast Cancer Based on Fuzzy Frequent Itemsets Mining

Background: Breast cancer, a type of malignant tumor, affects women more than men. About one third of women with breast cancer die of this disease. Hence, it is imperative to find a tool for the proper identification and early treatment of breast cancer. Unlike the conventional data mining algorithms, fuzzy logic based approaches help in the mining of association rules from quantitative transactions.Methods: In this study a novel fuzzy methodology IFFP (Improved Fuzzy Frequent Pattern Mining), based on a fuzzy association rule mining for biological knowledge extraction, is introduced to analyze the dataset in order to find the core factors that cause breast cancer. This method consists of two phases. During the first phase, fuzzy frequent itemsets are mined using the proposed algorithm IFFP. Fuzzy association rules are formed during the second phase, indicating whether a person belongs to benign or malignant. This algorithm is applied on WBCD (Wisconsin Breast Cancer Database) to detect the presence of breast cancer.Results: It is determined that the factor, Mitoses has low range of values on both malignant and benign and hence it does not contribute to the detection of breast cancer. On the other hand, the high range of Bare Nuclei shows more chances for the presence of breast cancer.Conclusion: Experimental evaluations on real datasets show that our proposed method outperforms recently proposed state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of runtime and memory usage.     

Efficient decolorization and detoxification of sulphonated azo dye Ponceau 4R by using single and mixed bacterial consortia

Abstract

The decolorization of toxic azo dye Ponceau 4R by three strains of bacteria Bacillus sp. strain AK1, Lysinibacillus sp. strain AK2 and Kerstersia sp. strain VKY1 individually and in consortia was studied. At optimal conditions, up to 95%, 93% and 87% of the dye was decolorized by the strains AK1, AK2 and VKY1, respectively, in 24?h at 200?mg/L of the dye. Decolorization of the dye was optimized for different parameters such as the concentration of dye, pH, temperature and NaCl concentration. These strains were able to decolorize Ponceau 4R up to an initial concentration of 800?mg/L in the pH range of 5–10, temperature 25–55?°C and NaCl concentration up to 30?g/L. The dye decolorization efficiency of these strains was further enhanced by using different consortia of AK1, AK2 and VKY1 in various combinations. The complete decolorization of the dye by a consortium was achieved within 18?h at 200?mg/L. The cell-free extract of these strains grown on this dye exhibited a remarkable activity of azoreductase which is involved in the breakage of the azo bond. The steady-state kinetics of azoreductase, validated the ping pong Bi-Bi mechanism of enzyme action. UV–Vis spectra, HPLC, FTIR and LC-MS analysis of the dye decolorized samples showed the formation of 4-aminonaphthalene-1-sulphonic acid and 5-amino-6-hydroxynaphthalene-2, 4-disulphonic acid as the products of azo bond breakage. The phytotoxicity test of decolorized sample revealed a considerable reduction in the toxicity in comparison with the parent dye.