A comparative study of the O-3 reactivity of isomeric N-dimethylmaleoyl-protected d-glucosamine and d-allosamine acceptors

Four isomeric N-dimethylmaleoyl 4,6-O-benzylidene-protected d-hexosamine acceptors (2, 3, 4, and 5) with all possible configurations at C-1 and C-3 (e.g., derived from d-glucosamine and d-allosamine) were prepared, and the assessment of their O-3 relative reactivity through competition experiments using the known per-O-acetylated d-galactopyranosyl trichloroacetimidate donor (15) was then carried out. The reactivities are in the order 4 ? 2 > 5 > 3. The analysis of the NMR spectra of 2–5 at different temperature and modeling experiments carried out on analogs of 2–5 (DFT) and on the acceptors themselves (MM) are coincident, and have helped to establish the stability of the different hydrogen bonds, and of the conformers which carry them. The whole results suggest that the electronic effects (hydrogen bonds) are required to explain the observed trend, in spite of the axial conformation of the most reactive hydroxyl group. The steric effects appear only when hydrogen bonds are weak.     

Biophoton emission

The phenomenon of ultraweak photon emission from living systems was further investigated in order to elucidate the physical properties of this radiation and its possible source. We obtained evidence that the light has a high degree of coherence because of (1) its photon count statistics, (2) its spectral distribution, (3) its decay behavior after exposure to light illumination, and (4) its transparency through optically thick materials. Moroever, DNA is apparently at least an important source, since conformational changes induced with ethidium bromide in vivo are clearly reflected by changes of the photon emission of cells. The physical properties of the radiation are described, taking DNA as an exciplex laser system, where a stable state can be reached far from thermal equilibrium at threshold.     

福建省土地利用碳排放空间关联性与碳平衡分区

全球变暖与二氧化碳浓度升高密不可分,在工业化及城镇化发展过程中,人类对土地的利用和改造是造成全球大气中含碳量迅速增加的重要原因,且土地在利用过程中碳减排的潜力较大。因此,从不同土地利用方式视角研究福建省碳排放量,采用基尼系数来衡量福建省各设区市碳收支的空间差异,探索区域内土地利用碳收支规模和空间分异;运用社会网络分析方法对福建省土地利用碳排放空间网络结构的整体特征和设区市在网络结构中的角色进行考察,有助于从基础层面对人类活动所造成的环境影响进行评估,及时调整土地利用方式从而促进低碳经济发展。结果表明：2006-2018年福建省土地利用净碳排放量逐年递增,呈现东高西低的空间分布特征,建设用地是主要碳源,而林地起到主要碳汇的作用;区域内碳补偿率逐年递减且存在明显的空间差异,经济较发达的区域碳补偿率低于经济欠发达的区域,生态承载系数东西差距不断加强,东部地区碳排放的比例明显超过了碳吸收的比例;福建省土地利用碳排放在空间上具有明显的关联性和溢出效应,碳排放空间关联网络越来越复杂、稳定,各设区市在网络中所处地位和作用存在明显的不均衡性,厦门市在整个碳排放网络中占据领导地位,其他城市的碳影响力在网络中的地位及作用随着经济联系逐渐加强正在逐步提高;对网络空间聚类发现,第一模块和第三模块对模块内外均有溢出效应且密度值较大,属于"双向溢出模块",其余第二、四模块均属于"净收益模块"。在研究的基础上将福建省各设区市分为3类区域：低碳优化区、碳总量控制区和碳汇功能区,并提出协同减排的差异性对策建议。     

Metabolic flux modeling of detoxification of acetic acid by Ralstonia eutropha at slightly alkaline pH levels

Ralstonia eutropha grows on and produces polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) from fermentation acids. Acetic acid, one major organic acid from acidogenesis of organic wastes, has an inhibitory effect on the bacterium at slightly alkaline pH (6 g HAc/L at pH 8). The tolerance of R. eutropha to acetate, however, was increased significantly up to 15 g/L at the slightly alkaline pH level with high cell mass concentration. A metabolic cell model with five fluxes is proposed to depict the detoxification mechanism including mass transfer and acetyl-CoA formation of acetic acid and the formation of three final metabolic products, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), active biomass, and CO(2). The fluxes were measured under different conditions such as cell mass concentration, acetic acid concentration, and medium composition. The experimental results indicate that the acetate detoxification by high cell mass concentration is attributed to the increased fluxes at high extracellular acetate concentrations. The fluxes could be doubled to reduce and hence detoxify the accumulated intracellular acetate anions.     

A data-driven framework to model the organism–environment system

Organisms modify their development and function in response to the environment. At the same time, the environment is modified by the activities of the organism. Despite the ubiquity of such dynamical interactions in nature, it remains challenging to develop models that accurately represent them, and that can be fitted using data. These features are desirable when modeling phenomena such as phenotypic plasticity, to generate quantitative predictions of how the system will respond to environmental signals of different magnitude or at different times, for example, during ontogeny. Here, we explain a modeling framework that represents the organism and environment as a single coupled dynamical system in terms of inputs and outputs. Inputs are external signals, and outputs are measurements of the system in time. The framework uses time-series data of inputs and outputs to fit a nonlinear black-box model that allows to predict how the system will respond to novel input signals. The framework has three key properties: it captures the dynamical nature of the organism–environment system, it can be fitted with data, and it can be applied without detailed knowledge of the system. We study phenotypic plasticity using in silico experiments and demonstrate that the framework predicts the response to novel environmental signals. The framework allows us to model plasticity as a dynamical property that changes in time during ontogeny, reflecting the well-known fact that organisms are more or less plastic at different developmental stages.     

Delayed herbivory by migratory geese increases summer‐long CO2 uptake in coastal western Alaska

The advancement of spring and the differential ability of organisms to respond to changes in plant phenology may lead to “phenological mismatches” as a result of climate change. One potential for considerable mismatch is between migratory birds and food availability in northern breeding ranges, and these mismatches may have consequences for ecosystem function. We conducted a three‐year experiment to examine the consequences for CO₂ exchange of advanced spring green‐up and altered timing of grazing by migratory Pacific black brant in a coastal wetland in western Alaska. Experimental treatments represent the variation in green‐up and timing of peak grazing intensity that currently exists in the system. Delayed grazing resulted in greater net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and gross primary productivity (GPP), while early grazing reduced CO₂ uptake with the potential of causing net ecosystem carbon (C) loss in late spring and early summer. Conversely, advancing the growing season only influenced ecosystem respiration (ER), resulting in a small increase in ER with no concomitant impact on GPP or NEE. The experimental treatment that represents the most likely future, with green‐up advancing more rapidly than arrival of migratory geese, results in NEE changing by 1.2 µmol m^?2 s^?1 toward a greater CO₂ sink in spring and summer. Increased sink strength, however, may be mitigated by early arrival of migratory geese, which would reduce CO₂ uptake. Importantly, while the direct effect of climate warming on phenology of green‐up has a minimal influence on NEE, the indirect effect of climate warming manifest through changes in the timing of peak grazing can have a significant impact on C balance in northern coastal wetlands. Furthermore, processes influencing the timing of goose migration in the winter range can significantly influence ecosystem function in summer habitats.     

Spatial patterns,ecological niches,and interspecific competition of avian brood parasites: inferring from a case study of Korea

Since obligate avian brood parasites depend completely on the effort of other host species for rearing their progeny, the availability of hosts will be a critical resource for their life history. Circumstantial evidence suggests that intense competition for host species may exist not only within but also between species. So far, however, few studies have demonstrated whether the interspecific competition really occurs in the system of avian brood parasitism and how the nature of brood parasitism is related to their niche evolution. Using the occurrence data of five avian brood parasites from two sources of nationwide bird surveys in South Korea and publically available environmental/climatic data, we identified their distribution patterns and ecological niches, and applied species distribution modeling to infer the effect of interspecific competition on their spatial distribution. We found that the distribution patterns of five avian brood parasites could be characterized by altitude and climatic conditions, but overall their spatial ranges and ecological niches extensively overlapped with each other. We also found that the predicted distribution areas of each species were generally comparable to the realized distribution areas, and the numbers of individuals in areas where multiple species were predicted to coexist showed positive relationships among species. In conclusion, despite following different coevolutionary trajectories to adapt to their respect host species, five species of avian brood parasites breeding in South Korea occupied broadly similar ecological niches, implying that they tend to conserve ancestral preferences for ecological conditions. Furthermore, our results indicated that contrary to expectation interspecific competition for host availability between avian brood parasites seemed to be trivial, and thus, play little role in shaping their spatial distributions and ecological niches. Future studies, including the complete ranges of avian brood parasites and ecological niches of host species, will be worthwhile to further elucidate these issues.     

Novel structural tree of (α + β)-proteins containing abCd units

A database of 926 (α + β)-proteins and (α + β)-domains containing abCd units, including 401 non-homologous, was compiled from the Protein Data Bank (total of 2636 PDB entries). A novel structural tree of this structural class of proteins was constructed to include 286 possible polypeptide chain folds. A structural classification of (α + β)-proteins containing abCd unit was developed on the basis of the structural tree. The database and the structural tree are available at http://strees.protres.ru/.