Synthesis by Ribosomes of Viral Coat Protein containing Ester Linkages

Peptidyl transferase, the ribosomal enzyme which synthesizes peptide bonds, can catalyse the formation of ester linkages between α-hydroxyacyl-tRNA and aminoacyl-tRNA when ribosomes carry out a specific translation of phage R17 RNA in vitro.     

Evolution Within a Bizarre Phylum: Homologies of the First Echinoderms

SYNOPSIS. The Extraxial/Axial Theory (EAT) of echinoderm skeletalhomologies describes two major body wall types: axial and extraxial.The latter is subdivided into perforate and imperforate regions.Each of the regions has a distinctly different source in earlylarval development. Axial skeleton originates in the rudiment,and develops in association with the pentaradially arrangedhydrocoel according to specific ontogenetic principles. Perforateand imperforate extraxial regions are associated with the leftand right somatocoels respectively, are not governed by ontogeneticprinciples of plate addition, and are products of the non-rudimentpart of the larval body. The morphology of even the most bizarreof the earliest echinoderms can be explored using the EAT. Amongthese, edrioasteroid-like taxa best fit the idea that formsexpressing archimery in the sequential arrangement of axial,perforate extraxial, and imperforate extraxial regions are thefirst echinoderms. Metamorphosis is especially marked in cladesthat have a high axial to extraxial skeleton ratio because structuresdeveloping from the non-rudiment part are suppressed in favorof the developing axial elements during this process. However,inearly echinoderms, extraxial skeleton makes up a far largerproportion of the body wall than axial, implying that metamorphosiswas not as significant a part of the developmental trajectoryas it is in more recently evolved taxa. Echinoderm radiationconsists of a succession of apomorphies that reduced the expressionof extraxial components but increased the influence of axialones, with a concomitant increase in the prominence of metamorphosis.     

“假磨楔式”:一个概念的发展历史(英文)

大多数情况下古生物学是事后解释的科学,也就是说,在大多数情况下它的中心任务是解释存在的资料。古生物学成为预测科学的一个罕见的实例见诸于"假磨楔式"这个概念的发展历史中。根据一个假磨楔式哺乳动物的单个齿骨上的下臼齿结构,推测出当时尚不知道的上臼齿结构。随后,被认为很可能属于假磨楔式哺乳动物的单个上臼齿以及更晚的一件具有咬合在一起的上下臼齿的标本的发现证实了最初的假设。磨楔式臼齿结构作为哺乳动物历史中一个关键的创新结构,本身相当复杂。假磨楔式概念的被接受在认识磨楔式臼齿结构方面具有重要意义,这个结构可能发生不止一次。"假磨楔式"这个术语最初提出之后,随着它的使用,一些后来的研究者的用法严重偏离了它的本义。这一术语既被用来描述并不以原始定义的假磨楔式方式咬合的柱齿兽类牙齿,也被用于描述明显属于原始定义的磨楔式而不是假磨楔式牙齿。结果是古生物学界对其定义的理解变得更不准确,这个概念的实用性因此大大削弱。所以,回归最初的定义是合适的。     

Data-Mining Discovery of Pattern and Process in Ecological Systems

ABSTRACT Most ecologists use statistical methods as their main analytical tools when analyzing data to identify relationships between a response and a set of predictors; thus, they treat all analyses as hypothesis tests or exercises in parameter estimation. However, little or no prior knowledge about a system can lead to creation of a statistical model or models that do not accurately describe major sources of variation in the response variable. We suggest that under such circumstances data mining is more appropriate for analysis. In this paper we 1) present the distinctions between data-mining (usually exploratory) analyses and parametric statistical (confirmatory) analyses, 2) illustrate 3 strengths of data-mining tools for generating hypotheses from data, and 3) suggest useful ways in which data mining and statistical analyses can be integrated into a thorough analysis of data to facilitate rapid creation of accurate models and to guide further research.     

Direct and indirect effects of nitrogen deposition on species composition change in calcareous grasslands

Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has been identified as a major threat to biodiversity, but field surveys of its effects have rarely focussed on sites which are actively managed to maintain characteristic species. We analysed permanent quadrat data from 106 plots in nature reserves on calcareous grassland sites in the United Kingdom collected during a survey between 1990 and 1993 and compared the data with the results from resurvey of 48 of these plots between 2006 and 2009. N deposition showed no significant spatial association with species richness, species diversity, or the frequency of species adapted to low nutrient conditions in the 1990–1993 dataset. However, temporal analysis showed that N deposition was significantly associated with changes in Shannon diversity and evenness. In plots with high rates of N deposition, there was a decrease in species diversity and evenness, a decline in the frequency of characteristic calcareous grassland species, and a lower number of rare and scarce species. As all sites had active management to maintain a high diversity and characteristic species, our results imply that even focussed management on nature conservation objectives cannot prevent adverse effects of high rates of N deposition. Structural equation modelling was used to compare different causal mechanisms to explain the observed effects. For change in Shannon diversity, direct effects of N deposition were the dominant mechanism and there was an independent effect of change in grazing intensity. In contrast, for change in herb species number, indirect effects on soil acidity, linked to both N and S deposition, were more important than direct effects of N deposition.     

Conservation of Britain's biodiversity: the case of Hieracium cyathis (Asteraceae) and its relation to other apomictic taxa

Hieracium cyathis (Ley) W. R. Linton (Asteraceae), Chalice Hawkweed, is a rare species endemic to Britain. It is a distinct member of Hieracium Section Oreadea , characterized by a short acladium and out-curved tips to the phyllaries. Historic records and current field survey indicate it has occurred in two localities in SW England and seven in South Wales. It is still present in all sites except for one Welsh locality, is significantly threatened at Cheddar Gorge, and two Welsh sites have only three plants each. Comparative morphology, cultivation experiments and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis do not support the reported differences between material from SW England and Wales. AFLP analysis showed that every plant in the field was genetically similar but different, and minor genetic variation was found in one progeny array. It is a triploid (2 n  = 27) with apomictic seed production, and 26% potentially viable pollen. It qualifies as 'Near Threatened' under the 2001 IUCN threat criteria. General guidelines for conservation of microspecies of Hieracium are discussed.  © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2008, 156 , 669–680.     

Floristic changes in the British Isles: comparison of techniques for assessing changes in frequency of plants with time

Botanical recording data are often used to assess changes in the frequencies of plant species over time, but are subject to marked variations in recording activity. We compare and evaluate some general methods that can be used to detect changes in species' frequencies taking into account the recording variations. Models for 15 species that have been studied in detail previously were compared using the numbers of individual records, sites, hectads, or vice-counties at different time scales (year, decade, moving averages, and pre-/post- specific dates), with or without correction for recording variation. The best methods had a correction for the amount of recording over time, summarized records by decade or moving average, and used an extrapolation between first and last records for sites or hectads. Increasing the geographical and temporal scales can decrease the influence of recording variations, but leads to a loss of sensitivity and under-estimates the true extent of change. The choice between sites and hectads will depend on the detail of the records available; cruder data sets should use the latter.  © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2006, 152 , 279–301.