| 11. |
- Li, Cai, et al.
(författare)
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Two Antarctic penguin genomes reveal insights into their evolutionary history and molecular changes related to the Antarctic environment
- 2014
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Ingår i: GigaScience. - 2047-217X. ; 3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Penguins are flightless aquatic birds widely distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The distinctive morphological and physiological features of penguins allow them to live an aquatic life, and some of them have successfully adapted to the hostile environments in Antarctica. To study the phylogenetic and population history of penguins and the molecular basis of their adaptations to Antarctica, we sequenced the genomes of the two Antarctic dwelling penguin species, the Adelie penguin [Pygoscelis adeliae] and emperor penguin [Aptenodytes forsteri]. Results: Phylogenetic dating suggests that early penguins arose similar to 60 million years ago, coinciding with a period of global warming. Analysis of effective population sizes reveals that the two penguin species experienced population expansions from similar to 1 million years ago to similar to 100 thousand years ago, but responded differently to the climatic cooling of the last glacial period. Comparative genomic analyses with other available avian genomes identified molecular changes in genes related to epidermal structure, phototransduction, lipid metabolism, and forelimb morphology. Conclusions: Our sequencing and initial analyses of the first two penguin genomes provide insights into the timing of penguin origin, fluctuations in effective population sizes of the two penguin species over the past 10 million years, and the potential associations between these biological patterns and global climate change. The molecular changes compared with other avian genomes reflect both shared and diverse adaptations of the two penguin species to the Antarctic environment.
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| 12. |
- Anton, KA, et al.
(författare)
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PKA-regulated VASP phosphorylation promotes extrusion of transformed cells from the epithelium
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of cell science. - : The Company of Biologists. - 1477-9137 .- 0021-9533. ; 127:16Pt 16, s. 3425-3433
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- At the early stages of carcinogenesis, transformation occurs in single cells within tissues. In an epithelial monolayer, such mutated cells are recognized by their normal neighbors and are often apically extruded. The apical extrusion requires cytoskeletal reorganization and cell shape changes, but it is poorly understood what molecular switches are involved in regulation of these processes. Here, using SILAC-based quantitative mass spectrometry we have identified proteins that are modulated in transformed cells upon their interaction with normal cells. Phosphorylation of VASP at serine 239 is specifically upregulated in RasV12-transformed cells when they are surrounded by normal cells. VASP phosphorylation is required for the cell shape changes and apical extrusion of Ras-transformed cells. Furthermore, PKA is activated in Ras-transformed cells surrounded by normal cells, leading to VASP phosphorylation. These results indicate that the PKA/VASP pathway is a crucial regulator for tumor cell extrusion from the epithelium and shed light on the events occurring at the early stage of carcinogenesis.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- Green, Richard E., et al.
(författare)
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Three crocodilian genomes reveal ancestral patterns of evolution among archosaurs
- 2014
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 346:6215, s. 1335-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To provide context for the diversification of archosaurs-the group that includes crocodilians, dinosaurs, and birds-we generated draft genomes of three crocodilians: Alligator mississippiensis (the American alligator), Crocodylus porosus (the saltwater crocodile), and Gavialis gangeticus (the Indian gharial). We observed an exceptionally slow rate of genome evolution within crocodilians at all levels, including nucleotide substitutions, indels, transposable element content and movement, gene family evolution, and chromosomal synteny. When placed within the context of related taxa including birds and turtles, this suggests that the common ancestor of all of these taxa also exhibited slow genome evolution and that the comparatively rapid evolution is derived in birds. The data also provided the opportunity to analyze heterozygosity in crocodilians, which indicates a likely reduction in population size for all three taxa through the Pleistocene. Finally, these data combined with newly published bird genomes allowed us to reconstruct the partial genome of the common ancestor of archosaurs, thereby providing a tool to investigate the genetic starting material of crocodilians, birds, and dinosaurs.
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| 15. |
- Shoemaker, M. A., et al.
(författare)
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Design and validation of a trajectory estimation system for the Hayabusa sample return capsule
- 2010
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Ingår i: Spaceflight Mechanics 2010, Pts I-III. - : Univelt, Inc. - 9780877035602 ; , s. 375-394
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft will return to Earth in summer, 2010, carrying samples from asteroid Itokawa. Because the sample return capsule will reenter the atmosphere at night, the capsule and surrounding air will appear as a bright light (i.e., "fireball") during the portion of the trajectory with high aerodynamic heating. Kyushu University, in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, is developing a ground-based optical sensor system to observe the reentry and estimate the vehicle's trajectory. This paper describes the design and validation currently underway for the proposed system, in preparation for operations in mid-2010. An Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is used to estimate the capsule's position and velocity, as well as a scale factor on the atmospheric density. Simulations of the EKF show that the capsule's state at the end of the visible portion of the trajectory (i.e., at approximately 25 km altitude) can be estimated with a 1-s uncertainty of 60 m in position and 8 m/s in velocity.
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| 16. |
- Zhang, Z. W., et al.
(författare)
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Boron effects on the ductility of a nano-cluster-strengthened ferritic steel
- 2011
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Ingår i: Materials Science & Engineering A: Structural Materials: Properties, Microstructure and Processing. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-5093. ; 528:3, s. 855-859
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The mechanical properties of Cu-rich nano-cluster-strengthened ferritic steels with and without boron doping were investigated. Tensile tests at room temperature in air showed that the B-doped ferritic steel has similar yield strength but a larger elongation than that without boron doping after extended aging at 500 degrees C. There are three mechanisms affecting the ductility and fracture of these steels: brittle cleavage fracture, week grain boundaries, and moisture-induced hydrogen embrittlement. Our study reveals that boron strengthens the grain boundary and suppresses the intergranular fracture. Furthermore, the moisture-induced embrittlement can be alleviated by surface coating with vacuum oil. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 17. |
- Alfoeldi, Jessica, et al.
(författare)
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The genome of the green anole lizard and a comparative analysis with birds and mammals
- 2011
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 477:7366, s. 587-591
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The evolution of the amniotic egg was one of the great evolutionary innovations in the history of life, freeing vertebrates from an obligatory connection to water and thus permitting the conquest of terrestrial environments(1). Among amniotes, genome sequences are available for mammals and birds(2-4), but not for non-avian reptiles. Here we report the genome sequence of the North American green anole lizard, Anolis carolinensis. We find that A. carolinensis microchromosomes are highly syntenic with chicken microchromosomes, yet do not exhibit the high GC and low repeat content that are characteristic of avian microchromosomes(2). Also, A. carolinensis mobile elements are very young and diverse-more so than in any other sequenced amniote genome. The GC content of this lizard genome is also unusual in its homogeneity, unlike the regionally variable GC content found in mammals and birds(5). We describe and assign sequence to the previously unknown A. carolinensis X chromosome. Comparative gene analysis shows that amniote egg proteins have evolved significantly more rapidly than other proteins. An anole phylogeny resolves basal branches to illuminate the history of their repeated adaptive radiations.
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| 18. |
- Han, Lu, et al.
(författare)
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Silica-Based Nanoporous Materials
- 2014
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Ingår i: Zeitschrift für Anorganische und Allgemeines Chemie. - : Wiley. - 0044-2313 .- 1521-3749. ; 640:3-4, s. 521-536
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ordered nanoporous structures are among the most fascinating and industrially important materials currently in use. The archetypal zeolite material has now been joined by an eclectic array of new structures that exhibit porosity over a wide range of length scales and with order/disorder expressed in a multitude of ways. This raises the bar in terms of characterization and extends a real challenge to the scientific community to fully understand the properties and potential future applications of such materials. In this review we discuss the importance of modern microscopy tools combined with diffraction in this endeavour and show how the details of even the most complex quasi-crystalline nanoporous architectures can be elucidated. We show by using the appropriate spherical aberration (C-s) corrections in scanning transmission electron microscopy it is possible to decipher all the individual silicon and aluminum atoms in a zeolite structure. Automated routines for using large electron diffraction datasets for crystal structure determination of nanocrystals is described making the need for large single crystal synthesis less-and-less important. The power of complementary combinations of surface tools such as atomic force microscopy and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy is discussed to elucidate crystal growth mechanisms. For mesoporous materials synthesized from self-organized organic mesophases electron microscopy reveals the details of the complex hierarchy of porosity so crucial for the functional performance of the structure.
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| 19. |
- Herzog, Nina, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of Daytime Food Intake on Memory Consolidation during Sleep or Sleep Deprivation
- 2012
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 7:6, s. e40298-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sleep enhances memory consolidation. Bearing in mind that food intake produces many metabolic signals that can influence memory processing in humans (e.g., insulin), the present study addressed the question as to whether the enhancing effect of sleep on memory consolidation is affected by the amount of energy consumed during the preceding daytime. Compared to sleep, nocturnal wakefulness has been shown to impair memory consolidation in humans. Thus, a second question was to examine whether the impaired memory consolidation associated with sleep deprivation (SD) could be compensated by increased daytime energy consumption. To these aims, 14 healthy normal-weight men learned a finger tapping sequence (procedural memory) and a list of semantically associated word pairs (declarative memory). After the learning period, standardized meals were administered, equaling either similar to 50% or similar to 150% of the estimated daily energy expenditure. In the morning, after sleep or wakefulness, memory consolidation was tested. Plasma glucose was measured both before learning and retrieval. Polysomnographic sleep recordings were performed by electroencephalography (EEG). Independent of energy intake, subjects recalled significantly more word pairs after sleep than they did after SD. When subjects stayed awake and received an energy oversupply, the number of correctly recalled finger sequences was equal to those seen after sleep. Plasma glucose did not differ among conditions, and sleep time in the sleep conditions was not influenced by the energy intake interventions. These data indicate that the daytime energy intake level affects neither sleep's capacity to boost the consolidation of declarative and procedural memories, nor sleep's quality. However, high energy intake was followed by an improved procedural but not declarative memory consolidation under conditions of SD. This suggests that the formation of procedural memory is not only triggered by sleep but is also sensitive to the fluctuations in the energy state of the body.
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| 20. |
- Liu, Zheng, et al.
(författare)
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A review of fine structures of nanoporous materials as evidenced by microscopic methods
- 2013
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Ingår i: Microscopy. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2050-5698 .- 2050-5701. ; 62:1, s. 109-146
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper reviews diverse capabilities offered by modern electron microscopy techniques in studying fine structures of nanoporous crystals such as zeolites, silica mesoporous crystals, metal organic frameworks and yolk-shell materials. For the case of silica mesoporous crystals, new approaches that have been developed recently to determine the three-dimensionally periodic average structure, e. g., through self-consistent analysis of electron microscope images or through consideration of accidental extinctions, are presented. Various structural deviations in nanoporous materials from their average structures including intergrowth, surface termination, incommensurate modulation, quasicrystal and defects are demonstrated. Ibidem observations of the scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope give information about the zeolite-crystal-growth mechanism, and an energy for unstitching a building-unit from a crystal surface is directly observed by an anatomic force microscope. It is argued how these observations lead to a deeper understanding of the materials.
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