Multicellular eukaryotes produce small RNA molecules (approximately 21–24 nucleotides) of two general types, microRNA (miRNA) and short interfering RNA (siRNA). They collectively function as sequence-specific guides to silence or regulate genes, transposons, and viruses and to modify chromatin and genome structure. Formation or activity of small RNAs requires factors belonging...
In plants, microRNAs (miRNAs) comprise one of two classes of small RNAs that function primarily as negative regulators at the posttranscriptional level. Several MIRNA genes in the plant kingdom are ancient, with conservation extending between angiosperms and the mosses, whereas many others are more recently evolved. Here, we use deep...
The frequency of moderate to heavy rainfall events is projected to change in response to global warming. Here we show that these hydrologic changes may have a profound effect on mosquito population dynamics and rates of mosquito-borne disease transmission. We develop a simple model, which treats the mosquito reproductive cycle...
Eukaryotes contain a diversified set of small RNA-guided pathways that control genes, repeated sequences, and viruses at the transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. Genome-wide profiles and analyses of small RNAs, particularly the large class of 24-nucleotide (nt) short interfering RNAs (siRNAs), were done for wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana and silencing pathway mutants...
The Generation Challenge programme (GCP) is a global crop research consortium directed toward crop improvement through the
application of comparative biology and genetic resources characterization to plant breeding. A key consortium research activity
is the development of a GCP crop bioinformatics platform to support GCP research. This platform includes the...
Corrections
18 Mar 2010: Shaman J, Pitzer VE, Viboud C, Grenfell BT, Lipsitch M (2010) Correction: Absolute Humidity and the Seasonal Onset of Influenza in the Continental United States. PLOS Biology 8(3): 10.1371/annotation/35686514-b7a9-4f65-9663-7baefc0d63c0.
15 Mar 2010: Shaman J, Pitzer VE, Viboud C, Grenfell BT, Lipsitch M (2010) Correction: Absolute Humidity...
The VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx) was an international field program designed to make observations of poorly understood but critical components of the coupled climate system of the southeast Pacific. This region is characterized by strong coastal upwelling, the coolest SSTs in the tropical belt, and is home to...
Mild mutations in BRCA2 (FANCD1) cause Fanconi anemia (FA) when homozygous, while severe mutations cause common cancers including breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers when heterozygous. Here we report a zebrafish brca2 insertional mutant that shares phenotypes with human patients and identifies a novel brca2 function in oogenesis. Experiments showed that...
Accelerated release of carbon from soils is one
of the most important feedbacks related to anthropogenically
induced climate change. Studies addressing the mechanisms
for soil carbon release through organic matter decomposition
have focused on the effect of changes in the average temperature,
with little attention to changes in temperature variability....
Endogenous small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are a class of naturally occuring regulatory RNAs found in fungi, plants, and animals. Some endogenous siRNAs are required to silence transposons or function in chromosome segregation; however, the specific roles of most endogenous siRNAs are unclear. The helicase gene eri-6/7 was identified in the...
The phylogeny of ground beetles of supertribe Trechitae is inferred using DNA sequences of genes that code for 28S ribosomal RNA, 18S ribosomal RNA, and wingless. Within the outgroups, austral psydrines are inferred to be monophyletic, and separate from the three genera of true Psydrina (Psydrus, Nomius, Laccocenus); the austral...
The diurnal fluctuations in solar irradiance impose a fundamental frequency on ocean biogeochemistry. Observations of the ocean carbon cycle at these frequencies are rare, but could be considerably expanded by measuring and interpreting the inherent optical properties. A method is presented to analyze diel cycles in particulate beam-attenuation coefficient (c[subscript...
Background: Improved maps of species distributions are important for effective management of wildlife under increasing anthropogenic pressures. Recent advances in lidar and radar remote sensing have shown considerable potential for mapping forest structure and habitat characteristics across landscapes. However, their relative efficacies and integrated use in habitat mapping remain largely...
The endangered western stock of the Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) - the largest of the eared seals - has declined by 80% from population levels encountered four decades ago. Current overall trends from the Gulf of Alaska to the Aleutian Islands appear neutral with strong regional heterogeneities. A published...
It has been hypothesized that horizontal gene/chromosome transfer and parasexual recombination following hyphal fusion between different strains may contribute to the emergence of wide genetic variability in plant pathogenic and other fungi. However, the significance of vegetative (heterokaryon) incompatibility responses, which commonly result in cell death, in preventing these processes...
Background: COUP-TF interacting protein 2 [(Ctip2), also known as Bcl11b] is an important regulator of skin homeostasis, and is overexpressed in head and neck cancer. Ctip2(ep-/-) mice, selectively ablated for Ctip2 in epidermal keratinocytes, exhibited impaired terminal differentiation and delayed epidermal permeability barrier (EPB) establishment during development, similar to what...
All existing sea otter, Enhydra lutris, populations have suffered at least one historic population bottleneck stemming from the fur trade extirpations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We examined genetic variation, gene flow, and population structure at five microsatellite loci in samples from five pre-fur trade populations throughout the sea...
The Antarctic blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia) was hunted to near extinction between 1904 and 1972, declining from an estimated initial abundance of more than 250,000 to fewer than 400. Here, we describe mtDNA control region diversity and geographic differentiation in the surviving population of the Antarctic blue whale, using...
Previous game-theoretic studies of vaccination behavior typically have often assumed that populations are homogeneously mixed and that individuals are fully rational. In reality, there is heterogeneity in the number of contacts per individual, and individuals tend to imitate others who appear to have adopted successful strategies. Here, we use network-based...