During seed germination, iron (Fe) stored in vacuoles is exported by the redundant NRAMP3 and NRAMP4 transporter proteins. A double nramp3 nramp4 mutant is unable to mobilize Fe stores and does not ...develop in the absence of external Fe. We used RNA sequencing to compare gene expression in nramp3 nramp4 and wild type during germination and early seedling development. Even though sufficient Fe was supplied, the Fe-responsive transcription factors bHLH38, 39, 100, and 101 and their downstream targets FRO2 and IRT1 mediating Fe uptake were strongly upregulated in the nramp3 nramp4 mutant. Activation of the Fe deficiency response was confirmed by increased ferric chelate reductase activity in the mutant. At early stages, genes important for chloroplast redox control (FSD1 and SAPX), Fe homeostasis (FER1 and SUFB), and chlorophyll metabolism (HEMA1 and NYC1) were downregulated, indicating limited Fe availability in plastids. In contrast, expression of FRO3, encoding a ferric reductase involved in Fe import into the mitochondria, was maintained, and Fe-dependent enzymes in the mitochondria were unaffected in nramp3 nramp4. Together, these data show that a failure to mobilize Fe stores during germination triggered Fe deficiency responses and strongly affected plastids, but not mitochondria.
We explore the accuracy of the clustering-based redshift estimation proposed by Ménard et al. when applied to VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) and Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope ...Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) real data. This method enables us to reconstruct redshift distributions from measurement of the angular clustering of objects using a set of secure spectroscopic redshifts. We use state-of-the-art spectroscopic measurements with i
AB < 22.5 from the VIPERS as reference population to infer the redshift distribution of galaxies from the CFHTLS T0007 release. VIPERS provides a nearly representative sample to a flux limit of i
AB < 22.5 at a redshift of >0.5 which allows us to test the accuracy of the clustering-based redshift distributions. We show that this method enables us to reproduce the true mean colour–redshift relation when both populations have the same magnitude limit. We also show that this technique allows the inference of redshift distributions for a population fainter than the reference and we give an estimate of the colour–redshift mapping in this case. This last point is of great interest for future large-redshift surveys which require a complete faint spectroscopic sample.
Massification of Electric vehicles (EVs) is becoming a worldwide reality as a means to combat climate change and local pollution. Considering that most of the time vehicles are in parking places, ...there is an opportunity for using EVs to provide some valuable services to the power network. In particular, EVs can provide ancillary services in electricity markets through an aggregating agent. To this end, EVs aggregators need to develop decision support tools to optimally allocate energy and regulation resources considering power network constraints. Unlike optimization models for EVs aggregators currently available in the literature, in this paper we propose an optimization approach for EVs aggregators that jointly considers the most important aspects influencing EVs profitability, such as uncertainty, drivers’ patterns, capacity constraints, state of charge constraints, regulation demand constraints, regulation offer constraints, regulation bounds constraints, and power-system security constraints. The optimization problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming problem, thus ensuring global optimality. Results are presented in the form of the hourly allocation for charging/discharging power profiles, distinguishing between day-ahead energy and capacity/energy for regulation, and the profit that can be reached, while accounting for network constraints.
The proposed model is illustrated through a case study, which allows us to show that EVs aggregators allow for leading to a more reliable power system operation, avoiding transmission lines congestion, while providing important profits for EV owners who are able to provide regulation services.
•EV aggregators allow for a more reliable power system operation.•EV owners can attain profits from participating in energy markets.•An EV model featuring uncertainty, driving patterns, state of charge and capacity.•A relatively simple one-stage mixed-integer linear programming optimization model.
•Universal calibrations for microplate assays.•Simplified pathlength corrections for microplate FRAP assays.•Microplate FRAP assay for total antioxidant capacity.•Manuka honey FRAP value.•Manuka UMF ...rating predicts total phenols content.
The ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay was recently adapted to a microplate format. However, microplate-based FRAP (mFRAP) assays are affected by sample volume and composition. This work describes a calibration process for mFRAP assays which yields data free of volume effects. From the results, the molar absorptivity (ε) for the mFRAP assay was 141,698M−1cm−1 for gallic acid, 49,328M−1cm−1 for ascorbic acid, and 21,606M−1cm−1 for ammonium ferrous sulphate. The significance of ε (M−1cm−1) is discussed in relation to mFRAP assay sensitivity, minimum detectable concentration, and the dimensionless FRAP-value. Gallic acid showed 6.6mol of Fe2+ equivalents compared to 2.3mol of Fe+2 equivalents for ascorbic acid. Application of the mFRAP assay to Manuka honey samples (rated 5+, 10+, 15+, and 18+ Unique Manuka Factor; UMF) showed that FRAP values (0.54–0.76mmol Fe2+ per 100g honey) were strongly correlated with UMF ratings (R2=0.977) and total phenols content (R2=0.982)whilst the UMF rating was correlated with the total phenols (R2=0.999). In conclusion, mFRAP assay results were successfully standardised to yield data corresponding to 1-cm spectrophotometer which is useful for quality assurance purposes. The antioxidant capacity of Manuka honey was found to be directly related to the UMF rating.
Abstract
The role of the cosmic web in shaping galaxy properties is investigated in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) spectroscopic survey in the redshift range 0.03 ≤ z ≤ 0.25. The stellar mass, ...u − r dust corrected colour and specific star formation rate (sSFR) of galaxies are analysed as a function of their distances to the 3D cosmic web features, such as nodes, filaments and walls, as reconstructed by DisPerSE. Significant mass and type/colour gradients are found for the whole population, with more massive and/or passive galaxies being located closer to the filament and wall than their less massive and/or star-forming counterparts. Mass segregation persists among the star-forming population alone. The red fraction of galaxies increases when closing in on nodes, and on filaments regardless of the distance to nodes. Similarly, the star-forming population reddens (or lowers its sSFR) at fixed mass when closing in on filament, implying that some quenching takes place. These trends are also found in the state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulation Horizon-AGN. These results suggest that on top of stellar mass and large-scale density, the traceless component of the tides from the anisotropic large-scale environment also shapes galactic properties. An extension of excursion theory accounting for filamentary tides provides a qualitative explanation in terms of anisotropic assembly bias: at a given mass, the accretion rate varies with the orientation and distance to filaments. It also explains the absence of type/colour gradients in the data on smaller, non-linear scales.
Abstract
Using the light-cone from the cosmological hydrodynamical simulation horizon-AGN, we produced a photometric catalogue over 0 < z < 4 with apparent magnitudes in COSMOS, Dark Energy Survey, ...Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)-like, and Euclid-like filters at depths comparable to these surveys. The virtual photometry accounts for the complex star formation history (SFH) and metal enrichment of horizon-AGN galaxies, and consistently includes magnitude errors, dust attenuation, and absorption by intergalactic medium. The COSMOS-like photometry is fitted in the same configuration as the COSMOS2015 catalogue. We then quantify random and systematic errors of photometric redshifts, stellar masses, and star formation rates (SFR). Photometric redshifts and redshift errors capture the same dependencies on magnitude and redshift as found in COSMOS2015, excluding the impact of source extraction. COSMOS-like stellar masses are well recovered with a dispersion typically lower than 0.1 dex. The simple SFHs and metallicities of the templates induce a systematic underestimation of stellar masses at z < 1.5 by at most 0.12 dex. SFR estimates exhibit a dust-induced bimodality combined with a larger scatter (typically between 0.2 and 0.6 dex). We also use our mock catalogue to predict photometric redshifts and stellar masses in future imaging surveys. We stress that adding Euclid near-infrared photometry to the LSST-like baseline improves redshift accuracy especially at the faint end and decreases the outlier fraction by a factor ∼2. It also considerably improves stellar masses, reducing the scatter up to a factor 3. It would therefore be mutually beneficial for LSST and Euclid to work in synergy.
All animals are ecosystems with resident microbial communities, referred to as microbiota, which play profound roles in host development, physiology, and evolution. Enabled by new DNA sequencing ...technologies, there is a burgeoning interest in animal-microbiota interactions, but dissecting the specific impacts of microbes on their hosts is experimentally challenging. Gnotobiology, the study of biological systems in which all members are known, enables precise experimental analysis of the necessity and sufficiency of microbes in animal biology by deriving animals germ-free (GF) and inoculating them with defined microbial lineages. Mammalian host models have long dominated gnotobiology, but we have recently adapted gnotobiotic approaches to the zebrafish (Danio rerio), an important aquatic model. Zebrafish offer several experimental attributes that enable rapid, large-scale gnotobiotic experimentation with high replication rates and exquisite optical resolution. Here we describe detailed protocols for three procedures that form the foundation of zebrafish gnotobiology: derivation of GF embryos, microbial association of GF animals, and long-term, GF husbandry. Our aim is to provide sufficient guidance in zebrafish gnotobiotic methodology to expand and enrich this exciting field of research.
We present the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function (GSMF) up to z~1 from the zCOSMOS-bright 10k spectroscopic sample. We investigate the total MF and the contribution of ETGs and LTGs, defined by broad-band ...SED, morphology, spectral properties or star formation activities. We unveil a galaxy bimodality in the global MF, at least up to the z~0.55, better represented by 2 Schechter functions dominated by ETGs and LTGs, respectively. For the global population we confirm that low-mass galaxies number density increases later and faster than for massive galaxies. We find that the MF evolution at intermediate-low Mstar (logM<10.6) is mostly explained by a growth in stellar mass driven by smooth and decreasing SFHs. The low/negligible evolution at higher Mstar sets a limit of 30-15%, decreasing with redshift, to the fraction of major merging. We find that ETGs increase in number density with cosmic time faster for decreasing Mstar, with a median "building redshift" increasing with mass, in contrast with hierarchical model predictions. For LTGs we find that the number density of blue or spiral galaxies remains almost constant with cosmic time from z~1. Instead, the most extreme population of active star forming galaxies is rapidly decreasing in number density. We suggest, firstly, a transformation from blue active spiral galaxies of intermediate mass into blue quiescent and successively (1-2 Gyr after) into red passive types. The complete morphological transformation into red spheroidal galaxies, required longer time-scales or follows after 1-2 Gyr. A continuous replacement of blue galaxies is expected by low-mass active spirals growing in stellar mass. We estimate that on average ~25% of blue galaxies is transforming into red per Gyr for logM<11. We expect a negligible evolution of the global Galaxy Baryonic MF. ABRIDGED
Summary
The Anthropocene epoch is associated with the spreading of metals in the environment increasing oxidative and genotoxic stress on organisms. Interestingly, c. 520 plant species growing on ...metalliferous soils acquired the capacity to accumulate and tolerate a tremendous amount of nickel in their shoots. The wide phylogenetic distribution of these species suggests that nickel hyperaccumulation evolved multiple times independently. However, the exact nature of these mechanisms and whether they have been recruited convergently in distant species is not known.
To address these questions, we have developed a cross‐species RNA‐Seq approach combining differential gene expression analysis and cluster of orthologous group annotation to identify genes linked to nickel hyperaccumulation in distant plant families.
Our analysis reveals candidate orthologous genes encoding convergent function involved in nickel hyperaccumulation, including the biosynthesis of specialized metabolites and cell wall organization. Our data also point out that the high expression of IREG/Ferroportin transporters recurrently emerged as a mechanism involved in nickel hyperaccumulation in plants. We further provide genetic evidence in the hyperaccumulator Noccaea caerulescens for the role of the NcIREG2 transporter in nickel sequestration in vacuoles.
Our results provide molecular tools to better understand the mechanisms of nickel hyperaccumulation and study their evolution in plants.
See also the Commentary on this article by Clemens, 229: 653–655.
•Optimization-based demand-side strategy, including electric vehicles.•Profit maximization of the agents and renewable sources integration are pursued.•The proposed methodology is illustrated on the ...IEEE 37-bus distribution grid.•Demand side management along with V2G can effectively flatten daily load curve.
Demand fluctuation in electric power systems is undesirable from many points of view; this has sparked an interest in demand-side strategies that try to establish mechanisms that allow for a flatter demand curve. Particularly interesting is load shifting, a strategy that considers the shifting of certain amounts of energy demand from some time periods to other time periods with lower expected demand, typically in response to price signals.
In this paper, an optimization-based model is proposed to perform load shifting in the context of smart grids. In our model, we define agents that are responsible for load, generation and storage management; in particular, some of them are electric vehicle aggregators. An important feature of the proposed approach is the inclusion of electric vehicles with vehicle-to-grid capabilities; with this possibility, electric vehicles can provide certain services to the power grid, including load shifting and congestion management. Results are reported for a test system based on the IEEE 37-bus distribution grid; the effectiveness of the approach and the effect of the hourly energy prices on flattening the load curve are shown.
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