Name : Bel-Air
LeHanneur and Edwards built the Bel-Air for an exhibit at Le Laboratoire, a gallery in
Name : Bel-Air
LeHanneur and Edwards built the Bel-Air for an exhibit at Le Laboratoire, a gallery in
Recognition of double-stranded (ds) DNA sequences is usually thought to require some unwinding of the double helix to expose the bases for interactions with singlestranded nucleic acid sequences or with proteins. Thus, it would be reasonable to assume that recognition between dsDNA sequences
in solution would require processes involving single stranded DNA, such as triplehelix formation. Baldwin et al. examined a binary mixture of two different dsDNA sequences of identical length (294 base pairs) and GC base proportion (50%) in electrolytic solution under minor osmotic stress. Under conditions of low fluorescent labeling to avoid quenching, liquid- crystalline spherulites form, and the two DNAs within these structures prefer to self-associate rather than mix. The authors suggest, based on their recent theoretical work, that association between identical DNAs is favored as this arrangement maintains registry of the phosphate backbone and surrounding counterions; different sequences result in small changes in pitch that can disrupt these interactions and extract an energetic penalty. Other mechanisms may also operate, but dsDNA recognition occurs in the presence of intervening solution.
The relationship between the number of species in an ecological community and the functional aspects of the ecosystem is usually studied experimentally by observing the effects of random changes in diversity. However, a study of rocky intertidal pools reveals that the nonrandom variation in species diversity that is characteristic of natural habitats yields better predictions of functional effects than experiments in which the species composition is altered randomly. Bracken et al. quantified the effects of both kinds of variation in seaweed diversity on nutrient dynamics (nitrogen uptake) in a set of tide pools in which the number of species increased as disturbance (caused by heavy surf) decreased. The effects of natural realistic variation were compared with the effects of artificial diversity gradients established by random groupings of species. Increased diversity in the “real-world” pools was associated with higher rates of nutrient acquisition by the plants, whereas the artificial communities showed no relationship. These results present new challenges for experimental ecologists studying the consequences of biodiversity loss in ecosystems.
*.* Source of Information : 15th February 2008 Science
*.* Source of Information : 4th April 2008 Science
For more than 50 million years, Agaonidae wasps have laid their eggs in the ovules of the enclosed flowers, or syconia, of fig trees. The grubs stimulate the formation of a small gall and feed on the plant, tissue. The payback for the loss of reproductive power to the fig tree occurs when the young wasps emerge and carry their host's pollen to other trees. Fortunately for the trees, wasps don, Lay eggs in every ovule in a syconium, even though in evolutionary terms this might seem a good strategy for the wasp; rather than being deterred by the tree itself, the fig wasps are in fact preyed on by another wasp. The parasitoid's ovipositor is just long enough to penetrate the wall of the fig and reaches only the outer most ovules. Dunn et al. show that thanks to the packing architecture of the ovules within the syconium, the fig wasps predominantly use inner ovules that are out of range of the parasitoid, allowing the other ovules to mature into fig seeds and thereby stabilizing this mutualism.