The genus contains only two species both unable to produce microcystins: and comb. nov.

Spirulina is the commercial name for edible cyanobacteria of the genus . The taxonomy of this genus is confusing with four species distributed in two lineages. Furthermore, the species has been cited as toxic by potentially producing microcystins.

Timely cholecystectomy: important factors to improve guideline adherence and patient treatment.

Objective: Cholecystectomy is one of the most frequently performed surgeries in Germany and is performed as a treatment of acute cholecystitis (guideline S3 IIIB.8) and after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography for choledocholithiasis with simultaneous cholecystolithiasis (guideline S3 IIIC.6).

Analyzing embryo dormancy at single-cell resolution reveals dynamic transcriptional responses and activation of integrin-Yap/Taz prosurvival signaling.

Embryonic diapause is a reproductive adaptation that enables some mammalian species to halt the otherwise continuous pace of embryonic development. In this dormant state, the embryo exploits poorly understood regulatory mechanisms to preserve its developmental potential for prolonged periods of time. Here, using mouse embryos and single-cell RNA sequencing, we molecularly defined embryonic diapause at single-cell resolution, revealing transcriptional dynamics while the embryo seemingly resides in a state of suspended animation.

Deep learning for low-data drug discovery: Hurdles and opportunities.

Deep learning is becoming increasingly relevant in drug discovery, from de novo design to protein structure prediction and synthesis planning. However, it is often challenged by the small data regimes typical of certain drug discovery tasks. In such scenarios, deep learning approaches-which are notoriously 'data-hungry'-might fail to live up to their promise.

and spp. nov., Two Novel Members from a Clade of Fastidious Purple Sulfur Bacteria That Exhibit Unique Red-Shifted Light-Harvesting Capabilities.

In the pursuit of cultivating anaerobic anoxygenic phototrophs with unusual absorbance spectra, a purple sulfur bacterium was isolated from the shoreline of Baltrum, a North Sea island of Germany. It was designated strain 970, due to a predominant light harvesting complex (LH) absorption maximum at 963-966 nm, which represents the furthest infrared-shift documented for such complexes containing bacteriochlorophyll . A polyphasic approach to bacterial systematics was performed, comparing genomic, biochemical, and physiological properties.

Early developmental plasticity enables the induction of an intermediate extraembryonic cell state.

Two fundamental elements of pre-implantation embryogenesis are cells' intrinsic self-organization program and their developmental plasticity, which allows embryos to compensate for alterations in cell position and number; yet, these elements are still poorly understood. To be able to decipher these features, we established culture conditions that enable the two fates of blastocysts' extraembryonic lineages-the primitive endoderm and the trophectoderm-to coexist. This plasticity emerges following the mechanisms of the first lineage segregation in the mouse embryo, and it manifests as an extended potential for extraembryonic chimerism during the pre-implantation embryogenesis.

The Sixth Element: a 102-kb RepABC Plasmid of Xenologous Origin Modulates Chromosomal Gene Expression in Dinoroseobacter shibae.

The model organism Dinoroseobacter shibae and many other marine (, ) are characterized by a multipartite genome organization. Here, we show that the original isolate (Dshi-6) contained six extrachromosomal replicons (ECRs), whereas the strain deposited at the DSMZ (Dshi-5) lacked a 102-kb plasmid. To determine the role of the sixth plasmid, we investigated the genomic and physiological differences between the two strains.

Tissue clearing may alter emission and absorption properties of common fluorophores.

In recent years, 3D cell culture has been gaining a more widespread following across many fields of biology. Tissue clearing enables optical analysis of intact 3D samples and investigation of molecular and structural mechanisms by homogenizing the refractive indices of tissues to make them nearly transparent. Here, we describe and quantify that common clearing solutions including benzyl alcohol/benzyl benzoate (BABB), PEG-associated solvent system (PEGASOS), immunolabeling-enabled imaging of solvent-cleared organs (iDISCO), clear, unobstructed brain/body imaging cocktails and computational analysis (CUBIC), and ScaleS4 alter the emission spectra of Alexa Fluor fluorophores and fluorescent dyes.

Fatal affairs - conjugational transfer of a dinoflagellate-killing plasmid between marine .

The roseobacter group of marine bacteria is characterized by a mosaic distribution of ecologically important phenotypes. These are often encoded on mobile extrachromosomal replicons. So far, conjugation had only been experimentally proven between the two model organisms and .

Lima1 mediates the pluripotency control of membrane dynamics and cellular metabolism.

Lima1 is an extensively studied prognostic marker of malignancy and is also considered to be a tumour suppressor, but its role in a developmental context of non-transformed cells is poorly understood. Here, we characterise the expression pattern and examined the function of Lima1 in mouse embryos and pluripotent stem cell lines. We identify that Lima1 expression is controlled by the naïve pluripotency circuit and is required for the suppression of membrane blebbing, as well as for proper mitochondrial energetics in embryonic stem cells.

Diversity and substrate-specificity of green algae and other micro-eukaryotes colonizing amphibian clutches in Germany, revealed by DNA metabarcoding.

Amphibian clutches are colonized by diverse but poorly studied communities of micro-organisms. One of the most noted ones is the unicellular green alga, Oophila amblystomatis, but the occurrence and role of other micro-organisms in the capsular chamber surrounding amphibian clutches have remained largely unstudied. Here, we undertook a multi-marker DNA metabarcoding study to characterize the community of algae and other micro-eukaryotes associated with agile frog (Rana dalmatina) clutches.

Impairment of the neurotrophic signaling hub B-Raf contributes to motoneuron degeneration in spinal muscular atrophy.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a motoneuron disease caused by deletions of the ( and low SMN protein levels. SMN restoration is the concept behind a number of recently approved drugs which result in impressive yet limited effects. Since SMN has already been enhanced in treated patients, complementary SMN-independent approaches are needed.

The Display Makes a Difference: A Mobile Eye Tracking Study on the Perception of Art Before and After a Museum's Rearrangement.

There is increasing awareness that the perception of art is affected by the way it is presented. In 2018, the Austrian Gallery Belvedere redisplayed its permanent collection. Our multidisciplinary team seized this opportunity to investigate the viewing behavior of specific artworks both before and after the museum's rearrangement.

Testing a Calibration - Free Eye Tracker Prototype at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Eye tracking research in art viewership is often conducted in a laboratory setting where reproductions must be used in place of original art works and the viewing environment is less natural than in a museum. Recent technological developments have made museum studies possible but head-mounted eye tracking gear and interruptions by researchers still influence the experience of the viewer. In order to find a more ecologically valid way of recording eye movements while viewing artworks, we employed a prototype of a calibrationfree remote eye tracker hidden below selected paintings at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Filling the Gaps in the Cyanobacterial Tree of Life-Metagenome Analysis of DSM 106950, SAG 13.99 and DSM 107014.

Cyanobacteria represent one of the most important and diverse lineages of prokaryotes with an unparalleled morphological diversity ranging from unicellular cocci and characteristic colony-formers to multicellular filamentous strains with different cell types. Sequencing of more than 1200 available reference genomes was mainly driven by their ecological relevance (, ), toxicity () and the availability of axenic strains. In the current study three slowly growing non-axenic cyanobacteria with a distant phylogenetic positioning were selected for metagenome sequencing in order to (i) investigate their genomes and to (ii) uncover the diversity of associated heterotrophs.

Simultaneous Presence of Bacteriochlorophyll and Xanthorhodopsin Genes in a Freshwater Bacterium.

Photoheterotrophic bacteria represent an important part of aquatic microbial communities. There exist two fundamentally different light-harvesting systems: bacteriochlorophyll-containing reaction centers or rhodopsins. Here, we report a photoheterotrophic strain isolated from an oligotrophic lake, which contains complete sets of genes for both rhodopsin-based and bacteriochlorophyll-based phototrophy.

Phylogenomics reveals the basis of adaptation of Pseudorhizobium species to extreme environments and supports a taxonomic revision of the genus.

The family Rhizobiaceae includes many genera of soil bacteria, often isolated for their association with plants. Herein, we investigate the genomic diversity of a group of Rhizobium species and unclassified strains isolated from atypical environments, including seawater, rock matrix or polluted soil. Based on whole-genome similarity and core genome phylogeny, we show that this group corresponds to the genus Pseudorhizobium.

A comprehensive study of the sorption mechanism and thermodynamics of f-element sorption onto K-feldspar.

The mobility of heavy metal contaminants and radionuclides in the environment is directly controlled by their interactions with charged mineral surfaces, hence an assessment of their potential toxicity, e.g. in the context of radioactive waste disposal sites, requires understanding of sorption processes on the molecular level.

A Single Amino Acid Residue Regulates PTEN-Binding and Stability of the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Protein SMN.

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a neuromuscular disease caused by decreased levels of the survival of motoneuron (SMN) protein. Post-translational mechanisms for regulation of its stability are still elusive. Thus, we aimed to identify regulatory phosphorylation sites that modulate function and stability.

Evidence of repeated horizontal transfer of sterol C-5 desaturase encoding genes among dikarya fungi.

Gene duplication and horizontal gene transfer (HGT) are two important but different forces for adaptive genome evolution. In eukaryotic organisms, gene duplication is considered to play a more important evolutionary role than HGT. However, certain fungal lineages have developed highly efficient mechanisms that avoid the occurrence of duplicated gene sequences within their genomes.

Warm, lively, rough? Assessing agreement on aesthetic effects of artworks.

The idea that simple visual elements such as colors and lines have specific, universal associations-for example red being warm-appears rather intuitive. Such associations have formed a basis for the description of artworks since the 18th century and are still fundamental to discourses on art today. Art historians might describe a painting where red is dominant as "warm," "aggressive," or "lively," with the tacit assumption that beholders would universally associate the works' certain key forms with specific qualities, or "aesthetic effects".

A marine plasmid hitchhiking vast phylogenetic and geographic distances.

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) plays an important role in bacterial evolution and serves as a driving force for bacterial diversity and versatility. HGT events often involve mobile genetic elements like plasmids, which can promote their own dissemination by associating with adaptive traits in the gene pool of the so-called mobilome. Novel traits that evolve through HGT can therefore lead to the exploitation of new ecological niches, prompting an adaptive radiation of bacterial species.