assembled long-read genomes of strains in commerce.

strains NRRL Y-1646, Red Star, and VL3 are commercial yeast strains for baking and fermentation. These long-read genome assemblies will serve to better understand structural variation and biological properties of these strains.

Boosting Gas-Phase TiO Photocatalysis with Weak Electric Field Strengths of Volt/Centimeter.

Among semiconductor nanomaterials, titanium dioxide is at the forefront of heterogeneous photocatalysis, but its catalytic activity greatly suffers from the loss of photoexcited charge carriers through deleterious recombination processes. Here, we investigate the impact of an external electric field (EEF) applied to conventional P25 TiO nanopowder with or without Au nanoparticles (NPs) to circumvent this issue. The study of two redox reactions in the gas phase, water splitting and toluene degradation, reveals an enhancement of the photocatalytic activity with rather modest electric fields of a few volt/centimeters only.

Boosting the Performances of Semitransparent Organic Photovoltaics via Synergetic Near-Infrared Light Management.

Semitransparent organic photovoltaics (ST-OPVs) offer promising prospects for application in building-integrated photovoltaic systems and greenhouses, but further improvement of their performance faces a delicate trade-off between the two competing indexes of power conversion efficiency (PCE) and average visible transmittance (AVT). Herein, the authors take advantage of coupling plasmonics with the optical design of ST-OPVs to enhance near-infrared absorption and hence simultaneously improve efficiency and visible transparency to the maximum extent. By integrating core-bishell PdCu@Au@SiO nanotripods that act as optically isotropic Lambertian sources with near-infrared-customized localized surface plasmon resonance in an optimal ternary PM6:BTP-eC9:L8-BO-based ST-OPV, it is shown that their interplay with a multilayer optical coupling layer, consisting of ZnS(130 nm)/NaAlF(60 nm)/WO(100 nm)/LaF(50 nm) identified from high-throughput optical screening, leads to a record-high PCE of 16.

Draft genome sequences of biofuel production microalgae and .

Green microalgae are used in biofuel production. To contribute to the knowledge of the Chlorellaceae family, the assembled draft genome sequences of Kruger and Shihira and Krauss are presented.

Long-read sequencing of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma tumors reveal diverse patterns of high-risk Human Papillomavirus integration.

Introduction: In North America and in most European countries, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is responsible for over 70% of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas. The burden of OPSCC, in high-income countries, has been steadily increasing over the past 20 years. As a result, in the USA and in the UK, the burden of HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in men has now surpassed that of cervical cancer in women.

Theoretical Study of Gold Nanoparticles Randomly Dispersed on a Dielectric/Gold Substrate.

We theoretically study random arrangements of cylindrical gold nanoparticles (NPs) deposited on a dielectric/gold substrate. We use two methods, namely the Finite Element Method (FEM) and the Coupled Dipole Approximation (CDA) method. The FEM is increasingly used to analyze the optical properties of NPs, but calculations for arrangements containing a large number of NPs have a high computational cost.

Ranking parameters driving siring success during sperm competition in the North African houbara bustard.

Sperm competition is a powerful force driving the evolution of ejaculate and sperm traits. However, the outcome of sperm competition depends on many traits that extend beyond ejaculate quality. Here, we study male North African houbara bustards (Chlamydotis undulata undulata) competing for egg fertilization, after artificial insemination, with the aim to rank the importance of 14 parameters as drivers of siring success.

Strong and weak polarization-dependent interactions in connected and disconnected plasmonic nanostructures.

We explore numerically and experimentally the formation of hybridized modes between a bright mode displayed by a gold nanodisc and either dark or bright modes of a nanorod - both elements being either separated by a nanometer-size gap (disconnected system) or relied on a metal junction (connected system). In terms of modeling, we compare the scattering or absorption spectra and field distributions obtained under oblique-incidence plane wave illumination with quasi-normal mode computation and an analytical model based on a coupled oscillator model. Both connected and disconnected systems have very different plasmon properties in longitudinal polarization.

High-Performance Semitransparent Organic Solar Cells: From Competing Indexes of Transparency and Efficiency Perspectives.

Semitransparent organic solar cells (ST-OSCs) offer potentially more opportunities in areas of self-powered greenhouses and building-integrated photovoltaic systems. In this work, the effort to use a combination of solution-processable gold nanobipyramids (AuNBPs)-based hole transporting layer and a low/high dielectric constant double layer optical coupling layer (OCL) for improving the performance of ST-OSCs over the two competing indexes of power conversion efficiency (PCE) and average visible transmittance (AVT) is reported. The fabrication and characterization of the ST-OSCs are guided, at design and analyses level, using the theoretical simulation and experimental optimization.

The Complete Genome Sequence of Bacillus thuringiensis Strain ATCC 13367 Features a -Containing Chromosome.

We report the high-quality closed genome sequence of Bacillus thuringiensis ATCC 13367, which is used as a bioinsecticide. The genome features a 328-kbp plasmid and a 5.8-Mbp chromosome.

Enforced monoandry over generations induces a reduction of female investment into reproduction in a promiscuous bird.

While uncovering the costs and benefits of polyandry has attracted considerable attention, assessing the net effect of sexual selection on population fitness requires the experimental manipulation of female mating over generations, which is usually only achievable in laboratory populations of arthropods. However, knowing if sexual selection improves or impairs the expression of life-history traits is key for the management of captive populations of endangered species, which are mostly long-lived birds and mammals. It might therefore be questionable to extrapolate the results gathered on laboratory populations of insects to infer the net effect of sexual selection on populations of endangered species.

Paternal age negatively affects sperm production of the progeny.

Parental age has profound consequences for offspring's phenotype. However, whether patrilineal age affects offspring sperm production remains unknown, despite the importance of sperm production for male reproductive success in species facing post-copulatory sexual selection. Using a longitudinal dataset on ejaculate attributes of the houbara bustard, we showed that offspring sired by old fathers had different age-dependent trajectories of sperm production compared to offspring sired by young fathers.

White pupae phenotype of tephritids is caused by parallel mutations of a MFS transporter.

Mass releases of sterilized male insects, in the frame of sterile insect technique programs, have helped suppress insect pest populations since the 1950s. In the major horticultural pests Bactrocera dorsalis, Ceratitis capitata, and Zeugodacus cucurbitae, a key phenotype white pupae (wp) has been used for decades to selectively remove females before releases, yet the gene responsible remained unknown. Here, we use classical and modern genetic approaches to identify and functionally characterize causal wp mutations in these distantly related fruit fly species.

Hybrid nanostructured plasmonic electrodes for flexible organic light-emitting diodes.

Improved performance in flexible organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is demonstrated by using a hybrid nanostructured plasmonic electrode consisting of silver nanowires (AgNWs) decorated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and covered by exfoliated graphene sheets. Such all-solution processed electrodes show high optical transparency and electrical conductivity. When integrated in an OLED with super yellow polyphenylene vinylene as the emissive layer, the plasmon coupling of the NW-NP hybrid plasmonic system is found to significantly enhance the fluorescence, demonstrated by both simulations and photoluminescence measurements, leading to a current efficiency of 11.

Accuracy and bias in first impressions of attachment style from faces.

Objective: People gather important social information from subtle nonverbal cues. Given that one's attachment style can meaningfully affect the quality of one's relationships, we investigated whether people could perceive men's and women's attachment styles from photos of their neutral faces.

Method: In two studies, we measured targets' attachment styles then asked participants (total N = 893) to judge the male and female targets' attachment anxiety and avoidance from photos of their neutral faces (total N = 331) and to report their own attachment anxiety and avoidance.

Probing Nanoparticle/Membrane Interactions by Combining Amphiphilic Diblock Copolymer Assembly and Plasmonics.

Understanding the interactions between nanoparticles (NPs) and boundaries of cells is crucial both for their toxicity and therapeutic applications. Besides specific receptor-mediated endocytosis of surface-functionalized NPs, passive internalization is prompted by relatively unspecific parameters, such as particle size and charge. Based on theoretical treatments, adhesion to and bending of the cell membrane can induce NP wrapping.

Strong second-harmonic generation from Au-Al heterodimers.

Second-harmonic generation (SHG) is investigated from three kinds of lithographically fabricated plasmonic systems: Al monomers, Au monomers and Au-Al heterodimers with nanogaps of 20 nm. Spectrally integrated SHG intensities and the linear optical responses are recorded and compared. The results show that for the monomer nanoantennas, the SHG signal depends sensitively on the linear excitation of the plasmon resonance by the fundamental wavelength.

Post-copulatory sexual selection allows females to alleviate the fitness costs incurred when mating with senescing males.

Male senescence has detrimental effects on reproductive success and offspring fitness. When females mate with multiple males during the same reproductive bout, post-copulatory sexual selection that operates either through sperm competition or cryptic female choice might allow females to skew fertilization success towards young males and as such limit the fitness costs incurred when eggs are fertilized by senescing males. Here, we experimentally tested this hypothesis.

Size and shape control of a variety of metallic nanostructures using tilted, rotating evaporation and lithographic lift-off techniques.

Here, we demonstrate a simple top-down method for nanotechnology whereby electron beam (ebeam) lithography can be combined with tilted, rotated thermal evaporation to control the topography and size of an assortment of metallic objects at the nanometre scale. In order to do this, the evaporation tilt angle is varied between 1 and 24°. The technique allows the 3-dimensional tailoring of a range of metallic object shapes from sharp, flat bottomed spikes to hollow cylinders and rings-all of which have rotational symmetry and whose critical dimensions are much smaller than the lithographic feature size.

Does low hydroxyl group surface density explain less bacterial adhesion on porous alumina?

Background: Bacterial adhesion depends on surface materials. Recently it was suggested that ceramic-on-ceramic bearings could be less prone to infection than other bearings. We examined the possibility that porous alumina ceramic could be less susceptible to bacterial adhesion.

No evidence for prezygotic postcopulatory avoidance of kin despite high inbreeding depression.

Offspring resulting from mating among close relatives can suffer from impaired fitness through the expression of recessive alleles with deleterious effects. Postcopulatory sperm selection (a prezygotic mechanism of cryptic female choice) has been suggested to be an effective way to avoid inbreeding. To investigate whether postcopulatory female choice allows the avoidance of fertilization by close kin, we performed artificial inseminations in a promiscuous bird, the houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata undulata).

Electrical detection of plasmon-induced isomerization in molecule-nanoparticle network devices.

We use a network of molecularly linked gold nanoparticles (NPSAN: nanoparticle self-assembled network) to demonstrate the electrical detection (conductance variation) of plasmon-induced isomerization (PII) of azobenzene derivatives (azobenzene bithiophene: AzBT). We show that PII is more efficient in a 3D-like NPSAN (cluster-NPSAN) than in a purely two-dimensional NPSAN (i.e.

Alumina Biocompatibility.

Alumina (Al2O3) ceramic is widely used for medical devices and its biocompatibility is well known and is reported in articles and textbooks. However, finding proof of this assertion gathered over more than 40 years can be challenging. We performed a literature review about alumina biocompatibility to compile data from the literature.