Cable bacteria with electric connection to oxygen attract flocks of diverse bacteria.

Cable bacteria are centimeter-long filamentous bacteria that conduct electrons via internal wires, thus coupling sulfide oxidation in deeper, anoxic sediment with oxygen reduction in surface sediment. This activity induces geochemical changes in the sediment, and other bacterial groups appear to benefit from the electrical connection to oxygen. Here, we report that diverse bacteria swim in a tight flock around the anoxic part of oxygen-respiring cable bacteria and disperse immediately when the connection to oxygen is disrupted (by cutting the cable bacteria with a laser).

polyDFE: Inferring the Distribution of Fitness Effects and Properties of Beneficial Mutations from Polymorphism Data.

The possible evolutionary trajectories a population can follow is determined by the fitness effects of new mutations. Their relative frequencies are best specified through a distribution of fitness effects (DFE) that spans deleterious, neutral, and beneficial mutations. As such, the DFE is key to several aspects of the evolution of a population, and particularly the rate of adaptive molecular evolution (α).

Conjunctival Benign Fibrous Histiocytoma in a 57-year-old man.

To report a case of benign fibrous histiocytoma of the conjunctiva involving the cornea, an uncommon ocular surface tumor. A 57-year-old patient came in our service complaining of a progressively enlarging conjunctival mass temporally to the limbus and invading the adjacent cornea of the left eye. The approach consisted in surgical excision followed by cryotherapy on the edges and on the base of the excision site and amniotic membrane patch reconstruction of the ocular surface defect.

polyDFEv2.0: testing for invariance of the distribution of fitness effects within and across species.

Summary: Distribution of fitness effects (DFE) of mutations can be inferred from site frequency spectrum (SFS) data. There is mounting interest to determine whether distinct genomic regions and/or species share a common DFE, or whether evidence exists for differences among them. polyDFEv2.