The Potential Role of Plastome Copy Number as a Quality Biomarker for Plant Products using Real-time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction.

Plastids are plant-specific semi-autonomous self-replicating organelles, containing circular DNA molecules called plastomes. Plastids perform crucial functions, including photosynthesis, stress perception and response, synthesis of metabolites, and storage. The plastome and plastid numbers have been shown to be modulated by developmental stage and environmental stimuli and have been used as a biomarker (identification of plant species) and biosensor (an indicator of abiotic and biotic stresses).

Evidence for a mixed-age group in a pterosaur footprint assemblage from the early Upper Cretaceous of Korea.

Here we describe a new pterosaur footprint assemblage from the Hwasun Seoyuri tracksite in the Upper Cretaceous Jangdong Formation of the Neungju Basin in Korea. The assemblage consists of many randomly oriented prints in remarkably high densities but represents a single ichnotaxon, Pteraichnus. Individuals exhibit a large but continuous size range, some of which, with a wingspan estimated at 0.

Enhancing Cohort PASA Efficiency from Lessons Assimilated by Mutant Genotyping in C. elegans.

Classical restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and sequencing are labor-intensive and expensive methods to study single base changes, whereas polymerase chain reaction amplification of specific alleles (PASA) or allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (ASPCR) is a PCR-based application that allows direct detection of any point mutation by analyzing the PCR products in an ethidium bromide-stained agarose or polyacrylamide gel. PASA is based on oligonucleotide primers containing one or more 3' mismatch with the target DNA making it refractory to primer extension by Thermus aquaticus DNA polymerase lacking the 3' to 5' exonuclease proofreading activity because of which it is also called amplification refractory mutation system-PCR (ARMS-PCR). This technique has found application in detection of allele, mutation, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) causing genetic and infectious diseases.

Development of Euphorbia Latex and Bamboo Fiber Based Green Composite.

Novel composites with improved mechanical strength, thermally stability and better biodegradability were fabricated using polyester resin (PR) and euphorbia coagulum (EC) with natural bamboo fiber (BF) by a compression molding technique. The addition of EC makes the composite more pronounced for alkali-treated BF. The composites were characterized in terms of water absorption, mechanical, thermal and biodegradability.

Prenatal development in pterosaurs and its implications for their postnatal locomotory ability.

Recent fossil finds in China and Argentina have provided startling new insights into the reproductive biology and embryology of pterosaurs, Mesozoic flying reptiles. Nineteen embryos distributed among four species representing three distinct clades have been described and all are assumed to be at, or near, term. We show here how the application of four contrasting quantitative approaches allows a more precise identification of the developmental status of embryos revealing, for the first time to our knowledge, the presence of middle and late developmental stages as well as individuals that were at term.

Dynamics of ultrafine particles inside a roadway tunnel.

Size-segregated ultrafine particles from motor vehicles were investigated in the Craeybeckx tunnel (E19 motorway, Antwerp, Belgium) at two measurement sites, at 100 and 300 m inside the tunnel, respectively, during March 2008. It was observed that out of the three size modes, nucleation, Aitken, and accumulation, Aitken mode was the most dominant size fraction inside the tunnel. The diurnal variation in ultrafine particle (UFP) levels closely follows the vehicular traffic inside the tunnel, which was maximum during office rush hours, both in the morning and evening and minimum during night-time around 3 am.

Electron beam irradiation of maltodextrin and cinnamyl alcohol mixtures: influence of glycerol on cross-linking.

The influence of glycerol on the electron beam-induced changes in maltodextrins-cinnamyl alcohol (CA) blends is examined with respect to its influence on the degree of chain scission, grafting, and cross-linking. The study is relevant to radiation-induced polysaccharide modification, specifically in the perspective of using blended starch as a thermoplastic material, where glycerol is commonly used as a plasticizer. In the absence of CA, glycerol protects maltodextrin from chromophore formation onto the main chain, but also induces more chain scission.