The effect of environmental stresses on microorganisms is well studied and cellular response to stresses such as heat, cold, acids, and salts was extensively discussed. Although high pressure processing (HPP) as a preservation method is becoming more popular in the food industry, the characteristics of the cellular damage caused by high pressure are unclear, and the microbial response to this stress is not well explored yet. We exposed the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes to HPP (400...

Transcription is a vital process activated by transcription factor (TF) binding. The active gene releases a burst of transcripts before turning inactive again. While the basic course of transcription is well understood, it is unclear how binding of a TF affects the frequency, duration and size of a transcriptional burst. We systematically varied the residence time and concentration of a synthetic TF and characterized the transcription of a synthetic reporter gene by combining single molecule...

Introduction: In a meta-analysis of international studies, 17% of admitted patients in psychiatric hospitals had shown violent behaviour towards others. Reported data from studies in Germany were considerably lower until now. However, studies referred to single hospitals and data quality was questionable. It is under discussion whether there is an increase of violent incidents. Methods: In a group of 10 hospitals serving about half of the population of the Federal State of Baden-Wuerttemberg with 11...

In a nuclear or radiological event, an early diagnostic tool is needed to distinguish the worried well from those individuals who may later develop life-threatenFing hematologic acute radiation syndrome. We examined the contribution of the peripheral blood's cell populations on radiation-induced gene expression (GE) changes. EDTA-whole-blood from six healthy donors was X-irradiated with 0 and 4Gy and T-lymphocytes, B-lymphocytes, NK-cells and granulocytes were separated using immunomagnetic methods. GE were examined in cell populations and whole...

We report a solution NMR and X-ray crystallographic study on the anion affinity of all-cis 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexafluorocyclohexane, which has only recently become synthetically accessible.

Cryptands, a class of three-dimensional macrobicyclic hosts ideally suited for accommodating small guest ions, have played an important role in the early development of supramolecular chemistry. In contrast to related two-dimensional crown ethers, cryptands have so far only found limited applications, owing in large part to their relatively inefficient multistep synthesis. We have recently described a convenient one-pot, template synthesis of cryptands based on O,O,O-orthoesters acting as bridgeheads. Here we report variable-temperature, 1H-1D EXSY and...

In a nuclear or radiological event, an early diagnostic tool is needed to distinguish the worried well from those individuals who may later develop life-threatenFing hematologic acute radiation syndrome. We examined the contribution of the peripheral blood's cell populations on radiation-induced gene expression (GE) changes. EDTA-whole-blood from six healthy donors was X-irradiated with 0 and 4Gy and T-lymphocytes, B-lymphocytes, NK-cells and granulocytes were separated using immunomagnetic methods. GE were examined in cell populations and whole...

Aim: Here we examine the functional profile of regional tree species pools across the latitudinal distribution of Neotropical moist forests, and test trait-climate relationships among local communities. We expected opportunistic strategies (acquisitive traits, small seeds) to be overrepresented in species pools further from the equator due to long-term instability, but also in terms of abundance in local communities in currently wetter, warmer and more seasonal climates. Location: Neotropics. Time period: Recent. Major taxa studied: Trees....

Migratory animals live in a world of constant change. Animals undergo many physiological changes preparing themselves for the migration. Although this field has been extensively studied over the last decades, we know relatively little about the seasonal changes that occur in the microbial communities that these animals carry in their guts. Here we assessed the V4 region of the 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing data as a proxy to estimate microbiome diversity of Tequila Bats from...

Imaging, tracking and analyzing individual biomolecules in living systems is a powerful technology to obtain quantitative kinetic and spatial information such as reaction rates, diffusion coefficients and localization maps. Common tracking tools often operate on single movies and require additional manual steps to analyze whole data sets or to compare different experimental conditions. We report a fast and comprehensive single molecule tracking and analysis framework (TrackIt) to simultaneously process several multi‐movie data sets. A user‐friendly...

Hydraulic failure caused by severe drought contributes to aboveground dieback and whole-plant death. The extent to which dieback or whole-plant death can be predicted by plant hydraulic traits has rarely been tested among species with different leaf habits and/or growth forms. We investigated 19 hydraulic traits in 40 woody species in a tropical savanna and their potential correlations with drought response during an extreme drought event during the El Niño–Southern Oscillation in 2015. Plant hydraulic...

Self-assembled orthoester cryptands offer appealing properties for applications in ion sensing and transport, such as convenient post-functionalization and tunable biodegradation.

In a nuclear or radiological event, an early diagnostic or prognostic tool is needed to distinguish the worried well from low-exposed and those individuals who may later develop life-threatening hematologic acute radiation syndrome (H-ARS). In previous studies, we identified and validated genes in peripheral blood for this purpose. To gain a deeper understanding and to make methodological improvements, we examined the contribution of the peripheral blood´s cell populations on radiation-induced gene expression changes. EDTA whole...

Family life in animals is often considered as beneficial for offspring but costly for parents. However, parents might also profit from remaining aggregated within a family unit, especially if a nutrient-rich resource is used for reproduction. We aimed to reveal the potential personal benefits of breeding within a family environment for male Nicrophorus vespilloides, a species of burying beetles that use small vertebrate cadavers to raise their larvae. We previously hypothesized that males obtain an...

Abstract We report on triethylene glycol-based orthoformate cryptands, which adapt their bridgehead configurations in response to metal templates and intramolecular hydrogen bonding in a complex ma...

We report the template-free dynamic covalent self-assembly of a small orthoformate cryptand, which appears to be driven by the formation of two sets of intramolecular, four-centre hydrogen bonds.

Opportunistic diversification has allowed ferns to radiate into epiphytic niches in angiosperm dominated landscapes. However, our understanding of how ecophysiological function allowed establishment in the canopy and the potential transitionary role of the hemi-epiphytic life form remain unclear. Here, we surveyed 39 fern species in Costa Rican tropical forests to explore epiphytic trait divergence in a phylogenetic context. We examined leaf responses to water deficits in terrestrial, hemi-epiphytic, and epiphytic ferns and related these findings...

Approximately 25% of mammals are currently threatened with extinction, a risk that is amplified under climate change. Species persistence under climate change is determined by the combined effects of climatic factors on multiple demographic rates (survival, development, reproduction), and hence, population dynamics. Thus, to quantify which species and regions on Earth are most vulnerable to climate-driven extinction, a global understanding of how different demographic rates respond to climate is urgently needed. Here, we perform a...

Fluxional chemical species such as bullvalene have been a valuable source of inspiration and fundamental insight into the nature of chemical bonds. A supramolecular analogue of bullvalene, i.e., a “fluxional host–guest system”, in which the ensemble of a well-defined host and guest is engaged in continuous, degenerate constitutional rearrangements, is still elusive, however. Here, we report experimental and computational evidence for guest-induced dynamic covalent rearrangements in the ammonium complexes of self-assembled orthoester cryptands. This unique...

A lid for every pot: Cryptands based on orthoester bridgeheads offer an elegant entry to experiments in which a metal ion selects its preferred host from a dynamic mixture of competing subcomponents....