RATIONALE Generation of induced cardiac myocytes (iCMs) directly from fibroblasts offers great opportunities for cardiac disease modeling and cardiac regeneration. A major challenge of iCM generation is the low conversion rate of fibroblasts to fully reprogrammed iCMs, which could in part be attributed to unbalanced expression of reprogramming factors Gata4 (G), Mef2c (M), and Tbx5 (T) using th...

Element concentration within a plant which is vital to function maintenance and adaptation to environment, may change with plant growth. However, how carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) vary stoichiometrically with stand growth, i.e., ages or cuts, was still untouched in perennial species. This study tested the hypothesis that lucerne (Medicago sativa) C:N, C:P, and N:P should change w...

Abstract. We report the distributions and stoichiometry of dissolved zinc (dZn) cobalt (dCo) in sub-tropical sub-Antarctic waters south-eastern Atlantic Ocean during austral spring 2010 summer 2011/2012. In surface waters, mixed-layer dZn dCo concentrations early were 1.60 ± 2.58 nM 30 11 pM, respectively, compared with values 0.14 0.08 24 6 pM. The elevated resulted from an apparent offshore t...

Natural occurring iron oxides, such as Fe2O3, Fe3O4, and FeO, are abundant on Earth's surface feature many implications in our daily life since the Iron Age, final epoch of prehistory humanity. The physics oxides is at frontier physical research due to their complicated magnetic electronic properties. What makes it even more intriguing introduction pressure, which not only regulates crystal str...

Background: Nitrogen (N) deposition could influence plant stoichiometry and growth rate and thus alter the structure and function of the ecosystem. However, the mechanism by which N deposition changes the stoichiometry and relative growth rate (RGR) of plant organs, especially roots with different diameters, is unclear. Methods: We created a gradient of N availability (0-22.4 g N m-2 year-1) fo...

Macrofauna invertebrates of forest floors provide important functions in the decomposition process of soil organic matter, which is affected by the nutrient stoichiometry of the leaf litter. Climate change effects on forest ecosystems include warming and decreasing litter quality (e.g. higher C : nutrient ratios) induced by higher atmospheric CO(2) concentrations. While litter-bag experiments u...

Besides water relations, nutrient allocation, and stoichiometric traits are fundamental feature of shrubs. Knowledge concerning the nutrient stoichiometry of xerophytes is essential to predicting the biogeochemical cycling in desert ecosystems as well as to understanding the homoeostasis and variability of nutrient traits in desert plants. Here, we focused on the temperate desert species Reaumu...

Michael J. Vanni,* Alexander S. Flecker, James M. Hood and Jenifer L. Headworth Department of Zoology, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. *Correspondence: E-mail: [email protected] Present address: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota St. Paul, MN 55108, USA. Abstra...

Abstract All organisms need elements in fixed proportions for carrying out normal metabolic processes and how flexible they are depends on effective utilizing these resources from external sources. It is important to understand the interactions among plant, soil microbial biomass carbon (C), nitrogen (N) phosphorus (P) stoichiometry under different conditions of resource supply. We conducted a ...

We have studied the stoichiometry of the binding of the long alpha-neurotoxins from the venom of Dendroaspis viridis (alpha-dendrotoxin) and Naja naja siamensis (alpha-cobratoxin) to the membrane-bound acetylcholine receptor (AcChoR) from Torpedo californica electric organ. The number of toxin molecules bound to one AcChoR molecule was determined by simultaneous-quantitative gas-phase microsequ...