Blocking Events (blocking + event)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Amplification of Hot DNA segments in Escherichia coli

MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 6 2002
Ken-ichi Kodama
Summary In Escherichia coli, a replication fork blocking event at a DNA replication terminus (Ter) enhances homologous recombination at the nearby sister chromosomal region, converting the region into a recombination hotspot, Hot, site. Using a RNaseH negative (rnhA,) mutant, we identified eight kinds of Hot DNAs (HotA,H). Among these, enhanced recombination of three kinds of Hot DNAs (HotA,C) was dependent on fork blocking events at Ter sites. In the present study, we examined whether HotA DNAs are amplified when circular DNA (HotA plus a drug-resistance DNA) is inserted into the homologous region on the chromosome of a rnhA, mutant. The resulting HotA DNA transformants were analysed using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, fluorescence in situ hybridization and DNA microarray technique. The following results were obtained: (i) HotA DNA is amplified by about 40-fold on average; (ii) whereas 90% of the cells contain about 6,10 copies of HotA DNA, the remaining 10% of cells have as many as several hundred HotA copies; and (iii) amplification is detected in all other Hot DNAs, among which HotB and HotG DNAs are amplified to the same level as HotA. Furthermore, HotL DNA, which is activated by blocking the clockwise oriC -starting replication fork at the artificially inserted TerL site in the fork-blocked strain with a rnhA+ background, is also amplified, but is not amplified in the non-blocked strain. From these data, we propose a model that can explain production of three distinct forms of Hot DNA molecules by the following three recombination pathways: (i) unequal intersister recombination; (ii) intrasister recombination, followed by rolling-circle replication; and (iii) intrasister recombination, producing circular DNA molecules. [source]


Effect of ENSO on the Hong Kong winter season

ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE LETTERS, Issue 2 2009
M. C. Wu
Abstract The relationship between the ENSO condition and the winter condition in Hong Kong is investigated in this study. The winter monsoon over southern China tends to be weaker (stronger) during El Niño (La Niña) winters and Hong Kong tends to have higher (lower) mean winter temperatures against the background of the warming trend. On the other hand, there are more (fewer) surge events, which represents the southeastward advance of the Siberian cold air across the East Asian coast, affecting Hong Kong. Analyses showed that Hong Kong tends to be warmer with a shorter duration for the longest cold spell during the winter without blocking event over the Eurasian continent. Furthermore, blocking events are also less common during El Niño winters. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society [source]


The behavior of extreme cold air outbreaks under greenhouse warming

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 9 2006
S. Vavrus
Abstract Climate model output is used to analyze the behavior of extreme cold-air outbreaks (CAOs) under recent and future climatic conditions. The study uses daily output from seven GCMs run under late-twentieth century and projected twenty-first century radiative conditions (SRES A1B greenhouse gas emission scenario). We define a CAO as an occurrence of two or more consecutive days during which the local mean daily surface air temperature is at least two standard deviations below the local wintertime mean temperature. In agreement with observations, the models generally simulate modern CAOs most frequently over western North America and Europe and least commonly over the Arctic. These favored regions for CAOs are located downstream from preferred locations of atmospheric blocking. Future projections indicate that CAOs,defined with respect to late-twentieth century climatic conditions,will decline in frequency by 50 to 100% in most of the Northern Hemisphere during the twenty-first century. Certain regions, however, show relatively small changes and others actually experience more CAOs in the future, due to atmospheric circulation changes and internal variability that counter the thermodynamic tendency from greenhouse forcing. These areas generally experience greater near-surface wind flow from the north or the continent during the twenty-first century and/or are especially prone to atmospheric blocking events. Simulated reductions in CAOs are smallest in western North America, the North Atlantic, and in southern regions of Europe and Asia. The Eurasian pattern is driven by a strong tendency for the models to produce sea-level pressure (SLP) increases in the vicinity of the Mediterranean Sea (intermodel mean of 3 hPa), causing greater advection of continental air from northern and central Asia, while the muted change over western North America is due to enhanced ridging along the west coast and the increased frequency of blocking events. The North Atlantic response is consistent with a slowdown of the thermohaline circulation, which either damps the warming regionally or results in a cooler mean climate in the vicinity of Greenland. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society. [source]


Amplification of Hot DNA segments in Escherichia coli

MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 6 2002
Ken-ichi Kodama
Summary In Escherichia coli, a replication fork blocking event at a DNA replication terminus (Ter) enhances homologous recombination at the nearby sister chromosomal region, converting the region into a recombination hotspot, Hot, site. Using a RNaseH negative (rnhA,) mutant, we identified eight kinds of Hot DNAs (HotA,H). Among these, enhanced recombination of three kinds of Hot DNAs (HotA,C) was dependent on fork blocking events at Ter sites. In the present study, we examined whether HotA DNAs are amplified when circular DNA (HotA plus a drug-resistance DNA) is inserted into the homologous region on the chromosome of a rnhA, mutant. The resulting HotA DNA transformants were analysed using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, fluorescence in situ hybridization and DNA microarray technique. The following results were obtained: (i) HotA DNA is amplified by about 40-fold on average; (ii) whereas 90% of the cells contain about 6,10 copies of HotA DNA, the remaining 10% of cells have as many as several hundred HotA copies; and (iii) amplification is detected in all other Hot DNAs, among which HotB and HotG DNAs are amplified to the same level as HotA. Furthermore, HotL DNA, which is activated by blocking the clockwise oriC -starting replication fork at the artificially inserted TerL site in the fork-blocked strain with a rnhA+ background, is also amplified, but is not amplified in the non-blocked strain. From these data, we propose a model that can explain production of three distinct forms of Hot DNA molecules by the following three recombination pathways: (i) unequal intersister recombination; (ii) intrasister recombination, followed by rolling-circle replication; and (iii) intrasister recombination, producing circular DNA molecules. [source]


Variability of the North Atlantic eddy-driven jet stream

THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, Issue 649 2010
Tim Woollings
Abstract Much of the atmospheric variability in the North Atlantic sector is associated with variations in the eddy-driven component of the zonal flow. Here we present a simple method to specifically diagnose this component of the flow using the low-level wind field (925,700 hpa ). We focus on the North Atlantic winter season in the ERA-40 reanalysis. Diagnostics of the latitude and speed of the eddy-driven jet stream are compared with conventional diagnostics of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the East Atlantic (EA) pattern. This shows that the NAO and the EA both describe combined changes in the latitude and speed of the jet stream. It is therefore necessary, but not always sufficient, to consider both the NAO and the EA in identifying changes in the jet stream. The jet stream analysis suggests that there are three preferred latitudinal positions of the North Atlantic eddy-driven jet stream in winter. This result is in very good agreement with the application of a statistical mixture model to the two-dimensional state space defined by the NAO and the EA. These results are consistent with several other studies which identify four European/Atlantic regimes, comprising three jet stream patterns plus European blocking events. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society [source]