Genetic mapping of legume orthologs reveals high conservation of synteny between lentil species and the sequenced genomes of Medicago and chickpea.

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is a global food crop with increasing importance for food security in south Asia and other regions. Lens ervoides, a wild relative of cultivated lentil, is an important source of agronomic trait variation. Lens is a member of the galegoid clade of the Papilionoideae family, which includes other important dietary legumes such as chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and pea (Pisum sativum), and the sequenced model legume Medicago truncatula. Understanding the genetic structure of Lens spp. in relation to more fully sequenced legumes would allow leveraging of genomic resources. A set of 1107 TOG-based amplicons were identified in L. ervoides and a subset thereof used to design SNP markers for mapping. A map of L. ervoides consisting of 377 SNP markers spread across seven linkage groups was developed using a GoldenGate genotyping array and single SNP marker assays. Comparison with maps of M. truncatula and L. culinaris documented considerable shared synteny and led to the identification of a few major translocations and a major inversion that distinguish Lens from M. truncatula, as well as a translocation that distinguishes L. culinaris from L. ervoides. The identification of chromosome-level differences among Lens spp. will aid in the understanding of introgression of genes from L. ervoides into cultivated L. culinaris, furthering genetic research and breeding applications in lentil

Pliocene-Pleistocene marine cyclothems, Wanganui Basin, New Zealand: a lithostratigraphic framework

The Rangitikei River valley between Mangaweka and Vinegar Hill and the surrounding Ohingaiti region in eastern Wanganui Basin contains a late Pliocene to early Pleistocene (c. 2.6-1.7 Ma), c. 1100 m thick, southward-dipping (4-9deg.), marine cyclothemic succession. Twenty sedimentary cycles occur within the succession, each of which contains coarse-grained (siliciclastic sandstone and coquina) and fine-grained (siliciclastic siltstone) units. Nineteen of the cycles are assigned to the Rangitikei Group (new). Six new formations are defined within the Rangitikei Group, and their distribution in the Ohingaiti region is represented in a new geologic map. The new formations are named: Mangarere, Tikapu, Makohine, Orangipongo, Mangaonoho, and Vinegar Hill. Each formation comprises one or more cyclothems and includes a previously described and named distinctive basal horizon. Discrete sandstones, siltstones, and coquinas within formations are assigned member status and correspond to systems tracts in sequence stratigraphic nomenclature. The members provide the link between the new formational lithostratigraphy and the sequence stratigraphy of the Rangitikei Group. Base of cycle coquina members accumulated during episodes of sediment starvation associated with stratigraphic condensation on an open marine shelf during sea-level transgressions. Siltstone members accumulated in mid-shelf environments (50-100 m water depth) during sea-level highstands, whereas the overlying sandstone members are ascribed to inner shelf and shoreface environments (0-50 m water depth) and accumulated during falling eustatic sea-level conditions. Repetitive changes in water depth of 50-100 m magnitude are consistent with a glacio-eustatic origin for the cyclothems, which correspond to an interval of Earth history when successive glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere are known to have occurred. Moreover, the chronology of the Rangitikei River section indicates that Rangitikei Group cyclothems accumulated during short duration, 41 ka cycles in continental ice volume attributed to the dominance of the Milankovitch obliquity orbital parameter. The Ohingaiti region has simple postdepositional structure. The late Pliocene formations dip generally to the SSW between 4deg. and 9deg.. Discernible discordances of c. 1deg. between successively younger formations are attributed to synsedimentary tilting of the shelf concomitant with migration of the tectonic hingeline southward into the basin. The outcrop distribution of the Rangitikei Group is strongly influenced by this regional tilt and also by three major northeast-southwest oriented, high-angle reverse faults (Rauoterangi, Pakihikura, and Rangitikei Faults)

Selective laser sintering of hydroxyapatite reinforced polyethylene composites for bioactive implants and tissue scaffold development

Selective laser sintering (SLS) has been investigated for the production of bioactive implants and tissue scaffolds using composites of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) reinforced with hydroxyapatite (HA) with the aim of achieving the rapid manufacturing of customized implants. Single-layer and multilayer block specimens made of HA-HDPE composites with 30 and 40 vol % HA were sintered successfully using a CO2 laser sintering system. Laser power and scanning speed had a significant effect on the sintering behaviour. The degree of particle fusion and porosity were influenced by the laser processing parameters, hence control can be attained by varying these parameters. Moreover, the SLS processing allowed exposure of HA particles on the surface of the composites and thereby should provide bioactive products. Pores existed in the SLS-fabricated composite parts and at certain processing parameters a significant fraction of the pores were within the optimal sizes for tissue regeneration. The results indicate that the SLS technique has the potential not only to fabricate HA-HDPE composite products but also to produce appropriate features for their application as bioactive implants and tissue scaffolds

Contrasting carbonate depositional systems for Pliocene cool-water limestones cropping out in central Hawke's Bay, New Zealand

Pliocene limestone formations in central Hawke's Bay (eastern North Island, New Zealand) accumulated on and near the margins of a narrow forearc basin seaway within the convergent Australia/Pacific plate boundary zone. The active tectonic setting and varied paleogeographic features of the limestone units investigated, in association with probable glacioeustatic sea-level fluctuations, resulted in complex stratigraphic architectures and contrasting types of carbonate accumulation on either side of the seaway. Here, we recognise recurring patterns of sedimentary facies, and sequences and systems tracts bounded by key physical surfaces within the limestone sheets. The facies types range from Bioclastic (B) to Siliciclastic (S) end-members via Mixed (M) carbonate-siliciclastic deposits. Skeletal components are typical cool-water associations dominated by epifaunal calcitic bivalves, bryozoans, and especially barnacles. Siliciclastic contents vary from one formation to another, and highlight siliciclastic-rich limestone units in the western ranges versus siliciclastic-poor limestone units in the eastern coastal hills. Heterogeneities in facies types, stratal patterns, and also in diagenetic pathways between eastern and western limestone units are considered to originate in the coeval occurrence in different parts of the forearc basin of two main morphodynamic carbonate systems over time

Pesticides, A Love Story: America\u27s Enduring Embrace of Dangerous Chemicals

Review of: Pesticides, A Love Story: America’s Enduring Embrace of Dangerous Chemicals , by Michelle Mart

Anatomy and origin of authochthonous late Pleistocene forced regression deposits, east Coromandel inner shelf, New Zealand: implications for the development and definition of the regressive systems tract

High-resolution seismic reflection data from the east Coromandel coast, New Zealand, provide details of the sequence stratigraphy beneath an autochthonous, wave dominated inner shelf margin during the late Quaternary (0-140 ka). Since c. 1 Ma, the shelf has experienced limited subsidence and fluvial sediment input, producing a depositional regime characterised by extensive reworking of coastal and shelf sediments during glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations. It appears that only one complete fifth-order (c. 100 000 yr) depositional sequence is preserved beneath the inner shelf, the late Pleistocene Waihi Sequence, suggesting any earlier Quaternary sequences were mainly cannibalised into successively younger sequences. The predominantly Holocene-age Whangamata Sequence is also evident in seismic data and modern coastal deposits, and represents an incomplete depositional sequence in its early stages of formation. A prominent aspect of the sequence stratigraphy off parts of the east Coromandel coast is the presence of forced regressive deposits (FRDs) within the regressive systems tract (RST) of the late Pleistocene Waihi Sequence. The FRDs are interpreted to represent regressive barrier-shoreface sands that were sourced from erosion and onshore reworking of underlying Pleistocene sediments during the period of slow falling sea level from isotope stages 5 to 2 (c. 112-18 ka). The RST is volumetrically the most significant depositional component of the Waihi Sequence; the regressive deposits form a 15-20 m thick, sharp-based, tabular seismic unit that downsteps and progrades continuously across the inner shelf. The sequence boundary for the Waihi Sequence is placed at the most prominent, regionally correlative, and chronostratigraphically significant surface, namely an erosional unconformity characterised in many areas by large incised valleys that was generated above the RST. This unconformity is interpreted as a surface of maximum subaerial erosion generated during the last glacial lowstand (c. 18 ka). Although the base of the RST is associated with a prominent regressive surface of erosion, this is not used as the sequence boundary as it is highly diachronous and difficult to identify and correlate where FRDs are not developed. The previous highstand deposits are limited to subaerial barrier deposits preserved behind several modern Holocene barriers along the coast, while the transgressive systems tract is preserved locally as incised-valley fill deposits beneath the regressive surface of erosion at the base of the RST. Many documented late Pleistocene RSTs have been actively sourced from fluvial systems feeding the shelf and building basinward-thickening, often stacked wedges of FRDs, for which the name allochthonous FRDs is suggested. The Waihi Sequence RST is unusual in that it appears to have been sourced predominantly from reworking of underlying shelf sediments, and thus represents an autochthonous FRD. Autochthonous FRDs are also present on the Forster-Tuncurry shelf in southeast Australia, and may be a common feature in other shelf settings with low subsidence and low sediment supply rates, provided shelf gradients are not too steep, and an underlying source of unconsolidated shelf sediments is available to source FRDs. The preservation potential of such autochthonous FRDs in ancient deposits is probably low given that they are likely to be cannibalised during subsequent sea-level falls