Altering the Structure of Carboxysomal Carbonic Anhydrase CsoSCA to Determine the Necessity of the N-terminal Domain in CsoSCA Function

In this project, a DNA construct was designed and developed to remove the first fifty amino acids of the CsoSCA protein in the chemolithotrophic bacterium Halothiobacillus neapolitanus. The csoS3 gene codes for a carbonic anhydrase enzyme (CsoSCA) that is unique to a structure called a carboxysome. Carboxysomes are polyhedral microcompartments where carbon fixation is housed. The carbonic anhydrase is a shell-associated protein that improves the catalytic efficiency of ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO), the enzyme that catalyzes the fixation of carbon. By deleting the first fifty amino acids of the carbonic anhydrase, the necessity of the amino acids in carboxysome function was evaluated. The construct was designed by removing 150 bases from the coding sequence and by adding a kanamycin resistance cassette for selection of recombinant colonies. Regions of homology to the csoS2 and csoS3 coding regions were included for homologous recombination in E. coli DY330. Once the recombination event was successful, the isolated DNA was used for gene replacement in H. neapolitanus. Growth curves were generated for H. neapolitanus wildtype, a mutant in which csoS3 was deleted entirely, and the mutant generated with the designed construct (truncated csoS3). Comparing the growth curves of the wildtype and the mutants, it was found that while the mutant carrying the truncated carbonic anhydrase gene did not grow in air as well as wildtype, it grew considerably better than the deletion mutant. Deleting the codons for the first fifty amino acids of csoS3 does affect carboxysome function, but not as much as complete csoS3 deletion

A better life through information technology? The techno-theological eschatology of posthuman speculative science

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the article, published in Zygon 41(2) pp.267-288, which has been published in final form at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118588124/issueThe depiction of human identity in the pop-science futurology of engineer/inventor Ray Kurzweil, the speculative-robotics of Carnegie Mellon roboticist Hans Moravec and the physics of Tulane University mathematics professor Frank Tipler elevate technology, especially information technology, to a point of ultimate significance. For these three figures, information technology offers the potential means by which the problem of human and cosmic finitude can be rectified. Although Moravec’s vision of intelligent robots, Kurzweil’s hope for immanent human immorality, and Tipler’s description of human-like von Neumann probe colonising the very material fabric of the universe, may all appear to be nothing more than science fictional musings, they raise genuine questions as to the relationship between science, technology, and religion as regards issues of personal and cosmic eschatology. In an attempt to correct what I see as the ‘cybernetic-totalism’ inherent in these ‘techno-theologies’, I will argue for a theology of technology, which seeks to interpret technology hermeneutically and grounds human creativity in the broader context of divine creative activity

Daya kekuatan simbol : The power of symbols

Disetiap komunikasi dengan bahasa maupun sarana yang lain menggunakan lambang-lambang. Istilah ini sangat penting dalam filsafat, sosoilogi, psikologi dan kesenian. Hal ini juga digunakan dalam pembuatan iklan, berita, pidato politik, perkiraan cuaca dan analisis ekonomi. Dalam buku ini dijelaskan bagaimanakah sesungguhnya lambang-lambang timbul., bagaimana fungsi dan pengaruhnya, dan bagaimana pula lambang-lambang memudar artinya