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  1. Abstract

    Mitochondrial cytochromecmaturation (CCM) requires heme attachment via distinct pathways termed systems I and III. The mosaic distribution of these systems in Archaeplastida raises questions about the genetic mechanisms and evolutionary forces promoting repeated evolution. Here, we show a recurrent shift from ancestral system I to the eukaryotic-specific holocytochromecsynthase (HCCS) of system III in 11 archaeplastid lineages. Archaeplastid HCCS is sufficient to rescue mutants of yeast system III and Arabidopsis system I. Algal HCCS mutants exhibit impaired growth and respiration, and altered biochemical and metabolic profiles, likely resulting from deficient CCM and reduced cytochromec-dependent respiratory activity. Our findings demonstrate that archaeplastid HCCS homologs function as system III components in the absence of system I. These results elucidate the evolutionary trajectory and functional divergence of CCM pathways in Archaeplastida, providing insight into the causes, mechanisms, and consequences of repeated cooption of an entire biological pathway.

     
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  2. Abstract

    Methane dynamics within salt marshes are complex because vegetation types, temperature, oscillating water levels, and changes in salinity and redox conditions influence CH4production, consumption, oxidation, and emissions. These non‐linear and complex interactions among variables affect the traditionally expected functional relationships and present challenges for interpreting and developing process‐based models. We employed empirical dynamic modeling (EDM) and convergent cross mapping (CCM) as a novel approach for characterizing seasonal/multiday and diurnal CH4dynamics by inferring causal variables, lags, and interconnections among multiple biophysical variables within a temperate salt marsh using 5 years of eddy covariance data. EDM/CCM is a nonparametric approach capable of quantifying the coupling between variables while determining time scales where variable interactions are the most relevant. We found that gross primary productivity, tidal creek dissolved oxygen, and temperature were important for seasonal/multiday dynamics (rho = 0.73–0.80), while water level was most important for diurnal dynamics during both the growing and dormancy phenoperiods (rho = 0.72 and 0.56, respectively). Lags for the top‐ranked variables (i.e., gross primary productivity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, water level) occurred between 1 and 5 weeks at the seasonal scale and 1–24 hr at the diurnal scale. The EDM had high prediction capabilities for intra‐/inter‐seasonal patterns and annual CH4sums but had limitations in representing large, infrequent fluxes. Results highlight the importance of non‐linearity, drivers, lag times, and interconnections among multiple biophysical variables that regulate CH4fluxes in tidal wetlands. This research introduces a novel approach to examining CH4fluxes, which will aid in evaluating current paradigms in wetlands and other ecosystems.

     
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  3. Constant coefficient multipliers are widely used in digital signal processing and machine learning architectures. Researchers have proposed HBU-CCM (hybrid binary-unary constant coefficient multiplier), which is an approximate method that outperforms conventional binary and FloPoCo-KCM (table-based real multiplier) methods in terms of hardware cost at the expense of accuracy due to aliasing issues. SimBU (self-similarity-based hybrid binary-unary) is another method that was recently proposed to implement general nonlinear functions using self-similarities leading to few hardware resources. In this work, we use a simplified version of the SimBU algorithm to address the aliasing issues of HBU-CCM and improve accuracy. We also implement a convolution kernel for a Gaussian blurring filter to evaluate our method and compare it to previous works. Our method outperforms conventional binary and FloPoCo-KCM methods in terms of hardware cost with desired accuracy and with no aliasing error as opposed to HBU-CCM. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available October 28, 2024
  4. Abstract

    Chemistry Climate Models (CCMs) are essential tools for characterizing and predicting the role of atmospheric composition and chemistry in Earth's climate system. This study demonstrates the use of airborne in situ observations to diagnose the representation of chemical composition and transport by CCMs. Process‐based diagnostics using dynamical and chemical coordinates are presented which minimize the spatial and temporal sampling differences between airborne in situ measurements and CCM grid points. The chosen process is the chemical impact of the Asian summer monsoon (ASM), where deep convection serves as a rapid transport pathway for surface emissions to reach the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). We examine two CCM configurations for their representation of the ASM UTLS using a set of airborne observations from south Asia. The diagnostics reveal good model performance at representing tropospheric tracer distribution throughout the troposphere and lower stratosphere, and excellent representation of chemical aging in the lower stratosphere when chemical loss is dominated by photolysis. Identified model limitations include the use of zonally averaged mole fraction boundary conditions for species with sufficiently short tropospheric lifetimes, which may obscure enhanced regional emissions sources. Overall, the diagnostics underscore the skill of current‐generation models at representing pollution transport from the boundary layer to the stratosphere via the ASM mechanism, and demonstrate the strength of airborne in situ observations toward characterizing this representation.

     
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  5. Abstract

    As drought and wildfire frequency increase across the western United States, our ability to predict how water resources will respond to these disturbances depends on our understanding of the feedbacks that maintain watershed function and streamflow. Previous studies of non‐perennial headwater streams have ranked drivers of low‐flow conditions; however, there is a limited understanding of the interactions between these drivers and the processes through which these interactions affect streamflow. Here, we use stream water level, soil moisture, sap flow, and vapor pressure deficit data to investigate ecohydrological interactions along a mountainous headwater stream. Correlation and cross‐correlation analyses of these variables show that ecohydrological interactions are (a) nonlinear and (b) interconnected, suggesting that analyses assuming linearity and independence of each driver are inadequate for quantifying these interactions. To account for these issues and investigate causal linkages, we use convergent cross‐mapping (CCM) to characterize the feedbacks that influence non‐perennial streamflow. CCM is a nonlinear, dynamic method that has only recently been applied to hydrologic systems. CCM results reveal that atmospheric losses associated with local sap flow and vapor pressure deficit are driving changes in soil moisture and streamflow (p < 0.01) and that atmospheric losses influence stream water more directly than shallow soil moisture. These results also demonstrate that riparian processes continue to affect subsurface flows in the channel corridor even after stream drying. This study proposes a nonlinear framework for quantifying the ecohydrologic interactions that may determine how headwater streams respond to disturbance.

     
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  6. Abstract Background and Aims

    Phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylase (PEPC) catalyses the irreversible carboxylation of PEP with bicarbonate to produce oxaloacetate. This reaction powers the carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM) in plants that perform C4 photosynthesis. This CCM is generally driven by a single PEPC gene product that is highly expressed in the cytosol of mesophyll cells. We found two C4 grasses, Panicum miliaceum and Echinochloa colona, that each have two highly expressed PEPC genes. We characterized the kinetic properties of the two most abundant PEPCs in E. colona and P. miliaceum to better understand how the enzyme’s amino acid structure influences its function.

    Methods

    Coding sequences of the two most abundant PEPC proteins in E. colona and P. miliaceum were synthesized by GenScript and were inserted into bacteria expression plasmids. Point mutations resulting in substitutions at conserved amino acid residues (e.g. N-terminal serine and residue 890) were created via site-directed PCR mutagenesis. The kinetic properties of semi-purified plant PEPCs from Escherichia coli were analysed using membrane-inlet mass spectrometry and a spectrophotometric enzyme-coupled reaction.

    Key Results

    The two most abundant P. miliaceum PEPCs (PmPPC1 and PmPPC2) have similar sequence identities (>95 %), and as a result had similar kinetic properties. The two most abundant E. colona PEPCs (EcPPC1 and EcPPC2) had identities of ~78 % and had significantly different kinetic properties. The PmPPCs and EcPPCs had different responses to allosteric inhibitors and activators, and substitutions at the conserved N-terminal serine and residue 890 resulted in significantly altered responses to allosteric regulators.

    Conclusions

    The two, significantly expressed C4Ppc genes in P. miliaceum were probably the result of genomes combining from two closely related C4Panicum species. We found natural variation in PEPC’s sensitivity to allosteric inhibition that seems to bypass the conserved 890 residue, suggesting alternative evolutionary pathways for increased malate tolerance and other kinetic properties.

     
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  7. Abstract

    Marine diatoms are key primary producers across diverse habitats in the global ocean. Diatoms rely on a biophysical carbon concentrating mechanism (CCM) to supply high concentrations of CO2around their carboxylating enzyme, RuBisCO. The necessity and energetic cost of the CCM are likely to be highly sensitive to temperature, as temperature impacts CO2concentration, diffusivity, and the kinetics of CCM components. Here, we used membrane inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS) and modeling to capture temperature regulation of the CCM in the diatomPhaeodactylum tricornutum (Pt). We found that enhanced carbon fixation rates byPtat elevated temperatures were accompanied by increased CCM activity capable of maintaining RuBisCO close to CO2saturation but that the mechanism varied. At 10 and 18 °C, diffusion of CO2into the cell, driven byPt’s ‘chloroplast pump’ was the major inorganic carbon source. However, at 18 °C, upregulation of the chloroplast pump enhanced (while retaining the proportion of) both diffusive CO2and active HCO3uptake into the cytosol, and significantly increased chloroplast HCO3concentrations. In contrast, at 25 °C, compared to 18 °C, the chloroplast pump had only a slight increase in activity. While diffusive uptake of CO2into the cell remained constant, active HCO3uptake across the cell membrane increased resulting inPtdepending equally on both CO2and HCO3as inorganic carbon sources. Despite changes in the CCM, the overall rate of active carbon transport remained double that of carbon fixation across all temperatures tested. The implication of the energetic cost of thePtCCM in response to increasing temperatures was discussed.

     
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  8. Abstract

    Carbon‐concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) are a widespread phenomenon in photosynthetic organisms. In vascular plants, the evolution of CCMs ([C44‐carbon compound] and crassulacean acid metabolism [CAM]) is associated with significant shifts, most often to hot, dry and bright, or aquatic environments. If and how CCMs drive distributions of other terrestrial photosynthetic organisms, remains little studied. Lichens are ecologically important obligate symbioses between fungi and photosynthetic organisms. The primary photosynthetic partner in these symbioses can include CCM‐presenting cyanobacteria (as carboxysomes), CCM‐presenting green algae (as pyrenoids) or green algae lacking any CCM. We use an extensive dataset of lichen communities from eastern North America, spanning a wide climatic range, to test the importance of CCMs as predictors of lichen ecology and distribution. We show that the presence or absence of CCMs leads to opposite responses to temperature and precipitation in green algal lichens, and different responses in cyanobacterial lichens. These responses contrast with our understanding of lichen physiology, whereby CCMs mitigate carbon limitation by water saturation at the cost of efficient use of vapor hydration. This study demonstrates that CCM status is a key functional trait in obligate lichen symbioses, equivalent in importance to its role in vascular plants, and central for studying present and future climate responses.

     
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  9. Cascaded Connected Microinverter (CCM) system takes the advantage of adapting low voltage stress submodules to build the high voltage output, which makes it easier and safer to achieve for many applications. The distribution of active and reactive power in the CCM system has always been interdependent, resulting in additional communication components in different submodules. Such communication components within different submodules can be avoided by droop control. Droop control is widely adopted in parallel inverter system, and it originates from the synchronous generator that active power is controlled by adjusting synchronous generator's frequency and reactive power is controlled by adjusting its output voltage. However, the traditional droop control is not suitable for the cascaded microinverter inverter system. Therefore, it's necessary to modify the droop control to make it suitable for Cascaded Microinverter system, and therefore a control method called inverse droop control is adopted for cascaded inverter system under island mode. However, it requires a large feeder inductor when it's grid connected since every submodule works as voltage source inverter. In this paper, a duality control method that feedbacks each submodule's active power and reactive power to adjust its inductor current amplitude and frequency respectively is proposed. Compared with traditional cascaded inverter system that's controlled by inverse droop control method, the big line frequency feeder inductor is saved. 
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