Millimeter Wave Rotational Transitions of 16O12C32S and 16O13C32S

Rotational transitions of 16012C32S and 16013C32S in the ground vibrational state and of 16012C32S in several excited states have been accurately measured in the millimeter wave region for a minimum of four different J values. The analysis of the measured frequencies leads to rotational constants for the following vibrational states:

0 00 0 of 16O13C32S and

0 00 0, 0 1 1c 0, 0 1 1d 0, 0 20 0, 0 22c 0, 0 22d 0,

0 00 1 of 16O12C32S.

Since the two components of the 0 22 0 transitions were resolved, an analysis of the l-type resonance was carried out and the interval 0 22 0 - 0 20 0 has been determined to be -4.63(10) cm-1. The result is in good agreement with the presently available determination of this level from vibrational spectra.

Identifying the European fossil fuel plumes in the atmosphere over the Northeast Atlantic Region through isotopic observations and numerical modelling

As part of the Danish NEAREX project the origin and variability of anthropogenic atmospheric CO(2) over the Northeast Atlantic Region (NEAR) has been studied. The project consisted of a combination of experimental and modelling activities. Local volunteers operated CO(2) sampling stations, built at University of Copenhagen, for (14)C analysis at four locations (East Denmark, Shetland Isles, Faroe Isles and Iceland). The samples were only collected during winter periods of south-easterly winds in an attempt to trace air enriched in fossil-fuel derived CO(2) due to combustion of fossil fuels within European countries. In order to study the transport and concentration fields over the region in detail, a three-dimensional Eulerian hemispheric air pollution model has been extended to include the main anthropogenic sources for atmospheric CO(2). During the project period (1998-2001) only a few episodes of transport from Central Europe towards NEAR arose, which makes the data set for the evaluation of the method sparse. The analysed samples indicate that the signal for fossil CO(2), as expected, is largest (up to 3.7+/-0.4% fossil CO(2)) at the Danish location closest to the European emissions areas and much weaker (up to approximately 1.5+/-0.6% fossil CO(2)) at the most remote location. As the anthropogenic signal is weak in the clean atmosphere over NEAR these numbers will, however, be very sensitive to the assumed background (14)CO(2) activity and the precision of the measurements. The model simulations include the interplay between the driving processes from the emission into the boundary layer and the following horizontal/vertical mixing and atmospheric transport and are used to analyse the meteorological conditions leading to the observed events of high fossil CO(2) over NEAR. This information about the history of the air masses is essential if an observed signal is to be utilised for identifying and quantifying sources for fossil CO(2).

Measurements of (18)O-Enriched Ozone Isotopomer Abundances Using High-Resolution Fourier Transform Far-IR Spectroscopy

The distribution of ozone isotopomers in ozone mixtures produced by electric discharge in mixtures of (16)O(2) and (18)O(2) at 77 K was measured by high-resolution FTIR spectroscopy. It was of key importance to assess not only the total amount of isotopomers of a certain mass but also the relative amounts of corresponding asymmetric and symmetric ozone species of the same mass given as the ratios [(16)O(16)O(18)O]/[(16)O(18)O(16)O] and [(16)O(18)O(18)O]/[(18)O(16)O(18)O]. For many purposes both ratios have been assumed to have the statistical value 2.00. Pure rotational spectra in the far-IR region (30-100 cm(-1)) were recorded for three different (18)O-enriched ozone mixtures, all at 0.00185 cm(-1) resolution. All the spectra were corrected for thermal emission. Linestrengths for individual lines in a particular spectrum were measured by means of a fitting technique taking into account contributions from all other lines in the spectrum. For this purpose theoretical linestrengths for all six ozone species containing (16)O and (18)O obtained from a quantum-number-dependent dipole operator were used. The ratios between observed and theoretical linestrengths were used to determine the abundances of individual isotopomers in a particular ozone mixture. For one of the ozone samples the abundances of all six ozone species were determined within 1% relative uncertainty. For the three ozone mixtures studied, the ratio between asymmetric and symmetric species of mono-(18)O ozone were determined to 1.99(2), 2.01(2), and 2.10(6). The ratio between asymmetric and symmetric species of di-(18)O ozone were determined to 2.51(4), 2.42(10), and 2.46(3). Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

Analysis of an Escherichia coli mutant strain resistant to the cell-killing function encoded by the gef gene family

The chromosomal genes gef and relF from Escherichia coli and the plasmid-encoded genes hok, flmA, srnB, and pndA constitute the gef gene family, which encodes a cell-killing function. In order to investigate the mechanism of cell killing we have isolated an E. coli mutant strain that is resistant to the overexpression of the toxic proteins encoded by the gef gene family. This phenotype requires at least two mutations, one of which has been mapped to 55.2 minutes. This mutation was sequenced and shown to represent a single base substitution in an open reading frame (ORF178) encoding a putative membrane protein having a molecular mass of 20.1 kDa. ORF178 and an upstream frame, ORF190, probably constitute an operon.

A family of genes encoding a cell-killing function may be conserved in all gram-negative bacteria

The relF gene in Escherichia coli is related to the hok gene on plasmid R1. Both genes encode small proteins which, when overexpressed in E. coli lead to collapse of the membrane potential and cell death. A third gene, designated gef, which encodes a homologous cell-toxic protein, has been isolated from E. coli DNA. Both gef and relF are transcribed in E. coli and subject to post-transcriptional regulation which, in the case of gef, is coupled to translation of a leader sequence. The finding of homologous sequences in such distantly related bacteria as Agrobacterium and Rhizobium species suggests an important physiological role.