Microarrays containing 195,000 in situ synthesized oligonucleotide features have been created using a benchtop, maskless photolithographic instrument. This instrument, the Maskless Array Synthesizer (MAS), uses a digital light processor (DLP) developed by Texas Instruments. The DLP creates the patterns of UV light used in the light-directed synthesis of oligonucleotides. This digital mask eliminates the need for expensive and time-consuming chromium masks. In this report, we describe experiments in which we tested this maskless technology for DNA synthesis on glass surfaces. Parameters examined included deprotection rates, repetitive yields, and oligonucleotide length. Custom gene expression arrays were manufactured and hybridized toDrosophila melanogaster and mouse samples. Quantitative PCR was used to validate the gene expression data from the mouse arrays.[The sequence data from this study have been submitted to GEO under accession nos. GPL208, GSM2409, GSM2410, GSM2411, GSM2412, GSM2413, GSM2414, GSE81, GSE82.]

We present an overview of the first data release (DR1) and first-look science from the Green Bank Ammonia Survey (GAS). GAS is a Large Program at the Green Bank Telescope to map all Gould Belt star-forming regions with A V 7 mag visible from the northern hemisphere in emission from NH 3 and other key molecular tracers. This first release includes the data for four regions in Gould Belt clouds: B18 in Taurus, NGC 1333 in Perseus, L1688 in Ophiuchus, and Orion A North in Orion. We compare the NH 3 emission to dust continuum emission from Herschel, and find that the two tracers correspond closely. NH 3 is present in over 60 % of lines-of-sight with A V 7 mag in three of the four DR1 regions, in agreement with expectations from previous observations. The sole exception is B18, where NH 3 is detected toward ∼ 40 % of lines-of-sight with A V 7 mag. Moreover, we find that the NH 3 emission is generally extended beyond the typical 0.1 pc length scales of dense cores. We produce maps of the gas kinematics, temperature, and NH 3 column densities through forward modeling of the hyperfine structure of the NH 3 (1,1) and (2,2) lines. We show that the NH 3 velocity dispersion, σ v , and gas kinetic temperature, T K , vary systematically between the regions included in this release, with an increase in both the mean value and spread of σ v and T K with increasing star formation activity. The data presented in this paper are publicly available.

We use gas temperature and velocity dispersion data from the Green Bank Ammonia Survey and core masses and sizes from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope Gould Belt Survey to estimate the virial states of dense cores within the Orion A molecular cloud. Surprisingly, we find that almost none of the dense cores are sufficiently massive to be bound when considering only the balance between selfgravity and the thermal and non-thermal motions present in the dense gas. Including the additional pressure binding imposed by the weight of the ambient molecular cloud material and additional smaller pressure terms, however, suggests that most of the dense cores are pressure confined.

Anoxygenic photosynthetic growth of Rhodobacter sphaeroides, a member of the ␣ subclass of the class Proteobacteria, requires the response regulator PrrA. PrrA and the sensor kinase PrrB are part of a twocomponent signaling pathway that influences a wide range of processes under oxygen-limited conditions. In this work we characterized the pathway of transcription activation by PrrB and PrrA by purifying these proteins, analyzing them in vitro, and characterizing a mutant PrrA protein in vivo and in vitro. When purified, a soluble transmitter domain of PrrB (cPrrB) could autophosphorylate, rapidly transfer phosphate to PrrA, and stimulate dephosphorylation of phospho-PrrA. Unphosphorylated PrrA activated transcription from a target cytochrome c 2 gene (cycA) promoter, P2, which contained sequences from ؊73 to ؉22 relative to the transcription initiation site. However, phosphorylation of PrrA increased its activity since activation of cycA P2 was enhanced up to 15-fold by treatment with the low-molecular-weight phosphodonor acetyl phosphate. A mutant PrrA protein containing a single amino acid substitution in the presumed phosphoacceptor site (PrrA-D63A) was not phosphorylated in vitro but also was not able to stimulate cycA P2 transcription. PrrA-D63A also had no apparent in vivo activity, demonstrating that aspartate 63 is necessary both for the function of PrrA and for its phosphorylation-dependent activation. The cellular level of wild-type PrrA was negatively autoregulated so that less PrrA was present in the absence of oxygen, conditions in which the activities of many PrrA target genes increase. PrrA-D63A failed to repress expression of the prrA gene under anaerobic conditions, suggesting that this single amino acid change also eliminated PrrA function in vivo.

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The scatter of the spatially resolved star formation main sequence (SFMS) is investigated in order to reveal signatures about the processes of galaxy formation and evolution. We have assembled a sample of 355 nearby galaxies with spatially resolved Hα and mid-infrared fluxes from the Survey for Ionized Neutral Gas in Galaxies and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, respectively. We examine the impact of various star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass transformations on the SFMS. Ranging from 10 6 to 10 11.5 M and derived from color to mass-to-light ratio methods for mid-infrared bands, the stellar masses are internally consistent within their range of applicability and inherent systematic errors; a constant mass-to-light ratio also yields representative stellar masses. The various SFR estimates show intrinsic differences and produce noticeable vertical shifts in the SFMS, depending on the timescales and physics encompassed by the corresponding tracer. SFR estimates appear to break down on physical scales below 500 pc. We also examine the various sources of scatter in the spatially resolved SFMS and find morphology does not play a significant role. We identify three unique tracks across the SFMS by individual galaxies, delineated by a critical stellar mass density of log(Σ M * )∼7.5. Below this scale, the SFMS shows no clear trend and is likely driven by local, stochastic internal processes. Above this scale, all spatially resolved galaxies have comparable SFMS slopes but exhibit two different behaviors, resulting likely from the rate of mass accretion at the center of the galaxy.

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