Ticks and other arthropods often are hosts to nutrient providing bacterial endosymbionts, which contribute to their host’s fitness by supplying nutrients such as vitamins and amino acids. It has been detected, in our lab, that Ixodes pacificus is host to Rickettsia species phylotype G021. This endosymbiont is predominantly present, and 100% maternally transmitted in I. pacificus. To study roles of phylotype G021 in I. pacificus, bioinformatic and molecular approaches were carried out. MUMmer genome alignments of whole genome sequence of I. scapularis, a close relative to I. pacificus, against completely sequenced genomes of R. bellii OSU85-389, R. conorii, and R. felis, identified 8,190 unique sequences that are homologous to Rickettsia sequences in the NCBI Trace Archive. MetaCyc metabolic reconstructions revealed that all folate gene orthologues (folA, folC, folE, folKP, ptpS) required for de novo folate biosynthesis are present in the genome of Rickettsia buchneri in I. scapularis. To examine the metabolic capability of phylotype G021 in I. pacificus, genes of the folate biosynthesis pathway of the bacterium were PCR amplified using degenerate primers. BLAST searches identified that nucleotide sequences of the folA, folC, folE, folKP, and ptpS genes possess 98.6%, 98.8%, 98.9%, 98.5% and 99.0% identity respectively to the corresponding genes of Rickettsia buchneri. Phylogenetic tree constructions show that the folate genes of phylotype G021 and homologous genes from various Rickettsia species are monophyletic. This study has shown that all folate genes exist in the genome of Rickettsia species phylotype G021 and that this bacterium has the genetic capability for de novo folate synthesis.

No abstract

National Laboratory is an equal opportunity employer.ii Scope and OrganizationThis report was developed by a team of analysts at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, with Argonne National Laboratory contributing the transportation section, and is a DOE EPSA product and part of a series of "baseline" reports intended to inform the second installment of the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER 1.2). QER 1.2 provides a comprehensive review of the nation's electricity system and cover the current state and key trends related to the electricity system, including generation, transmission, distribution, grid operations and planning, and end use. The baseline reports provide an overview of elements of the electricity system. This report focuses on end uses, electricity consumption, electric energy efficiency, distributed energy resources (DERs) (such as demand response, distributed generation, and distributed storage), and evaluation, measurement, and verification (EM&V) methods for energy efficiency and DERs.Chapter 1 provides context for the report and an overview of electricity consumption across all market sectors, summarizes trends for energy efficiency and DERs and their impact on electricity sales, and highlights the benefits of these resources as well as barriers to their adoption. Lastly it summarizes policies, regulations, and programs that address these barriers, highlighting crosscutting approaches, from resource standards to programs for utility customers to performance contracting.Chapters 2 through 5 characterize end uses, electricity consumption, and energy efficiency for the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors as well as electrification of the transportation sector. Chapter 6 addresses DERs-demand response, distributed generation, and distributed storage.Several chapters in this report include appendices with additional supporting tables, figures, and technical detail. In addition, the appendix also includes a separate section that discusses current and evolving EM&V practices for energy efficiency and DERs, approaches for conducting reliable and costeffective evaluation, and trends likely to affect future EM&V practices. Description of Energy Models aUnless otherwise noted, this report provides projections between the present-day and 2040 using the "EPSA Side Case," a scenario developed using a version of the Energy Information Administration's (EIA's) National Energy Modeling System (NEMS). Since the EPSA Side Case was needed for this and other EPSA baseline reports in advance of the completion of EIA's Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) 2016, it uses data from EIA's AEO 2015 Reference Case, the most recent AEO available at the time. However, since AEO 2015 did not include some significant policy and technology developments that occurred during 2015, the EPSA Side Case was designed to reflect these changes.The EPSA Side Case scenario was constructed using EPSA-NEMs, b a version of the same integrated energy system model used by EIA. The EPSA Side Case input assumptions were based mainly on the final ...

No abstract

No abstract