NP [PSA]

Background: The coat colour of fallow deer is highly variable and even white animals can regularly be observed in game farming and in the wild. Affected animals do not show complete albinism but rather some residual pigmentation resembling a very pale beige dilution of coat colour. The eyes and claws of the animals are pigmented. To facilitate the conservation and management of such animals, it would be helpful to know the responsible gene and causative variant. We collected 102 samples from 22 white animals and from 80 animals with wildtype coat colour. The samples came from 12 different wild flocks or game conservations located in different regions of Germany, at the border to Luxembourg and in Poland. The genomes of one white hind and her brown calf were sequenced. Results: Based on a list of colour genes of the International Federation of Pigment Cell Societies (http://www.ifpcs.org/albinism/), a variant in the MC1R gene (NM_174108.2:c.143 T > C) resulting in an amino acid exchange from leucine to proline at position 48 of the MC1R receptor protein (NP_776533.1:p.L48P) was identified as a likely cause of coat colour dilution. A gene test revealed that all animals of the white phenotype were of genotype CC whereas all pigmented animals were of genotype TT or TC. The study showed that 14% of the pigmented (brown or dark pigmented) animals carried the white allele. Conclusions A genome-wide scan study led to a molecular test to determine the coat colour of fallow deer. Identification of the MC1R gene provides a deeper insight into the mechanism of dilution. The gene marker is now available for the conservation of white fallow deer in wild and farmed animals.

High anode overpotential of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) restricts the upscale applications of water electrolysis. We attempt to address such technical challenges through the design and preparation of a group of nanoporous (Fe-Ni-Co)-based metallic glasses (NP-FeNiCo-MGs) as electrocatalyts of OER. The nanoporous structure is yielded through electrochemical selective dissolution of active Fe solid solution phase in free-surface layer of (Fe-Ni-Co)-based amorphous-nanocrystalline alloys (FeNiCoANs). Electrochemical tests reveal that integral composite electrodes combining with a catalytic layer of NP-FeNiCo-MGs and a current collector of FeNiCo-ANs exhibit high catalytic activity towards water oxidation in 1 M KOH solutions, which only requires an overpotential of 274 mV to yield a current density of 10 mA cm(-2). Studies of electrochemical states and electrode-electrolyte reaction process of the NP-FeNiCo-MGs during OER unveil plausible working mechanisms driving such promising catalytic activities. Based on the merits of a broad tunable range of compositions of active elements for OER, homogeneous distribution of metastable atoms, and high-surface-area nanoporous structure strongly combining with high-conductive substrate, the proposed nanoporous metallic-glass composite electrodes are of great significance for a variety of applications for clean energy. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.