G protein beta gamma subunits synthesized in Sf9 cells. Functional characterization and the significance of prenylation of gamma

Heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding regulatory proteins (G proteins) consist of a nucleotide-binding alpha subunit and a high- affinity complex of beta and gamma subunits. There is molecular heterogeneity of beta and gamma, but the significance of this diversity is poorly understood. Different G protein beta and gamma subunits have been expressed both singly and in combinations in Sf9 cells. Although expression of individual subunits is achieved in all cases, beta gamma subunit activity (support of pertussis toxin-catalyzed ADP-ribosylation of rGi alpha 1) is detected only when beta and gamma are expressed concurrently. Of the six combinations of beta gamma tested (beta 1 or beta 2 with gamma 1, gamma 2, or gamma 3), only one, beta 2 gamma 1, failed to generate a functional complex. Each of the other five complexes has been purified by subunit exchange chromatography using Go alpha-agarose as the chromatographic matrix. We have detected differences in the abilities of the purified proteins to support ADP- ribosylation of Gi alpha 1; these differences are attributable to the gamma component of the complex. When assayed for their ability to inhibit calmodulin-stimulated type-I adenylylcyclase activity or to potentiate Gs alpha-stimulated type-II adenylylcyclase, recombinant beta 1 gamma 1 and transducin beta gamma are approximately 10 and 20 times less potent, respectively, than the other complexes examined. Prenylation and/or further carboxyl-terminal processing of gamma are not required for assembly of the beta gamma subunit complex but are indispensable for high affinity interactions of beta gamma with either G protein alpha subunits or adenylylcyclases

Factorization Contributions and the Breaking of the ΔI=1/2\Delta I=1/2 Rule in Weak ΛNρ\Lambda N\rho and ΣNρ\Sigma N\rho Couplings

We compute the modified factorization contributions to the $\Lambda\rightarrow N\rho$ and $\Sigma\rightarrow N\rho$ couplings and demonstrate that these contributions naturally include $\Delta I=3/2$ terms which are comparable ($\simeq 0.4$ to $-0.8$ times) in magnitude to the corresponding $\Delta I=1/2$ terms. As a consequence, we conclude that models which treat vector meson exchange contributions to the weak conversion process $\Lambda N\rightarrow NN$ assuming such weak couplings to satisfy the $\Delta I=1/2$ rule are unlikely to be reliable.Comment: 13 pages, uses REVTEX Entire manuscript available as a ps file at http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/theory/home.html . Also available via anonymous ftp at ftp://adelphi.adelaide.edu.au/pub/theory/ADP-95-5.T172.ps To appear in Physical Review

Isospin Structure of Penguins And Their Consequences in BB Physics

Isospin structure of gluon mediated or strong penguin is significantly altered when the full electroweak corrections are included. This has the consequence that some previous analyses which relied on a simple isospin structure in charmless $B$ decays become inapplicable. We present the general Hamiltonian in next-to-leading order QCD, and illustrate our conclusion quantitatively for $B\rightarrow \pi\pi$ and $B\rightarrow K\pi$ decays in the factorization approximation. Some remarks on CP asymmetries in $B$ decays are also made.Comment: Revtex, 11 pages, typos in eq.(17) were correcte

Resonant behaviour in double charge exchange reaction of \pi^+ mesons on the nuclear photoemulsion

The invariant mass spectra of the $pp\pi^-$ and $pp$ systems produced in the double charge exchange (DCX) of positively charged pions on photoemulsion are analysed. A pronounced peak is observed in the $pp\pi^-$ invariant mass spectrum, while the $M_{pp}$ spectrum exhibits a strong Migdal-Watson effect of the proton-proton final state interaction. These findings are in favor of the $NN$-decoupled $NN\pi$ pseudoscalar resonance with T=0 called $d'$.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, revised versio

Determination of CKM phases through rigid polygons of flavor SU(3) amplitudes

Some new methods for the extraction of CKM phases $\alpha$ and $\gamma$ using flavor SU(3) symmetry have been suggested through the construction of rigid polygons in the complex plane with sides equal to the decay amplitudes of B mesons into two mesons belonging to the light (charmless) pseudoscalar octet. These rigid polygons incorporate all the possible amplitude triangles and, being overdetermined, also serve as consistency checks and in estimating the rates of some decay modes. The same techniques also lead to numerous useful amplitude triangles when octet-singlet mixing has been taken into account and nearly physical $\eta,\eta'$ are used.Comment: A few detailed explanations added, some rearrangement of sections and a few minor changes in notation. 19 pages, 1 PostScript figure, uses psfig.st