Finite trifactorized groups and pi-decomposability

The first author would like to thank the Universitat de Valencia for its warm hospitality and financial support during the preparation of this paper.Kazarin, LS.; Martínez-Pastor, A.; Perez Ramos, MD. (2018). Finite trifactorized groups and pi-decomposability. Bulletin of the Australian Mathematical Society. 97(2):218-228. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0004972717001034S21822897

Mechanisms Underlying Heterogeneous Ca2+ Sparklet Activity in Arterial Smooth Muscle

In arterial smooth muscle, single or small clusters of Ca2+ channels operate in a high probability mode, creating sites of nearly continual Ca2+ influx (called “persistent Ca2+ sparklet” sites). Persistent Ca2+ sparklet activity varies regionally within any given cell. At present, the molecular identity of the Ca2+ channels underlying Ca2+ sparklets and the mechanisms that give rise to their spatial heterogeneity remain unclear. Here, we used total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy to directly investigate these issues. We found that tsA-201 cells expressing L-type Cavα1.2 channels recapitulated the general features of Ca2+ sparklets in cerebral arterial myocytes, including amplitude of quantal event, voltage dependencies, gating modalities, and pharmacology. Furthermore, PKCα activity was required for basal persistent Ca2+ sparklet activity in arterial myocytes and tsA-201 cells. In arterial myocytes, inhibition of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and 2B (PP2B; calcineurin) increased Ca2+ influx by evoking new persistent Ca2+ sparklet sites and by increasing the activity of previously active sites. The actions of PP2A and PP2B inhibition on Ca2+ sparklets required PKC activity, indicating that these phosphatases opposed PKC-mediated phosphorylation. Together, these data unequivocally demonstrate that persistent Ca2+ sparklet activity is a fundamental property of L-type Ca2+ channels when associated with PKC. Our findings support a novel model in which the gating modality of L-type Ca2+ channels vary regionally within a cell depending on the relative activities of nearby PKCα, PP2A, and PP2B

Prime power indices in factorised groups

[EN] Let the group G = AB be the product of the subgroups A and B. We determine some structural properties of G when the p-elements in A. B have prime power indices in G, for some prime p. More generally, we also consider the case that all prime power order elements in A. B have prime power indices in G. In particular, when G = A = B, we obtain as a consequence some known results.The first author is supported by Proyecto Prometeo II/2015/011, Generalitat Valenciana (Spain), and the second author is supported by Proyecto MTM2014-54707-C3-1-P, Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad (Spain). The results in this paper are part of the third author's Ph.D. thesis, and he acknowledges the predoctoral grant ACIF/2016/170, Generalitat Valenciana (Spain).Felipe Román, MJ.; Martínez-Pastor, A.; Ortiz-Sotomayor, VM. (2017). Prime power indices in factorised groups. Mediterranean Journal of Mathematics. 14(6):1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00009-017-1023-6S115146Amberg, B., Franciosi, S., de Giovanni, F.: Products of Groups. Oxford University Press Inc., New York (1992)Baer, R.: Group elements of prime power index. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 75, 20–47 (1953)Ballester-Bolinches, A., Cossey, J., Li, Y.: Mutually permutable products and conjugacy classes. Monatsh. Math. 170, 305–310 (2013)Ballester-Bolinches, A., Esteban-Romero, R., Asaad, M.: Products of finite groups, vol. 53 of de Gruyter Expositions in Mathematics, Berlin (2010)Berkovich, Y., Kazarin, L.S.: Indices of elements and normal structure of finite groups. J. Algebra 283, 564–583 (2005)Camina, A.R., Camina, R.D.: Implications of conjugacy class size. J. Group Theory 1(3), 257–269 (1998)Camina, A.R., Shumyatsky, P., Sica, C.: On elements of prime-power index in finite groups. J. Algebra 323, 522–525 (2010)Chillag, D., Herzog, M.: On the length of the conjugacy classes of finite groups. J. Algebra 131, 110–125 (1990)Doerk, K., Hawkes, T.: Finite Soluble Groups, vol. 4 of de Gruyter Expositions in Mathematics, Berlin (1992)Felipe, M.J., Martínez-Pastor, A., Ortiz-Sotomayor, V.M.: On finite groups with square-free conjugacy class sizes. Int. J. Group Theory (to appear)Kurzweil, H., Stellmacher, B.: The theory of finite groups: an introduction. Springer, New York (2004)Liu, X., Wang, Y., Wei, H.: Notes on the length of conjugacy classes of finite groups. J. Pure Appl. Algebra 196, 111–117 (2005

Novel Interactions between Actin and the Proteasome Revealed by Complex Haploinsufficiency

Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been a powerful model for uncovering the landscape of binary gene interactions through whole-genome screening. Complex heterozygous interactions are potentially important to human genetic disease as loss-of-function alleles are common in human genomes. We have been using complex haploinsufficiency (CHI) screening with the actin gene to identify genes related to actin function and as a model to determine the prevalence of CHI interactions in eukaryotic genomes. Previous CHI screening between actin and null alleles for non-essential genes uncovered ∼240 deleterious CHI interactions. In this report, we have extended CHI screening to null alleles for essential genes by mating a query strain to sporulations of heterozygous knock-out strains. Using an act1Δ query, knock-outs of 60 essential genes were found to be CHI with actin. Enriched in this collection were functional categories found in the previous screen against non-essential genes, including genes involved in cytoskeleton function and chaperone complexes that fold actin and tubulin. Novel to this screen was the identification of genes for components of the TFIID transcription complex and for the proteasome. We investigated a potential role for the proteasome in regulating the actin cytoskeleton and found that the proteasome physically associates with actin filaments in vitro and that some conditional mutations in proteasome genes have gross defects in actin organization. Whole-genome screening with actin as a query has confirmed that CHI interactions are important phenotypic drivers. Furthermore, CHI screening is another genetic tool to uncover novel functional connections. Here we report a previously unappreciated role for the proteasome in affecting actin organization and function

Filterability of staphylococcal species through membrane filters following application of stressors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Passage of bacterial cells through filter pores has been reported for a number of bacterial species. In this investigation, we tested the filterability of staphylococcal cultures that were exposed to several environmental stress conditions by passing them through 0.22 and 0.45 μm sterile filters, which are industry standards.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Results showed repeated passage of viable staphylococcal cells through both pore sizes, although more passage was seen through the 0.45 μm pore size. Of the three staphylococcal species, <it>S. lugdunensis </it>showed the best passage at relatively higher numbers regardless of the treatment, while both <it>S. aureus </it>and <it>S. epidermidis </it>showed limited passage or complete inhibition.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The data showed that staphylococcal bacteria were capable of passing through sterile filters in a viable state. There was better passage through 0.45 μm sterile filters than through the 0.22 μm sterile filters. Application of a stress condition did not appear to enhance filterability of these bacterial cultures.</p