Molecular architecture and function of adenovirus DNA polymerase

Central to this thesis is the role of adenovirus DNA polymerase (Ad pol) in adenovirus DNA replication. Ad pol is a member of the family B DNA polymerases but belongs to a distinct subclass of polymerases that use a protein as primer. As Ad pol catalyses both the initiation and elongation phases and needs to accomodate both DNA and protein as a primer, it is not surprising that a large number of protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions are involved in efficient replication. Indeed, Ad pol is known to interact with pTP, NFI and DNA, although our understanding of these interactions is limited. In this thesis, these interactions have been studied in greater detail. After an introductory chapter on DNA dependent DNA polymerases and Ad replication, the jumping back mechanism that characterizes the change from initiation to elongation is extensively reviewed in chapter 2. In chapter 3, the highly conserved (I/Y)XGG motif of Ad pol is studied. In chapter 4, the interaction between Ad pol and DNA is further studied by the use of biotinylated oligo-nucleotides with a bulky streptavidin block. Chapter 5 examines the termination of Ad pol on the native TP-containing viral DNA. Finally, in chapter 6 the recruitment of the pTP-pol complex via a direct interaction between Ad pol and NFI is studied in detail

Manuel de protection des cultures contre les dégats d'oiseaux

Ce rapport est un manuel de formation à l'usage d'agents de la protection des végétaux : il consigne la biologie et l'identification des oiseaux, la détermination des dégats des espèces responsables, ainsi que les méthodes d'évaluation des dégats, et de leur réduction (destruction des oiseaux déprédateurs, protection directe des cultures; méthodes agronomiques et environnementales. Le choix des méthodes de lutte et l'organisation d'une campagne est proposé

Unphysical Operators in Partially Quenched QCD

We point out that the chiral Lagrangian describing pseudo-Goldstone bosons in partially quenched QCD has one more four-derivative operator than that for unquenched QCD with three flavors. The new operator can be chosen to vanish in the unquenched sector of the partially quenched theory. Its contributions begin at next-to-leading order in the chiral expansion. At this order it contributes only to unphysical scattering processes, and we work out some examples. Its contributions to pseudo-Goldstone properties begin at next-to-next-to-leading order, and we determine their form. We also determine all the zero and two derivative operators in the $O(p^6)$ partially quenched chiral Lagrangian, finding three more than in unquenched QCD, and use these to give the general form of the analytic next-to-next-to-leading order contributions to the pseudo-Goldstone mass and decay constant. We discuss the general implications of such additional operators for the utility of partially quenched simulationsComment: 13 pages, 11 figures Version 2: Additional footnote and parenthesis in section

Quantization of Solitons and the Restricted Sine-Gordon Model

We show how to compute form factors, matrix elements of local fields, in the restricted sine-Gordon model, at the reflectionless points, by quantizing solitons. We introduce (quantum) separated variables in which the Hamiltonians are expressed in terms of (quantum) tau-functions. We explicitly describe the soliton wave functions, and we explain how the restriction is related to an unusual hermitian structure. We also present a semi-classical analysis which enlightens the fact that the restricted sine-Gordon model corresponds to an analytical continuation of the sine-Gordon model, intermediate between sine-Gordon and KdV.Comment: 29 pages, Latex, minor updatin

Baryon Decuplet to Octet Electromagnetic Transitions in Quenched and Partially Quenched Chiral Perturbation Theory

We calculate baryon decuplet to octet electromagnetic transition form factors in quenched and partially quenched chiral perturbation theory. We work in the isospin limit of SU(3) flavor, up to next-to-leading order in the chiral expansion, and to leading order in the heavy baryon expansion. Our results are necessary for proper extrapolation of lattice calculations of these transitions. We also derive expressions for the case of SU(2) flavor away from the isospin limit.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, revtex

Hadronic Electromagnetic Properties at Finite Lattice Spacing

Electromagnetic properties of the octet mesons as well as the octet and decuplet baryons are augmented in quenched and partially quenched chiral perturbation theory to include O(a) corrections due to lattice discretization. We present the results for the SU(3) flavor group in the isospin limit as well as the results for SU(2) flavor with non-degenerate quarks. These corrections will be useful for extrapolation of lattice calculations using Wilson valence and sea quarks, as well as calculations using Wilson sea quarks and Ginsparg-Wilson valence quarks.Comment: 19 pages, 0 figures, RevTeX

Isolation of phytoplasma DNA from the coconut palms (Cocos nucifera L.) collected from Ghana

This study aimed to verify the presence of the causative agent of Lethal Yellowing which is phytoplasma in samples provided from infected coconut trees. Study was carried out by using various samples like zygotic embryo, young leaves and immature & mature inflorescences. These materials were collected from trees at the stage 1 and 2 of the disease development.. Stage 1 of disease development is characterized by leaf yellowing and the start of the falling nuts while at the stage 2 of disease development, the trees has not bear nuts longer. From infected material, DNA was extracted by three different processes and isolated DNA was amplified by PCR. 16S rRNA gene was amplified by two specific primers of phytoplama viz P1/P2 and Ghana 813/AKSR. Among the various tested materials presence of phytoplasma was reported from the mature inflorescences while the presence of the phytoplasma was not reported from the leaves and embryos of the coconut

Spinons and parafermions in fermion cosets

We introduce a set of gauge invariant fermion fields in fermionic coset models and show that they play a very central role in the description of several Conformal Field Theories (CFT's). In particular we discuss the explicit realization of primaries and their OPE in unitary minimal models, parafermion fields in $Z_k$ CFT's and that of spinon fields in $SU(N)_k, k=1$ Wess-Zumino-Witten models (WZW) theories. The higher level case ($k>1$) will be briefly discussed. Possible applications to QHE systems and spin-ladder systems are addressed.Comment: 6 pages, Latex file. Invited talk at International Seminar dedicated to the memory of D.V.Volkov, Kharkov, January 5-7, 199

Fusion and singular vectors in A1{(1)} highest weight cyclic modules

We show how the interplay between the fusion formalism of conformal field theory and the Knizhnik--Zamolodchikov equation leads to explicit formulae for the singular vectors in the highest weight representations of A1{(1)}.Comment: 42 page

Microscopic study of freeze-out in relativistic heavy ion collisions at SPS energies

The freeze-out conditions in the light (S+S) and heavy (Pb+Pb) colliding systems of heavy nuclei at 160 AGeV/$c$ are analyzed within the microscopic Quark Gluon String Model (QGSM). We found that even for the most heavy systems particle emission takes place from the whole space-time domain available for the system evolution, but not from the thin ''freeze-out hypersurface", adopted in fluid dynamical models. Pions are continuously emitted from the whole volume of the reaction and reflect the main trends of the system evolution. Nucleons in Pb+Pb collisions initially come from the surface region. For both systems there is a separation of the elastic and inelastic freeze-out. The mesons with large transverse momenta, $p_t$, are predominantly produced at the early stages of the reaction. The low $p_t$-component is populated by mesons coming mainly from the decay of resonances. This explains naturally the decreasing source sizes with increasing $p_t$, observed in HBT interferometry. Comparison with S+S and Au+Au systems at 11.6 AGeV/$c$ is also presented.Comment: REVTEX, 26 pages incl. 9 figures and 2 tables, to be published in the Physical Review