2,397 research outputs found
Correlation between nucleotide composition and folding energy of coding sequences with special attention to wobble bases
Background: The secondary structure and complexity of mRNA influences its
accessibility to regulatory molecules (proteins, micro-RNAs), its stability and
its level of expression. The mobile elements of the RNA sequence, the wobble
bases, are expected to regulate the formation of structures encompassing coding
sequences.
Results: The sequence/folding energy (FE) relationship was studied by
statistical, bioinformatic methods in 90 CDS containing 26,370 codons. I found
that the FE (dG) associated with coding sequences is significant and negative
(407 kcal/1000 bases, mean +/- S.E.M.) indicating that these sequences are able
to form structures. However, the FE has only a small free component, less than
10% of the total. The contribution of the 1st and 3rd codon bases to the FE is
larger than the contribution of the 2nd (central) bases. It is possible to
achieve a ~ 4-fold change in FE by altering the wobble bases in synonymous
codons. The sequence/FE relationship can be described with a simple algorithm,
and the total FE can be predicted solely from the sequence composition of the
nucleic acid. The contributions of different synonymous codons to the FE are
additive and one codon cannot replace another. The accumulated contributions of
synonymous codons of an amino acid to the total folding energy of an mRNA is
strongly correlated to the relative amount of that amino acid in the translated
protein.
Conclusion: Synonymous codons are not interchangable with regard to their
role in determining the mRNA FE and the relative amounts of amino acids in the
translated protein, even if they are indistinguishable in respect of amino acid
coding.Comment: 14 pages including 6 figures and 1 tabl
Folding Polyominoes into (Poly)Cubes
We study the problem of folding a polyomino into a polycube , allowing
faces of to be covered multiple times. First, we define a variety of
folding models according to whether the folds (a) must be along grid lines of
or can divide squares in half (diagonally and/or orthogonally), (b) must be
mountain or can be both mountain and valley, (c) can remain flat (forming an
angle of ), and (d) must lie on just the polycube surface or can
have interior faces as well. Second, we give all the inclusion relations among
all models that fold on the grid lines of . Third, we characterize all
polyominoes that can fold into a unit cube, in some models. Fourth, we give a
linear-time dynamic programming algorithm to fold a tree-shaped polyomino into
a constant-size polycube, in some models. Finally, we consider the triangular
version of the problem, characterizing which polyiamonds fold into a regular
tetrahedron.Comment: 30 pages, 19 figures, full version of extended abstract that appeared
in CCCG 2015. (Change over previous version: Fixed a missing reference.
Chemical equilibration and thermal dilepton production from the quark gluon plasma at finite baryon density
The chemical equilibration of a highly unsaturated quark-gluon plasma has
been studied at finite baryon density. It is found that in the presence of
small amount of baryon density, the chemical equilibration for gluon becomes
slower and the temperature decreases less steeply as compared to the baryon
free plasma. As a result, the space time integrated yield of dilepton is
enhanced if the initial temperature of the plasma is held fixed. Even at a
fixed initial energy density, the suppression of the dilepton yields at higher
baryo-chemical potential is compensated, to a large extent, by the slow cooling
of the plasma.Comment: Latex, 19 pages, 8 postscript figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Jets and the shaping of the giant bipolar envelope of the planetary nebula KjPn 8
A hydrodynamic model involving cooling gas in the stagnation region of a
collimated outflow is proposed for the formation of the giant parsec-scale
bipolar envelope that surrounds the planetary nebula KjPn 8. Analytical
calculations and numerical simulations are presented to evaluate the model. The
envelope is considered to consist mainly of environmental gas swept-up by
shocks driven by an episodic, collimated, bipolar outflow. In this model, which
we call the ``free stagnation knot'' mechanism, the swept-up ambient gas
located in the stagnation region of the bow-shock cools to produce a high
density knot. This knot moves along with the bow-shock. When the central
outflow ceases, pressurization of the interior of the envelope stops and its
expansion slows down. The stagnation knot, however, has sufficient momentum to
propagate freely further along the axis, producing a distinct nose at the end
of the lobe. The model is found to successfully reproduce the peculiar shape
and global kinematics of the giant bipolar envelope of KjPn 8.Comment: 20 pages + 8 figures (in 1 tar-file 0.67 Mb
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Structural Characterization of Charcoal Exposed to High and Low pH: Implications for 14C Sample Preparation and Charcoal Preservation
Chemical and structural similarities between poorly preserved charcoal and its contaminants, as well as low radiocarbon concentrations in old samples, complicate 14C age determinations. Here, we characterize 4 fossil charcoal samples from the late Middle Paleolithic and early Upper Paleolithic strata of Kebara Cave, Israel, with respect to the structural and chemical changes that occur when they are subjected to the acid-base-acid (ABA) treatment. Differential thermal analysis and TEM show that acid treatment disrupts the structure, whereas alkali treatment results in the reformation of molecular aggregates. The major changes are ascribed to the formation of salt bridges at high pH and the disruption of the graphite-like crystallites at low pH. Weight losses during the treatments are consistently greater for older samples, implying that they are less well preserved. Based on the changes observed in vitro due to pH fluctuations, various methods for removing contamination, as well as a mechanism for preferential preservation of charcoal in nature, are proposed.Anthropolog
Rural Livelihoods and Burning Practices in Savanna Landscapes of Nusa Tenggara Timur, Eastern Indonesia
The Partition Function and Level Density for Yang-Mills-Higgs Quantum Mechanics
We calculate the partition function and the asymptotic integrated
level density for Yang-Mills-Higgs Quantum Mechanics for two and three
dimensions (). Due to the infinite volume of the phase space
on energy shell for , it is not possible to disentangle completely the
coupled oscillators (-model) from the Higgs sector. The situation is
different for for which is finite. The transition from order
to chaos in these systems is expressed by the corresponding transitions in
and , analogous to the transitions in adjacent level spacing
distribution from Poisson distribution to Wigner-Dyson distribution. We also
discuss a related system with quartic coupled oscillators and two dimensional
quartic free oscillators for which, contrary to YMHQM, both coupling constants
are dimensionless.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX; minor changes; version accepted for publication as a
Letter in J. Phys.
Quantum kinetics and thermalization in an exactly solvable model
We study the dynamics of relaxation and thermalization in an exactly solvable
model with the goal of understanding the effects of off-shell processes. The
focus is to compare the exact evolution of the distribution function with
different approximations to the relaxational dynamics: Boltzmann, non-Markovian
and Markovian quantum kinetics. The time evolution of the distribution function
is evaluated exactly using two methods: time evolution of an initially prepared
density matrix and by solving the Heisenberg equations of motion. There are two
different cases that are studied in detail: i) no stable particle states below
threshold of the bath and a quasiparticle resonance above it and ii) a stable
discrete exact `particle' state below threshold. For the case of quasiparticles
in the continuum (resonances) the exact quasiparticle distribution
asymptotically tends to a statistical equilibrium distribution that differs
from a simple Bose-Einstein form as a result of off-shell processes. In the
case ii), the distribution of particles does not thermalize with the bath. We
study the kinetics of thermalization and relaxation by deriving a non-Markovian
quantum kinetic equation which resums the perturbative series and includes
off-shell effects. A Markovian approximation that includes off-shell
contributions and the usual Boltzmann equation are obtained from the quantum
kinetic equation in the limit of wide separation of time scales upon different
coarse-graining assumptions. The relaxational dynamics predicted by the
non-Markovian, Markovian and Boltzmann approximations are compared to the exact
result of the model. The Boltzmann approach is seen to fail in the case of wide
resonances and when threshold and renormalization effects are important.Comment: 49 pages, LaTex, 17 figures (16 eps figures
Model of Centauro and strangelet production in heavy ion collisions
We discuss the phenomenological model of Centauro event production in
relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. This model makes quantitative
predictions for kinematic observables, baryon number and mass of the Centauro
fireball and its decay products. Centauros decay mainly to nucleons, strange
hyperons and possibly strangelets. Simulations of Centauro events for the
CASTOR detector in Pb-Pb collisions at LHC energies are performed. The
signatures of these events are discussed in detail.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX+revtex4, 14 eps-figures and 3 table
Comparative study on the uniform energy deposition achievable via optimized plasmonic nanoresonator distributions
Plasmonic nanoresonators of core-shell composition and nanorod shape were
optimized to tune their absorption cross-section maximum to the central
wavelength of a short pulse. Their distribution along a pulse-length scaled
target was optimized to maximize the absorptance with the criterion of minimal
absorption difference in between neighbouring layers. Successive approximation
of layer distributions made it possible to ensure almost uniform deposited
energy distribution up until the maximal overlap of two counter-propagating
pulses. Based on the larger absorptance and smaller uncertainty in absorptance
and energy distribution core-shell nanoresonators override the nanorods.
However, optimization of both nanoresonator distributions has potential
applications, where efficient and uniform energy deposition is crucial,
including phase transitions and even fusion
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