Modular detergents tailor the purification and structural analysis of membrane proteins including G-protein coupled receptors

Detergents enable the purification of membrane proteins and are indispensable reagents instructural biology. Even though a large variety of detergents have been developed in the lastcentury, the challenge remains to identify guidelines that allowfine-tuning of detergents forindividual applications in membrane protein research. Addressing this challenge, here weintroduce the family of oligoglycerol detergents (OGDs). Native mass spectrometry (MS)reveals that the modular OGD architecture offers the ability to control protein purificationand to preserve interactions with native membrane lipids during purification. In addition to abroad range of bacterial membrane proteins, OGDs also enable the purification and analysisof a functional G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR). Moreover, given the modular design ofthese detergents, we anticipatefine-tuning of their properties for specific applications instructural biology. Seen from a broader perspective, this represents a significant advance forthe investigation of membrane proteins and their interactions with lipids

Surface terms, Asymptotics and Thermodynamics of the Holst Action

We consider a first order formalism for general relativity derived from the Holst action. This action is obtained from the standard Palatini-Hilbert form by adding a topological-like term and can be taken as the starting point for loop quantum gravity and spin foam models. The equations of motion derived from the Holst action are, nevertheless, the same as in the Palatini formulation. Here we study the form of the surface terms of the action for general boundaries as well as the symplectic current in the covariant formulation of the theory. Furthermore, we analyze the behavior of the surface terms in asymptotically flat space-times. We show that the contribution to the symplectic structure from the Holst term vanishes and one obtains the same asymptotic expressions as in the Palatini action. It then follows that the asymptotic Poincare symmetries and conserved quantities such as energy, linear momentum and relativistic angular momentum found here are equivalent to those obtained from the standard Arnowitt, Deser and Misner formalism. Finally, we consider the Euclidean approach to black hole thermodynamics and show that the on-shell Holst action, when evaluated on some static solutions containing horizons, yields the standard thermodynamical relations.Comment: 16 page

ATLAS Logical File Name and Directory Path Convention

The convention to form logical files entries in file's catalog used by ATLA

The initiator methionine tRNA drives cell migration and invasion leading to increased metastatic potential in melanoma

The cell's repertoire of transfer RNAs (tRNAs) has been linked to cancer. Recently, levels of the initiator methionine tRNA (tRNAiMet) in stromal fibroblasts have been shown to influence extracellular matrix (ECM) secretion to drive tumour growth and angiogenesis. Here we show that increased tRNAiMet within cancer cells does not influence tumour growth, but drives cell migration and invasion via a mechanism that is independent from ECM synthesis and dependent on α5β1 integrin and levels of the translation initiation ternary complex. In vivo and ex vivo migration (but not proliferation) of melanoblasts is significantly enhanced in transgenic mice which express additional copies of the tRNAiMet gene. We show that increased tRNAiMet in melanoma drives migratory, invasive behaviour and metastatic potential without affecting cell proliferation and primary tumour growth, and that expression of RNA polymerase III-associated genes (which drive tRNA expression) are elevated in metastases by comparison with primary tumours. Thus specific alterations to the cancer cell tRNA repertoire drive a migration/invasion programme that may lead to metastasis

ATLAS Distributed Data management Operations

ATLAS Distributed Data Management (DDM) service is developed for data transfer between ATLAS sites and for data cataloguing. The Data Management Software (SW) is based on DQ2 and end-users tools (aka dq2_get package). In this paper we address the issue of DDM day-by-day operation, DDM operations team organization, roles and responsibilities of Tier-1s and Tier-2s DDM coordinators

Cosmological solutions from fake N=2 EYM supergravity

We characterise the (fake) supersymmetric solutions of Wick-rotated N=2 d=4 gauged supergravity coupled to non-Abelian vector multiplets. In the time-like case we obtain generalisations of Kastor & Traschen's cosmological black holes: they have a specific time-dependence and the base-space must be 3-dimensional hyperCR/Gauduchon-Tod space. In the null-case, we find that the metric has a holonomy contained in Sim(2), give a general characterisation of the solutions, and give some examples. Finally, we point out that in some cases the solutions we found are non-BPS solutions to N=2 d=4 supergravity coupled to vector multiplets.Comment: 30 pages. Comments and references added, typos correcte

On Bouncing Brane-Worlds, S-branes and Branonium Cosmology

We present several higher-dimensional spacetimes for which observers living on 3-branes experience an induced metric which bounces. The classes of examples include boundary branes on generalised S-brane backgrounds and probe branes in D-brane/anti D-brane systems. The bounces we consider normally would be expected to require an energy density which violates the weak energy condition, and for our co-dimension one examples this is attributable to bulk curvature terms in the effective Friedmann equation. We examine the features of the acceleration which provides the bounce, including in some cases the existence of positive acceleration without event horizons, and we give a geometrical interpretation for it. We discuss the stability of the solutions from the point of view of both the brane and the bulk. Some of our examples appear to be stable from the bulk point of view, suggesting the possible existence of stable bouncing cosmologies within the brane-world framework.Comment: 35 pages, 7 figures, JHEP style. Title changed and references adde