123 research outputs found
A Budding-Defective M2 Mutant Exhibits Reduced Membrane Interaction, Insensitivity To Cholesterol, And Perturbed Interdomain Coupling
Influenza A M2 is a membrane-associated protein with a C-terminal amphipathic helix that plays a cholesterol-dependent role in viral budding. An M2 mutant with alanine substitutions in the C-terminal amphipathic helix is deficient in viral scission. With the goal of providing atomic-level understanding of how the wild-type protein functions, we used a multipronged site-directed spin labeling electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (SDSL-EPR) approach to characterize the conformational properties of the alanine mutant. We spin-labeled sites in the transmembrane (TM) domain and the C-terminal amphipathic helix (AH) of wild-type (WT) and mutant M2, and collected information on line shapes, relaxation rates, membrane topology, and distances within the homotetramer in membranes with and without cholesterol. Our results identify marked differences in the conformation and dynamics between the WT and the alanine mutant. Compared to WT, the dominant population of the mutant AH is more dynamic, shallower in the membrane, and has altered quaternary arrangement of the C-terminal domain. While the AH becomes more dynamic, the dominant population of the TM domain of the mutant is immobilized. The presence of cholesterol changes the conformation and dynamics of the WT protein, while the alanine mutant is insensitive to cholesterol. These findings provide new insight into how M2 may facilitate budding. We propose the AHâmembrane interaction modulates the arrangement of the TM helices, effectively stabilizing a conformational state that enables M2 to facilitate viral budding. Antagonizing the properties of the AH that enable interdomain coupling within M2 may therefore present a novel strategy for anti-influenza drug design
Influence of Collision Cascade Statistics on Pattern Formation of Ion-Sputtered Surfaces
Theoretical continuum models that describe the formation of patterns on
surfaces of targets undergoing ion-beam sputtering, are based on Sigmund's
formula, which describes the spatial distribution of the energy deposited by
the ion. For small angles of incidence and amorphous or polycrystalline
materials, this description seems to be suitable, and leads to the classic BH
morphological theory [R.M. Bradley and J.M.E. Harper, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A
6, 2390 (1988)]. Here we study the sputtering of Cu crystals by means of
numerical simulations under the binary-collision approximation. We observe
significant deviations from Sigmund's energy distribution. In particular, the
distribution that best fits our simulations has a minimum near the position
where the ion penetrates the surface, and the decay of energy deposition with
distance to ion trajectory is exponential rather than Gaussian. We provide a
modified continuum theory which takes these effects into account and explores
the implications of the modified energy distribution for the surface
morphology. In marked contrast with BH's theory, the dependence of the
sputtering yield with the angle of incidence is non-monotonous, with a maximum
for non-grazing incidence angles.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, RevTe
Nonlinear Dirac operator and quaternionic analysis
Properties of the Cauchy-Riemann-Fueter equation for maps between
quaternionic manifolds are studied. Spaces of solutions in case of maps from a
K3-surface to the cotangent bundle of a complex projective space are computed.
A relationship between harmonic spinors of a generalized nonlinear Dirac
operator and solutions of the Cauchy-Riemann-Fueter equation are established.Comment: Cosmetic changes onl
Substructure lensing in galaxy clusters as a constraint on low-mass sterile neutrinos in tensor-vector-scalar theory: The straight arc of Abell 2390
Certain covariant theories of the modified Newtonian dynamics paradigm seem
to require an additional hot dark matter (HDM) component - in the form of
either heavy ordinary neutrinos or more recently light sterile neutrinos (SNs)
with a mass around 11eV - to be relieved of problems ranging from cosmological
scales down to intermediate ones relevant for galaxy clusters. Here we suggest
using gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters to test such a marriage of
neutrino HDM and modified gravity, adopting the framework of
tensor-vector-scalar theory (TeVeS). Unlike conventional cold dark matter
(CDM), such HDM is subject to strong phase-space constraints, which allows one
to check cluster lens models inferred within the modified framework for
consistency. Since the considered HDM particles cannot collapse into
arbitrarily dense clumps and only form structures well above the galactic
scale, systems which indicate the need for dark substructure are of particular
interest. As a first example, we study the cluster lens Abell 2390 and its
impressive straight arc with the help of numerical simulations. Based on our
results, we outline a general and systematic approach to model cluster lenses
in TeVeS which significantly reduces the calculation complexity. We further
consider a simple bimodal lens configuration, capable of producing the straight
arc, to demonstrate our approach. We find that such a model is marginally
consistent with the hypothesis of 11eV SNs. Future work including more detailed
and realistic lens models may further constrain the necessary SN distribution
and help to conclusively assess this point. Cluster lenses could therefore
provide an interesting discriminator between CDM and such modified gravity
scenarios supplemented by SNs or other choices of HDM.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables; minor changes to match accepted
versio
On Five-dimensional Superspaces
Recent one-loop calculations of certain supergravity-mediated quantum
corrections in supersymmetric brane-world models employ either the component
formulation (hep-th/0305184) or the superfield formalism with only half of the
bulk supersymmetry manifestly realized (hep-th/0305169 and hep-th/0411216).
There are reasons to expect, however, that 5D supergraphs provide a more
efficient setup to deal with these and more involved (in particular,
higher-loop) calculations. As a first step toward elaborating such supergraph
techniques, we develop in this letter a manifestly supersymmetric formulation
for 5D globally supersymmetric theories with eight supercharges. Simple rules
are given to reduce 5D superspace actions to a hybrid form which keeps manifest
only the 4D, N=1 Poincare supersymmetry. (Previously, such hybrid actions were
carefully worked out by rewriting the component actions in terms of simple
superfields). To demonstrate the power of this formalism for model building
applications, two families of off-shell supersymmetric nonlinear sigma-models
in five dimensions are presented (including those with cotangent bundles of
Kahler manifolds as target spaces). We elaborate, trying to make our
presentation maximally clear and self-contained, on the techniques of 5D
harmonic and projective superspaces used at some stages in this letter.Comment: 46 pages, 3 figures. V5: version published in JHE
Long-time discrete particle effects versus kinetic theory in the self-consistent single-wave model
The influence of the finite number N of particles coupled to a monochromatic
wave in a collisionless plasma is investigated. For growth as well as damping
of the wave, discrete particle numerical simulations show an N-dependent long
time behavior resulting from the dynamics of individual particles. This
behavior differs from the one due to the numerical errors incurred by Vlasov
approaches. Trapping oscillations are crucial to long time dynamics, as the
wave oscillations are controlled by the particle distribution inhomogeneities
and the pulsating separatrix crossings drive the relaxation towards thermal
equilibrium.Comment: 11 pages incl. 13 figs. Phys. Rev. E, in pres
Wall-Crossing in Coupled 2d-4d Systems
We introduce a new wall-crossing formula which combines and generalizes the
Cecotti-Vafa and Kontsevich-Soibelman formulas for supersymmetric 2d and 4d
systems respectively. This 2d-4d wall-crossing formula governs the
wall-crossing of BPS states in an N=2 supersymmetric 4d gauge theory coupled to
a supersymmetric surface defect. When the theory and defect are compactified on
a circle, we get a 3d theory with a supersymmetric line operator, corresponding
to a hyperholomorphic connection on a vector bundle over a hyperkahler space.
The 2d-4d wall-crossing formula can be interpreted as a smoothness condition
for this hyperholomorphic connection. We explain how the 2d-4d BPS spectrum can
be determined for 4d theories of class S, that is, for those theories obtained
by compactifying the six-dimensional (0,2) theory with a partial topological
twist on a punctured Riemann surface C. For such theories there are canonical
surface defects. We illustrate with several examples in the case of A_1
theories of class S. Finally, we indicate how our results can be used to
produce solutions to the A_1 Hitchin equations on the Riemann surface C.Comment: 170 pages, 45 figure
Nonlocal symmetries of a class of scalar and coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations of any order
In this paper we devise a systematic procedure to obtain nonlocal symmetries
of a class of scalar nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) of
arbitrary order related to linear ODEs through nonlocal relations. The
procedure makes use of the Lie point symmetries of the linear ODEs and the
nonlocal connection to deduce the nonlocal symmetries of the corresponding
nonlinear ODEs. Using these nonlocal symmetries we obtain reduction
transformations and reduced equations to specific examples. We find the reduced
equations can be explicitly integrated to deduce the general solutions for
these cases. We also extend this procedure to coupled higher order nonlinear
ODEs with specific reference to second order nonlinear ODEs.Comment: Accepted for publication in J. Phys. A Math. Theor. 201
Side-channel Attacks on Blinded Scalar Multiplications Revisited
In a series of recent articles (from 2011 to 2017), Schindler et al. show that exponent/scalar blinding is not as effective a countermeasure as expected against side-channel attacks targeting RSA modular exponentiation and ECC scalar multiplication. Precisely, these works demonstrate that if an attacker is able to retrieve many randomizations of the same secret, this secret can be fully recovered even when a significative proportion of the blinded secret bits are erroneous. With a focus on ECC, this paper improves the best results of Schindler et al. in the specific case of structured-order elliptic curves. Our results show that larger blinding material and higher error rates can be successfully handled by an attacker in practice. This study also opens new directions in this line of work by the proposal of a three-steps attack process that isolates the attack critical path (in terms of complexity and success rate) and hence eases the development of future solutions
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