1,027 research outputs found
Periplasmic protein thiol:disulfide oxidoreductases of Escherichia coli
Disulfide bond formation is part of the folding pathway for many periplasmic and outer membrane proteins that contain structural disulfide bonds. In Escherichia coli, a broad variety of periplasmic protein thiol:disulfide oxidoreductases have been identified in recent years, which substantially contribute to this pathway. Like the well-known cytoplasmic thioredoxins and glutaredoxins, these periplasmic protein thiol:disulfide oxidoreductases contain the conserved C-X-X-C motif in their active site. Most of them have a domain that displays the thioredoxin-like fold. In contrast to the cytoplasmic system, which consists exclusively of reducing proteins, the periplasmic oxidoreductases have either an oxidising, a reducing or an isomerisation activity. Apart from understanding their physiological role, it is of interest to learn how these proteins interact with their target molecules and how they are recycled as electron donors or acceptors. This review reflects the recently made efforts to elucidate the sources of oxidising and reducing power in the periplasm as well as the different properties of certain periplasmic protein thiol:disulfide oxidoreductases of E. col
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Multifractal properties of critical eigenstates in two-dimensional systems with symplectic symmetry
The multifractal properties of electronic eigenstates at the metal-insulator
transition of a two-dimensional disordered tight-binding model with spin-orbit
interaction are investigated numerically. The correlation dimensions of the
spectral measure and of the fractal eigenstate are
calculated and shown to be related by . The exponent
describing the energy correlations of the critical
eigenstates is found to satisfy the relation .Comment: 6 pages RevTeX; 3 uuencoded, gzipped ps-figures to appear in J. Phys.
Condensed Matte
Design and validation of a partial-genome microarray for transcriptional profiling of the Bradyrhizobium japonicum symbiotic gene region
The design and use of a pilot microarray for transcriptome analysis of the symbiotic, nitrogen-fixing Bradyrhizobium japonicum is reported here. The custom-synthesized chip (Affymetrix GeneChip®) features 738 genes, more than half of which belong to a 400-kb chromosomal segment strongly associated with symbiosis-related functions. RNA was isolated following an optimized protocol from wild-type cells grown aerobically and microaerobically, and from cells of aerobically grown regR mutant and microaerobically grown nifA mutant. Comparative microarray analyses thus revealed genes that are transcribed in either a RegR- or a NifA-dependent manner plus genes whose expression depends on the cellular oxygen status. Several genes were newly identified as members of the RegR and NifA regulons, beyond genes, which had been known from previous work. A comprehensive transcription analysis was performed with one of the new RegR-controlled genes (id880). Expression levels determined by microarray analysis of selected NifA- and RegR-controlled genes corresponded well with quantitative real-time PCR data, demonstrating the high complementarity of microarray analysis to classical methods of gene expression analysis in B. japonicum. Nevertheless, several previously established members of the NifA regulon were not detected as transcribed genes by microarray analysis, confirming the potential pitfalls of this approach also observed by other authors. By and large, this pilot study has paved the way towards the genome-wide transcriptome analysis of the 9.1-Mb B. japonicum genom
Impact Of Sleep Restriction And Recovery On Motivation During Repeated Cognitive Performance Testing
Introduction: Both motivation and sleep deprivation affect cognitive performance. Especially during long-lasting studies with repeated cognitive performance tasks there is concern that subjects will lose motivation over time. Results may be confounded due to changes in motivation.
Methods: In an ongoing study, 29 healthy volunteers performed 55 cognitive performance tasks at three-hourly intervals in a 12-day inpatient study. After two baseline nights with 8 h time in bed (TIB) the intervention group (N=20; mean age 26 ± 4 years, 9 females) underwent chronic sleep restriction for 5 nights (5 h TIB) with a following recovery night of 8 h TIB. The control group (N=9; mean age 25 ± 5 years, 3 females) had the opportunity to sleep 8 hours every night. Participants completed the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) and a questionnaire about their motivation (from 1=very little/not motivated to 5=very motivated) at 6 p.m. on all days.
Results: Wilcoxon signed-rank tests showed a significant decrease in motivation (p=.0439) and a significant increase in subjective sleepiness (p=.0184) from baseline (motivation: 2.8 ± 0.6 (SD), sleepiness: 3.2 ± 1.2) to the last day of chronic sleep restriction (motivation: 2.2 ± 0.5, sleepiness: 5.1 ± 1.8) for the experimental group. Motivation remained low after recovery sleep (2.2 ± 0.8; p=.0198). Sleepiness and motivation scores showed a significant Spearman correlation (r=-0.43, p<0.001).
Discussion: Chronic sleep restriction for five days leads to an increase in sleepiness and a decrease in motivation. One night of recovery is insufficient to reverse the motivation loss, contrasting with the beneficial effect on sleepiness. During chronic sleep restriction conditions subjective motivation seems to decrease as a function of subjective sleepiness
Self-Averaging, Distribution of Pseudo-Critical Temperatures and Finite Size Scaling in Critical Disordered Systems
The distributions of singular thermodynamic quantities in an ensemble
of quenched random samples of linear size at the critical point are
studied by Monte Carlo in two models. Our results confirm predictions of
Aharony and Harris based on Renormalization group considerations. For an
Ashkin-Teller model with strong but irrelevant bond randomness we find that the
relative squared width, , of is weakly self averaging. , where is the specific heat exponent and is the
correlation length exponent of the pure model fixed point governing the
transition. For the site dilute Ising model on a cubic lattice, known to be
governed by a random fixed point, we find that tends to a universal
constant independent of the amount of dilution (no self averaging). However
this constant is different for canonical and grand canonical disorder. We study
the distribution of the pseudo-critical temperatures of the ensemble
defined as the temperatures of the maximum susceptibility of each sample. We
find that its variance scales as and NOT as
R_\chi\sim 70R_\chi (T_c)\chiT_c(i,l)m_i(T_c,l)T_c(i,l)(T-T_c(i,l))/T_c$. This function is found to be universal and to behave
similarly to pure systems.Comment: 31 pages, 17 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Computer simulation of the critical behavior of 3D disordered Ising model
The critical behavior of the disordered ferromagnetic Ising model is studied
numerically by the Monte Carlo method in a wide range of variation of
concentration of nonmagnetic impurity atoms. The temperature dependences of
correlation length and magnetic susceptibility are determined for samples with
various spin concentrations and various linear sizes. The finite-size scaling
technique is used for obtaining scaling functions for these quantities, which
exhibit a universal behavior in the critical region; the critical temperatures
and static critical exponents are also determined using scaling corrections. On
the basis of variation of the scaling functions and values of critical
exponents upon a change in the concentration, the conclusion is drawn
concerning the existence of two universal classes of the critical behavior of
the diluted Ising model with different characteristics for weakly and strongly
disordered systems.Comment: 14 RevTeX pages, 6 figure
Metal-insulator transition in a multilayer system with a strong magnetic field
We study the Anderson localization in a weakly coupled multilayer system with
a strong magnetic field perpendicular to the layers. The phase diagram of 1/3
flux quanta per plaquette is obtained. The phase diagram shows that a
three-dimensional quantum Hall effect phase exists for a weak on-site disorder.
For intermediate disorder, the system has insulating and normal metallic phases
separated by a mobility edge. At an even larger disorder, all states are
localized and the system is an insulator. The critical exponent of the
localization length is found to be .Comment: Latex file, 3 figure
Congested Traffic States in Empirical Observations and Microscopic Simulations
We present data from several German freeways showing different kinds of
congested traffic forming near road inhomogeneities, specifically lane
closings, intersections, or uphill gradients. The states are localized or
extended, homogeneous or oscillating. Combined states are observed as well,
like the coexistence of moving localized clusters and clusters pinned at road
inhomogeneities, or regions of oscillating congested traffic upstream of nearly
homogeneous congested traffic. The experimental findings are consistent with a
recently proposed theoretical phase diagram for traffic near on-ramps [D.
Helbing, A. Hennecke, and M. Treiber, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 82}, 4360 (1999)].
We simulate these situations with a novel continuous microscopic single-lane
model, the ``intelligent driver model'' (IDM), using the empirical boundary
conditions. All observations, including the coexistence of states, are
qualitatively reproduced by describing inhomogeneities with local variations of
one model parameter.
We show that the results of the microscopic model can be understood by
formulating the theoretical phase diagram for bottlenecks in a more general
way. In particular, a local drop of the road capacity induced by parameter
variations has practically the same effect as an on-ramp.Comment: Now published in Phys. Rev. E. Minor changes suggested by a referee
are incorporated; full bibliographic info added. For related work see
http://www.mtreiber.de/ and http://www.helbing.org
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