Quasi-Moessbauer effect in two dimensions

Expressions for the absorption spectrum of a nucleus in a three- and a two-dimensional crystal respectively are obtained analytically at zero and at finite temperature respectively. It is found that for finite temperature in two dimensions the Moessbauer effect vanishes but is replaced by what we call a Quasi-Moessbauer effect. Possibilities to identify two-dimensional elastic behavior are discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, notation simplifie

Differences in intrinsic tubulin dynamic properties contribute to spindle length control in Xenopus species

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Hirst, W. G., Biswas, A., Mahalingan, K. K., & Reber, S. Differences in intrinsic tubulin dynamic properties contribute to spindle length control in Xenopus species. Current Biology, 30(11), (2020): 2184-2190.e5, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.03.067.The function of cellular organelles relates not only to their molecular composition but also to their size. However, how the size of dynamic mesoscale structures is established and maintained remains poorly understood [1, 2, 3]. Mitotic spindle length, for example, varies several-fold among cell types and among different organisms [4]. Although most studies on spindle size control focus on changes in proteins that regulate microtubule dynamics [5, 6, 7, 8], the contribution of the spindle’s main building block, the αβ-tubulin heterodimer, has yet to be studied. Apart from microtubule-associated proteins and motors, two factors have been shown to contribute to the heterogeneity of microtubule dynamics: tubulin isoform composition [9, 10] and post-translational modifications [11]. In the past, studying the contribution of tubulin and microtubules to spindle assembly has been limited by the fact that physiologically relevant tubulins were not available. Here, we show that tubulins purified from two closely related frogs, Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis, have surprisingly different microtubule dynamics in vitro. X. laevis microtubules combine very fast growth and infrequent catastrophes. In contrast, X. tropicalis microtubules grow slower and catastrophe more frequently. We show that spindle length and microtubule mass can be controlled by titrating the ratios of the tubulins from the two frog species. Furthermore, we combine our in vitro reconstitution assay and egg extract experiments with computational modeling to show that differences in intrinsic properties of different tubulins contribute to the control of microtubule mass and therefore set steady-state spindle length.This article was prompted by our stay at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, MA in the summer of 2016 funded by the Princeton-Humboldt Strategic Partnership Grant together with the lab of Sabine Petry (Princeton University). We thank Jeff Woodruff (UT Southwestern), David Drechsel (IMP), and Marcus J. Taylor (MPI IB) for constructive criticism and comments on the manuscript and Helena Jambor for constructive comments on figure design. We thank the AMBIO imaging facility (Charité, Berlin) and Nikon at MBL for imaging support, Aliona Bogdanova and Barbara Borgonovo (MPI CBG) for their help with protein purification, and Francois Nedelec (University of Cambridge) for help with Cytosim. We are grateful to the Görlich lab (MPI BPC), in particular Bastian Hülsmann and Jens Krull, and the NXR for supply with X. tropicalis frogs. We thank Antonina Roll-Mecak (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) for help with mass spectrometry analysis and discussions and Duck-Yeon Lee in the Biochemistry Core (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute) for access to mass spectrometers. For mass spectrometry, we would like to acknowledge the assistance of Benno Kuropka and Chris Weise from the Core Facility BioSupraMol supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). We thank all former and current members of the Reber lab for discussion and helpful advice, in particular, Christoph Hentschel and Soma Zsoter for technical assistance and Sebastian Reusch for help with tubulin purification. S.R. acknowledges funding from the IRI Life Sciences (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Excellence Initiative/DFG). W.G.H. was supported by the Alliance Berlin Canberra co-funded by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for the International Research Training Group (IRTG) 2290 and the Australian National University. K.K.M. was supported by funds in the Roll-Mecak lab, intramural program of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Resistance to flow through tissue-isolated transplanted rat tumours located in two different sites

The perfusion characteristics of the P22 carcinosarcoma were investigated in tissue-isolated tumour preparations in the ovarian and inguinal fat pads of BD9 rats. Tumours were perfused with a physiological buffer of known viscosity and changes in perfusion pressure were recorded at different perfusion rates in an ex vivo system. At perfusion pressures exceeding 30-40 mmHg tumour flow rate was directly proportional to the perfusion pressure in all tumours, indicating a constant resistance to flow. An apparent positive pressure difference across the tumour vasculature of 20-30 mmHg occurred under conditions of zero flow in either site. At low perfusion pressures, the flow resistance increased sharply due to increases in the geometric resistance of the tumours. These findings are in accord with previously published data. Geometric resistance increased with tumour volume in both sites and was approximately five times greater in the inguinal tumours than it was in the ovarian tumours, on a weight to weight basis. The dependence of tumour geometric resistance on perfusion pressure differs from the situation in normal tissues and may provide a means of manipulating the tumour microcirculation to the exclusion of the systemic blood supply. The dependence of geometric resistance on tumour site may partly explain why tumours located in different sites respond differently to various forms of therapy

Number counts and clustering properties of bright Distant Red Galaxies in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey Early Data Release

We describe the number counts and spatial distribution of 239 Distant Red Galaxies (DRGs), selected from the Early Data Release of the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey. The DRGs are identified by their very red infrared colours with (J-K)AB>1.3, selected over 0.62 sq degree to a 90% completeness limit of KAB~20.7. This is the first time a large sample of bright DRGs has been studied within a contiguous area, and we provide the first measurements of their number counts and clustering. The population shows strong angular clustering, intermediate between those of K-selected field galaxies and optical/infrared-selected Extremely Red Galaxies. Adopting the redshift distributions determined from other recent studies, we infer a high correlation length of r0~11 h-1 Mpc. Such strong clustering could imply that our galaxies are hosted by very massive dark matter halos, consistent with the progenitors of present-day L>L* elliptical galaxies.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, revised version accepted to MNRAS. Higher-resolution figures available from the authors on reques

Self-assembly using dendritic building blocks - towards controllable nanomaterials

Dendritic molecules have well defined, three-dimensional branched architectures, and constitute a unique nanoscale toolkit. This review focuses on examples in which individual dendritic molecules are assembled into more complex arrays via non-covalent interactions. In particular, it illustrates how the structural information programmed into the dendritic architecture controls the assembly process, and as a consequence, the properties of the supramolecular structures which are generated. Furthermore, the review emphasises how the use of non-covalent (supramolecular) interactions, provides the assembly process with reversibility, and hence a high degree of control. The review also illustrates how self-assembly offers an ideal approach for amplifying the branching of small, synthetically accessible, relatively inexpensive dendritic systems (e.g. dendrons), into highly branched complex nanoscale assemblies. The review begins by considering the assembly of dendritic molecules to generate discrete, well-defined supramolecular assemblies. The variety of possible assembled structures is illustrated, and the ability of an assembled structure to encapsulate a templating unit is described. The ability of both organic and inorganic building blocks to direct the assembly process is discussed. The review then describes larger discrete assemblies of dendritic molecules, which do not exist as a single well-defined species, but instead exist as statistical distributions. For example, assembly around nanoparticles, the assembly of amphiphilic dendrons and the assembly of dendritic systems in the presence of DNA will all be discussed. Finally, the review examines dendritic molecules, which assemble or order themselves into extended arrays. Such systems extend beyond the nanoscale into the microscale or even the macroscale domain, exhibiting a wide range of different architectures. The ability of these assemblies to act as gel-phase or liquid crystalline materials will be considered. Taken as a whole, this review emphasises the control and tunability that underpins the assembly of nanomaterials using dendritic building blocks, and furthermore highlights the potential future applications of these assemblies at the interfaces between chemistry, biology and materials science