Victory March

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/2489/thumbnail.jp

Higher-order structural organization of the mitochondrial proteome charted by in situ cross-linking mass spectrometry

Mitochondria are densely packed with proteins, of which most are involved physically or more transiently in protein-protein interactions (PPIs). Mitochondria host among others all enzymes of the Krebs cycle and the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) pathway and are foremost associated with cellular bioenergetics (1, 2). However, mitochondria are also important contributors to apoptotic cell death (3) and contain their own genome (4) indicating that they play additionally an eminent role in processes beyond bioenergetics (5). Despite intense efforts in identifying and characterizing mitochondrial protein complexes by structural biology and proteomics techniques, many PPIs have remained elusive. Several of these (membrane embedded) PPIs are less stable in-vitro hampering their characterization by most contemporary methods in structural biology. Particularly in these cases, cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS) has proven valuable for the in-depth characterization of mitochondrial protein complexes in situ. Here, we highlight experimental strategies for the analysis of proteome-wide protein-protein interactions in mitochondria using XL-MS. We showcase the ability of in situ XL-MS as a tool to map sub-organelle interactions and topologies, and aid in refining structural models of protein complexes. We describe some of the most recent technological advances in XL-MS that may benefit the in situ characterization of PPIs even further, especially when combined with electron microscopy and structural modelling

Acoustic tests of duct-burning turbofan jet noise simulation: Comprehensive data report. Volume 2: Model design and aerodynamic test results

The selection procedure is described which was used to arrive at the configurations tested, and the performance characteristics of the test nozzles are given

The background from single electromagnetic subcascades for a stereo system of air Cherenkov telescopes

The MAGIC experiment, a very large Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) with sensitivity to low energy (E < 100 GeV) VHE gamma rays, has been operated since 2004. It has been found that the gamma/hadron separation in IACTs becomes much more difficult below 100 GeV [Albert et al 2008] A system of two large telescopes may eventually be triggered by hadronic events containing Cherenkov light from only one electromagnetic subcascade or two gamma subcascades, which are products of the single pi^0 decay. This is a possible reason for the deterioration of the experiment's sensitivity below 100 GeV. In this paper a system of two MAGIC telescopes working in stereoscopic mode is studied using Monte Carlo simulations. The detected images have similar shapes to that of primary gamma-rays and they have small sizes (mainly below 400 photoelectrons (p.e.)) which correspond to an energy of primary gamma-rays below 100 GeV. The background from single or two electromagnetic subcascdes is concentrated at energies below 200 GeV. Finally the number of background events is compared to the number of VHE gamma-ray excess events from the Crab Nebula. The investigated background survives simple cuts for sizes below 250 p.e. and thus the experiment's sensitivity deteriorates at lower energies.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, published in Journ.of Phys.

Coulomb stability of the 4\pi-periodic Josephson effect of Majorana fermions

The Josephson energy of two superconducting islands containing Majorana fermions is a 4\pi-periodic function of the superconducting phase difference. If the islands have a small capacitance, their ground state energy is governed by the competition of Josephson and charging energies. We calculate this ground state energy in a ring geometry, as a function of the flux -\Phi- enclosed by the ring, and show that the dependence on the Aharonov-Bohm phase 2e\Phi/\hbar remains 4\pi-periodic regardless of the ratio of charging and Josephson energies - provided that the entire ring is in a topologically nontrivial state. If part of the ring is topologically trivial, then the charging energy induces quantum phase slips that restore the usual 2\pi-periodicity.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; v2: more references, improved phase-slip formula, and a discussion of the effect of overlapping Majorana'

SEM-EDS analyses of small craters in stardust aluminium foils: implications for the Wild-2 dust distribution

Implications for the Wild-2 dust distribution of the statistical results obtained by SEM-EDS from nearly 300 impact craters on aluminium foils of the Stardust sample tray assembly

Direct Monitoring of Protein O-GlcNAcylation by High-Resolution Native Mass Spectrometry

O-GlcNAcylation is one of the most abundant metazoan nuclear-cytoplasmic post-translational modifications. Proteins modified by O-GlcNAc play key cellular roles in signaling, transcription, metabolism, and cell division. Mechanistic studies on protein O-GlcNAcylation are hampered by the lack of methods that can simultaneously quantify O-GlcNAcylation, determine its stoichiometry, and monitor O-GlcNAcylation kinetics. Here, we demonstrate that high-resolution native mass spectrometry can be employed to monitor the small mass shifts induced by modification by O-GlcNAc on two known protein substrates, CK2α and TAB1, without the need for radioactive labeling or chemoenzymatic tagging using large mass tags. Limited proteolysis enabled further localization of the O-GlcNAc sites. In peptide-centric MS analysis, the O-GlcNAc moiety is known to be easily lost. In contrast, we demonstrate that the O-GlcNAc is retained under native MS conditions, enabling precise quantitative analysis of stoichiometry and O-GlcNAcylation kinetics. Together, the data highlight that high resolution native MS may provide an alternative tool to monitor kinetics on one of the most labile of protein post-translational modifications, in an efficient, reliable, and quantitative manner

A thermodynamic adsorption/entrapment model for selenium(IV) coprecipitation with calcite

Selenium is an environmentally relevant trace element, while the radioisotope 79Se is of particular concern in the context of nuclear waste disposal safety. Oxidized selenium species are relatively soluble and show only weak adsorption at common mineral surfaces. However, a possible sorption mechanism for selenium in the geosphere is the structural incorporation of selenium(IV) (selenite, SeO3 2) into calcite (CaCO3). In this study we investigate the interactions between selenite and calcite by a series of experimental and computational methods with the aim to quantify selenite incorporation into calcite at standard conditions. We further seek to describe the thermodynamics of selenite-doped calcite, and selenite coprecipitation with calcite. The structure of the incorporated species is investigated using Se K-edge EXAFS (isotropic and polarization dependent) and results are compared to density functional theory (DFT) calculations. These investigations confirm structural incorporation of selenite into calcite by the substitution of carbonate for selenite, leading to the formation of a Ca(SeO3)X(CO3)(1-X)solid solution.Coprecipitation experiments at low supersaturation indicate a linear increase of the selenite to carbonate ratio in the solid with the increase of the selenite to carbonate ratio in the contact solution. This relationship can be described under the assumption of an ideal mixing between calcite and a virtual CaSeO3 endmember, whose standard Gibbs free energy (G0(CaSeO3_exp) = 953 ± 6 kJ/mol, log10(KSP(CaSeO3_exp)) = 6.7 ± 1.0) is defined by linear extrapolation of the excess free energy from the dilute Henry’s law domain to X(CaSeO3) = 1. In contrast to this experimental result, DFT and force field calculations predict the virtual bulk CaSeO3 endmember to be significantly less stable and more soluble: G0(CaSeO3 bulk) = 912 ± 10 kJ/mol and log10(KSP(CaSeO3_bulk)) = 0.5 ± 1.7. To explain this discrepancy we introduce a thermodynamic adsorption/entrapment concept. This concept is based on the idea that the experimental value of 953 ± 6 kJ/mol reflects the Gibbs free energy of CaSeO3 within the surface layer, while the value obtained from atomistic calculations reflects bulk thermodynamic properties. In coprecipitation experiments performed at steady-state conditions the difference between these values is compensated by the supersaturation. Thus, if the Gibbs free energies of the bulk CaCO3 and CaSeO3 endmembers are substituted with the Gibbs free energies of the surface endmembers, the coprecipitation experiment can still be treated within the formalism of equilibrium thermodynamics. This concept leads to a number of important consequences, which can be tested both experimentally and theoretically.We show that selenite adsorption at the calcite surface and selenite coprecipitation with calcite under supersaturated conditions can be described with the same partition coefficient. This implies that the coprecipitation can be viewed as a sequence of adsorption and entrapment events. On the other hand, our aragonite recrystallization experiments show that at near equilibrium conditions the calcite growth is inhibited in the presence of selenite. Consistent with these observations, our DFT calculations show that the substitution of carbonate for selenite is energetically more favorable at the surface than inside the bulk. The whole set of the experimental and atomistic simulation results leads to the conclusion that the calcite–CaSeO3 solid solution can only grow continuously if the aqueous solution is supersaturated with respect to the bulk solid solution. Under these conditions selenite coprecipitates with calcite at a partition coefficient of D = 0.02 ± 0.01. If the solution is undersaturated with respect to the bulk solid solution, only surface ion-exchange occurs. Elevated selenite concentrations in bulk calcite therefore reflect non-equilibrium conditions

Справа Івана Дзюби

У статті автор, використовуючи документи Галузевого державного архіву СБ України, досліджує постать видатного літературознавця, громадського діяча Івана Дзюби у контексті боротьби співробітників органів держбезпеки УРСР з «українським буржуазним націоналізмом».В статье автор, используя документы Отраслевого государственного архива СБ Украины, исследует личность выдающегося литературоведа, общественного деятеля Ивана Дзюбы в контексте борьбы сотрудников органов госбезопасности УССР с «украинским буржуазным национализмом».Using the documents of State branch archive of State Security of Ukraine, the author investigates the personality of Ivan Dzyuba during the struggle of KGB of the UkSSR against the «Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism»