A thermodynamic basis for prebiotic amino acid synthesis and the nature of the first genetic code

Of the twenty amino acids used in proteins, ten were formed in Miller's atmospheric discharge experiments. The two other major proposed sources of prebiotic amino acid synthesis include formation in hydrothermal vents and delivery to Earth via meteorites. We combine observational and experimental data of amino acid frequencies formed by these diverse mechanisms and show that, regardless of the source, these ten early amino acids can be ranked in order of decreasing abundance in prebiotic contexts. This order can be predicted by thermodynamics. The relative abundances of the early amino acids were most likely reflected in the composition of the first proteins at the time the genetic code originated. The remaining amino acids were incorporated into proteins after pathways for their biochemical synthesis evolved. This is consistent with theories of the evolution of the genetic code by stepwise addition of new amino acids. These are hints that key aspects of early biochemistry may be universal.Comment: 16 pages, 2 tables, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Astrobiolog

Superconductors with two critical temperatures

We propose a simple model for superconductors endowed with two critical temperatures, corresponding to two second-order phase transitions, in the framework of the Ginzburg-Landau mean-field theory. For very large Cooper pair self-interaction, in addition to the standard condensation occurring in the Ginzburg-Landau theory, we find another phase transition at a lower temperature with a maximum difference of 15% between the two critical temperatures.Comment: revtex, 3 pages, one eps figur

Finite W Algebras and Intermediate Statistics

New realizations of finite W algebras are constructed by relaxing the usual constraint conditions. Then, finite W algebras are recognized in the Heisenberg quantization recently proposed by Leinaas and Myrheim, for a system of two identical particles in d dimensions. As the anyonic parameter is directly associated to the W-algebra involved in the d=1 case, it is natural to consider that the W-algebra framework is well-adapted for a possible generalization of the anyon statistics.Comment: 16 pp., Latex, Preprint ENSLAPP-489/9

Synthesis and Assembly of a Novel Glycan Layer in Myxococcus xanthus Spores

Myxococcus xanthus is a Gram-negative deltaproteobacterium that has evolved the ability to differentiate into metabolically quiescent spores that are resistant to heat and desiccation. An essential feature of the differentiation processes is the assembly of a rigid, cell wall-like spore coat on the surface of the outer membrane. In this study, we characterize the spore coat composition and describe the machinery necessary for secretion of spore coat material and its subsequent assembly into a stress-bearing matrix. Chemical analyses of isolated spore coat material indicate that the spore coat consists primarily of short 1–4- and 1–3-linked GalNAc polymers that lack significant glycosidic branching and may be connected by glycine peptides. We show that 1–4-linked glucose (Glc) is likely a minor component of the spore coat with the majority of the Glc arising from contamination with extracellular polysaccharides, O-antigen, or storage compounds. Neither of these structures is required for the formation of resistant spores. Our analyses indicate the GalNAc/Glc polymer and glycine are exported by the ExoA-I system, a Wzy-like polysaccharide synthesis and export machinery. Arrangement of the capsular-like polysaccharides into a rigid spore coat requires the NfsA–H proteins, members of which reside in either the cytoplasmic membrane (NfsD, -E, and -G) or outer membrane (NfsA, -B, and -C). The Nfs proteins function together to modulate the chain length of the surface polysaccharides, which is apparently necessary for their assembly into a stress-bearing matrix

Application of remote sensing to state and regional problems

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Probing the Higgs mechanism via γγ→W+W−\gamma\gamma\to W^+W^-

We investigate the sensitivity of the reaction $\gamma\gamma\to W^+W^-$ to the Higgs sector based on the complete one-loop corrections in the minimal Standard Model and the gauged non-linear $\sigma$-model. While this sensitivity is very strong for the suppressed cross-section of equally polarized photons and longitudinal W bosons, it is only marginal for the dominant mode of transverse polarizations. The corrections within the $\sigma$-model turn out to be UV-finite in accordance with the absence of \log\MH terms in the Standard Model with a heavy Higgs boson.Comment: 12 pages uuencoded postscrip

How to relate the oscillator and Coulomb systems on spheres and pseudospheres?

We show that the oscillators on a sphere and pseudosphere are related, by the so-called Bohlin transformation, with the Coulomb systems on the pseudosphere: the even states of an oscillator yields the conventional Coulomb system on pseudosphere, while the odd states yield the Coulomb system on pseudosphere in the presence of magnetic flux tube generating half spin. In the higher dimensions the oscillator and Coulomb(-like) systems are connected in the similar way. In particular, applying the Kustaanheimo-Stiefel transformation to the oscillators on sphere and pseudosphere, we obtained the preudospherical generalization of MIC-Kepler problem describing three-dimensional charge-dyon system.Comment: 12 pages, Based on talk given at XXIII Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics (July 31-August 5, 2000, Dubna

N=4 supersymmetric mechanics with nonlinear chiral supermultiplet

We construct N=4 supersymmetric mechanics using the N=4 nonlinear chiral supermultiplet. The two bosonic degrees of freedom of this supermultiplet parameterize the sphere S(2) and go into the bosonic components of the standard chiral multiplet when the radius of the sphere goes to infinity. We construct the most general action and demonstrate that the nonlinearity of the supermultiplet results in the deformation of the connection, which couples the fermionic degrees of freedom with the background, and of the bosonic potential. Also a non-zero magnetic field could appear in the system.Comment: 5 page

Klauder's coherent states for the radial Coulomb problem in a uniformly curved space and their flat-space limits

First a set of coherent states a la Klauder is formally constructed for the Coulomb problem in a curved space of constant curvature. Then the flat-space limit is taken to reduce the set for the radial Coulomb problem to a set of hydrogen atom coherent states corresponding to both the discrete and the continuous portions of the spectrum for a fixed \ell sector.Comment: 10 pages, no figure

Zero Temperature Properties of RNA Secondary Structures

We analyze different microscopic RNA models at zero temperature. We discuss both the most simple model, that suffers a large degeneracy of the ground state, and models in which the degeneracy has been remove, in a more or less severe manner. We calculate low-energy density of states using a coupling perturbing method, where the ground state of a modified Hamiltonian, that repels the original ground state, is determined. We evaluate scaling exponents starting from measurements of overlaps and energy differences. In the case of models without accidental degeneracy of the ground state we are able to clearly establish the existence of a glassy phase with $\theta \simeq 1/3$.Comment: 20 pages including 9 eps figure