392 research outputs found
Crystal structure of the heterotrimeric integrin-binding region of laminin-111
Laminins are cell - adhesive glycoproteins that are essential for basement membrane assembly and function. Integrins are important laminin receptors, but their binding site on the heterotrimeric laminin s is poorly defined structurally. We report the crystal structure at 2.13 Å resolution of a minimal integrin - binding fragment of mouse laminin - 111, consisting of ~50 resid ues of α 1 β 1 γ 1 coiled coil and the first three lam inin G - like (LG) domains of the α 1 chain . The LG domains adopt a triangular arrangem ent, with the C - terminus of the coiled coil situated between LG1 and LG2. The critical integrin - binding glutamic acid residue in the γ 1 chain tail is surface - exposed and predicted to bind to the metal ion - dependent adhesion site in the integrin β 1 subunit. Additional contacts to the integrin are likely to be made by the LG1 and LG2 surfaces adjacent to the γ 1 chain tail, which are notably conserved and free of obstructing glycans
Structural biology of laminins
Laminins are large cell-adhesive glycoproteins that are required for the formation and function of basement membranes in all animals. Structural studies by electron microscopy in the early 1980s revealed a cross-shaped molecule, which subsequently was shown to consist of three distinct polypeptide chains. Crystallographic studies since the mid-1990s have added atomic detail to all parts of the laminin heterotrimer. The three short arms of the cross are made up of continuous arrays of disulphide-rich domains. The globular domains at the tips of the short arms mediate laminin polymerization; the surface regions involved in this process have been identified by structure-based mutagenesis. The long arm of the cross is an α-helical coiled coil of all three chains, terminating in a cell-adhesive globular region. The molecular basis of cell adhesion to laminins has been revealed by recent structures of heterotrimeric integrin-binding fragments and of a laminin fragment bound to the carbohydrate modification of dystroglycan. The structural characterization of the laminin molecule is essentially complete, but we still have to find ways of imaging native laminin polymers at molecular resolution
High-finesse optical quantum gates for electron spins in artificial molecules
A doped semiconductor double-quantum-dot molecule is proposed as a qubit
realization. The quantum information is encoded in the electron spin, thus
benefiting from the long relevant decoherence times; the enhanced flexibility
of the molecular structure allows to map the spin degrees of freedom onto the
orbital ones and vice versa, and opens the possibility for high-finesse
(conditional and unconditional) quantum gates by means of stimulated Raman
adiabatic passage.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Atom interferometry with trapped Bose-Einstein condensates: Impact of atom-atom interactions
Interferometry with ultracold atoms promises the possibility of ultraprecise
and ultrasensitive measurements in many fields of physics, and is the basis of
our most precise atomic clocks. Key to a high sensitivity is the possibility to
achieve long measurement times and precise readout. Ultra cold atoms can be
precisely manipulated at the quantum level, held for very long times in traps,
and would therefore be an ideal setting for interferometry. In this paper we
discuss how the non-linearities from atom-atom interactions on one hand allow
to efficiently produce squeezed states for enhanced readout, but on the other
hand result in phase diffusion which limits the phase accumulation time. We
find that low dimensional geometries are favorable, with two-dimensional (2D)
settings giving the smallest contribution of phase diffusion caused by
atom-atom interactions. Even for time sequences generated by optimal control
the achievable minimal detectable interaction energy is on
the order of 0.001 times the chemical potential of the BEC in the trap. From
there we have to conclude that for more precise measurements with atom
interferometers more sophisticated strategies, or turning off the interaction
induced dephasing during the phase accumulation stage, will be necessary.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figures, extended and correcte
Optimal quantum control in nanostructures: Theory and application to generic three-level system
Coherent carrier control in quantum nanostructures is studied within the
framework of Optimal Control. We develop a general solution scheme for the
optimization of an external control (e.g., lasers pulses), which allows to
channel the system's wavefunction between two given states in its most
efficient way; physically motivated constraints, such as limited laser
resources or population suppression of certain states, can be accounted for
through a general cost functional. Using a generic three-level scheme for the
quantum system, we demonstrate the applicability of our approach and identify
the pertinent calculation and convergence parameters.Comment: 7 pages; to appear in Phys. Rev.
Crystallographic analysis of the laminin β2 short arm reveals how the LF domain is inserted into a regular array of LE domains
Laminins are a major constituent of all basement membranes. The polymerisation of laminins at the cell surface is mediated by the three short arms of the cross-shaped laminin heterotrimer. The short arms contain repeats of laminin-type epidermal growth factor-like (LE) domains, interspersed with globular domains of unknown function. A single LF domain is inserted between LE5 and LE6 of the laminin β1 and β2 chains. We report the crystal structure at 1.85 Å resolution of the laminin β2 LE5-LF-LE6 region. The LF domain consists of a β-sandwich related to bacterial family 35 carbohydrate binding modules, and more distantly to the L4 domains present in the short arms of laminin α and γ chains. An α-helical region mediates the extensive interaction of the LF domain with LE5. The relative arrangement of LE5 and LE6 is very similar to that of consecutive LE domains in uninterrupted LE tandems. Fitting atomic models to a low-resolution structure of the first eight domains of the laminin β1 chain determined by small-angle X-ray scattering suggests a deviation from the regular LE array at the LE4-LE5 junction. These results advance our understanding of laminin structure
Exploiting exciton-exciton interactions in semiconductor quantum dots for quantum-information processing
We propose an all-optical implementation of quantum-information processing in
semiconductor quantum dots, where electron-hole excitations (excitons) serve as
the computational degrees of freedom (qubits). We show that the strong dot
confinement leads to an overall enhancement of Coulomb correlations and to a
strong renormalization of the excitonic states, which can be exploited for
performing conditional and unconditional qubit operations.Comment: 5 pages revtex, 2 encapsulated postscript figures. Accepted for
publication in Phys. Rev. B (Rapid Communication
Ab-initio calculation of optical absorption in semiconductors: A density-matrix description
We show how to describe Coulomb renormalization effects and dielectric
screening in semiconductors and semiconductor nanostructures within a
first-principles density-matrix description. Those dynamic variables and
approximation schemes which are required for a proper description of dielectric
screening are identified. It is shown that within the random-phase
approximation the direct Coulomb interactions become screened, with static
screening being a good approximation, whereas the electron-hole exchange
interactions remain unscreened. Differences and similarities of our results
with those obtained from a corresponding GW approximation and Bethe-Salpeter
equation Green's function analysis are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, to be published in Physical Review
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