97 research outputs found
Discovery of a kleptoplastic 'dinotom' dinoflagellate and the unique nuclear dynamics of converting kleptoplastids to permanent plastids
A monophyletic group of dinoflagellates, called ‘dinotoms’, are known to possess evolutionarily intermediate plastids derived from diatoms. The diatoms maintain their nuclei, mitochondria, and the endoplasmic reticulum in addition with their plastids, while it has been observed that the host dinoflagellates retain the diatoms permanently by controlling diatom karyokinesis. Previously, we showed that dinotoms have repeatedly replaced their diatoms. Here, we show the process of replacements is at two different evolutionary stages in two closely related dinotoms, Durinskia capensis and D. kwazulunatalensis. We clarify that D. capensis is a kleptoplastic protist keeping its diatoms temporarily, only for two months. On the other hand, D. kwazulunatalensis is able to keep several diatoms permanently and exhibits unique dynamics to maintain the diatom nuclei: the nuclei change their morphologies into a complex string-shape alongside the plastids during interphase and these string-shaped nuclei then condense into multiple round nuclei when the host divides. These dynamics have been observed in other dinotoms that possess permanent diatoms, while they have never been observed in any other eukaryotes. We suggest that the establishment of this unique mechanism might be a critical step for dinotoms to be able to convert kleptoplastids into permanent plastids.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Zero-Temperature Phase Transitions of Antiferromagnetic Ising Model of General Spin on a Triangular Lattice
We map the ground-state ensemble of antiferromagnetic Ising model of spin-S
on a triangular lattice to an interface model whose entropic fluctuations are
proposed to be described by an effective Gaussian free energy, which enables us
to calculate the critical exponents of various operators in terms of the
stiffness constant of the interface. Monte Carlo simulations for the
ground-state ensemble utilizing this interfacial representation are performed
to study both the dynamical and the static properties of the model. This method
yields more accurate numerical results for the critical exponents. By varying
the spin magnitude in the model, we find that the model exhibits three phases
with a Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition at 3/2<S_{KT}<2 and a locking phase
transition at 5/2 < S_L \leq 3. The phase diagram at finite temperatures is
also discussed.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX; 10 figures in PostScript files; The revised version
appears in PRB (see Journal-ref). New electronic address of first author,
[email protected]
Angular analysis of
We present a measurement of angular observables, , , ,
, in the decay , where
is either or . The analysis is performed on
a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of
containing pairs, collected
at the resonance with the Belle detector at the
asymmetric-energy collider KEKB. Four angular observables,
are extracted in five bins of the invariant mass squared of the
lepton system, . We compare our results for with Standard
Model predictions including the region in which the LHCb collaboration
reported the so-called anomaly.Comment: Conference paper for LHC Ski 2016. SM prediction for
corrected and reference for arXiv:1207.2753 adde
Heterogeneous activation of the TGFβ pathway in glioblastomas identified by gene expression-based classification using TGFβ-responsive genes
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>TGFβ has emerged as an attractive target for the therapeutic intervention of glioblastomas. Aberrant TGFβ overproduction in glioblastoma and other high-grade gliomas has been reported, however, to date, none of these reports has systematically examined the components of TGFβ signaling to gain a comprehensive view of TGFβ activation in large cohorts of human glioma patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>TGFβ activation in mammalian cells leads to a transcriptional program that typically affects 5–10% of the genes in the genome. To systematically examine the status of TGFβ activation in high-grade glial tumors, we compiled a gene set of transcriptional response to TGFβ stimulation from tissue culture and <it>in vivo </it>animal studies. These genes were used to examine the status of TGFβ activation in high-grade gliomas including a large cohort of glioblastomas. Unsupervised and supervised classification analysis was performed in two independent, publicly available glioma microarray datasets.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Unsupervised and supervised classification using the TGFβ-responsive gene list in two independent glial tumor gene expression data sets revealed various levels of TGFβ activation in these tumors. Among glioblastomas, one of the most devastating human cancers, two subgroups were identified that showed distinct TGFβ activation patterns as measured from transcriptional responses. Approximately 62% of glioblastoma samples analyzed showed strong TGFβ activation, while the rest showed a weak TGFβ transcriptional response.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings suggest heterogeneous TGFβ activation in glioblastomas, which may cause potential differences in responses to anti-TGFβ therapies in these two distinct subgroups of glioblastomas patients.</p
Knocking-Down Cyclin A2 by siRNA Suppresses Apoptosis and Switches Differentiation Pathways in K562 Cells upon Administration with Doxorubicin
Cyclin A2 is critical for the initiation of DNA replication, transcription and cell cycle regulation. Cumulative evidences indicate that the deregulation of cyclin A2 is tightly linked to the chromosomal instability, neoplastic transformation and tumor proliferation. Here we report that treatment of chronic myelogenous leukaemia K562 cells with doxorubicin results in an accumulation of cyclin A2 and follows by induction of apoptotic cell death. To investigate the potential preclinical relevance, K562 cells were transiently transfected with the siRNA targeting cyclin A2 by functionalized single wall carbon nanotubes. Knocking down the expression of cyclin A2 in K562 cells suppressed doxorubicin-induced growth arrest and cell apoptosis. Upon administration with doxorubicin, K562 cells with reduced cyclin A2 showed a significant decrease in erythroid differentiation, and a small fraction of cells were differentiated along megakaryocytic and monocyte-macrophage pathways. The results demonstrate the pro-apoptotic role of cyclin A2 and suggest that cyclin A2 is a key regulator of cell differentiation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that knocking down expression of one gene switches differentiation pathways of human myeloid leukemia K562 cells
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