237 research outputs found
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Distinct mechanisms of Drosophila CRYPTOCHROME-mediated light-evoked membrane depolarization and in vivo clock resetting.
Drosophila CRYPTOCHROME (dCRY) mediates electrophysiological depolarization and circadian clock resetting in response to blue or ultraviolet (UV) light. These light-evoked biological responses operate at different timescales and possibly through different mechanisms. Whether electron transfer down a conserved chain of tryptophan residues underlies biological responses following dCRY light activation has been controversial. To examine these issues in in vivo and in ex vivo whole-brain preparations, we generated transgenic flies expressing tryptophan mutant dCRYs in the conserved electron transfer chain and then measured neuronal electrophysiological phototransduction and behavioral responses to light. Electrophysiological-evoked potential analysis shows that dCRY mediates UV and blue-light-evoked depolarizations that are long lasting, persisting for nearly a minute. Surprisingly, dCRY appears to mediate red-light-evoked depolarization in wild-type flies, absent in both cry-null flies, and following acute treatment with the flavin-specific inhibitor diphenyleneiodonium in wild-type flies. This suggests a previously unsuspected functional signaling role for a neutral semiquinone flavin state (FADHâą) for dCRY. The W420 tryptophan residue located closest to the FAD-dCRY interaction site is critical for blue- and UV-light-evoked electrophysiological responses, while other tryptophan residues within electron transfer distance to W420 do not appear to be required for light-evoked electrophysiological responses. Mutation of the dCRY tryptophan residue W342, more distant from the FAD interaction site, mimics the cry-null behavioral light response to constant light exposure. These data indicate that light-evoked dCRY electrical depolarization and clock resetting are mediated by distinct mechanisms
Fano resonances in a three-terminal nanodevice
The electron transport through a quantum sphere with three one-dimensional
wires attached to it is investigated. An explicit form for the transmission
coefficient as a function of the electron energy is found from the first
principles. The asymmetric Fano resonances are detected in transmission of the
system. The collapse of the resonances is shown to appear under certain
conditions. A two-terminal nanodevice with an additional gate lead is studied
using the developed approach. Additional resonances and minima of transmission
are indicated in the device.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 2 equations are added, misprints in 5 equations
are removed, published in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte
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High frequency off-target mutagenesis induced by CRISPR-Cas nucleases in human cells
CRISPR RNA-guided endonucleases (RGENs) have rapidly emerged as a facile and efficient platform for genome editing. Here, we use a human cell-based reporter assay to characterize off-target cleavage of Cas9-based RGENs. We find that single and double mismatches are tolerated to varying degrees depending on their position along the guide RNA (gRNA)-DNA interface. We readily detected off-target alterations induced by four out of six RGENs targeted to endogenous loci in human cells by examination of partially mismatched sites. The off-target sites we identified harbor up to five mismatches and many are mutagenized with frequencies comparable to (or higher than) those observed at the intended on-target site. Our work demonstrates that RGENs are highly active even with imperfectly matched RNA-DNA interfaces in human cells, a finding that might confound their use in research and therapeutic applications
Two-dimensional electron gas in a linearly varying magnetic field: Quantization of the electron and current density
Published versio
Suitability versus fidelity for rating single-photon guns
The creation of specified quantum states is important for most, if not all,
applications in quantum computation and communication. The quality of the state
preparation is therefore an essential ingredient in any assessment of a
quantum-state gun. We show that the fidelity, under the standard definitions is
not sufficient to assess quantum sources, and we propose a new measure of
suitability that necessarily depends on the application for the source. We
consider the performance of single-photon guns in the context of quantum key
distribution (QKD) and linear optical quantum computation. Single-photon
sources for QKD need radically different properties than sources for quantum
computing. Furthermore, the suitability for single-photon guns is discussed
explicitly in terms of experimentally accessible criteria.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures Revised per referee suggestion
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In silico abstraction of zinc finger nuclease cleavage profiles reveals an expanded landscape of off-target sites
Gene-editing nucleases enable targeted modification of DNA sequences in living cells, thereby facilitating efficient knockout and precise editing of endogenous loci. Engineered nucleases also have the potential to introduce mutations at off-target sites of action. Such unintended alterations can confound interpretation of experiments and can have implications for development of therapeutic applications. Recently, two improved methods for identifying the off-target effects of zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) were describedâone using an in vitro cleavage site selection method and the other exploiting the insertion of integration-defective lentiviruses into nuclease-induced double-stranded DNA breaks. However, application of these two methods to a ZFN pair targeted to the human CCR5 gene led to identification of largely non-overlapping off-target sites, raising the possibility that additional off-target sites might exist. Here, we show that in silico abstraction of ZFN cleavage profiles obtained from in vitro cleavage site selections can greatly enhance the ability to identify potential off-target sites in human cells. Our improved method should enable more comprehensive profiling of ZFN specificities
Single Photons on Pseudo-Demand from Stored Parametric Down-Conversion
We describe the results of a parametric down-conversion experiment in which
the detection of one photon of a pair causes the other photon to be switched
into a storage loop. The stored photon can then be switched out of the loop at
a later time chosen by the user, providing a single photon for potential use in
a variety of quantum information processing applications. Although the stored
single photon is only available at periodic time intervals, those times can be
chosen to match the cycle time of a quantum computer by using pulsed
down-conversion. The potential use of the storage loop as a photonic quantum
memory device is also discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 7 Figs., RevTe
Interferometric Tests of Teleportation
We investigate a direct test of teleportation efficacy based on a
Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The analysis is performed for continuous variable
teleportation of both discrete and continuous observables
Tunable Lyapunov exponent in inverse magnetic billiards
The stability properties of the classical trajectories of charged particles
are investigated in a two dimensional stadium-shaped inverse magnetic domain,
where the magnetic field is zero inside the stadium domain and constant
outside. In the case of infinite magnetic field the dynamics of the system is
the same as in the Bunimovich billiard, i.e., ergodic and mixing. However, for
weaker magnetic fields the phase space becomes mixed and the chaotic part
gradually shrinks. The numerical measurements of the Lyapunov exponent
(performed with a novel method) and the integrable/chaotic phase space volume
ratio show that both quantities can be smoothly tuned by varying the external
magnetic field. A possible experimental realization of the arrangement is also
discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
30% land conservation and climate action reduces tropical extinction risk by more than 50%
Limiting climate change to less than 2°C is the focus of international policy under the climate convention (UNFCCC), and is essential to preventing extinctions, a focus of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The postâ2020 biodiversity framework drafted by the CBD proposes conserving 30% of both land and oceans by 2030. However, the combined impact on extinction risk of species from limiting climate change and increasing the extent of protected and conserved areas has not been assessed. Here we create conservation spatial plans to minimize extinction risk in the tropics using data on 289 219 species and modeling two future greenhouse gas concentration pathways (RCP2.6 and 8.5) while varying the extent of terrestrial protected land and conserved areas from <17% to 50%. We find that limiting climate change to 2°C and conserving 30% of terrestrial area could more than halve aggregate extinction risk compared with uncontrolled climate change and no increase in conserved area
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