Lack of Cul4b, an E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Component, Leads to Embryonic Lethality and Abnormal Placental Development

Cullin-RING ligases (CRLs) complexes participate in the regulation of diverse cellular processes, including cell cycle progression, transcription, signal transduction and development. Serving as the scaffold protein, cullins are crucial for the assembly of ligase complexes, which recognize and target various substrates for proteosomal degradation. Mutations in human CUL4B, one of the eight members in cullin family, are one of the major causes of X-linked mental retardation. We here report the generation and characterization of Cul4b knockout mice, in which exons 3 to 5 were deleted. In contrast to the survival to adulthood of human hemizygous males with CUL4B null mutation, Cul4b null mouse embryos show severe developmental arrest and usually die before embryonic day 9.5 (E9.5). Accumulation of cyclin E, a CRL (CUL4B) substrate, was observed in Cul4b null embryos. Cul4b heterozygotes were recovered at a reduced ratio and exhibited a severe developmental delay. The placentas in Cul4b heterozygotes were disorganized and were impaired in vascularization, which may contribute to the developmental delay. As in human CUL4B heterozygotes, Cul4b null cells were selected against in Cul4b heterozygotes, leading to various degrees of skewed X-inactivation in different tissues. Together, our results showed that CUL4B is indispensable for embryonic development in the mouse

Growth and fabrication of InAs/GaSb type II superlattice mid-wavelength infrared photodetectors

We report our recent work on the growth and fabrication of InAs/GaSb type II superlattice photodiode detectors. The superlattice consists of 9 monolayer InAs/12 monolayer GaSb in each period. Lattice mismatch between the GaSb substrate and the superlattice is 1.5 × 10(-4). The full width at half maximum of the first-order satellite peak from X-ray diffraction is 28 arc sec. The P-I-N photodiodes in which the absorption regions (I regions) have 600 periods of superlattice show a 50% cutoff wavelength of 4.3 μm. The current responsivity was measured at 0.48 A/W from blackbody radiation. The peak detectivity of 1.75 × 10(11 )cmHz(1/2)/W and the quantum efficiency of 41% at 3.6 μm were obtained. PACS: 85.60.-q; 85.60.Gz; 85.35.-Be