870 research outputs found
Characterization of the self-palmitoylation activity of the transport protein particle component Bet3
Bet3, a transport protein particle component involved in vesicular trafficking, contains a hydrophobic tunnel occupied by a fatty acid linked to cysteine 68. We reported that Bet3 has a unique self-palmitoylating activity. Here we show that mutation of arginine 67 reduced self-palmitoylation of Bet3, but the effect was compensated by increasing the pH. Thus, arginine helps to deprotonate cysteine such that it could function as a nucleophile in the acylation reaction which is supported by the structural analysis of non-acylated Bet3. Using fluorescence spectroscopy we show that long-chain acyl-CoAs bind with micromolar affinity to Bet3, whereas shorter-chain acyl-CoAs do not interact. Mutants with a deleted acylation site or a blocked tunnel bind to Pal-CoA, only the latter with slightly reduced affinity. Bet3 contains three binding sites for Pal-CoA, but their number was reduced to two in the mutant with an obstructed tunnel, indicating that Bet3 contains binding sites on its surface
Thermodynamic laws, economic methods and the productive power of energy
Energy plays only a minor role in orthodox theories of economic growth, because standard economic equlibrium conditions say that the output elasticity of a production factor, which measures the factor's productive power, is equal to the factor's share in total factor cost. Having commanded only a tiny cost share of about 5 percent so far, energy is often neglected altogether. On the other hand, energy conversion in the machines of the capital stock has been the basis of industrial growth. How can the physically obvious economic importance of energy be reconciled with the conditions for economic equilibrium, which result from the maximization of profit or overall welfare? We show that these equilibrium conditions no longer yield the equality of cost shares and output elasticities, if the optimization calculus takes technological constraints on the combinations of capital, labor, and energy into account. New econometric analyses of economic growth in Germany, Japan, and the USA yield output elasticities that are for energy much larger and for labor much smaller than their cost shares. Social consequences are discussed
DNA Methylation of the ABO Promoter Underlies Loss of ABO Allelic Expression in a Significant Proportion of Leukemic Patients
Background: Loss of A, B and H antigens from the red blood cells of patients with myeloid malignancies is a frequent occurrence. Previously, we have reported alterations in ABH antigens on the red blood cells of 55% of patients with myeloid malignancies. Methodology/Principal Findings: To determine the underlying molecular mechanisms of this loss, we assessed ABO allelic expression in 21 patients with ABH antigen loss previously identified by flow cytometric analysis as well as an additional 7 patients detected with ABH antigen changes by serology. When assessing ABO mRNA allelic expression, 6/12 (50%) patients with ABH antigen loss detected by flow cytometry and 5/7 (71%) of the patients with ABH antigen loss detected by serology had a corresponding ABO mRNA allelic loss of expression. We examined the ABO locus for copy number and DNA methylation alterations in 21 patients, 11 with loss of expression of one or both ABO alleles, and 10 patients with no detectable allelic loss of ABO mRNA expression. No loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at the ABO locus was observed in these patients. However in 8/11 (73%) patients with loss of ABO allelic expression, the ABO promoter was methylated compared with 2/10 (20%) of patients with no ABO allelic expression loss (P = 0.03). Conclusions/Significance: We have found that loss of ABH antigens in patients with hematological malignancies is associated with a corresponding loss of ABO allelic expression in a significant proportion of patients. Loss of ABO allelic expression was strongly associated with DNA methylation of the ABO promoter.Tina Bianco-Miotto, Damian J. Hussey, Tanya K. Day, Denise S. O'Keefe and Alexander Dobrovi
Feasibility studies of the time-like proton electromagnetic form factor measurements with PANDA at FAIR
The possibility of measuring the proton electromagnetic form factors in the
time-like region at FAIR with the \PANDA detector is discussed. Detailed
simulations on signal efficiency for the annihilation of into a
lepton pair as well as for the most important background channels have been
performed. It is shown that precision measurements of the differential cross
section of the reaction can be obtained in a wide
angular and kinematical range. The individual determination of the moduli of
the electric and magnetic proton form factors will be possible up to a value of
momentum transfer squared of (GeV/c). The total cross section will be measured up to (GeV/c).
The results obtained from simulated events are compared to the existing data.
Sensitivity to the two photons exchange mechanism is also investigated.Comment: 12 pages, 4 tables, 8 figures Revised, added details on simulations,
4 tables, 9 figure
Observation of in
Using a sample of events recorded with
the BESIII detector at the symmetric electron positron collider BEPCII, we
report the observation of the decay of the charmonium state
into a pair of mesons in the process
. The branching fraction is measured for the first
time to be , where the first uncertainty is
statistical, the second systematic and the third is from the uncertainty of
. The mass and width of the are
determined as MeV/ and
MeV.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure
Observation and study of the decay
We report the observation and study of the decay
using events
collected with the BESIII detector. Its branching fraction, including all
possible intermediate states, is measured to be
. We also report evidence for a structure,
denoted as , in the mass spectrum in the GeV/
region. Using two decay modes of the meson ( and
), a simultaneous fit to the mass spectra is
performed. Assuming the quantum numbers of the to be , its
significance is found to be 4.4, with a mass and width of MeV/ and MeV, respectively, and a
product branching fraction
. Alternatively, assuming , the
significance is 3.8, with a mass and width of MeV/ and MeV, respectively, and a product
branching fraction
. The angular distribution of
is studied and the two assumptions of the
cannot be clearly distinguished due to the limited statistics. In all
measurements the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures and 4 table
Observation of and confirmation of its large branching fraction
The baryonic decay is observed, and the
corresponding branching fraction is measured to be
, where the first uncertainty is statistical
and second systematic. The data sample used in this analysis was collected with
the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII double-ring collider with
a center-of-mass energy of 4.178~GeV and an integrated luminosity of
3.19~fb. The result confirms the previous measurement by the CLEO
Collaboration and is of greatly improved precision, which may deepen our
understanding of the dynamical enhancement of the W-annihilation topology in
the charmed meson decays
Evidence of a resonant structure in the cross section between 4.05 and 4.60 GeV
The cross section of the process for
center-of-mass energies from 4.05 to 4.60~GeV is measured precisely using data
samples collected with the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII storage
ring.
Two enhancements are clearly visible in the cross section around 4.23 and
4.40~GeV.
Using several models to describe the dressed cross section yields stable
parameters for the first enhancement, which has a mass of 4228.6 \pm 4.1 \pm
6.3 \un{MeV}/c^2 and a width of 77.0 \pm 6.8 \pm 6.3 \un{MeV}, where the
first uncertainties are statistical and the second ones are systematic.
Our resonant mass is consistent with previous observations of the
state and the theoretical prediction of a molecule.
This result is the first observation of associated with an
open-charm final state.
Fits with three resonance functions with additional , ,
, , or a new resonance, do not show significant
contributions from either of these resonances. The second enhancement is not
from a single known resonance. It could contain contributions from
and other resonances, and a detailed amplitude analysis is required to better
understand this enhancement
Observation of the -Annihilation Decay and Evidence for
We report on the observation of the -annihilation decay and the evidence for with a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.19
fb collected with the BESIII detector at the center-of-mass energy
GeV. We obtain the branching fractions
and , respectively
- …