3,899 research outputs found
The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene family of Anopheles gambiae
Background
Members of the M2 family of peptidases, related to mammalian angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), play important roles in regulating a number of physiological processes. As more invertebrate genomes are sequenced, there is increasing evidence of a variety of M2 peptidase genes, even within a single species. The function of these ACE-like proteins is largely unknown. Sequencing of the A. gambiae genome has revealed a number of ACE-like genes but probable errors in the Ensembl annotation have left the number of ACE-like genes, and their structure, unclear.
Results
TBLASTN and sequence analysis of cDNAs revealed that the A. gambiae genome contains nine genes (AnoACE genes) which code for proteins with similarity to mammalian ACE. Eight of these genes code for putative single domain enzymes similar to other insect ACEs described so far. AnoACE9, however, has several features in common with mammalian somatic ACE such as a two domain structure and a hydrophobic C terminus. Four of the AnoACE genes (2, 3, 7 and 9) were shown to be expressed at a variety of developmental stages. Expression of AnoACE3, AnoACE7 and AnoACE9 is induced by a blood meal, with AnoACE7 showing the largest (approximately 10-fold) induction.
Conclusion
Genes coding for two-domain ACEs have arisen several times during the course of evolution suggesting a common selective advantage to having an ACE with two active-sites in tandem in a single protein. AnoACE7 belongs to a sub-group of insect ACEs which are likely to be membrane-bound and which have an unusual, conserved gene structure
Origin of strange metallic phase in cuprate superconductors
The origin of strange metallic phase is shown to exist due to these two
conditions---(i) the electrons are strongly interacting such that there are no
band and Mott-Hubbard gaps, and (ii) the electronic energy levels are crossed
in such a way that there is an electronic energy gap between two energy levels
associated to two different wave functions. The theory is also exploited to
explain (i) the upward- and downward-shifts in the -linear resistivity
curves, and (ii) the spectral weight transfer observed in the soft X-ray
absorption spectroscopic measurements of the La-Sr-Cu-O Mott insulator.Comment: To be published in J. Supercond. Nov. Mag
Inflation with
We discuss various models of inflationary universe with . A
homogeneous universe with may appear due to creation of the
universe "from nothing" in the theories where the effective potential becomes
very steep at large , or in the theories where the inflaton field
nonminimally couples to gravity. Inflation with generally requires
intermediate first order phase transition with the bubble formation, and with a
second stage of inflation inside the bubble. It is possible to realize this
scenario in the context of a theory of one scalar field, but typically it
requires artificially bent effective potentials and/or nonminimal kinetic
terms. It is much easier to obtain an open universe in the models involving two
scalar fields. However, these models have their own specific problems. We
propose three different models of this type which can describe an open
homogeneous inflationary universe.Comment: 29 pages, LaTeX, parameters of one of the models are slightly
modifie
Future non-linear stability for reflection symmetric solutions of the Einstein-Vlasov system of Bianchi types II and VI
Using the methods developed for the Bianchi I case we have shown that a
boostrap argument is also suitable to treat the future non-linear stability for
reflection symmetric solutions of the Einstein-Vlasov system of Bianchi types
II and VI. These solutions are asymptotic to the Collins-Stewart solution
with dust and the Ellis-MacCallum solution respectively. We have thus
generalized the results obtained by Rendall and Uggla in the case of locally
rotationally symmetric Bianchi II spacetimes to the reflection symmetric case.
However we needed to assume small data. For Bianchi VI there is no
analogous previous result.Comment: 30 page
Antimatter in the Universe
Cosmological models which predict a large amount of antimatter in the
Universe are reviewed. Observational signatures and searches for cosmic
antimatter are briefly considered. A short discussion of new long range forces
which might be associated with matter and antimatter is presented.Comment: 17 pages + 2 figure
Topological Defects as Seeds for Eternal Inflation
We investigate the global structure of inflationary universe both by
analytical methods and by computer simulations of stochastic processes in the
early Universe. We show that the global structure of the universe depends
crucially on the mechanism of inflation. In the simplest models of chaotic
inflation the Universe looks like a sea of thermalized phase surrounding
permanently self-reproducing inflationary domains. In the theories where
inflation occurs near a local extremum of the effective potential corresponding
to a metastable state, the Universe looks like de Sitter space surrounding
islands of thermalized phase. A similar picture appears even if the state is unstable but the effective potential has a discrete symmetry . In this case the Universe becomes divided into domains containing
different phases. These domains will be separated from each other by domain
walls. However, unlike ordinary domain walls, these domain walls will inflate,
and their thickness will exponentially grow. In the theories with continuous
symmetries inflation generates exponentially expanding strings and monopoles
surrounded by thermalized phase. Inflating topological defects will be stable,
and they will unceasingly produce new inflating topological defects. This means
that topological defects may play a role of indestructible seeds for eternal
inflation.Comment: 21 pages, 17 figures (not included), Stanford University preprint
SU--ITP--94--
Nonequilibrium corrections to energy spectra of massive particles in expanding universe
Deviations from kinetic equilibrium of massive particles caused by the
universe expansion are calculated analytically in the Boltzmann approximation.
For the case of an energy independent amplitude of elastic scattering, an exact
partial differential equation is derived instead of the usual
integro-differential one. A simple perturbative solution of the former is
found. For the case of an energy-dependent amplitude the problem cannot be
reduced to the differential equation but the solution of the original
integro-differential equation can be found in terms of the Taylor expansion,
which in the case of aconstant amplitude shows a perfect agreement with the
perturbative solution of the differential equation. Corrections to the spectrum
of (possibly) massive tau-neutrinos are calculated. The method may be of more
general interest and can be applied to the calculation of spectrum distortion
in other (not necessarily cosmological) nonequilibrium processes.Comment: 14 pages, latex twice; ps-files for figures are available upon
reques
Effective scraping in a scraped surface heat exchanger: some fluid flow analysis
An outline of mathematical models that have been used to understand the behaviour of scraped surface heat exchangers is presented. In particular the problem of the wear of the blades is considered. A simple model, exploiting known behaviour of viscous flow in corners and in wedges, and accounting for the forces on the blade is derived and solutions generated. The results shows initial rapid wear but that the wear rate goes to zero
Exchange and correlation as a functional of the local density of states
A functional is presented, in which the exchange
and correlation energy of an electron gas depends on the local density of
occupied states. A simple local parametrization scheme is proposed, entirely
from first principles, based on the decomposition of the exchange-correlation
hole in scattering states of different relative energies. In its practical
Kohn-Sham-like form, the single-electron orbitals become the independent
variables, and an explicit formula for the functional derivative is obtained.Comment: 5 pages. Expanded version. Will appear in Phys. Rev.
Nanolithography with metastable neon atoms: Enhanced rate of contamination resist formation for nanostructure fabrication
We report a sevenfold improvement in the rate of contamination resist formation over previous experiments by using metastable neon atoms for nanolithography. Chemically assisted ion beam etching was used to transfer the resist pattern into the substrate. We demonstrate the fabrication of 50-nm-wide features in GaAs with well-defined edges and an aspect ratio \u3e2:1. These are the best resolution and highest aspect ratio features that have been achieved with metastable atom lithography. The resist formation rate by the metastable neon atoms and the etch selectivity of the contamination resist with GaAs were measured
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