12,007 research outputs found
A Serine/Threonine Protein Kinase Encoding Gene KERNEL NUMBER PER ROW6 Regulates Maize Grain Yield
Increasing grain yield of maize (Zea mays L.) is required to meet the rapidly expanding demands for maize-derived food, feed, and fuel. Breeders have enhanced grain productivity of maize hybrids by pyramiding desirable characteristics for larger ears. However, loci selected for improving grain productivity remain largely unclear. Here, we show that a serine/threonine protein kinase encoding gene KERNEL NUMBER PER ROW6 (KNR6) determines pistillate floret number and ear length. Overexpression of KNR6 or introgression of alleles lacking the insertions of two transposable elements in the regulatory region of KNR6 can significantly enhance grain yield. Further in vitro evidences indicate that KNR6 can interact with an Arf GTPase-activating protein (AGAP) and its phosphorylation by KNR6 may affect ear length and kernel number. This finding provides knowledge basis to enhance maize hybrids grain yield
Matrix Black Holes
Four and five dimensional extremal black holes with nonzero entropy have
simple presentations in M-theory as gravitational waves bound to configurations
of intersecting M-branes. We discuss realizations of these objects in matrix
models of M-theory, investigate the properties of zero-brane probes, and
propose a measure of their internal density. A scenario for black hole dynamics
is presented.Comment: 26 pages, harvmac; a few more references and additional comment
Quantum Theory Approach for Neutron Single and Double-Slit Diffraction
We provide a quantum approach description of neutron single and double-slit
diffraction, with specific attention to the cold neutron diffraction (\AA) carried out by Zeilinger et al. in 1988. We find the
theoretical results are good agreement with experimental data.Comment: 10 page
A Note on Noncommutative Brane Inflation
In this paper, we investigate the noncommutative KKLMMT D3/anti-D3 brane
inflation scenario in detail. Incorporation of the brane inflation scenario and
the noncommutative inflation scenario can nicely explain the large negative
running of the spectral index as indicated by WMAP three-year data and can
significantly release the fine-tuning for the parameter . Using the WMAP
three year results (blue-tilted spectral index with large negative running), we
explore the parameter space and give the constraints and predictions for the
inflationary parameters and cosmological observables in this scenario. We show
that this scenario predicts a quite large tensor/scalar ratio and what is more,
a too large cosmic string tension (assuming that the string coupling is
in its likely range from 0.1 to 1) to be compatible with the present
observational bound. A more detailed analysis reveals that this model has some
inconsistencies according to the fit to WMAP three year results.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in JCA
Temporally stable coherent states for infinite well and P\"oschl-Teller potentials
This paper is a direct illustration of a construction of coherent states
which has been recently proposed by two of us (JPG and JK). We have chosen the
example of a particle trapped in an infinite square-well and also in
P\"oschl-Teller potentials of the trigonometric type. In the construction of
the corresponding coherent states, we take advantage of the simplicity of the
solutions, which ultimately stems from the fact they share a common SU(1,1)
symmetry \`a la Barut--Girardello. Many properties of these states are then
studied, both from mathematical and from physical points of view.Comment: 48 pages, 21 figure
Herschel Observations of the W43 "mini-starburst"
Aims: To explore the infrared and radio properties of one of the closest
Galactic starburst regions. Methods: Images obtained with the Herschel Space
Observatory at wavelengths of 70, 160, 250, 350, and 500 microns using the PACS
and SPIRE arrays are analyzed and compared with radio continuum VLA data and 8
micron images from the Spitzer Space Telescope. The morphology of the
far-infrared emission is combined with radial velocity measurements of
millimeter and centimeter wavelength transitions to identify features likely to
be associated with the W43 complex. Results: The W43 star-forming complex is
resolved into a dense cluster of protostars, infrared dark clouds, and ridges
of warm dust heated by massive stars. The 4 brightest compact sources with L >
1.5 x 10^4 Lsun embedded within the Z-shaped ridge of bright dust emission in
W43 remain single at 4" (0.1 pc) resolution. These objects, likely to be
massive protostars or compact clusters in early stages of evolution are
embedded in clumps with masses of 10^3 to 10^4 Msun, but contribute only 2% to
the 3.6 x 10^6 Lsun far-IR luminosity of W43 measured in a 16 by 16 pc box. The
total mass of gas derived from the far-IR dust emission inside this region is
~10^6 Msun. Cometary dust clouds, compact 6 cm radio sources, and warm dust
mark the locations of older populations of massive stars. Energy release has
created a cavity blowing-out below the Galactic plane. Compression of molecular
gas in the plane by the older HII region near G30.684-0.260 and the bipolar
structure of the resulting younger W43 HII region may have triggered the
current mini-star burst.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for A&A Special Issu
Electromagnetic and Gravitational Scattering at Planckian Energies
The scattering of pointlike particles at very large center of mass energies
and fixed low momentum transfers, occurring due to both their electromagnetic
and gravitational interactions is re-examined in the particular case when one
of the particles carries magnetic charge. At Planckian center-of-mass energies,
when gravitational dominance is normally expected, the presence of magnetic
charge is shown to produce dramatic modifications to the scattering cross
section as well as to the holomorphic structure of the scattering amplitude.Comment: 33 pages, Revtex file, no figs; a footnote and two references adde
Annotation of two large contiguous regions from the Haemonchus contortus genome using RNA-seq and comparative analysis with Caenorhabditis elegans
The genomes of numerous parasitic nematodes are currently being sequenced, but their complexity and size, together with high levels of intra-specific sequence variation and a lack of reference genomes, makes their assembly and annotation a challenging task. Haemonchus contortus is an economically significant parasite of livestock that is widely used for basic research as well as for vaccine development and drug discovery. It is one of many medically and economically important parasites within the strongylid nematode group. This group of parasites has the closest phylogenetic relationship with the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, making comparative analysis a potentially powerful tool for genome annotation and functional studies. To investigate this hypothesis, we sequenced two contiguous fragments from the H. contortus genome and undertook detailed annotation and comparative analysis with C. elegans. The adult H. contortus transcriptome was sequenced using an Illumina platform and RNA-seq was used to annotate a 409 kb overlapping BAC tiling path relating to the X chromosome and a 181 kb BAC insert relating to chromosome I. In total, 40 genes and 12 putative transposable elements were identified. 97.5% of the annotated genes had detectable homologues in C. elegans of which 60% had putative orthologues, significantly higher than previous analyses based on EST analysis. Gene density appears to be less in H. contortus than in C. elegans, with annotated H. contortus genes being an average of two-to-three times larger than their putative C. elegans orthologues due to a greater intron number and size. Synteny appears high but gene order is generally poorly conserved, although areas of conserved microsynteny are apparent. C. elegans operons appear to be partially conserved in H. contortus. Our findings suggest that a combination of RNA-seq and comparative analysis with C. elegans is a powerful approach for the annotation and analysis of strongylid nematode genomes
Contributions of Zea mays subspecies mexicana haplotypes to modern maize
Maize was domesticated from lowland teosinte (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis), but the contribution of highland teosinte (Zea mays ssp. mexicana, hereafter mexicana) to modern maize is not clear. Here, two genomes for Mo17 (a modern maize inbred) and mexicana are assembled using a meta-assembly strategy after sequencing of 10 lines derived from a maize-teosinte cross. Comparative analyses reveal a high level of diversity between Mo17, B73, and mexicana, including three Mb-size structural rearrangements. The maize spontaneous mutation rate is estimated to be 2.17 x 10(-8) ~3.87 x 10(-8) per site per generation with a nonrandom distribution across the genome. A higher deleterious mutation rate is observed in the pericentromeric regions, and might be caused by differences in recombination frequency. Over 10% of the maize genome shows evidence of introgression from the mexicana genome, suggesting that mexicana contributed to maize adaptation and improvement. Our data offer a rich resource for constructing the pan-genome of Zea mays and genetic improvement of modern maize varieties
Tunable Excitons in Biased Bilayer Graphene
Recent measurements have shown that a continuously tunable bandgap of up to
250 meV can be generated in biased bilayer graphene [Y. Zhang et al., Nature
459, 820 (2009)], opening up pathway for possible graphene-based nanoelectronic
and nanophotonic devices operating at room temperature. Here, we show that the
optical response of this system is dominated by bound excitons. The main
feature of the optical absorbance spectrum is determined by a single symmetric
peak arising from excitons, a profile that is markedly different from that of
an interband transition picture. Under laboratory conditions, the binding
energy of the excitons may be tuned with the external bias going from zero to
several tens of meV's. These novel strong excitonic behaviors result from a
peculiar, effective ``one-dimensional'' joint density of states and a
continuously-tunable bandgap in biased bilayer graphene. Moreover, we show that
the electronic structure (level degeneracy, optical selection rules, etc.) of
the bound excitons in a biased bilayer graphene is markedly different from that
of a two-dimensional hydrogen atom because of the pseudospin physics
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