N-terminal lipid modification is required for the stable accumulation of CyanoQ in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

© 2016 Juneau et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The CyanoQ protein has been demonstrated to be a component of cyanobacterial Photosystem II (PS II), but there exist a number of outstanding questions concerning its physical association with the complex. CyanoQ is a lipoprotein; upon cleavage of its transit peptide by Signal Peptidase II, which targets delivery of the mature protein to the thylakoid lumenal space, the N-terminal cysteinyl residue is lipid-modified. This modification appears to tether this otherwise soluble component to the thylakoid membrane. To probe the functional significance of the lipid anchor, mutants of the CyanoQ protein have been generated in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 to eliminate the N-terminal cysteinyl residue, preventing lipid modification. Substitution of the N-terminal cysteinyl residue with serine (Q-C22S) resulted in a decrease in the amount of detectable CyanoQ protein to 17% that of the wild-type protein. Moreover, the physical properties of the accumulated Q-C22S protein were consistent with altered processing of the CyanoQ precursor. The Q-C22S protein was shifted to a higher apparent molecular mass and partitioned in the hydrophobic phase in TX-114 phase-partitioning experiments. These results suggest that the hydrophobic N-terminal 22 amino acids were not properly cleaved by a signal peptidase. Substitution of the entire CyanoQ transit peptide with the transit peptide of the soluble lumenal protein PsbO yielded the Q-SS mutant and resulted in no detectable accumulation of the modified CyanoQ protein. Finally, the CyanoQ protein was present at normal amounts in the PS II mutant strains ΔpsbB and ΔpsbO, indicating that an association with PS II was not a prerequisite for stable CyanoQ accumulation. Together these results indicate that CyanoQ accumulation in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 depends on the presence of the N-terminal lipid anchor, but not on the association of CyanoQ with the PS II complex

Vortex lattice stability in the SO(5) model

We study the energetics of superconducting vortices in the SO(5) model for high-$T_c$ materials proposed by Zhang. We show that for a wide range of parameters normally corresponding to type II superconductivity, the free energy per unit flux \FF(m) of a vortex with $m$ flux quanta is a decreasing function of $m$, provided the doping is close to its critical value. This implies that the Abrikosov lattice is unstable, a behaviour typical of type I superconductors. For dopings far from the critical value, \FF(m) can become very flat, indicating a less rigid vortex lattice, which would melt at a lower temperature than expected for a BCS superconductor.Comment: 4 pp, revtex, 5 figure

GOODS-HerschelHerschel: identification of the individual galaxies responsible for the 80-290μ\mum cosmic infrared background

We propose a new method of pushing $Herschel$ to its faintest detection limits using universal trends in the redshift evolution of the far infrared over 24$\mu$m colours in the well-sampled GOODS-North field. An extension to other fields with less multi-wavelength information is presented. This method is applied here to raise the contribution of individually detected $Herschel$ sources to the cosmic infrared background (CIRB) by a factor 5 close to its peak at 250$\mu$m and more than 3 in the 350$\mu$m and 500$\mu$m bands. We produce realistic mock $Herschel$ images of the deep PACS and SPIRE images of the GOODS-North field from the GOODS-$Herschel$ Key Program and use them to quantify the confusion noise at the position of individual sources, i.e., estimate a "local confusion noise". Two methods are used to identify sources with reliable photometric accuracy extracted using 24$\mu$m prior positions. The clean index (CI), previously defined but validated here with simulations, which measures the presence of bright 24$\mu$m neighbours and the photometric accuracy index (PAI) directly extracted from the mock $Herschel$ images. After correction for completeness, thanks to our mock $Herschel$ images, individually detected sources make up as much as 54% and 60% of the CIRB in the PACS bands down to 1.1 mJy at 100$\mu$m and 2.2 mJy at 160$\mu$m and 55, 33, and 13% of the CIRB in the SPIRE bands down to 2.5, 5, and 9 mJy at 250$\mu$m, 350$\mu$m, and 500$\mu$m, respectively. The latter depths improve the detection limits of $Herschel$ by factors of 5 at 250$\mu$m, and 3 at 350$\mu$m and 500$\mu$m as compared to the standard confusion limit. Interestingly, the dominant contributors to the CIRB in all $Herschel$ bands appear to be distant siblings of the Milky Way ($z$$\sim$0.96 for $\lambda$$<$300$\mu$m) with a stellar mass of $M_{\star}$$\sim$9$\times$10$^{10}$M$_{\odot}$.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication by Astronomy and Astrophysic

Interaction between vortices in models with two order parameters

The interaction energy and force between widely separated strings is analyzed in a field theory having applications to superconducting cosmic strings, the SO(5) model of high-temperature superconductivity, and solitons in nonlinear optics. The field theory has two order parameters, one of which is broken in the vacuum (giving rise to strings), the other of which is unbroken in the vacuum but which could nonetheless be broken in the core of the string. If this does occur, there is an effect on the energetics of widely separated strings. This effect is important if the length scale of this second order parameter is longer than that of the other fields in the problem.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Minor changes in the text. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

A Survey of Atomic Carbon [C I] in High-redshift Main-Sequence Galaxies

We present the first results of an ALMA survey of the lower fine structure line of atomic carbon [C I](^3P_1\,-\,^{3}P_0) in far infrared-selected galaxies on the main sequence at $z\sim1.2$ in the COSMOS field. We compare our sample with a comprehensive compilation of data available in the literature for local and high-redshift starbursting systems and quasars. We show that the [C I]($^3P_1$$\rightarrow$$^3P_0$) luminosity correlates on global scales with the infrared luminosity $L_{\rm IR}$ similarly to low-$J$ CO transitions. We report a systematic variation of L'_{\rm [C\,I]^3P_1\,-\, ^3P_0}/$L_{\rm IR}$ as a function of the galaxy type, with the ratio being larger for main-sequence galaxies than for starbursts and sub-millimeter galaxies at fixed $L_{\rm IR}$. The L'_{\rm [C\,I]^3P_1\,-\, ^3P_0}/$L'_{\rm CO(2-1)}$ and $M_{\rm{[C I]}}$/$M_{\rm dust}$ mass ratios are similar for main-sequence galaxies and for local and high-redshift starbursts within a 0.2 dex intrinsic scatter, suggesting that [C I] is a good tracer of molecular gas mass as CO and dust. We derive a fraction of $f_{\rm{[C\,I]}} = M_{\rm{[C\,I]}} / M_{\rm{C}}\sim3-13$% of the total carbon mass in the atomic neutral phase. Moreover, we estimate the neutral atomic carbon abundance, the fundamental ingredient to calibrate [C I] as a gas tracer, by comparing L'_{\rm [C\,I]^3P_1\,-\, ^3P_0} and available gas masses from CO lines and dust emission. We find lower [C I] abundances in main-sequence galaxies than in starbursting systems and sub-millimeter galaxies, as a consequence of the canonical $\alpha_{\rm CO}$ and gas-to-dust conversion factors. This argues against the application to different galaxy populations of a universal standard [C I] abundance derived from highly biased samples.Comment: 14 pages + Appendix. Accepted for publication in ApJ. All the data tables in Appendix will be also released in electronic forma

Testing Diagnostics of Nuclear Activity and Star Formation in Galaxies at z>1

We present some of the first science data with the new Keck/MOSFIRE instrument to test the effectiveness of different AGN/SF diagnostics at z~1.5. MOSFIRE spectra were obtained in three H-band multi-slit masks in the GOODS-S field, resulting in two hour exposures of 36 emission-line galaxies. We compare X-ray data with the traditional emission-line ratio diagnostics and the alternative mass-excitation and color-excitation diagrams, combining new MOSFIRE infrared data with previous HST/WFC3 infrared spectra (from the 3D-HST survey) and multiwavelength photometry. We demonstrate that a high [OIII]/Hb ratio is insufficient as an AGN indicator at z>1. For the four X-ray detected galaxies, the classic diagnostics ([OIII]/Hb vs. [NII]/Ha and [SII]/Ha) remain consistent with X-ray AGN/SF classification. The X-ray data also suggest that "composite" galaxies (with intermediate AGN/SF classification) host bona-fide AGNs. Nearly 2/3 of the z~1.5 emission-line galaxies have nuclear activity detected by either X-rays or the classic diagnostics. Compared to the X-ray and line ratio classifications, the mass-excitation method remains effective at z>1, but we show that the color-excitation method requires a new calibration to successfully identify AGNs at these redshifts.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Accepted to ApJ Letter