The telomerase essential N-terminal domain promotes DNA synthesis by stabilizing short RNA-DNA hybrids.

Telomerase is an enzyme that adds repetitive DNA sequences to the ends of chromosomes and consists of two main subunits: the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) protein and an associated telomerase RNA (TER). The telomerase essential N-terminal (TEN) domain is a conserved region of TERT proposed to mediate DNA substrate interactions. Here, we have employed single molecule telomerase binding assays to investigate the function of the TEN domain. Our results reveal telomeric DNA substrates bound to telomerase exhibit a dynamic equilibrium between two states: a docked conformation and an alternative conformation. The relative stabilities of the docked and alternative states correlate with the number of basepairs that can be formed between the DNA substrate and the RNA template, with more basepairing favoring the docked state. The docked state is further buttressed by the TEN domain and mutations within the TEN domain substantially alter the DNA substrate structural equilibrium. We propose a model in which the TEN domain stabilizes short RNA-DNA duplexes in the active site of the enzyme, promoting the docked state to augment telomerase processivity

A New Phenomenon: Sub-Tg, Solid-State, Plasticity-Induced Bonding in Polymers

Polymer self-adhesion due to the interdiffusion of macromolecules has been an active area of research for several decades [70, 43, 62, 42, 72, 73, 41]. Here, we report a new phenomenon of sub-Tg, solid-state, plasticity-induced bonding; where amorphous polymeric films were bonded together in a period of time on the order of a second in the solid-state at ambient temperatures nearly 60 K below their glass transition temperature (Tg) by subjecting them to active plastic deformation. Despite the glassy regime, the bulk plastic deformation triggered the requisite molecular mobility of the polymer chains, causing interpenetration across the interfaces held in contact. Quantitative levels of adhesion and the morphologies of the fractured interfaces validated the sub-Tg, plasticity-induced, molecular mobilization causing bonding. No-bonding outcomes (i) during the compression of films in a near hydrostatic setting (which inhibited plastic flow) and (ii) between an 'elastic' and a 'plastic' film further established the explicit role of plastic deformation in this newly reported sub-Tg solid-state bonding

The Effects of the Food Stamp Program on Energy Balance and Obesity

The Effects of the Food Stamp Program on Energy Balance and ObesityFood Stamp Program (FSP), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), obesity, body mass index (BMI), nutrition assistance, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Q18, H53, I12, I18, I38,

Avionics test bed development plan

The plan is for a facility for the early investigation and evaluation of new concepts for the control of large space structures, orbiter attached flex body experiments, and orbiter enhancements. This plan outlines a distributed data processing facility that will utilize the current JSC laboratory resources for the test bed development. The future studies required for implementation, the management system for project control, and the baseline system configuration are described

Slope measurement from contour maps

Estimating slope gradients from digitized contour ma