57 research outputs found
Delayed differentiation of epidermal cells walls can underlie pedomorphosis in plants: the case of pedomorphic petals in the hummingbird-pollinated Caiophora hibiscifolia (Loasaceae, subfam. Loasoideae) species
Understanding the relationship between macroevolutionary diversity and variation in organism development is an important goal of evolutionary biology. Variation in the morphology of several plant and animal lineages is attributed to pedomorphosis, a case of heterochrony, where an ancestral juvenile shape is retained in an adult descendant. Pedomorphosis facilitated morphological adaptation in different plant lineages, but its cellular and molecular basis needs further exploration. Plant development differs from animal development in that cells are enclosed by cell walls and do not migrate. Moreover, in many plant lineages, the differentiated epidermis of leaves, and leaf-derived structures, such as petals, limits organ growth. We, therefore, proposed that pedomorphosis in leaves, and in leaf-derived structures, results from delayed differentiation of epidermal cells with respect to reproductive maturity. This idea was explored for petal evolution, given the importance of corolla morphology for angiosperm reproductive success
A threshold heating rate for single-stage heat treatments in glass-ceramics containing seed formers
The development of glass-ceramic materials is often achieved using an elementary microstructural strategy that splits the tasks of seed formation and functionality between two types of crystals. This strategy requires customized time-temperature ceramization protocols, which have been so far implemented using empirical parameters. Here, a more fundamental approach is proposed: the extent of overlap Oe between seed formation and volume crystallization is evaluated by calorimetric and dilatometric measurements, targeting the computation of a threshold heating rate qt for effective single-stage heat treatments. The applicability of this novel parameter is tested in TiO2-doped lithium magnesium aluminosilicate glass-ceramics, whose seed formation stage is thoroughly characterized by Raman spectroscopy and STEM. High-temperature X-ray diffraction demonstrates that insufficient seeding results in potentially weaker performances of the final products, due to large sizes and silica deficiency of the functional quartz solid solution crystals
Analytical Results for Multifractal Properties of Spectra of Quasiperiodic Hamiltonians near the Periodic Chain
The multifractal properties of the electronic spectrum of a general
quasiperiodic chain are studied in first order in the quasiperiodic potential
strength. Analytical expressions for the generalized dimensions are found and
are in good agreement with numerical simulations. These first order results do
not depend on the irrational incommensurability.Comment: 10 Pages in RevTeX, 2 Postscript figure
Katalytische Gasphasenoxidation von 1-Buten zu Essigsäure an hierarchisch aufgebauten Vanadiumoxid-Trägerkatalysatoren
Analytical results for random walk persistence
In this paper, we present the detailed calculation of the persistence
exponent for a nearly-Markovian Gaussian process , a problem
initially introduced in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 1420 (1996)], describing the
probability that the walker never crosses the origin. New resummed perturbative
and non-perturbative expressions for are obtained, which suggest a
connection with the result of the alternative independent interval
approximation (IIA). The perturbation theory is extended to the calculation of
for non-Gaussian processes, by making a strong connection between the
problem of persistence and the calculation of the energy eigenfunctions of a
quantum mechanical problem. Finally, we give perturbative and non-perturbative
expressions for the persistence exponent , describing the
probability that the process remains bigger than .Comment: 23 pages; accepted for publication to Phys. Rev. E (Dec. 98
DYW domain structures imply an unusual regulation principle in plant organellar RNA editing catalysis
RNA editosomes selectively deaminate cytidines to uridines in plant organellar transcripts mostly to restore protein functionality and consequently facilitate mitochondrial and chloroplast function. The RNA editosomal pentatricopeptide repeat proteins serve target RNA recognition, whereas the intensively studied DYW domain elicits catalysis. Here we present structures and functional data of a DYW domain in an inactive ground state and activated. DYW domains harbour a cytidine deaminase fold and a C terminal DYW motif, with catalytic and structural zinc atoms, respectively. A conserved gating domain within the deaminase fold regulates the active site sterically and mechanistically in a process that we termed gated zinc shutter. Based on the structures, an autoinhibited ground state and its activation are cross validated by RNA editing assays and differential scanning fluorimetry. We anticipate that, in vivo, the framework of an active plant RNA editosome triggers the release of DYW autoinhibition to ensure a controlled and coordinated cytidine deamination playing a key role in mitochondrial and chloroplast homeostasi
Reverse U-to-C editing exceeds C-to-U RNA editing in some ferns – a monilophyte-wide comparison of chloroplast and mitochondrial RNA editing suggests independent evolution of the two processes in both organelles
Viscoelastic bearings with fractional constitutive law for fractional tuned mass dampers
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