686 research outputs found
A combinatorial TIR1/AFB–Aux/IAA co-receptor system for differential sensing of auxin
The plant hormone auxin regulates virtually every aspect of plant growth and development. Auxin acts by binding the F-box protein transport inhibitor response 1 (TIR1) and promotes the degradation of the AUXIN/INDOLE-3-ACETIC ACID (Aux/IAA) transcriptional repressors. Here we show that efficient auxin binding requires assembly of an auxin co-receptor complex consisting of TIR1 and an Aux/IAA protein. Heterologous experiments in yeast and quantitative IAA binding assays using purified proteins showed that different combinations of TIR1 and Aux/IAA proteins form co-receptor complexes with a wide range of auxin-binding affinities. Auxin affinity seems to be largely determined by the Aux/IAA. As there are 6 TIR1/AUXIN SIGNALING F-BOX proteins (AFBs) and 29 Aux/IAA proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana, combinatorial interactions may result in many co-receptors with distinct auxin-sensing properties. We also demonstrate that the AFB5–Aux/IAA co-receptor selectively binds the auxinic herbicide picloram. This co-receptor system broadens the effective concentration range of the hormone and may contribute to the complexity of auxin response
Discovering the constrained NMSSM with tau leptons at the LHC
The constrained Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (cNMSSM) with
mSugra-like boundary conditions at the GUT scale implies a singlino-like LSP
with a mass just a few GeV below a stau NLSP. Hence, most of the squark/gluino
decay cascades contain two tau leptons. The gluino mass >~ 1.2 TeV is somewhat
larger than the squark masses of >~ 1 TeV. We simulate signal and background
events for such a scenario at the LHC, and propose cuts on the transverse
momenta of two jets, the missing transverse energy and the transverse momentum
of a hadronically decaying tau lepton. This dedicated analysis allows to
improve on the results of generic supersymmetry searches for a large part of
the parameter space of the cNMSSM. The distribution of the effective mass and
the signal rate provide sensitivity to distinguish the cNMSSM from the
constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model in the stau-coannihilation
region.Comment: 18 pages, 3 Figure
Enhanced error estimator based on a nearly equilibrated moving least squares recovery technique for FEM and XFEM
In this paper a new technique aimed to obtain accurate estimates of the error
in energy norm using a moving least squares (MLS) recovery-based procedure is
presented. We explore the capabilities of a recovery technique based on an
enhanced MLS fitting, which directly provides continuous interpolated fields,
to obtain estimates of the error in energy norm as an alternative to the
superconvergent patch recovery (SPR). Boundary equilibrium is enforced using a
nearest point approach that modifies the MLS functional. Lagrange multipliers
are used to impose a nearly exact satisfaction of the internal equilibrium
equation. The numerical results show the high accuracy of the proposed error
estimator
Higgs production in CP-violating supersymmetric cascade decays: probing the `open hole' at the Large Hadron Collider
A benchmark CP-violating supersymmetric scenario (known as 'CPX-scenario' in
the literature) is studied in the context of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
It is shown that the LHC, with low to moderate accumulated luminosity, will be
able to probe the existing `hole' in the - plane, which
cannot be ruled out by the LEP data. We explore the parameter space with
cascade decay of third generation squarks and gluino with CP-violating decay
branching fractions. We propose a multi-channel analysis to probe this
parameter space some of which are background free at an integrated luminosity
of 5-10 fb. Specially, multi-lepton final states (3\l,\, 4\l and like
sign di-lepton) are almost background free and have reach for the
corresponding signals with very early data of LHC for both 14 TeV and 7 TeV
center of mass energy.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, references added as in the journal versio
Potential effects of oilseed rape expressing oryzacystatin-1 (OC-1) and of purified insecticidal proteins on larvae of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis
Despite their importance as pollinators in crops and wild plants, solitary bees have not previously been included in non-target testing of insect-resistant transgenic crop plants. Larvae of many solitary bees feed almost exclusively on pollen and thus could be highly exposed to transgene products expressed in the pollen. The potential effects of pollen from oilseed rape expressing the cysteine protease inhibitor oryzacystatin-1 (OC-1) were investigated on larvae of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis (= O. rufa). Furthermore, recombinant OC-1 (rOC-1), the Bt toxin Cry1Ab and the snowdrop lectin Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) were evaluated for effects on the life history parameters of this important pollinator. Pollen provisions from transgenic OC-1 oilseed rape did not affect overall development. Similarly, high doses of rOC-1 and Cry1Ab as well as a low dose of GNA failed to cause any significant effects. However, a high dose of GNA (0.1%) in the larval diet resulted in significantly increased development time and reduced efficiency in conversion of pollen food into larval body weight. Our results suggest that OC-1 and Cry1Ab expressing transgenic crops would pose a negligible risk for O. bicornis larvae, whereas GNA expressing plants could cause detrimental effects, but only if bees were exposed to high levels of the protein. The described bioassay with bee brood is not only suitable for early tier non-target tests of transgenic plants, but also has broader applicability to other crop protection products
Envelope Determinants of Equine Lentiviral Vaccine Protection
Lentiviral envelope (Env) antigenic variation and associated immune evasion present major obstacles to vaccine development. The concept that Env is a critical determinant for vaccine efficacy is well accepted, however defined correlates of protection associated with Env variation have yet to be determined. We reported an attenuated equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) vaccine study that directly examined the effect of lentiviral Env sequence variation on vaccine efficacy. The study identified a significant, inverse, linear correlation between vaccine efficacy and increasing divergence of the challenge virus Env gp90 protein compared to the vaccine virus gp90. The report demonstrated approximately 100% protection of immunized ponies from disease after challenge by virus with a homologous gp90 (EV0), and roughly 40% protection against challenge by virus (EV13) with a gp90 13% divergent from the vaccine strain. In the current study we examine whether the protection observed when challenging with the EV0 strain could be conferred to animals via chimeric challenge viruses between the EV0 and EV13 strains, allowing for mapping of protection to specific Env sequences. Viruses containing the EV13 proviral backbone and selected domains of the EV0 gp90 were constructed and in vitro and in vivo infectivity examined. Vaccine efficacy studies indicated that homology between the vaccine strain gp90 and the N-terminus of the challenge strain gp90 was capable of inducing immunity that resulted in significantly lower levels of post-challenge virus and significantly delayed the onset of disease. However, a homologous N-terminal region alone inserted in the EV13 backbone could not impart the 100% protection observed with the EV0 strain. Data presented here denote the complicated and potentially contradictory relationship between in vitro virulence and in vivo pathogenicity. The study highlights the importance of structural conformation for immunogens and emphasizes the need for antibody binding, not neutralizing, assays that correlate with vaccine protection. © 2013 Craigo et al
Beyond the standard seesaw: neutrino masses from Kahler operators and broken supersymmetry
We investigate supersymmetric scenarios in which neutrino masses are
generated by effective d=6 operators in the Kahler potential, rather than by
the standard d=5 superpotential operator. First, we discuss some general
features of such effective operators, also including SUSY-breaking insertions,
and compute the relevant renormalization group equations. Contributions to
neutrino masses arise at low energy both at the tree level and through finite
threshold corrections. In the second part we present simple explicit
realizations in which those Kahler operators arise by integrating out heavy
SU(2)_W triplets, as in the type II seesaw. Distinct scenarios emerge,
depending on the mechanism and the scale of SUSY-breaking mediation. In
particular, we propose an appealing and economical picture in which the heavy
seesaw mediators are also messengers of SUSY breaking. In this case, strong
correlations exist among neutrino parameters, sparticle and Higgs masses, as
well as lepton flavour violating processes. Hence, this scenario can be tested
at high-energy colliders, such as the LHC, and at lower energy experiments that
measure neutrino parameters or search for rare lepton decays.Comment: LaTeX, 34 pages; some corrections in Section
Membrane TNF confers protection to acute mycobacterial infection
BACKGROUND: Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) is crucial for the control of mycobacterial infection as TNF deficient (KO) die rapidly of uncontrolled infection with necrotic pneumonia. Here we investigated the role of membrane TNF for host resistance in knock-in mice with a non-cleavable and regulated allele (mem-TNF). METHODS: C57BL/6, TNF KO and mem-TNF mice were infected with M. tuberculosis H37Rv (Mtb at 100 CFU by intranasal administration) and the survival, bacterial load, lung pathology and immunological parameters were investigated. Bone marrow and lymphocytes transfers were used to test the role of membrane TNF to confer resistance to TNF KO mice. RESULTS: While TNF-KO mice succumbed to infection within 4–5 weeks, mem-TNF mice recruited normally T cells and macrophages, developed mature granuloma in the lung and controlled acute Mtb infection. However, during the chronic phase of infection mem-TNF mice succumbed to disseminated infection with necrotic pneumonia at about 150 days. Reconstitution of irradiated TNF-KO mice with mem-TNF derived bone marrow cells, but not with lymphocytes, conferred host resistance to Mtb infection in TNF-KO mice. CONCLUSION: Membrane expressed TNF is sufficient to allow cell-cell signalling and control of acute Mtb infection. Bone marrow cells, but not lymphocytes from mem-TNF mice confer resistance to infection in TNF-KO mice. Long-term infection control with chronic inflammation likely disrupting TNF mediated cell-cell signalling, additionally requires soluble TNF
Significant primordial star formation at redshifts z ~ 3-4
Four recent observational results have challenged our understanding of
high--redshift galaxies, as they require the presence of far more ultraviolet
photons than should be emitted by normal stellar populations. First, there is
significant ultraviolet emission from Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) at
wavelenghts shorter than 912\AA. Second, there is strong Lyman alpha emission
from extended ``blobs'' with little or no associated apparent ionizing
continuum. Third, there is a population of galaxies with unusually strong
Lyman-alpha emission lines. And fourth, there is a strong HeII (1640 \AA)
emission line in a composite of LBGs. The proposed explanations for the first
three observations are internally inconsistent, and the fourth puzzle has
remained hitherto unexplained. Here we show that all four problems are resolved
simultaneously if 10-30 percent of the stars in many galaxies at z ~ 3-4 are
mainly primordial - unenriched by elements heavier than helium ('metals'). Most
models of hierarchical galaxy formation assume efficient intra--galactic metal
mixing, and therefore do not predict metal-free star formation at redshifts
significantly below z ~5. Our results imply that micro-mixing of metals within
galaxies is inefficient on a ~ Gyr time-scale, a conclusion that can be
verified with higher resolution simulations, and future observations of the
HeII emission line.Comment: Nature in press, March 23rd issue. Under Nature embargo. Reference
and acknowledgement adde
The stellar halo of the Galaxy
Stellar halos may hold some of the best preserved fossils of the formation
history of galaxies. They are a natural product of the merging processes that
probably take place during the assembly of a galaxy, and hence may well be the
most ubiquitous component of galaxies, independently of their Hubble type. This
review focuses on our current understanding of the spatial structure, the
kinematics and chemistry of halo stars in the Milky Way. In recent years, we
have experienced a change in paradigm thanks to the discovery of large amounts
of substructure, especially in the outer halo. I discuss the implications of
the currently available observational constraints and fold them into several
possible formation scenarios. Unraveling the formation of the Galactic halo
will be possible in the near future through a combination of large wide field
photometric and spectroscopic surveys, and especially in the era of Gaia.Comment: 46 pages, 16 figures. References updated and some minor changes.
Full-resolution version available at
http://www.astro.rug.nl/~ahelmi/stellar-halo-review.pd
- …