4,018 research outputs found
Gene expression analysis of bovine embryonic disc, trophoblast and parietal hypoblast at the start of gastrulation
In cattle early gastrulation-stage embryos (Stage 5), four tissues can be discerned: (i) the top layer of the embryonic disc consisting of embryonic ectoderm (EmE); (ii) the bottom layer of the disc consisting of mesoderm, endoderm and visceral hypoblast (MEH); (iii) the trophoblast (TB); and (iv) the parietal hypoblast. We performed microsurgery followed by RNA-seq to analyse the transcriptome of these four tissues as well as a developmentally earlier pre-gastrulation embryonic disc. The cattle EmE transcriptome was similar at Stages 4 and 5, characterised by the OCT4/SOX2/NANOG pluripotency network. Expression of genes associated with primordial germ cells suggest their presence in the EmE tissue at these stages. Anterior visceral hypoblast genes were transcribed in the Stage 4 disc, but no longer by Stage 5. The Stage 5 MEH layer was equally similar to mouse embryonic and extraembryonic visceral endoderm. Our data suggest that the first mesoderm to invaginate in cattle embryos is fated to become extraembryonic. TGFβ, FGF, VEGF, PDGFA, IGF2, IHH and WNT signals and receptors were expressed, however the representative members of the FGF families differed from that seen in equivalent tissues of mouse embryos. The TB transcriptome was unique and differed significantly from that of mice. FGF signalling in the TB may be autocrine with both FGFR2 and FGF2 expressed. Our data revealed a range of potential inter-tissue interactions, highlighted significant differences in early development between mice and cattle and yielded insight into the developmental events occurring at the start of gastrulation
Detection of solvents using a distributed fibre optic sensor
A fibre optic sensor that is capable of distributed detection of liquid solvents is presented. Sensor interrogation using optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) provides the capability of locating solvent spills to a precision of ±2 m over a total sensor length that may extend to 20 km
Spin-Dependent Tunneling of Single Electrons into an Empty Quantum Dot
Using real-time charge sensing and gate pulsing techniques we measure the
ratio of the rates for tunneling into the excited and ground spin states of a
single-electron AlGaAs/GaAs quantum dot in a parallel magnetic field. We find
that the ratio decreases with increasing magnetic field until tunneling into
the excited spin state is completely suppressed. However, we find that by
adjusting the voltages on the surface gates to change the orbital configuration
of the dot we can restore tunneling into the excited spin state and that the
ratio reaches a maximum when the dot is symmetric.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Energy Dependent Tunneling in a Quantum Dot
We present measurements of the rates for an electron to tunnel on and off a
quantum dot, obtained using a quantum point contact charge sensor. The tunnel
rates show exponential dependence on drain-source bias and plunger gate
voltages. The tunneling process is shown to be elastic, and a model describing
tunneling in terms of the dot energy relative to the height of the tunnel
barrier quantitatively describes the measurements.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Electrical control of spin relaxation in a quantum dot
We demonstrate electrical control of the spin relaxation time T_1 between
Zeeman split spin states of a single electron in a lateral quantum dot. We find
that relaxation is mediated by the spin-orbit interaction, and by manipulating
the orbital states of the dot using gate voltages we vary the relaxation rate
W= (T_1)^-1 by over an order of magnitude. The dependence of W on orbital
confinement agrees with theoretical predictions and from these data we extract
the spin-orbit length. We also measure the dependence of W on magnetic field
and demonstrate that spin-orbit mediated coupling to phonons is the dominant
relaxation mechanism down to 1T, where T_1 exceeds 1s.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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