34 research outputs found
The structural basis for partitioning of the XRCC1/DNA ligase III-α BRCT-mediated dimer complexes
The ultimate step common to almost all DNA repair pathways is the ligation of the nicked intermediate to form contiguous double-stranded DNA. In the mammalian nucleotide and base excision repair pathways, the ligation step is carried out by ligase III-α. For efficient ligation, ligase III-α is constitutively bound to the scaffolding protein XRCC1 through interactions between the C-terminal BRCT domains of each protein. Although structural data for the individual domains has been available, no structure of the complex has been determined and several alternative proposals for this interaction have been advanced. Interpretation of the models is complicated by the formation of homodimers that, depending on the model, may either contribute to, or compete with heterodimer formation. We report here the structures of both homodimer complexes as well as the heterodimer complex. Structural characterization of the heterodimer formed from a longer XRCC1 BRCT domain construct, including residues comprising the interdomain linker region, revealed an expanded heterodimer interface with the ligase III-α BRCT domain. This enhanced linker-mediated binding interface plays a significant role in the determination of heterodimer/homodimer selectivity. These data provide fundamental insights into the structural basis of BRCT-mediated dimerization, and resolve questions related to the organization of this important repair complex
TOI-3235 b: a transiting giant planet around an M4 dwarf star
We present the discovery of TOI-3235 b, a short-period Jupiter orbiting an
M-dwarf with a stellar mass close to the critical mass at which stars
transition from partially to fully convective. TOI-3235 b was first identified
as a candidate from TESS photometry, and confirmed with radial velocities from
ESPRESSO, and ground-based photometry from HATSouth, MEarth-South,
TRAPPIST-South, LCOGT, and ExTrA. We find that the planet has a mass of
and a radius of . It
orbits close to its host star, with an orbital period of ,
but has an equilibrium temperature of , well below
the expected threshold for radius inflation of hot Jupiters. The host star has
a mass of , a radius of
, an effective temperature of , and a J-band magnitude of . Current planet
formation models do not predict the existence of gas giants such as TOI-3235 b
around such low-mass stars. With a high transmission spectroscopy metric,
TOI-3235 b is one of the best-suited giants orbiting M-dwarfs for atmospheric
characterization.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in APJ
Three long period transiting giant planets from TESS
We report the discovery and orbital characterization of three new transiting
warm giant planets. These systems were initially identified as presenting
single transit events in the light curves generated from the full frame images
of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Follow-up radial velocity
measurements and additional light curves were used to determine the orbital
periods and confirm the planetary nature of the candidates. The planets orbit
slightly metal-rich late F- and early G-type stars. We find that TOI 4406b has
a mass of = 0.30 0.04 , a radius of = 1.00 0.02
, and a low eccentricity orbit (e=0.15 0.05) with a period of P=
30.08364 0.00005 d . TOI 2338b has a mass of = 5.98 0.20
, a radius of = 1.00 0.01 , and a highly eccentric orbit (e=
0.676 0.002 ) with a period of P= 22.65398 0.00002 d . Finally, TOI
2589b has a mass of = 3.50 0.10 , a radius of = 1.08
0.03 , and an eccentric orbit (e = 0.522 0.006 ) with a
period of P= 61.6277 0.0002 d . TOI 4406b and TOI 2338b are enriched in
metals compared to their host stars, while the structure of TOI 2589b is
consistent with having similar metal enrichment to its host star.Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures, accepted in A
A long-period transiting substellar companion in the super-Jupiters to brown dwarfs mass regime and a prototypical warm-Jupiter detected by TESS
We report on the confirmation and follow-up characterization of two long-period transiting substellar companions on low-eccentricity orbits around TIC 4672985 and TOI-2529, whose transit events were detected by the TESS space mission. Ground-based photometric and spectroscopic follow up from different facilities, confirmed the substellar nature of TIC 4672985 b, a massive gas giant, in the transition between the super-Jupiters and brown-dwarfs mass regime. From the joint analysis we derived the following orbital parameters: P = 69.0480+0.0004−0.0005 d, Mp = 12.74+1.01−1.01 MJ, Rp =1.026+0.065−0.067 RJ and e = 0.018+0.004−0.004 . In addition, the RV time series revealed a significant trend at the ∼ 350 m s−1 yr−1level, which is indicative of the presence of a massive outer companion in the system. TIC 4672985 b is a unique example of a transiting substellar companion with a mass above the deuterium-burning limit, located beyond 0.1 AU and in a nearly circular orbit. These planetary properties are difficult to reproduce from canonical planet formation and evolution models. For TOI-2529 b, we obtained the following orbital parameters: P = 64.5949+0.0003−0.0003 d, Mp =2.340+0.197−0.195 MJ, Rp = 1.030+0.050−0.050 RJ and e = 0.021+0.024−0.015 , making this object a new example of a growing population of transiting warm giant planets
TOI-199 b: A well-characterized 100-day transiting warm giant planet with TTVs seen from Antarctica
We present the spectroscopic confirmation and precise mass measurement of the
warm giant planet TOI-199 b. This planet was first identified in TESS
photometry and confirmed using ground-based photometry from ASTEP in Antarctica
including a full 6.5h long transit, PEST, Hazelwood, and LCO; space
photometry from NEOSSat; and radial velocities (RVs) from FEROS, HARPS,
CORALIE, and CHIRON. Orbiting a late G-type star, TOI-199\,b has a
period, a mass of
, and a radius of .
It is the first warm exo-Saturn with a precisely determined mass and radius.
The TESS and ASTEP transits show strong transit timing variations, pointing to
the existence of a second planet in the system. The joint analysis of the RVs
and TTVs provides a unique solution for the non-transiting companion TOI-199 c,
which has a period of and an estimated
mass of . This period places it within
the conservative Habitable Zone.Comment: 33 pages, 23 figures. Accepted for publication in A
TESS spots a mini-neptune interior to a hot saturn in the TOI-2000 system
Hot jupiters (P 60 ) are almost always found
alone around their stars, but four out of hundreds known have inner companion
planets. These rare companions allow us to constrain the hot jupiter's
formation history by ruling out high-eccentricity tidal migration. Less is
known about inner companions to hot Saturn-mass planets. We report here the
discovery of the TOI-2000 system, which features a hot Saturn-mass planet with
a smaller inner companion. The mini-neptune TOI-2000 b (, ) is in a 3.10-day
orbit, and the hot saturn TOI-2000 c (, ) is in a
9.13-day orbit. Both planets transit their host star TOI-2000 (TIC 371188886, V
= 10.98, TESS magnitude = 10.36), a metal-rich ([Fe/H] =
) G dwarf 174 pc away. TESS observed the two planets
in sectors 9-11 and 36-38, and we followed up with ground-based photometry,
spectroscopy, and speckle imaging. Radial velocities from CHIRON, FEROS, and
HARPS allowed us to confirm both planets by direct mass measurement. In
addition, we demonstrate constraining planetary and stellar parameters with
MIST stellar evolutionary tracks through Hamiltonian Monte Carlo under the PyMC
framework, achieving higher sampling efficiency and shorter run time compared
to traditional Markov chain Monte Carlo. Having the brightest host star in the
V band among similar systems, TOI-2000 b and c are superb candidates for
atmospheric characterization by the JWST, which can potentially distinguish
whether they formed together or TOI-2000 c swept along material during
migration to form TOI-2000 b.Comment: v3 adds RV frequency analysis; 25 pages, 11 figures, 14 tables;
revision submitted to MNRAS; machine-readable tables available as ancillary
files; posterior samples available from Zenodo at
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7683293 and source code at
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.798826
The TESS Grand Unified Hot Jupiter Survey. I. Ten TESS Planets
We report the discovery of ten short-period giant planets (TOI-2193A b,
TOI-2207 b, TOI-2236 b, TOI-2421 b, TOI-2567 b, TOI-2570 b, TOI-3331 b,
TOI-3540A b, TOI-3693 b, TOI-4137 b). All of the planets were identified as
planet candidates based on periodic flux dips observed by NASA's Transiting
Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The signals were confirmed to be from
transiting planets using ground-based time-series photometry, high angular
resolution imaging, and high-resolution spectroscopy coordinated with the TESS
Follow-up Observing Program. The ten newly discovered planets orbit relatively
bright F and G stars (,~ between 4800 and 6200 K).
The planets' orbital periods range from 2 to 10~days, and their masses range
from 0.2 to 2.2 Jupiter masses. TOI-2421 b is notable for being a Saturn-mass
planet and TOI-2567 b for being a ``sub-Saturn'', with masses of and Jupiter masses, respectively. In most cases, we
have little information about the orbital eccentricities. Two exceptions are
TOI-2207 b, which has an 8-day period and a detectably eccentric orbit (), and TOI-3693 b, a 9-day planet for which we can set an upper
limit of . The ten planets described here are the first new planets
resulting from an effort to use TESS data to unify and expand on the work of
previous ground-based transit surveys in order to create a large and
statistically useful sample of hot Jupiters.Comment: 44 pages, 15 tables, 21 figures; revised version submitted to A
Another Shipment of Six Short-Period Giant Planets from TESS
We present the discovery and characterization of six short-period, transiting
giant planets from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) --
TOI-1811 (TIC 376524552), TOI-2025 (TIC 394050135), TOI-2145 (TIC 88992642),
TOI-2152 (TIC 395393265), TOI-2154 (TIC 428787891), & TOI-2497 (TIC 97568467).
All six planets orbit bright host stars (8.9 <G< 11.8, 7.7 <K< 10.1). Using a
combination of time-series photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations
from the TESS Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) Working Group, we have
determined that the planets are Jovian-sized (R = 1.00-1.45 R),
have masses ranging from 0.92 to 5.35 M, and orbit F, G, and K stars
(4753 T 7360 K). We detect a significant orbital eccentricity
for the three longest-period systems in our sample: TOI-2025 b (P = 8.872 days,
= ), TOI-2145 b (P = 10.261 days, =
), and TOI-2497 b (P = 10.656 days, =
). TOI-2145 b and TOI-2497 b both orbit subgiant host
stars (3.8 g 4.0), but these planets show no sign of inflation
despite very high levels of irradiation. The lack of inflation may be explained
by the high mass of the planets; M (TOI-2145
b) and M (TOI-2497 b). These six new discoveries
contribute to the larger community effort to use {\it TESS} to create a
magnitude-complete, self-consistent sample of giant planets with
well-determined parameters for future detailed studies.Comment: 20 Pages, 6 Figures, 8 Tables, Accepted by MNRA