89 research outputs found
Rabbit cardiac and slow-twitch muscle express the same phospholamban gene
AbstractThe nucleotide sequences of cDNAs encoding phospholamban were found to be virtually identical when the cDNA clones were isolated from rabbit slow-twitch (soleus) and rabbit cardiac muscle libraries. These findings demonstrate that both types of muscle express the same phospholamban gene. The deduced amino acid sequences of rabbit and dog phospholamban were identical except for a change from Asp (dog) to Glu (rabbit) at position 2. The nucleotide sequences of the 5′- and the very long 3′-untranslated regions of rabbit and dog phospholamban cDNAs also exhibited a high percentage of identity
Layer thickness dependence of the current induced effective field vector in Ta|CoFeB|MgO
The role of current induced effective magnetic field in ultrathin magnetic
heterostructures is increasingly gaining interest since it can provide
efficient ways of manipulating magnetization electrically. Two effects, known
as the Rashba spin orbit field and the spin Hall spin torque, have been
reported to be responsible for the generation of the effective field. However,
quantitative understanding of the effective field, including its direction with
respect to the current flow, is lacking. Here we show vector measurements of
the current induced effective field in Ta|CoFeB|MgO heterostructrures. The
effective field shows significant dependence on the Ta and CoFeB layers'
thickness. In particular, 1 nm thickness variation of the Ta layer can result
in nearly two orders of magnitude difference in the effective field. Moreover,
its sign changes when the Ta layer thickness is reduced, indicating that there
are two competing effects that contribute to the effective field. The relative
size of the effective field vector components, directed transverse and parallel
to the current flow, varies as the Ta thickness is changed. Our results
illustrate the profound characteristics of just a few atomic layer thick metals
and their influence on magnetization dynamics
Virus-Infection or 5′ppp-RNA Activates Antiviral Signal through Redistribution of IPS-1 Mediated by MFN1
In virus-infected cells, RIG-I-like receptor (RLR) recognizes cytoplasmic viral RNA and triggers innate immune responses including production of type I and III interferon (IFN) and the subsequent expression of IFN-inducible genes. Interferon-β promoter stimulator 1 (IPS-1, also known as MAVS, VISA and Cardif) is a downstream molecule of RLR and is expressed on the outer membrane of mitochondria. While it is known that the location of IPS-1 is essential to its function, its underlying mechanism is unknown. Our aim in this study was to delineate the function of mitochondria so as to identify more precisely its role in innate immunity. In doing so we discovered that viral infection as well as transfection with 5′ppp-RNA resulted in the redistribution of IPS-1 to form speckle-like aggregates in cells. We further found that Mitofusin 1 (MFN1), a key regulator of mitochondrial fusion and a protein associated with IPS-1 on the outer membrane of mitochondria, positively regulates RLR-mediated innate antiviral responses. Conversely, specific knockdown of MFN1 abrogates both the virus-induced redistribution of IPS-1 and IFN production. Our study suggests that mitochondria participate in the segregation of IPS-1 through their fusion processes
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