2,539 research outputs found
GENERATION OF MOUSE INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS BY PROTEIN TRANSDUCTION.
Somatic cell reprogramming has generated enormous interest after the first report by Yamanaka and his coworkers in 2006 on the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from mouse fibroblasts. Here we report the generation of stable iPSCs from mouse fibroblasts by recombinant protein transduction (Klf4, Oct4, Sox2 and c-Myc), a procedure designed to circumvent the risks caused by integration of exogenous sequences in the target cell genome associated with gene delivery systems. The recombinant proteins were fused in frame to the GST tag for affinity purification and to the TAT-NLS polypeptide to facilitate membrane penetration and nuclear localization. We performed the reprogramming procedure on embryonic fibroblasts from inbred (C57BL6) and outbred (ICR) mouse strains. The cells were treated with purified proteins four times, at 48-hour intervals, and cultured on mitomycin C treated MEF (mouse embryonic fibroblast) cells in complete embryonic stem cell medium until colonies formed. The iPSCs generated from the outbred fibroblasts exhibited similar morphology and growth properties to embryonic stem (ESC) cells and were sustained in an undifferentiated state for more than 20 passages. The cells were checked for pluripotency-related markers (Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, cMyc, Nanog) by immunocytochemistry and by RT-PCR. The protein iPSCs (piPSCs) formed EBs and subsequently differentiated towards all three germ layer lineages. Importantly the piPSCs could incorporate into the blastocyst and led to variable degrees of chimerism in newborn mice. These data show that recombinant purified cell-penetrating proteins are capable of reprogramming mouse embryonic fibroblasts to iPSCs. We also demonstrated that the cells of the generated cell line satisfied all the requirements of bona fide mouse ESC cells: form round colonies with defined boundaries; have a tendency to attach together with high nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio; express key pluripotency markers; and are capable of in vitro differentiation into ecto-, endo-, and mesoderm, and in vivo chimera formation
Ordered low-temperature structure in K4C60 detected by infrared spectroscopy
Infrared spectra of a K4C60 single-phase thin film have been measured between
room temperature and 20 K. At low temperatures, the two high-frequency T1u
modes appear as triplets, indicating a static D2h crystal-field stabilized
Jahn-Teller distortion of the (C60)4- anions. The T1u(4) mode changes into the
known doublet above 250 K, a pattern which could have three origins: a dynamic
Jahn-Teller effect, static disorder between "staggered" anions, or a phase
transition from an orientationally-ordered phase to one where molecular motion
is significant.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures submitted to Phys. Rev.
The Plasma Structure of the Cygnus Loop from the Northeastern Rim to the Southwestern Rim
The Cygnus Loop was observed from the northeast to the southwest with
XMM-Newton. We divided the observed region into two parts, the north path and
the south path, and studied the X-ray spectra along two paths. The spectra can
be well fitted either by a one-component non-equilibrium ionization (NEI) model
or by a two-component NEI model. The rim regions can be well fitted by a
one-component model with relatively low \kTe whose metal abundances are
sub-solar (0.1--0.2). The major part of the paths requires a two-component
model. Due to projection effects, we concluded that the low kTe (about 0.2 keV)
component surrounds the high kTe (about 0.6 keV) component, with the latter
having relatively high metal abundances (about 5 times solar). Since the Cygnus
Loop is thought to originate in a cavity explosion, the low-kTe component
originates from the cavity wall while the high-kTe component originates from
the ejecta. The flux of the cavity wall component shows a large variation along
our path. We found it to be very thin in the south-west region, suggesting a
blowout along our line of sight. The metal distribution inside the ejecta shows
non-uniformity, depending on the element. O, Ne and Mg are relatively more
abundant in the outer region while Si, S and Fe are concentrated in the inner
region, with all metals showing strong asymmetry. This observational evidence
implies an asymmetric explosion of the progenitor star. The abundance of the
ejecta also indicates the progenitor star to be about 15 M_sun.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, Astrophysical Journal in pres
Charge transfer and Fermi level shift in p-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes
The electronic properties of p-doped single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) bulk samples were studied by temperature-dependent resistivity and thermopower, optical reflectivity, and Raman spectroscopy. These all give consistent results for the Fermi level downshift (Delta E(F)) induced by doping. We find Delta E(F) approximate to 0.35 eV and 0.50 eV for concentrated nitric and sulfuric acid doping respectively. With these values, the evolution of Raman spectra can be explained by variations in the resonance condition as E(F) moves down into the valence band. Furthermore, we find no evidence for diameter-selective doping, nor any distinction between doping responses of metallic and semiconducting tubes
Static and dynamic Jahn-Teller effect in the alkali metal fulleride salts A4C60 (A = K, Rb, Cs)
We report the temperature dependent mid- and near-infrared spectra of K4C60,
Rb4C60 and Cs4C60. The splitting of the vibrational and electronic transitions
indicates a molecular symmetry change of C604- which brings the fulleride anion
from D2h to either a D3d or a D5d distortion. In contrast to Cs4C60, low
temperature neutron diffraction measurements did not reveal a structural phase
transition in either K4C60 and Rb4C60. This proves that the molecular
transition is driven by the molecular Jahn-Teller effect, which overrides the
distorting potential field of the surrounding cations at high temperature. In
K4C60 and Rb4C60 we suggest a transition from a static to a dynamic Jahn-Teller
state without changing the average structure. We studied the librations of
these two fullerides by temperature dependent inelastic neutron scattering and
conclude that both pseudorotation and jump reorientation are present in the
dynamic Jahn-Teller state.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Giant microwave absorption in fine powders of superconductors
Enhanced microwave absorption, larger than that in the normal state, is
observed in fine grains of type-II superconductors (MgB and KC)
for magnetic fields as small as a few of the upper critical field. The
effect is predicted by the theory of vortex motion in type-II superconductors,
however its direct observation has been elusive due to skin-depth limitations;
conventional microwave absorption studies employ larger samples where the
microwave magnetic field exclusion significantly lowers the absorption. We show
that the enhancement is observable in grains smaller than the penetration
depth. A quantitative analysis on KC in the framework of the
Coffey--Clem (CC) theory explains well the temperature dependence of the
microwave absorption and also allows to determine the vortex pinning force
constant
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