2,776 research outputs found
Sequence signature analysis of chromosome identity in three Drosophila species
BACKGROUND: All eukaryotic organisms need to distinguish each of their chromosomes. A few protein complexes have been described that recognise entire, specific chromosomes, for instance dosage compensation complexes and the recently discovered autosome-specific Painting of Fourth (POF) protein in Drosophila. However, no sequences have been found that are chromosome-specific and distributed over the entire length of the respective chromosome. Here, we present a new, unbiased, exhaustive computational method that was used to probe three Drosophila genomes for chromosome-specific sequences. RESULTS: By combining genome annotations and cytological data with multivariate statistics related to three Drosophila genomes we found sequence signatures that distinguish Muller's F-elements (chromosome 4 in D. melanogaster) from all other chromosomes in Drosophila that are not attributable to differences in nucleotide composition, simple sequence repeats or repeated elements. Based on these signatures we identified complex motifs that are strongly overrepresented in the F-elements and found indications that the D. melanogaster motif may be involved in POF-binding to the F-element. In addition, the X-chromosomes of D. melanogaster and D. yakuba can be distinguished from the other chromosomes, albeit to a lesser extent. Surprisingly, the conservation of the F-element sequence signatures extends not only between species separated by approximately 55 Myr, but also linearly along the sequenced part of the F-elements. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that chromosome-distinguishing features are not exclusive to the sex chromosomes, but are also present on at least one autosome (the F-element) in Drosophila
Smooth geometries with four charges in four dimensions
A class of axially symmetric, rotating four-dimensional geometries carrying
D1, D5, KK monopole and momentum charges is constructed. The geometries are
found to be free of horizons and singulaties, and are candidates to be the
gravity duals of microstates of the (0,4) CFT. These geometries are constructed
by performing singularity analysis on a suitably chosen class of solutions of
six-dimensional minimal supergravity written over a Gibbons-Hawking base
metric. The properties of the solutions raise some interesting questions
regarding the CFT.Comment: 1+32 pages, LaTeX, v2: references added, typographical errors
correcte
A mathematical framework for critical transitions: normal forms, variance and applications
Critical transitions occur in a wide variety of applications including
mathematical biology, climate change, human physiology and economics. Therefore
it is highly desirable to find early-warning signs. We show that it is possible
to classify critical transitions by using bifurcation theory and normal forms
in the singular limit. Based on this elementary classification, we analyze
stochastic fluctuations and calculate scaling laws of the variance of
stochastic sample paths near critical transitions for fast subsystem
bifurcations up to codimension two. The theory is applied to several models:
the Stommel-Cessi box model for the thermohaline circulation from geoscience,
an epidemic-spreading model on an adaptive network, an activator-inhibitor
switch from systems biology, a predator-prey system from ecology and to the
Euler buckling problem from classical mechanics. For the Stommel-Cessi model we
compare different detrending techniques to calculate early-warning signs. In
the epidemics model we show that link densities could be better variables for
prediction than population densities. The activator-inhibitor switch
demonstrates effects in three time-scale systems and points out that excitable
cells and molecular units have information for subthreshold prediction. In the
predator-prey model explosive population growth near a codimension two
bifurcation is investigated and we show that early-warnings from normal forms
can be misleading in this context. In the biomechanical model we demonstrate
that early-warning signs for buckling depend crucially on the control strategy
near the instability which illustrates the effect of multiplicative noise.Comment: minor corrections to previous versio
Mergers and Typical Black Hole Microstates
We use mergers of microstates to obtain the first smooth horizonless
microstate solutions corresponding to a BPS three-charge black hole with a
classically large horizon area. These microstates have very long throats, that
become infinite in the classical limit; nevertheless, their curvature is
everywhere small. Having a classically-infinite throat makes these microstates
very similar to the typical microstates of this black hole. A rough CFT
analysis confirms this intuition, and indicates a possible class of dual CFT
microstates.
We also analyze the properties and the merging of microstates corresponding
to zero-entropy BPS black holes and black rings. We find that these solutions
have the same size as the horizon size of their classical counterparts, and we
examine the changes of internal structure of these microstates during mergers.Comment: 49 pages, 5 figures. v2 references adde
Superconducting microstrip detectors
Superconducting NbN microstrip counters feature radiation hardness two orders of magnitude higher than conventional Si strip detectors, spatial resolution limited only by lithographic techniques (0.1 - 2 microns), intrinsic signal rise time of 2 ps, and signal transport over large distances without losses. The aim of this proposal is to improve understanding of the physics of such detectors and to establish their large- scale feasibility
The transition from the adiabatic to the sudden limit in core level photoemission: A model study of a localized system
We consider core electron photoemission in a localized system, where there is
a charge transfer excitation. The system is modelled by three electron levels,
one core level and two outer levels. The model has a Coulomb interaction
between these levels and the continuum states into which the core electron is
emitted. The model is simple enough to allow an exact numerical solution, and
with a separable potential an analytic solution. We calculate the ratio
r(omega) between the weights of the satellite and the main peak as a function
of the photon energy omega. The transition from the adiabatic to the sudden
limit takes place for quite small photoelectron kinetic energies. For such
small energies, the variation of the dipole matrix element is substantial and
described by the energy scale Ed. Without the coupling to the photoelectron,
the corresponding ratio r0(omega) is determined by Ed and the satellite
excitation energy dE. When the interaction potential with the continuum states
is introduced, a new energy scale Es=1/(2Rs^2) enters, where Rs is a length
scale of the interaction potential. At threshold there is typically a (weak)
constructive interference between intrinsic and extrinsic contributions, and
the ratio r(omega)/r0(omega) is larger than its limiting value for large omega.
The interference becomes small or weakly destructive for photoelectron energies
of the order Es. For larger energies r(omega)/r0(omega) therefore typically has
a weak undershoot. If this undershoot is neglected, r(omega)/r0(omega) reaches
its limiting value on the energy scale Es.Comment: 18 pages, latex2e, 13 eps figure
Retention of a cell adhesion complex at the paranodal junction requires the cytoplasmic region of Caspr
An axonal complex of cell adhesion molecules consisting of Caspr and contactin has been found to be essential for the generation of the paranodal axo-glial junctions flanking the nodes of Ranvier. Here we report that although the extracellular region of Caspr was sufficient for directing it to the paranodes in transgenic mice, retention of the Casprâcontactin complex at the junction depended on the presence of an intact cytoplasmic domain of Caspr. Using immunoelectron microscopy, we found that a Caspr mutant lacking its intracellular domain was often found within the axon instead of the junctional axolemma. We further show that a short sequence in the cytoplasmic domain of Caspr mediated its binding to the cytoskeleton-associated protein 4.1B. Clustering of contactin on the cell surface induced coclustering of Caspr and immobilized protein 4.1B at the plasma membrane. Furthermore, deletion of the protein 4.1B binding site accelerated the internalization of a Casprâcontactin chimera from the cell surface. These results suggest that Caspr serves as a âtransmembrane scaffoldâ that stabilizes the Caspr/contactin adhesion complex at the paranodal junction by connecting it to cytoskeletal components within the axon
D1D5 microstate geometries from string amplitudes
We reproduce the asymptotic expansion of the D1D5 microstate geometries by
computing the emission amplitudes of closed string states from disks with mixed
D1D5 boundary conditions. Thus we provide a direct link between the
supergravity and D-brane descriptions of the D1D5 microstates at non-zero
string coupling. Microscopically, the profile functions characterizing the
microstate solutions are encoded in the choice of a condensate for the twisted
open string states connecting D1 and D5 branes.Comment: 21 pages; added reference
Experimental entanglement verification and quantification via uncertainty relations
We report on experimental studies on entanglement quantification and
verification based on uncertainty relations for systems consisting of two
qubits. The new proposed measure is shown to be invariant under local unitary
transformations, by which entanglement quantification is implemented for
two-qubit pure states. The nonlocal uncertainty relations for two-qubit pure
states are also used for entanglement verification which serves as a basic
proposition and promise to be a good choice for verification of multipartite
entanglement.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures and 2 table
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