1,102 research outputs found
A Cytosolic Iron Chaperone that Delivers Iron to Ferritin
Ferritins are the main iron storage proteins found in animals, plants and bacteria. The capacity to store iron in ferritin is essential for life in mammals, but the mechanism by which cytosolic iron is delivered to ferritin is unknown. Human ferritins expressed in yeast contain little iron. The human Poly r(C)-Binding Protein 1 (PCBP1) increased the amount of iron loaded into ferritin when expressed in yeast. PCBP1 bound to ferritin in vivo, and bound iron and facilitated iron loading into ferritin in vitro. Depletion of PCBP1 in human cells inhibited ferritin iron loading and increased cytosolic iron pools. Thus, PCBP1 can function as a cytosolic iron chaperone in the delivery of iron to ferritin
Ab initio many-body calculation of excitons in solid Ne and Ar
Absorption spectra, exciton energy levels and wave functions for solid Ne and
Ar have been calculated from first principles using many-body techniques.
Electronic band structures of Ne and Ar were calculated using the GW
approximation. Exciton states were calculated by diagonalizing an exciton
Hamiltonian derived from the particle-hole Green function, whose equation of
motion is the Bethe-Salpeter equation. Singlet and triplet exciton series up to
n=5 for Ne and n=3 for Ar were obtained. Binding energies and
longitudinal-transverse splittings of n=1 excitons are in excellent agreement
with experiment. Plots of correlated electron-hole wave functions show that the
electron-hole complex is delocalised over roughly 7 a.u. in solid Ar.Comment: 6 page
Experiment K-6-16. Morphological examination of rat testes. The effect of Cosmos 1887 flight on spermatogonial population and testosterone level in rat testes
Testes from rats flown on Cosmos 1887 for twelve and a half days were compared to basal control, synchronous control and vivarium maintained rats. When the mean weights of flight testes, normalized for weight/100 gms, were compared to the vivarium controls they were 6.7 percent lighter. Although the flight testes were lighter than the synchronous, the difference is not significant. Counts of spermatogonial cells from 5 animals in each group revealed a 4 percent decrease in flight compared to vivarium controls. In both cases the t-Test significance was less than 0.02. The serum testosterone levels of all animals (flight, synchronous and vivarium) were significantly below the basal controls
Polarization Diffusion from Spacetime Uncertainty
A model of Lorentz invariant random fluctuations in photon polarization is
presented. The effects are frequency dependent and affect the polarization of
photons as they propagate through space. We test for this effect by confronting
the model with the latest measurements of polarization of Cosmic Microwave
Background (CMB) photons.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Thomas rotation and Thomas precession
Exact and simple calculation of Thomas rotation and Thomas precessions along
a circular world line is presented in an absolute (coordinate-free) formulation
of special relativity. Besides the simplicity of calculations the absolute
treatment of spacetime allows us to gain a deeper insight into the phenomena of
Thomas rotation and Thomas precession.Comment: 20 pages, to appear in Int. J. Theo. Phy
Does quantum mechanics tell an atomistic spacetime?
The canonical answer to the question posed is "Yes." -- tacitly assuming that
quantum theory and the concept of spacetime are to be unified by `quantizing' a
theory of gravitation. Yet, instead, one may ponder: Could quantum mechanics
arise as a coarse-grained reflection of the atomistic nature of spacetime? --
We speculate that this may indeed be the case. We recall the similarity between
evolution of classical and quantum mechanical ensembles, according to Liouville
and von Neumann equation, respectively. The classical and quantum mechanical
equations are indistinguishable for objects which are free or subject to
spatially constant but possibly time dependent, or harmonic forces, if
represented appropriately. This result suggests a way to incorporate anharmonic
interactions, including fluctuations which are tentatively related to the
underlying discreteness of spacetime. Being linear and local at the quantum
mechanical level, the model offers a decoherence and natural localization
mechanism. However, the relation to primordial deterministic degrees of freedom
is nonlocal.Comment: Based on invited talks at Fourth International Workshop DICE2008,
held at Castello Pasquini / Castiglioncello, Italy, 22-26 September 2008 and
at DISCRETE'08 - Symposium on Prospects in the Physics of Discrete
Symmetries, held at IFIC, Valencia, Spain, 11-16 December 2008 - to appear in
respective volumes of Journal of Physics: Conference Serie
Behavioral and Other Phenotypes in a Cytoplasmic Dynein Light Intermediate Chain 1 Mutant Mouse
The cytoplasmic dynein complex is fundamentally important to all eukaryotic cells for transporting a variety of essential cargoes along microtubules within the cell. This complex also plays more specialized roles in neurons. The complex consists of 11 types of protein that interact with each other and with external adaptors, regulators and cargoes. Despite the importance of the cytoplasmic dynein complex, we know comparatively little of the roles of each component protein, and in mammals few mutants exist that allow us to explore the effects of defects in dynein-controlled processes in the context of the whole organism. Here we have taken a genotype-driven approach in mouse (Mus musculus) to analyze the role of one subunit, the dynein light intermediate chain 1 (Dync1li1). We find that, surprisingly, an N235Y point mutation in this protein results in altered neuronal development, as shown from in vivo studies in the developing cortex, and analyses of electrophysiological function. Moreover, mutant mice display increased anxiety, thus linking dynein functions to a behavioral phenotype in mammals for the first time. These results demonstrate the important role that dynein-controlled processes play in the correct development and function of the mammalian nervous system
G1/S phase cyclin-dependent kinase overexpression perturbs early development and delays tissue-specific differentiation in Xenopus
Cell division and differentiation are largely incompatible but the molecular links between the two processes are poorly understood. Here, we overexpress G1/S phase cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases in Xenopus embryos to determine their effect on early development and differentiation. Overexpression of cyclin E prior to the midblastula transition (MBT), with or without cdk2, results in a loss of nuclear DNA and subsequent apoptosis at early gastrula stages. By contrast, overexpressed cyclin A2 protein does not affect early development and, when stabilised by binding to cdk2, persists to tailbud stages. Overexpression of cyclin A2/cdk2 in post-MBT embryos results in increased proliferation specifically in the epidermis with concomitant disruption of skin architecture and delay in differentiation. Moreover, ectopic cyclin A2/cdk2 also inhibits differentiation of primary neurons but does not affect muscle. Thus, overexpression of a single G1/S phase cyclin/cdk pair disrupts the balance between division and differentiation in the early vertebrate embryo in a tissue-specific manner
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