14,704 research outputs found
Uncoupling of p97 ATPase activity has a dominant negative effect on protein extraction
p97 is a highly abundant, homohexameric AAA+ ATPase that performs a variety of essential cellular functions. Characterized as a ubiquitin-selective chaperone, p97 recognizes proteins conjugated to K48-linked polyubiquitin chains and promotes their removal from chromatin and other molecular complexes. Changes in p97 expression or activity are associated with the development of cancer and several related neurodegenerative disorders. Although pathogenic p97 mutations cluster in and around p97's ATPase domains, mutant proteins display normal or elevated ATPase activity. Here, we show that one of the most common p97 mutations (R155C) retains ATPase activity, but is functionally defective. p97-R155C can be recruited to ubiquitinated substrates on chromatin, but is unable to promote substrate removal. As a result, p97-R155C acts as a dominant negative, blocking protein extraction by a similar mechanism to that observed when p97's ATPase activity is inhibited or inactivated. However, unlike ATPase-deficient proteins, p97-R155C consumes excess ATP, which can hinder high-energy processes. Together, our results shed new insight into how pathogenic mutations in p97 alter its cellular function, with implications for understanding the etiology and treatment of p97-associated diseases
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Simulating Tsunami Inundation and Soil Response in a Large Centrifuge.
Tsunamis are rare, extreme events and cause significant damage to coastal infrastructure, which is often exacerbated by soil instability surrounding the structures. Simulating tsunamis in a laboratory setting is important to further understand soil instability induced by tsunami inundation processes. Laboratory simulations are difficult because the scale of such processes is very large, hence dynamic similitude cannot be achieved for small-scale models in traditional water-wave-tank facilities. The ability to control the body force in a centrifuge environment considerably reduces the mismatch in dynamic similitude. We review dynamic similitudes under a centrifuge condition for a fluid domain and a soil domain. A novel centrifuge apparatus specifically designed for exploring the physics of a tsunami-like flow on a soil bed is used to perform experiments. The present 1:40 model represents the equivalent geometric scale of a prototype soil field of 9.6 m deep, 21 m long, and 14.6 m wide. A laboratory facility capable of creating such conditions under the normal gravitational condition does not exist. With the use of a centrifuge, we are now able to simulate and measure tsunami-like loading with sufficiently high water pressure and flow velocities. The pressures and flow velocities in the model are identical to those of the prototype yielding realistic conditions of flow-soil interaction
Dimensionality of superconductivity in the infinite-layer high-temperature cuprate Sr0.9M0.1CuO2 (M = La, Gd)
The high magnetic field phase diagram of the electron-doped infinite layer
high-temperature superconducting (high-T_c) compound Sr_{0.9}La_{0.1}CuO_2 was
probed by means of penetration depth and magnetization measurements in pulsed
fields to 60 T. An anisotropy ratio of 8 was detected for the upper critical
fields with H parallel (H_{c2}^{ab}) and perpendicular (H_{c2}^c) to the CuO_2
planes, with H_{c2}^{ab} extrapolating to near the Pauli paramagnetic limit of
160 T. The longer superconducting coherence length than the lattice constant
along the c-axis indicates that the orbital degrees of freedom of the pairing
wavefunction are three dimensional. By contrast, low-field magnetization and
specific heat measurements of Sr_{0.9}Gd_{0.1}CuO_2 indicate a coexistence of
bulk s-wave superconductivity with large moment Gd paramagnetism close to the
CuO_2 planes, suggesting a strong confinement of the spin degrees of freedom of
the Cooper pair to the CuO_2 planes. The region between H_{c2}^{ab} and the
irreversibility line in the magnetization, H_{irr}^{ab}, is anomalously large
for an electron-doped high-T_c cuprate, suggesting the existence of additional
quantum fluctuations perhaps due to a competing spin-density wave order.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B, Rapid Communications
(2004). Corresponding author: Nai-Chang Yeh (E-mail: [email protected]
Scattering of slow-light gap solitons with charges in a two-level medium
The Maxwell-Bloch system describes a quantum two-level medium interacting
with a classical electromagnetic field by mediation of the the population
density. This population density variation is a purely quantum effect which is
actually at the very origin of nonlinearity. The resulting nonlinear coupling
possesses particularly interesting consequences at the resonance (when the
frequency of the excitation is close to the transition frequency of the
two-level medium) as e.g. slow-light gap solitons that result from the
nonlinear instability of the evanescent wave at the boundary. As nonlinearity
couples the different polarizations of the electromagnetic field, the
slow-light gap soliton is shown to experience effective scattering whith
charges in the medium, allowing it for instance to be trapped or reflected.
This scattering process is understood qualitatively as being governed by a
nonlinear Schroedinger model in an external potential related to the charges
(the electrostatic permanent background component of the field).Comment: RevTex, 14 pages with 5 figures, to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Theo
Evolution of superconductivity by oxygen annealing in FeTe0.8S0.2
Oxygen annealing dramatically improved the superconducting properties of
solid-state-reacted FeTe0.8S0.2, which showed only a broad onset of
superconducting transition just after the synthesis. The zero resistivity
appeared and reached 8.5 K by the oxygen annealing at 200\degree C. The
superconducting volume fraction was also enhanced from 0 to almost 100%. The
lattice constants were compressed by the oxygen annealing, indicating that the
evolution of bulk superconductivity in FeTe0.8S0.2 was correlated to the
shrinkage of lattice.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure
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