4,200 research outputs found
The kinetic mechanism of bacterial ribosome recycling.
Bacterial ribosome recycling requires breakdown of the post-termination complex (PoTC), comprising a messenger RNA (mRNA) and an uncharged transfer RNA (tRNA) cognate to the terminal mRNA codon bound to the 70S ribosome. The translation factors, elongation factor G and ribosome recycling factor, are known to be required for recycling, but there is controversy concerning whether these factors act primarily to effect the release of mRNA and tRNA from the ribosome, with the splitting of the ribosome into subunits being somewhat dispensable, or whether their main function is to catalyze the splitting reaction, which necessarily precedes mRNA and tRNA release. Here, we utilize three assays directly measuring the rates of mRNA and tRNA release and of ribosome splitting in several model PoTCs. Our results largely reconcile these previously held views. We demonstrate that, in the absence of an upstream Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence, PoTC breakdown proceeds in the order: mRNA release followed by tRNA release and then by 70S splitting. By contrast, in the presence of an SD sequence all three processes proceed with identical apparent rates, with the splitting step likely being rate-determining. Our results are consistent with ribosome profiling results demonstrating the influence of upstream SD-like sequences on ribosome occupancy at or just before the mRNA stop codon
Investigation of in-plane nuclear field formation in single self-assembled quantum dots
We studied the formation mechanism of the in-plane nuclear field in single
self-assembled InAlAs/AlGaAs quantum dots.
The Hanle curves with an anomalously large width and hysteretic behavior at the
critical transverse magnetic field were observed in many single quantum dots
grown in the same QD sample. In order to explain the anomalies in the Hanle
curve indicating the formation of a large nuclear field perpendicular to the
photo-injected electron spin polarization, we propose a new model based on the
current phenomenological model for dynamic nuclear spin polarization. The model
includes the effects of the nuclear quadrupole interaction and the sign
inversion between in-plane and out-of-plane g-factors, and the model
calculations reproduce successfully the characteristics of the observed
anomalies in the Hanle curves.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Precise measurements of electron and hole g-factors of single quantum dots by using nuclear field
We demonstrated the cancellation of the external magnetic field by the
nuclear field at one edge of the nuclear polarization bistability in single
InAlAs quantum dots. The cancellation for the electron Zeeman splitting gives
the precise value of the hole g-factor. By combining with the exciton g-factor
that is obtained from the Zeeman splitting for linearly polarized excitation,
the magnitude and sign of the electron and hole g-factors in the growth
direction are evaluated.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure
Duality with expanding maps and shrinking maps, and its applications to Gauss maps
We study expanding maps and shrinking maps of subvarieties of Grassmann
varieties in arbitrary characteristic. The shrinking map was studied
independently by Landsberg and Piontkowski in order to characterize Gauss
images. To develop their method, we introduce the expanding map, which is a
dual notion of the shrinking map and is a generalization of the Gauss map. Then
we give a characterization of separable Gauss maps and their images, which
yields results for the following topics: (1) Linearity of general fibers of
separable Gauss maps; (2) Generalization of the characterization of Gauss
images; (3) Duality on one-dimensional parameter spaces of linear subvarieties
lying in developable varieties.Comment: 28 pages, v3: added some examples, v2: the title has been changed
from v1 "Linearity of general fibers of separable Gauss maps
Axisymmetric polydimethysiloxane microchannels for in vitro hemodynamic studies
The current microdevices used for biomedical research are often manufactured using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. Although it is possible to fabricate precise and reproducible rectangular microchannels using soft lithography techniques, this kind of geometry may not reflect the actual physiology of the microcirculation. Here, we present a simple method to fabricate circular polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) microchannels aiming to mimic an in vivo microvascular environment and suitable for state-of-the-art microscale flow visualization techniques, such as confocal µPIV/PTV. By using a confocal µPTV system individual red blood cells (RBCs) were successfully tracked trough a 75 µm circular PDMS microchannel. The results show that RBC lateral dispersion increases with the volume fraction of RBCs in the solution, i.e. with the hematocrit
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