Nanomechanics of membrane tubulation and DNA assembly

We report an interesting regime of tubule formation in multilamellar membrane vesicles. An optically trapped bead is used to apply a localized subpicoNewton force on a cationic vesicle to form a membrane tubule. The force extension curves reveal a saturation phase, with the tubule length extending up to tens of microns, beyond a threshold force 0.6±0.2 pN. We then use the tubule as a sensor for monitoring the dynamics of charge induced DNA integration on cationic membrane vesicles. Our results may also have applications in the development of nanowires and nanofluidic devices

Tris(methyl 3-oxobutanoato-κ2 O,O′)aluminium(III)

In the title compound, [Al(C5H7O3)3], three acac-type ligands (methyl 3-oxobutanoate anions) chelate to the aluminium(III) cation in a slightly distorted AlO6 octa­hedral coordination geometry. Electron delocalization occurs within the chelating rings

Carotenoid Content in Cherry Tomatoes Correlated to the Color Space Values L*, a*, b*: A Non-destructive Method of Estimation

Cherry tomatoes are rich sources of carotenoids. The carotenoids are known to be precursors of vitamin A and also act as an antioxidant. It is important to visually judge the tomato surface color for higher β carotene content since this is the major provitamin AA carotenoid. Estimation of carotenoids by HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) and spectrophotometric methods in tomatoes are very expensive and time consuming. Therefore, colorimeters can be used to describe the color and determine the carotenoid content in a relatively easy and inexpensive manner. The objective of this study was to determine, if the carotenoid content within cherry tomatoes measured by conventional method could correlate with colorimetric CIE (Commission International del’Eclairage) L*, a*, b* color space values. Strong correlations were found between color surface value a* and total carotenoids (0.82) and lycopene content (0.87). We also observed positive correlation for the b* color value with β carotene (0.86). The L* value was negatively correlated (-0.78) with an increase in carotenoids. These close associations between color space values L*, a*, b* and carotenoids will help the breeders to quickly screen large germplasm/ breeding lines in their breeding program for improvement in carotenoid content through this time saving, inexpensive and nondestructive method at fully ripe stage

Effect of organic manure and inorganic fertilizers on growth, yield attributes and yield of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton)

Experiments conducted at Mudigere (Karnataka, India) to study the effect of organic manure and inorganic fertilizers alone and in combination in cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) indicated that application of 100% inorganic fertilizers increased the number of bearing suckers. Application of 100% inorganic fertilizers resulted in highest panicle production per clump (23.15) and green 'capsule yield (707 kg/ha). Though 100% inorganic fertilizers gave maximum yield which gave a higher benefit cost ratio of 4.19, integrated nutrient management with 25% organic manure + 75% inorganic fertilizers and 50% organic manure + 50% inorganic fertilizers also recorded yields at par with this treatment (609 and 602 kg/ha, respectively) with benefit cost ratios of 3.22 and 3.04, respectively. &nbsp

Parallel Mapper

The construction of Mapper has emerged in the last decade as a powerful and effective topological data analysis tool that approximates and generalizes other topological summaries, such as the Reeb graph, the contour tree, split, and joint trees. In this paper, we study the parallel analysis of the construction of Mapper. We give a provably correct parallel algorithm to execute Mapper on multiple processors and discuss the performance results that compare our approach to a reference sequential Mapper implementation. We report the performance experiments that demonstrate the efficiency of our method

Bis(acetyl­acetonato-κ2 O,O′)(pyridine-κN)zinc(II)

In the title compound, [Zn(C5H7O2)2(C5H5N)], the metal atom has square-pyramidal coordination geometry with the basal plane defined by the four O atoms of the chelating acetyl­acetonate ligands and with the axial position occupied by the pyridine N atom. The crystal packing is characterized by a C—H⋯O hydrogen-bonded ribbon structure approximately parallel to [10]

Magnetic correlations and quantum criticality in the insulating antiferromagnetic, insulating spin liquid, renormalized Fermi liquid, and metallic antiferromagnetic phases of the Mott system V_2O_3

Magnetic correlations in all four phases of pure and doped vanadium sesquioxide V_2O_3 have been examined by magnetic thermal neutron scattering. While the antiferromagnetic insulator can be accounted for by a Heisenberg localized spin model, the long range order in the antiferromagnetic metal is an incommensurate spin-density-wave, resulting from a Fermi surface nesting instability. Spin dynamics in the strongly correlated metal are dominated by spin fluctuations in the Stoner electron-hole continuum. Furthermore, our results in metallic V_2O_3 represent an unprecedentedly complete characterization of the spin fluctuations near a metallic quantum critical point, and provide quantitative support for the SCR theory for itinerant antiferromagnets in the small moment limit. Dynamic magnetic correlations for energy smaller than k_BT in the paramagnetic insulator carry substantial magnetic spectral weight. However, the correlation length extends only to the nearest neighbor distance. The phase transition to the antiferromagnetic insulator introduces a sudden switching of magnetic correlations to a different spatial periodicity which indicates a sudden change in the underlying spin Hamiltonian. To describe this phase transition and also the unusual short range order in the paramagnetic state, it seems necessary to take into account the orbital degrees of freedom associated with the degenerate d-orbitals at the Fermi level in V_2O_3.Comment: Postscript file, 24 pages, 26 figures, 2 tables, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Binding of molecules to DNA and other semiflexible polymers

A theory is presented for the binding of small molecules such as surfactants to semiflexible polymers. The persistence length is assumed to be large compared to the monomer size but much smaller than the total chain length. Such polymers (e.g. DNA) represent an intermediate case between flexible polymers and stiff, rod-like ones, whose association with small molecules was previously studied. The chains are not flexible enough to actively participate in the self-assembly, yet their fluctuations induce long-range attractive interactions between bound molecules. In cases where the binding significantly affects the local chain stiffness, those interactions lead to a very sharp, cooperative association. This scenario is of relevance to the association of DNA with surfactants and compact proteins such as RecA. External tension exerted on the chain is found to significantly modify the binding by suppressing the fluctuation-induced interaction.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, RevTex, the published versio

Dynamics and Regulation of RecA Polymerization and De-Polymerization on Double-Stranded DNA

10.1371/journal.pone.0066712PLoS ONE86