Multi-Patterned Dynamics of Mitochondrial Fission and Fusion in a Living Cell

Mitochondria are highly-dynamic organelles, but it is challenging to monitor quantitatively their dynamics in a living cell. Here we developed a novel approach to determine the global occurrence of mitochondrial fission and fusion events in living human epithelial cells (Hela) and mouse embryonic fibroblast cells (MEF). Distinct patterns of sequential events including fusion followed by fission (Fu-Fi), the so-called “kiss and run” model previously described, fission followed by fusion (Fi-Fu), fusion followed by fusion (Fu-Fu), and fission followed by fission (Fi-Fi) were observed concurrently. The paired events appeared in high frequencies with short lifetimes and large sizes of individual mitochondria, as compared to those for unpaired events. The high frequencies of paired events were found to be biologically significant. The presence of membrane uncoupler CCCP enhanced the frequency of paired events (from both Fu-Fi and Fi-Fu patterns) with a reduced mitochondrial size. Knock-out of mitofusin protein Mfn1 increased the frequency of fission with increased lifetime of unpaired events whereas deletion of both Mfn1 and Mfn2 resulted in an instable dynamics. These results indicated that the paired events were dominant but unpaired events were not negligible, which provided a new insight into mitochondrial dynamics. In addition to kiss and run model of action, our data suggest that, from a global visualization over an entire cell, multiple patterns of action appeared in mitochondrial fusion and fission

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics

Nearly noninvasive readout and manipulation of spin in double quantum dot using spin bias

Dynamics of two quantum dots coupled to electrodes with spin bias is investigated theoretically by means of the master equations. The two dots are coupled via exchange interaction. When the exchange interaction is much smaller than the lead-dot 2 coupling and dot 2 is under a symmetric spin bias, an initially fully polarized electron spin in dot 1 undergoes an oscillation with ignorable attenuation. Meanwhile, the direction of charge current flowing through dot 2 oscillates in the same period as that of the spin in dot 1. This allows to reverse or nearly noninvasively read out the spin in dot 1, by switching on and off the exchange interaction for a duration of half-integer or integer periods of the oscillation, respectively. © 2011 EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Incipient motion of sediment in presence of submerged flexible vegetation

The presence of submerged vegetation on river beds can change the water flow structure and alter the state of sediment motion. In this study, the incipient motion of sediment in the presence of submerged flexible vegetation in open channels was investigated in a laboratory experiment. The vegetation was simulated with flexible rubber cylinders arranged in parallel arrays. The effect of the vegetation density, water depth, and sediment grain size on the incipient motion was investigated. The experimental results indicate that the incipient motion velocity of sediment increases as the vegetation density decreases and the water depth and sediment grain size increase. With flexible plants, the incipient motion velocity of sediment is lower than it is without vegetation, and is larger than it is with rigid vegetation. A general incipient motion velocity equation was derived, which can be applied to both flexible and rigid vegetation conditions

Effects of Nitrogen Addition and Fire on Plant Nitrogen Use in a Temperate Steppe

Plant nitrogen (N) use strategies have great implications for primary production and ecosystem nutrient cycling. Given the increasing atmospheric N deposition received by most of the terrestrial ecosystems, understanding the responses of plant N use would facilitate the projection of plant-mediated N cycling under global change scenarios. The effects of N deposition on plant N use would be affected by both natural and anthropogenic disturbances, such as prescribed fire in the grassland. We examined the effects of N addition (5.25 g N m(−2) yr(−1)) and prescribed fire (annual burning) on plant N concentrations and N use characters at both species and community levels in a temperate steppe of northern China. We found that N addition and fire independently affected soil N availability and plant N use traits. Nitrogen addition increased aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), inorganic N, and N uptake, decreased N response efficiency (NRE), but did not affect biomass-weighed N concentrations at community level. Prescribed fire did not change the community level N concentrations, but largely decreased N uptake efficiency and NRE. At the species level, the effects of N addition and fire on plant N use were species-specific. The divergent responses of plant N use at community and species levels to N addition and fire highlight the importance of the hierarchical responses of plant N use at diverse biological organization levels to the alteration of soil N availability. This study will improve our understanding of the responses of plant-mediated N cycling to global change factors and ecosystem management strategies in the semiarid grasslands