2,941 research outputs found
Photoemission study of poly(dA)-poly(dT) DNA : Experimental and theoretical approach to the electronic density of states
We present results of an ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy study of
artificially synthesized poly(dA)-poly(dT) DNA molecules on -type Si
substrates. For comparison, we also present the electronic density of states
(DOS) calculated using an \emph{ab initio} tight-binding method based on
density-functional theory (DFT). Good agreement was obtained between experiment
and theory. The spectra of DNA networks on the Si substrate showed that the
Fermi level of the substrate is located in the middle of the band gap of DNA.
The spectra of thick ( nm) DNA films showed a downward shift of eV compared to the network samples.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Alternative final steps in berberine biosynthesis in Coptis japonica cell cultures
In Coptis japonica cell cultures an alternative pathway has been discovered which leads from (S)-tetrahydrocolumbamine via (S)-canadine to berberine. The two enzymes involved have been partially purified. (S)-Tetrahydrocolumbamine is stereospecifically transformed into (S)-canadine under formation of the methylenedioxy bridge in ring A. This new enzyme was named (S)-canadine synthase. (S)-Canadine in turn is stereospecifically dehydrogenated to berberine by an oxidase, (S)-canadine oxidase (COX), which was partially purified (25-fold). This enzyme has many physical properties in common with the already known (S)-tetrahydroprotoberberine oxidase from Berberis but grossly differs from the latter enzyme in its cofactor requirement (Fe) and its substrate specificity. Neither (S)-norreticuline nor (S)-scoulerine serves as substrate for the Coptis enzyme, while both substrates are readily oxidized by the Berberis enzyme. The four terminal enzymes catalyzing the pathway from (S)-reticuline to berberine are housed in Berberis as well as in Coptis in smooth vesicles with a density of =1.14 g/ml. These vesicles have been enriched and characterized by electron microscopy
Kagom\'{e} ice state in the dipolar spin ice Dy_{2}Ti_{2}O_{7}
We have investigated the kagom\'{e} ice behavior of the dipolar spin-ice
compound Dy_{2}Ti_{2}O_{7} in magnetic field along a [111] direction using
neutron scattering and Monte Carlo simulations. The spin correlations show that
the kagom\'{e} ice behavior predicted for the nearest-neighbor (NN) interacting
model, where the field induces dimensional reduction and spins are frustrated
in each two-dimensional kagom\'{e} lattice, occurs in the dipole interacting
system. The spins freeze at low temperatures within the macroscopically
degenerate ground states of the NN model.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PR
Orbital-Order Driven Ferroelectricity and Dipolar Relaxation Dynamics in Multiferroic GaMoS
We present the results of broadband dielectric spectroscopy of GaMoS,
a lacunar spinel system that recently was shown to exhibit non-canonical,
orbitally-driven ferroelectricity. Our study reveals complex relaxation
dynamics of this multiferroic material, both above and below its Jahn-Teller
transition at T K. Above T, two types of
coupled dipolar-orbital dynamics seem to compete: relaxations within
cluster-like regions with short-range polar order like in relaxor
ferroelectrics and critical fluctuations of only weakly interacting dipoles,
the latter resembling the typical dynamics of order-disorder type
ferroelectrics. Below the Jahn-Teller transition, the onset of orbital order
drives the system into long-range ferroelectric order and dipolar dynamics
within the ferroelectric domains is observed. The coupled dipolar and orbital
relaxation behavior of GaMoS above the Jahn-Teller transition markedly
differs from that of the skyrmion host GaVS, which seems to be linked
to differences in the structural distortions of the two systems on the
unit-cell level.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures + Supplemental Material (2 pages, 2 figures
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