Phosphoisoprenoids Modulate Association of Rab Geranylgeranyltransferase with REP-1

Rab geranylgeranyltransferase (RabGGTase or GGTase-II) catalyzes the post-translational prenylation of Rab proteins. Rab proteins are recognized as substrates only when they are complexed to Rab Escort Protein (REP). The classical model of prenylation complex assembly assumes initial formation of the Rab.REP binary complex, which subsequently binds to RabGGTase loaded with the isoprenoid donor geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGpp). We demonstrate here that REP-1 can also associate with RabGGTase in the absence of Rab protein and that this interaction is dramatically strengthened by the presence of phosphoisoprenoids such as GGpp. The GGpp-dependent interaction between RabGGTase and REP-1 was observed using affinity precipitations and gel filtration and was quantitated on the basis of fluorescence assays. In the presence of GGpp, REP-1 binds to RabGGTase with a K(d) value of similar to10 nM, while in its absence the affinity between the two proteins is in the micromolar range. We further demonstrate that binding of Rab7 to the RabGGTase.GGpp.REP-1 complex occurs without prior dissociation of REP-1. Analysis of binding and prenylation rate constants indicate that the RabGGTase.GGpp.REP-1 complex can function as a kinetically competent intermediate of the prenylation reaction. We conclude that, depending on the prevailing concentrations, binding of REP-1 to RabGGTase in the presence of GGpp may serve as an alternative pathway for the assembly of the prenylation machinery in vivo. Implications of these findings for the role of REP-1 in the prenylation reaction are discussed

Sparsity order estimation for single snapshot compressed sensing

In this paper we discuss the estimation of the spar-sity order for a Compressed Sensing scenario where only a single snapshot is available. We demonstrate that a specific design of the sensing matrix based on Khatri-Rao products enables us to transform this problem into the estimation of a matrix rank in the presence of additive noise. Thereby, we can apply existing model order selection algorithms to determine the sparsity order. The matrix is a rearranged version of the observation vector which can be constructed by concatenating a series of non-overlapping or overlapping blocks of the original observation vector. In both cases, a Khatri-Rao structured measurement matrix is required with the main difference that in the latter case, one of the factors must be a Vandermonde matrix. We discuss the choice of the parameters and show that an increasing amount of block overlap improves the sparsity order estimation but it increases the coherence of the sensing matrix. We also explain briefly that the proposed measurement matrix design introduces certain multilinear structures into the observations which enables us to apply tensor-based signal processing, e.g., for enhanced denoising or improved sparsity order estimation. © 2014 IEEE

Photoproduction of mesons off nuclei

Recent results for the photoproduction of mesons off nuclei are reviewed. These experiments have been performed for two major lines of research related to the properties of the strong interaction. The investigation of nucleon resonances requires light nuclei as targets for the extraction of the isospin composition of the electromagnetic excitations. This is done with quasi-free meson photoproduction off the bound neutron and supplemented with the measurement of coherent photoproduction reactions, serving as spin and/or isospin filters. Furthermore, photoproduction from light and heavy nuclei is a very efficient tool for the study of the interactions of mesons with nuclear matter and the in-medium properties of hadrons. Experiments are currently rapidly developing due to the combination of high quality tagged (and polarized) photon beams with state-of-the-art 4pi detectors and polarized targets

Electron Scattering From High-Momentum Neutrons in Deuterium

We report results from an experiment measuring the semi-inclusive reaction $d(e,e'p_s)$ where the proton $p_s$ is moving at a large angle relative to the momentum transfer. If we assume that the proton was a spectator to the reaction taking place on the neutron in deuterium, the initial state of that neutron can be inferred. This method, known as spectator tagging, can be used to study electron scattering from high-momentum (off-shell) neutrons in deuterium. The data were taken with a 5.765 GeV electron beam on a deuterium target in Jefferson Laboratory's Hall B, using the CLAS detector. A reduced cross section was extracted for different values of final-state missing mass $W^{*}$, backward proton momentum $\vec{p}_{s}$ and momentum transfer $Q^{2}$. The data are compared to a simple PWIA spectator model. A strong enhancement in the data observed at transverse kinematics is not reproduced by the PWIA model. This enhancement can likely be associated with the contribution of final state interactions (FSI) that were not incorporated into the model. A ``bound neutron structure function'' $F_{2n}^{eff}$ was extracted as a function of $W^{*}$ and the scaling variable $x^{*}$ at extreme backward kinematics, where effects of FSI appear to be smaller. For $p_{s}>400$ MeV/c, where the neutron is far off-shell, the model overestimates the value of $F_{2n}^{eff}$ in the region of $x^{*}$ between 0.25 and 0.6. A modification of the bound neutron structure function is one of possible effects that can cause the observed deviation.Comment: 33 pages RevTeX, 9 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev. C. Fixed 1 Referenc

Complete measurement of three-body photodisintegration of 3He for photon energies between 0.35 and 1.55 GeV

The three-body photodisintegration of 3He has been measured with the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab, using tagged photons of energies between 0.35 GeV and 1.55 GeV. The large acceptance of the spectrometer allowed us for the first time to cover a wide momentum and angular range for the two outgoing protons. Three kinematic regions dominated by either two- or three-body contributions have been distinguished and analyzed. The measured cross sections have been compared with results of a theoretical model, which, in certain kinematic ranges, have been found to be in reasonable agreement with the data.Comment: 22 pages, 25 eps figures, 2 tables, submitted to PRC. Modifications: removed 2 figures, improvements on others, a few minor modifications to the tex

A Kinematically Complete Measurement of the Proton Structure Function F2 in the Resonance Region and Evaluation of Its Moments

We measured the inclusive electron-proton cross section in the nucleon resonance region (W < 2.5 GeV) at momentum transfers Q**2 below 4.5 (GeV/c)**2 with the CLAS detector. The large acceptance of CLAS allowed for the first time the measurement of the cross section in a large, contiguous two-dimensional range of Q**2 and x, making it possible to perform an integration of the data at fixed Q**2 over the whole significant x-interval. From these data we extracted the structure function F2 and, by including other world data, we studied the Q**2 evolution of its moments, Mn(Q**2), in order to estimate higher twist contributions. The small statistical and systematic uncertainties of the CLAS data allow a precise extraction of the higher twists and demand significant improvements in theoretical predictions for a meaningful comparison with new experimental results.Comment: revtex4 18 pp., 12 figure

eta-prime photoproduction on the proton for photon energies from 1.527 to 2.227 GeV

Differential cross sections for the reaction gamma p -> eta-prime p have been measured with the CLAS spectrometer and a tagged photon beam with energies from 1.527 to 2.227 GeV. The results reported here possess much greater accuracy than previous measurements. Analyses of these data indicate for the first time the coupling of the etaprime N channel to both the S_11(1535) and P_11(1710) resonances, known to couple strongly to the eta N channel in photoproduction on the proton, and the importance of j=3/2 resonances in the process.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Measurement of the Deuteron Structure Function F2 in the Resonance Region and Evaluation of Its Moments

Inclusive electron scattering off the deuteron has been measured to extract the deuteron structure function F2 with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The measurement covers the entire resonance region from the quasi-elastic peak up to the invariant mass of the final-state hadronic system W~2.7 GeV with four-momentum transfers Q2 from 0.4 to 6 (GeV/c)^2. These data are complementary to previous measurements of the proton structure function F2 and cover a similar two-dimensional region of Q2 and Bjorken variable x. Determination of the deuteron F2 over a large x interval including the quasi-elastic peak as a function of Q2, together with the other world data, permit a direct evaluation of the structure function moments for the first time. By fitting the Q2 evolution of these moments with an OPE-based twist expansion we have obtained a separation of the leading twist and higher twist terms. The observed Q2 behaviour of the higher twist contribution suggests a partial cancellation of different higher twists entering into the expansion with opposite signs. This cancellation, found also in the proton moments, is a manifestation of the "duality" phenomenon in the F2 structure function

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02