149 research outputs found
The Influence of Polyamines on the Expression of Escherichia Coli Ribosome Hibernation Factor Raia
RaiA is one of the main ribosome hibernation factors in Escherichia coli. Like other ribosome hibernation factors, this protein reversibly inhibits translation under stress conditions. According to published data, being induced by indole, RaiA is involved in bacterial persistence, which is considered to play important role in the recalcitrance of chronic infections to antibiotics. Previously, we showed that the raiA expression on the transcriptional level is stimulated by polyamines, in addition to indole. In this work, we investigated the influence of polyamines on the raiA expression on the translational level. We obtained the predicted secondary structures of raiA mRNA, the analysis of which showed the presence of the bulged-out region in the initiation site with a high probability. This may be a sign of gene involvement in the polyamine modulon. We constructed translational raiA::lacZ reporter fusion. Using this genetic construct, we studied the effects of polyamines on the raiA expression through an addition of putrescine, cadaverine or spermidine at concentrations of 1 mM and 2 mM. According to the results, the raiA expression is primarily stimulated by cadaverine at the stationary phase
DMNP, a Synthetic Analog of Erogorgiaene, Inhibits the ppGpp Synthetase Activity of the Small Alarmone Synthetase RelZ
Suppression of the stringent response is a promising strategy for the treatment of persistent bacterial infections. A novel class of compounds having a mechanism of action based on alarmone synthetase inhibition and suppressing the synthesis of (p)ppGpp alarmones in bacteria may provide a more effective treatment for latent infections and resolve problems associated with bacterial persistence. Conventional antibiotics primarily act on actively growing bacteria, but they are inactive against persister cells with a slowed metabolism. Alarmone synthetase inhibitors have antipersister properties that may enhance conventional antibiotics’ antibacterial action. Two groups of RSH proteins are responsible for the synthesis of alarmones: long RelA/SpoT homologs and small alarmone synthetases. Many species of bacteria possess both types of enzymes. Despite the fact that a number of inhibitors of bifunctional long synthetases/hydrolases have been described to date, their properties with respect to monofunctional small alarmone synthetases have been studied poorly. This study investigated the effect of the alarmone synthetase inhibitor DMNP on the purified RelZ small alarmone synthetase protein from Mycolicibacterium smegmatis
Oscillations of a rapidly rotating annular Bose-Einstein condensate
A time-dependent variational Lagrangian analysis based on the
Gross-Pitaevskii energy functional serves to study the dynamics of a metastable
giant vortex in a rapidly rotating Bose-Einstein condensate. The resulting
oscillation frequencies of the core radius reproduce the trends seen in recent
experiments [Engels et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 170405 (2003)], but the
theoretical values are smaller by a factor approximately 0.6-0.8.Comment: 7 pages, revtex
Packing of Compressible Granular Materials
3D Computer simulations and experiments are employed to study random packings
of compressible spherical grains under external confining stress. Of particular
interest is the rigid ball limit, which we describe as a continuous transition
in which the applied stress vanishes as (\phi-\phi_c)^\beta, where \phi is the
(solid phase) volume density. This transition coincides with the onset of shear
rigidity. The value of \phi_c depends, for example, on whether the grains
interact via only normal forces (giving rise to random close packings) or by a
combination of normal and friction generated transverse forces (producing
random loose packings). In both cases, near the transition, the system's
response is controlled by localized force chains. As the stress increases, we
characterize the system's evolution in terms of (1) the participation number,
(2) the average force distribution, and (3) visualization techniques.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Why Effective Medium Theory Fails in Granular Materials
Experimentally it is known that the bulk modulus, K, and shear modulus, \mu,
of a granular assembly of elastic spheres increase with pressure, p, faster
than the p^1/3 law predicted by effective medium theory (EMT) based on
Hertz-Mindlin contact forces. To understand the origin of these discrepancies,
we perform numerical simulations of granular aggregates under compression. We
show that EMT can describe the moduli pressure dependence if one includes the
increasing number of grain-grain contacts with p. Most important, the affine
assumption (which underlies EMT), is found to be valid for K(p) but breakdown
seriously for \mu(p). This explains why the experimental and numerical values
of \mu(p) are much smaller than the EMT predictions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, http://polymer.bu.edu/~hmaks
Vortices and dynamics in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates
I review the basic physics of ultracold dilute trapped atomic gases, with
emphasis on Bose-Einstein condensation and quantized vortices. The hydrodynamic
form of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (a nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger equation)
illuminates the role of the density and the quantum-mechanical phase. One
unique feature of these experimental systems is the opportunity to study the
dynamics of vortices in real time, in contrast to typical experiments on
superfluid He. I discuss three specific examples (precession of single
vortices, motion of vortex dipoles, and Tkachenko oscillations of a vortex
array). Other unusual features include the study of quantum turbulence and the
behavior for rapid rotation, when the vortices form dense regular arrays.
Ultimately, the system is predicted to make a quantum phase transition to
various highly correlated many-body states (analogous to bosonic quantum Hall
states) that are not superfluid and do not have condensate wave functions. At
present, this transition remains elusive. Conceivably, laser-induced synthetic
vector potentials can serve to reach this intriguing phase transition.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Low Temperature Physics,
conference proceedings: Symposia on Superfluids under Rotation (Lammi,
Finland, April 2010
United classification of cosmic gamma-ray bursts and their counterparts
United classification of gamma-ray bursts and their counterparts is
established on the basis of measured characteristics: photon energy E and
emission duration T. The founded interrelation between the mentioned
characteristics of events consists in that, as the energy increases, the
duration decreases (and vice versa). The given interrelation reflects the
nature of the phenomenon and forms the E-T diagram, which represents a natural
classification of all observed events in the energy range from 10E9 to 10E-6 eV
and in the corresponding interval of durations from about 10E-2 up to 10E8 s.
The proposed classification results in the consequences, which are principal
for the theory and practical study of the phenomenon.Comment: Keywords Gamma rays: burst
Force distributions near the jamming and glass transitions
We calculate the distribution of interparticle normal forces near the
glass and jamming transitions in model supercooled liquids and foams,
respectively. develops a peak that appears near the glass or jamming
transitions, whose height increases with decreasing temperature, decreasing
shear stress and increasing packing density. A similar shape of was
observed in experiments on static granular packings. We propose that the
appearance of this peak signals the development of a yield stress. The
sensitivity of the peak to temperature, shear stress and density lends credence
to the recently proposed generalized jamming phase diagram.Comment: 4 pages, 3 postscript figures;Version 3 replaces figure 1 and removes
figure 2 from version 1. Significant rewording of version 1 to emphasize the
formation of peak in P(F) when these systems jam along five different routes
of the recently proposed jamming phase diagram. Version 2 displayed the
incorrect abstrac
Stress Propagation through Frictionless Granular Material
We examine the network of forces to be expected in a static assembly of hard,
frictionless spherical beads of random sizes, such as a colloidal glass. Such
an assembly is minimally connected: the ratio of constraint equations to
contact forces approaches unity for a large assembly. However, the bead
positions in a finite subregion of the assembly are underdetermined. Thus to
maintain equilibrium, half of the exterior contact forces are determined by the
other half. We argue that the transmission of force may be regarded as
unidirectional, in contrast to the transmission of force in an elastic
material. Specializing to sequentially deposited beads, we show that forces on
a given buried bead can be uniquely specified in terms of forces involving more
recently added beads. We derive equations for the transmission of stress
averaged over scales much larger than a single bead. This derivation requires
the Ansatz that statistical fluctuations of the forces are independent of
fluctuations of the contact geometry. Under this Ansatz, the
-component stress field can be expressed in terms of a d-component
vector field. The procedure may be generalized to non-sequential packings. In
two dimensions, the stress propagates according to a wave equation, as
postulated in recent work elsewhere. We demonstrate similar wave-like
propagation in higher dimensions, assuming that the packing geometry has
uniaxial symmetry. In macroscopic granular materials we argue that our approach
may be useful even though grains have friction and are not packed
sequentially.=17Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, revised vertion for Phys. Rev.
Geometric origin of mechanical properties of granular materials
Some remarkable generic properties, related to isostaticity and potential
energy minimization, of equilibrium configurations of assemblies of rigid,
frictionless grains are studied. Isostaticity -the uniqueness of the forces,
once the list of contacts is known- is established in a quite general context,
and the important distinction between isostatic problems under given external
loads and isostatic (rigid) structures is presented. Complete rigidity is only
guaranteed, on stability grounds, in the case of spherical cohesionless grains.
Otherwise, the network of contacts might deform elastically in response to load
increments, even though grains are rigid. This sets an uuper bound on the
contact coordination number. The approximation of small displacements (ASD)
allows to draw analogies with other model systems studied in statistical
mechanics, such as minimum paths on a lattice. It also entails the uniqueness
of the equilibrium state (the list of contacts itself is geometrically
determined) for cohesionless grains, and thus the absence of plastic
dissipation. Plasticity and hysteresis are due to the lack of such uniqueness
and may stem, apart from intergranular friction, from small, but finite,
rearrangements, in which the system jumps between two distinct potential energy
minima, or from bounded tensile contact forces. The response to load increments
is discussed. On the basis of past numerical studies, we argue that, if the ASD
is valid, the macroscopic displacement field is the solution to an elliptic
boundary value problem (akin to the Stokes problem).Comment: RevTex, 40 pages, 26 figures. Close to published paper. Misprints and
minor errors correcte
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