1,342 research outputs found
<i>In vitro</i> BioID:Mapping the CENP-A microenvironment with high temporal and spatial resolution
Molecular cloning of a human homologue of Drosophila heterochromatin protein HP1 using anti-centromere autoantibodies with anti-chromo specificity
We have identified a novel autoantibody specificity in scleroderma that we term anti-chromo. These antibodies recognize several chromosomal antigens with apparent molecular mass of between 23 and 25 kDa, as determined by immunoblots. Anti-chromo autoantibodies occur in 10-15% of sera from patients with anti-centromere antibodies (ACA). We used anti-chromo antibodies to screen a human expression library and obtained cDNA clones encoding a 25 kDa chromosomal autoantigen. DNA sequence analysis reveals this protein to be a human homologue of HP1, a heterochromatin protein of Drosophila melanogaster. We designate our cloned protein HP1Hs alpha. Epitope mapping experiments using both human and Drosophila HP1 reveal that anti-chromo antibodies target a region at the amino terminus of the protein. This region contains a conserved motif, the chromo domain (or HP1/Pc box), first recognized by comparison of Drosophila HP1 with the Polycomb gene product. Both proteins are thought to play a role in creating chromatin structures in which gene expression is suppressed. Anti-chromo thus defines a novel type of autoantibody that recognizes a conserved structural motif found on a number of chromosomal proteins
Studies of the lamin proteinase reveal multiple parallel biochemical pathways during apoptotic execution
Although specific proteinases play a critical role in the active phase of apoptosis, their substrates are largely unknown. We previously identified poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) as an apoptosis-associated substrate for proteinase(s) related to interleukin 1 beta-converting enzyme (ICE). Now we have used a cell-free system to characterize proteinase(s) that cleave the nuclear lamins during apoptosis. Lamin cleavage during apoptosis requires the action of a second ICE-like enyzme, which exhibits kinetics of cleavage and a profile of sensitivity to specific inhibitors that is distinct from the PARP proteinase. Thus, multiple ICE-like enzymes are required for apoptotic events in these cell-free extracts. Inhibition of the lamin proteinase with tosyllysine "chloromethyl ketone" blocks nuclear apoptosis prior to the packaging of condensed chromatin into apoptotic bodies. Under these conditions, the nuclear DNA is fully cleaved to a nucleosomal ladder. Our studies reveal that the lamin proteinase and the fragmentation nuclease function in independent parallel pathways during the final stages of apoptotic execution. Neither pathway alone is sufficient for completion of nuclear apoptosis. Instead, the various activities cooperate to drive the disassembly of the nucleus
Membranes in the two-Higgs standard model
We present some non-topological static wall solutions in two-Higgs extensions
of the standard model. They are classically stable in a large region of
parameter space, compatible with perturbative unitarity and with present
phenomenological bounds.Comment: 7 pages, latex, 3 figures available upon reques
Dynamics of viscous amphiphilic films supported by elastic solid substrates
The dynamics of amphiphilic films deposited on a solid surface is analyzed
for the case when shear oscillations of the solid surface are excited. The two
cases of surface- and bulk shear waves are studied with film exposed to gas or
to a liquid. By solving the corresponding dispersion equation and the wave
equation while maintaining the energy balance we are able to connect the
surface density and the shear viscocity of a fluid amphiphilic overlayer with
experimentally accessible damping coefficients, phase velocity, dissipation
factor and resonant frequency shifts of shear waves.Comment: 19 pages, latex, 3 figures in eps-forma
Supersymmetric Electroweak Cosmic Strings
We study the connection between supersymmetry and a topological bound
in a two-Higgs-doublet system with an gauge group. We derive the Bogomol'nyi equations from
supersymmetry considerations showing that they hold provided certain conditions
on the coupling constants, which are a consequence of the huge symmetry of the
theory, are satisfied. Their solutions, which can be interpreted as electroweak
cosmic strings breaking one half of the supersymmetries of the theory, are
studied. Certain interesting limiting cases of our model which have recently
been considered in the literature are finally analyzed.Comment: 20 pages, RevTe
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