Redox sulfur chemistry of the copper chaperone Atox1 is regulated by the enzyme glutaredoxin 1, the reduction potential of the glutathione couple GSSG/2GSH and the availability of Cu(I)

Glutaredoxins have been characterised as enzymes regulating the redox status of protein thiols via cofactors GSSG/GSH. However, such a function has not been demonstrated with physiologically relevant protein substrates in in vitro experiments. Their active sites frequently feature a Cys-xx-Cys motif that is predicted not to bind metal ions. Such motifs are also present in copper-transporting proteins such as Atox1, a human cytosolic copper metallo-chaperone. In this work, we present the first demonstration that: (i) human glutaredoxin 1 (hGrx1) efficiently catalyses interchange of the dithiol and disulfide forms of the Cys(12)-xx-Cys(15) fragment in Atox1 but does not act upon the isolated single residue Cys(41); (ii) the direction of catalysis is regulated by the GSSG/2GSH ratio and the availability of Cu(I); (iii) the active site Cys(23)-xx-Cys(26) in hGrx1 can bind Cu(I) tightly with femtomolar affinity (K(D) = 10(-15.5) M) and possesses a reduction potential of E(o)\u27 = -118 mV at pH 7.0. In contrast, the Cys(12)-xx-Cys(15) motif in Atox1 has a higher affinity for Cu(I) (K(D) = 10(-17.4) M) and a more negative potential (E(o)\u27 = -188 mV). These differences may be attributed primarily to the very low pKa of Cys23 in hGrx1 and allow rationalisation of conclusion (ii) above: hGrx1 may catalyse the oxidation of Atox1(dithiol) by GSSG, but not the complementary reduction of the oxidised Atox1(disulfide) by GSH unless Cu(aq)(+) is present at a concentration that allows binding of Cu(I) to reduced Atox1 but not to hGrx1. In fact, in the latter case, the catalytic preferences are reversed. Both Cys residues in the active site of hGrx1 are essential for the high affinity Cu(I) binding but the single Cys(23) residue only is required for the redox catalytic function. The molecular properties of both Atox1 and hGrx1 are consistent with a correlation between copper homeostasis and redox sulfur chemistry, as suggested by recent cell experiments. These proteins appear to have evolved the features necessary to fill multiple roles in redox regulation, Cu(I) buffering and Cu(I) transport

Observation of B+ -> Dbar*0 tau+ nu_tau and Evidence for B+ -> Dbar^0 tau+ nu_tau at Belle

We present measurements of B+ -> Dbar*0 tau+ nu_tau and B+ -> Dbar^0 tau+ nu_tau decays in a data sample of 657 x 10^6 BBbar pairs collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. We find 446^{+58}_{-56} events of the decay B+ -> Dbar*0 tau+ nu_tau with a significance of 8.1 standard deviations, and 146^{+42}_{-41} events of the decay B+ -> Dbar0 tau+ nu_tau with a significance of 3.5 standard deviations. The latter signal provides the first evidence for this decay mode. The measured branching fractions are B(B+ -> Dbar*0 tau+ nu_tau)=(2.12^{+0.28}_{-0.27} (stat) +- 0.29 (syst)) % and B(B+ -> Dbar0 tau+ nu_tau)=(0.77 +- 0.22 (stat) +- 0.12 (syst)) %.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Measurement of Inclusive Radiative B-meson Decays with a Photon Energy Threshold of 1.7 GeV

Using 605/fb of data collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance we present a measurement of the inclusive radiative B-meson decay channel, B to X_s gamma. For the lower photon energy thresholds of 1.7, 1.8, 1.9 and 2.0GeV, as defined in the rest frame of the B-meson, we measure the partial branching fraction and the mean and variance of the photon energy spectrum. At the 1.7GeV threshold we obtain the partial branching fraction BF(B to X_s gamma) = (3.45 +/- 0.15 +/- 0.40) x 10^-4, where the errors are statistical and systematic.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

Measurements of Charmless Hadronic b->s Penguin Decays in the pi+pi-K+pi- Final State and First Observation of B0 -> rho0K+pi-

We report measurements of charmless hadronic B^0 decays into the pi+pi-K+pi+ final state. The analysis uses a sample of 657x10^6 BBbar pairs collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at the Y(4S) resonance. The decay B^0 -> rho0 Kpi is observed for the first time; the significance is 5.0sigma and the corresponding partial branching fraction for M_Kpi in (0.75,1.20) GeV/c^2 is [2.8 +- 0.5(stat) +-0.5(syst)] x 10^{-6}. We also obtain the first evidence for B^0 -> f0Kpi with 3.5sigma significance and for B^0 -> pi+pi-K*0 with 4.5sigma significance. For the two-body decays B^0 -> rho0K*0 and B^0 -> f0K*0, the significances are 2.7sigma and 2.5sigma, respectively, and the upper limits on the branching fractions are 3.4x10^{-6} and 2.2x10^{-6} at 90% confidence level.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. accepted by PRD(RC

Measurement Of |V_ub| From Inclusive Charmless Semileptonic B Decays

We present the partial branching fraction for inclusive charmless semileptonic B decays and the corresponding value of the CKM matrix element |Vub|, using a multivariate analysis method to access ~90% of the B -> Xu l nu phase space. This approach dramatically reduces the theoretical uncertainties from the b-quark mass and non-perturbative QCD compared to all previous inclusive measurements. The results are based on a sample of 657 million B -Bbar pairs collected with the Belle detector. We find that Delta BR(B -> Xu l nu; p^*B_l>1.0 GeV/c=1.963 x (1 +/- 0.088(stat.) +/- 0.081(sys.)) x 10^-3. Corresponding values of |Vub| are extracted using several theoretical calculations.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables. Published in PR

Search for the X(1812) in B±→K±ωϕB^{\pm} \to K^{\pm} \omega \phi

We report on a search for the X(1812) state in the decay $B^{\pm} \to K^{\pm} \omega \phi$ with a data sample of $657\times10^6$ $B\bar{B}$ pairs collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^+e^-$ collider. No significant signal is observed. An upper limit ${\cal B}(B^{\pm} \to K^{\pm} X(1812),X(1812) \to \omega \phi)<3.2\times 10^{-7}$ (90% C.L.) is determined. We also constrain the three-body decay branching fraction to be ${\cal B}(B^{\pm} \to K^{\pm} \omega \phi)$ $<$ 1.9 $\times 10^{-6}$ (90% C.L.).Comment: 5pages,2 figures(3 figure files). submitted to PRD(RC

Search for Lepton Flavor and Lepton Number Violating tau Decays into a Lepton and Two Charged Mesons

We search for lepton flavor and lepton number violating tau decays into a lepton (ell = electron or muon) and two charged mesons (h,h' = pi^\pm or K^\pm), tau- -> ell-h+h'- and tau- -> ell+h-h'-, using 671 fb^{-1} of data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. We obtain 90% C.L. upper limits on the branching fractions in the range (4.4-8.8)x10^{-8} for tau -> ehh', and (3.3-16)x10^{-8} for tau -> muhh' processes. These results improve upon previously published upper limits by factors between 1.6 to 8.8.Comment: 15 page, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.

Measurement of CP violating asymmetries in B^0 -> K^+K^- K^0_S decays with a time-dependent Dalitz approach

We report a measurement of $CP$ violating asymmetries in $B^0(\overline{B}^0) \to K^+ K^- K^0_S$ decays with a time-dependent Dalitz approach. This analysis is based on a data sample of $657\times 10^6$ $B\overline{B}$ pairs accumulated at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider. As the result of an unbinned maximum likelihood fit to the selected candidates, the mixing-induced and direct $CP$ violation parameters, $\phi^{\rm eff}_1$ and ${\cal A}_{CP}$ are obtained for $B^0 \to \phi(1020) K^0_S$, $B^0 \to f_0(980) K^0_S$ and other $B^0 \to K^+ K^- K^0_S$ decays. We find four solutions that describe the data. There are \{eqnarray*} \phi_1^{\rm eff}(B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S) & = & (32.2 \pm 9.0 \pm 2.6 \pm 1.4)^{\circ}; \phi_1^{\rm eff}(B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S) & = & (26.2 \pm 8.8 \pm 2.7 \pm 1.2)^{\circ};\\ \phi_1^{\rm eff}(B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S) & = & (27.3 \pm 8.6 \pm 2.8 \pm 1.3)^{\circ}\; {\rm and}\\ \phi_1^{\rm eff}(B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S) & = & (24.3 \pm 8.0 \pm 2.9 \pm 5.2)^{\circ}.{eqnarray*}\ The values for the $CP$ violating phase in $B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S$ are similar but other properties of the Dalitz plot are quite different for the four solutions. These four solutions have consistent $\phi^{\rm eff}_1$ values for all three $B$ meson decay channels and none of them deviates significantly from the values measured in $B \to (c\bar{c}) K^0$ decays with the currently available statistics. In addition, we find no significant direct $CP$ violation.Comment: submitted to PR

Measurement of CP asymmetries in B0→K0π0B^0 \to K^0\pi^0 decays

We report measurements of CP violation parameters in $B^0 \to K^0 \pi^0$ decays based on a data sample of $657 \times 10^6 B\bar{B}$ pairs collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^+ e^-$ asymmetric-energy collider. We use $B^0 \to K^0_S \pi^0$ decays for both mixing-induced and direct $CP$ violating asymmetry measurements and $B^0 \to K^0_L \pi^0$ decays for the direct CP violation measurement. The CP violation parameters obtained are $\sin 2 \phi_1^{\rm eff} = +0.67 \pm 0.31{(stat)} \pm 0.08 {(syst)}$ and $\mathcal{A}_{K^0 \pi^0} = +0.14 \pm 0.13{(stat)} \pm 0.06 {(syst)}$. The branching fraction of $B^0 \to K^0 \pi^0$ decay is measured to be $\mathcal{B}(B^0 \to K^0 \pi^0) = (8.7\pm0.5 (\rm{stat.})\pm0.6 (\rm{syst.}))\times 10^{-6}$. The observed $\mathcal{A}_{K^0 \pi^0}$ value differs by 1.9 standard deviations from the value expected from an isospin sum rule.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure