Amphiphilic blockers punch through a mutant CLC-0 pore.

Intracellularly applied amphiphilic molecules, such as p-chlorophenoxy acetate (CPA) and octanoate, block various pore-open mutants of CLC-0. The voltage-dependent block of a particular pore-open mutant, E166G, was found to be multiphasic. In symmetrical 140 mM Cl(-), the apparent affinity of the blocker in this mutant increased with a negative membrane potential but, paradoxically, decreased when the negative membrane potential was greater than -80 mV, a phenomenon similar to the blocker "punch-through" shown in many blocker studies of cation channels. To provide further evidence of the punch-through of CPA and octanoate, we studied the dissociation rate of the blocker from the pore by measuring the time constant of relief from the block under various voltage and ionic conditions. Consistent with the voltage dependence of the effect on the steady-state current, the rate of CPA dissociation from the E166G pore reached a minimum at -80 mV in symmetrical 140 mM Cl(-), and the direction of current recovery suggested that the bound CPA in the pore can dissociate into both intracellular and extracellular solutions. Moreover, the CPA dissociation depends upon the Cl(-) reversal potential with a minimal dissociation rate at a voltage 80 mV more negative than the Cl(-) reversal potential. That the shift of the CPA-dissociation rate follows the Cl(-) gradient across the membrane argues that these blockers can indeed punch through the channel pore. Furthermore, a minimal CPA-dissociation rate at a voltage 80 mV more negative than the Cl(-) reversal potential suggests that the outward blocker movement through the CLC-0 pore is more difficult than the inward movement

The inertia of weighted unicyclic graphs

Let $G_w$ be a weighted graph. The \textit{inertia} of $G_w$ is the triple $In(G_w)=\big(i_+(G_w),i_-(G_w),$ $i_0(G_w)\big)$, where $i_+(G_w),i_-(G_w),i_0(G_w)$ are the number of the positive, negative and zero eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix $A(G_w)$ of $G_w$ including their multiplicities, respectively. $i_+(G_w)$, $i_-(G_w)$ is called the \textit{positive, negative index of inertia} of $G_w$, respectively. In this paper we present a lower bound for the positive, negative index of weighted unicyclic graphs of order $n$ with fixed girth and characterize all weighted unicyclic graphs attaining this lower bound. Moreover, we characterize the weighted unicyclic graphs of order $n$ with two positive, two negative and at least $n-6$ zero eigenvalues, respectively.Comment: 23 pages, 8figure

Enhanced Ethanol Production of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Induced by Cold Plasma at Atmospheric Air Pressure

In this study, cold plasma at atmospheric pressure, as a novel approach of bioprocess intensification, was used to induce yeast for the improvement of ethanol production. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the discharge-associated parameters of cold plasma for the purpose of maximizing the ethanol yield achieved by cold plasma-treated S. cerevisiae. The resulting yield of ethanol reached to 0.48 g g−1 under optimized parameters of plasma exposure time of 1 min, power voltage of 26 V, and an exposed sample volume of 9 mL, which represented an increase of 33% over control. Compared with non-exposed cells, cells exposed with plasma for 1 min presented a notable increment in cytoplasmic free Ca2+, when these exposed cells showed the significant increase in membrane potential. At the same time, ATP level decreased by about 40%, resulting in about 60% reduction in NADH. Taken together, these data suggested that the mechanism that air cold plasma raised plasma membrane potential, which led to increases in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration. Furthermore, the cofactor metabolism, such as ATP and NADH, was subjected to regulation that was mediated by Ca2+, ultimately improving yeast productivity. This may have a underlying and broad utilization in enhancing bioconversion capability of microbe in the next few years

SU(3) trimer resonating-valence-bond state on the square lattice

We propose and study an SU(3) trimer resonating-valence-bond (tRVB) state with $C_{4v}$ point-group symmetry on the square lattice. By devising a projected entangled-pair state representation, we show that all (connected) correlation functions between local operators in this SU(3) tRVB state decay exponentially, indicating its gapped nature. We further calculate the modular $S$ and $T$ matrices by constructing all nine topological sectors on a torus and establish the existence of $\mathbb{Z}_3$ topological order in this SU(3) tRVB state.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure