131 research outputs found
Adhesive organelles of Gram-negative pathogens assembled with the classical chaperone/usher machinery: structure and function from a clinical standpoint
This review summarizes current knowledge on the structure, function, assembly and biomedical applications of the superfamily of adhesive fimbrial organelles exposed on the surface of Gram-negative pathogens with the classical chaperone/usher machinery. High-resolution three-dimensional (3D) structure studies of the minifibers assembling with the FGL (having a long F1-G1 loop) and FGS (having a short F1-G1 loop) chaperones show that they exploit the same principle of donor-strand complementation for polymerization of subunits. The 3D structure of adhesive subunits bound to host-cell receptors and the final architecture of adhesive fimbrial organelles reveal two functional families of the organelles, respectively, possessing polyadhesive and monoadhesive binding. The FGL and FGS chaperone-assembled polyadhesins are encoded exclusively by the gene clusters of the gamma 3- and kappa-monophyletic groups, respectively, while gene clusters belonging to the gamma 1-, gamma 2-, gamma 4-, and pi-fimbrial clades exclusively encode FGS chaperone-assembled monoadhesins. Novel approaches are suggested for a rational design of antimicrobials inhibiting the organelle assembly or inhibiting their binding to host-cell receptors. Vaccines are currently under development based on the recombinant subunits of adhesins
Initial Conditions for Semiclassical Field Theory
Semiclassical approximation based on extracting a c-number classical
component from quantum field is widely used in the quantum field theory.
Semiclassical states are considered then as Gaussian wave packets in the
functional Schrodinger representation and as Gaussian vectors in the Fock
representation. We consider the problem of divergences and renormalization in
the semiclassical field theory in the Hamiltonian formulation. Although
divergences in quantum field theory are usually associated with loop Feynman
graphs, divergences in the Hamiltonian approach may arise even at the tree
level. For example, formally calculated probability of pair creation in the
leading order of the semiclassical expansion may be divergent. This observation
was interpretted as an argumentation for considering non-unitary evolution
transformations, as well as non-equivalent representations of canonical
commutation relations at different time moments. However, we show that this
difficulty can be overcomed without the assumption about non-unitary evolution.
We consider first the Schrodinger equation for the regularized field theory
with ultraviolet and infrared cutoffs. We study the problem of making a limit
to the local theory. To consider such a limit, one should impose not only the
requirement on the counterterms entering to the quantum Hamiltonian but also
the requirement on the initial state in the theory with cutoffs. We find such a
requirement in the leading order of the semiclassical expansion and show that
it is invariant under time evolution. This requirement is also presented as a
condition on the quadratic form entering to the Gaussian state.Comment: 20 pages, Plain TeX, one postscript figur
Once again on the equivalence theorem
We present the proof of the equivalence theorem in quantum field theory which
is based on a formulation of this problem in the field-antifield formalism. As
an example, we consider a model in which a different choices of natural finite
counterterms is possible, leading to physically non-equivalent quantum theories
while the equivalent theorem remains valid.Comment: 12 pages, LATEX, report number was correcte
Structural Insight into Archaic and Alternative Chaperone-Usher Pathways Reveals a Novel Mechanism of Pilus Biogenesis
AVZ is supported by the Finnish Academy (grants 140959 and 273075; http://sciencenordic.com/partner/academy-finland) and Sigrid Juselius Foundation (grant 2014; www.sigridjuselius.fi/foundation). SMis supported by the Wellcome Trust (Senior Investigator Award 100280, Programme grant 079819; http://www.wellcome.ac.uk) The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
Structure and regulation of a gene cluster involved in capsule formation of Yersinia pestis.
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