Catalytic RNA and synthesis of the peptide bond

We are studying whether the L-19 IVS ribozyme from Tetrahymena thermophila can catalyze the formation of the peptide bond when it is supplied with synthetic aminoacyl oligonucleotides. If this reaction works, it could give us some insight into the mechanism of peptide bond formation and the origin of coded protein synthesis. Two short oligoribonucleotides, CCCCC and a protected form of CCCCU were prepared; the former was made by the controlled hydrolysis of Poly(C), and the later by multistep chemical synthesis from the protected monomers. The homopentamer was then aminocylated using C-14 labelled Boc-protected glycine imidazolide. This aminoacylated oligo-nucleotide has now been shown to enter the active site of the L-19 IVS, and aminoacyl transfer, and peptide bond formation reactions are being sought. Our synthesis of CCCCU made us aware of the inadequacy of many of the 2'- hydroxyl protecting groups that are in use today and we therefore designed a new 2'- protecting group that is presently being tested

A new metric for rotating charged Gauss-Bonnet black holes in AdS spaces

This paper presents a new metric for slowly rotating charged Gauss-Bonnet black holes in higher dimensional anti-de Sitter spaces. Taking the angular momentum parameter $a$ up to second order, the slowly rotating charged black hole solutions are obtained by working directly in the action.Comment: 11 pages and accepted by Chin. Phys.

The Effect of Tube Geometry on the Chiral Plasma

A chiral plasma plume has recently been reported inside a circular quartz tube without the use of an external magnetic field. It is believed that the quartz tube plays an important role in the formation of the chiral plasma plume. In this paper, to better understand how this interesting structure is generated, the effect of the tube geometry on the chiral plasma is investigated. First, the effect of the thickness of the tube wall on the chiral plasma is investigated. It is interesting to find that a too thin or too thick tube wall is not favorable for generating the chiral plasma. The chiral plasma plume can be obtained only at the tube wall thickness of 2 mm. Second, the effect of the diameter of the tube on the chiral plasma is investigated. It is found that, when a tube with an inner diameter of 2 mm is connected with a tube with an inner diameter of 4 mm and the high voltage electrode is placed in the tube with an inner diameter of 2 mm, a diffuse plasma is generated in the tube with an inner diameter of 2 mm, it propagates into the tube with an inner diameter of 4 mm, and a chiral plasma can be obtained at a distance of about 2 cm away from the joint of the two tubes. Third, to further understand how the tube diameter affects the appearance of the chiral plasma, horn shaped tubes with different opening angles are tested. It is found that, when the opening angle is 5°, the chiral plasma formation in the straight part of the tube can maintain the chiral shape and keep propagating in the horn shaped tube but with a much longer pitch. Fourth, to disrupt the axial symmetry, square quartz tubes are used. No chiral plasma can be obtained in the square quartz tubes under all experimental conditions. In addition, when a circular quartz tube is connected with a square tube, the chiral plasma formation in the circular quartz tube changes to a straight plasma plume in the square tube. Finally, the high voltage electrode is placed away from the center of the circular tube to disrupt its symmetry, and it is found that the chiral plasma plume can always be seen even if the high voltage is placed next to the inner wall of the tube

Vector magnetic field sensing by single nitrogen vacancy center in diamond

In this Letter, we proposed and experimentally demonstrated a method to detect vector magnetic field with a single nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond. The magnetic field in parallel with the axis of the NV center can be obtained by detecting the electron Zeeman shift, while the Larmor precession of an ancillary nuclear spin close to the NV center can be used to measure the field perpendicular to the axis. Experimentally, both the Zeeman shift and Larmor precession can be measured through the fluorescence from the NV center. By applying additional calibrated magnetic fields, complete information of the vector magnetic field can be achieved with such a method. This vector magnetic field detection method is insensitive to temperature fluctuation and it can be applied to nanoscale magnetic measurement.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Optoelectronic oscillator for 5G wireless networks and beyond

With the development of 5G wireless network and beyond, the wireless carrier frequency will definitely reach millimeter-wave (mm-wave) and even terahertz (THz). As one of the key elements in wireless networks, the local oscillator (LO) needs to operate at mm-wave and THz band with lower phase noise, which becomes a major challenge for commercial LOs. In this article, we investigate the recent developments of the electronic integrated circuit (EIC) oscillator and the optoelectronic oscillator (OEO), and especially investigate the prospect of OEO serving as a qualified LO in the 5G wireless network and beyond. Both the EIC oscillators and OEOs are investigated, including their basic theories of operation, representative techniques and some milestones in applications. Then, we compare the performances between the EIC oscillators and the OEOs in terms of frequency accuracy, phase noise, power consumption and cost. After describing the specific requirements of LO based on the standard of 5G and 6G wireless communication systems, we introduce an injection-locked OEO architecture which can be implemented to distribute and synchronize LOs. The OEO has better phase noise performance at high frequency, which is greatly desired for LO in 5G wireless network and beyond. Besides, the OEO provides an easy and low-loss method to distribute and synchronize mm-wave and THz LOs. Thanks to photonic integrated circuit development, the power consumption and cost of OEO reduce gradually. It is foreseeable that the integrated OEO with lower cost may have a promising prospect in the 5G wireless network and beyond

Spin correlated interferometry for polarized and unpolarized photons on a beam splitter

Spin interferometry of the 4th order for independent polarized as well as unpolarized photons arriving simultaneously at a beam splitter and exhibiting spin correlation while leaving it, is formulated and discussed in the quantum approach. Beam splitter is recognized as a source of genuine singlet photon states. Also, typical nonclassical beating between photons taking part in the interference of the 4th order is given a polarization dependent explanation.Comment: RevTeX, 19 pages, 1 ps figure, author web page at http://m3k.grad.hr/pavici

Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation of Corn Straw to Lactic Acid

The utilization of corn straw to produce lactic acid could largely save the resource as well as decrease the amount of agricultural waste. In this study, orthogonal experimental design was adopted to investigate the optimum conditions for cellulase production from corn straw, and then the cellulase was further used to produce lactic acid through simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process. (NH4)2SO4 and Tween 80 were also used to test their effects on lactic acid production. The optimum conditions were determined as follows: solid-to-liquid ratio was ζ = 1 : 3, pH of the substrate mixture was 4.5, inoculum size of Trichoderma koningii was G = 12 % (v/m), fermentation time was t = 84 h. Corresponding maximum cellulase of H = 2630.3 U g–1 straw was achieved. With the produced cellulase added, the maximum lactic acid concentration of γ = 20.2 g L–1 could be achieved inoculated with lactic acid bacteria T50 at θ = 45 °C. As compared with control (non-addition), addition of w = 2 % (NH4)2SO4 could increase the lactic acid by 3.6 %, while addition of Tween 80 could shorten the fermentation time from t = 108 h to t = 72 h. The result indicated that utilization of corn straw as substrate to produce cellulase and lactic acid was applicable and could reduce pollution, thus this was worth investigating further

The complexity of gene expression dynamics revealed by permutation entropy

Background: High complexity is considered a hallmark of living systems. Here we investigate the complexity of temporal gene expression patterns using the concept of Permutation Entropy (PE) first introduced in dynamical systems theory. The analysis of gene expression data has so far focused primarily on the identification of differentially expressed genes, or on the elucidation of pathway and regulatory relationships. We aim to study gene expression time series data from the viewpoint of complexity.Results: Applying the PE complexity metric to abiotic stress response time series data in Arabidopsis thaliana, genes involved in stress response and signaling were found to be associated with the highest complexity not only under stress, but surprisingly, also under reference, non-stress conditions. Genes with house-keeping functions exhibited lower PE complexity. Compared to reference conditions, the PE of temporal gene expression patterns generally increased upon stress exposure. High-complexity genes were found to have longer upstream intergenic regions and more cis-regulatory motifs in their promoter regions indicative of a more complex regulatory apparatus needed to orchestrate their expression, and to be associated with higher correlation network connectivity degree. Arabidopsis genes also present in other plant species were observed to exhibit decreased PE complexity compared to Arabidopsis specific genes.Conclusions: We show that Permutation Entropy is a simple yet robust and powerful approach to identify temporal gene expression profiles of varying complexity that is equally applicable to other types of molecular profile data