1,858 research outputs found
Evolution favors protein mutational robustness in sufficiently large populations
BACKGROUND: An important question is whether evolution favors properties such
as mutational robustness or evolvability that do not directly benefit any
individual, but can influence the course of future evolution. Functionally
similar proteins can differ substantially in their robustness to mutations and
capacity to evolve new functions, but it has remained unclear whether any of
these differences might be due to evolutionary selection for these properties.
RESULTS: Here we use laboratory experiments to demonstrate that evolution
favors protein mutational robustness if the evolving population is sufficiently
large. We neutrally evolve cytochrome P450 proteins under identical selection
pressures and mutation rates in populations of different sizes, and show that
proteins from the larger and thus more polymorphic population tend towards
higher mutational robustness. Proteins from the larger population also evolve
greater stability, a biophysical property that is known to enhance both
mutational robustness and evolvability. The excess mutational robustness and
stability is well described by existing mathematical theories, and can be
quantitatively related to the way that the proteins occupy their neutral
network.
CONCLUSIONS: Our work is the first experimental demonstration of the general
tendency of evolution to favor mutational robustness and protein stability in
highly polymorphic populations. We suggest that this phenomenon may contribute
to the mutational robustness and evolvability of viruses and bacteria that
exist in large populations
Characterisation of feline renal cortical fibroblast cultures and their transcriptional response to transforming growth factor beta 1
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common in geriatric cats, and the most prevalent pathology is chronic tubulointerstitial inflammation and fibrosis. The cell type predominantly responsible for the production of extra-cellular matrix in renal fibrosis is the myofibroblast, and fibroblast to myofibroblast differentiation is probably a crucial event. The cytokine TGF-β1 is reportedly the most important regulator of myofibroblastic differentiation in other species. The aim of this study was to isolate and characterise renal fibroblasts from cadaverous kidney tissue of cats with and without CKD, and to investigate the transcriptional response to TGF-β1
Three little pieces for computer and relativity
Numerical relativity has made big strides over the last decade. A number of
problems that have plagued the field for years have now been mostly solved.
This progress has transformed numerical relativity into a powerful tool to
explore fundamental problems in physics and astrophysics, and I present here
three representative examples. These "three little pieces" reflect a personal
choice and describe work that I am particularly familiar with. However, many
more examples could be made.Comment: 42 pages, 11 figures. Plenary talk at "Relativity and Gravitation:
100 Years after Einstein in Prague", June 25 - 29, 2012, Prague, Czech
Republic. To appear in the Proceedings (Edition Open Access). Collects
results appeared in journal articles [72,73, 122-124
Methods for specifying the target difference in a randomised controlled trial : the Difference ELicitation in TriAls (DELTA) systematic review
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Improved Measurement of the Pseudoscalar Decay Constant
We present a new determination of the Ds decay constant, f_{Ds} using 5
million continuum charm events obtained with the CLEO II detector. Our value is
derived from our new measured ratio of widths for Ds -> mu nu/Ds -> phi pi of
0.173+/- 0.021 +/- 0.031. Taking the branching ratio for Ds -> phi pi as (3.6
+/- 0.9)% from the PDG, we extract f_{Ds} = (280 +/- 17 +/- 25 +/- 34){MeV}. We
compare this result with various model calculations.Comment: 23 page postscript file, postscript file also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
First Observation of and Decays
We have observed new channels for decays with an in the final
state. We study 3-prong tau decays, using the and
\eta\to 3\piz decay modes and 1-prong decays with two \piz's using the
channel. The measured branching fractions are
\B(\tau^{-}\to \pi^{-}\pi^{-}\pi^{+}\eta\nu_{\tau})
=(3.4^{+0.6}_{-0.5}\pm0.6)\times10^{-4} and \B(\tau^{-}\to
\pi^{-}2\piz\eta\nu_{\tau}
=(1.4\pm0.6\pm0.3)\times10^{-4}. We observe clear evidence for
substructure and measure \B(\tau^{-}\to
f_1\pi^{-}\nu_{\tau})=(5.8^{+1.4}_{-1.3}\pm1.8)\times10^{-4}. We have also
searched for production and obtain 90% CL upper limits
\B(\tau^{-}\to \pi^{-}\eta'\nu_\tau)<7.4\times10^{-5} and \B(\tau^{-}\to
\pi^{-}\piz\eta'\nu_\tau)<8.0\times10^{-5}.Comment: 11 page postscript file, postscript file also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
Search for the Decays B^0 -> D^{(*)+} D^{(*)-}
Using the CLEO-II data set we have searched for the Cabibbo-suppressed decays
B^0 -> D^{(*)+} D^{(*)-}. For the decay B^0 -> D^{*+} D^{*-}, we observe one
candidate signal event, with an expected background of 0.022 +/- 0.011 events.
This yield corresponds to a branching fraction of Br(B^0 -> D^{*+} D^{*-}) =
(5.3^{+7.1}_{-3.7}(stat) +/- 1.0(syst)) x 10^{-4} and an upper limit of Br(B^0
-> D^{*+} D^{*-}) D^{*\pm} D^\mp and
B^0 -> D^+ D^-, no significant excess of signal above the expected background
level is seen, and we calculate the 90% CL upper limits on the branching
fractions to be Br(B^0 -> D^{*\pm} D^\mp) D^+
D^-) < 1.2 x 10^{-3}.Comment: 12 page postscript file also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Production in Two-Photon Interactions at CLEO
Using the CLEO detector at the Cornell storage ring, CESR, we study
the two-photon production of , making the first
observation of . We present the
cross-section for as a function of
the center of mass energy and compare it to that predicted by
the quark-diquark model.Comment: 10 pages, postscript file also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
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