644 research outputs found
Meiotic sex chromosome cohesion and autosomal synapsis are supported by Esco2.
In mitotic cells, establishment of sister chromatid cohesion requires acetylation of the cohesin subunit SMC3 (acSMC3) by ESCO1 and/or ESCO2. Meiotic cohesin plays additional but poorly understood roles in the formation of chromosome axial elements (AEs) and synaptonemal complexes. Here, we show that levels of ESCO2, acSMC3, and the pro-cohesion factor sororin increase on meiotic chromosomes as homologs synapse. These proteins are less abundant on the largely unsynapsed sex chromosomes, whose sister chromatid cohesion appears weaker throughout the meiotic prophase. Using three distinct conditional Esco2 knockout mouse strains, we demonstrate that ESCO2 is essential for male gametogenesis. Partial depletion of ESCO2 in prophase I spermatocytes delays chromosome synapsis and further weakens cohesion along sex chromosomes, which show extensive separation of AEs into single chromatids. Unsynapsed regions of autosomes are associated with the sex chromatin and also display split AEs. This study provides the first evidence for a specific role of ESCO2 in mammalian meiosis, identifies a particular ESCO2 dependence of sex chromosome cohesion and suggests support of autosomal synapsis by acSMC3-stabilized cohesion
Topological Modes in Dual Lattice Models
Lattice gauge theory with gauge group is reconsidered in four
dimensions on a simplicial complex . One finds that the dual theory,
formulated on the dual block complex , contains topological modes
which are in correspondence with the cohomology group ,
in addition to the usual dynamical link variables. This is a general phenomenon
in all models with single plaquette based actions; the action of the dual
theory becomes twisted with a field representing the above cohomology class. A
similar observation is made about the dual version of the three dimensional
Ising model. The importance of distinct topological sectors is confirmed
numerically in the two dimensional Ising model where they are parameterized by
.Comment: 10 pages, DIAS 94-3
Mixing Effects in the Crystallization of Supercooled Quantum Binary Liquids
By means of Raman spectroscopy of liquid microjets we have investigated the
crystallization process of supercooled quantum liquid mixtures composed of
parahydrogen (pH) diluted with small amounts of up to 5\% of either neon or
orthodeuterium (oD), and of oD diluted with either Ne or pH. We
show that the introduction of Ne impurities affects the crystallization
kinetics in both the pH-Ne and oD-Ne mixtures in terms of a significant
reduction of the crystal growth rate, similarly to what found in our previous
work on supercooled pH-oD liquid mixtures [M. K\"uhnel et {\it al.},
Phys. Rev. B \textbf{89}, 180506(R) (2014)]. Our experimental results, in
combination with path-integral simulations of the supercooled liquid mixtures,
suggest in particular a correlation between the measured growth rates and the
ratio of the effective particle sizes originating from quantum delocalization
effects. We further show that the crystalline structure of the mixture is also
affected to a large extent by the presence of the Ne impurities, which likely
initiate the freezing process through the formation of Ne crystallites.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, submitted to J. Chem. Phy
Structural and functional characterization of the two phosphoinositide binding sites of PROPPINs.
β-propellers that bind polyphosphoinositides (PROPPINs), a eukaryotic WD-40 motif-containing protein family, bind via their predicted β-propeller fold the polyphosphoinositides PtdIns3P and PtdIns(3,5)P2 using a conserved FRRG motif. PROPPINs play a key role in macroautophagy in addition to other functions. We present the 3.0-Å crystal structure of Kluyveromyces lactis Hsv2, which shares significant sequence homologies with its three Saccharomyces cerevisiae homologs Atg18, Atg21, and Hsv2. It adopts a seven-bladed β-propeller fold with a rare nonvelcro propeller closure. Remarkably, in the crystal structure, the two arginines of the FRRG motif are part of two distinct basic pockets formed by a set of highly conserved residues. In comprehensive in vivo and in vitro studies of ScAtg18 and ScHsv2, we define within the two pockets a set of conserved residues essential for normal membrane association, phosphoinositide binding, and biological activities. Our experiments show that PROPPINs contain two individual phosphoinositide binding sites. Based on docking studies, we propose a model for phosphoinositide binding of PROPPINs
Interatomic Coulombic Decay following Photoionization of the Helium Dimer: Observation of Vibrational Structure
Using synchrotron radiation we simultaneously ionize and excite one helium
atom of a helium dimer (He_2) in a shakeup process. The populated states of the
dimer ion (i.e. He^[*+](n = 2; 3)-He) are found to deexcite via interatomic
coulombic decay. This leads to the emission of a second electron from the
neutral site and a subsequent coulomb explosion. In this letter we present a
measurement of the momenta of fragments that are created during this reaction.
The electron energy distribution and the kinetic energy release of the two He^+
ions show pronounced oscillations which we attribute to the structure of the
vibrational wave function of the dimer ion.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Single photon double ionization of the helium dimer
We show that a single photon can ionize the two helium atoms of the helium
dimer in a distance up to 10 {\deg}A. The energy sharing among the electrons,
the angular distributions of the ions and electrons as well as comparison with
electron impact data for helium atoms suggest a knock-off type double
ionization process. The Coulomb explosion imaging of He_2 provides a direct
view of the nuclear wave function of this by far most extended and most diffuse
of all naturally existing molecules.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
A Closed Contour of Integration in Regge Calculus
The analytic structure of the Regge action on a cone in dimensions over a
boundary of arbitrary topology is determined in simplicial minisuperspace. The
minisuperspace is defined by the assignment of a single internal edge length to
all 1-simplices emanating from the cone vertex, and a single boundary edge
length to all 1-simplices lying on the boundary. The Regge action is analyzed
in the space of complex edge lengths, and it is shown that there are three
finite branch points in this complex plane. A closed contour of integration
encircling the branch points is shown to yield a convergent real wave function.
This closed contour can be deformed to a steepest descent contour for all sizes
of the bounding universe. In general, the contour yields an oscillating wave
function for universes of size greater than a critical value which depends on
the topology of the bounding universe. For values less than the critical value
the wave function exhibits exponential behaviour. It is shown that the critical
value is positive for spherical topology in arbitrary dimensions. In three
dimensions we compute the critical value for a boundary universe of arbitrary
genus, while in four and five dimensions we study examples of product manifolds
and connected sums.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, To appear in Gen. Rel. Gra
Formation of phase lags at the cyclotron energies in the pulse profiles of magnetized, accreting neutron stars
Context: Accretion-powered X-ray pulsars show highly energy-dependent and
complex pulse-profile morphologies. Significant deviations from the average
pulse profile can appear, in particular close to the cyclotron line energies.
These deviations can be described as energy-dependent phase lags, that is, as
energy-dependent shifts of main features in the pulse profile. Aims: Using a
numerical study we explore the effect of cyclotron resonant scattering on
observable, energy-resolved pulse profiles. Methods: We generated the
observable emission as a function of spin phase, using Monte Carlo simulations
for cyclotron resonant scattering and a numerical ray-tracing routine
accounting for general relativistic light-bending effects on the intrinsic
emission from the accretion columns. Results: We find strong changes in the
pulse profile coincident with the cyclotron line energies. Features in the
pulse profile vary strongly with respect to the average pulse profile with the
observing geometry and shift and smear out in energy additionally when assuming
a non-static plasma. Conclusions: We demonstrate how phase lags at the
cyclotron energies arise as a consequence of the effects of angular
redistribution of X-rays by cyclotron resonance scattering in a strong magnetic
field combined with relativistic effects. We also show that phase lags are
strongly dependent on the accretion geometry. These intrinsic effects will in
principle allow us to constrain a system's accretion geometry.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; updated reference lis
Triangulations and Severi varieties
We consider the problem of constructing triangulations of projective planes
over Hurwitz algebras with minimal numbers of vertices. We observe that the
numbers of faces of each dimension must be equal to the dimensions of certain
representations of the automorphism groups of the corresponding Severi
varieties. We construct a complex involving these representations, which should
be considered as a geometric version of the (putative) triangulations
Sialic acids on B cells are crucial for their survival and provide protection against apoptosis.
Sialic acids (Sias) on the B cell membrane are involved in cell migration, in the control of the complement system and, as sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectin (Siglec) ligands, in the regulation of cellular signaling. We studied the role of sialoglycans on B cells in a mouse model with B cell-specific deletion of cytidine monophosphate sialic acid synthase (CMAS), the enzyme essential for the synthesis of sialoglycans. Surprisingly, these mice showed a severe B cell deficiency in secondary lymphoid organs. Additional depletion of the complement factor C3 rescued the phenotype only marginally, demonstrating a complement-independent mechanism. The B cell survival receptor BAFF receptor was not up-regulated, and levels of activated caspase 3 and processed caspase 8 were high in B cells of Cmas-deficient mice, indicating ongoing apoptosis. Overexpressed Bcl-2 could not rescue this phenotype, pointing to extrinsic apoptosis. These results show that sialoglycans on the B cell surface are crucial for B cell survival by counteracting several death-inducing pathways
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