7,570 research outputs found
Gating-induced large aqueous volumetric remodeling and aspartate tolerance in the voltage sensor domain of Shaker K+ channels
Indexación: Scopus.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank Chris Lingle and Yu Zhou (Washington University) for critical reading of the manuscript and Victoria Prado for Xenopus care and oocyte preparation. We also thank Millennium Scientific Initiative P029-022-F. This work was supported by Fondecyt Postdoctoral Grants 3170599 (to I.D.-F.) and 3160321 (to H.M.).Neurons encode electrical signals with critically tuned voltage-gated ion channels and enzymes. Dedicated voltage sensor domains (VSDs) in these membrane proteins activate coordinately with an unresolved structural change. Such change conveys the transmembrane translocation of four positively charged arginine side chains, the voltage-sensing residues (VSRs; R1–R4). Countercharges and lipid phosphohead groups likely stabilize these VSRs within the low-dielectric core of the protein. However, the role of hydration, a sign-independent charge stabilizer, remains unclear. We replaced all VSRs and their neighboring residues with negatively charged aspartates in a voltage-gated potassium channel. The ensuing mild functional effects indicate that hydration is also important in VSR stabilization. The voltage dependency of the VSR aspartate variants approached the expected arithmetic summation of charges at VSR positions, as if negative and positive side chains faced similar pathways. In contrast, aspartates introduced between R2 and R3 did not affect voltage dependence as if the side chains moved outside the electric field or together with it, undergoing a large displacement and volumetric remodeling. Accordingly, VSR performed osmotic work at both internal and external aqueous interfaces. Individual VSR contributions to volumetric works approached arithmetical additivity but were largely dissimilar. While R1 and R4 displaced small volumes, R2 and R3 volumetric works were massive and vectorially opposed, favoring large aqueous remodeling during VSD activation. These diverse volumetric works are, at least for R2 and R3, not compatible with VSR translocation across a unique stationary charge transfer center. Instead, VSRs may follow separated pathways across a fluctuating low-dielectric septum. © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.https://www.pnas.org/content/115/32/820
Formation of atom wires on vicinal silicon
The formation of atomic wires via pseudomorphic step-edge decoration on
vicinal silicon surfaces has been analyzed for Ga on the Si(112) surface using
Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Density Functional Theory calculations. Based
on a chemical potential analysis involving more than thirty candidate
structures and considering various fabrication procedures, it is concluded that
pseudomorphic growth on stepped Si(112), both under equilibrium and
non-equilibrium conditions, must favor formation of Ga zig-zag chains rather
than linear atom chains. The surface is non-metallic and presents quasi-one
dimensional character in the lowest conduction band.Comment: submitte
Present and future of the OTELO project
OTELO is an emission-line object survey carried out with the red tunable
filter of the instrument OSIRIS at the GTC, whose aim is to become the deepest
emission-line object survey to date. With 100% of the data of the first
pointing finally obtained in June 2014, we present here some aspects of the
processing of the data and the very first results of the OTELO survey. We also
explain the next steps to be followed in the near future.Comment: Oral contribution presented in the XI Scientific Meeting of the
Spanish Astronomical Society held on September 8-12, in Teruel, Spain (7
pages, 2 figures, 1 table). To appear in Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics
VIII, Proceedings of the XI Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical
Society. Eds. A. J. Cenarro, F. Figueras, C. Hern\'andez-Monteagudo, J.
Trujillo, L. Valdiviels
A dark energy multiverse
We present cosmic solutions corresponding to universes filled with dark and
phantom energy, all having a negative cosmological constant. All such solutions
contain infinite singularities, successively and equally distributed along
time, which can be either big bang/crunchs or big rips singularities.
Classicaly these solutions can be regarded as associated with multiverse
scenarios, being those corresponding to phantom energy that may describe the
current accelerating universe
ÂżExiste simetrĂa en la artrosis vertebral?
X Congreso Nacional de PaleopatologĂa. Univesidad AutĂłnoma de Madrid, septiembre de 200
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