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Invertebrate muscles: thin and thick filament structure; molecular basis of contraction and its regulation, catch and asynchronous muscle
Hooper, Scott L.; Hobbs, Kevin H.; Thuma, Jeffrey B.
This is the second in a series of canonical reviews on invertebrate muscle. We cover here thin and thick filament structure, the molecular basis of force generation and its regulation, and two special properties of some invertebrate muscle, catch and asynchronous muscle. Invertebrate thin filaments resemble vertebrate thin filaments, although helix structure and tropomyosin arrangement show small differences. Invertebrate thick filaments, alternatively, are very different from vertebrate striated thick filaments and show great variation within invertebrates. Part of this diversity stems from variation in paramyosin content, which is greatly increased in very large diameter invertebrate thick filaments. Other of it arises from relatively small changes in filament backbone structure, which results in filaments with grossly similar myosin head placements (rotating crowns of heads every 14.5 nm) but large changes in detail (distances between heads in azimuthal registration varying from three to thousands of crowns). The lever arm basis of force generation is common to both vetebrates and invertebrates, and in some invertebrates this process is understood on the near atomic level. Invertebrate actomyosin is both thin (tropomyosin:troponin) and thick (primarily via direct Ca++ binding to myosin) filament regulated, and most invertebrate muscles are dually regulated. These mechanisms are well understood on the molecular level, but the behavioral utility of dual regulation is less so. The phosphorylation state of the thick filament associated giant protein, twitchin, has been recently shown to be the molecular basis of catch. The molecular basis of the stretch activation underlying asynchronous muscle activity, however, remains unresolved. PMID:18616971
Gravitational infall onto molecular filaments
Heitsch, Fabian
Two aspects of filamentary molecular cloud evolution are addressed: (1) exploring analytically the role of the environment for the evolution of filaments demonstrates that considering them in isolation (i.e., just addressing the fragmentation stability) will result in unphysical conclusions about the filament's properties. Accretion can also explain the observed decorrelation between FWHM and peak column density. (2) Free-fall accretion onto finite filaments can lead to the characteristic 'fans' of infrared-dark clouds around star-forming regions. The fans may form due to tidal forces mostly arising at the ends of the filaments, consistent with numerical models and earlier analytical studies.
Keratin intermediate filament structure. Crosslinking studies yield quantitative information on molecular dimensions and mechanism of assembly.
Steinert, P M; Marekov, L N; Fraser, R D; Parry, D A
One of the major obstacles to solving the full three-dimensional structure of keratin intermediate filaments (KIF) is the determination of the exact mode(s) of alignment of nearest-neighbor molecules; this in turn requires precise information of the lengths of the non-alpha-helical linker segments within the coiled-coil alpha-helical heterodimer molecule. In this study, we have induced lysine-lysine and cysteine-cysteine crosslinks between keratin intermediate filament molecules in small assembly-competent oligomers, isolated them and then characterized the natures and locations of the crosslinks. Of more than 100 found, 21 quantitatively major crosslinks were used to obtain the relative axial alignments of rod domain segments by least-squares fitting methods. Three dominant modes of alignment were found. In each case the molecules are antiparallel with the first involving molecules in approximate register (stagger = -0.2 nm), the second involving molecules staggered so as to bring the 1B segments into approximate alignment (stagger = -16.1 nm), and the third involving molecules staggered so as to bring the 2B segments into approximate alignment (stagger = 28.2 nm). In addition, the data enable quantitative estimates to be made for the first time of the lengths of the non-coiled-coil segments (L1 = 2.5 nm, L12 = 1.6 nm, L2 = 0.8 nm), and the total length of the rod domain (46.0 nm). Alignment of molecules according to these parameters permits construction of a two-dimensional surface lattice which displays a 1.6 nm (10 or 11 residue) overlap between similarly directed molecules. Together, the data predict six important overlapping sequence regions that recur about 16 times per 46 nm of filament length. Interestingly, synthetic peptides corresponding to these sequences, singly or in combination, significantly interfere with keratin filament structural integrity. These results thus represent the most significant set of structural constraints for KIF yet available and
Conservation of the structure of keratin intermediate filaments: molecular mechanism by which different keratin molecules integrate into preexisting keratin intermediate filaments during differentiation.
Steinert, P M; Marekov, L N; Parry, D A
During development and differentiation, the intermediate filament component of the cytoskeleton of many cells and tissues is rebuilt by a dynamic exchange process in which one set of protein chains is replaced by another, without recourse to creation of a new network. One major example is the replacement of keratin 5/keratin 14 (K5/K14) keratin intermediate filaments (KIFs) by K1/K10 KIFs during terminal differentiation in the epidermis. The present work was undertaken to explore how this may occur. We have induced lysine-lysine cross-links with disulfosuccinimidyl tartrate in K5/K14 KIFs in order to determine the axial dimensions and relative axial alignments of the K5/K14 molecules. Many of the cross-links induced in subfilamentous oligomers containing one, two, or three molecules were also found in the intact KIF, indicating that the body of data thus generated provides physiologically relevant information on the structural organization in the KIF. A least-squares analysis using as data the positions of lysine residues involved in 23 induced cross-links has allowed the axial alignments of the various coiled-coil segments in the rod domain to be determined. Three modes of antiparallel alignment of two neighboring molecules were found: A11 (staggered by -16.7 nm), A22 (staggered by 28.8 nm), and A12 (almost in register; staggered by only 0.3 nm). Since the axial repeat length is about 1 nm less than the molecular length, the data require a fourth mode of molecule alignment, termed ACN, in which similarly directed molecules are overlapped by the equivalent of about 5-10 residues.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) PMID:7691168
Probing the Physical Structures of Dense Filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Li, Di
Filament is a common feature in cosmological structures of various scales, ranging from dark matter cosmic web, galaxy clusters, inter-galactic gas flows, to Galactic ISM clouds. Even within cold dense molecular cores, filaments have been detected. Theories and simulations with (or without) different combination of physical principles, including gravity, thermal balance, turbulence, and magnetic field, can reproduce intriguing images of filaments. The ubiquity of filaments and the similarity in simulated ones make physical parameters, beyond dust column density, a necessity for understanding filament evolution. I report three projects attempting to measure physical parameters of filaments. We derive the volume density of a dense Taurus filament based on several cyanoacetylene transitions observed by GBT and ART. We measure the gas temperature of the OMC 2-3 filament based on combined GBT+VLA ammonia images. We also measured the sub-millimeter polarization vectors along OMC3. These filaments were found to be likely a cylinder-type structure, without dynamic heating, and likely accreting mass along the magnetic field lines.
Filament wound structure and method
Dritt, William S.; Gerth, Howard L.; Knight, Jr., Charles E.; Pardue, Robert M.
The present invention relates to a filament wound spherical structure comprising a plurality of filament band sets disposed about the surface of a mandrel with each band of each set formed of a continuous filament circumferentially wound about the mandrel a selected number of circuits and with each circuit of filament being wound parallel to and contiguous with an immediate previously wound circuit. Each filament band in each band set is wound at the same helix angle from the axis of revolution of the mandrel and all of the bands of each set are uniformly distributed about the mandrel circumference. The pole-to-equator wall thickness taper associated with each band set, as several contiguous band sets are wound about the mandrel starting at the poles, is accumulative as the band sets are nested to provide a complete filament wound sphere of essentially uniform thickness.
Filaments in the Lupus molecular clouds
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Benedettini, M.; Schisano, E.; Pezzuto, S.; Elia, D.; André, P.; Könyves, V.; Schneider, N.; Tremblin, P.; Arzoumanian, D.; di Giorgio, A. M.; Di Francesco, J.; Hill, T.; Molinari, S.; Motte, F.; Nguyen-Luong, Q.; Palmeirim, P.; Rivera-Ingraham, A.; Roy, A.; Rygl, K. L. J.; Spinoglio, L.; Ward-Thompson, D.; White, G. J.
We have studied the filaments extracted from the column density maps of the nearby Lupus 1, 3, and 4 molecular clouds, derived from photometric maps observed with the Herschel satellite. Filaments in the Lupus clouds have quite low column densities, with a median value of ˜1.5 × 1021 cm-2 and most have masses per unit length lower than the maximum critical value for radial gravitational collapse. Indeed, no evidence of filament contraction has been seen in the gas kinematics. We find that some filaments, that on average are thermally subcritical, contain dense cores that may eventually form stars. This is an indication that in the low column density regime, the critical condition for the formation of stars may be reached only locally and this condition is not a global property of the filament. Finally, in Lupus we find multiple observational evidences of the key role that the magnetic field plays in forming filaments, and determining their confinement and dynamical evolution.
Takahashi, Satoko; Ho, Paul T. P.; Su, Yu-Nung; Teixeira, Paula S.; Zapata, Luis A.
We present a high angular resolution map of the 850 {mu}m continuum emission of the Orion Molecular Cloud-3 (OMC 3) obtained with the Submillimeter Array (SMA); the map is a mosaic of 85 pointings covering an approximate area of 6.'5 Multiplication-Sign 2.'0 (0.88 Multiplication-Sign 0.27 pc). We detect 12 spatially resolved continuum sources, each with an H{sub 2} mass between 0.3-5.7 M {sub Sun} and a projected source size between 1400-8200 AU. All the detected sources are on the filamentary main ridge (n{sub H{sub 2}}{>=}10{sup 6} cm{sup -3}), and analysis based on the Jeans theorem suggests that they are most likely gravitationally unstable. Comparison of multi-wavelength data sets indicates that of the continuum sources, 6/12 (50%) are associated with molecular outflows, 8/12 (67%) are associated with infrared sources, and 3/12 (25%) are associated with ionized jets. The evolutionary status of these sources ranges from prestellar cores to protostar phase, confirming that OMC-3 is an active region with ongoing embedded star formation. We detect quasi-periodical separations between the OMC-3 sources of Almost-Equal-To 17''/0.035 pc. This spatial distribution is part of a large hierarchical structure that also includes fragmentation scales of giant molecular cloud ( Almost-Equal-To 35 pc), large-scale clumps ( Almost-Equal-To 1.3 pc), and small-scale clumps ( Almost-Equal-To 0.3 pc), suggesting that hierarchical fragmentation operates within the Orion A molecular cloud. The fragmentation spacings are roughly consistent with the thermal fragmentation length in large-scale clumps, while for small-scale cores it is smaller than the local fragmentation length. These smaller spacings observed with the SMA can be explained by either a helical magnetic field, cloud rotation, or/and global filament collapse. Finally, possible evidence for sequential fragmentation is suggested in the northern part of the OMC-3 filament.
13CO filaments in the Taurus molecular cloud
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Panopoulou, G. V.; Tassis, K.; Goldsmith, P. F.; Heyer, M. H.
We have carried out a search for filamentary structures in the Taurus molecular cloud using 13CO line emission data from the Five Colleges Radio Astronomy Observatory survey of ˜100 deg2. We have used the topological analysis tool, Discrete Persistent Structures Extractor (DISPERSE), and post-processed its results to include a more strict definition of filaments that requires an aspect ratio of at least 3:1 and cross-section intensity profiles peaked on the spine of the filament. In the velocity-integrated intensity map only 10 of the hundreds of filamentary structures identified by DISPERSE comply with our criteria. Unlike Herschel analyses, which find a characteristic width for filaments of ˜0.1 pc, we find a much broader distribution of profile widths in our structures, with a peak at 0.4 pc. Furthermore, even if the identified filaments are cylindrical objects, their complicated velocity structure and velocity dispersions imply that they are probably gravitationally unbound. Analysis of velocity channel maps reveals the existence of hundreds of `velocity-coherent' filaments. The distribution of their widths is peaked at lower values (0.2 pc) while the fluctuation of their peak intensities is indicative of stochastic origin. These filaments are suppressed in the integrated intensity map due to the blending of diffuse emission from different velocities. Conversely, integration over velocities can cause filamentary structures to appear. Such apparent filaments can also be traced, using the same methodology, in simple simulated maps consisting of randomly placed cores. They have profile shapes similar to observed filaments and contain most of the simulated cores.
Filament L1482 in the California molecular cloud
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Li, D. L.; Esimbek, J.; Zhou, J. J.; Lou, Y.-Q.; Wu, G.; Tang, X. D.; He, Y. X.
compared with that in the Orion molecular cloud based on the mass-radius threshold derived from the static Bonnor-Ebert sphere. The largely uniform 12CO J = 2 - 1 line-of-sight velocities along the L1482 molecular cloud shows that it is a generally coherent filamentary structure. Since the NGC 1579 stellar cluster is at the junction of two molecular filaments, the origin of the NGC 1579 stellar cluster might be merging molecular filaments fed by converging inflows. Our analysis suggests that these molecular filaments are thermally supercritical and molecular clumps may form by gravitational fragmentation along the filament. Instead of being static, these molecular clumps are most likely in processes of dynamic evolution. Appendix A is available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
Fernández-López, M.; Looney, L.; Lee, K.; Segura-Cox, D.; Arce, H. G.; Plunkett, A.; Mundy, L. G.; Storm, S.; Teuben, P. J.; Pound, M.; Isella, A.; Kauffmann, J.; Tobin, J. J.; Rosolowsky, E.; Kwon, W.; Ostriker, E.; Tassis, K.; Shirley, Y. L.
We present the N{sub 2}H{sup +} (J = 1 → 0) map of the Serpens South molecular cloud obtained as part of the CARMA Large Area Star Formation Survey. The observations cover 250 arcmin{sup 2} and fully sample structures from 3000 AU to 3 pc with a velocity resolution of 0.16 km s{sup –1}, and they can be used to constrain the origin and evolution of molecular cloud filaments. The spatial distribution of the N{sub 2}H{sup +} emission is characterized by long filaments that resemble those observed in the dust continuum emission by Herschel. However, the gas filaments are typically narrower such that, in some cases, two or three quasi-parallel N{sub 2}H{sup +} filaments comprise a single observed dust continuum filament. The difference between the dust and gas filament widths casts doubt on Herschel ability to resolve the Serpens South filaments. Some molecular filaments show velocity gradients along their major axis, and two are characterized by a steep velocity gradient in the direction perpendicular to the filament axis. The observed velocity gradient along one of these filaments was previously postulated as evidence for mass infall toward the central cluster, but these kind of gradients can be interpreted as projection of large-scale turbulence.
Filaments in simulations of molecular cloud formation
Gómez, Gilberto C.; Vázquez-Semadeni, Enrique
We report on the filaments that develop self-consistently in a new numerical simulation of cloud formation by colliding flows. As in previous studies, the forming cloud begins to undergo gravitational collapse because it rapidly acquires a mass much larger than the average Jeans mass. Thus, the collapse soon becomes nearly pressureless, proceeding along its shortest dimension first. This naturally produces filaments in the cloud and clumps within the filaments. The filaments are not in equilibrium at any time, but instead are long-lived flow features through which the gas flows from the cloud to the clumps. The filaments are long-lived because they accrete from their environment while simultaneously accreting onto the clumps within them; they are essentially the locus where the flow changes from accreting in two dimensions to accreting in one dimension. Moreover, the clumps also exhibit a hierarchical nature: the gas in a filament flows onto a main, central clump but other, smaller-scale clumps form along the infalling gas. Correspondingly, the velocity along the filament exhibits a hierarchy of jumps at the locations of the clumps. Two prominent filaments in the simulation have lengths ∼15 pc and masses ∼600 M {sub ☉} above density n ∼ 10{sup 3} cm{sup –3} (∼2 × 10{sup 3} M {sub ☉} at n > 50 cm{sup –3}). The density profile exhibits a central flattened core of size ∼0.3 pc and an envelope that decays as r {sup –2.5} in reasonable agreement with observations. Accretion onto the filament reaches a maximum linear density rate of ∼30 M {sub ☉} Myr{sup –1} pc{sup –1}.
Structure of Flexible Filamentous Plant Viruses
Kendall, Amy; McDonald, Michele; Bian, Wen; Bowles, Timothy; Baumgarten, Sarah C.; Shi, Jian; Stewart, Phoebe L.; Bullitt, Esther; Gore, David; Irving, Thomas C.; Havens, Wendy M.; Ghabrial, Said A.; Wall, Joseph S.; Stubbs, Gerald
Flexible filamentous viruses make up a large fraction of the known plant viruses, but in comparison with those of other viruses, very little is known about their structures. We have used fiber diffraction, cryo-electron microscopy, and scanning transmission electron microscopy to determine the symmetry of a potyvirus, soybean mosaic virus; to confirm the symmetry of a potexvirus, potato virus X; and to determine the low-resolution structures of both viruses. We conclude that these viruses and, by implication, most or all flexible filamentous plant viruses share a common coat protein fold and helical symmetry, with slightly less than 9 subunits per helical turn.
Structural Basis of Actin Filament Nucleation by Tandem W Domains
Chen, Xiaorui; Ni, Fengyun; Tian, Xia; Kondrashkina, Elena; Wang, Qinghua; Ma, Jianpeng
SUMMARY Spontaneous nucleation of actin is very inefficient in cells. To overcome this barrier, cells have evolved a set of actin filament nucleators to promote rapid nucleation and polymerization in response to specific stimuli. However, the molecular mechanism of actin nucleation remains poorly understood. This is hindered largely by the fact that actin nucleus, once formed, rapidly polymerizes into filament, thus making it impossible to capture stable multisubunit actin nucleus. Here, we report an effective double-mutant strategy to stabilize actin nucleus by preventing further polymerization. Employing this strategy, we solved the crystal structure of AMPPNP-actin in complex with the first two tandem W domains of Cordon-bleu (Cobl), a potent actin filament nucleator. Further sequence comparison and functional studies suggest that the nucleation mechanism of Cobl is probably shared by the p53 cofactor JMY, but not Spire. Moreover, the double-mutant strategy opens the way for atomic mechanistic study of actin nucleation and polymerization. PMID:23727244
ALMA observations of cold molecular gas filaments trailing rising radio bubbles in PKS 0745-191
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Russell, H. R.; McNamara, B. R.; Fabian, A. C.; Nulsen, P. E. J.; Edge, A. C.; Combes, F.; Murray, N. W.; Parrish, I. J.; Salomé, P.; Sanders, J. S.; Baum, S. A.; Donahue, M.; Main, R. A.; O'Connell, R. W.; O'Dea, C. P.; Oonk, J. B. R.; Tremblay, G.; Vantyghem, A. N.; Voit, G. M.
We present ALMA observations of the CO(1-0) and CO(3-2) line emission tracing filaments of cold molecular gas in the central galaxy of the cluster PKS 0745-191. The total molecular gas mass of 4.6± 0.3× 109 M_{⊙}, assuming a Galactic XCO factor, is divided roughly equally between three filaments each extending radially 3-5 kpc from the galaxy centre. The emission peak is located in the SE filament ˜ 1 arcsec (2 kpc) from the nucleus. The velocities of the molecular clouds in the filaments are low, lying within ± 100 { km s^{-1}} of the galaxy's systemic velocity. Their full width at half-maximum (FWHM) are less than 150 { km s^{-1},} which is significantly below the stellar velocity dispersion. Although the molecular mass of each filament is comparable to a rich spiral galaxy, such low velocities show that the filaments are transient and the clouds would disperse on < 107 yr time-scales unless supported, likely by the indirect effect of magnetic fields. The velocity structure is inconsistent with a merger origin or gravitational free-fall of cooling gas in this massive central galaxy. If the molecular clouds originated in gas cooling even a few kpc from their current locations their velocities would exceed those observed. Instead, the projection of the N and SE filaments underneath X-ray cavities suggests they formed in the updraft behind bubbles buoyantly rising through the cluster atmosphere. Direct uplift of the dense gas by the radio bubbles appears to require an implausibly high coupling efficiency. The filaments are coincident with low temperature X-ray gas, bright optical line emission and dust lanes indicating that the molecular gas could have formed from lifted warmer gas that cooled in situ.
Structure and mechanical properties of liquid crystalline filaments
Eremin, Alexey; Nemes, Alexandru; Stannarius, Ralf; Schulz, Mario; Nadasi, Hajnalka; Weissflog, Wolfgang
The formation of stable freely suspended filaments is an interesting peculiarity of some liquid crystal phases. So far, little is known about their structure and stability. Similarly to free-standing smectic films, an internal molecular structure of the mesophase stabilizes these macroscopically well-ordered objects with length to diameter ratios of 10{sup 3} and above. In this paper, we report observations of smectic liquid crystal fibers formed by bent-shaped molecules in different mesophases. Our study, employing several experimental techniques, focuses on mechanical and structural aspects of fiber formation such as internal structure, stability, and mechanical and optical properties.
Coiled-coil intermediate filament stutter instability and molecular unfolding.
Arslan, Melis; Qin, Zhao; Buehler, Markus J
Intermediate filaments (IFs) are the key components of cytoskeleton in eukaryotic cells and are critical for cell mechanics. The building block of IFs is a coiled-coil alpha-helical dimer, consisting of several domains that include linkers and other structural discontinuities. One of the discontinuities in the dimer's coiled-coil region is the so-called 'stutter' region. The stutter is a region where a variation of the amino acid sequence pattern from other parts of the alpha-helical domains of the protein is found. It was suggested in earlier works that due to this sequence variation, the perfect coiled-coil arrangement ceases to exist. Here, we show using explicit water molecular dynamics and well-tempered metadynamics that for the coil2 domain of vimentin IFs the stutter is more stable in a non-alpha-helical, unfolded state. This causes a local structural disturbance in the alpha helix, which has a global effect on the nanomechanics of the structure. Our analysis suggests that the stutter features an enhanced tendency to unfolding even under the absence of external forces, implying a much greater structural instability than previously assumed. As a result it features a smaller local bending stiffness than other segments and presents a seed for the initiation of molecular bending and unfolding at large deformation. PMID:21516532
Filament Structure, Organization, and Dynamics in MreB Sheets*
Popp, David; Narita, Akihiro; Maeda, Kayo; Fujisawa, Tetsuro; Ghoshdastider, Umesh; Iwasa, Mitsusada; Maéda, Yuichiro; Robinson, Robert C.
In vivo fluorescence microscopy studies of bacterial cells have shown that the bacterial shape-determining protein and actin homolog, MreB, forms cable-like structures that spiral around the periphery of the cell. The molecular structure of these cables has yet to be established. Here we show by electron microscopy that Thermatoga maritime MreB forms complex, several μm long multilayered sheets consisting of diagonally interwoven filaments in the presence of either ATP or GTP. This architecture, in agreement with recent rheological measurements on MreB cables, may have superior mechanical properties and could be an important feature for maintaining bacterial cell shape. MreB polymers within the sheets appear to be single-stranded helical filaments rather than the linear protofilaments found in the MreB crystal structure. Sheet assembly occurs over a wide range of pH, ionic strength, and temperature. Polymerization kinetics are consistent with a cooperative assembly mechanism requiring only two steps: monomer activation followed by elongation. Steady-state TIRF microscopy studies of MreB suggest filament treadmilling while high pressure small angle x-ray scattering measurements indicate that the stability of MreB polymers is similar to that of F-actin filaments. In the presence of ADP or GDP, long, thin cables formed in which MreB was arranged in parallel as linear protofilaments. This suggests that the bacterial cell may exploit various nucleotides to generate different filament structures within cables for specific MreB-based functions. PMID:20223832
Filament structure, organization, and dynamics in MreB sheets.
Popp, David; Narita, Akihiro; Maeda, Kayo; Fujisawa, Tetsuro; Ghoshdastider, Umesh; Iwasa, Mitsusada; Maéda, Yuichiro; Robinson, Robert C
In vivo fluorescence microscopy studies of bacterial cells have shown that the bacterial shape-determining protein and actin homolog, MreB, forms cable-like structures that spiral around the periphery of the cell. The molecular structure of these cables has yet to be established. Here we show by electron microscopy that Thermatoga maritime MreB forms complex, several mum long multilayered sheets consisting of diagonally interwoven filaments in the presence of either ATP or GTP. This architecture, in agreement with recent rheological measurements on MreB cables, may have superior mechanical properties and could be an important feature for maintaining bacterial cell shape. MreB polymers within the sheets appear to be single-stranded helical filaments rather than the linear protofilaments found in the MreB crystal structure. Sheet assembly occurs over a wide range of pH, ionic strength, and temperature. Polymerization kinetics are consistent with a cooperative assembly mechanism requiring only two steps: monomer activation followed by elongation. Steady-state TIRF microscopy studies of MreB suggest filament treadmilling while high pressure small angle x-ray scattering measurements indicate that the stability of MreB polymers is similar to that of F-actin filaments. In the presence of ADP or GDP, long, thin cables formed in which MreB was arranged in parallel as linear protofilaments. This suggests that the bacterial cell may exploit various nucleotides to generate different filament structures within cables for specific MreB-based functions. PMID:20223832
Molecular phylogeny of metazoan intermediate filament proteins.
Erber, A; Riemer, D; Bovenschulte, M; Weber, K
We have cloned cytoplasmic intermediate filament (IF) proteins from a large number of invertebrate phyla using cDNA probes, the monoclonal antibody IFA, peptide sequence information, and various RT-PCR procedures. Novel IF protein sequences reported here include the urochordata and nine protostomic phyla, i.e., Annelida, Brachiopoda, Chaetognatha, Echiura, Nematomorpha, Nemertea, Platyhelminthes, Phoronida, and Sipuncula. Taken together with the wealth of data on IF proteins of vertebrates and the results on IF proteins of Cephalochordata, Mollusca, Annelida, and Nematoda, two IF prototypes emerge. The L-type, which includes 35 sequences from 11 protostomic phyla, shares with the nuclear lamins the long version of the coil 1b subdomain and, in most cases, a homology segment of some 120 residues in the carboxyterminal tail domain. The S-type, which includes all four subfamilies (types I to IV) of vertebrate IF proteins, lacks 42 residues in the coil 1b subdomain and the carboxyterminal lamin homology segment. Since IF proteins from all three phyla of the chordates have the 42-residue deletion, this deletion arose in a progenitor prior to the divergence of the chordates into the urochordate, cephalochordate, and vertebrate lineages, possibly already at the origin of the deuterostomic branch. Four phyla recently placed into the protostomia on grounds of their 18S rDNA sequences (Brachiopoda, Nemertea, Phoronida, and Platyhelminthes) show IF proteins of the L-type and fit by sequence identity criteria into the lophotrochozoic branch of the protostomia. PMID:9847417
Filamentous structures in skeletal muscle: anchors for the subsarcolemmal space.
Khairani, Astrid Feinisa; Tajika, Yuki; Takahashi, Maiko; Ueno, Hitoshi; Murakami, Tohru; Soenggono, Arifin; Yorifuji, Hiroshi
In skeletal muscle fibers, intermediate filaments and actin filaments provide structural support to the myofibrils and the sarcolemma. For many years, it was poorly understood from ultrastructural observations that how these filamentous structures were kept anchored. The present study was conducted to determine the architecture of filamentous anchoring structures in the subsarcolemmal space and the intermyofibrils. The diaphragms (Dp) of adult wild type and mdx mice (mdx is a model for Duchenne muscular dystrophy) were subjected to tension applied perpendicular to the long axis of the muscle fibers, with or without treatment with 1% Triton X-100 or 0.03% saponin. These experiments were conducted to confirm the presence and integrity of the filamentous anchoring structures. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that these structures provide firm transverse connections between the sarcolemma and peripheral myofibrils. Most of the filamentous structures appeared to be inserted into subsarcolemmal densities, forming anchoring connections between the sarcolemma and peripheral myofibrils. In some cases, actin filaments were found to run longitudinally in the subsarcolemmal space to connect to the sarcolemma or in some cases to connect to the intermyofibrils as elongated thin filaments. These filamentous anchoring structures were less common in the mdx Dp. Our data suggest that the transverse and longitudinal filamentous structures form an anchoring system in the subsarcolemmal space and the intermyofibrils. PMID:24519712
Colliding filaments and a massive dense core in the Cygnus OB 7 molecular cloud
Dobashi, Kazuhito; Shimoikura, Tomomi; Akisato, Ko; Ohashi, Kenjiro; Nakagomi, Keisuke; Matsumoto, Tomoaki; Saito, Hiro
We report the results of molecular line observations carried out toward a massive dense core in the Cyg OB 7 molecular cloud. The core has an extraordinarily large mass (∼1.1 × 10{sup 4} M {sub ☉}) and size (∼2 × 5 pc{sup 2}), but there is no massive young star forming therein. We observed this core in various molecular lines such as C{sup 18}O(J = 1-0) using the 45 m telescope at Nobeyama Radio Observatory. We find that the core has an elongated morphology consisting of several filaments and core-like structures. The filaments are massive (10{sup 2}-10{sup 3} M {sub ☉}), and they are apparently colliding with one another. Some candidates for young stellar objects are distributed around their intersection, suggesting that the collisions of the filaments may have influenced their formation. To understand the formation and evolution of such colliding filaments, we performed numerical simulations using the adaptive mesh refinement technique, adopting the observed core parameters (the mass and size) as the initial conditions. The results indicate that the filaments are formed as seen in other earlier simulations for small cores in the literature, but we could not reproduce the collisions of the filaments simply by assuming a large initial mass and size. We find that collisions of the filaments occur only when there is a large velocity gradient in the initial core, in a sense compressing it. We suggest that the observed core was actually compressed by an external effect, e.g., shocks from nearby supernova remnants, including HB 21 which has been suggested to be interacting with the Cyg OB 7 molecular cloud.
Properties of interstellar filaments derived from Herschel, Planck, and molecular line observations
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Arzoumanian, Doris
The highly filamentary structure of the interstellar medium (ISM) is now impressively revealed by Herschel and Planck images. Previous observations have shown that clouds are filamentary, however, only recently the mapping capabilities of Herscheland Planck have discovered their ubiquity in the ISM. In particular, Herschel images, with their high spatial and intensity dynamic ranges, show that dense filaments are associated with the main sites of star formation, demonstrating their key role in the star formation process.The analysis of the column density profiles of filaments indicates that they all share a common central width of 0.1pc, while they span a wide range in length, column density, mass per unit length. The results derived from observations tracing cold dust and gas emission, in total and polarised intensity, suggest that filaments can be divided into two families: On the one hand, low column density, unbound, and quiescent filaments mostly aligned with the magnetic field orientation, and on the other hand, dense, self-gravitating filaments, which fragment into star forming cores.I will present the properties of the filamentary structures derived from Herschel, Planck, and molecular line observations, and I will discuss the observational constraints on the formation and evolution of interstellar filaments.
Novel actin-like filament structure from Clostridium tetani.
Popp, David; Narita, Akihiro; Lee, Lin Jie; Ghoshdastider, Umesh; Xue, Bo; Srinivasan, Ramanujam; Balasubramanian, Mohan K; Tanaka, Toshitsugu; Robinson, Robert C
Eukaryotic F-actin is constructed from two protofilaments that gently wind around each other to form a helical polymer. Several bacterial actin-like proteins (Alps) are also known to form F-actin-like helical arrangements from two protofilaments, yet with varied helical geometries. Here, we report a unique filament architecture of Alp12 from Clostridium tetani that is constructed from four protofilaments. Through fitting of an Alp12 monomer homology model into the electron microscopy data, the filament was determined to be constructed from two antiparallel strands, each composed of two parallel protofilaments. These four protofilaments form an open helical cylinder separated by a wide cleft. The molecular interactions within single protofilaments are similar to F-actin, yet interactions between protofilaments differ from those in F-actin. The filament structure and assembly and disassembly kinetics suggest Alp12 to be a dynamically unstable force-generating motor involved in segregating the pE88 plasmid, which encodes the lethal tetanus toxin, and thus a potential target for drug design. Alp12 can be repeatedly cycled between states of polymerization and dissociation, making it a novel candidate for incorporation into fuel-propelled nanobiopolymer machines. PMID:22514279
Structural analysis of vimentin and keratin intermediate filaments by cryo-electron tomography
Norlen, Lars . E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com; Masich, Sergej; Goldie, Kenneth N.; Hoenger, Andreas
Intermediate filaments are a large and structurally diverse group of cellular filaments that are classified into five different groups. They are referred to as intermediate filaments (IFs) because they are intermediate in diameter between the two other cytoskeletal filament systems that is filamentous actin and microtubules. The basic building block of IFs is a predominantly {alpha}-helical rod with variable length globular N- and C-terminal domains. On the ultra-structural level there are two major differences between IFs and microtubules or actin filaments: IFs are non-polar, and they do not exhibit large globular domains. IF molecules associate via a coiled-coil interaction into dimers and higher oligomers. Structural investigations into the molecular building plan of IFs have been performed with a variety of biophysical and imaging methods such as negative staining and metal-shadowing electron microscopy (EM), mass determination by scanning transmission EM, X-ray crystallography on fragments of the IF stalk and low-angle X-ray scattering. The actual packing of IF dimers into a long filament varies between the different families. Typically the dimers form so called protofibrils that further assemble into a filament. Here we introduce new cryo-imaging methods for structural investigations of IFs in vitro and in vivo, i.e., cryo-electron microscopy and cryo-electron tomography, as well as associated techniques such as the preparation and handling of vitrified sections of cellular specimens.
The effect of ambipolar diffusion on low-density molecular ISM filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ntormousi, Evangelia; Hennebelle, Patrick; André, Philippe; Masson, Jacques
Context. The filamentary structure of the molecular interstellar medium and the potential link of this morphology to star formation have been brought into focus recently by high resolution observational surveys. An especially puzzling matter is that local interstellar filaments appear to have the same thickness, independent of their column density. This requires a theoretical understanding of their formation process and the physics that governs their evolution. Aims: In this work we explore a scenario in which filaments are dissipative structures of the large-scale interstellar turbulence cascade and ion-neutral friction (also called ambipolar diffusion) is affecting their sizes by preventing small-scale compressions. Methods: We employ high-resolution (5123 and 10243), 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, performed with the grid code RAMSES, to investigate non-ideal MHD turbulence as a filament formation mechanism. We focus the analysis on the mass and thickness distributions of the resulting filamentary structures. Results: Simulations of both driven and decaying MHD turbulence show that the morphologies of the density and the magnetic field are different when ambipolar diffusion is included in the models. In particular, the densest structures are broader and more massive as an effect of ion-neutral friction and the power spectra of both the velocity and the density steepen at a smaller wavenumber. Conclusions: The comparison between ideal and non-ideal MHD simulations shows that ambipolar diffusion causes a shift of the filament thickness distribution towards higher values. However, none of the distributions exhibit the pronounced peak found in the observed local filaments. Limitations in dynamical range and the absence of self-gravity in these numerical experiments do not allow us to conclude at this time whether this is due to the different filament selection or due to the physics inherent of the filament formation.
Ubiquitination and filamentous structure of cytidine triphosphate synthase.
Pai, Li-Mei; Wang, Pei-Yu; Lin, Wei-Cheng; Chakraborty, Archan; Yeh, Chau-Ting; Lin, Yu-Hung
Living organisms respond to nutrient availability by regulating the activity of metabolic enzymes. Therefore, the reversible post-translational modification of an enzyme is a common regulatory mechanism for energy conservation. Recently, cytidine-5'-triphosphate (CTP) synthase was discovered to form a filamentous structure that is evolutionarily conserved from flies to humans. Interestingly, induction of the formation of CTP synthase filament is responsive to starvation or glutamine depletion. However, the biological roles of this structure remain elusive. We have recently shown that ubiquitination regulates CTP synthase activity by promoting filament formation in Drosophila ovaries during endocycles. Intriguingly, although the ubiquitination process was required for filament formation induced by glutamine depletion, CTP synthase ubiquitination was found to be inversely correlated with filament formation in Drosophila and human cell lines. In this article, we discuss the putative dual roles of ubiquitination, as well as its physiological implications, in the regulation of CTP synthase structure. PMID:27116391
Loh, E. D.; Baldwin, J. A.; Ferland, G. J. E-mail: email@example.com
In a sub-arcsec near-infrared survey of the Crab Nebula using the new Spartan Infrared Camera, we have found several knots with high surface brightness in the H{sub 2} 2.12 {mu}m line and a very large H{sub 2} 2.12 {mu}m to Br{gamma} ratio. The brightest of these knots has an intensity ratio I(H{sub 2} 2.12 {mu}m)/I(Br{gamma}) = 18 {+-} 9, which we show sets a lower limit on the ratio of masses in the molecular and recombination (i.e., ionized) zones M{sub mol}/M{sub rec} {>=} 0.9, and a total molecular mass within this single knot M{sub mol} {>=} 5 x 10{sup -5} M{sub sun}. We argue that the knot discussed here probably is able to emit so strongly in the 2.12 {mu}m line because its physical conditions are better tuned for such emission than is the case in other filaments. It is unclear whether this knot has an unusually large M{sub mol}/M{sub rec} ratio, or if many other Crab filaments also have similar amounts of molecular gas which is not emitting because the physical conditions are not so well tuned.
Myosin filament 3D structure in mammalian cardiac muscle☆
AL-Khayat, Hind A.; Morris, Edward P.; Kensler, Robert W.; Squire, John M.
A number of cardiac myopathies (e.g. familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and dilated cardiomyopathy) are linked to mutations in cardiac muscle myosin filament proteins, including myosin and myosin binding protein C (MyBP-C). To understand the myopathies it is necessary to know the normal 3D structure of these filaments. We have carried out 3D single particle analysis of electron micrograph images of negatively stained isolated myosin filaments from rabbit cardiac muscle. Single filament images were aligned and divided into segments about 2 × 430 Å long, each of which was treated as an independent 'particle'. The resulting 40 Å resolution 3D reconstruction showed both axial and azimuthal (no radial) myosin head perturbations within the 430 Å repeat, with successive crown rotations of approximately 60°, 60° and 0°, rather than the regular 40° for an unperturbed helix. However, it is shown that the projecting density peaks appear to start at low radius from origins closer to those expected for an unperturbed helical filament, and that the azimuthal perturbation especially increases with radius. The head arrangements in rabbit cardiac myosin filaments are very similar to those in fish skeletal muscle myosin filaments, suggesting a possible general structural theme for myosin filaments in all vertebrate striated muscles (skeletal and cardiac). PMID:18472277
Cations Stiffen Actin Filaments by Adhering a Key Structural Element to Adjacent Subunits.
Hocky, Glen M; Baker, Joseph L; Bradley, Michael J; Sinitskiy, Anton V; De La Cruz, Enrique M; Voth, Gregory A
Ions regulate the assembly and mechanical properties of actin filaments. Recent work using structural bioinformatics and site-specific mutagenesis favors the existence of two discrete and specific divalent cation binding sites on actin filaments, positioned in the long axis between actin subunits. Cation binding at one site drives polymerization, while the other modulates filament stiffness and plays a role in filament severing by the regulatory protein, cofilin. Existing structural methods have not been able to resolve filament-associated cations, and so in this work we turn to molecular dynamics simulations to suggest a candidate binding pocket geometry for each site and to elucidate the mechanism by which occupancy of the "stiffness site" affects filament mechanical properties. Incorporating a magnesium ion in the "polymerization site" does not seem to require any large-scale change to an actin subunit's conformation. Binding of a magnesium ion in the "stiffness site" adheres the actin DNase-binding loop (D-loop) to its long-axis neighbor, which increases the filament torsional stiffness and bending persistence length. Our analysis shows that bound D-loops occupy a smaller region of accessible conformational space. Cation occupancy buries key conserved residues of the D-loop, restricting accessibility to regulatory proteins and enzymes that target these amino acids. PMID:27146246
Dynamics of solar filaments. IV - Structure and mass flow of an active region filament
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Schmieder, B.; Malherbe, J. M.; Simon, G.; Poland, A. I.
An active region filament near the center of the solar disk was observed on September 29-30, 1980, with the Multichannel Subtractive Double Pass Spectrograph of the Meudon solar tower and the UV Spectrograph and Polarimeter aboard the SMM satellite. H-alpha and C IV measurements are presently used to study brightness and material velocity in the 10,000 and 100,000 K temperature ranges, and photospheric magnetograms are used to investigate the underlying magnetic field. Attention is given to the constraints imposed on possible filament structures by observations, as well as the expected MHD relationships.
Structural design criteria for filament-wound composite shells
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Hahn, H. T.; Jensen, D. W.; Claus, S. J.; Pai, S. P.; Hipp, P. A.
Advanced composite cylinders, manufactured by filament winding, provide a cost effective solution to many present structural applications; however, the compressive performance of filament-wound cylinders is lower than comparable shells fabricated from unidirectional tape. The objective of this study was to determine the cause of this reduction in thin filament-wound cylinders by relating the manufacturing procedures to the quality of the cylinder and to its compressive performance. The experiments on cylinder buckling were complemented by eigenvalue buckling analysis using a detailed geometric model in a finite element analysis. The applicability of classical buckling analyses was also investigated as a design tool.
Heitsch, Fabian
Two aspects of the evolution of externally pressurized, hydrostatic filaments are discussed. (1) The free-fall accretion of gas onto such a filament will lead to filament parameters (specifically, FWHM-column-density relations) inconsistent with the observations of Arzoumanian et al., except for two cases: for low-mass, isothermal filaments, agreement is found as in the analysis by Fischera and Martin. Magnetized cases, for which the field scales weakly with the density as B∝n {sup 1/2}, also reproduce observed parameters. (2) Realistically, the filaments will be embedded not only in gas of non-zero pressure, but also of non-zero density. Thus, the appearance of sheet-embedded filaments is explored. Generating a grid of filament models and comparing the resulting column density ratios and profile shapes with observations suggests that the three-dimensional filament profiles are intrinsically flatter than isothermal, beyond projection and evolution effects.
Method for preparing metallated filament-wound structures
Peterson, George R.
Metallated graphite filament-wound structures are prepared by coating a continuous multi-filament carbon yarn with a metal carbide, impregnating the carbide coated yarn with a polymerizable carbon precursor, winding the resulting filament about a mandrel, partially curing the impregnation in air, subjecting the wound composite to heat and pressure to cure the carbon precursor, and thereafter heating the composite in a sizing die at a pressure loading of at least 1000 psi for graphitizing the carbonaceous material in the composite. The carbide in the composite coalesces into rod-like shapes which are disposed in an end-to-end relationship parallel with the filaments to provide resistance to erosion in abrasive laden atmospheres.
Demonstration of mechanical connections between integrins, cytoskeletal filaments, and nucleoplasm that stabilize nuclear structure
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Maniotis, A. J.; Chen, C. S.; Ingber, D. E.
We report here that living cells and nuclei are hard-wired such that a mechanical tug on cell surface receptors can immediately change the organization of molecular assemblies in the cytoplasm and nucleus. When integrins were pulled by micromanipulating bound microbeads or micropipettes, cytoskeletal filaments reoriented, nuclei distorted, and nucleoli redistributed along the axis of the applied tension field. These effects were specific for integrins, independent of cortical membrane distortion, and were mediated by direct linkages between the cytoskeleton and nucleus. Actin microfilaments mediated force transfer to the nucleus at low strain; however, tearing of the actin gel resulted with greater distortion. In contrast, intermediate filaments effectively mediated force transfer to the nucleus under both conditions. These filament systems also acted as molecular guy wires to mechanically stiffen the nucleus and anchor it in place, whereas microtubules acted to hold open the intermediate filament lattice and to stabilize the nucleus against lateral compression. Molecular connections between integrins, cytoskeletal filaments, and nuclear scaffolds may therefore provide a discrete path for mechanical signal transfer through cells as well as a mechanism for producing integrated changes in cell and nuclear structure in response to changes in extracellular matrix adhesivity or mechanics.
Polychroni, D.; Schisano, E.; Elia, D.; Molinari, S.; Turrini, D.; Rygl, K. L. J.; Benedettini, M.; Busquet, G.; Di Giorgio, A. M.; Pestalozzi, M.; Pezzuto, S.; Roy, A.; André, Ph.; Hennemann, M.; Hill, T.; Könyves, V.; Di Francesco, J.; Arzoumanian, D.; Bontemps, S. [Université de Bordeaux, Laboratoire d' Astrophysique de Bordeaux, CNRS and others
We present Herschel survey maps of the L 1641 molecular clouds in Orion A. We extracted both the filaments and dense cores in the region. We identified which of the dense sources are proto- or pre-stellar, and studied their association with the identified filaments. We find that although most (71%) of the pre-stellar sources are located on filaments there, is still a significant fraction of sources not associated with such structures. We find that these two populations (on and off the identified filaments) have distinctly different mass distributions. The mass distribution of the sources on the filaments is found to peak at 4 M {sub ☉} and drives the shape of the core mass function (CMF) at higher masses, which we fit with a power law of the form dN/dlogM∝M {sup –1.4±0.4}. The mass distribution of the sources off the filaments, on the other hand, peaks at 0.8 M {sub ☉} and leads to a flattening of the CMF at masses lower than ∼4 M {sub ☉}. We postulate that this difference between the mass distributions is due to the higher proportion of gas that is available in the filaments, rather than in the diffuse cloud.
Complete Structure of an Epithelial Keratin Dimer: Implications for Intermediate Filament Assembly
Bray, David J.; Walsh, Tiffany R.; Noro, Massimo G.; Notman, Rebecca
Keratins are cytoskeletal proteins that hierarchically arrange into filaments, starting with the dimer sub-unit. They are integral to the structural support of cells, in skin, hair and nails. In skin, keratin is thought to play a critical role in conferring the barrier properties and elasticity of skin. In general, the keratin dimer is broadly described by a tri-domain structure: a head, a central rod and a tail. As yet, no atomistic-scale picture of the entire dimer structure exists; this information is pivotal for establishing molecular-level connections between structure and function in intermediate filament proteins. The roles of the head and tail domains in facilitating keratin filament assembly and function remain as open questions. To address these, we report results of molecular dynamics simulations of the entire epithelial human K1/K10 keratin dimer. Our findings comprise: (1) the first three-dimensional structural models of the complete dimer unit, comprising of the head, rod and tail domains; (2) new insights into the chirality of the rod-domain twist gained from analysis of the full domain structure; (3) evidence for tri-subdomain partitioning in the head and tail domains; and, (4) identification of the residue characteristics that mediate non-covalent contact between the chains in the dimer. Our findings are immediately applicable to other epithelial keratins, such as K8/K18 and K5/K14, and to intermediate filament proteins in general. PMID:26181054
Structural Dynamics of Filament-Wound Booster Rockets
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Bugg, F. M.
Report summarizes program of measurements and calculations of vibrations in filament-wound composite models of Space Shuttle solid-rocket boosters. Vibrational behavior predicted by finite-element computer model of structural dynamics correlates well with data from tests on full- and quarter-scale models. Computer model developed with NASTRAN general-purpose structural-analysis computer code.
Self-Structured Conductive Filament Nanoheater for Chalcogenide Phase Transition.
You, Byoung Kuk; Byun, Myunghwan; Kim, Seungjun; Lee, Keon Jae
Ge2Sb2Te5-based phase-change memories (PCMs), which undergo fast and reversible switching between amorphous and crystalline structural transformation, are being utilized for nonvolatile data storage. However, a critical obstacle is the high programming current of the PCM cell, resulting from the limited pattern size of the optical lithography-based heater. Here, we suggest a facile and scalable strategy of utilizing self-structured conductive filament (CF) nanoheaters for Joule heating of chalcogenide materials. This CF nanoheater can replace the lithographical-patterned conventional resistor-type heater. The sub-10 nm contact area between the CF and the phase-change material achieves significant reduction of the reset current. In particular, the PCM cell with a single Ni filament nanoheater can be operated at an ultralow writing current of 20 μA. Finally, phase-transition behaviors through filament-type nanoheaters were directly observed by using transmission electron microscopy. PMID:26039415
From diffuse ISM to cores : formation of molecular clouds, filaments and prestellar condensations
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hennebelle, P.
I will review the various processes and subsequent steps that theorists believe to be triggering the evolution of the diffuse interstellar medium into prestellar condensations. More precisely, I will first describe the mechanisms through which molecular clouds form out of the diffuse atomic gas, then the various possible origins of filaments within molecular clouds and finally how self-gravitating prestellar cores form inside molecular clouds and their possible link to filaments.
Structure of the Intermediate Filament-Binding Region of Desmoplakin
Kang, Hyunook; Weiss, Thomas M.; Bang, Injin; Weis, William I.; Choi, Hee-Jung
Desmoplakin (DP) is a cytoskeletal linker protein that connects the desmosomal cadherin/plakoglobin/plakophilin complex to intermediate filaments (IFs). The C-terminal region of DP (DPCT) mediates IF binding, and contains three plakin repeat domains (PRDs), termed PRD-A, PRD-B and PRD-C. Previous crystal structures of PRDs B and C revealed that each is formed by 4.5 copies of a plakin repeat (PR) and has a conserved positively charged groove on its surface. Although PRDs A and B are linked by just four amino acids, B and C are separated by a 154 residue flexible linker, which has hindered crystallographic analysis of the full DPCT. Here we present the crystal structure of a DPCT fragment spanning PRDs A and B, and elucidate the overall architecture of DPCT by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis. The structure of PRD-A is similar to that of PRD-B, and the two domains are arranged in a quasi-linear arrangement, and separated by a 4 amino acid linker. Analysis of the B-C linker region using secondary structure prediction and the crystal structure of a homologous linker from the cytolinker periplakin suggests that the N-terminal ~100 amino acids of the linker form two PR-like motifs. SAXS analysis of DPCT indicates an elongated but non-linear shape with Rg = 51.5 Å and Dmax = 178 Å. These data provide the first structural insights into an IF binding protein containing multiple PRDs and provide a foundation for studying the molecular basis of DP-IF interactions. PMID:26808545
The structure of the chorion and associated surface filaments in Oryzias--evidence for the presence of extracellular tubules.
Hart, N H; Pietri, R; Donovan, M
The structure of the chorion with its associated surface filaments has been examined in Oryzias latipes using several techniques, including scanning and transmission electron microscopy, enzymatic digestion, and sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The chorion of the recently fertilized egg was found to be organized into three zones: an outer, fuzzy electron-lucent zone that was continuous over the surface of filaments, a middle, homogeneous electron-dense zone, and an inner zone of ten to 12 horizontal, fibrous lamellae. Two topographically distinct types of filaments were found on the chorionic surface: nonattaching and attaching. Nonattaching filaments showed a regular spatial distribution over the chorion with an interfilament distance of about 60-70 microns. Attaching filaments originated from a localized portion of the chorion and united with those of neighboring eggs to anchor the egg cluster to the gonoduct of the female. Both nonattaching and attaching filaments were morphologically regionalized into basal and distal segments. Internally, nonattaching and attaching filaments were constructed of unbranched, packed tubules with an average outside diameter of approximately 19.5 and 18.8 nm, respectively. Using the attaching filament for further study, it was determined by rotational analysis (Markham et al., '63) that the wall of each tubule was a cylinder composed of 14 globular subunits. Two structural types of attaching filaments were identified. The type I attaching filament was similar in internal organization to the nonattaching filament and consisted of only tubules. The type II attaching filament, however, showed a highly osmiophilic, electron-dense bar surrounded by packed tubules. Tubules of attaching filaments of the adult were resistant to the action of Triton X-100 and colchicine, but sensitive to a 0.1% protease solution. However, colchicine-treated ovary tissue showed an absence and pattern of disorganization of tubules at
Exact Length Distribution of Filamentous Structures Assembled from a Finite Pool of Subunits.
Harbage, David; Kondev, Jané
Self-assembling filamentous structures made of protein subunits are ubiquitous in cell biology. These structures are often highly dynamic, with subunits in a continuous state of flux, binding to and falling off of filaments. In spite of this constant turnover of their molecular parts, many cellular structures seem to maintain a well-defined size over time, which is often required for their proper functioning. One widely discussed mechanism of size regulation involves the cell maintaining a finite pool of protein subunits available for assembly. This finite pool mechanism can control the length of a single filament by having assembly proceed until the pool of free subunits is depleted to the point when assembly and disassembly are balanced. Still, this leaves open the question of whether the same mechanism can provide size control for multiple filamentous structures that are assembled from a common pool of protein subunits, as is often the case in cells. We address this question by solving the steady-state master equation governing the stochastic assembly and disassembly of multifilament structures made from a shared finite pool of subunits. We find that, while the total number of subunits within a multifilament structure is well-defined, individual filaments within the structure have a wide, power-law distribution of lengths. We also compute the phase diagram for two multifilament structures competing for the same pool of subunits and identify conditions for coexistence when both have a well-defined size. These predictions can be tested in cell experiments in which the size of the subunit pool or the number of filament nucleators is tuned. PMID:27135597
Biophysics of filament length regulation by molecular motors
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kuan, Hui-Shun; Betterton, M. D.
Regulating physical size is an essential problem that biological organisms must solve from the subcellular to the organismal scales, but it is not well understood what physical principles and mechanisms organisms use to sense and regulate their size. Any biophysical size-regulation scheme operates in a noisy environment and must be robust to other cellular dynamics and fluctuations. This work develops theory of filament length regulation inspired by recent experiments on kinesin-8 motor proteins, which move with directional bias on microtubule filaments and alter microtubule dynamics. Purified kinesin-8 motors can depolymerize chemically-stabilized microtubules. In the length-dependent depolymerization model, the rate of depolymerization tends to increase with filament length, because long filaments accumulate more motors at their tips and therefore shorten more quickly. When balanced with a constant filament growth rate, this mechanism can lead to a fixed polymer length. However, the mechanism by which kinesin-8 motors affect the length of dynamic microtubules in cells is less clear. We study the more biologically realistic problem of microtubule dynamic instability modulated by a motor-dependent increase in the filament catastrophe frequency. This leads to a significant decrease in the mean filament length and a narrowing of the filament length distribution. The results improve our understanding of the biophysics of length regulation in cells.
Two-level hierarchical fragmentation in the northern filament of the Orion Molecular Cloud 1
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Teixeira, P. S.; Takahashi, S.; Zapata, L. A.; Ho, P. T. P.
Context. The filamentary structure of molecular clouds may set important constraints on the mass distribution of stars forming within them. It is therefore important to understand which physical mechanism dominates filamentary cloud fragmentation and core formation. Aims: Orion A is the nearest giant molecular cloud, and its so-called ∫-shaped filament is a very active star-forming region that is a good target for such a study. We have recently reported on the collapse and fragmentation properties of the northernmost part of this structure, located ~2.4 pc north of Orion KL - Orion Molecular Cloud (OMC) 3. As part of our project to study the ∫-shaped filament, we analyze the fragmentation properties of the northern OMC 1 filament (located ≲0.3 pc north of Orion KL). This filament is a dense structure previously identified by JCMT/SCUBA submillimeter continuum and VLA NH3 observations and was shown to have fragmented into clumps. Our aim is to search for cores and young protostars embedded within OMC 1n and to study how the filament is fragmenting to form them. Methods: We observed OMC 1North (hereafter OMC 1n) with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) at 1.3 mm and report on our analysis of the continuum data. Results: We discovered 24 new compact sources, ranging in mass from 0.1 to 2.3, in size from 400 to 1300 au, and in density from 2.6 × 107 to 2.8 × 106 cm-3. The masses of these sources are similar to those of the SMA protostars in OMC 3, but their typical sizes and densities are lower by a factor of ten. Only 8% of the new sources have infrared counterparts, but there are five associated CO molecular outflows. These sources are thus likely in the Class 0 evolutionary phase but it cannot be excluded that some of the sources might still be pre-stellar cores. The spatial analysis of the protostars shows that they are divided into small groups that coincide with previously identified JCMT/SCUBA 850 μm and VLA NH3 clumps, which are separated by a quasi
On filament structure and propagation within a commercial plasma globe
Burin, M. J.; Simmons, G. G.; Ceja, H. G.; Zweben, S. J.; Nagy, A.; Brunkhorst, C.
The filamentary discharge seen within commercial plasma globes is commonly enjoyed yet not well understood. Here, we investigate the discharge properties of a plasma globe using a variable high voltage amplifier. We find that increasing voltage magnitude increases the number of filaments while leaving their individual structure basically unchanged, a result typical of dielectric barrier discharges. The frequency of the voltage also affects filament population but more significantly changes filament structure, with more diffuse filaments seen at lower frequencies. Voltage polarity is observed to be important, especially at lower frequencies, where for negative-gradient voltages the discharge is more diffuse, not filamentary. At late stages of the discharge circular structures appear and expand on the glass boundaries. We find no trend of discharge speed with respect to voltage variables, though this may be due to manufacturer sample-to-sample variation. Each voltage cycle the discharge expands outward at ∼10–15 km/s, a speed significantly higher than the estimated electron drift yet considerably lower than that observed for most streamers. We discuss the physics of these observations and their relation to similar discharges that can be found within nature and industry.
Structural and Mechanical Properties of Intermediate Filaments under Extreme Conditions and Disease
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Qin, Zhao
Intermediate filaments are one of the three major components of the cytoskeleton in eukaryotic cells. It was discovered during the recent decades that intermediate filament proteins play key roles to reinforce cells subjected to large-deformation as well as participate in signal transduction. However, it is still poorly understood how the nanoscopic structure, as well as the biochemical properties of these protein molecules contribute to their biomechanical functions. In this research we investigate the material function of intermediate filaments under various extreme mechanical conditions as well as disease states. We use a full atomistic model and study its response to mechanical stresses. Learning from the mechanical response obtained from atomistic simulations, we build mesoscopic models following the finer-trains-coarser principles. By using this multiple-scale model, we present a detailed analysis of the mechanical properties and associated deformation mechanisms of intermediate filament network. We reveal the mechanism of a transition from alpha-helices to beta-sheets with subsequent intermolecular sliding under mechanical force, which has been inferred previously from experimental results. This nanoscale mechanism results in a characteristic nonlinear force-extension curve, which leads to a delocalization of mechanical energy and prevents catastrophic fracture. This explains how intermediate filament can withstand extreme mechanical deformation of > 1 00% strain despite the presence of structural defects. We combine computational and experimental techniques to investigate the molecular mechanism of Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a premature aging disease. We find that the mutated lamin tail .domain is more compact and stable than the normal one. This altered structure and stability may enhance the association of intermediate filaments with the nuclear membrane, providing a molecular mechanism of the disease. We study the nuclear membrane association
Filamented ion tail structures at Titan: A hybrid simulation study
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Feyerabend, Moritz; Simon, Sven; Motschmann, Uwe; Liuzzo, Lucas
This study investigates the processes that lead to the detection of split signatures in ion density during several crossings of the Cassini spacecraft through Titan's mid-range plasma tail (T9, T63, and T75). During each of these flybys, the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer detected Titan's ionospheric ion population twice; i.e., the spacecraft passed through two spatially separated regions where cold ions were detected, with the regions also being dominated by ions of different masses in the case of T9. Whether this filamented tail structure is an omnipresent feature of Titan's plasma interaction or a result of non-stationary upstream conditions during specific flybys is still unclear. To explain these features, we apply the hybrid simulation code AIKEF (kinetic ions and fluid electrons). Our model includes chemical reactions as well as a realistic photoionization model for a sophisticated description of the ionospheric composition of Titan. Our simulations show that the filamentation of Titan's tail is indeed a common feature of the moon's plasma interaction. Light ionospheric species escape along draped magnetic field lines to form a parabolically shaped filament structure, which is mainly seen in planes that contain the upstream magnetospheric magnetic field and the upstream flow direction. In addition, transport of ions of all species from the ramside towards downstream produces a cone structure behind Titan, with a region of decreased density inside and filaments of 1-2 RT (RT=2575 km) thickness and enhanced density at the surface of the cone. Spacecraft trajectories that penetrate these structures allow for the detection of split signatures in the tail. The orientation of the upstream magnetic field and plasma flow as well as local time effects (i.e., Titan's orbital position) influence the location of the filaments in the tail and can also cause asymmetries in their sizes and densities. The detection of the split signatures along a spacecraft trajectory may
Myopathy-inducing mutation H40Y in ACTA1 hampers actin filament structure and function.
Chan, Chun; Fan, Jun; Messer, Andrew E; Marston, Steve B; Iwamoto, Hiroyuki; Ochala, Julien
In humans, more than 200 missense mutations have been identified in the ACTA1 gene. The exact molecular mechanisms by which, these particular mutations become toxic and lead to muscle weakness and myopathies remain obscure. To address this, here, we performed a molecular dynamics simulation, and we used a broad range of biophysical assays to determine how the lethal and myopathy-related H40Y amino acid substitution in actin affects the structure, stability, and function of this protein. Interestingly, our results showed that H40Y severely disrupts the DNase I-binding-loop structure and actin filaments. In addition, we observed that normal and mutant actin monomers are likely to form distinctive homopolymers, with mutant filaments being very stiff, and not supporting proper myosin binding. These phenomena underlie the toxicity of H40Y and may be considered as important triggering factors for the contractile dysfunction, muscle weakness and disease phenotype seen in patients. PMID:27112274
A Molecular Perspective of Inter-filament Bonding in Fused Deposition Modeling 3-D Printing
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Duranty, Edward; Spradlin, Brandon; Dadmun, Mark
Fused deposition 3D printing is an important tool for low-cost and rapid prototyping of objects with complex geometries. 3D printed materials are composed of many filaments deposited on a heated substrate, requiring the bonding of neighboring filaments during the deposition process. Filament deposition often creates voids between filaments, which requires necking between them to create a robust sample. Therefore the amount of interfacial contact and interdiffusion between filaments become important parameters that control the macroscopic physical properties of the printed prototype. Our research focuses on quantifying the interfacial adhesion between ABS filaments and its impact on structural properties. The time evolution of the temperature profile near the heated substrate demonstrates that the deposited filaments are repeatedly heated above the Tg of ABS allowing interpenetration of the polymer chains between adjacent filaments. Results of DMA experiments on samples of different geometries have been correlated to microphotography that monitors the degree of necking between filaments and the thermal history. Results indicate that interfacial contact area between filaments and increased thermal energy are crucial to their mechanical properties.
Flexible filamentous virus structure from fiber diffraction
Stubbs, Gerald; Kendall, Amy; McDonald, Michele; Bian, Wen; Bowles, Timothy; Baumgarten, Sarah; McCullough, Ian; Shi, Jian; Stewart, Phoebe; Bullitt, Esther; Gore, David; Ghabrial, Said
Fiber diffraction data have been obtained from Narcissus mosaic virus, a potexvirus from the family Flexiviridae, and soybean mosaic virus (SMV), a potyvirus from the family Potyviridae. Analysis of the data in conjunction with cryo-electron microscopy data allowed us to determine the symmetry of the viruses and to make reconstructions of SMV at 19 {angstrom} resolution and of another potexvirus, papaya mosaic virus, at 18 {angstrom} resolution. These data include the first well-ordered data ever obtained for the potyviruses and the best-ordered data from the potexviruses, and offer the promise of eventual high resolution structure determinations.
Elasticity of a semiflexible filament with a discontinuous tension due to a cross-link or a molecular motor
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Razbin, Mohammadhosein; Benetatos, Panayotis; Zippelius, Annette
We analyze the stretching elasticity of a wormlike chain with a tension discontinuity resulting from a Hookean spring connecting its backbone to a fixed point. The elasticity of isolated semiflexible filaments has been the subject in a significant body of literature, primarily because of its relevance to the mechanics of biological matter. In real systems, however, these filaments are usually part of supramolecular structures involving cross-linkers or molecular motors, which cause tension discontinuities. Our model is intended as a minimal structural element incorporating such a discontinuity. We obtain analytical results in the weakly bending limit of the filament, concerning its force-extension relation and the response of the two parts in which the filament is divided by the spring. For a small tension discontinuity, the linear response of the filament extension to this discontinuity strongly depends on the external tension. For large external tension f , the spring force contributes a subdominant correction ˜1 /f3 /2 to the well-known ˜1 /√{f } -dependence of the end-to-end extension.
An Early Cretaceous heterodontosaurid dinosaur with filamentous integumentary structures.
Zheng, Xiao-Ting; You, Hai-Lu; Xu, Xing; Dong, Zhi-Ming
Ornithischia is one of the two major groups of dinosaurs, with heterodontosauridae as one of its major clades. Heterodontosauridae is characterized by small, gracile bodies and a problematic phylogenetic position. Recent phylogenetic work indicates that it represents the most basal group of all well-known ornithischians. Previous heterodontosaurid records are mainly from the Early Jurassic period (205-190 million years ago) of Africa. Here we report a new heterodontosaurid, Tianyulong confuciusi gen. et sp. nov., from the Early Cretaceous period (144-99 million years ago) of western Liaoning Province, China. Tianyulong extends the geographical distribution of heterodontosaurids to Asia and confirms the clade's previously questionable temporal range extension into the Early Cretaceous period. More surprisingly, Tianyulong bears long, singular and unbranched filamentous integumentary (outer skin) structures. This represents the first confirmed report, to our knowledge, of filamentous integumentary structures in an ornithischian dinosaur. PMID:19295609
How Does Hyperphopsphorylation Promote Tau Aggregation and Modulate Filament Structure and Stability?
Xu, Liang; Zheng, Jie; Margittai, Martin; Nussinov, Ruth; Ma, Buyong
Tau proteins are hyperphosphorylated at common sites in their N- and C-terminal domains in at least three neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson, dementia with Lewy bodies, and Alzheimer's, suggesting specific pathology but general mechanism. Full-length human tau filament comprises a rigid core and a two-layered fuzzy coat. Tau is categorized into two groups of isoforms, with either four repeats (R1-R4) or three repeats (R1, R3, and R4); their truncated constructs are respectively called K18 and K19. Using multiscale molecular dynamics simulations, we explored the conformational consequences of hyperhposphorylation on tau's repeats. Our lower conformational energy filament models suggest a rigid filament core with a radius of ∼30 to 40 Å and an outer layer with a thickness of ∼140 Å consisting of a double-layered polyelectrolyte. The presence of the phosphorylated terminal domains alters the relative stabilities in the K18 ensemble, thus shifting the populations of the full-length filaments. However, the structure with the straight repeats in the core region is still the most stable, similar to the truncated K18 peptide species without the N- and C-terminus. Our simulations across different scales of resolution consistently reveal that hyperphosphorylation of the two terminal domains decreases the attractive interactions among the N- and C-terminus and repeat domain. To date, the relationship on the conformational level between phosphorylation and aggregation has not been understood. Our results suggest that the exposure of the repeat domain upon hyperphosphorylation could enhance tau filament aggregation. Thus, we discovered that even though these neurodegenerative diseases vary and their associated tau filaments are phosphorylated to different extents, remarkably, the three pathologies appear to share a common tau aggregation mechanism. PMID:26854860
Giant molecular filaments in the Milky Way. II. The fourth Galactic quadrant
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Abreu-Vicente, J.; Ragan, S.; Kainulainen, J.; Henning, Th.; Beuther, H.; Johnston, K.
Context. Filamentary structures are common morphological features of the cold, molecular interstellar medium (ISM). Recent studies have discovered massive, hundred-parsec-scale filaments that may be connected to the large-scale, Galactic spiral arm structure. Addressing the nature of these giant molecular filaments (GMFs) requires a census of their occurrence and properties. Aims: We perform a systematic search of GMFs in the fourth Galactic quadrant and determine their basic physical properties. Methods: We identify GMFs based on their dust extinction signatures in the near- and mid-infrared and the velocity structure probed by 13CO line emission. We use the 13CO line emission and ATLASGAL dust emission data to estimate the total and dense gas masses of the GMFs. We combine our sample with an earlier sample from literature and study the Galactic environment of the GMFs. Results: We identify nine GMFs in the fourth Galactic quadrant: six in the Centaurus spiral arm and three in inter-arm regions. Combining this sample with an earlier study using the same identification criteria in the first Galactic quadrant results in 16 GMFs, nine of which are located within spiral arms. The GMFs have sizes of 80-160 pc and 13CO-derived masses between 5-90 × 104M⊙. Their dense gas mass fractions are between 1.5-37%, which is higher in the GMFs connected to spiral arms. We also compare the different GMF-identification methods and find that emission and extinction-based techniques overlap only partially, thereby highlighting the need to use both to achieve a complete census. Table A.2 is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://18.104.22.168) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/590/A131
12CO And 13CO Observations Toward The Extraordinary Filament In The Orion-monoceros Molecular Cloud Complex
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lee, Jeewon; Kim, S. S.; Morris, M.; Kim, S.; Sohn, B.
We have observed the Northern filament in the Orion-Monoceros molecular cloud complex (OMC) in the J=1-0 lines of 12CO and 13CO using SRAO 6-m telescope. We have mapped three regions of the Northern filament with a spatial resolution of 2 arcmin. This filament is very narrow ( 0.5o) and significantly extended ( 10o) on the sky. The shape and motion of this extraordinary filament suggest the influence of a magnetic field that is highly ordered on a large scale, and the filament appears to connect molecular clouds lying far below the galactic plane to the plane itself. We seek the evidence for flow along the filament, as well as for acceleration and rotation. The primary question we seek to answer is whether the filament is a channel along which molecular gas moves toward the Galactic plane from the OMC region.
Structural basis of thymosin-β4/profilin exchange leading to actin filament polymerization
Xue, Bo; Leyrat, Cedric; Grimes, Jonathan M.; Robinson, Robert C.
Thymosin-β4 (Tβ4) and profilin are the two major sequestering proteins that maintain the pool of monomeric actin (G-actin) within cells of higher eukaryotes. Tβ4 prevents G-actin from joining a filament, whereas profilin:actin only supports barbed-end elongation. Here, we report two Tβ4:actin structures. The first structure shows that Tβ4 has two helices that bind at the barbed and pointed faces of G-actin, preventing the incorporation of the bound G-actin into a filament. The second structure displays a more open nucleotide binding cleft on G-actin, which is typical of profilin:actin structures, with a concomitant disruption of the Tβ4 C-terminal helix interaction. These structures, combined with biochemical assays and molecular dynamics simulations, show that the exchange of bound actin between Tβ4 and profilin involves both steric and allosteric components. The sensitivity of profilin to the conformational state of actin indicates a similar allosteric mechanism for the dissociation of profilin during filament elongation. PMID:25313062
Functional complexity of intermediate filament cytoskeletons: from structure to assembly to gene ablation.
Herrmann, Harald; Hesse, Michael; Reichenzeller, Michaela; Aebi, Ueli; Magin, Thomas M
The cell biology of intermediate filament (IF) proteins and their filaments is complicated by the fact that the members of the gene family, which in humans amount to at least 65, are differentially expressed in very complex patterns during embryonic development. Thus, different tissues and cells express entirely different sets and amounts of IF proteins, the only exception being the nuclear B-type lamins, which are found in every cell. Moreover, in the course of evolution the individual members of this family have, within one species, diverged so much from each other with regard to sequence and thus molecular properties that it is hard to envision a unifying kind of function for them. The known epidermolytic diseases, caused by single point mutations in keratins, have been used as an argument for a role of IFs in mechanical "stress resistance," something one would not have easily ascribed to the beaded chain filaments, a special type of IF in the eye lens, or to nuclear lamins. Therefore, the power of plastic dish cell biology may be limited in revealing functional clues for these structural elements, and it may therefore be of interest to go to the extreme ends of the life sciences, i.e., from the molecular properties of individual molecules including their structure at the atomic level to targeted inactivation of their genes in living animals, mouse, and worm to define their role more precisely in metazoan cell physiology. PMID:12641211
Molecular Studies of Filamentous and Biofilm-Forming Hyperthermophilic Communities in Yellowstone National Park
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Summons, R. E.; Meyer-Dombard, D. R.; Bradley, A. S.; Dibbell, A. K.; Fredricks, H. F.; Hinrichs, K.; Jahnke, L. L.; Shock, E.; Amend, J. P.
The Aquificales, the most deeply-branching order of Bacteria in the phylogenetic tree of life, comprises eight recognized thermophilic genera, including Aquifex, Hydrogenobacter, and Thermocrinis. The common metabolism for these Bacteria, when grown in culture, is the oxidation of hydrogen with molecular oxygen (Knallgas reaction). Aquificales have been identified by molecular techniques (16S rRNA gene surveys, fluorescent in situ hybridization) in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), sea vent chimneys and fluids, and many other terrestrial and marine locations. In situ, Aquificales can reside as biofilms on vent sinters but they also commonly form filamentous communities, otherwise known as pink streamers, which attach to solid substrates. Initial 16S rRNA gene surveys conducted on streamer communities from Octopus Spring YNP indicated that these were low diversity ecosystems dominated by a few phylotypes including Thermocrinis sp., Thermotoga sp. and one other bacterial clade (Reysenbach et al 1994). Archaea were notable for their absence. In one of the first geobiological studies of pink streamers and vent biofilms in Yellowstone National Park, Jahnke and coworkers (2001) used classical lipidological techniques to compare Aquificales cultures with environmental samples to show that YNP pink filaments were more phylogenetically diverse and physiologically more complex than the early genomic studies indicated. The presence of archaeol, the range and structures of other lipids and a wide dispersion in the carbon isotopic signatures of biomass and individual lipids (-15 to -27%) showed that Archaea were present in pink filament communities and that there was, at least, one additional bacterial group besides the dominant Aquificales component. New molecular studies that comprise analyses of 16S rRNA genes and total lipid extracts by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry and chemical degradation with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry now show that Crenarchaea
Fullerenol Nanoparticles with Structural Activity Induce Variable Intracellular Actin Filament Morphologies.
Jin, Junjiang; Dong, Ying; Wang, Ying; Xia, Lin; Gu, Weihong; Bai, Xue; Chang, Yanan; Zhang, Mingyi; Chen, Kui; Li, Juan; Zhao, Lina; Xing, Gengmei
Fullerenol nanoparticles are promising for various biological applications; many studies have shown that they induce variable and diverse biological effects including side effects. Separation and purification of two fractions of fullerenols has demonstrated that they have varied chemical structures on the surfaces of their carbon cages. Actin is an important structural protein that is able to transform functional structures under varied physiological conditions. We assessed the abilities of the two fractions of fullerenols to attach to actin and induce variable morphological features in actin filament structures. Specifically the fullerenol fraction with a surface electric charge of -1.913 ± 0.008q (x10(-6) C) has percentages of C-OH and C=O on the carbon cage of 16.14 ± 0.60 and 17.55 ± 0.69. These features allow it to form intermolecular hydrogen bonds with actin at a stoichiometric ratio of four fullerenols per actin subunit. Molecular simulations revealed these specific binding sites and binding modes in atomic details in the interaction between the active fullerenol and actin filament. Conversely, these interactions were not possible for the other fraction of fullerenol with that percentages of C-OH and C=O on the carbon cage were 15.59 ± 0.01 and 1.94 ± 0.11. Neither sample induced appreciable cytotoxicity or acute cell death. After entering cells, active fullerenol binding to actin induces variable morphological features and may transform ATP-actin to ADP-actin. These changes facilitate the binding of ADF/cofilin, allowing cofilin to sever actin filaments to form cofilin/actin/fullerenol rods. Our findings suggest that fullerenol with structural activity binding disturbs actin filament structure, which may inhibit locomotion of cell or induce chronic side effects in to cells. PMID:27319217
The Structure and Assembly Mechanism of a Novel Three-Stranded Tubulin Filament that Centers Phage DNA
Zehr, Elena A.; Kraemer, James A.; Erb, Marcella L.; Coker, Joanna K.C.; Montabana, Elizabeth A.; Pogliano, Joe; Agard, David A.
SUMMARY Tubulins are a universally conserved protein superfamily that carry out diverse biological roles by assembling filaments with very different architectures. The underlying basis of this structural diversity is poorly understood. Here, we determine a 7.1 Å cryo-EM reconstruction of the bacteriophage-encoded PhuZ filament and provide molecular-level insight into its cooperative assembly mechanism. The PhuZ family of tubulins is required to actively center the phage within infected host cells, facilitating efficient phage replication. Our reconstruction and derived model reveal the first example of a three-stranded tubulin filament. We show that the elongated C-terminal tail simultaneously stabilizes both longitudinal and lateral interactions, which in turn define filament architecture. Identified interaction surfaces are conserved within the PhuZ family, and their mutagenesis compromises polymerization in vitro and in vivo. Combining kinetic modeling of PhuZ filament assembly and structural data we suggest a common filament structure and assembly mechanism for the PhuZ family of tubulins. PMID:24631461
A bacterial hydrogen-dependent CO2 reductase forms filamentous structures.
Schuchmann, Kai; Vonck, Janet; Müller, Volker
Interconversion of CO2 and formic acid is an important reaction in bacteria. A novel enzyme complex that directly utilizes molecular hydrogen as electron donor for the reversible reduction of CO2 has recently been identified in the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway of an acetogenic bacterium. This pathway is utilized for carbon fixation as well as energy conservation. Here we describe the further characterization of the quaternary structure of this enzyme complex and the unexpected behavior of this enzyme in polymerizing into filamentous structures. Polymerization of metabolic enzymes into similar structures has been observed only in rare cases but the increasing number of examples point towards a more general characteristic of enzyme functioning. Polymerization of the purified enzyme into ordered filaments of more than 0.1 μm in length was only dependent on the presence of divalent cations. Polymerization was a reversible process and connected to the enzymatic activity of the oxygen-sensitive enzyme with the filamentous form being the most active state. PMID:26833643
Filamentary structures in dense plasma focus: Current filaments or vortex filaments?
Soto, Leopoldo Pavez, Cristian; Moreno, José; Castillo, Fermin; Veloso, Felipe; Auluck, S. K. H.
Recent observations of an azimuthally distributed array of sub-millimeter size sources of fusion protons and correlation between extreme ultraviolet (XUV) images of filaments with neutron yield in PF-1000 plasma focus have re-kindled interest in their significance. These filaments have been described variously in literature as current filaments and vortex filaments, with very little experimental evidence in support of either nomenclature. This paper provides, for the first time, experimental observations of filaments on a table-top plasma focus device using three techniques: framing photography of visible self-luminosity from the plasma, schlieren photography, and interferometry. Quantitative evaluation of density profile of filaments from interferometry reveals that their radius closely agrees with the collision-less ion skin depth. This is a signature of relaxed state of a Hall fluid, which has significant mass flow with equipartition between kinetic and magnetic energy, supporting the "vortex filament" description. This interpretation is consistent with empirical evidence of an efficient energy concentration mechanism inferred from nuclear reaction yields.
Molecular dynamics simulation of a myosin subfragment-1 docking with an actin filament.
Masuda, Tadashi
Myosins are typical molecular motor proteins, which convert the chemical energy of ATP into mechanical work. The fundamental mechanism of this energy conversion is still unknown. To explain the experimental results observed in molecular motors, Masuda has proposed a theory called the "Driven by Detachment (DbD)" mechanism for the working principle of myosins. Based on this theory, the energy used during the power stroke of the myosins originates from the attractive force between a detached myosin head and an actin filament, and does not directly arise from the energy of ATP. According to this theory, every step in the myosin working process may be reproduced by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, except for the ATP hydrolysis step. Therefore, MD simulations were conducted to reproduce the docking process of a myosin subfragment-1 (S1) against an actin filament. A myosin S1 directed toward the barbed end of an actin filament was placed at three different positions by shifting it away from the filament axis. After 30 ns of MD simulations, in three cases out of ten trials on average, the myosin made a close contact with two actin monomers by changing the positions and the orientation of both the myosin and the actin as predicted in previous studies. Once the docking was achieved, the distance between the myosin and the actin showed smaller fluctuations, indicating that the docking is stable over time. If the docking was not achieved, the myosin moved randomly around the initial position or moved away from the actin filament. MD simulations thus successfully reproduced the docking of a myosin S1 with an actin filament. By extending the similar MD simulations to the other steps of the myosin working process, the validity of the DbD theory may be computationally demonstrated. PMID:23791790
The Filamentary Structure of the Lupus 3 Molecular Cloud
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Benedettini, Milena
We present the column density map of the Lupus 3 molecular cloud derived from the Herschel photometric maps. We compared the Herschel continuum maps, tracing the dense and cold dust emission, with the CS (2-1) map observed with the Mopra 22-m antenna, tracing the dense gas. Both the continuum and the CS maps show a well defined filamentary structure, with most of the dense cores being on the filaments. The CS (2-1) line shows a double peak in the central part of the longest filament due to the presence of two distinct gas components along this line of sight. Therefore, what seems a single filament in the Herschel map is actually the overlap of two kinematically distinct filaments. This case clearly shows that kinematical information is essential for the correct interpretation of filaments in molecular clouds.
Theoretical analysis of fluorescence signals in filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses in nitrogen molecular gas
Arevalo, E.; Becker, A.
We study numerically and analytically the role of the combined effect of self-focusing, geometrical focusing, and the plasma defocusing in the formation of the fluorescence signal during the filamentation of a Ti:sapphire laser pulse in nitrogen molecular gas. Results of numerical simulations are used to estimate the number of excited ions in the focal volume, which is proportional to the fluorescence signal. We find good agreement between the theoretical results and the experimental data, showing that such data can be used to get further insight into the effective focal volume during filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses in transparent media.
Structure of the ParM filament at 8.5 Å resolution
Gayathri, Pananghat; Fujii, Takashi; Namba, Keiichi; Löwe, Jan
The actin-like protein ParM forms the cytomotive filament of the ParMRC system, a type II plasmid segregation system encoded by Escherichia coli R1 plasmid. We report an 8.5 Å resolution reconstruction of the ParM filament, obtained using cryo-electron microscopy. Fitting of the 3D density reconstruction with monomeric crystal structures of ParM provides insights into dynamic instability of ParM filaments. The structural analysis suggests that a ParM conformation, corresponding to a metastable state, is held within the filament by intrafilament contacts. This filament conformation of ParM can be attained only from the ATP-bound state, and induces a change in conformation of the bound nucleotide. The structural analysis also provides a rationale for the observed stimulation of hydrolysis upon polymerisation into the filament. PMID:23462100
Cytokeratin intermediate filaments of rat hepatocytes: different cytoskeletal domains and their three-dimensional structure.
Katsuma, Y; Marceau, N; Ohta, M; French, S W
A new method of visualizing the three-dimensional architecture of the cytokeratin filaments of the intact rat hepatocyte in situ has been achieved. Frozen sections of liver cut 10 micron thick were serially extracted to remove all elements of the cells except the intermediate filaments. Parallel sections were stained with monoclonal antibodies to the two main cytokeratins found in bile duct and liver cells. Immunofluorescent antibody and immunogold electron microscopy techniques were used to identify the proteins morphologically. Several new observations resulted from these studies. The pericanalicular sheath of intermediate filaments was visualized using steropairs as an uninterrupted branching tubular structure composed of cytokeratins located in the cell cortex of adjacent hepatocytes. Intermediate filaments in the cell cortex formed a distinct sheet of matted filaments which enveloped the entire hepatocyte. The cortical intermediate filaments were in continuity with the pericanalicular sheath and the filaments located within the cytoplasm. The intermediate filaments are attached to the centrioles and appeared to tent the nuclear lamina-pore complex at points of contact. Monoclonal antibodies to rat liver intermediate filament cytokeratins (CK49 and CK55) each stained intermediate filaments located in the cell cortex, within the cytoplasm and at the nucleus. By immunogold staining, some of the intermediate filament filaments were shown to contain both cytokeratins. Filaments which did not stain were thought to be either actin at the cell periphery or nuclear lamins around the nucleus. It is concluded that the cytokeratins form a specialized framework for the cell cortex, canaliculus, centrioles and the nucleus of hepatocytes. The filaments run continuously throughout the cytoplasm without terminating. PMID:2453432
Target Molecular Simulations of RecA Family Protein Filaments
Su, Zhi-Yuan; Lee, Wen-Jay; Su, Wan-Sheng; Wang, Yeng-Tseng
Modeling of the RadA family mechanism is crucial to understanding the DNA SOS repair process. In a 2007 report, the archaeal RadA proteins function as rotary motors (linker region: I71-K88) such as shown in Figure 1. Molecular simulations approaches help to shed further light onto this phenomenon. We find 11 rotary residues (R72, T75-K81, M84, V86 and K87) and five zero rotary residues (I71, K74, E82, R83 and K88) in the simulations. Inclusion of our simulations may help to understand the RadA family mechanism. PMID:22837683
An Ammonia Spectral Map of the L1495-B218 Filaments in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. I. Physical Properties of Filaments and Dense Cores
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Seo, Young Min; Shirley, Yancy L.; Goldsmith, Paul; Ward-Thompson, Derek; Kirk, Jason M.; Schmalzl, Markus; Lee, Jeong-Eun; Friesen, Rachel; Langston, Glen; Masters, Joe; Garwood, Robert W.
We present deep NH3 observations of the L1495-B218 filaments in the Taurus molecular cloud covering over a 3° angular range using the K-band focal plane array on the 100 m Green Bank Telescope. The L1495-B218 filaments form an interconnected, nearby, large complex extending over 8 pc. We observed NH3 (1, 1) and (2, 2) with a spectral resolution of 0.038 km s-1 and a spatial resolution of 31″. Most of the ammonia peaks coincide with intensity peaks in dust continuum maps at 350 and 500 μm. We deduced physical properties by fitting a model to the observed spectra. We find gas kinetic temperatures of 8-15 K, velocity dispersions of 0.05-0.25 km s-1, and NH3 column densities of 5 × 1012 to 1 × 1014 cm-2. The CSAR algorithm, which is a hybrid of seeded-watershed and binary dendrogram algorithms, identifies a total of 55 NH3 structures, including 39 leaves and 16 branches. The masses of the NH3 sources range from 0.05 to 9.5 {{M}⊙ }. The masses of NH3 leaves are mostly smaller than their corresponding virial mass estimated from their internal and gravitational energies, which suggests that these leaves are gravitationally unbound structures. Nine out of 39 NH3 leaves are gravitationally bound, and seven out of nine gravitationally bound NH3 leaves are associated with star formation. We also found that 12 out of 30 gravitationally unbound leaves are pressure confined. Our data suggest that a dense core may form as a pressure-confined structure, evolve to a gravitationally bound core, and undergo collapse to form a protostar.
The effects of polymer molecular weight on filament thinning and drop breakup in microchannels
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Arratia, P. E.; Cramer, L.-A.; Gollub, J. P.; Durian, D. J.
We investigate the effects of fluid elasticity on the dynamics of filament thinning and drop breakup processes in a cross-slot microchannel. Elasticity effects are examined using dilute aqueous polymeric solutions of molecular weight (MW) ranging from 1.5×103 to 1.8×107. Results for polymeric fluids are compared to those for a viscous Newtonian fluid. The shearing or continuous phase that induces breakup is mineral oil. All fluids possess similar shear-viscosity (~0.2 Pa s) so that the viscosity ratio between the oil and aqueous phases is close to unity. Measurements of filament thickness as a function of time show different thinning behavior for the different aqueous fluids. For Newtonian fluids, the thinning process shows a single exponential decay of the filament thickness. For low MW fluids (103, 104 and 105), the thinning process also shows a single exponential decay, but with a decay rate that is slower than for the Newtonian fluid. The decay time increases with polymer MW. For high MW (106 and 107) fluids, the initial exponential decay crosses over to a second exponential decay in which elastic stresses are important. We show that the decay rate of the filament thickness in this exponential decay regime can be used to measure the steady extensional viscosity of the fluids. At late times, all fluids cross over to an algebraic decay which is driven mainly by surface tension.
Ultrasonic analysis of Kevlar-epoxy filament wound structures
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Brosey, W. D.
Composite structures are often desirable for their strength and weight characteristics. Since composites are not as well characterized mechanically as metallic or ceramic structures, much work has been performed at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant to obtain that characterization and to develop methods of determining the mechanical properties of a composite nondestructively. Most of the work to date has been performed on nonenclosed structures. One notable exception has been the holographic evaluation of spherical Kevlar-epoxy composite pressure vessels. Several promising nondestructive evaluation techniques have been used to locate flaws and predict the integrity of the composite. Several of these include thermography, Moire interferometry, ultrasonic stress wave factor, ultrasonic C-scan image enhancement, radiography, and nuclear magnetic resonance. As a first step in this transfer and development of NDE techniques, known defects were placed within spherical Kevlar-epoxy, filament-wound test specimens to determine the extent to which they could be detected. These defects included Teflon shim-simulated delaminations, macrosphere-simulated voids, dry-band sets, variable tension, Kevlar 29 fiber instead of the higher strength Kevlar 40 fiber, and an alternate high-void-content winding pattern. Ultrasonic waveform analysis was performed in both the time and frequency domains to determine the detectability and locatability of structural flaws within the composite. Preparation has been made at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and at the University of Delaware, to examine the specimens using various NDE techniques. This work is a compilation of interim project reports in partial fulfillment of the contracts between Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the University of Delaware, and Y-12 Plant.
Zebrafish Cardiac Muscle Thick Filaments: Isolation Technique and Three-Dimensional Structure
González-Solá, Maryví; AL-Khayat, Hind A.; Behra, Martine; Kensler, Robert W.
To understand how mutations in thick filament proteins such as cardiac myosin binding protein-C or titin, cause familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathies, it is important to determine the structure of the cardiac thick filament. Techniques for the genetic manipulation of the zebrafish are well established and it has become a major model for the study of the cardiovascular system. Our goal is to develop zebrafish as an alternative system to the mammalian heart model for the study of the structure of the cardiac thick filaments and the proteins that form it. We have successfully isolated thick filaments from zebrafish cardiac muscle, using a procedure similar to those for mammalian heart, and analyzed their structure by negative-staining and electron microscopy. The isolated filaments appear well ordered with the characteristic 42.9 nm quasi-helical repeat of the myosin heads expected from x-ray diffraction. We have performed single particle image analysis on the collected electron microscopy images for the C-zone region of these filaments and obtained a three-dimensional reconstruction at 3.5 nm resolution. This reconstruction reveals structure similar to the mammalian thick filament, and demonstrates that zebrafish may provide a useful model for the study of the changes in the cardiac thick filament associated with disease processes. PMID:24739166
Regulation of structure and function of sarcomeric actin filaments in striated muscle of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans
Ono, Shoichiro
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been used as a valuable system to study structure and function of striated muscle. The body wall muscle of C. elegans is obliquely striated muscle with highly organized sarcomeric assembly of actin, myosin, and other accessary proteins. Genetic and molecular biological studies in C. elegans have identified a number of genes encoding structural and regulatory components for the muscle contractile apparatuses, and many of them have counterparts in mammalian cardiac and skeletal muscles or striated muscles in other invertebrates. Applicability of genetics, cell biology, and biochemistry has made C. elegans an excellent system to study mechanisms of muscle contractility and assembly and maintenance of myofibrils. This review focuses on the regulatory mechanisms of structure and function of actin filaments in the C. elegans body wall muscle. Sarcomeric actin filaments in C. elegans muscle are associated with the troponin-tropomyosin system that regulates the actin-myosin interaction. Proteins that bind to the side and ends of actin filaments support ordered assembly of thin filaments. Furthermore, regulators of actin dynamics play important roles in initial assembly, growth, and maintenance of sarcomeres. The knowledge acquired in C. elegans can serve as bases to understand the basic mechanisms of muscle structure and function. PMID:25125169
Shocks, Superbubbles, and Filaments: Investigations into Large Scale Gas Motions in Giant Molecular Clouds
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Pon, Andrew Richard
Giant molecular clouds (GMCs), out of which stars form, are complex, dynamic systems, which both influence and are shaped by the process of star formation. In this dissertation, I examine three different facets of the dynamical motions within GMCs. Collapse modes in different dimensional objects. Molecular clouds contain lower dimensional substructures, such as filaments and sheets. The collapse properties of finite filaments and sheets differ from those of spherical objects as well as infinite sheets and filaments. I examine the importance of local collapse modes of small central perturbations, relative to global collapse modes, in different dimensional objects to elucidate whether strong perturbations are required for molecular clouds to fragment to form stars. I also calculate the dependence of the global collapse timescale upon the aspect ratio of sheets and filaments. I find that lower dimensional objects are more readily fragmented, and that for a constant density, lower dimensional objects and clouds with larger aspect ratios collapse more slowly. An edge-driven collapse mode also exists in sheets and filaments and is most important in elongated filaments. The failure to consider the geometry of a gas cloud is shown to lead to an overestimation of the star formation rate by up to an order of magnitude. Molecular tracers of turbulent energy dissipation. Molecular clouds contain supersonic turbulence that simulations predict will decay rapidly via shocks. I use shock models to predict which species emit the majority of the turbulent energy dissipated in shocks and find that carbon monoxide, CO, is primarily responsible for radiating away this energy. By combining these shock models with estimates for the turbulent energy dissipation rate of molecular clouds, I predict the expected shock spectra of CO from molecular clouds. I compare the results of these shock models to predictions for the emission from the unshocked gas in GMCs and show that mid
The Molecular Basis for Flexibility in the Flexible Filamentous Plant Viruses
DiMaio, Frank; Chen, Chun-Chieh; Yu, Xiong; Frenz, Brandon; Hsu, Yau-Heiu; Lin, Na-Sheng; Egelman, Edward H.
Flexible filamentous plant viruses are responsible for more than half the viral crop damage in the world, but are also potentially useful for biotechnology. Structural studies began more than 75 years ago but have failed due to the virion's extreme flexibility. We have used cryo–EM to generate an atomic model for bamboo mosaic virus revealing flexible N– and C–terminal extensions that allow deformation while still maintaining structural integrity. PMID:26167882
Frealix: model-based refinement of helical filament structures from electron micrographs.
Rohou, Alexis; Grigorieff, Nikolaus
The structures of many helical protein filaments can be derived from electron micrographs of their suspensions in thin films of vitrified aqueous solutions. The most successful and generally-applicable approach treats short segments of these filaments as independent "single particles", yielding near-atomic resolution for rigid and well-ordered filaments. The single-particle approach can also accommodate filament deformations, yielding sub-nanometer resolution for more flexible filaments. However, in the case of thin and flexible filaments, such as some amyloid-β (Aβ) fibrils, the single-particle approach may fail because helical segments can be curved or otherwise distorted and their alignment can be inaccurate due to low contrast in the micrographs. We developed new software called Frealix that allows the use of arbitrarily short filament segments during alignment to approximate even high curvatures. All segments in a filament are aligned simultaneously with constraints that ensure that they connect to each other in space to form a continuous helical structure. In this paper, we describe the algorithm and benchmark it against datasets of Aβ(1-40) fibrils and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), both analyzed in earlier work. In the case of TMV, our algorithm achieves similar results to single-particle analysis. In the case of Aβ(1-40) fibrils, we match the previously-obtained resolution but we are also able to obtain reliable alignments and ∼8-Å reconstructions from curved filaments. Our algorithm also offers a detailed characterization of filament deformations in three dimensions and enables a critical evaluation of the worm-like chain model for biological filaments. PMID:24657230
Frealix: Model-based refinement of helical filament structures from electron micrographs
Rohou, Alexis; Grigorieff, Nikolaus
The structures of many helical protein filaments can be derived from electron micrographs of their suspensions in thin films of vitrified aqueous solutions. The most successful and generally-applicable approach treats short segments of these filaments as independent "single particles", yielding near-atomic resolution for rigid and well-ordered filaments. The single-particle approach can also accommodate filament deformations, yielding sub-nanometer resolution for more flexible filaments. However, in the case of thin and flexible filaments, such as some amyloid-β (Aβ) fibrils, the single-particle approach may fail because helical segments can be curved or otherwise distorted and their alignment can be inaccurate due to low contrast in the micrographs. We developed new software called Frealix that allows the use of arbitrarily short filament segments during alignment to approximate even high curvatures. All segments in a filament are aligned simultaneously with constraints that ensure that they connect to each other in space to form a continuous helical structure. In this paper, we describe the algorithm and benchmark it against datasets of Aβ(1–40) fibrils and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), both analyzed in earlier work. In the case of TMV, our algorithm achieves similar results to single-particle analysis. In the case of Aβ(1–40) fibrils, we match the previously-obtained resolution but we are also able to obtain reliable alignments and ~8-Å reconstructions from curved filaments. Our algorithm also offers a detailed characterization of filament deformations in three dimensions and enables a critical evaluation of the worm-like chain model for biological filaments. PMID:24657230
Discovery of a pre-existing molecular filament associated with supernova remnant G127.1+0.5
Zhou, Xin; Yang, Ji; Fang, Min; Su, Yang
We performed millimeter observations in CO lines toward the supernova remnant (SNR) G127.1+0.5. We found a molecular filament at 4-13 km s{sup –1} consisting of two distinct parts: a straight part coming out of the remnant region and a curved part in the remnant region. The curved part is coincides well with the bright SNR shell detected in 1420 MHz radio continuum and mid-infrared observations in the northeastern region. In addition, redshifted line wing broadening is found only in the curved part of the molecular filament, which indicates a physical interaction. These provide strong evidences, for the first time, to confirm the association between an SNR and a pre-existing long molecular filament. Multi-band observations in the northeastern remnant shell could be explained by the interaction between the remnant shock and the dense molecular filament. RADEX radiative transfer modeling of the quiet and shocked components yield physical conditions consistent with the passage of a non-dissociative J-type shock. We argue that the curved part of the filament is fully engulfed by the remnant's forward shock. A spatial correlation between aggregated young stellar objects (YSOs) and the adjacent molecular filament close to the SNR is also found, which could be related to the progenitor's activity.
The missing link: Tracing molecular gas in the outer filament of Centaurus A
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Morganti, Raffaella; Oosterloo, Tom; Oonk, J. B. Raymond; Santoro, Francesco; Tadhunter, Clive
We report the detection, using observations of the CO(2-1) line performed with the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX), of molecular gas in the region of the outer filament of Centaurus A, a complex region known to show various signatures of an interaction between the radio jet, an H i cloud, and ionised gas filaments. We detect CO(2-1) at all observed locations, which were selected to represent regions with very different physical conditions. The H2 masses of the detections range between 0.2 × 106 and 1.1 × 106M⊙, for conservative choices of the CO to H2 conversion factor. Surprisingly, the stronger detections are not coincident with the H i cloud, but instead are in the region of the ionised filaments. We also find variations in the widths of the CO(2-1) lines throughout the region, with broader lines in the region of the ionised gas, i.e. where the jet-cloud interaction is strongest, and with narrow profiles in the H i cloud. This may indicate that the molecular gas in the region of the ionised gas has the momentum of the jet-cloud interaction encoded in it, in the same way as the ionised gas does. These molecular clouds may therefore be the result of very efficient cooling of the down-stream gas photo- or shock-ionised by the interaction. On the other hand, the molecular clouds with narrower profiles, which are closer to or inside the H i cloud, could be pre-existing cold H2 cores which manage to survive the effects of the passing jet.
McDonald, Michael; Wei, Lisa H.; Veilleux, Sylvain E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
We present the results of interferometric observations of the cool core of A1795 at CO(1-0) using the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy. In agreement with previous work, we detect a significant amount of cold molecular gas (3.9 {+-} 0.4 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun }) in the central {approx}10 kpc. We report the discovery of a substantial clump of cold molecular gas at clustercentric radius of 30 kpc (2.9 {+-} 0.4 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun }), coincident in both position and velocity with the warm, ionized filaments. We also place an upper limit on the H{sub 2} mass at the outer edge of the star-forming filament, corresponding to a distance of 60 kpc (<0.9 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun }). We measure a strong gradient in the H{alpha}/H{sub 2} ratio as a function of radius, suggesting different ionization mechanisms in the nucleus and filaments of A1795. The total mass of cold molecular gas ({approx}7 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun }) is roughly 30% of the classical cooling estimate at the same position, assuming a cooling time of 10{sup 9} yr. Combining the cold molecular gas mass with the UV-derived star formation rate and the warm, ionized gas mass, the spectroscopically derived X-ray cooling rate is fully accounted for and in good agreement with the cooling byproducts over timescales of {approx}10{sup 9} yr. The overall agreement between the cooling rate of the hot intracluster medium and the mass of the cool gas reservoir suggests that, at least in this system, the cooling flow problem stems from a lack of observable cooling in the more diffuse regions at large radii.
Structure determination of helical filaments by solid-state NMR spectroscopy
Ahmed, Mumdooh; Spehr, Johannes; König, Renate; Lünsdorf, Heinrich; Rand, Ulfert; Lührs, Thorsten; Ritter, Christiane
The controlled formation of filamentous protein complexes plays a crucial role in many biological systems and represents an emerging paradigm in signal transduction. The mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) is a central signal transduction hub in innate immunity that is activated by a receptor-induced conversion into helical superstructures (filaments) assembled from its globular caspase activation and recruitment domain. Solid-state NMR (ssNMR) spectroscopy has become one of the most powerful techniques for atomic resolution structures of protein fibrils. However, for helical filaments, the determination of the correct symmetry parameters has remained a significant hurdle for any structural technique and could thus far not be precisely derived from ssNMR data. Here, we solved the atomic resolution structure of helical MAVSCARD filaments exclusively from ssNMR data. We present a generally applicable approach that systematically explores the helical symmetry space by efficient modeling of the helical structure restrained by interprotomer ssNMR distance restraints. Together with classical automated NMR structure calculation, this allowed us to faithfully determine the symmetry that defines the entire assembly. To validate our structure, we probed the protomer arrangement by solvent paramagnetic resonance enhancement, analysis of chemical shift differences relative to the solution NMR structure of the monomer, and mutagenesis. We provide detailed information on the atomic contacts that determine filament stability and describe mechanistic details on the formation of signaling-competent MAVS filaments from inactive monomers. PMID:26733681
Desmin: molecular interactions and putative functions of the muscle intermediate filament protein.
Costa, M L; Escaleira, R; Cataldo, A; Oliveira, F; Mermelstein, C S
Desmin is the intermediate filament (IF) protein occurring exclusively in muscle and endothelial cells. There are other IF proteins in muscle such as nestin, peripherin, and vimentin, besides the ubiquitous lamins, but they are not unique to muscle. Desmin was purified in 1977, the desmin gene was characterized in 1989, and knock-out animals were generated in 1996. Several isoforms have been described. Desmin IFs are present throughout smooth, cardiac and skeletal muscle cells, but can be more concentrated in some particular structures, such as dense bodies, around the nuclei, around the Z-line or in costameres. Desmin is up-regulated in muscle-derived cellular adaptations, including conductive fibers in the heart, electric organs, some myopathies, and experimental treatments with drugs that induce muscle degeneration, like phorbol esters. Many molecules have been reported to associate with desmin, such as other IF proteins (including members of the membrane dystroglycan complex), nebulin, the actin and tubulin binding protein plectin, the molecular motor dynein, the gene regulatory protein MyoD, DNA, the chaperone alphaB-crystallin, and proteases such as calpain and caspase. Desmin has an important medical role, since it is used as a marker of tumors' origin. More recently, several myopathies have been described, with accumulation of desmin deposits. Yet, after almost 30 years since its identification, the function of desmin is still unclear. Suggested functions include myofibrillogenesis, mechanical support for the muscle, mitochondrial localization, gene expression regulation, and intracellular signaling. This review focuses on the biochemical interactions of desmin, with a discussion of its putative functions. PMID:15558188
Molecular alignment and filamentation: Comparison between weak- and strong-field models
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Berti, N.; Béjot, P.; Wolf, J.-P.; Faucher, O.
The impact of nonadiabatic laser-induced molecular alignment on filamentation is numerically studied. Weak- and strong-field models of impulsive molecular alignment are compared in the context of nonlinear pulse propagation. It is shown that the widely used weak-field model describing the refractive index modification induced by impulsive molecular alignment accurately reproduces the propagation dynamics providing that only a single pulse is involved during the experiment. On the contrary, it fails at reproducing the nonlinear propagation experienced by an intense laser pulse traveling in the wake of a second strong laser pulse. The discrepancy depends on the relative delay between the two pulses and is maximal for delays corresponding to half the rotational period of the molecule.
Molecular transformation, gene cloning, and gene expression systems for filamentous fungi
Gold, Scott E.; Duick, John W.; Redman, Regina S.; Rodriguez, Rusty J.
This chapter discusses the molecular transformation, gene cloning, and gene expression systems for filamentous fungi. Molecular transformation involves the movement of discrete amounts of DNA into cells, the expression of genes on the transported DNA, and the sustainable replication of the transforming DNA. The ability to transform fungi is dependent on the stable replication and expression of genes located on the transforming DNA. Three phenomena observed in bacteria, that is, competence, plasmids, and restriction enzymes to facilitate cloning, were responsible for the development of molecular transformation in fungi. Initial transformation success with filamentous fungi, involving the complementation of auxotrophic mutants by exposure to sheared genomic DNA or RNA from wt isolates, occurred with low transformation efficiencies. In addition, it was difficult to retrieve complementing DNA fragments and isolate genes of interest. This prompted the development of transformation vectors and methods to increase efficiencies. The physiological studies performed with fungi indicated that the cell wall could be removed to generate protoplasts. It was evident that protoplasts could be transformed with significantly greater efficiencies than walled cells.
The Small Heat Shock Protein Hsp27 Affects Assembly Dynamics and Structure of Keratin Intermediate Filament Networks
Kayser, Jona; Haslbeck, Martin; Dempfle, Lisa; Krause, Maike; Grashoff, Carsten; Buchner, Johannes; Herrmann, Harald; Bausch, Andreas R.
The mechanical properties of living cells are essential for many processes. They are defined by the cytoskeleton, a composite network of protein fibers. Thus, the precise control of its architecture is of paramount importance. Our knowledge about the molecular and physical mechanisms defining the network structure remains scarce, especially for the intermediate filament cytoskeleton. Here, we investigate the effect of small heat shock proteins on the keratin 8/18 intermediate filament cytoskeleton using a well-controlled model system of reconstituted keratin networks. We demonstrate that Hsp27 severely alters the structure of such networks by changing their assembly dynamics. Furthermore, the C-terminal tail domain of keratin 8 is shown to be essential for this effect. Combining results from fluorescence and electron microscopy with data from analytical ultracentrifugation reveals the crucial role of kinetic trapping in keratin network formation. PMID:24138853
Slender Vortex Filament with Slowly Varying Core Structure
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Ting, Lu; Tung, Chee
We give a brief review of the asymptotic theory of slender vortex filaments with emphases on the choices of scalings characterizing the physical problems and the corresponding assumptions and/or restrictions introduced in the formation of the asymptotic theory of Callegari and Ting (1978) and its extension by Klein and Ting (1992). In particular, the slender filaments considered are assumed to be forming loops or tori. Because of this restriction, the theory is not applicable to the trailing vortex system of a rotorcraft. We describe the multiple length scales characterizing the vortex system, formulate the expansion scheme, derive the governing equations and then identify the assumptions or restrictions inherent in the multi-scale analysis and needed for the validity of the asymptotic theory of the trailing vortex system.
Thin Filament Structure and the Steric Blocking Model.
Lehman, William
By interacting with the troponin-tropomyosin complex on myofibrillar thin filaments, Ca2+ and myosin govern the regulatory switching processes influencing contractile activity of mammalian cardiac and skeletal muscles. A possible explanation of the roles played by Ca2+ and myosin emerged in the early 1970s when a compelling "steric model" began to gain traction as a likely mechanism accounting for muscle regulation. In its most simple form, the model holds that, under the control of Ca2+ binding to troponin and myosin binding to actin, tropomyosin strands running along thin filaments either block myosin-binding sites on actin when muscles are relaxed or move away from them when muscles are activated. Evidence for the steric model was initially based on interpretation of subtle changes observed in X-ray fiber diffraction patterns of intact skeletal muscle preparations. Over the past 25 years, electron microscopy coupled with three-dimensional reconstruction directly resolved thin filament organization under many experimental conditions and at increasingly higher resolution. At low-Ca2+, tropomyosin was shown to occupy a "blocked-state" position on the filament, and switched-on in a two-step process, involving first a movement of tropomyosin away from the majority of the myosin-binding site as Ca2+ binds to troponin and then a further movement to fully expose the site when small numbers of myosin heads bind to actin. In this contribution, basic information on Ca2+-regulation of muscle contraction is provided. A description is then given relating the voyage of discovery taken to arrive at the present understanding of the steric regulatory model. PMID:27065174
The identification of filaments on far-infrared and submillimiter images: Morphology, physical conditions and relation with star formation of filamentary structure
Schisano, E.; Carey, S.; Paladini, R.; Rygl, K. L. J.; Molinari, S.; Elia, D.; Pestalozzi, M.; Busquet, G.; Billot, N.; Noriega-Crespo, A.; Moore, T. J. T.; Plume, R.; Glover, S. C. O.; Vázquez-Semadeni, E.
Observations of molecular clouds reveal a complex structure, with gas and dust often arranged in filamentary, rather than spherical geometries. The association of pre- and proto-stellar cores with the filaments suggests a direct link with the process of star formation. Any study of the properties of such filaments requires representative samples from different environments for an unbiased detection method. We developed such an approach using the Hessian matrix of a surface-brightness distribution to identify filaments and determine their physical and morphological properties. After testing the method on simulated, but realistic, filaments, we apply the algorithms to column-density maps computed from Herschel observations of the Galactic plane obtained by the Hi-GAL project. We identified ∼500 filaments, in the longitude range of l = 216.°5 to l = 225.°5, with lengths from ∼1 pc up to ∼30 pc and widths between 0.1 pc and 2.5 pc. Average column densities are between 10{sup 20} cm{sup –2} and 10{sup 22} cm{sup –2}. Filaments include the majority of dense material with N{sub H{sub 2}} > 6 × 10{sup 21} cm{sup –2}. We find that the pre- and proto-stellar compact sources already identified in the same region are mostly associated with filaments. However, surface densities in excess of the expected critical values for high-mass star formation are only found on the filaments, indicating that these structures are necessary to channel material into the clumps. Furthermore, we analyze the gravitational stability of filaments and discuss their relationship with star formation.
The Identification of Filaments on Far-infrared and Submillimiter Images: Morphology, Physical Conditions and Relation with Star Formation of Filamentary Structure
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Schisano, E.; Rygl, K. L. J.; Molinari, S.; Busquet, G.; Elia, D.; Pestalozzi, M.; Polychroni, D.; Billot, N.; Carey, S.; Paladini, R.; Noriega-Crespo, A.; Moore, T. J. T.; Plume, R.; Glover, S. C. O.; Vázquez-Semadeni, E.
Observations of molecular clouds reveal a complex structure, with gas and dust often arranged in filamentary, rather than spherical geometries. The association of pre- and proto-stellar cores with the filaments suggests a direct link with the process of star formation. Any study of the properties of such filaments requires representative samples from different environments for an unbiased detection method. We developed such an approach using the Hessian matrix of a surface-brightness distribution to identify filaments and determine their physical and morphological properties. After testing the method on simulated, but realistic, filaments, we apply the algorithms to column-density maps computed from Herschel observations of the Galactic plane obtained by the Hi-GAL project. We identified ~500 filaments, in the longitude range of l = 216.°5 to l = 225.°5, with lengths from ~1 pc up to ~30 pc and widths between 0.1 pc and 2.5 pc. Average column densities are between 1020 cm-2 and 1022 cm-2. Filaments include the majority of dense material with N_H_{2} > 6 × 1021 cm-2. We find that the pre- and proto-stellar compact sources already identified in the same region are mostly associated with filaments. However, surface densities in excess of the expected critical values for high-mass star formation are only found on the filaments, indicating that these structures are necessary to channel material into the clumps. Furthermore, we analyze the gravitational stability of filaments and discuss their relationship with star formation.
Deciphering the molecular mechanisms behind cellulase production in Trichoderma reesei, the hyper-cellulolytic filamentous fungus.
Shida, Yosuke; Furukawa, Takanori; Ogasawara, Wataru
The filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei is a potent cellulase producer and the best-studied cellulolytic fungus. A lot of investigations not only on glycoside hydrolases produced by T. reesei, but also on the machinery controlling gene expression of these enzyme have made this fungus a model organism for cellulolytic fungi. We have investigated the T. reesei strain including mutants developed in Japan in detail to understand the molecular mechanisms that control the cellulase gene expression, the biochemical and morphological aspects that could favor this phenotype, and have attempted to generate novel strains that may be appropriate for industrial use. Subsequently, we developed recombinant strains by combination of these insights and the heterologous-efficient saccharifing enzymes. Resulting enzyme preparations were highly effective for saccharification of various biomass. In this review, we present some of the salient findings from the recent biochemical, morphological, and molecular analyses of this remarkable cellulase hyper-producing fungus. PMID:27075508
Ultrastructure and molecular phylogenetics of Helmichia lacustris, a microsporidium with an uncoiled isofilar polar filament.
Tokarev, Yuri S; Voronin, Vladimir N; Seliverstova, Elena V; Grushetskaya, Tatiana A; Issi, Irma V
The description of Helmichia lacustris Voronin (Parazitologiya 34:327-331 1998) is supplemented with morphogenesis and ultrastructure of the extrusion apparatus. Formation of the anterior (made up by rare short lamellae) and posterior (made up by spongy matter or small vesicles) regions of the polaroplast is preceded by granulated spheres and agglomerations of bean-like bodies, respectively. The anchoring disc is formed by an oval structure of moderate electron density, sometimes possessing a granular texture. The parasite development occurs within the cisterns of granular endoplasmatic reticulum (ER) of the host cell. Each group of spores is enclosed within a two-layered sheath, including the smooth inner membrane of the sporophorous vesicle and the outer ribosome-encrusted membrane (which originates from the host cell ER) of the parasitophorous vacuole. Two microsporidia, H. lacustris (GenBank accession number GU130406) and Euplotespora binucleata (GenBank accession number DQ675604) share 78.1% of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Both parasites are characterized by an uncoiled isofilar polar filament. They form a cluster nested among terrestrial and aquatic microsporidia with well-developed coiled polar filaments, suggesting that an uncoiled polar filament in this species is a result of reduction, rather than a "primitive" character. PMID:21863399
Electron Microscopic Observations on the Structure of Treponema zuelzerae and Its Axial Filaments
Bharier, M. A.; Eiserling, F. A.; Rittenberg, S. C.
The fine structure of the spirochete Treponema zuelzerae, and particularly of its axial filaments, was investigated by using the electron microscope. The cell consists of a protoplasmic core surrounded by two concentric envelopes, each approximately 12 nm in width. Between these envelopes are two axial filaments, one originating at each pole of the cell, which overlap and lie side by side in the central region of the cell. The diameter of the axial filaments is 18.0 to 18.5 nm. The terminal region of each filament at its proximal end consists of a hook-like structure, very similar in appearance to the proximal end of a bacterial flagellum. The outer envelope of the cell is readily disrupted with distilled water, and this treatment often results in the release of the filaments from their axial position. A sheath is seen surrounding the filaments when cells are treated with distilled water for no more than 1 min and fixed immediately with osmium tetroxide or glutaraldehyde. This sheath has a striated fine structure and a diameter of 46 nm. Images PMID:5541022
Structural Architecture of the CARMA1/Bcl10/MALT1 Signalosome: Nucleation-Induced Filamentous Assembly
Qiao, Qi; Yang, Chenghua; Zheng, Chao; Fontán, Lorena; David, Liron; Yu, Xiong; Bracken, Clay; Rosen, Monica; Melnick, Ari; Egelman, Edward H.; Wu, Hao
SUMMARY The CARMA1/Bcl10/MALT1 (CBM) signalosome mediates antigen receptor-induced NF-κB signaling to regulate multiple lymphocyte functions. While CARMA1 and Bcl10 contain caspase recruitment domains (CARDs), MALT1 is a paracaspase with structural similarity to caspases. Here we show that the reconstituted CBM signalosome is a helical filamentous assembly in which substoichiometric CARMA1 nucleates Bcl10 filaments. Bcl10 filament formation is a highly cooperative process whose threshold is sensitized by oligomerized CARMA1 upon receptor activation. In cells, both cotransfected CARMA1/Bcl10 complex and the endogenous CBM signalosome are filamentous morphologically. Combining crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance, and electron microscopy, we reveal the structure of the Bcl10 CARD filament and the mode of interaction between CARMA1 and Bcl10. Structure-guided mutagenesis confirmed the observed interfaces in Bcl10 filament assembly and MALT1 activation in vitro and NF-κB activation in cells. These data support a paradigm of nucleation-induced signal transduction with threshold response due to cooperativity and signal amplification by polymerization. PMID:24074955
Filament-Level Modeling of Aramid-Based High-Performance Structural Materials
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Grujicic, M.; Bell, W. C.; Glomski, P. S.; Pandurangan, B.; Yen, C.-F.; Cheeseman, B. A.
Molecular statics and molecular dynamics are employed to study the effects of various microstructural and topological defects (e.g., chain ends, axial chain misalignment, inorganic solvent impurities, and sheet stacking faults) on the strength, ductility, and stiffness of p-phenylene terephthalamide (PPTA) fibers/filaments. These fibers can be considered as prototypes for advanced high strength/high-stiffness fibers like Kevlar®, Twaron®, New Star®, etc. While modeling these fibers, it was taken into account that they are essentially crystalline materials consisting of stacks of sheets, with each sheet containing an array of nearly parallel hydrogen-bonded molecules/chains. The inter-sheet bonding, on the other hand, was considered as mainly being of van der Waals or p-electron character. The effects of various deviations of the PPTA fiber structure from that of the perfectly crystalline structure (i.e., microstructural/topological defects) on the material's mechanical properties are then considered. The results obtained show that while the presence of these defects decreases all the mechanical properties of PPTA fibers, specific properties display an increased level of sensitivity to the presence of certain defects. For example, longitudinal tensile properties are found to be most sensitive to the presence of chain ends, in-sheet transverse properties to the presence of chain misalignments, while cross-sheet transverse properties are found to be most affected by the presence of sheet stacking faults.
The three-dimensional structure of trichocyte (hard alpha-) keratin intermediate filaments: the nature of the repeating unit.
Fraser, R D B; Parry, David A D
Recently, the spatial distribution of the crosslinks induced between lysine residues in trichocyte (alpha-) keratin intermediate filaments (IF) using disulfosuccinimidyl tartrate was analyzed in detail and the results used to provide information about the three-dimensional structure of the IF [Fraser, R.D.B., Parry, D.A.D., 2005. The three-dimensional structure of trichocyte (hard alpha-) keratin intermediate filaments: features of the molecular packing deduced from the sites of induced crosslinks. J. Struct. Biol. 151, 171-181.] The presence of small amounts of 0--> +/-4 crosslinkages between molecular strands four distant in the network implied that the three-dimensional network of interacting molecules must be deeply puckered, but no specific suggestions were made about the nature of the puckering. Whilst it was recognized that there may be more than one type of molecular environment in the structural repeat the initial analysis was confined to the simplest case in which all molecules had the same environment, that is to say the asymmetric unit comprised a single molecule. Further studies reported here suggest that it is likely that the asymmetric unit consists of at least two and possibly as many as four molecules and the implications of this for modeling the structure of trichocyte IF are discussed. PMID:16890455
The N-terminal domain of MuB protein has striking structural similarity to DNA-binding domains and mediates MuB filament-filament interactions.
Dramićanin, Marija; López-Méndez, Blanca; Boskovic, Jasminka; Campos-Olivas, Ramón; Ramón-Maiques, Santiago
MuB is an ATP-dependent DNA-binding protein that regulates the activity of MuA transposase and delivers the target DNA for transposition of phage Mu. Mechanistic insight into MuB function is limited to its AAA+ ATPase module, which upon ATP binding assembles into helical filaments around the DNA. However, the structure and function of the flexible N-terminal domain (NTD) appended to the AAA+ module remains uncharacterized. Here we report the solution structure of MuB NTD determined by NMR spectroscopy. The structure reveals a compact domain formed by four α-helices connected by short loops, and confirms the presence of a helix-turn-helix motif. High structural similarity and sequence homology with λ repressor-like DNA-binding domains suggest a possible role of MuB NTD in DNA binding. We also demonstrate that the NTD directly mediates the ability of MuB to establish filament-filament interactions. These findings lead us to a model in which the NTD interacts with the AAA+ spirals and perhaps also with the DNA bound within the filament, favoring MuB polymerization and filament clustering. We propose that the MuB NTD-dependent filament interactions might be an effective mechanism to bridge distant DNA regions during Mu transposition. PMID:26169224
Mini-chromosome maintenance complexes form a filament to remodel DNA structure and topology
Slaymaker, Ian M.; Fu, Yang; Toso, Daniel B.; Ranatunga, Nimna; Brewster, Aaron; Forsburg, Susan L.; Zhou, Z. Hong; Chen, Xiaojiang S.
Deregulation of mini-chromosome maintenance (MCM) proteins is associated with genomic instability and cancer. MCM complexes are recruited to replication origins for genome duplication. Paradoxically, MCM proteins are in excess than the number of origins and are associated with chromatin regions away from the origins during G1 and S phases. Here, we report an unusually wide left-handed filament structure for an archaeal MCM, as determined by X-ray and electron microscopy. The crystal structure reveals that an α-helix bundle formed between two neighboring subunits plays a critical role in filament formation. The filament has a remarkably strong electro-positive surface spiraling along the inner filament channel for DNA binding. We show that this MCM filament binding to DNA causes dramatic DNA topology change. This newly identified function of MCM to change DNA topology may imply a wider functional role for MCM in DNA metabolisms beyond helicase function. Finally, using yeast genetics, we show that the inter-subunit interactions, important for MCM filament formation, play a role for cell growth and survival. PMID:23361460
Swirling around filaments: are large-scale structure vortices spinning up dark haloes?
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Laigle, C.; Pichon, C.; Codis, S.; Dubois, Y.; Le Borgne, D.; Pogosyan, D.; Devriendt, J.; Peirani, S.; Prunet, S.; Rouberol, S.; Slyz, A.; Sousbie, T.
The kinematic analysis of dark matter and hydrodynamical simulations suggests that the vorticity in large-scale structure is mostly confined to, and predominantly aligned with, their filaments, with an excess of probability of 20 per cent to have the angle between vorticity and filaments direction lower than 60° relative to random orientations. The cross-sections of these filaments are typically partitioned into four quadrants with opposite vorticity sign, arising from multiple flows, originating from neighbouring walls. The spins of haloes embedded within these filaments are consistently aligned with this vorticity for any halo mass, with a stronger alignment for the most massive structures up to an excess of probability of 165 per cent. The global geometry of the flow within the cosmic web is therefore qualitatively consistent with a spin acquisition for smaller haloes induced by this large-scale coherence, as argued in Codis et al. In effect, secondary anisotropic infall (originating from the vortex-rich filament within which these lower-mass haloes form) dominates the angular momentum budget of these haloes. The transition mass from alignment to orthogonality is related to the size of a given multi-flow region with a given polarity. This transition may be reconciled with the standard tidal torque theory if the latter is augmented so as to account for the larger scale anisotropic environment of walls and filaments.
Monitoring the integrity of filament-wound structures using built-in sensor networks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lin, Mark; Kumar, Amrita; Qing, Xinlin; Beard, Shawn J.; Russell, Samuel S.; Walker, James L.; Delay, Thomas K.
Monitoring the integrity of filament wound composite structures such as solid rocket motors and liquid fuel bottles is important in order to prevent catastrophic failures and to prolong the service life of these structures. To ensure the safety and reliability of rocket components, they require frequent inspection for structural damages that might have occurred during manufacturing, transportation, and storage. The timely and accurate detection, characterization and monitoring of structural cracking, delamination, debonding and other types of damage is a major concern in the operational environment. Utilization of a sensor network system integrated with the structure itself can greatly reduce this inspection burden through fast in-situ data collection and processing. Acellent Technologies, Inc. is currently developing integrated structural monitoring tools for continuous monitoring of composite and metal structures on aircraft and spacecraft. Acellent's integrated structural monitoring system consists of a flexible sensor/actuator network layer called the SMART Layer, supporting diagnostic hardware, and data processing/analysis software. Recently, Acellent has been working with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center to develop ways of embedding the SMART Layer inside filament wound composite bottles. SMART Layers were designed and manufactured for the filament wound bottles and embedded in them during the filament winding process. Acellent has been working on developing a complete structural health monitoring system for the filament wound bottles including data processing tools to interpret the changes in sensor signal caused by changes in the structural condition or material property. A prototype of a filament wound composite bottle with an embedded sensor network has been fabricated and preliminary data analysis tools have been developed.
FilFinder: Filamentary structure in molecular clouds
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Koch, Eric W.; Rosolowsky, Erik W.
FilFinder extracts and analyzes filamentary structure in molecular clouds. In particular, it is capable of uniformly extracting structure over a large dynamical range in intensity. It returns the main filament properties: local amplitude and background, width, length, orientation and curvature. FilFinder offers additional tools to, for example, create a filament-only image based on the properties of the radial fits. The resulting mask and skeletons may be saved in FITS format, and property tables may be saved as a CSV, FITS or LaTeX table.
Carbon doping in molecular beam epitaxy of GaAs from a heated graphite filament
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Malik, R. J.; Nottenberg, R. N.; Schubert, E. F.; Walker, J. F.; Ryan, R. W.
Carbon doping of GaAs grown by molecular beam epitaxy has been obtained for the first time by use of a heated graphite filament. Controlled carbon acceptor concentrations over the range of 10 to the 17th-10 to the 20th/cu cm were achieved by resistively heating a graphite filament with a direct current power supply. Capacitance-voltage, p/n junction and secondary-ion mass spectrometry measurements indicate that there is negligible diffusion of carbon during growth and with postgrowth rapid thermal annealing. Carbon was used for p-type doping in the base of Npn AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors. Current gains greater than 100 and near-ideal emitter heterojunctions were obtained in transistors with a carbon base doping of 1 x 10 to the 19th/cu cm. These preliminary results indicate that carbon doping from a solid graphite source may be an attractive substitute for beryllium, which is known to have a relatively high diffusion coefficient in GaAs.
Filamentary structure in the Orion molecular cloud
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bally, J.; Dragovan, M.; Langer, W. D.; Stark, A. A.; Wilson, R. W.
A large scale 13CO map (containing 33,000 spectra) of the giant molecular cloud located in the southern part of Orion is presented which contains the Orion Nebula, NGC1977, and the LI641 dark cloud complex. The overall structure of the cloud is filamentary, with individual features having a length up to 40 times their width. This morphology may result from the effects of star formation in the region or embedded magnetic fields in the cloud. We suggest a simple picture for the evolution of the Orion-A cloud and the formation of the major filament. A rotating proto-cloud (counter rotating with respect to the galaxy) contians a b-field aligned with the galaxtic plane. The northern portion of this cloud collapsed first, perhaps triggered by the pressure of the Ori I OB association. The magnetic field combined with the anisotropic pressure produced by the OB-association breaks the symmetry of the pancake instability, a filament rather than a disc is produced. The growth of instabilities in the filament formed sub-condensations which are recent sites of star formation.
Filamentary structure in the Orion molecular cloud
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Bally, J.; Langer, W. D.; Bally, J.; Langer, W. D.; Bally, J.; Langer, W. D.
A large scale 13CO map (containing 33,000 spectra) of the giant molecular cloud located in the southern part of Orion is presented which contains the Orion Nebula, NGC1977, and the LI641 dark cloud complex. The overall structure of the cloud is filamentary, with individual features having a length up to 40 times their width. This morphology may result from the effects of star formation in the region or embedded magnetic fields in the cloud. We suggest a simple picture for the evolution of the Orion-A cloud and the formation of the major filament. A rotating proto-cloud (counter rotating with respect to the galaxy) contians a b-field aligned with the galaxtic plane. The northern protion of this cloud collapsed first, perhaps triggered by the pressure of the Ori I OB association. The magnetic field combined with the anisotropic pressure produced by the OB-association breaks the symmetry of the pancake instability, a filament rather than a disc is produced. The growth of instabilities in the filament formed sub-condensations which are recent sites of star formation.
Self-propelled worm-like filaments: spontaneous spiral formation, structure, and dynamics.
Isele-Holder, Rolf E; Elgeti, Jens; Gompper, Gerhard
Worm-like filaments that are propelled homogeneously along their tangent vector are studied by Brownian dynamics simulations. Systems in two dimensions are investigated, corresponding to filaments adsorbed to interfaces or surfaces. A large parameter space covering weak and strong propulsion, as well as flexible and stiff filaments is explored. For strongly propelled and flexible filaments, the free-swimming filaments spontaneously form stable spirals. The propulsion force has a strong impact on dynamic properties, such as the rotational and translational mean square displacement and the rate of conformational sampling. In particular, when the active self-propulsion dominates thermal diffusion, but is too weak for spiral formation, the rotational diffusion coefficient has an activity-induced contribution given by v(c)/ξ(P), where v(c) is the contour velocity and ξ(P) the persistence length. In contrast, structural properties are hardly affected by the activity of the system, as long as no spirals form. The model mimics common features of biological systems, such as microtubules and actin filaments on motility assays or slender bacteria, and artificially designed microswimmers. PMID:26256415
Nanoscopic structural rearrangements of the Cu-filament in conductive-bridge memories.
Celano, U; Giammaria, G; Goux, L; Belmonte, A; Jurczak, M; Vandervorst, W
The electrochemical reactions triggering resistive switching in conductive-bridge resistive random access memory (CBRAM) are spatially confined in few tens of nm(3). The formation and dissolution of nanoscopic Cu-filaments rely on the displacement of ions in such confined volume, and it is driven by the electric field induced ion migration and nanoscaled redox reactions. The stochastic nature of these fundamental processes leads to a large variability of the device performance. In this work, a combination of two- and three-dimensional scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques are used to study the conductive filament (CF) formation, rupture and its nanoscopic structural rearrangements. The high spatial confinement of our approach enables to locally induce RS in a confined area and image it in 3D. A conical shape of the CF is consistently observed, indicating that the ion migration is the rate limiting step in the filament formation when using high quality dielectrics as switching layers. The sub-10 nm electrical contact size of the AFM tip is used to study the filament's dissolution and detect the hopping conduction of Cu during the CF rupture. We consistently observe a tunnel gap formation associated with the tip-induced filament reset. Finally, aiming to match the fundamental understanding with the integrated device operations, we apply scalpel SPM to failed memory cells and directly observe the appearance of filament multiplicity as a major source of failures and variability in CBRAM. PMID:27441315
Monitoring intermediate filament assembly by small-angle x-ray scattering reveals the molecular architecture of assembly intermediates
Sokolova, Anna V.; Kreplak, Laurent; Wedig, Tatjana; Mücke, Norbert; Svergun, Dmitri I.; Herrmann, Harald; Aebi, Ueli; Strelkov, Sergei V.
Intermediate filaments (IFs), along with microtubules, microfilaments, and associated cross-bridging proteins, constitute the cytoskeleton of metazoan cells. While crystallographic data on the dimer representing the elementary IF "building block" have recently become available, little structural detail is known about both the mature IF architecture and its assembly pathway. Here, we have applied solution small-angle x-ray scattering to investigate the in vitro assembly of a 53-kDa human IF protein vimentin at pH 8.4 by systematically varying the ionic strength conditions, and complemented these experiments by electron microscopy and analytical ultracentrifugation. While a vimentin solution in 5 mM Tris·HCl (pH 8.4) contains predominantly tetramers, addition of 20 mM NaCl induces further lateral assembly evidenced by the shift of the sedimentation coeficient and yields a distinct octameric intermediate. Four octamers eventually associate into unit-length filaments (ULFs) that anneal longitudinally. Based on the small-angle x-ray scattering experiments supplemented by crystallographic data and additional structural constraints, 3D molecular models of the vimentin tetramer, octamer, and ULF were constructed. Within each of the three oligomers, the adjacent dimers are aligned exclusively in an approximately half-staggered antiparallel A11 mode with a distance of 3.2–3.4 nm between their axes. The ULF appears to be a dynamic and a relatively loosely packed structure with a roughly even mass distribution over its cross-section. PMID:17050693
Structural basis for heteromeric assembly and perinuclear organization of keratin filaments
Lee, Chang-Hun; Kim, Min-Sung; Chung, Byung Min; Leahy, Daniel J; Coulombe, Pierre A
There is as yet no high-resolution data regarding the structure and organization of keratin intermediate filaments, which are obligate heteropolymers providing vital mechanical support in epithelia. We report the crystal structure of interacting 2B regions from the central coiled-coil domains of keratins 5 and 14 (K5 and K14), expressed in progenitor keratinocytes of epidermis. The interface of the K5–K14 coiled-coil heterodimer has asymmetric salt bridges, hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic contacts, and its surface exhibits a notable charge polarization. A trans-dimer homotypic disulfide bond involving Cys367 in K14's stutter region occurs in the crystal and in skin keratinocytes, where it is concentrated in a keratin filament cage enveloping the nucleus. We show that K14-Cys367 impacts nuclear shape in cultured keratinocytes and that mouse epidermal keratinocytes lacking K14 show aberrations in nuclear structure, highlighting a new function for keratin filaments. PMID:22705788
Structural analysis and modeling reveals new mechanisms governing ESCRT-III spiral filament assembly
Shen, Qing-Tao; Schuh, Amber L.; Zheng, Yuqing; Quinney, Kyle; Wang, Lei; Hanna, Michael; Mitchell, Julie C.; Otegui, Marisa S.; Ahlquist, Paul; Cui, Qiang
The scission of biological membranes is facilitated by a variety of protein complexes that bind and manipulate lipid bilayers. ESCRT-III (endosomal sorting complex required for transport III) filaments mediate membrane scission during the ostensibly disparate processes of multivesicular endosome biogenesis, cytokinesis, and retroviral budding. However, mechanisms by which ESCRT-III subunits assemble into a polymer remain unknown. Using cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM), we found that the full-length ESCRT-III subunit Vps32/CHMP4B spontaneously forms single-stranded spiral filaments. The resolution afforded by two-dimensional cryo-EM combined with molecular dynamics simulations revealed that individual Vps32/CHMP4B monomers within a filament are flexible and able to accommodate a range of bending angles. In contrast, the interface between monomers is stable and refractory to changes in conformation. We additionally found that the carboxyl terminus of Vps32/CHMP4B plays a key role in restricting the lateral association of filaments. Our findings highlight new mechanisms by which ESCRT-III filaments assemble to generate a unique polymer capable of membrane remodeling in multiple cellular contexts. PMID:25202029
Dark Ribbons Propagating and Sweeping Across Extreme Ultraviolet Structures After Filament Eruptions
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Xiao, Junmin; Zhang, Jun; Li, Ting; Yang, Shuhong
With observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we first report that dark ribbons (DRs) moved apart from the filament channel and swept across EUV structures after filament eruptions on 2013 June 23 and 2012 February 10 and 24, respectively. In the first event, the DR with a length of 168 Mm appeared at 100 Mm to the northwest of the filament channel, where the filament erupted 15 hr previously. The DR moved toward the northwest with the different sections having different velocities, ranging from 0.3 to 1.6 km s‑1. When the DR's middle part swept across a strong EUV structure, the motion of this part was blocked, appearing to deflect the DR. With the DR propagation, the connection of the surrounding EUV structures gradually changed. After one day passed, the DR eventually disappeared. In the other two events, the dynamic evolution of the DRs was similar to that in the first event. Based on the observations, we speculate that the reconnection during the filament eruption changes the configuration of the surrounding magnetic fields systematically. During the reconnection process, magnetic fields are deflecting and the former arbitrarily distributed magnetic fields are rearranged along specific directions. The deflection of magnetic fields results in an instantaneous void region where the magnetic strength is smaller and the plasma density is lower. Consequently, the void region is observed as a DR and propagates outward with the reconnection developing.
Dark Ribbons Propagating and Sweeping across Extreme Ultraviolet Structures after Filament Eruptions
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Xiao, Junmin; Zhang, Jun; Li, Ting; Yang, Shuhong
With observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we first report that dark ribbons (DRs) moved apart from the filament channel and swept across EUV structures after filament eruptions on 2013 June 23 and 2012 February 10 and 24, respectively. In the first event, the DR with a length of 168 Mm appeared at 100 Mm to the northwest of the filament channel, where the filament erupted 15 hr previously. The DR moved toward the northwest with the different sections having different velocities, ranging from 0.3 to 1.6 km s-1. When the DR's middle part swept across a strong EUV structure, the motion of this part was blocked, appearing to deflect the DR. With the DR propagation, the connection of the surrounding EUV structures gradually changed. After one day passed, the DR eventually disappeared. In the other two events, the dynamic evolution of the DRs was similar to that in the first event. Based on the observations, we speculate that the reconnection during the filament eruption changes the configuration of the surrounding magnetic fields systematically. During the reconnection process, magnetic fields are deflecting and the former arbitrarily distributed magnetic fields are rearranged along specific directions. The deflection of magnetic fields results in an instantaneous void region where the magnetic strength is smaller and the plasma density is lower. Consequently, the void region is observed as a DR and propagates outward with the reconnection developing.
The origin of molecular hydrogen emission in cooling-flow filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ferland, G. J.; Fabian, A. C.; Hatch, N. A.; Johnstone, R. M.; Porter, R. L.; van Hoof, P. A. M.; Williams, R. J. R.
The optical filaments found in many cooling flows in galaxy clusters consist of low-density (~103cm-3) cool (~103 K) gas surrounded by significant amounts of cosmic-ray and magnetic field energy. Their spectra show anomalously strong low-ionization and molecular emission lines when compared with Galactic molecular clouds exposed to ionizing radiation such as the Orion complex. Previous studies have shown that the spectra cannot be produced by O-star photoionization. Here, we calculate the physical conditions in dusty gas that is well shielded from external sources of ionizing photons and is energized either by cosmic rays or dissipative magnetohydrodynamics waves. Strong molecular hydrogen lines, with relative intensities similar to those observed, are produced. Selection effects introduced by the microphysics produce a correlation between the H2 line upper level energy and the population temperature. These selection effects allow a purely collisional gas to produce H2 emission that masquerades as starlight-pumped H2 but with intensities that are far stronger. This physics may find application to any environment where a broad range of gas densities or heating rates occur. Contains material ©British Crown copyright 2008/MoD. E-mail: email@example.com
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Barbieri, Nicholas; Hosseinimakarem, Zahra; Lim, Khan; Durand, Magali; Baudelet, Matthieu; Johnson, Eric; Richardson, Martin
The shaping of laser-induced filamenting plasma channels into helical structures by guiding the process with a non-diffracting beam is demonstrated. This was achieved using a Bessel beam superposition to control the phase of an ultrafast laser beam possessing intensities sufficient to induce Kerr effect driven non-linear self-focusing. Several experimental methods were used to characterize the resulting beams and confirm the observed structures are laser air filaments.
Structure of a Longitudinal Actin Dimer Assembled by Tandem W Domains: Implications for Actin Filament Nucleation
Rebowski, Grzegorz; Namgoong, Suk; Boczkowska, Malgorzata; Leavis, Paul C.; Navaza, Jorge; Dominguez, Roberto
Actin filament nucleators initiate polymerization in cells in a regulated manner. A common architecture among these molecules consists of tandem WASP homology 2 domains (W domains) that recruit three to four actin subunits to form a polymerization nucleus. We describe a low-resolution crystal structure of an actin dimer assembled by tandem W domains, where the first W domain is cross-linked to Cys374 of the actin subunit bound to it, whereas the last W domain is followed by the C-terminal pointed end-capping helix of thymosin {beta}4. While the arrangement of actin subunits in the dimer resembles that of a long-pitch helix of the actin filament, important differences are observed. These differences result from steric hindrance of the W domain with intersubunit contacts in the actin filament. We also determined the structure of the first W domain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus VopL cross-linked to actin Cys374 and show it to be nearly identical with non-cross-linked W-Actin structures. This result validates the use of cross-linking as a tool for the study of actin nucleation complexes, whose natural tendency to polymerize interferes with most structural methods. Combined with a biochemical analysis of nucleation, the structures may explain why nucleators based on tandem W domains with short inter-W linkers have relatively weak activity, cannot stay bound to filaments after nucleation, and are unlikely to influence filament elongation. The findings may also explain why nucleation-promoting factors of the Arp2/3 complex, which are related to tandem-W-domain nucleators, are ejected from branch junctions after nucleation. We finally show that the simple addition of the C-terminal pointed end-capping helix of thymosin {beta}4 to tandem W domains can change their activity from actin filament nucleation to monomer sequestration.
Specific Transformation of Assembly with Actin Filaments and Molecular Motors in a Cell-Sized Self-Emerged Liposome
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Takiguchi, Kingo; Negishi, Makiko; Tanaka-Takiguchi, Yohko; Hayashi, Masahito; Yoshikawa, Kenichi
Eukaryotes, by the same combination of cytoskeleton and molecular motor, for example actin filament and myosin, can generate a variety of movements. For this diversity, the organization of biological machineries caused by the confinement and/or crowding effects of internal living cells, may play very important roles.
Structural characterization of a capping protein interaction motif defines a family of actin filament regulators
Hernandez-Valladares, Maria; Kim, Taekyung; Kannan, Balakrishnan; Tung, Alvin; Aguda, Adeleke H; Larsson, Mårten; Cooper, John A; Robinson, Robert C
Capping protein (CP) regulates actin dynamics by binding the barbed ends of actin filaments. Removal of CP may be one means to harness actin polymerization for processes such as cell movement and endocytosis. Here we structurally and biochemically investigated a CP interaction (CPI) motif present in the otherwise unrelated proteins CARMIL and CD2AP. The CPI motif wraps around the stalk of the mushroom-shaped CP at a site distant from the actin-binding interface, which lies on the top of the mushroom cap. We propose that the CPI motif may act as an allosteric modulator, restricting CP to a low-affinity, filament-binding conformation. Structure-based sequence alignments extend the CPI motif–containing family to include CIN85, CKIP-1, CapZIP and a relatively uncharacterized protein, WASHCAP (FAM21). Peptides comprising these CPI motifs are able to inhibit CP and to uncap CP-bound actin filaments. PMID:20357771
Myosin light chain phosphorylation enhances contraction of heart muscle via structural changes in both thick and thin filaments
Kampourakis, Thomas; Sun, Yin-Biao; Irving, Malcolm
Contraction of heart muscle is triggered by calcium binding to the actin-containing thin filaments but modulated by structural changes in the myosin-containing thick filaments. We used phosphorylation of the myosin regulatory light chain (cRLC) by the cardiac isoform of its specific kinase to elucidate mechanisms of thick filament-mediated contractile regulation in demembranated trabeculae from the rat right ventricle. cRLC phosphorylation enhanced active force and its calcium sensitivity and altered thick filament structure as reported by bifunctional rhodamine probes on the cRLC: the myosin head domains became more perpendicular to the filament axis. The effects of cRLC phosphorylation on thick filament structure and its calcium sensitivity were mimicked by increasing sarcomere length or by deleting the N terminus of the cRLC. Changes in thick filament structure were highly cooperative with respect to either calcium concentration or extent of cRLC phosphorylation. Probes on unphosphorylated myosin heads reported similar structural changes when neighboring heads were phosphorylated, directly demonstrating signaling between myosin heads. Moreover probes on troponin showed that calcium sensitization by cRLC phosphorylation is mediated by the thin filament, revealing a signaling pathway between thick and thin filaments that is still present when active force is blocked by Blebbistatin. These results show that coordinated and cooperative structural changes in the thick and thin filaments are fundamental to the physiological regulation of contractility in the heart. This integrated dual-filament concept of contractile regulation may aid understanding of functional effects of mutations in the protein components of both filaments associated with heart disease. PMID:27162358
Myosin light chain phosphorylation enhances contraction of heart muscle via structural changes in both thick and thin filaments.
Kampourakis, Thomas; Sun, Yin-Biao; Irving, Malcolm
Contraction of heart muscle is triggered by calcium binding to the actin-containing thin filaments but modulated by structural changes in the myosin-containing thick filaments. We used phosphorylation of the myosin regulatory light chain (cRLC) by the cardiac isoform of its specific kinase to elucidate mechanisms of thick filament-mediated contractile regulation in demembranated trabeculae from the rat right ventricle. cRLC phosphorylation enhanced active force and its calcium sensitivity and altered thick filament structure as reported by bifunctional rhodamine probes on the cRLC: the myosin head domains became more perpendicular to the filament axis. The effects of cRLC phosphorylation on thick filament structure and its calcium sensitivity were mimicked by increasing sarcomere length or by deleting the N terminus of the cRLC. Changes in thick filament structure were highly cooperative with respect to either calcium concentration or extent of cRLC phosphorylation. Probes on unphosphorylated myosin heads reported similar structural changes when neighboring heads were phosphorylated, directly demonstrating signaling between myosin heads. Moreover probes on troponin showed that calcium sensitization by cRLC phosphorylation is mediated by the thin filament, revealing a signaling pathway between thick and thin filaments that is still present when active force is blocked by Blebbistatin. These results show that coordinated and cooperative structural changes in the thick and thin filaments are fundamental to the physiological regulation of contractility in the heart. This integrated dual-filament concept of contractile regulation may aid understanding of functional effects of mutations in the protein components of both filaments associated with heart disease. PMID:27162358
The Filament Sensor for Near Real-Time Detection of Cytoskeletal Fiber Structures
Eltzner, Benjamin; Wollnik, Carina; Gottschlich, Carsten; Huckemann, Stephan; Rehfeldt, Florian
A reliable extraction of filament data from microscopic images is of high interest in the analysis of acto-myosin structures as early morphological markers in mechanically guided differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells and the understanding of the underlying fiber arrangement processes. In this paper, we propose the filament sensor (FS), a fast and robust processing sequence which detects and records location, orientation, length, and width for each single filament of an image, and thus allows for the above described analysis. The extraction of these features has previously not been possible with existing methods. We evaluate the performance of the proposed FS in terms of accuracy and speed in comparison to three existing methods with respect to their limited output. Further, we provide a benchmark dataset of real cell images along with filaments manually marked by a human expert as well as simulated benchmark images. The FS clearly outperforms existing methods in terms of computational runtime and filament extraction accuracy. The implementation of the FS and the benchmark database are available as open source. PMID:25996921
Probing the Flexibility of Tropomyosin and Its Binding to Filamentous Actin Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Zheng, Wenjun; Barua, Bipasha; Hitchcock-DeGregori, Sarah E.
Tropomyosin (Tm) is a coiled-coil protein that binds to filamentous actin (F-actin) and regulates its interactions with actin-binding proteins like myosin by moving between three positions on F-actin (the blocked, closed, and open positions). To elucidate the molecular details of Tm flexibility in relation to its binding to F-actin, we conducted extensive molecular dynamics simulations for both Tm alone and Tm-F-actin complex in the presence of explicit solvent (total simulation time >400 ns). Based on the simulations, we systematically analyzed the local flexibility of the Tm coiled coil using multiple parameters. We found a good correlation between the regions with high local flexibility and a number of destabilizing regions in Tm, including six clusters of core alanines. Despite the stabilization by F-actin binding, the distribution of local flexibility in Tm is largely unchanged in the absence and presence of F-actin. Our simulations showed variable fluctuations of individual Tm periods from the closed position toward the open position. In addition, we performed Tm-F-actin binding calculations based on the simulation trajectories, which support the importance of Tm flexibility to Tm-F-actin binding. We identified key residues of Tm involved in its dynamic interactions with F-actin, many of which have been found in recent mutational studies to be functionally important, and the rest of which will make promising targets for future mutational experiments. PMID:24138864
Dynamics of permanent structural transformations in ZBLAN induced by self-channeled plasma filament
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Cho, Sung-Hak; Kumagai, Hiroshi; Midorikawa, Katsumi
The time-resolved dynamics of permanent structural transformations in the ZBLAN (fluoride glass) induced by self-channeled plasma filament were first observed in situ using a high-intensity femtosecond (110 fs) Ti: sapphire laser ( λp=800 nm). Self-channeled plasma filament would be induced in ZBLAN glass at the irradiation higher than input intensity of 1.0 × 10 12 W/cm 2 and photoinduce either the refractive index modification or optical crack modification. At the domain of refractive index modification, the lifetime of induced self-channeled plasma filament was 30 ps and structural transition time for forming the refractive index change was 40 ps. At the domain of optical cracks, however, the lifetime of induced self-channeled plasma filament was 70 ps and structural transition time for forming the optical cracks was 70 ps. A maximum value of refractive index change (Δ n) was measured to be 1.3 × 10 -2. The intensity profile of the output beam transmitted through the refractive index modification showed that the bulk modification produced a permanent structure of optical waveguide.
New structural approach for determining load carrying capability of filament wound composite materials
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Armstrong, W. H.; Yang, P. B.
Metal lined boron and graphite composites exhibit high strength and minimum weight, making them superior to aluminum cylindrical shell structures and to steel or aluminum constructed pressure vessels. S glass filament-epoxy resin matrix with aluminum liner is suitable for cryogenic tanks.
Structural basis for the prion-like MAVS filaments in antiviral innate immunity
Xu, Hui; He, Xiaojing; Zheng, Hui; Huang, Lily J; Hou, Fajian; Yu, Zhiheng; de la Cruz, Michael Jason; Borkowski, Brian; Zhang, Xuewu; Chen, Zhijian J; Jiang, Qiu-Xing
Mitochondrial antiviral signaling (MAVS) protein is required for innate immune responses against RNA viruses. In virus-infected cells MAVS forms prion-like aggregates to activate antiviral signaling cascades, but the underlying structural mechanism is unknown. Here we report cryo-electron microscopic structures of the helical filaments formed by both the N-terminal caspase activation and recruitment domain (CARD) of MAVS and a truncated MAVS lacking part of the proline-rich region and the C-terminal transmembrane domain. Both structures are left-handed three-stranded helical filaments, revealing specific interfaces between individual CARD subunits that are dictated by electrostatic interactions between neighboring strands and hydrophobic interactions within each strand. Point mutations at multiple locations of these two interfaces impaired filament formation and antiviral signaling. Super-resolution imaging of virus-infected cells revealed rod-shaped MAVS clusters on mitochondria. These results elucidate the structural mechanism of MAVS polymerization, and explain how an α-helical domain uses distinct chemical interactions to form self-perpetuating filaments. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01489.001 PMID:24569476
High-Latitude Molecular Clouds in an HI Filament towards the MBM 53, 54, and 55 Complex
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Yamamoto, H.; Onishi, T.; Mizuno, A.; Fukui, Y.
We carried out a CO survey of high galactic latitude molecular clouds towards an HI filament that contains a molecular cloud complex, MBM 53, 54, and 55. The filament is found to consist of many clumpy molecular clouds, and we identified 110 12CO (J = 1 --0) clouds in the region, whose total mass was estimated to be ˜ 1200 M⊙. 13CO (J = 1--0) and C18O (J = 1--0) observations were carried out towards the region of high 12CO and 13CO intensities, respectively. There was no detection of the C18O line towards the positions of strong 13CO detection, indicating that there are no clouds dense enough to form stars in the near future. We have found a massive cloud, HLCG 92-35, around (l, b) ˜ (92o, -35o) of mass ˜ 330 M⊙. This cloud occupies the galactic western half of a circular-shaped HI gas cloud in the HI filament, and the HI to CO mass ratio is estimated to be the largest in the observed region. The far-infrared excess over HI emission, which is a good indicator of the existence of molecular hydrogen, towards HLCG 92-35 is also the largest in the observed region, implying that there is a large amount of molecular hydrogen in spite of the small optical depth of CO. These facts indicate that HLCG 92-35 is a CO-forming cloud, which is younger than the MBM clouds in terms of molecular cloud formation. Some past explosive event towards the HI filament has been suggested by Gir et al. (1994). The molecular gas may be formed by the compression of an expanding HI shell.
The molecular organization of the beta-sheet region in Corneous beta-proteins (beta-keratins) of sauropsids explains its stability and polymerization into filaments.
Calvaresi, Matteo; Eckhart, Leopold; Alibardi, Lorenzo
The hard corneous material of avian and reptilian scales, claws, beak and feathers is mainly derived from the presence of proteins formerly known as beta-keratins but now termed Corneous beta-proteins of sauropsids to distinguish them from keratins, which are members of the intermediate filament protein family. The modeling of the conserved 34 amino acid residues long central beta-sheet region of Corneous beta-proteins using an ab initio protein folding and structure prediction algorithm indicates that this region is formed by four antiparallel beta-sheets. Molecular dynamic simulations and Molecular Mechanics/Poisson Boltzmann Surface Area (MM-PBSA) analysis showed that the disposition of polar and apolar amino acids within the beta-region gives rise to an amphipathic core whose stability is further increased, especially in an aqueous environment, by the association into a dimer due to apolar interactions and specific amino-acid interactions. The dimers in turn polymerize into a 3nm thick linear beta-filament due to van der Waals and hydrogen-bond interactions. It is suggested that once this nuclear core of anti-parallel sheets evolved in the genome of a reptilian ancestor of the extant reptiles and birds about 300 millions years ago, new properties emerged in the corneous material forming scales, claws, beaks and feathers in these amniotes based on the tendency of these unique corneous proteins to form stable filaments different from keratin intermediate filaments or sterical structures formed by other corneous proteins so far known. PMID:26965557
The effect of residual silk sericin on the structure and mechanical property of regenerated silk filament.
Ki, Chang Seok; Kim, Jong Wook; Oh, Han Jin; Lee, Ki Hoon; Park, Young Hwan
In this study, we elucidated the effect of residual silk sericin (SS) on structure and mechanical properties of regenerated silk filament as well as on fiber formation. The dope viscosity markedly increased with increasing residual SS content in dope solution which was prepared by dissolving the silk protein in formic acid. As a result of FTIR, (13)C NMR, and XRD, a small amount of SS (9.6%) contained in the filament showed highest content of beta-sheet conformation and maximum crystallinity. It seems that the SS affects the structural change of SF up to a certain level by inducing the beta-transition easily. The tenacity of the filaments, containing 9.6-18.9% SS, was in the range of 2.1-2.4 gf/d, which was about 50% higher than the filament without SS (pure SF). Consequently, with the enhancement of spinnability in wet spinning process, the SS can play an important role for developing the crystalline structure of SF as well as for improving mechanical properties of the regenerated silk fiber. PMID:17573107
Nanoscopic structural rearrangements of the Cu-filament in conductive-bridge memories
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Celano, U.; Giammaria, G.; Goux, L.; Belmonte, A.; Jurczak, M.; Vandervorst, W.
The electrochemical reactions triggering resistive switching in conductive-bridge resistive random access memory (CBRAM) are spatially confined in few tens of nm3. The formation and dissolution of nanoscopic Cu-filaments rely on the displacement of ions in such confined volume, and it is driven by the electric field induced ion migration and nanoscaled redox reactions. The stochastic nature of these fundamental processes leads to a large variability of the device performance. In this work, a combination of two- and three-dimensional scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques are used to study the conductive filament (CF) formation, rupture and its nanoscopic structural rearrangements. The high spatial confinement of our approach enables to locally induce RS in a confined area and image it in 3D. A conical shape of the CF is consistently observed, indicating that the ion migration is the rate limiting step in the filament formation when using high quality dielectrics as switching layers. The sub-10 nm electrical contact size of the AFM tip is used to study the filament's dissolution and detect the hopping conduction of Cu during the CF rupture. We consistently observe a tunnel gap formation associated with the tip-induced filament reset. Finally, aiming to match the fundamental understanding with the integrated device operations, we apply scalpel SPM to failed memory cells and directly observe the appearance of filament multiplicity as a major source of failures and variability in CBRAM.The electrochemical reactions triggering resistive switching in conductive-bridge resistive random access memory (CBRAM) are spatially confined in few tens of nm3. The formation and dissolution of nanoscopic Cu-filaments rely on the displacement of ions in such confined volume, and it is driven by the electric field induced ion migration and nanoscaled redox reactions. The stochastic nature of these fundamental processes leads to a large variability of the device performance. In this
Fine-scale structures and material flows of quiescent filaments observed by the New Vacuum Solar Telescope
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Yan, Xiao-Li; Xue, Zhi-Ke; Xiang, Yong-Yuan; Yang, Li-Heng
Study of the small-scale structures and material flows associated with solar quiescent filaments is very important for understanding the formation and equilibrium of solar filaments. Using high resolution Hα data observed by the New Vacuum Solar Telescope, we present the structures of barbs and material flows along the threads across the spine in two quiescent filaments on 2013 September 29 and on 2012 November 2, respectively. During the evolution of the filament barb, several parallel tube-shaped structures formed and the width of the structures ranged from about 2.3 Mm to 3.3 Mm. The parallel tube-shaped structures merged together accompanied by material flows from the spine to the barb. Moreover, the boundary between the barb and surrounding atmosphere was very neat. The counter-streaming flows were not found to appear alternately in the adjacent threads of the filament. However, the large-scale patchy counter-streaming flows were detected in the filament. The flows in one patch of the filament have the same direction but flows in the adjacent patch have opposite direction. The patches of two opposite flows with a size of about 10″ were alternately exhibited along the spine of the filament. The velocity of these material flows ranged from 5.6 km s-1 to 15.0 km s-1. The material flows along the threads of the filament did not change their direction for about two hours and fourteen minutes during the evolution of the filament. Our results confirm that the large-scale counter-streaming flows with a certain width along the threads of solar filaments exist and are coaligned well with the threads.
Formation of dense structures induced by filament collisions. Correlation of density, kinematics, and magnetic field in the Pipe nebula
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Frau, P.; Girart, J. M.; Alves, F. O.; Franco, G. A. P.; Onishi, T.; Román-Zúñiga, C. G.
Context. The Pipe nebula is a molecular cloud that lacks star formation feedback and has a relatively simple morphology and velocity structure. This makes it an ideal target for testing cloud evolution through collisions. Aims: We aim at drawing a comprehensive picture of this relatively simple cloud to better understand the formation and evolution of molecular clouds on large scales. Methods: We use archival data to compare the optical polarization properties, the visual extinction, and the 13CO velocities and linewidths of the entire cloud in order to identify trends among the observables. Results: The Pipe nebula can be roughly divided into two filaments with different orientations and gas velocity ranges: E-W at 2-4 km s-1 and N-S at 6-7 km s-1. The two filaments overlap at the bowl, where the gas shows a velocity gradient spanning from 2 to 7 km s-1. Compared to the rest of the Pipe nebula, the bowl gas appears to be denser and exhibits larger linewidths. In addition, the polarization data at the bowl shows lower angular dispersion and higher polarization degree. Cores in the bowl tend to cluster in space and to follow the 13CO velocity gradient. In the stem, cores tend to cluster in regions with properties similar to those of the bowl. Conclusions: The velocity pattern points to a collision between the filaments in the bowl region. The magnetic field seems to be compressed and strengthened in the shocked region. The proportional increase in density and magnetic field strength by a factor similar to the Alfvénic Mach number suggests a continuous shock at low Alfvénic Mach number under the flux-freezing condition. Shocked regions seem to enhance the formation and clustering of dense cores. A movie associated to Fig. 2 is available at http://www.aanda.org
Molecular Motor Propelled Filaments Reveal Light-Guiding in Nanowire Arrays for Enhanced Biosensing
Semiconductor nanowire arrays offer significant potential for biosensing applications with optical read-out due to their high surface area and due to the unique optical properties of one-dimensional materials. A challenge for optical read-out of analyte-binding to the nanowires is the need to efficiently collect and detect light from a three-dimensional volume. Here we show that light from fluorophores attached along several μm long vertical Al2O3 coated gallium phosphide nanowires couples into the wires, is guided along them and emitted at the tip. This enables effective collection of light emitted by fluorescent analytes located at different focal planes along the nanowire. We unequivocally demonstrate the light-guiding effect using a novel method whereby the changes in emitted fluorescence intensity are observed when fluorescent cytoskeletal filaments are propelled by molecular motors along the wires. The findings are discussed in relation to nanobiosensor developments, other nanotechnological applications, and fundamental studies of motor function. PMID:24367994
Structural characterization of filaments formed by human Xrcc4-Cernunnos/XLF complex involved in nonhomologous DNA end-joining.
Ropars, Virginie; Drevet, Pascal; Legrand, Pierre; Baconnais, Sonia; Amram, Jeremy; Faure, Guilhem; Márquez, José A; Piétrement, Olivier; Guerois, Raphaël; Callebaut, Isabelle; Le Cam, Eric; Revy, Patrick; de Villartay, Jean-Pierre; Charbonnier, Jean-Baptiste
Cernunnos/XLF is a core protein of the nonhomologous DNA end-joining (NHEJ) pathway that processes the majority of DNA double-strand breaks in mammals. Cernunnos stimulates the final ligation step catalyzed by the complex between DNA ligase IV and Xrcc4 (X4). Here we present the crystal structure of the X4(1-157)-Cernunnos(1-224) complex at 5.5-Å resolution and identify the relative positions of the two factors and their binding sites. The X-ray structure reveals a filament arrangement for X4(1-157) and Cernunnos(1-224) homodimers mediated by repeated interactions through their N-terminal head domains. A filament arrangement of the X4-Cernunnos complex was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy analyses both with truncated and full-length proteins. We further modeled the interface and used structure-based site-directed mutagenesis and calorimetry to characterize the roles of various residues at the X4-Cernunnos interface. We identified four X4 residues (Glu(55), Asp(58), Met(61), and Phe(106)) essential for the interaction with Cernunnos. These findings provide new insights into the molecular bases for stimulatory and bridging roles of Cernunnos in the final DNA ligation step. PMID:21768349
Chaperonin filaments: The archaeal cytoskeleton?
Trent, Jonathan D.; Kagawa, Hiromi K.; Yaoi, Takuro; Olle, Eric; Zaluzec, Nestor J.
Chaperonins are high molecular mass double-ring structures composed of 60-kDa protein subunits. In the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus shibatae the two chaperonin proteins represent ≈4% of its total protein and have a combined intracellular concentration of >30 mg/ml. At concentrations ≥ 0.5 mg/ml purified chaperonins form filaments in the presence of Mg2+ and nucleotides. Filament formation requires nucleotide binding (not hydrolysis), and occurs at physiological temperatures in biologically relevant buffers, including a buffer made from cell extracts. These observations suggest that chaperonin filaments may exist in vivo and the estimated 4600 chaperonins per cell suggest that such filaments could form an extensive cytostructure. We observed filamentous structures in unfixed, uranyl-acetate-stained S. shibatae cells, which resemble the chaperonin filaments in size and appearance. ImmunoGold (Janssen) labeling using chaperonin antibodies indicated that many chaperonins are associated with insoluble cellular structures and these structures appear to be filamentous in some areas, although they could not be uranyl-acetate-stained. The existence of chaperonin filaments in vivo suggests a mechanism whereby their protein-folding activities can be regulated. More generally, the filaments themselves may play a cytoskeletal role in Archaea. PMID:9144246
Cryo-EM structures of the actin:tropomyosin filament reveal the mechanism for the transition from C- to M-state.
Sousa, Duncan R; Stagg, Scott M; Stroupe, M Elizabeth
Tropomyosin (Tm) is a key factor in the molecular mechanisms that regulate the binding of myosin motors to actin filaments (F-Actins) in most eukaryotic cells. This regulation is achieved by the azimuthal repositioning of Tm along the actin (Ac):Tm:troponin (Tn) thin filament to block or expose myosin binding sites on Ac. In striated muscle, including involuntary cardiac muscle, Tm regulates muscle contraction by coupling Ca(2+) binding to Tn with myosin binding to the thin filament. In smooth muscle, the switch is the posttranslational modification of the myosin. Depending on the activation state of Tn and the binding state of myosin, Tm can occupy the blocked, closed, or open position on Ac. Using native cryogenic 3DEM (three-dimensional electron microscopy), we have directly resolved and visualized cardiac and gizzard muscle Tm on filamentous Ac in the position that corresponds to the closed state. From the 8-Å-resolution structure of the reconstituted Ac:Tm filament formed with gizzard-derived Tm, we discuss two possible mechanisms for the transition from closed to open state and describe the role Tm plays in blocking myosin tight binding in the closed-state position. PMID:24021812
Filamentary structure in the Orion molecular cloud
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bally, John; Langer, William D.; Stark, Antony A.; Wilson, Robert W.
A large-scale (C-13)O map (containing 33,000 spectra on a 1-arcmin grid) is presented for the giant molecular cloud located in the southern part of Ori which contains the Ori Nebula, NGC 1977, and the L1641 dark cloud complex. The overall structure of the cloud is filamentary, with individual features having a length up to 40 times their width. The northern portion of the cloud is compressed, dynamically relaxed, and supports massive star formation. In contrast, the southern part of the Ori A cloud is diffuse, exhibits chaotic spatial and velocity structure, and supports only intermediate- to low-mass star formation. This morphology may be the consequence of the formation and evolution of the Ori OB I association centered north of the molecular cloud. The entire cloud, in addition to the 5000-solar-mass filament containing both OMC-1 and OMC-2, exhibits a north-south velocity gradient. Implications of the observed cloud morphology for theories of molecular cloud evolution are discussed.
Filamentary structure in the Orion molecular cloud
Bally, J.; Stark, A.A.; Wilson, R.W.; Langer, W.D.
A large-scale (C-13)O map (containing 33,000 spectra on a 1-arcmin grid) is presented for the giant molecular cloud located in the southern part of Ori which contains the Ori Nebula, NGC 1977, and the L1641 dark cloud complex. The overall structure of the cloud is filamentary, with individual features having a length up to 40 times their width. The northern portion of the cloud is compressed, dynamically relaxed, and supports massive star formation. In contrast, the southern part of the Ori A cloud is diffuse, exhibits chaotic spatial and velocity structure, and supports only intermediate- to low-mass star formation. This morphology may be the consequence of the formation and evolution of the Ori OB I association centered north of the molecular cloud. The entire cloud, in addition to the 5000-solar-mass filament containing both OMC-1 and OMC-2, exhibits a north-south velocity gradient. Implications of the observed cloud morphology for theories of molecular cloud evolution are discussed. 14 references.
Comparison of ELM-Filament Mitigation Between Supersonic Molecular Beam Injection and Pellet Injection on HL-2A
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Nie, Lin; Cheng, Jun; Xu, Hongbing; Huang, Yuan; Yan, Longwen; Ding, Xuantong; Xu, Min; Xu, Yuhong; Yao, Lianghua; Feng, Beibin; Zhu, Genliang; Liu, Wandong; Dong, Jiaqi; Yu, Deliang; Zhong, Wulv; Gao, Jinming; Chen, Chengyuan; Yang, Qingwei; Duan, Xuru
On HL-2A, two different injections (supersonic molecular beam injection (SMBI) and pellet injection (PI)) are used to mitigate edge localized mode (ELM)-filament convective transport. The changes of their characteristics are studied in this paper. A high spatiotemporal resolution probe shows there are many similar phenomena, and the filament density amplitude and radial velocity are both suppressed. Our statistical results indicate that: the velocity suppression comes from the decrease of filament density and temperature; the transient particle and heat fluxes drop strongly; and long-range correlation along a magnetic flux surface also decreases, when the electron-ion collisionality increases significantly, which may have a role on the filament parallel current during ELM mitigation. supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11075046, 10975049, 11375054, 11275060), the National Magnetic Confinement Fusion Science Program of China (Nos. 2013GB112008, 2013GB107000, 2013GB104002, 2014GB107000, 2014GB108000), and the China-Korean Joint Research Program (No. 2012DFG02230)
Structure of the Acidianus Filamentous Virus 3 and Comparative Genomics of Related Archaeal Lipothrixviruses▿
Vestergaard, Gisle; Aramayo, Ricardo; Basta, Tamara; Häring, Monika; Peng, Xu; Brügger, Kim; Chen, Lanming; Rachel, Reinhard; Boisset, Nicolas; Garrett, Roger A.; Prangishvili, David
Four novel filamentous viruses with double-stranded DNA genomes, namely, Acidianus filamentous virus 3 (AFV3), AFV6, AFV7, and AFV8, have been characterized from the hyperthermophilic archaeal genus Acidianus, and they are assigned to the Betalipothrixvirus genus of the family Lipothrixviridae. The structures of the approximately 2-μm-long virions are similar, and one of them, AFV3, was studied in detail. It consists of a cylindrical envelope containing globular subunits arranged in a helical formation that is unique for any known double-stranded DNA virus. The envelope is 3.1 nm thick and encases an inner core with two parallel rows of protein subunits arranged like a zipper. Each end of the virion is tapered and carries three short filaments. Two major structural proteins were identified as being common to all betalipothrixviruses. The viral genomes were sequenced and analyzed, and they reveal a high level of conservation in both gene content and gene order over large regions, with this similarity extending partly to the earlier described betalipothrixvirus Sulfolobus islandicus filamentous virus. A few predicted gene products of each virus, in addition to the structural proteins, could be assigned specific functions, including a putative helicase involved in Holliday junction branch migration, a nuclease, a protein phosphatase, transcriptional regulators, and glycosyltransferases. The AFV7 genome appears to have undergone intergenomic recombination with a large section of an AFV2-like viral genome, apparently resulting in phenotypic changes, as revealed by the presence of AFV2-like termini in the AFV7 virions. Shared features of the genomes include (i) large inverted terminal repeats exhibiting conserved, regularly spaced direct repeats; (ii) a highly conserved operon encoding the two major structural proteins; (iii) multiple overlapping open reading frames, which may be indicative of gene recoding; (iv) putative 12-bp genetic elements; and (v) partial gene
Extracellular matrix of adipogenically differentiated mesenchymal stem cells reveals a network of collagen filaments, mostly interwoven by hexagonal structural units.
Ullah, Mujib; Sittinger, Michael; Ringe, Jochen
Extracellular matrix (ECM) is the non-cellular component of tissues, which not only provides biological shelter but also takes part in the cellular decisions for diverse functions. Every tissue has an ECM with unique composition and topology that governs the process of determination, differentiation, proliferation, migration and regeneration of cells. Little is known about the structural organization of matrix especially of MSC-derived adipogenic ECM. Here, we particularly focus on the composition and architecture of the fat ECM to understand the cellular behavior on functional bases. Thus, mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) were adipogenically differentiated, then, were transferred to adipogenic propagation medium, whereas they started the release of lipid droplets leaving bare network of ECM. Microarray analysis was performed, to indentify the molecular machinery of matrix. Adipogenesis was verified by Oil Red O staining of lipid droplets and by qPCR of adipogenic marker genes PPARG and FABP4. Antibody staining demonstrated the presence of collagen type I, II and IV filaments, while alkaline phosphatase activity verified the ossified nature of these filaments. In the adipogenic matrix, the hexagonal structures were abundant followed by octagonal structures, whereas they interwoven in a crisscross manner. Regarding molecular machinery of adipogenic ECM, the bioinformatics analysis revealed the upregulated expression of COL4A1, ITGA7, ITGA7, SDC2, ICAM3, ADAMTS9, TIMP4, GPC1, GPC4 and downregulated expression of COL14A1, ADAMTS5, TIMP2, TIMP3, BGN, LAMA3, ITGA2, ITGA4, ITGB1, ITGB8, CLDN11. Moreover, genes associated with integrins, glycoproteins, laminins, fibronectins, cadherins, selectins and linked signaling pathways were found. Knowledge of the interactive-language between cells and matrix could be beneficial for the artificial designing of biomaterials and bioscaffolds. PMID:23851162
Intrinsic Safety Factors for Glass & Carbon Fibre Composite Filament Wound Structures
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bunsell, A. R.; Thionnet, A.; Chou, H. Y.
The determination of intrinsic safety factors for glass and carbon fibre unidirectional composites and filament wound internally pressurised structures, is described. In such structures the fibres are placed on geodesic paths and the pressure induces tensile forces in them. The fibres ensure the strength of the composite and must break for it to fail. Failure is seen in such structures, to depend mainly on the accumulation of fibre breaks. These are initially randomly distributed but become critical when clusters of breaks develop. Long term behaviour of carbon fibre composites is controlled by the viscoelastic relaxation of the matrix around breaks, which can lead to further delayed fibre breaks. Failure in glass fibre structures can additionally be induced by stress corrosion of the glass fibres. This process does not seem to occur with carbon fibres and as the latter are increasingly used in critical structures emphasis is given to them. Until the development of clusters of fibre breaks, in a filament wound structure, no macroscopic changes in the composite behaviour are evident so that failure occurs in a sudden death manner. Multi-scale simulation, taking into account the characteristics of the composite components and scaling up their behaviour under load, accurately describes the overall behaviour of the composite structure. This approach not only allows the behaviour to be described, as a function of time, but also calculates the scatter which will occur in the behaviour of the structure. This allows the intrinsic safety factors of the composite structure to be quantified.
Filamentary Structure in Orion and Monoceros Molecular Clouds
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lahaise, W. H.; Bhavsar, S. P.
The filamentary structure in 13CO radio maps of the Orion A, Orion B and Monoceros R2 molecular clouds was analyzed using the Minimal Spanning Tree. This represents the first time the MST has been applied to an extended region such as maps of molecular clouds. The method of preparing and analyzing the data is presented. Integrated maps over a range of velocities were examined as well as a velocity cube constructed from individual 0.5 km s-1 wide channel maps. The results show that there is overwhelming objective and statistical evidence that the filamentary structure does exist in all three of these regions. Previous techniques to identify filaments were generally visual, and therefore subjective. The major filaments in Orion A show linear features extending throughout the entire length. The structure in the velocity cube clearly shows the continuous velocity gradient. Orion B cloud shows distinct regions with north to south orientations. The velocity cube contains a number of filaments at greatly differing velocities, with little evidence of large scale velocity gradients. Mon R2 cloud exhibits two main filamentary components, one of which is associated with both bright condensed regions. The velocity structure reveals an overall velocity gradient.
Structural Polymorphism of the ParM Filament and Dynamic Instability
Galkin, Vitold E.; Orlova, Albina; Rivera, Chris; Mullins, R. Dyche; Egelman, Edward H.
Segregation of the R1 plasmid in bacteria relies on ParM, an actin homolog that segregates plasmids by switching between cycles of polymerization and depolymerization. We find similar polymerization kinetics and stability in the presence of either ATP or GTP and a 10-fold affinity preference for ATP over GTP. We used electron cryo-microscopy to evaluate the heterogeneity within ParM filaments. In addition to variable twist ParM has variable axial rise, and both parameters are coupled. Subunits in the same ParM filaments can exist in two different structural states, with the nucleotide-binding cleft closed or open, and the bound nucleotide biases the distribution of states. The interface between protomers is different between these states, and in neither state is it similar to F-actin. Our results suggest that the closed state of the cleft is required but not sufficient for ParM polymerization, and provide a structural basis for the dynamic instability of ParM filaments. PMID:19748346
The Structure of HIV-1 Rev Filaments Suggests a Bilateral Model for Rev-RRE Assembly.
DiMattia, Michael A; Watts, Norman R; Cheng, Naiqian; Huang, Rick; Heymann, J Bernard; Grimes, Jonathan M; Wingfield, Paul T; Stuart, David I; Steven, Alasdair C
HIV-1 Rev protein mediates the nuclear export of viral RNA genomes. To do so, Rev oligomerizes cooperatively onto an RNA motif, the Rev response element (RRE), forming a complex that engages with the host nuclear export machinery. To better understand Rev oligomerization, we determined four crystal structures of Rev N-terminal domain dimers, which show that they can pivot about their dyad axis, giving crossing angles of 90° to 140°. In parallel, we performed cryoelectron microscopy of helical Rev filaments. Filaments vary from 11 to 15 nm in width, reflecting variations in dimer crossing angle. These structures contain additional density, indicating that C-terminal domains become partially ordered in the context of filaments. This conformational variability may be exploited in the assembly of RRE/Rev complexes. Our data also revealed a third interface between Revs, which offers an explanation for how the arrangement of Rev subunits adapts to the "A"-shaped architecture of the RRE in export-active complexes. PMID:27265851
Structural modifications in fused silica induced by ultraviolet fs laser filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zergioti, I.; Kyrkis, K. D.; Papazoglou, D. G.; Tzortzakis, S.
It is shown that the tight focusing of short ultraviolet laser pulses (248 nm, 450 fs) in the bulk of high bandgap transparent solids (fused silica) can result in structural modifications in the material. These can vary from small changes of the refractive index to birefringence, cracks and voids. This restructuring of the medium is due to the high laser intensities attained, and the plasma that is generated through multi-photon processes. The restructuring comes in the form of a string, which is the result of the nonlinear propagation of the laser beam in the medium as a self-trapped filament. We resume the conditions for the generation of the different types of modifications and comment on the temporal evolution and the role of the plasma strings at the trail of the light filaments.
Special issue on filamentation
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Li, Ruxin; Milchberg, Howard; Mysyrowicz, André
Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics is delighted to announce a forthcoming special issue on filamentation, to appear in the spring of 2015, and invites you to submit a paper. This special issue will attempt to give an overview of the present status of this field in order to create synergies and foster future developments. The issue is open to papers on the following issues: Theoretical advances on filamentation. Self-focusing and collapse. Filamentation in various media. Pulse self-compression and ultrafast processes in filaments. Molecular alignment and rotation. Filamentation tailoring. Interaction between filaments. Filament weather and pollution control. Filament induced condensation and precipitation. Terahertz science with filaments. Lasing in filaments. Filament induced molecular excitation and reaction. Electric discharge and plasma. Cross-disciplinary applications. Novel concepts related to these topics are particularly welcome. Please submit your article by 1 October 2014 (expected web publication: spring 2015) using our website http://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/jphysb-iop. Submissions received after this date will be considered for the journal, but may not be included in the special issue. The issue will be edited by Ruxin Li, Howard Milchberg and André Mysyrowicz.
Freely Suspended Smectic Filaments and the Structure of the B7 Phase of MHOBOW
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Clark, N.; Link, D. R.; Maclennan, J. E.
Our recent discovery of the spontaneous formation of chiral domains in fluid smectic phases of achiral bow-shaped molecules opens up a wide variety of possibilities for new liquid crystal phases and phenomena. The basic, spontaneously chiral layer structure of the highest temperature fluid smectic phases, the B2 and B7, are shown. One of the most intriguing aspects of this structure is the plethora of possible phases coming from different stacking sequences of the polar ordering and tilt directions. The four possibilities of next-nearest neighbor alternation are shown. In the original material studied, NOBOW, the ground states found are antiferroelectric, either the racemic SmC(sub S)P(sub A) or the chiral SmC(sub A)P(sub A). We are currently studying MHOBOW, synthesized by D. Walba which, by virtue of its methyl hexyloxy tail has a tendency to form anticlinic layer interfaces, in the hope of finding a phase with a ferroelectric ground state, either SmC(sub A)P(sub S) or SmC(sub S)P(sub A), which can be obtained in NOBOW only by applying a field. Preliminary observations of MHO-BOW have made its study, from the point of view of understanding novel LC structures, extremely high priority. The following truly remarkable characteristics have been revealed: (i) The smectic phase grows out of the isotropic in the form of helical ribbons. The resulting planar aligned textures of focal conics with layers normal to glass plates exhibit bizarre modulations, including stripes and checker-boards. These have also been seen in other materials suggesting that this is a new phase (tentatively called B7), which is a fluid smectic with some kind of in-layer structure. (ii) It is virtually impossible to make freely suspended films of MHOBOW. Rather it makes the freely suspended filaments which preliminary x-ray scattering experiments reveal to have the nested cylinder layer structure indicated; (iii) The powder x-ray diffraction exhibits four resolution-limited smectic layering peaks
Direct Observation of Subunit Exchange along Mature Vimentin Intermediate Filaments
Nöding, Bernd; Herrmann, Harald; Köster, Sarah
Actin filaments, microtubules, and intermediate filaments (IFs) are central elements of the metazoan cytoskeleton. At the molecular level, the assembly mechanism for actin filaments and microtubules is fundamentally different from that of IFs. The former two types of filaments assemble from globular proteins. By contrast, IFs assemble from tetrameric complexes of extended, half-staggered, and antiparallel oriented coiled-coils. These tetramers laterally associate into unit-length filaments; subsequent longitudinal annealing of unit-length filaments yields mature IFs. In vitro, IFs form open structures without a fixed number of tetramers per cross-section along the filament. Therefore, a central question for the structural biology of IFs is whether individual subunits can dissociate from assembled filaments and rebind at other sites. Using the fluorescently labeled IF-protein vimentin for assembly, we directly observe and quantitatively determine subunit exchange events between filaments as well as with soluble vimentin pools. Thereby we demonstrate that the cross-sectional polymorphism of donor and acceptor filaments plays an important role. We propose that in segments of donor filaments with more than the standard 32 molecules per cross-section, subunits are not as tightly bound and are predisposed to be released from the filament. PMID:25517157
Predicting Structural Behavior of Filament Wound Composite Pressure Vessel Using Three Dimensional Shell Analysis
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Madhavi, M.; Venkat, R.
Fiber reinforced polymer composite materials with their higher specific strength, moduli and tailorability characteristics will result in reduction of weight of the structure. The composite pressure vessels with integrated end domes develop hoop stresses that are twice longitudinal stresses and when isotropic materials like metals are used for development of the hardware and the material is not fully utilized in the longitudinal/meridional direction resulting in over weight components. The determination of a proper winding angles and thickness is very important to decrease manufacturing difficulties and to increase structural efficiency. In the present study a methodology is developed to understand structural characteristics of filament wound pressure vessels with integrated end domes. Progressive ply wise failure analysis of composite pressure vessel with geodesic end domes is carried out to determine matrix crack failure, burst pressure values at various positions of the shell. A three dimensional finite element analysis is computed to predict the deformations and stresses in the composite pressure vessel. The proposed method could save the time to design filament wound structures, to check whether the ply design is safe for the given input conditions and also can be adapted to non-geodesic structures. The results can be utilized to understand structural characteristics of filament wound pressure vessels with integrated end domes. This approach can be adopted for various applications like solid rocket motor casings, automobile fuel storage tanks and chemical storage tanks. Based on the predictions a composite pressure vessel is designed and developed. Hydraulic test is performed on the composite pressure vessel till the burst pressure.
Filamentary Structure of the Orion A Molecular Cloud
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Suri, S.; Schilke, P.; Sánchez-Monge, Á.
Interstellar filaments pervade molecular clouds on all scales providing a bridge between the gas with relatively low densities and the dense clumps. In this work, we characterize various physical properties of filaments in the Orion A molecular cloud using preliminary datasets from the CARMA Orion project. We use an automated filament finding algorithm, DisPerSE, on 3D datacubes, and custom characterization algorithms.
Cytoskeleton Molecular Motors: Structures and Their Functions in Neuron
Xiao, Qingpin; Hu, Xiaohui; Wei, Zhiyi; Tam, Kin Yip
Cells make use of molecular motors to transport small molecules, macromolecules and cellular organelles to target region to execute biological functions, which is utmost important for polarized cells, such as neurons. In particular, cytoskeleton motors play fundamental roles in neuron polarization, extension, shape and neurotransmission. Cytoskeleton motors comprise of myosin, kinesin and cytoplasmic dynein. F-actin filaments act as myosin track, while kinesin and cytoplasmic dynein move on microtubules. Cytoskeleton motors work together to build a highly polarized and regulated system in neuronal cells via different molecular mechanisms and functional regulations. This review discusses the structures and working mechanisms of the cytoskeleton motors in neurons. PMID:27570482
Effect of high-power laser divergence on the plasma structural parameters during multiple filamentation in air
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Geints, Yu. E.; Zemlyanov, A. A.
Multiple filamentation of an infrared high-power laser pulse in air is considered. Based on the numerical solution to the unidirectional pulse propagation equation, the effect of radiation external focusing on the spatial structure of the plasma area produced in the filamentation region is studied. We show that the number of generated plasma channels in the beam wake and the density of their spatial distribution over the filamentation region depend on the initial divergence of laser radiation. We found that in a specific range of beam focusing the number of produced plasma channels could be minimized due to the formation of a consolidated thick plasma bunch at the beam axis.
Structural and Functional Studies of H. seropedicae RecA Protein – Insights into the Polymerization of RecA Protein as Nucleoprotein Filament
Galvão, Carolina W.; Saab, Sérgio C.; Iulek, Jorge; Etto, Rafael M.; Steffens, Maria B. R.; Chitteni-Pattu, Sindhu; Stanage, Tyler; Keck, James L.; Cox, Michael M.
The bacterial RecA protein plays a role in the complex system of DNA damage repair. Here, we report the functional and structural characterization of the Herbaspirillum seropedicae RecA protein (HsRecA). HsRecA protein is more efficient at displacing SSB protein from ssDNA than Escherichia coli RecA protein. HsRecA also promotes DNA strand exchange more efficiently. The three dimensional structure of HsRecA-ADP/ATP complex has been solved to 1.7 Å resolution. HsRecA protein contains a small N-terminal domain, a central core ATPase domain and a large C-terminal domain, that are similar to homologous bacterial RecA proteins. Comparative structural analysis showed that the N-terminal polymerization motif of archaeal and eukaryotic RecA family proteins are also present in bacterial RecAs. Reconstruction of electrostatic potential from the hexameric structure of HsRecA-ADP/ATP revealed a high positive charge along the inner side, where ssDNA is bound inside the filament. The properties of this surface may explain the greater capacity of HsRecA protein to bind ssDNA, forming a contiguous nucleoprotein filament, displace SSB and promote DNA exchange relative to EcRecA. Our functional and structural analyses provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of polymerization of bacterial RecA as a helical nucleoprotein filament. PMID:27447485
Structural and Functional Studies of H. seropedicae RecA Protein - Insights into the Polymerization of RecA Protein as Nucleoprotein Filament.
Leite, Wellington C; Galvão, Carolina W; Saab, Sérgio C; Iulek, Jorge; Etto, Rafael M; Steffens, Maria B R; Chitteni-Pattu, Sindhu; Stanage, Tyler; Keck, James L; Cox, Michael M
The bacterial RecA protein plays a role in the complex system of DNA damage repair. Here, we report the functional and structural characterization of the Herbaspirillum seropedicae RecA protein (HsRecA). HsRecA protein is more efficient at displacing SSB protein from ssDNA than Escherichia coli RecA protein. HsRecA also promotes DNA strand exchange more efficiently. The three dimensional structure of HsRecA-ADP/ATP complex has been solved to 1.7 Å resolution. HsRecA protein contains a small N-terminal domain, a central core ATPase domain and a large C-terminal domain, that are similar to homologous bacterial RecA proteins. Comparative structural analysis showed that the N-terminal polymerization motif of archaeal and eukaryotic RecA family proteins are also present in bacterial RecAs. Reconstruction of electrostatic potential from the hexameric structure of HsRecA-ADP/ATP revealed a high positive charge along the inner side, where ssDNA is bound inside the filament. The properties of this surface may explain the greater capacity of HsRecA protein to bind ssDNA, forming a contiguous nucleoprotein filament, displace SSB and promote DNA exchange relative to EcRecA. Our functional and structural analyses provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of polymerization of bacterial RecA as a helical nucleoprotein filament. PMID:27447485
Morphological and molecular identification of filamentous Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus isolated from compound feeds in South Africa.
Iheanacho, Henry E; Njobeh, Patrick B; Dutton, Francis M; Steenkamp, Paul A; Steenkamp, Lucia; Mthombeni, Julian Q; Daru, Barnabas H; Makun, Anthony H
Isolation of filamentous species of two Aspergillum genera from compound feeds produced in South Africa, and subsequent extraction of their individual DNA in this study, presents a simple but rapid molecular procedure for high through-put analysis of the individual morphological forms. DNA was successfully isolated from the Aspergillus spp. from agar cultures by use of a commercial kit. Agarose gel electrophoresis fractionation of the fungi DNA, showed distinct bands. The DNA extracted by this procedure appears to be relatively pure with a ratio absorbance at 260 and 280 nm. However, the overall morphological and molecular data indicated that 67.5 and 51.1% of feed samples were found to be contaminated with Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, respectively, with poultry feed having the highest contamination mean level of 5.7 × 105 CFU/g when compared to cattle (mean: 4.0 × 106 CFU/g), pig (mean: 2.7 × 104 CFU/g) and horse (1.0 × 102 CFU) feed. This technique presents a readily achievable, easy to use method in the extraction of filamentous fungal DNA and it's identification. Hence serves as an important tool towards molecular study of these organisms for routine analysis check in monitoring and improving compound feed quality against fungal contamination. PMID:25084661
Streptococcus salivarius Fimbriae Are Composed of a Glycoprotein Containing a Repeated Motif Assembled into a Filamentous Nondissociable Structure
Lévesque, Céline; Vadeboncoeur, Christian; Chandad, Fatiha; Frenette, Michel
Streptococcus salivarius, a gram-positive bacterium found in the human oral cavity, expresses flexible peritrichous fimbriae. In this paper, we report purification and partial characterization of S. salivarius fimbriae. Fimbriae were extracted by shearing the cell surface of hyperfimbriated mutant A37 (a spontaneous mutant of S. salivarius ATCC 25975) with glass beads. Preliminary experiments showed that S. salivarius fimbriae did not dissociate when they were incubated at 100°C in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. This characteristic was used to separate them from other cell surface components by successive gel filtration chromatography procedures. Fimbriae with molecular masses ranging from 20 × 106 to 40 × 106 Da were purified. Examination of purified fimbriae by electron microscopy revealed the presence of filamentous structures up to 1 μm long and 3 to 4 nm in diameter. Biochemical studies of purified fimbriae and an amino acid sequence analysis of a fimbrial internal peptide revealed that S. salivarius fimbriae were composed of a glycoprotein assembled into a filamentous structure resistant to dissociation. The internal amino acid sequence was composed of a repeated motif of two amino acids alternating with two modified residues: A/X/T-E-Q-M/φ, where X represents a modified amino acid residue and φ represents a blank cycle. Immunolocalization experiments also revealed that the fimbriae were associated with a wheat germ agglutinin-reactive carbohydrate. Immunolabeling experiments with antifimbria polyclonal antibodies showed that antigenically related fimbria-like structures were expressed in two other human oral streptococcal species, Streptococcus mitis and Streptococcus constellatus. PMID:11292790
Hydrodynamics of pairs of interacting cytoskeletal filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Shinar, Tamar; Shelley, Michael
Pairwise filament interactions underlie the dynamics of complex cytoskeletal networks in cells. These networks in turn play a crucial role in many cellular processes such as formation of the mitotic spindle and cell cleavage in cytokinesis. We model interactions of pairs of filaments immersed in a viscous, fluidic environment. The filaments are modeled using a slender body approximation, capturing their indirect interactions mediated by the immersing fluid. Direct filament interactions via molecular motors complexes induce alignment and parallel or anti-parallel sliding. The motor proteins are modeled as simple spring-like structures that walk directionally toward one end of the filament. We examine the resulting stresses in the fluid to better understand how the microscopic interactions lead to bulk behavior of cytoskeletal networks.
Wet spinning of silk polymer. II. Effect of drawing on the structural characteristics and properties of filament.
Um, In Chul; Ki, Chang Seok; Kweon, HaeYong; Lee, Kwang Gill; Ihm, Dae Woo; Park, Young Hwan
Regenerated silk fibroin (SF) filaments were prepared by the wet spinning technique. The rheological behavior of the SF dope solution prepared with formic acid was examined and the drawing effect on the structural characteristics and mechanical properties of SF filament was comparatively studied with those of natural silk fiber. SF dope exhibited shear thinning, but, as the dope concentration increased, the effect of shear thinning decreased, an indication that a higher concentration of dope solution will result in good spinnability. Wet-spun SF filaments exhibited a uniform and circular cross-sectional shape and dense morphology under SEM observation. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results revealed that the crystallinity of wet-spun regenerated filaments was hardly affected by the draw ratio, whereas the crystalline and amorphous orientation of regenerated SF filament showed different features depending on the drawing. The crystalline orientation of regenerated filaments increased with an increase of draw ratio and was lower than that of natural silk fiber. On the contrary, the amorphous orientation was constant throughout 1X-5X draw ratios, after an abrupt increase at 1X, and was higher than that of natural silk fiber. These differences in the orientation behaviors are attributed to the different spinning mechanisms involved. The tensile property was strongly dependent on the draw ratio. The breaking strength and elongation of the regenerated filament at 5X draw ratio were 2.2 g/day and 17%, respectively. PMID:15178015
Searching for filaments and large-scale structure around DAFT/FADA clusters
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Durret, F.; Márquez, I.; Acebrón, A.; Adami, C.; Cabrera-Lavers, A.; Capelato, H.; Martinet, N.; Sarron, F.; Ulmer, M. P.
Context. Clusters of galaxies are located at the intersection of cosmic filaments and are still accreting galaxies and groups along these preferential directions. However, because of their relatively low contrast on the sky, filaments are difficult to detect (unless a large amount of spectroscopic data are available), and unambiguous detections have been limited until now to relatively low redshifts (z< ~ 0.3). Aims: This project is aimed at searching for extensions and filaments around clusters, traced by galaxies selected to be at the cluster redshift based on the red sequence. In the 0.4
Crystal structure of AFV1-102, a protein from the acidianus filamentous virus 1
Keller, Jenny; Leulliot, Nicolas; Collinet, Bruno; Campanacci, Valerie; Cambillau, Christian; Pranghisvilli, David; van Tilbeurgh, Herman
Viruses infecting hyperthermophilic archaea have intriguing morphologies and genomic properties. The vast majority of their genes do not have homologs other than in other hyperthermophilic viruses, and the biology of these viruses is poorly understood. As part of a structural genomics project on the proteins of these viruses, we present here the structure of a 102 amino acid protein from acidianus filamentous virus 1 (AFV1-102). The structure shows that it is made of two identical motifs that have poor sequence similarity. Although no function can be proposed from structural analysis, tight binding of the gateway tag peptide in a groove between the two motifs suggests AFV1-102 is involved in protein protein interactions. PMID:19319936
Effect of shampoo, conditioner and permanent waving on the molecular structure of human hair
Zhang, Yuchen; Alsop, Richard J.; Soomro, Asfia; Yang, Fei-Chi
The hair is a filamentous biomaterial consisting of the cuticle, the cortex and the medulla, all held together by the cell membrane complex. The cortex mostly consists of helical keratin proteins that spiral together to form coiled-coil dimers, intermediate filaments, micro-fibrils and macro-fibrils. We used X-ray diffraction to study hair structure on the molecular level, at length scales between ∼3–90 Å, in hopes of developing a diagnostic method for diseases affecting hair structure allowing for fast and noninvasive screening. However, such an approach can only be successful if common hair treatments do not affect molecular hair structure. We found that a single use of shampoo and conditioner has no effect on packing of keratin molecules, structure of the intermediate filaments or internal lipid composition of the membrane complex. Permanent waving treatments are known to break and reform disulfide linkages in the hair. Single application of a perming product was found to deeply penetrate the hair and reduce the number of keratin coiled-coils and change the structure of the intermediate filaments. Signals related to the coiled-coil structure of the α-keratin molecules at 5 and 9.5 Å were found to be decreased while a signal associated with the organization of the intermediate filaments at 47 Å was significantly elevated in permed hair. Both these observations are related to breaking of the bonds between two coiled-coil keratin dimers. PMID:26557428
Effect of shampoo, conditioner and permanent waving on the molecular structure of human hair.
Zhang, Yuchen; Alsop, Richard J; Soomro, Asfia; Yang, Fei-Chi; Rheinstädter, Maikel C
The hair is a filamentous biomaterial consisting of the cuticle, the cortex and the medulla, all held together by the cell membrane complex. The cortex mostly consists of helical keratin proteins that spiral together to form coiled-coil dimers, intermediate filaments, micro-fibrils and macro-fibrils. We used X-ray diffraction to study hair structure on the molecular level, at length scales between ∼3-90 Å, in hopes of developing a diagnostic method for diseases affecting hair structure allowing for fast and noninvasive screening. However, such an approach can only be successful if common hair treatments do not affect molecular hair structure. We found that a single use of shampoo and conditioner has no effect on packing of keratin molecules, structure of the intermediate filaments or internal lipid composition of the membrane complex. Permanent waving treatments are known to break and reform disulfide linkages in the hair. Single application of a perming product was found to deeply penetrate the hair and reduce the number of keratin coiled-coils and change the structure of the intermediate filaments. Signals related to the coiled-coil structure of the α-keratin molecules at 5 and 9.5 Å were found to be decreased while a signal associated with the organization of the intermediate filaments at 47 Å was significantly elevated in permed hair. Both these observations are related to breaking of the bonds between two coiled-coil keratin dimers. PMID:26557428
Direct observation of anodic dissolution and filament growth behavior in polyethylene-oxide-based atomic switch structures
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Krishnan, Karthik; Tsuruoka, Tohru; Aono, Masakazu
We directly observed anodic dissolution and subsequent filament growth behavior in a planar atomic switch structure with Ag salt incorporated polyethylene oxide (Ag-PEO) film using in situ optical microscopy and ex situ scanning electron microscopy. The high ionic conductivities of Ag-PEO films enable the investigation of filament formation under voltage bias, even in micrometer-scaled devices. It was found that the filament formation changes from unidirectional growth to dendritic growth, depending on its distance from the grounded electrode. Based on this understanding of filament growth dynamics in planar devices, highly stable resistive switching was achieved in an Ag/Ag-PEO/Pt stacked device with an Ag-PEO film thickness of 100 nm. The device showed repeated switching operations for more than 102 sweep cycles, with a high ON/OFF resistance ratio of 105.
Molecular Identification and Localization of Filamentous Symbiotic Bacteria Associated with the Hydrothermal Vent Annelid Alvinella pompejana
Cary, S. C.; Cottrell, M. T.; Stein, J. L.; Camacho, F.; Desbruyeres, D.
Alvinella pompejana is a polychaetous annelid that inhabits high-temperature environments associated with active deep-sea hydrothermal vents along the East Pacific Rise. A unique and diverse epibiotic microflora with a prominent filamentous morphotype is found associated with the worm's dorsal integument. A previous study established the taxonomic positions of two epsilon proteobacterial phylotypes, 13B and 5A, which dominated a clone library of 16S rRNA genes amplified by PCR from the epibiotic microbial community of an A. pompejana specimen. In the present study deoxyoligonucleotide PCR primers specific for phylotypes 13B and 5A were used to demonstrate that these phylotypes are regular features of the bacterial community associated with A. pompejana. Assaying of other surfaces around colonies of A. pompejana revealed that phylotypes 13B and 5A are not restricted to A. pompejana. Phylotype 13B occurs on the exterior surfaces of other invertebrate genera and rock surfaces, and phylotype 5A occurs on a congener, Alvinella caudata. The 13B and 5A phylotypes were identified and localized on A. pompejana by in situ hybridization, demonstrating that these two phylotypes are, in fact, the prominent filamentous bacteria on the dorsal integument of A. pompejana. These findings indicate that the filamentous bacterial symbionts of A. pompejana are epsilon Proteobacteria which do not have an obligate requirement for A. pompejana. PMID:16535543
The primary structure of component 8c-1, a subunit protein of intermediate filaments in wool keratin. Relationships with proteins from other intermediate filaments.
Dowling, L M; Crewther, W G; Inglis, A S
Component 8c-1, one of four highly homologous component-8 subunit proteins present in the microfibrils of wool, was isolated as its S-carboxymethyl derivative and its amino acid sequence was determined. Large peptides were isolated after cleaving the protein chemically or enzymically and the sequence of each was determined with an automatic Sequenator. The peptides were ordered by sequence overlaps and, in some instances, by homology with known sequences from other component-8 subunits. The C-terminal residues were identified by three procedures. Full details of the various procedures used have been deposited as Supplementary Publication SUP 50133 (4 pp.) at the British Library Lending Division, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ, U.K., from whom copies can be obtained on the terms indicated in Biochem. J. (1986) 233, 5. The result showed that the protein comprises 412 residues and has an Mr, including the N-terminal acetyl group, of 48,300. The sequence of residues 98-200 of component 8c-1 was found to correspond to the partial or complete sequences of four homologous type I helical segments previously isolated from helical fragments recovered from chymotryptic digests of microfibrillar proteins of wool [Crewther & Dowling (1971) Appl. Polym. Symp. 18, 1-20; Crewther, Gough, Inglis & McKern (1978) Text. Res. J. 48, 160-162; Gough, Inglis & Crewther (1978) Biochem. J. 173, 385]. Considered in relation to amino acid sequences of other intermediate-filament proteins, the sequence is in accord with the view that keratin filament proteins are of two types [Hanukoglu & Fuchs (1983) Cell (Cambridge, Mass.) 33, 915-924]. Filament proteins from non-keratinous tissues, such as desmin, vimentin, neurofilament proteins and the glial fibrillary acidic protein, which form monocomponent filaments, constitute a third type. It is suggested that as a whole the proteins from intermediate filaments be classed as filamentins, the three types at present identified forming
Tilt Angles of Quiescent Filaments and Filaments of Active Regions
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Tlatov, A. G.; Kuzanyan, K. M.; Vasil'yeva, V. V.
We carry out study of tilt angles of solar filaments using the data from the two observatories: Meudon Observatory and Kislovodsk Mountain Astronomical Station for the century-long period 1919-2014. We developed special software for digitization of the filaments structures on Hα synoptic maps. The filaments were vectorized in semi-automatic mode. The tilt angles of filaments with respect to the equator (τ) were analyzed. Approximately 2/3 of the filaments have positive angles τ >0, which is defined as when the eastern end of the filaments are closer to the poles than the western ones. We have separated tilts for the filaments which are close to the active region structures and those of quiescent filaments. We found that long quiescent filaments mainly have negative tilts. The filaments which are close to active regions mainly have positive tilt angles.
Identification of a Gene Essential for Sheathed Structure Formation in Sphaerotilus natans, a Filamentous Sheathed Bacterium
Suzuki, Toshihiko; Kanagawa, Takahiro; Kamagata, Yoichi
Sphaerotilus natans, a filamentous bacterium that causes bulking in activated sludge processes, can assume two distinct morphologies, depending on the substrate concentration for growth; in substrate-rich media it grows as single rod-shaped cells, whereas in substrate-limited media it grows as filaments. To identify genes responsible for sheath formation, we carried out transposon Tn5 mutagenesis. Of the approximately 20,000 mutants obtained, 7 did not form sheathed structures. Sequencing of the Tn5-flanking regions showed that five of the seven Tn5 insertions converged at the same open reading frame, designated sthA. The deduced amino acids encoded by sthA were found to be homologous to glycosyltransferase, which is known to be involved in linking sugars to lipid carriers during bacterial exopolysaccharide biosynthesis. Disruption of the gene of the wild-type strain by inserting a kanamycin resistance gene cassette also resulted in sheathless growth under either type of nutrient condition. These findings indicate that sthA is a crucial component responsible for sheath formation. PMID:11772646
Structural basis for activation, assembly and membrane binding of ESCRT-III Snf7 filaments
Tang, Shaogeng; Henne, W Mike; Borbat, Peter P; Buchkovich, Nicholas J; Freed, Jack H; Mao, Yuxin; Fromme, J Christopher; Emr, Scott D
The endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRTs) constitute hetero-oligomeric machines that catalyze multiple topologically similar membrane-remodeling processes. Although ESCRT-III subunits polymerize into spirals, how individual ESCRT-III subunits are activated and assembled together into a membrane-deforming filament remains unknown. Here, we determine X-ray crystal structures of the most abundant ESCRT-III subunit Snf7 in its active conformation. Using pulsed dipolar electron spin resonance spectroscopy (PDS), we show that Snf7 activation requires a prominent conformational rearrangement to expose protein-membrane and protein-protein interfaces. This promotes the assembly of Snf7 arrays with ~30 Å periodicity into a membrane-sculpting filament. Using a combination of biochemical and genetic approaches, both in vitro and in vivo, we demonstrate that mutations on these protein interfaces halt Snf7 assembly and block ESCRT function. The architecture of the activated and membrane-bound Snf7 polymer provides crucial insights into the spatially unique ESCRT-III-mediated membrane remodeling. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.12548.001 PMID:26670543
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Shibley, A. M.
The major aspects of filament winding are discussed, emphasizing basic reinforcement and matrix materials, winding procedures, process controls, and cured composite properties. Fiberglass (E-glass and S-glass strengths are 500,000 and 665,000 psi respectively) and polyester resins are the principal reinforcement constituent materials. Graphite and aramid reinforcements are being used more frequently, primarily for the more critical pressure vessels. Matrix systems are most commonly based on epoxy as it has superior mechanical properties, fatigue behavior, and heat resistance as compard with polyesters. A fiberglass overwrap of PVC pipe is an anticipated development in on-site winding and combination winding, and the compression molding of filament wound lay-ups will be investigated. The fabrication of weight-sensitive structural components may be achieved by using such moldings.
Structural Dynamics of C-domain of Cardiac Troponin I Protein in Reconstituted Thin Filament*
Zhou, Zhiqun; Li, King-Lun; Rieck, Daniel; Ouyang, Yexin; Chandra, Murali; Dong, Wen-Ji
The regulatory function of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) involves three important contiguous regions within its C-domain: the inhibitory region (IR), the regulatory region (RR), and the mobile domain (MD). Within these regions, the dynamics of regional structure and kinetics of transitions in dynamic state are believed to facilitate regulatory signaling. This study was designed to use fluorescence anisotropy techniques to acquire steady-state and kinetic information on the dynamic state of the C-domain of cTnI in the reconstituted thin filament. A series of single cysteine cTnI mutants was generated, labeled with the fluorophore tetramethylrhodamine, and subjected to various anisotropy experiments at the thin filament level. The structure of the IR was found to be less dynamic than that of the RR and the MD, and Ca2+ binding induced minimal changes in IR dynamics: the flexibility of the RR decreased, whereas the MD became more flexible. Anisotropy stopped-flow experiments showed that the kinetics describing the transition of the MD and RR from the Ca2+-bound to the Ca2+-free dynamic states were significantly faster (53.2–116.8 s−1) than that of the IR (14.1 s−1). Our results support the fly casting mechanism, implying that an unstructured MD with rapid dynamics and kinetics plays a critical role to initiate relaxation upon Ca2+ dissociation by rapidly interacting with actin to promote the dissociation of the RR from the N-domain of cTnC. In contrast, the IR responds to Ca2+ signals with slow structural dynamics and transition kinetics. The collective findings suggested a fourth state of activation. PMID:22207765
Study of the population inversion mechanisms and superradiance on ion transitions of molecular nitrogen in the filament
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ivanov, N. G.; Losev, V. F.; Prokop'ev, V. E.
The experimental results of the inversion population mechanisms study in the resonant electronic transition B3Πg-A3Σu+ of nitrogen ions by optically pumped of air and pure nitrogen by femtosecond laser pulse at a wavelength of 950 nm are presented. It is shown that the inversion results from selective settling of N2+(B2Σu+, v' =0) excited state by multiphoton excitation of the autoionization states of the nitrogen molecule with energy of 18.7 eV. Seed photon for superradiance at transitions of molecular nitrogen ions are photons the axial supercontinuum occurring in the filament on the respective wavelengths. The mode of the superradiance at a wavelength λ = 358.4 nm referred to the transition of the CN molecules was realized.
Visualizing the Nonhomogeneous Structure of RAD51 Filaments Using Nanofluidic Channels.
Fornander, Louise H; Frykholm, Karolin; Fritzsche, Joachim; Araya, Joshua; Nevin, Philip; Werner, Erik; Çakır, Ali; Persson, Fredrik; Garcin, Edwige B; Beuning, Penny J; Mehlig, Bernhard; Modesti, Mauro; Westerlund, Fredrik
RAD51 is the key component of the homologous recombination pathway in eukaryotic cells and performs its task by forming filaments on DNA. In this study we investigate the physical properties of RAD51 filaments formed on DNA using nanofluidic channels and fluorescence microscopy. Contrary to the bacterial ortholog RecA, RAD51 forms inhomogeneous filaments on long DNA in vitro, consisting of several protein patches. We demonstrate that a permanent "kink" in the filament is formed where two patches meet if the stretch of naked DNA between the patches is short. The kinks are readily seen in the present microscopy approach but would be hard to identify using conventional single DNA molecule techniques where the DNA is more stretched. We also demonstrate that protein patches separated by longer stretches of bare DNA roll up on each other and this is visualized as transiently overlapping filaments. RAD51 filaments can be formed at several different conditions, varying the cation (Mg(2+) or Ca(2+)), the DNA substrate (single-stranded or double-stranded), and the RAD51 concentration during filament nucleation, and we compare the properties of the different filaments formed. The results provide important information regarding the physical properties of RAD51 filaments but also demonstrate that nanofluidic channels are perfectly suited to study protein-DNA complexes. PMID:27479732
The structure and poloidal dynamics of blob filaments in TJ-K
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Garland, S.; Fuchert, G.; Ramisch, M.; Hirth, T.
Relatively dense, field-aligned, filament-like structures (blobs) have been observed to propagate radially and poloidally through the scrape-off layer (SOL) in magnetically confined fusion plasmas, and contribute significantly to SOL transport. A detailed understanding of blob structure and dynamics, and their dependence on magnetic field geometry, is important in magnetic confinement physics for the prediction of heat loads on reactor wall facing components, as well as for understanding plasma confinement and neutral particle recycling. Experimentally deduced centre of mass poloidal blob velocity components, obtained using the conditional averaging technique, have been compared to an analytical blob model which has been simplified to express blob velocity in terms of the magnetic field curvature vector. Background flows are not incorporated into the analytical model, and must be added in to obtain good agreement with the experimental data. In addition, the 3D structure of blobs in TJ-K has been investigated using the conditional average of density fluctuations in two toroidally separated poloidal planes. Blobs are observed to be aligned to a flux tube near to the last closed flux surface, in the blob birth region. However at positions further along the blob trajectory, the structures do not deform according to the magnetic shear, rather they remain rigid, and retain their original form.
Crystal structure of the C-terminal half of tropomodulin and structural basis of actin filament pointed-end capping.
Krieger, Inna; Kostyukova, Alla; Yamashita, Atsuko; Nitanai, Yasushi; Maéda, Yuichiro
Tropomodulin is the unique pointed-end capping protein of the actin-tropomyosin filament. By blocking elongation and depolymerization, tropomodulin regulates the architecture and the dynamics of the filament. Here we report the crystal structure at 1.45-A resolution of the C-terminal half of tropomodulin (C20), the actin-binding moiety of tropomodulin. C20 is a leucine-rich repeat domain, and this is the first actin-associated protein with a leucine-rich repeat. Binding assays suggested that C20 also interacts with the N-terminal fragment, M1-M2-M3, of nebulin. Based on the crystal structure, we propose a model for C20 docking to the actin subunit at the pointed end. Although speculative, the model is consistent with the idea that a tropomodulin molecule competes with an actin subunit for a pointed end. The model also suggests that interactions with tropomyosin, actin, and nebulin are all possible sources of influences on the dynamic properties of pointed-end capping by tropomodulin. PMID:12414704
Interactive Modelling of Molecular Structures
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Rustad, J. R.; Kreylos, O.; Hamann, B.
The "Nanotech Construction Kit" (NCK) [1] is a new project aimed at improving the understanding of molecular structures at a nanometer-scale level by visualization and interactive manipulation. Our very first prototype is a virtual-reality program allowing the construction of silica and carbon structures from scratch by assembling them one atom at a time. In silica crystals or glasses, the basic building block is an SiO4 unit, with the four oxygen atoms arranged around the central silicon atom in the shape of a regular tetrahedron. Two silicate units can connect to each other by their silicon atoms covalently bonding to one shared oxygen atom. Geometrically, this means that two tetrahedra can link at their vertices. Our program is based on geometric representations and uses simple force fields to simulate the interaction of building blocks, such as forming/breaking of bonds and repulsion. Together with stereoscopic visualization and direct manipulation of building blocks using wands or data gloves, this enables users to create realistic and complex molecular models in short amounts of time. The NCK can either be used as a standalone tool, to analyze or experiment with molecular structures, or it can be used in combination with "traditional" molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In a first step, the NCK can create initial configurations for subsequent MD simulation. In a more evolved setup, the NCK can serve as a visual front-end for an ongoing MD simulation, visualizing changes in simulation state in real time. Additionally, the NCK can be used to change simulation state on-the-fly, to experiment with different simulation conditions, or force certain events, e.g., the forming of a bond, and observe the simulation's reaction. [1] http://graphics.cs.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/NanoTech
On the Structure and Evolution of a Polar Crown Prominence/Filament System
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Panesar, N. K.; Innes, D. E.; Schmit, D. J.; Tiwari, S. K.
Polar crown prominences, that partially circle the Sun's poles between 60° and 70° latitude, are made of chromospheric plasma. We aim to diagnose the 3D dynamics of a polar crown prominence using high-cadence EUV images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)/AIA at 304, 171, and 193 Å and the Ahead spacecraft of the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO-A)/EUVI at 195 Å. Using time series across specific structures, we compare flows across the disk in 195 Å with the prominence dynamics seen on the limb. The densest prominence material forms vertical columns that are separated by many tens of Mm and connected by dynamic bridges of plasma that are clearly visible in 304/171 Å two-colour images. We also observe intermittent but repetitious flows with velocity 15 km s-1 in the prominence that appear to be associated with EUV bright points on the solar disk. The boundary between the prominence and the overlying cavity appears as a sharp edge. We discuss the structure of the coronal cavity seen both above and around the prominence. SDO/HMI and GONG magnetograms are used to infer the underlying magnetic topology. The evolution and structure of the prominence with respect to the magnetic field seems to agree with the filament-linkage model.
Cores, Filaments, and Bundles: Hierarchical core formation in the B213 filament in Taurus
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hacar, Alvaro; Tafalla, Mario; Kauffmann, Jens; Kovacs, Attila
Characterizing the dense core formation in filaments is a critical step for our understanding of the star formation process within molecular clouds. Using different molecular tracers to study the gas kinematics at different scales and density regimes, we have investigated the dense core formation in the B213/L1495 filament in Taurus, one of the most prominent structures identified in nearby clouds (see Hacar et al 2013, A&A, 554, A55). Our analysis of its internal kinematics demonstrates that this filament is actually a bundle of 35 velocity-coherent filaments, typically with lengths of ˜ 0.5 pc and oscillatory-like and sonic velocity field, each of them exhibiting linear masses close to the expected mass for a filament in hydrostatic equilibrium. Among them, only a small fraction of these filaments (˜1/4) are "fertile" and efficiently fragment forming all the cores identified within this region, while most of them (˜3/4) do not form cores and remain "sterile". Our observations then suggest that core formation in Taurus occurs in two steps. First, 0.5 pc-long velocity-coherent filaments condense out of the cloud gas, probably as a result of the turbulent cascade. After that, the dense cores condense quasi-statically in only those "fertile" filaments that have accumulated enough mass to became gravitational unstable, inheriting their kinematic properties. The formation of these velocity-coherent filaments appears therefore as a critical step on the star formation process being the first subsonic structures formed out of the turbulent regime that dominates the cloud dynamics at large scales.
An electrostatic spatial resonance model for coaxial helical structures with applications to the filamentous bacteriophages.
Marzec, C J; Day, L A
A model is presented that treats the symmetry matching problem in structures made of two interacting coaxial helices of point charges. The charges are sources of a potential field that mediates a non-specific attractive interaction between the helices. The problem is represented in Fourier space, which affords the most generality. It is found that coaxial helices with optimally mated symmetries can lock into spatial resonance configurations that maximize their interaction. The resonances are represented as vectors in a discrete three-dimensional space. Two algebraic relations are given for the four symmetry parameters of two helices in resonance. One-start inner helices interacting with coaxial one-start or NR-start outer helices are considered. Applications are made to the filamentous bacteriophages Ff, Pf1, Xf, and Pf3. The interaction given by the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation is calculated in this formalism to allow comparison of the electrostatic free energy of interaction of different resonance structures. Experimental nucleotide/subunit ratios are accounted for, and models for the DNA-protein interfaces are presented, with particular emphasis on Pf1. PMID:7696463
The structural basis for the intrinsic disorder of the actin filament: the "lateral slipping" model.
Bremer, A; Millonig, R C; Sütterlin, R; Engel, A; Pollard, T D; Aebi, U
Three-dimensional (3-D) helical reconstructions computed from electron micrographs of negatively stained dispersed F-actin filaments invariably revealed two uninterrupted columns of mass forming the "backbone" of the double-helical filament. The contact between neighboring subunits along the thus defined two long-pitch helical strands was spatially conserved and of high mass density, while the intersubunit contact between them was of lower mass density and varied among reconstructions. In contrast, phalloidinstabilized F-actin filaments displayed higher and spatially more conserved mass density between the two long-pitch helical strands, suggesting that this bicyclic hepta-peptide toxin strengthens the intersubunit contact between the two strands. Consistent with this distinct intersubunit bonding pattern, the two long-pitch helical strands of unstabilized filaments were sometimes observed separated from each other over a distance of two to six subunits, suggesting that the intrastrand intersubunit contact is also physically stronger than the interstrand contact. The resolution of the filament reconstructions, extending to 2.5 nm axially and radially, enabled us to reproducibly "cut out" the F-actin subunit which measured 5.5 nm axially by 6.0 nm tangentially by 3.2 nm radially. The subunit is distinctly polar with a massive "base" pointing towards the "barbed" end of the filament, and a slender "tip" defining its "pointed" end (i.e., relative to the "arrowhead" pattern revealed after stoichiometric decoration of the filaments with myosin subfragment 1). Concavities running approximately parallel to the filament axis both on the inner and outer face of the subunit define a distinct cleft separating the subunit into two domains of similar size: an inner domain confined to radii less than or equal to 2.5-nm forms the uninterrupted backbone of the two long-pitch helical strands, and an outer domain placed at radii of 2-5-nm protrudes radially and thus predominantly
Structural characterization of filaments formed by human Xrcc4–Cernunnos/XLF complex involved in nonhomologous DNA end-joining
Ropars, Virginie; Drevet, Pascal; Legrand, Pierre; Baconnais, Sonia; Amram, Jeremy; Faure, Guilhem; Márquez, José A.; Piétrement, Olivier; Guerois, Raphaël; Callebaut, Isabelle; Le Cam, Eric; Revy, Patrick; de Villartay, Jean-Pierre; Charbonnier, Jean-Baptiste
Cernunnos/XLF is a core protein of the nonhomologous DNA end-joining (NHEJ) pathway that processes the majority of DNA double-strand breaks in mammals. Cernunnos stimulates the final ligation step catalyzed by the complex between DNA ligase IV and Xrcc4 (X4). Here we present the crystal structure of the X41–157-Cernunnos1–224 complex at 5.5-Å resolution and identify the relative positions of the two factors and their binding sites. The X-ray structure reveals a filament arrangement for X41–157 and Cernunnos1–224 homodimers mediated by repeated interactions through their N-terminal head domains. A filament arrangement of the X4–Cernunnos complex was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy analyses both with truncated and full-length proteins. We further modeled the interface and used structure-based site-directed mutagenesis and calorimetry to characterize the roles of various residues at the X4–Cernunnos interface. We identified four X4 residues (Glu55, Asp58, Met61, and Phe106) essential for the interaction with Cernunnos. These findings provide new insights into the molecular bases for stimulatory and bridging roles of Cernunnos in the final DNA ligation step. PMID:21768349
Role of lattice structure and low temperature resistivity in fast-electron-beam filamentation in carbon
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dance, R. J.; Butler, N. M. H.; Gray, R. J.; MacLellan, D. A.; Rusby, D. R.; Scott, G. G.; Zielbauer, B.; Bagnoud, V.; Xu, H.; Robinson, A. P. L.; Desjarlais, M. P.; Neely, D.; McKenna, P.
The influence of low temperature (eV to tens-of-eV) electrical resistivity on the onset of the filamentation instability in fast-electron transport is investigated in targets comprising of layers of ordered (diamond) and disordered (vitreous) carbon. It is shown experimentally and numerically that the thickness of the disordered carbon layer influences the degree of filamentation of the fast-electron beam. Strong filamentation is produced if the thickness is of the order of 60 μm or greater, for an electron distribution driven by a sub-picosecond, mid-1020 Wcm‑2 laser pulse. It is shown that the position of the vitreous carbon layer relative to the fast-electron source (where the beam current density and background temperature are highest) does not have a strong effect because the resistive filamentation growth rate is high in disordered carbon over a wide range of temperatures up to the Spitzer regime.
The Molecular Architecture for the Intermediate Filaments of Hard [alpha]-Keratin Based on the Superlattice Data Obtained from a Study ofMammals Using Synchrotron Fibre Diffraction
James, Veronica
High- and low-angle X-ray diffraction studies of hard {alpha}-keratin have been studied, and various models have been proposed over the last 70 years. Most of these studies have been confined to one or two forms of alpha keratin. This high- and low-angle synchrotron fibre diffraction study extends the study to cover all available data for all known forms of hard {alpha}-keratin including hairs, fingernails, hooves, horn, and quills from mammals, marsupials, and a monotreme, and it confirms that the model proposed is universally acceptable for all mammals. A complete Bragg analysis of the meridional diffraction patterns, including multiple-time exposures to verify any weak reflections, verified the existence of a superlattice consisting of two infinite lattices and three finite lattices. An analysis of the equatorial patterns establishes the radii of the oligomeric levels of dimers, tetramers, and intermediate filaments (IFs) together with the centre to centre distance for the IFs, thus confirming the proposed helices within helices molecular architecture for hard {alpha}-keratin. The results verify that the structure proposed by Feughelman and James meets the criteria for a valid {alpha}-keratin structure.
The Molecular Architecture for the Intermediate Filaments of Hard α -Keratin Based on the Superlattice Data Obtained from a Study of Mammals Using Synchrotron Fibre Diffraction
James, Veronica
High- and low-angle X-ray diffraction studies of hard α -keratin have been studied, and various models have been proposed over the last 70 years. Most of these studies have been confined to one or two forms of alpha keratin. This high- and low-angle synchrotron fibre diffraction study extends the study to cover all available data for all known forms of hard α -keratin including hairs, fingernails, hooves, horn, and quills from mammals, marsupials, and a monotreme, and it confirms that the model proposed is universally acceptable for all mammals. A complete Bragg analysis of the meridional diffraction patterns, includingmore » multiple-time exposures to verify any weak reflections, verified the existence of a superlattice consisting of two infinite lattices and three finite lattices. An analysis of the equatorial patterns establishes the radii of the oligomeric levels of dimers, tetramers, and intermediate filaments (IFs) together with the centre to centre distance for the IFs, thus confirming the proposed helices within helices molecular architecture for hard α -keratin. The results verify that the structure proposed by Feughelman and James meets the criteria for a valid α -keratin structure.« less
The Rapid Formation of a Filament Caused by Magnetic Reconnection between Two Sets of Dark Threadlike Structures
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Yang, Bo; Jiang, Yunchun; Yang, Jiayan; Yu, Shunping; Xu, Zhe
Taking advantage of the high spatiotemporal resolution observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we present rare observations of the rapid formation of a filament caused by magnetic reconnection between two sets of dark threadlike structures. The two sets of dark threadlike structures belong to distinct flux systems with their adjacent ends anchored in an opposite-polarity magnetic field region, where the calculated photospheric velocity field shows that converging flows dominate there. Due to the converging flows, opposite-polarity magnetic flux converged and then canceled, leading to the formation of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) brightening that spread in opposite directions along the spine of the dark threadlike structures. Meanwhile, very weak remote brightening in the other terminals of the dark threadlike structures, as well as EUV loops, which rooted in the opposite-polarity magnetic field region, appeared. In addition, all of the AIA Fe line observations reveal that a flux rope was formed and underwent a rolling motion during the fadeaway of the EUV brightening. Soon after, as the EUV brightening disappeared, a filament that is very likely composed of two sets of intertwined dark threadlike structures was formed. Via differential emission measure (EM) analysis, it is found that both the EM and temperature of the plasma around the flux-canceling site increased during the brightening, implying that there, magnetic reconnection may occur to heat the plasma. These observations provide evidence that the filament is formed by magnetic reconnection associated with flux convergence and cancellation, and the magnetic structure of the filament is most likely a flux rope.
High molecular weight polypeptides (270,000-340,000) from cultured cells are related to hog brain microtubule-associated proteins but copurify with intermediate filaments.
Pytela, R; Wiche, G
High molecular weight polypeptides (HMWPs) of 270,000 to 340,000 were found to be major components of intermediate filaments prepared by Triton X-100 extraction after spreading of rat glioma C6, HeLa, Chinese hamster ovary, and simian virus 40-transformed Chinese hamster lung cells. C6 HMWPs were shown to resemble high molecular weight microtubule-associated proteins from hog brain by four criteria: (i) comigration in electrophoresis on high-resolution sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gels, (ii) one-dimensional peptide mapping, (iii) phosphorylation in vitro with [gamma-32P]ATP, and (iv) ability to promote microtubule assembly in vitro. HMWPs were also found to be major components of one-time polymerized C6 microtubule preparations, which contained a sizable amount of intermediate filaments. The predominant part of HMWPs present in these microtubule preparations was found not to copurify with microtubules in cycles of temperature-dependent assembly/disassembly but to remain with the cold-insoluble intermediate filaments. These results provide an explanation for the low yields that have hampered attempts to purify microtubule-associated porteins, in particular HMWPs, from cultured cells in the past. Moreover, they suggest that HMWPs might have a dual role in the cell, serving not only as regulators of microtubule assembly but also as linker components between microtubules and intermediate filaments. Images PMID:6933530
Isolation and characterization of Candida albicans morphological mutants derepressed for the formation of filamentous hypha-type structures
Gil, C.; Pomes, R.; Nombela, C. )
Several Candida albicans morphological mutants were obtained by a procedure based on a combined treatment with nitrous acid plus UV irradiation and a double-enrichment step to increase the proportion of mutants growing as long filamentous structures. Altered cell morphogenesis in these mutants correlated with an altered colonial phenotype. Two of these mutants, C. albicans NEL102 and NEL103, were selected and characterized. Mutant blastoconidia initiated budding but eventually gave rise to filamentous hypha-type formations. These filaments were long and septate, and they branched very regularly at positions near septa. Calcofluor white (which is known to bind chitin-rich areas) stained septa, branching zones, and filament tips very intensely, as observed under the fluorescence microscope. Wild-type hybrids were obtained by fusing protoplasts of strain NEL102 with B14, another morphological mutant previously described as being permanently pseudomycelial, indicating that genetic determinants responsible for the two altered phenotypes are different. The mutants characterized in this work seemed to sequentially express the morphogenic characteristics of C. albicans, from blastoconidia to hyphae, in the absence of any inducer. Further characterization of these strains could be relevant to gain understanding of the genetic control of dimorphism in this species.
Morphological, molecular, and mycotoxigenic identification of dominant filamentous fungi from moldy civil cheese.
Cakmakci, Songul; Cetin, Bulent; Gurses, Mustafa; Dagdemir, Elif; Hayaloglu, Ali Adnan
Moldy Civil is a mold-ripened variety of cheese produced mainly in eastern Turkey. This cheese is produced with Civil cheese and whey curd cheese (Lor). Civil cheese has had a geographical presence since 2009 and is manufactured with skim milk. In the production of Moldy Civil cheese, Civil cheese or a mixture of Civil and Lor cheese is pressed into goat skins or plastic bags and ripened for 3 months or longer. During the ripening period, natural contaminating molds grow on the surface of and inside the cheese. In this study, 186 mold strains were isolated from 41 samples of Moldy Civil cheese, and 165 of these strains were identified as Penicillium roqueforti. Identification and mycotoxicologic analyses were conducted using morphotypic and molecular methods. PCR amplicons of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS4 region were subjected to sequence analysis. This research is the first using molecular methods on Moldy Civil cheese. Mycotoxicologic analyses were conducted using thin-layer chromatography, and random amplified polymorphic DNA genotypes were determined using the ari1 primer. Of 165 isolates, only 28 produced no penicillic acid, P. roqueforti toxin, or roquefortine. PMID:23127715
FRET study of the structural and kinetic effects of PKC phosphomimetic cardiac troponin T mutants on thin filament regulation.
Schlecht, William; Zhou, Zhiqun; Li, King-Lun; Rieck, Daniel; Ouyang, Yexin; Dong, Wen-Ji
FRET was used to investigate the structural and kinetic effects that PKC phosphorylations exert on Ca(2+) and myosin subfragment-1 dependent conformational transitions of the cardiac thin filament. PKC phosphorylations of cTnT were mimicked by glutamate substitution. Ca(2+) and S1-induced distance changes between the central linker of cTnC and the switch region of cTnI (cTnI-Sr) were monitored in reconstituted thin filaments using steady state and time resolved FRET, while kinetics of structural transitions were determined using stopped flow. Thin filament Ca(2+) sensitivity was found to be significantly blunted by the presence of the cTnT(T204E) mutant, whereas pseudo-phosphorylation at additional sites increased the Ca(2+)-sensitivity. The rate of Ca(2+)-dissociation induced structural changes was decreased in the C-terminal end of cTnI-Sr in the presence of pseudo-phosphorylations while remaining unchanged at the N-terminal end of this region. Additionally, the distance between cTnI-Sr and cTnC was decreased significantly for the triple and quadruple phosphomimetic mutants cTnT(T195E/S199E/T204E) and cTnT(T195E/S199E/T204E/T285E), which correlated with the Ca(2+)-sensitivity increase seen in these same mutants. We conclude that significant changes in thin filament Ca(2+)-sensitivity, structure and kinetics are brought about through PKC phosphorylation of cTnT. These changes can either decrease or increase Ca(2+)-sensitivity and likely play an important role in cardiac regulation. PMID:24708997
FRET Study of the Structural and Kinetic Effects of PKC Phosphomimetic Cardiac Troponin T Mutants on Thin Filament Regulation
Schlecht, William; Zhou, Zhiqun; Li, King-Lun; Rieck, Daniel; Ouyang, Yexin; Dong, Wen-Ji
FRET was used to investigate the structural and kinetic effects that PKC phosphorylations exert on Ca2+ and myosin subfragment-1 dependent conformational transitions of the cardiac thin filament. PKC phosphorylations of cTnT were mimicked by glutamate substitution. Ca2+ and S1-induced distance changes between the central linker of cTnC and the switch region of cTnI (cTnI-Sr) were monitored in reconstituted thin filaments using steady state and time resolved FRET, while kinetics of structural transitions were determined using stopped flow. Thin filament Ca2+ sensitivity was found to be significantly blunted by the presence of the cTnT(T204E) mutant, whereas pseudo-phosphorylation at additional sites increased the Ca2+-sensitivty. The rate of Ca2+-dissociation induced structural changes was decreased in the C-terminal end of cTnI-Sr in the presence of pseudo-phosphorylations while remaining unchanged at the N-terminal end of this region. Additionally, the distance between cTnI-Sr and cTnC was decreased significantly for the triple and quadruple phosphomimetic mutants cTnT(T195E/S199E/T204E) and cTnT(T195E/S199E/T204E/T285E), which correlated with the Ca2+-sensitivity increase seen in these same mutants. We conclude that significant changes in thin filament Ca2+-sensitivity, structure and kinetics are brought about through PKC phosphorylation of cTnT. These changes can either decrease or increase Ca2+-sensitivity and likely play an important role in cardiac regulation. PMID:24708997
A new RHQT Nb3Al superconducting wire with a Ta/Cu/Ta three-layer filament-barrier structure
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Takeuchi, Takao; Tsuchiya, Kiyosumi; Nakagawa, Kazuhiko; Nimori, Shigeki; Banno, Nobuya; Iijima, Yasuo; Kikuchi, Akihiro; Nakamoto, Tatsushi
To suppress the low-magnetic-field instability (flux jumps in low magnetic fields) of a rapid-heating, quenching and transformation (RHQT) processed Nb3Al superconductor, we had previously modified the cross-sectional design of an RHQT Nb3Al by adopting a Ta filament-barrier structure. Unlike Nb barriers, Ta barriers are not superconducting in magnetic fields at 4.2 K so that they electromagnetically decouple filaments. However, small flux jumps still occurred at 1.8 K, which is a typical operating temperature for the magnets used in high-energy particle accelerators. Furthermore, poor bonding at the Ta/Ta interface between neighboring Ta-coated jelly-roll (JR) filaments frequently caused precursor wires to break during drawing. To overcome these problems, we fabricated a new RHQT Nb3Al wire with a Ta/Cu/Ta three-layer filament-barrier structure for which an internal stabilization technique (Cu rods encased in Ta are dispersed in the wire cross section) was extended. Removing the Ta/Ta interface in the interfilamentary barrier (JR filament/Ta/Cu/Ta/JR filament) allowed precursor wires to be drawn without breaking. Furthermore, the Cu filament barrier electromagnetically decoupled filaments to suppress flux jumps at 1.8 K. The ductile Cu layer also improved the bending strain tolerance of RHQT Nb3Al.
Sheeley, N. R. Jr.; Warren, H. P.; Martin, S. F.; Panasenco, O.
Coronal cells are visible at temperatures of {approx}1.2 MK in Fe XII coronal images obtained from the Solar Dynamics Observatory and Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory spacecraft. We show that near a filament channel, the plumelike tails of these cells bend horizontally in opposite directions on the two sides of the channel like fibrils in the chromosphere. Because the cells are rooted in magnetic flux concentrations of majority polarity, these observations can be used with photospheric magnetograms to infer the direction of the horizontal field in filament channels and the chirality of the associated magnetic field. This method is similar to the procedure for inferring the direction of the magnetic field and the chirality of the fibril pattern in filament channels from H{alpha} observations. However, the coronal cell observations are easier to use and provide clear inferences of the horizontal field direction for heights up to {approx}50 Mm into the corona.
CO gas kinematics and excitation in a filamentary IRDC: Filament-filament interaction and accretion processes.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Jimenez-Serra, Izaskun; Caselli, Paola; Fontani, Francesco; Tan, Jonathan C.; Henshaw, Jonathan D.; Kainulainen, Jouni; Hernandez, Audra K.
Some theories of molecular cloud formation propose that molecular clouds form in highly dynamical environments characterized by the interaction of converging gas flows or cloud-cloud collisions. The determination of the dynamics and physical conditions of the molecular gas in clouds at the early stages of their evolution is thus essential to establish the dynamical imprints of such collisions, and to infer the physical processes involved in their formation. We present large-scale (~1.7pc x 3.4 pc) multi-transition 13CO and C18O on-the-fly maps carried out with the IRAM 30m and JCMT telescopes toward the Infrared-Dark Cloud G035.39-00.33. This cloud shows a very filamentary structure and relatively little star formation activity, suggestive of its youth, and where evidence for a flow-flow collision has recently been reported. Consistent with previous studies, the 13CO and C18O line maps toward G035.39-00.33 reveal that the molecular gas in this cloud is distributed in three different filaments separated in velocity space by ~3 kms-1 (Filaments 1, 2 and 3). The massive dense cores in this IRDC are preferentially found at the intersecting regions between Filaments 1 and 3, where most of the CO gas is accumulated. The analysis of the 13CO and C18O lines show that the three filaments have a similar kinematic structure with relatively smooth velocity gradients (of ~0.4-0.8 kms-1pc-1) that seem to converge onto core H6, the most massive core in the region located in the center of the IRDC. Several possible scenarios are proposed to explain this velocity gradient, including rotation, global gas accretion along the filaments and large-scale turbulence motions with a steep turbulent power spetrum. The 13CO and C18O gas motions are supersonic across G035.39-00.33 with the line emission showing broader linewidths toward the edges of the IRDC. This may indicate energy dissipation at the densest regions in the IRDC as a consequence of the filament-filament interaction. The
Molecular and functional characterization of a Rho GDP dissociation inhibitor in the filamentous fungus Tuber borchii
Menotta, Michele; Amicucci, Antonella; Basili, Giorgio; Polidori, Emanuela; Stocchi, Vilberto; Rivero, Francisco
Background Small GTPases of the Rho family function as tightly regulated molecular switches that govern important cellular functions in eukaryotes. Several families of regulatory proteins control their activation cycle and subcellular localization. Members of the guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitor (GDI) family sequester Rho GTPases from the plasma membrane and keep them in an inactive form. Results We report on the characterization the RhoGDI homolog of Tuber borchii Vittad., an ascomycetous ectomycorrhizal fungus. The Tbgdi gene is present in two copies in the T. borchii genome. The predicted amino acid sequence shows high similarity to other known RhoGDIs. Real time PCR analyses revealed an increased expression of Tbgdi during the phase preparative to the symbiosis instauration, in particular after stimulation with root exudates extracts, that correlates with expression of Tbcdc42. In a translocation assay TbRhoGDI was able to solubilize TbCdc42 from membranes. Surprisingly, TbRhoGDI appeared not to interact with S. cerevisiae Cdc42, precluding the use of yeast as a surrogate model for functional studies. To study the role of TbRhoGDI we performed complementation experiments using a RhoGDI null strain of Dictyostelium discoideum, a model organism where the roles of Rho signaling pathways are well established. For comparison, complementation with mammalian RhoGDI1 and LyGDI was also studied in the null strain. Although interacting with Rac1 isoforms, TbRhoGDI was not able to revert the defects of the D. discoideum RhoGDI null strain, but displayed an additional negative effect on the cAMP-stimulated actin polymerization response. Conclusion T. borchii expresses a functional RhoGDI homolog that appears as an important modulator of cytoskeleton reorganization during polarized apical growth that antecedes symbiosis instauration. The specificity of TbRhoGDI actions was underscored by its inability to elicit a growth defect in S. cerevisiae or to compensate the
From electron microscopy to molecular cell biology, molecular genetics and structural biology: intracellular transport and kinesin superfamily proteins, KIFs: genes, structure, dynamics and functions.
Hirokawa, Nobutaka
Cells transport and sort various proteins and lipids following synthesis as distinct types of membranous organelles and protein complexes to the correct destination at appropriate velocities. This intracellular transport is fundamental for cell morphogenesis, survival and functioning not only in highly polarized neurons but also in all types of cells in general. By developing quick-freeze electron microscopy (EM), new filamentous structures associated with cytoskeletons are uncovered. The characterization of chemical structures and functions of these new filamentous structures led us to discover kinesin superfamily molecular motors, KIFs. In this review, I discuss the identification of these new structures and characterization of their functions using molecular cell biology and molecular genetics. KIFs not only play significant roles by transporting various cargoes along microtubule rails, but also play unexpected fundamental roles on various important physiological processes such as learning and memory, brain wiring, development of central nervous system and peripheral nervous system, activity-dependent neuronal survival, development of early embryo, left-right determination of our body and tumourigenesis. Furthermore, by combining single-molecule biophysics with structural biology such as cryo-electrom microscopy and X-ray crystallography, atomic structures of KIF1A motor protein of almost all states during ATP hydrolysis have been determined and a common mechanism of motility has been proposed. Thus, this type of studies could be a good example of really integrative multidisciplinary life science in the twenty-first century. PMID:21844601
How is kinematic structure connected to the core scale from filament scale?; Mopra mapping observations with multi-lines of dense cores in Lupus I
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kiyokane, Kazuhiro; Saito, Masao; Tachihara, Kengo; Saigo, Kazuya; van Kempen, Tim; Cortes, Paulo; Hill, Tracey; Knee, Lewis; Kurono, Yasutaka; Takahashi, Satoko; Aya, Higuchi; Nyman, Lars-Ake
Recently, high sensitivity mappings of nearby molecular clouds in far-infrared and submillimeter wavelengths with Hershel and AzTEC/ASTE show ubiquitous existence of the filamentary structures with 0.1-pc uniform width. It is important to investigate dense core formation from large scale structure via fragmentation. We have conducted MOPRA multi-line mapping observations covered on 0.02 - 0.2 pc scales of 8 dense cores in a filamentary cloud of nearby Lupus I at 140 pc. A class 0/I protostellar core IRAS 15398-3359 is included as a sample, which has an adjacent prestellar core with the separation of 0.13pc in the west. The maps of N2H+, HNC, HC3N show well associated with each core. The velocity field of C18O shows 1.4 km/s/pc from north to south over the region containing two dense cores, which is consistent with past observation of NANTEN. In contrast to C18O results, the velocity field of HC3N shows different structures, which suggest counter rotation of two dense cores; 1.2 km/s/pc from north-west to south-east around a protostellar core and 0.8 km/s/pc from east to west around a presteller core. The filament will be fragmentized and collapsed to dense cores when the line density is over 2Cs/G (where Cs is sound speed and G is gravitational constant). If that velocity gradient was caused by such situation, it should be red-blue-red-blue across two dense cores but the observed kinematics is not consistent with this scenario, which requires that the filament structure would be extremely curved with a skew angle. Although we cannot reject the collapsing interruption, those results suggest the spin-up rotating picture separated from large-scale structure.
Safety evaluation design of filament wound structures - Cases of pressure vessels and pipes
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kawahara, Masanori; Mori, Takao; Hirase, Yosihiro; Katoh, Akihiko; Ishihara, Toshio
Procedures are presented for the safety-related evaluation of filament-wound composite products, such as pressure vessels and pipes. In order to increase the fatigue strength of pressure vessel metallic liners subject to cyclic internal pressures, by controlling residual stresses, the 'autofrettage' overpressuring treatment has been devised.
RUI: Structure and Behavior of RF-Driven Plasma Filaments in High-Pressure Gases
Burin, Michael
The filamentary discharge seen within commercial plasma globes is commonly enjoyed, yet not well understood. We investigate filament properties in a plasma globe using a variable high voltage amplifier. Results from the 3-year grant period and their physics are discussed.
Titin strain contributes to the Frank–Starling law of the heart by structural rearrangements of both thin- and thick-filament proteins
Ait-Mou, Younss; Hsu, Karen; Farman, Gerrie P.; Kumar, Mohit; Greaser, Marion L.; Irving, Thomas C.; de Tombe, Pieter P.
The Frank–Starling mechanism of the heart is due, in part, to modulation of myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity by sarcomere length (SL) [length-dependent activation (LDA)]. The molecular mechanism(s) that underlie LDA are unknown. Recent evidence has implicated the giant protein titin in this cellular process, possibly by positioning the myosin head closer to actin. To clarify the role of titin strain in LDA, we isolated myocardium from either WT or homozygous mutant (HM) rats that express a giant splice isoform of titin, and subjected the muscles to stretch from 2.0 to 2.4 μm of SL. Upon stretch, HM compared with WT muscles displayed reduced passive force, twitch force, and myofilament LDA. Time-resolved small-angle X-ray diffraction measurements of WT twitching muscles during diastole revealed stretch-induced increases in the intensity of myosin (M2 and M6) and troponin (Tn3) reflections, as well as a reduction in cross-bridge radial spacing. Independent fluorescent probe analyses in relaxed permeabilized myocytes corroborated these findings. X-ray electron density reconstruction revealed increased mass/ordering in both thick and thin filaments. The SL-dependent changes in structure observed in WT myocardium were absent in HM myocardium. Overall, our results reveal a correlation between titin strain and the Frank–Starling mechanism. The molecular basis underlying this phenomenon appears not to involve interfilament spacing or movement of myosin toward actin but, rather, sarcomere stretch-induced simultaneous structural rearrangements within both thin and thick filaments that correlate with titin strain and myofilament LDA. PMID:26858417
Effect of tensile force on the mechanical behavior of actin filaments.
Matsushita, Shinji; Inoue, Yasuhiro; Hojo, Masaki; Sokabe, Masahiro; Adachi, Taiji
Actin filaments are the most abundant components of the cellular cytoskeleton, and play critical roles in various cellular functions such as migration, division and shape control. In these activities, mechanical tension causes structural changes in the double-helical structure of the actin filament, which is a key modulator of cytoskeletal reorganization. This study performed large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) and steered MD simulations to quantitatively analyze the effects of tensile force on the mechanical behavior of actin filaments. The results revealed that when a tensile force of 200pN was applied to a filament consisting of 14 actin subunits, the twist angle of the filament decreased by approximately 20°, corresponding to a rotation of approximately -2° per subunit, representing a critical structural change in actin filaments. Based on these structural changes, the variance in filament length and twist angle was found to decrease, leading to increases in extensional and torsional stiffness. Torsional stiffness increased significantly under the tensile condition, and the ratio of filament stiffness under tensile force to that under no external force increased significantly on longer temporal scales. The results obtained from this study contribute to the understanding of mechano-chemical interactions concerning actin dynamics, showing that increased tensile force in the filament prevents actin regulatory proteins from binding to the filament. PMID:21536289
A CapG gain-of-function mutant reveals critical structural and functional determinants for actin filament severing
Zhang, Y; Vorobiev, Sergey M; Gibson, Bruce G; Hao, Binghua; Sidhu, Gurjit S; Mishra, Vishnu S; Yarmola, Elena G; Bubb, Michael R; Almo, Steven C; Southwick, Frederick S
CapG is the only member of the gelsolin family unable to sever actin filaments. Changing amino acids 84–91 (severing domain) and 124–137 (WH2-containing segment) simultaneously to the sequences of gelsolin results in a mutant, CapG-sev, capable of severing actin filaments. The gain of severing function does not alter actin filament capping, but is accompanied by a higher affinity for monomeric actin, and the capacity to bind and sequester two actin monomers. Analysis of CapG-sev crystal structure suggests a more loosely folded inactive conformation than gelsolin, with a shorter S1–S2 latch. Calcium binding to S1 opens this latch and S1 becomes separated from a closely interfaced S2–S3 complex by an extended arm consisting of amino acids 118–137. Modeling with F-actin predicts that the length of this WH2-containing arm is critical for severing function, and the addition of a single amino acid (alanine or histidine) eliminates CapG-sev severing activity, confirming this prediction. We conclude that efficient severing utilizes two actin monomer-binding sites, and that the length of the WH2-containing segment is a critical functional determinant for severing. PMID:16977317
Physiological Properties and Genome Structure of the Hyperthermophilic Filamentous Phage φOH3 Which Infects Thermus thermophilus HB8
Nagayoshi, Yuko; Kumagae, Kenta; Mori, Kazuki; Tashiro, Kosuke; Nakamura, Ayano; Fujino, Yasuhiro; Hiromasa, Yasuaki; Iwamoto, Takeo; Kuhara, Satoru; Ohshima, Toshihisa; Doi, Katsumi
A filamentous bacteriophage, φOH3, was isolated from hot spring sediment in Obama hot spring in Japan with the hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus HB8 as its host. Phage φOH3, which was classified into the Inoviridae family, consists of a flexible filamentous particle 830 nm long and 8 nm wide. φOH3 was stable at temperatures ranging from 70 to 90°C and at pHs ranging from 6 to 9. A one-step growth curve of the phage showed a 60-min latent period beginning immediately postinfection, followed by intracellular virus particle production during the subsequent 40 min. The released virion number of φOH3 was 109. During the latent period, both single stranded DNA (ssDNA) and the replicative form (RF) of phage DNA were multiplied from min 40 onward. During the release period, the copy numbers of both ssDNA and RF DNA increased sharply. The size of the φOH3 genome is 5688 bp, and eight putative open reading frames (ORFs) were annotated. These ORFs were encoded on the plus strand of RF DNA and showed no significant homology with any known phage genes, except ORF 5, which showed 60% identity with the gene VIII product of the Thermus filamentous phage PH75. All the ORFs were similar to predicted genes annotated in the Thermus aquaticus Y51MC23 and Meiothermus timidus DSM 17022 genomes at the amino acid sequence level. This is the first report of the whole genome structure and DNA multiplication of a filamentous T. thermophilus phage within its host cell. PMID:26941711
Physiological Properties and Genome Structure of the Hyperthermophilic Filamentous Phage φOH3 Which Infects Thermus thermophilus HB8.
Nagayoshi, Yuko; Kumagae, Kenta; Mori, Kazuki; Tashiro, Kosuke; Nakamura, Ayano; Fujino, Yasuhiro; Hiromasa, Yasuaki; Iwamoto, Takeo; Kuhara, Satoru; Ohshima, Toshihisa; Doi, Katsumi
A filamentous bacteriophage, φOH3, was isolated from hot spring sediment in Obama hot spring in Japan with the hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus HB8 as its host. Phage φOH3, which was classified into the Inoviridae family, consists of a flexible filamentous particle 830 nm long and 8 nm wide. φOH3 was stable at temperatures ranging from 70 to 90°C and at pHs ranging from 6 to 9. A one-step growth curve of the phage showed a 60-min latent period beginning immediately postinfection, followed by intracellular virus particle production during the subsequent 40 min. The released virion number of φOH3 was 109. During the latent period, both single stranded DNA (ssDNA) and the replicative form (RF) of phage DNA were multiplied from min 40 onward. During the release period, the copy numbers of both ssDNA and RF DNA increased sharply. The size of the φOH3 genome is 5688 bp, and eight putative open reading frames (ORFs) were annotated. These ORFs were encoded on the plus strand of RF DNA and showed no significant homology with any known phage genes, except ORF 5, which showed 60% identity with the gene VIII product of the Thermus filamentous phage PH75. All the ORFs were similar to predicted genes annotated in the Thermus aquaticus Y51MC23 and Meiothermus timidus DSM 17022 genomes at the amino acid sequence level. This is the first report of the whole genome structure and DNA multiplication of a filamentous T. thermophilus phage within its host cell. PMID:26941711
Analysis of the structure and subcellular location of filamentous phage pIV.
Russel, M; Kaźmierczak, B
The gene IV protein of filamentous bacteriophages is an integral membrane protein required for phage assembly and export. A series of gene IV::phoA fusion, gene IV deletion, and gene IV missense mutations have been isolated and characterized. The alkaline phosphatase activity of the fusion proteins suggests that pIV lacks a cytoplasmic domain. Cell fractionation studies indicate that the carboxy-terminal half of pIV mediates its assembly into the membrane, although there is no single, discrete membrane localization domain. The properties of gene IV missense and deletion mutants, combined with an analysis of the similarities between pIVs from various filamentous phage and related bacterial export-mediating proteins, suggest that the amino-terminal half of pIV consists of a periplasmic substrate-binding domain that confers specificity to the assembly-export system. Images PMID:8320216
Spectro-polarimetric observation of the fine structure of a quiescent filament
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zong, W. G.; Tang, Y. H.; Fang, C.; Mein, P.; Mein, N.; Xu, A. A.
This paper presents the spectro-polarimetric measurements of a big quiescent filament observed by the MSDP mode of the THEMIS on August 24, 2000. The Hα , CaII 8542 and NaI D2 line profiles of a segment of the filament were obtained. By use of the Hα images with high spatial resolution, the two barb endpoints were identified. The parameters at the barbs' endpoints, including intensity, velocity and longitudinal magnetic field were measured. Using the data with high spatial resolution (0.16'' per pixel), we have found the following results. 1) There was mass motion at the barb endpoints in the chromosphere, the values and the directions of the mass motion at the barb endpoints change in several minutes. 2) The two barb endpoints are located between the majority polarities and the minority polarities.
Structural CNT Composites. Part I; Developing a Carbon Nanotube Filament Winder
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Sauti, Godfrey; Kim, Jae-Woo; Wincheski, Russell A.; Antczak, Andrew; Campero, Jamie C.; Luong, Hoa H.; Shanahan, Michelle H.; Stelter, Christopher J.; Siochi, Emilie J.
Carbon nanotube (CNT) based materials promise advances in the production of high strength and multifunctional components for aerospace and other applications. Specifically, in tension dominated applications, the latest CNT based filaments are yielding composite properties comparable to or exceeding composites from more established fibers such as Kevlar and carbon fiber. However, for the properties of these materials to be fully realized at the component level, suitable manufacturing processes have to be developed. These materials handle differently from conventional fibers, with different wetting characteristics and behavior under load. The limited availability of bulk forms also requires that the equipment be scaled down accordingly to tailor the process development approach to material availability. Here, the development of hardware and software for filament winding of carbon nanotube based tapes and yarns is described. This hardware features precision guidance of the CNT material and control of the winding tension over a wide range in an open architecture that allows for effective process control and troubleshooting during winding. Use of the filament winder to develop CNT based Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs) shall also be discussed.
Fine Structure of Chromospheric Brightenings above a Light Bridge and Penumbral Filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bharti, Lokesh
We present simultaneous photospheric and chromospheric observations of the trailing sunspot in NOAA 10904. At the limit of the instrumental spatial resolution Ca II H images show jet-like brightenings above a lightbridge and a penumbral filament that intrudes into the umbra. The observations were carried out with the Swedish Solar Telescope (SST) on 13 August 2006. The Solar Optical Universal Polarimeter (SOUP) filter was used to scan the Fe I 6302.5 ˚ line at A 6 wavelength positions. Full Stokes polarimetry was performed and the magnetic field vector was obtained by means of a Milne-Eddington inversion of the radiative transfer equation. The data reveal a more inclined field in the light bridge and penumbral filament than in the umbra with a vertical current density higher than 200 mA m-2 . Also opposite polarity patches were found in the light bridge. Such a magnetic configuration indicates low altitude reconnection. A similar mechanism causes penumbral microjets which were also observed along other penumbral filaments.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Wagner, William J.
The phenomenon of the sudden filament disappearance (Disparition Brusque) is a familiar one to observers at H alpha telescopes. Nevertherless, the importance in Disparition Brusques (DB) continues to grow for several reasons which are cited in the discussion. It is reported that there seems to be more interest on building and maintain filaments than in destroying them. As a consequence, this sub-group is smaller than most of the others. All the same, progress in this area of filament disapperences seems steady and assured. The importance and interest in DBs is discussed and future directions are indicated.
Solid friction between soft filaments.
Ward, Andrew; Hilitski, Feodor; Schwenger, Walter; Welch, David; Lau, A W C; Vitelli, Vincenzo; Mahadevan, L; Dogic, Zvonimir
Any macroscopic deformation of a filamentous bundle is necessarily accompanied by local sliding and/or stretching of the constituent filaments. Yet the nature of the sliding friction between two aligned filaments interacting through multiple contacts remains largely unexplored. Here, by directly measuring the sliding forces between two bundled F-actin filaments, we show that these frictional forces are unexpectedly large, scale logarithmically with sliding velocity as in solid-like friction, and exhibit complex dependence on the filaments' overlap length. We also show that a reduction of the frictional force by orders of magnitude, associated with a transition from solid-like friction to Stokes's drag, can be induced by coating F-actin with polymeric brushes. Furthermore, we observe similar transitions in filamentous microtubules and bacterial flagella. Our findings demonstrate how altering a filament's elasticity, structure and interactions can be used to engineer interfilament friction and thus tune the properties of fibrous composite materials. PMID:25730393
Insights into the mechanism of Rad51 recombinase from the structure and properties of a filament interface mutant
Chen, Jianhong; Villanueva, Nicolas; Rould, Mark A.; Morrical, Scott W.
Rad51 protein promotes homologous recombination in eukaryotes. Recombination activities are activated by Rad51 filament assembly on ssDNA. Previous studies of yeast Rad51 showed that His352 occupies an important position at the filament interface, where it could relay signals between subunits and active sites. To investigate, we characterized yeast Rad51 H352A and H352Y mutants, and solved the structure of H352Y. H352A forms catalytically competent but salt-labile complexes on ssDNA. In contrast, H352Y forms salt-resistant complexes on ssDNA, but is defective in nucleotide exchange, RPA displacement and strand exchange with full-length DNA substrates. The 2.5 {angstrom} crystal structure of H352Y reveals a right-handed helical filament in a high-pitch (130 {angstrom}) conformation with P61 symmetry. The catalytic core and dimer interface regions of H352Y closely resemble those of DNA-bound Escherichia coli RecA protein. The H352Y mutation stabilizes Phe187 from the adjacent subunit in a position that interferes with the {gamma}-phosphate-binding site of the Walker A motif/P-loop, potentially explaining the limited catalysis observed. Comparison of Rad51 H352Y, RecA-DNA and related structures reveals that the presence of bound DNA correlates with the isomerization of a conserved cis peptide near Walker B to the trans configuration, which appears to prime the catalytic glutamate residue for ATP hydrolysis.
Dark Filaments, Clouds and Cores: A Multiband IR Study of the Early Stages of Star Formation in Extended Structures
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Smith, Howard
Star formation typically begins in cold, dark clouds that are not spherically symmetric, but elongated as infrared dark clouds or long linear filaments. Their star-forming characteristics are thought to be sensitive to the geometries. We propose a systematic, detailed study of a sample of 168 of these dark clouds spanning a wide range of parameters using new archival data from Herschel and Spitzer. Archival Herschel photometry in particular enables for the first time a sensitive, systematic study of the full far-infrared continuum of these objects. We have distance determinations and ancillary molecule line measurements for all of our sources. Ten-band photometry (from 3.5um to 500um) will let us determine the luminosities, spectral energy distributions (SEDs), and estimate masses of these cold structures as functions of their star-formation activity. We will produce dust temperature and optical depth maps that will enable statistical studies of filaments and their cores; we expect statistics on over 500 protostellar cores. Our selected sources span a range of physical conditions: distances from 1 to 8 kpc, lengths from 0.1 to 80 pc, aspect ratios from below 2 to above 8, nominal core masses from about 1 to 500 Mo, and a range of geometries including linear, branching, hub-filament, and network configurations. We plan to use the extended Robitaille YSO models and SUNRISE radiative transfer models for prestellar cores to analyze a generic set of the most common objects, and then test their applicability across the sample. We will also bring other data to bear (WISE; 2MASS, millimeter) as is useful. We address three current, multi-faceted problems: (1) What are the density, temperature and optical depth structures of filaments and their cores? How do these parameters vary spatially for cores and the inter-core regions? How do these parameters correlate to filamentary or environmental properties? (2) What is the statistical distribution of these properties; in
Lighting the universe with filaments.
Gao, Liang; Theuns, Tom
The first stars in the universe form when chemically pristine gas heats as it falls into dark-matter potential wells, cools radiatively because of the formation of molecular hydrogen, and becomes self-gravitating. Using supercomputer simulations, we demonstrated that the stars' properties depend critically on the currently unknown nature of the dark matter. If the dark-matter particles have intrinsic velocities that wipe out small-scale structure, then the first stars form in filaments with lengths on the order of the free-streaming scale, which can be approximately 10(20) meters (approximately 3 kiloparsecs, corresponding to a baryonic mass of approximately 10(7) solar masses) for realistic "warm dark matter" candidates. Fragmentation of the filaments forms stars with a range of masses, which may explain the observed peculiar element abundance pattern of extremely metal-poor stars, whereas coalescence of fragments and stars during the filament's ultimate collapse may seed the supermassive black holes that lurk in the centers of most massive galaxies. PMID:17872439
Geometric Frustration Selects Morphology in Chiral Filament Bundles
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hall, Douglas; Bruss, Isaac; Barone, Justin; Grason, Gregory
Assemblies of twisted filaments appear in a range of biological contexts, from extracellular filament bundles to amyloid fibrils. Owing to numerous distinctions in molecular structures and interactions underlying these diverse assemblies, a framework to predict and classify the basic mechanisms of structure formation in twisted filament assemblies is still lacking. In this study, we model how the size and shape of self-assembled fibers are controlled by competition between the elastic costs of inter-filament frustration, bending deformation of filaments and bundle surface energy. Exploiting a geometric mapping between inter-filament packing in twisted bundles and packing on positively-curved 2D surfaces, we show that the anisotropy of the bundle cross-section is determined by a single parameter describing the competition between elastic and bending costs. We compare the continuum model's predictions for stability of cylindrical and tape-like twisted morphologies to numerical simulations of cohesive filament bundles and observations of micron-scale amyloid fibers assembled from hydrolyzed protein fragments. Nsf (CAREER) DMR-0955760.
Structure parameters in molecular tunneling ionization theory
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wang, Jun-Ping; Li, Wei; Zhao, Song-Feng
We extracted the accurate structure parameters in molecular tunneling ionization theory (so called MO-ADK theory) for 22 selected linear molecules including some inner orbitals. The molecular wave functions with the correct asymptotic behavior are obtained by solving the time-independent Schrödinger equation with B-spline functions and molecular potentials numerically constructed using the modified Leeuwen-Baerends (LBα) model.
Spatial structure of scrape-off-layer filaments near the midplane and X-point regions of Alcator C-Mod
Terry, J L; Zweben, S J; Umansky, M V; Cziegler, I; Grulke, O; LaBombard, B; Stotler, D P
Movies of edge turbulence at both the outboard midplane and the region outboard of the typical lower X-point location in C-Mod have been obtained using Gas-Puff-Imaging together with fast-framing cameras. Intermittent turbulent structures, typically referred to as blobs or filaments, are observed in both locations. Near the midplane the filaments are roughly circular in cross-section, while in the X-point region they are highly elongated. Filament velocities in this region are {approx}3x faster than the radial velocities at the midplane, in a direction roughly normal to the local flux surfaces. The observations are consistent with the picture that the filaments arise in outboard region and, as a consequence of the rapid parallel diffusion of the potential perturbations, map along field lines. A simulation using the 3D BOUT turbulence code has been made, with the result that reproduces many of the spatial features observed in the experiment.
Molecular modeling of nucleic acid structure
Galindo-Murillo, Rodrigo; Bergonzo, Christina
This unit is the first in a series of four units covering the analysis of nucleic acid structure by molecular modeling. This unit provides an overview of computer simulation of nucleic acids. Topics include the static structure model, computational graphics and energy models, generation of an initial model, and characterization of the overall three-dimensional structure. PMID:18428873
Analysis on the Filament Structure Evolution in Reset Transition of Cu/HfO2/Pt RRAM Device
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zhang, Meiyun; Long, Shibing; Li, Yang; Liu, Qi; Lv, Hangbing; Miranda, Enrique; Suñé, Jordi; Liu, Ming
The resistive switching (RS) process of resistive random access memory (RRAM) is dynamically correlated with the evolution process of conductive path or conductive filament (CF) during its breakdown (rupture) and recovery (reformation). In this study, a statistical evaluation method is developed to analyze the filament structure evolution process in the reset operation of Cu/HfO2/Pt RRAM device. This method is based on a specific functional relationship between the Weibull slopes of reset parameters' distributions and the CF resistance ( R on). The CF of the Cu/HfO2/Pt device is demonstrated to be ruptured abruptly, and the CF structure of the device has completely degraded in the reset point. Since no intermediate states are generated in the abrupt reset process, it is quite favorable for the reliable and stable one-bit operation in RRAM device. Finally, on the basis of the cell-based analytical thermal dissolution model, a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is implemented to further verify the experimental results. This work provides inspiration for RRAM reliability and performance design to put RRAM into practical application.
Analysis on the Filament Structure Evolution in Reset Transition of Cu/HfO2/Pt RRAM Device.
Zhang, Meiyun; Long, Shibing; Li, Yang; Liu, Qi; Lv, Hangbing; Miranda, Enrique; Suñé, Jordi; Liu, Ming
The resistive switching (RS) process of resistive random access memory (RRAM) is dynamically correlated with the evolution process of conductive path or conductive filament (CF) during its breakdown (rupture) and recovery (reformation). In this study, a statistical evaluation method is developed to analyze the filament structure evolution process in the reset operation of Cu/HfO2/Pt RRAM device. This method is based on a specific functional relationship between the Weibull slopes of reset parameters' distributions and the CF resistance (R on). The CF of the Cu/HfO2/Pt device is demonstrated to be ruptured abruptly, and the CF structure of the device has completely degraded in the reset point. Since no intermediate states are generated in the abrupt reset process, it is quite favorable for the reliable and stable one-bit operation in RRAM device. Finally, on the basis of the cell-based analytical thermal dissolution model, a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is implemented to further verify the experimental results. This work provides inspiration for RRAM reliability and performance design to put RRAM into practical application. PMID:27389343
The Molecular Structure of Penicillin
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bentley, Ronald
The chemical structure of penicillin was determined between 1942 and 1945 under conditions of secrecy established by the U.S. and U.K. governments. The evidence was not published in the open literature but as a monograph. This complex volume does not present a structure proof that can be readily comprehended by a student. In this article, a basic structural proof for the penicillin molecule is provided, emphasizing the chemical work. The stereochemistry of penicillin is also described, and various rearrangements are considered on the basis of the accepted β-lactam structure.
Structure of Importin-α from a Filamentous Fungus in Complex with a Classical Nuclear Localization Signal
Dreyer, Thiago R.; Freitas, Fernanda Z.; Bertolini, Maria Célia; Fontes, Marcos R. M.
Neurospora crassa is a filamentous fungus that has been extensively studied as a model organism for eukaryotic biology, providing fundamental insights into cellular processes such as cell signaling, growth and differentiation. To advance in the study of this multicellular organism, an understanding of the specific mechanisms for protein transport into the cell nucleus is essential. Importin-α (Imp-α) is the receptor for cargo proteins that contain specific nuclear localization signals (NLSs) that play a key role in the classical nuclear import pathway. Structures of Imp-α from different organisms (yeast, rice, mouse, and human) have been determined, revealing that this receptor possesses a conserved structural scaffold. However, recent studies have demonstrated that the Impα mechanism of action may vary significantly for different organisms or for different isoforms from the same organism. Therefore, structural, functional, and biophysical characterization of different Impα proteins is necessary to understand the selectivity of nuclear transport. Here, we determined the first crystal structure of an Impα from a filamentous fungus which is also the highest resolution Impα structure already solved to date (1.75 Å). In addition, we performed calorimetric analysis to determine the affinity and thermodynamic parameters of the interaction between Imp-α and the classical SV40 NLS peptide. The comparison of these data with previous studies on Impα proteins led us to demonstrate that N. crassa Imp-α possess specific features that are distinct from mammalian Imp-α but exhibit important similarities to rice Imp-α, particularly at the minor NLS binding site. PMID:26091498
Elastic deformation and failure in protein filament bundles: atomistic simulations and coarse-grained modeling
Hammond, N. A.
The synthetic peptide RAD16-II has shown promise in tissue engineering and drug delivery. It has been studied as a vehicle for cell delivery and controlled release of IGF-1 to repair infarcted cardiac tissue, and as a scaffold to promote capillary formation for an in vitro model of angiogenesis. The structure of RAD16-II is hierarchical, with monomers forming long β-sheets that pair together to form filaments; filaments form bundles approximately 30–60 nm in diameter; branching networks of filament bundles form macroscopic gels. We investigate the mechanics of shearing between the two β-sheets constituting one filament, and between cohered filaments of RAD16-II. This shear loading is found in filament bundle bending or in tensile loading of fibers composed of partial-length filaments. Molecular dynamics simulations show that time to failure is a stochastic function of applied shear stress, and that for a given loading time behavior is elastic for sufficiently small shear loads. We propose a coarse-grained model based on Langevin dynamics that matches molecular dynamics results and facilities extending simulations in space and time. The model treats a filament as an elastic string of particles, each having potential energy that is a periodic function of its position relative to the neighboring filament. With insight from these simulations, we discuss strategies for strengthening RAD16-II and similar materials. PMID:18440063
The Giardia intestinalis filamentous cyst wall contains a novel beta(1-3)-N-acetyl-D-galactosamine polymer: a structural and conformational study.
Gerwig, Gerrit J; van Kuik, J Albert; Leeflang, Bas R; Kamerling, Johannis P; Vliegenthart, Johannes F G; Karr, Craig D; Jarroll, Edward L
Assembly of a protective cyst wall by Giardia is essential for the survival of the parasite outside the host intestine and for transmission among susceptible hosts. The structure of the G. intestinalis filamentous cyst wall was studied by chemical methods, mass spectrometry, and (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Isolated cyst wall material contains carbohydrate and protein in a ratio of 3:2 (w/w), and the carbohydrate moiety is composed of a beta(1-3)-N-acetyl-D-galactopyranosamine homopolymer. Conformational analysis by molecular dynamics and persistence length calculations of GalNAc oligomers in solution demonstrated a flexible structure consisting of left- and right-handed helical elements. It is most likely that in the solid state, the polysaccharide forms ordered helices or possibly multiple helical structures having strong interchain interactions. The highly insoluble nature of the Giardia cyst wall must be due to these strong interchain interactions and, probably, a strong association between the carbohydrate and the protein moiety. PMID:12145190
The Molecular Structure of Penicillin
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Bentley, Ronald
Overviews of the observations that constitute a structure proof for penicillin, specifically aimed at the general student population, are presented. Melting points and boiling points were criteria of purity and a crucial tool was microanalysis leading to empirical formulas.
Reorganization of actin filaments by ADF/cofilin is involved in formation of microtubule structures during Xenopus oocyte maturation
Yamagishi, Yuka; Abe, Hiroshi
We examined the reorganization of actin filaments and microtubules during Xenopus oocyte maturation. Surrounding the germinal vesicle (GV) in immature oocytes, the cytoplasmic actin filaments reorganized to accumulate beneath the vegetal side of the GV, where the microtubule-organizing center and transient microtubule array (MTOC-TMA) assembled, just before GV breakdown (GVBD). Immediately after GVBD, both Xenopus ADF/cofilin (XAC) and its phosphatase Slingshot (XSSH) accumulated into the nuclei and intranuclear actin filaments disassembled from the vegetal side with the shrinkage of the GV. As the MTOC-TMA developed well, cytoplasmic actin filaments were retained at the MTOC-TMA base region. Suppression of XAC dephosphorylation by anti-XSSH antibody injection inhibited both actin filament reorganization and proper formation and localization of both the MTOC-TMA and meiotic spindles. Stabilization of actin filaments by phalloidin also inhibited formation of the MTOC-TMA and disassembly of intranuclear actin filaments without affecting nuclear shrinkage. Nocodazole also caused the MTOC-TMA and the cytoplasmic actin filaments at its base region to disappear, which further impeded disassembly of intranuclear actin filaments from the vegetal side. XAC appears to reorganize cytoplasmic actin filaments required for precise assembly of the MTOC and, together with the MTOC-TMA, regulate the intranuclear actin filament disassembly essential for meiotic spindle formation. PMID:26424802
Sawada, Tsuyoshi; Hasegawa, Tetsuo; Koda, Jin
We explore the development of structures in molecular gas in the Milky Way by applying the analysis of the brightness distribution function and the brightness distribution index (BDI) in the archival data from the Boston University-Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory {sup 13}CO J = 1-0 Galactic Ring Survey. The BDI measures the fractional contribution of spatially confined bright molecular emission over faint emission extended over large areas. This relative quantity is largely independent of the amount of molecular gas and of any conventional, pre-conceived structures, such as cores, clumps, or giant molecular clouds. The structured molecular gas traced by higher BDI is located continuously along the spiral arms in the Milky Way in the longitude-velocity diagram. This clearly indicates that molecular gas changes its structure as it flows through the spiral arms. Although the high-BDI gas generally coincides with H II regions, there is also some high-BDI gas with no/little signature of ongoing star formation. These results support a possible evolutionary sequence in which unstructured, diffuse gas transforms itself into a structured state on encountering the spiral arms, followed by star formation and an eventual return to the unstructured state after the spiral arm passage.
Filaments in the twist-grain-boundary smectic-A phase
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lejček, Lubor; Novotná, Vladimíra; Glogarová, Milada
A model of filaments of the twist-grain-boundary smectic-A phase (TGBA) arising from the homeotropic smectic-A phase and nucleating on the sample surface is proposed. The model is based on the concept of finite blocks of parallel smectic layers forming a helical structure. The blocks are surrounded by dislocation loops. The model describes the filament structure near the sample surface and the observed inclination of the filament axis with respect to the easy direction of the molecular anchoring on the surface. The model is based on the observations of filament textures of the TGBA phase in a chiral liquid crystalline compound, but can be applied for forming of TGBA filaments in any compound. The compression modulus of the compound has been estimated using such parameters as anchoring energy, estimated from the field necessary to transform the structure into the homeotropic smectic-A .
Nonvolatile conductive filaments resistive switching behaviors in Ag/GaO x /Nb:SrTiO3/Ag structure
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Li, P. G.; Zhi, Y. S.; Wang, P. C.; Sun, Z. B.; Li, L. H.; An, Y. H.; Guo, D. Y.; Tang, W. H.; Xiao, J. H.
Ag/GaO x /NSTO/Ag structures were fabricated, and the electrical properties measurement results show that the device behaviors a unipolar resistance switching characteristic with bi-stable resistance ratio of three orders. In the positive voltage region, the dominant conducting mechanism of high resistance state obeys Poole-Frenkel emission rules, while in the negative region, that obeys space-charge-limited current mechanism. Both the I- V curves of ON and OFF states and temperature-dependent variation resistances indicate that the unipolar resistance switching behavior can be explained by the formation/rupture of conductive filaments, which composed of oxygen vacancies. The stable switching results demonstrated that the structure can be applied in resistance random access memory devices.
Structural Analysis of Helios Filament-Wound Tanks Subjected to Internal Pressure and Cooling
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Ko, William L
A finite-element stress analysis is performed on Helios filament-wound hydrogen tanks to examine the stress field and effect of end dome geometry on the stress field. Each tank is composed of a central circular cylindrical section with either geodesic or hemispherical end domes, which have metallic polar bosses. The tanks are subjected to combined and separate internal pressure and temperature loading conditions, and the stress contributions of each loading component are examined. The tank-wall-polar-boss interfacial meridional tensile stress in the hemispherical dome is found to be approximately 27 percent lower than that in the geodesic dome. The effects of both material anisotropy and the aluminum lining on the intensities of tensile meridional stress at the tank-wall-polar-boss bonding interface are examined.
Structural changes of the regulatory proteins bound to the thin filaments in skeletal muscle contraction by X-ray fiber diffraction
Sugimoto, Yasunobu Takezawa, Yasunori; Matsuo, Tatsuhito; Ueno, Yutaka; Minakata, Shiho; Tanaka, Hidehiro; Wakabayashi, Katsuzo
In order to clarify the structural changes related to the regulation mechanism in skeletal muscle contraction, the intensity changes of thin filament-based reflections were investigated by X-ray fiber diffraction. The time course and extent of intensity changes of the first to third order troponin (TN)-associated meridional reflections with a basic repeat of 38.4 nm were different for each of these reflections. The intensity of the first and second thin filament layer lines changed in a reciprocal manner both during initial activation and during the force generation process. The axial spacings of the TN-meridional reflections decreased by {approx}0.1% upon activation relative to the relaxing state and increased by {approx}0.24% in the force generation state, in line with that of the 2.7-nm reflection. Ca{sup 2+}-binding to TN triggered the shortening and a change in the helical symmetry of the thin filaments. Modeling of the structural changes using the intensities of the thin filament-based reflections suggested that the conformation of the globular core domain of TN altered upon activation, undergoing additional conformational changes at the tension plateau. The tail domain of TN moved together with tropomyosin during contraction. The results indicate that the structural changes of regulatory proteins bound to the actin filaments occur in two steps, the first in response to the Ca{sup 2+}-binding and the second induced by actomyosin interaction.
Three-dimensional structure of the M-region (bare zone) of vertebrate striated muscle myosin filaments by single-particle analysis.
Al-Khayat, Hind A; Kensler, Robert W; Morris, Edward P; Squire, John M
The rods of anti-parallel myosin molecules overlap at the centre of bipolar myosin filaments to produce an M-region (bare zone) that is free of myosin heads. Beyond the M-region edges, myosin molecules aggregate in a parallel fashion to yield the bridge regions of the myosin filaments. Adjacent myosin filaments in striated muscle A-bands are cross-linked by the M-band. Vertebrate striated muscle myosin filaments have a 3-fold rotational symmetry around their long axes. In addition, at the centre of the M-region, there are three 2-fold axes perpendicular to the filament long axis, giving the whole filament dihedral 32-point group symmetry. Here we describe the three-dimensional structure obtained by a single-particle analysis of the M-region of myosin filaments from goldfish skeletal muscle under relaxing conditions and as viewed in negative stain. This is the first single-particle reconstruction of isolated M-regions. The resulting three-dimensional reconstruction reveals details to about 55 Å resolution of the density distribution in the five main nonmyosin densities in the M-band (M6', M4', M1, M4 and M6) and in the myosin head crowns (P1, P2 and P3) at the M-region edges. The outermost crowns in the reconstruction were identified specifically by their close similarity to the corresponding crown levels in our previously published bridge region reconstructions. The packing of myosin molecules into the M-region structure is discussed, and some unidentified densities are highlighted. PMID:20851129
Obreschkow, D.; Power, C.; Bruderer, M.; Bonvin, C.
We discover that the mass of dark matter particles m {sub DM} is imprinted in phase correlations of the cosmic density field more significantly than in the two-point correlation. In particular, phase correlations trace m {sub DM} out to scales about five times larger than the two-point correlation. This result relies on a new estimator l(r) of pure phase information in Fourier space, which can be interpreted as a parameter-free and scale-invariant tracer of filament-like structure. Based on simulated density fields, we show how m {sub DM} can, in principle, be measured using l(r), given a suitably reconstructed density field.
Structures in Molecular Clouds: Modeling
Kane, J O; Mizuta, A; Pound, M W; Remington, B A; Ryutov, D D
We attempt to predict the observed morphology, column density and velocity gradient of Pillar II of the Eagle Nebula, using Rayleigh Taylor (RT) models in which growth is seeded by an initial perturbation in density or in shape of the illuminated surface, and cometary models in which structure is arises from a initially spherical cloud with a dense core. Attempting to mitigate suppression of RT growth by recombination, we use a large cylindrical model volume containing the illuminating source and the self-consistently evolving ablated outflow and the photon flux field, and use initial clouds with finite lateral extent. An RT model shows no growth, while a cometary model appears to be more successful at reproducing observations.
Collagen-like glycoprotein BclS is involved in the formation of filamentous structures of the Lysinibacillus sphaericus exosporium.
Zhao, Ni; Ge, Yong; Shi, Tingyu; Hu, Xiaomin; Yuan, Zhiming
Lysinibacillus sphaericus produces mosquitocidal binary toxins (Bin toxins) deposited within a balloon-like exosporium during sporulation. Unlike Bacillus cereus group strains, the exosporium of L. sphaericus is usually devoid of the hair-like nap, an external filamentous structure formed by a collagen-like protein, BclA. In this study, a new collagen-like exosporium protein encoded by Bsph_0411 (BclS) from L. sphaericus C3-41 was characterized. Thin-section electron microscopy revealed that deletion of bclS resulted in the loss of the filamentous structures that attach to the exosporium basal layer and spread through the interspace of spores. In vivo visualization of BclS-green fluorescent protein (GFP)/mCherry fusion proteins revealed a dynamic pattern of fluorescence that encased the spore from the mother cell-distal (MCD) pole of the forespore, and the BclS-GFP fusions were found to be located in the interspace of the spore, as confirmed by three-dimensional (3D) superresolution fluorescence microscopy. Further studies demonstrated that the bclS mutant spores were more sensitive to wet-heat treatment and germinated at a lower rate than wild-type spores and that these phenotypes were significantly restored in the bclS-complemented strain. These results suggested novel roles of collagen-like protein in exosporium assembly and spore germination, providing a hint for a further understanding of the genetic basis of the high level of persistence of Bin toxins in nature. PMID:25149519
Collagen-Like Glycoprotein BclS Is Involved in the Formation of Filamentous Structures of the Lysinibacillus sphaericus Exosporium
Zhao, Ni; Ge, Yong; Shi, Tingyu; Hu, Xiaomin
Lysinibacillus sphaericus produces mosquitocidal binary toxins (Bin toxins) deposited within a balloon-like exosporium during sporulation. Unlike Bacillus cereus group strains, the exosporium of L. sphaericus is usually devoid of the hair-like nap, an external filamentous structure formed by a collagen-like protein, BclA. In this study, a new collagen-like exosporium protein encoded by Bsph_0411 (BclS) from L. sphaericus C3-41 was characterized. Thin-section electron microscopy revealed that deletion of bclS resulted in the loss of the filamentous structures that attach to the exosporium basal layer and spread through the interspace of spores. In vivo visualization of BclS-green fluorescent protein (GFP)/mCherry fusion proteins revealed a dynamic pattern of fluorescence that encased the spore from the mother cell-distal (MCD) pole of the forespore, and the BclS-GFP fusions were found to be located in the interspace of the spore, as confirmed by three-dimensional (3D) superresolution fluorescence microscopy. Further studies demonstrated that the bclS mutant spores were more sensitive to wet-heat treatment and germinated at a lower rate than wild-type spores and that these phenotypes were significantly restored in the bclS-complemented strain. These results suggested novel roles of collagen-like protein in exosporium assembly and spore germination, providing a hint for a further understanding of the genetic basis of the high level of persistence of Bin toxins in nature. PMID:25149519
Embedded fiber optic sensor arrays for structural health monitoring of filament wound composite pressure vessels
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Foedinger, Richard C.; Rea, David L.; Sirkis, James S.; Baldwin, Christopher S.; Troll, John R.; Grande, Robert; Davis, Craig S.; Vandiver, Terry L.
Optical Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) strain and temperature sensors were embedded into four carbon/epoxy, filament-wound 5.75' diameter Standard Testing and Evaluation Bottles (STEBs). These sensors were used to monitor temperature and strain during cure and pressurization of the pressure vessels. Preliminary to this work, micrographs were made of embedded fiber, showing good incorporation of the fiber into the material and no degradation of the optical fiber's acrylate coating. A survey was also made of different ingress/egress techniques to protecting the fiber as in enters the bottle and preventing attenuation and power fluctuation, with Tefzel tubing proving to be the most effective method. The FBGs were embedded parallel to the reinforcing fibers, in the hoop and helical directions, and also in the axial direction. The sensors showed close agreement with surface-mounted Resistance Strain Gages (RSGs),as well as finite element modeling. Sensors in the hoop direction embedded at mid-cylinder showed the closest agreement (-1.2%), while agreement for hoop- direction sensors embedded near the ends of the bottle (11%) was not as close. The agreement was also better for helically directed sensors embedded at mid-cylinder (-1.6%?) than for those embedded near the ends (-24%). Some preliminary impact testing was conducted that indicated FBG sensors would be appropriate for sensing impact damage.
On the emergence of molecular structure
Matyus, Edit; Reiher, Markus; Hutter, Juerg; Mueller-Herold, Ulrich
The structure of (a{sup {+-}},a{sup {+-}},b{sup {+-}})-type Coulombic systems is characterized by the effective ground-state density of the a-type particles, computed via nonrelativistic quantum mechanics without introduction of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. A structural transition is observed when varying the relative mass of the a- and b-type particles, e.g., between atomic H{sup -} and molecular H{sub 2}{sup +}. The particle-density profile indicates a molecular-type behavior for the positronium ion, Ps{sup -}.
Comparison of Prestellar Core Elongations and Large-scale Molecular Cloud Structures in the Lupus I Region
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Poidevin, Frédérick; Ade, Peter A. R.; Angile, Francesco E.; Benton, Steven J.; Chapin, Edward L.; Devlin, Mark J.; Fissel, Laura M.; Fukui, Yasuo; Gandilo, Natalie N.; Gundersen, Joshua O.; Hargrave, Peter C.; Klein, Jeffrey; Korotkov, Andrei L.; Matthews, Tristan G.; Moncelsi, Lorenzo; Mroczkowski, Tony K.; Netterfield, Calvin B.; Novak, Giles; Nutter, David; Olmi, Luca; Pascale, Enzo; Savini, Giorgio; Scott, Douglas; Shariff, Jamil A.; Diego Soler, Juan; Tachihara, Kengo; Thomas, Nicholas E.; Truch, Matthew D. P.; Tucker, Carole E.; Tucker, Gregory S.; Ward-Thompson, Derek
Turbulence and magnetic fields are expected to be important for regulating molecular cloud formation and evolution. However, their effects on sub-parsec to 100 parsec scales, leading to the formation of starless cores, are not well understood. We investigate the prestellar core structure morphologies obtained from analysis of the Herschel-SPIRE 350 μm maps of the Lupus I cloud. This distribution is first compared on a statistical basis to the large-scale shape of the main filament. We find the distribution of the elongation position angle of the cores to be consistent with a random distribution, which means no specific orientation of the morphology of the cores is observed with respect to the mean orientation of the large-scale filament in Lupus I, nor relative to a large-scale bent filament model. This distribution is also compared to the mean orientation of the large-scale magnetic fields probed at 350 μm with the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Telescope for Polarimetry during its 2010 campaign. Here again we do not find any correlation between the core morphology distribution and the average orientation of the magnetic fields on parsec scales. Our main conclusion is that the local filament dynamics—including secondary filaments that often run orthogonally to the primary filament—and possibly small-scale variations in the local magnetic field direction, could be the dominant factors for explaining the final orientation of each core.
Comparison of prestellar core elongations and large-scale molecular cloud structures in the Lupus I region
Poidevin, Frédérick; Ade, Peter A. R.; Hargrave, Peter C.; Nutter, David; Angile, Francesco E.; Devlin, Mark J.; Klein, Jeffrey; Benton, Steven J.; Netterfield, Calvin B.; Chapin, Edward L.; Fissel, Laura M.; Gandilo, Natalie N.; Fukui, Yasuo; Gundersen, Joshua O.; Korotkov, Andrei L.; Matthews, Tristan G.; Novak, Giles; Moncelsi, Lorenzo; Mroczkowski, Tony K.; Olmi, Luca; and others
Turbulence and magnetic fields are expected to be important for regulating molecular cloud formation and evolution. However, their effects on sub-parsec to 100 parsec scales, leading to the formation of starless cores, are not well understood. We investigate the prestellar core structure morphologies obtained from analysis of the Herschel-SPIRE 350 μm maps of the Lupus I cloud. This distribution is first compared on a statistical basis to the large-scale shape of the main filament. We find the distribution of the elongation position angle of the cores to be consistent with a random distribution, which means no specific orientation of the morphology of the cores is observed with respect to the mean orientation of the large-scale filament in Lupus I, nor relative to a large-scale bent filament model. This distribution is also compared to the mean orientation of the large-scale magnetic fields probed at 350 μm with the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Telescope for Polarimetry during its 2010 campaign. Here again we do not find any correlation between the core morphology distribution and the average orientation of the magnetic fields on parsec scales. Our main conclusion is that the local filament dynamics—including secondary filaments that often run orthogonally to the primary filament—and possibly small-scale variations in the local magnetic field direction, could be the dominant factors for explaining the final orientation of each core.
Temperature-sensitive intermediate filament assembly. Alternative structures of Xenopus laevis vimentin in vitro and in vivo.
Herrmann, H; Eckelt, A; Brettel, M; Grund, C; Franke, W W
In assembly assays of intermediate filaments (IFs) from vimentin of the amphibian species Xenopus laevis we have observed the formation of so far unknown structures at temperatures above 28 degrees C. Upon assembly in vitro at temperatures above 34 degrees C massive aggregates, partly with a protofilamentous substructure, were found and their formation correlated with drastically reduced end-viscosity. Large spheroidal, dense aggregates with a complex suborganization were also seen to form at 37 degrees C in the cytoplasm of living mammalian cells devoid of endogenous vimentin upon transfection with cDNA encoding the amphibian vimentin, and this was also true for vimentin forced to accumulate in the nucleoplasm by the introduction of a "nuclear localization signal". Upon shift from the non-permissive (37 degrees C) to the permissive (28 degrees C) temperature, such aggregates of non-IF vimentin structures gradually disappeared and a normal-looking IF meshwork formed. The results, which are discussed in relation to other structures assembled by IF proteins, indicate a marked thermosensitivity in the amino acid sequence of the vimentin which seems to have been reduced during evolution of warm-blooded animals. They further show that members of the multigene gene family of IF proteins can occur in structures totally different from IFs. PMID:8230211
Predicting Solar Filament Eruptions with HEK Filament Metadata
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Aggarwal, A.; Reeves, K.; Schanche, N.
Solar filaments are cool, dark channels of partially-ionized plasma that lie above the chromosphere. Their structure follows the neutral line between local regions of opposite magnetic polarity. Previous research (e.g. Schmieder et al. 2013) has shown a positive correlation (80%) between the occurrence of filament eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CME's). If certain filament properties, such as length, chirality, and tilt, indicate a tendency towards filament eruptions, one may be able to further predict an oncoming CME. Towards this end, we present a novel algorithm based on spatiotemporal analysis that systematically correlates filament eruptions documented in the Heliophysics Event Knowledgebase (HEK) with HEK filaments that have been grouped together using a tracking algorithm developed at Georgia State University (e.g. Kempton et al. 2014). We also find filament tracks that are not correlated with eruptions to form a null data set in a similar fashion. Finally, we compare the metadata from erupting and non-erupting filament tracks to discover which filament properties may present signs of an eruption onset. Through statistical methods such as the two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Random Forest Classifier, we find that a filament that is increasing in length or changing in tilt with respect to the equator may be a useful gauge to predict a filament eruption. However, the average values of length and tilt for both datasets follow similar distributions, leading us to conclude that these parameters do not indicate an eruption event. This work is supported by the NSF-REU solar physics program at SAO, grant number AGS-1263241, and NSF DIBBS grant number ACI-1443061.
How We Teach Molecular Structure to Freshmen.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hurst, Michael O.
Currently molecular structure is taught in general chemistry using three theories, this being based more on historical development rather than logical pedagogy. Electronegativity is taught with a confusing mixture of definitions that do not correspond to modern practice. Valence bond theory and VSEPR are used together in a way that often confuses…
Molecular Association and Structure of Hydrogen Peroxide.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Giguere, Paul A.
The statement is sometimes made in textbooks that liquid hydrogen peroxide is more strongly associated than water, evidenced by its higher boiling point and greater heat of vaporization. Discusses these and an additional factor (the nearly double molecular mass of the peroxide), focusing on hydrogen bonds and structure of the molecule. (JN)
Molecular Structure of Human-Liver Glycogen
Deng, Bin; Sullivan, Mitchell A.; Chen, Cheng; Li, Jialun; Powell, Prudence O.; Hu, Zhenxia; Gilbert, Robert G.
Glycogen is a highly branched glucose polymer which is involved in maintaining blood-sugar homeostasis. Liver glycogen contains large composite α particles made up of linked β particles. Previous studies have shown that the binding which links β particles into α particles is impaired in diabetic mice. The present study reports the first molecular structural characterization of human-liver glycogen from non-diabetic patients, using transmission electron microscopy for morphology and size-exclusion chromatography for the molecular size distribution; the latter is also studied as a function of time during acid hydrolysis in vitro, which is sensitive to certain structural features, particularly glycosidic vs. proteinaceous linkages. The results are compared with those seen in mice and pigs. The molecular structural change during acid hydrolysis is similar in each case, and indicates that the linkage of β into α particles is not glycosidic. This result, and the similar morphology in each case, together imply that human liver glycogen has similar molecular structure to those of mice and pigs. This knowledge will be useful for future diabetes drug targets. PMID:26934359
Site-specific cation release drives actin filament severing by vertebrate cofilin
Kang, Hyeran; Bradley, Michael J.; Cao, Wenxiang; Zhou, Kaifeng; Grintsevich, Elena E.; Michelot, Alphée; Sindelar, Charles V.; Hochstrasser, Mark; De La Cruz, Enrique M.
Actin polymerization powers the directed motility of eukaryotic cells. Sustained motility requires rapid filament turnover and subunit recycling. The essential regulatory protein cofilin accelerates network remodeling by severing actin filaments and increasing the concentration of ends available for elongation and subunit exchange. Although cofilin effects on actin filament assembly dynamics have been extensively studied, the molecular mechanism of cofilin-induced filament severing is not understood. Here we demonstrate that actin filament severing by vertebrate cofilin is driven by the linked dissociation of a single cation that controls filament structure and mechanical properties. Vertebrate cofilin only weakly severs Saccharomyces cerevisiae actin filaments lacking this "stiffness cation" unless a stiffness cation-binding site is engineered into the actin molecule. Moreover, vertebrate cofilin rescues the viability of a S. cerevisiae cofilin deletion mutant only when the stiffness cation site is simultaneously introduced into actin, demonstrating that filament severing is the essential function of cofilin in cells. This work reveals that site-specific interactions with cations serve a key regulatory function in actin filament fragmentation and dynamics. PMID:25468977
Crystal Structure of C-Terminal Coiled-Coil Domain of SYCP1 Reveals Non-Canonical Anti-Parallel Dimeric Structure of Transverse Filament at the Synaptonemal Complex
Jeong, Jae-Hee; Kim, Yeon-Gil; Park, Hyun Ho
The synaptonemal complex protein 1 (SYCP1) is the main structural element of transverse filaments (TFs) of the synaptonemal complex (SC), which is a meiosis-specific complex structure formed at the synapse of homologue chromosomes to hold them together. The N-terminal domain of SYCP1 is known to be located within the central elements (CEs), whereas the C-terminal domain is located toward lateral elements (LEs). SYCP1 is a well-known meiosis marker that is also known to be a prognostic marker in the early stage of several cancers including breast, gliomas, and ovarian cancers. The structure of SC, especially the TF structure formed mainly by SYCP1, remains unclear without any structural information. To elucidate a molecular basis of SC formation and function, we first solved the crystal structure of C-terminal coiled-coil domain of SYCP1. The coiled-coil domain of SYCP1 forms asymmetric, anti-parallel dimers in solution. PMID:27548613
Crystal Structure of C-Terminal Coiled-Coil Domain of SYCP1 Reveals Non-Canonical Anti-Parallel Dimeric Structure of Transverse Filament at the Synaptonemal Complex.
Seo, Eun Kyung; Choi, Jae Young; Jeong, Jae-Hee; Kim, Yeon-Gil; Park, Hyun Ho
The synaptonemal complex protein 1 (SYCP1) is the main structural element of transverse filaments (TFs) of the synaptonemal complex (SC), which is a meiosis-specific complex structure formed at the synapse of homologue chromosomes to hold them together. The N-terminal domain of SYCP1 is known to be located within the central elements (CEs), whereas the C-terminal domain is located toward lateral elements (LEs). SYCP1 is a well-known meiosis marker that is also known to be a prognostic marker in the early stage of several cancers including breast, gliomas, and ovarian cancers. The structure of SC, especially the TF structure formed mainly by SYCP1, remains unclear without any structural information. To elucidate a molecular basis of SC formation and function, we first solved the crystal structure of C-terminal coiled-coil domain of SYCP1. The coiled-coil domain of SYCP1 forms asymmetric, anti-parallel dimers in solution. PMID:27548613
Periodic colour-centre structure formed under filamentation of mid-IR femtosecond laser radiation in a LiF crystal
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kuznetsov, A. V.; Kompanets, V. O.; Dormidonov, A. E.; Chekalin, S. V.; Shlenov, S. A.; Kandidov, V. P.
A colour-centre structure formed in a LiF crystal under filamentation of a femtosecond mid-IR laser pulse with a power slightly exceeding the critical power for self-focusing has been experimentally and theoretically investigated. Strictly periodic oscillations have been detected for the first time for the density of the colour centres induced in an isotropic LiF crystal under filamentation of a laser beam with a wavelength tuned in the range from 2600 to 3350 nm. The structure period is found to be about 30 μm. With an increase in the laser radiation wavelength, the period of the oscillations decreases and their amplitude increases. The maximum colour centre density, observed under filamentation of a 3100-nm beam, is related to the increased contribution of the direct generation of colour centres as a result of the absorption of an integer number of photons by the exciton band. It is numerically shown that the formation of a periodic colour-centre structure in LiF is due to the periodic change in the light field amplitude in the light bullet (1.5 optical periods long) formed under filamentation.
Atomistic Simulation Approach to a Continuum Description of Self-Assembled β-Sheet Filaments
Park, Jiyong; Kahng, Byungnam; Kamm, Roger D.; Hwang, Wonmuk
We investigated the supramolecular structure and continuum mechanical properties of a β-sheet nanofiber comprised of a self-assembling peptide ac-[RARADADA]2-am using computer simulations. The supramolecular structure was determined by constructing candidate filaments with dimensions compatible with those observed in atomic force microscopy and selecting the most stable ones after running molecular dynamics simulations on each of them. Four structures with different backbone hydrogen-bonding patterns were identified to be similarly stable. We then quantified the continuum mechanical properties of these identified structures by running three independent simulations: thermal motion analysis, normal mode analysis, and steered molecular dynamics. Within the range of deformations investigated, the filament showed linear elasticity in transverse directions with an estimated persistence length of 1.2–4.8 μm. Although side-chain interactions govern the propensity and energetics of filament self-assembly, we found that backbone hydrogen-bonding interactions are the primary determinant of filament elasticity, as demonstrated by its effective thickness, which is smaller than that estimated by atomic force microscopy or from the molecular geometry, as well as by the similar bending stiffness of a model filament without charged side chains. The generality of our approach suggests that it should be applicable to developing continuum elastic ribbon models of other β-sheet filaments and amyloid fibrils. PMID:16415051
Solid friction between soft filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ward, Andrew; Hilitski, Feodor; Schwenger, Walter; Welch, David; Lau, A. W. C.; Vitelli, Vincenzo; Mahadevan, L.; Dogic, Zvonimir
Any macroscopic deformation of a filamentous bundle is necessarily accompanied by local sliding and/or stretching of the constituent filaments. Yet the nature of the sliding friction between two aligned filaments interacting through multiple contacts remains largely unexplored. Here, by directly measuring the sliding forces between two bundled F-actin filaments, we show that these frictional forces are unexpectedly large, scale logarithmically with sliding velocity as in solid-like friction, and exhibit complex dependence on the filaments' overlap length. We also show that a reduction of the frictional force by orders of magnitude, associated with a transition from solid-like friction to Stokes's drag, can be induced by coating F-actin with polymeric brushes. Furthermore, we observe similar transitions in filamentous microtubules and bacterial flagella. Our findings demonstrate how altering a filament's elasticity, structure and interactions can be used to engineer interfilament friction and thus tune the properties of fibrous composite materials.
The velocity characteristics of dusty filaments in the JCMT GBS clouds
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Buckle, J. V.; Salji, C.; Richer, J. S.
Large scale, high resolution spectral and continuum imaging maps have revealed, to an unprecedented extent, the characteristics of filamentary structure in star-forming molecular clouds, and their close association with star-forming cores. The filaments are associated with the formation of dense molecular cores where star formation occurs, and recent models highlight the important relationship between filaments and star-forming clusters. Velocity-coherent filaments have been proposed as the parent structures of star forming cores in Taurus. In Serpens, accretion flows along filaments have been proposed as the continuous source of mass for the star forming cluster. An evolutionary scenario for filaments based on velocity dispersion and column density measurements has recently been proposed, which we test with large scale molecular line and dust continuum maps. The JCMT Gould Belt Survey with SCUBA-2 and HARP provides dust continuum observations at 850 and 450 micron, and 12CO/13CO/C18O J=3-2 spectral line mapping of several nearby molecular clouds, covering large angular scales at high resolution. Velocities and linewidths of optically thin species, such as C18O which traces the warm, dense gas associated with star formation, are critical for an estimate of the virial stability of filamentary structures. The data and analyses that we present provide robust statistics over a large range of starless and protostellar evolutionary states. We present the velocity characteristics of dusty filaments in Orion, probing the physics at the boundary of filamentary structure and star formation. Using C18O, we investigate the internal structure of filaments, based on fragmentation and velocity coherence in the molecular line data. Through velocity dispersion measurements, we determine whether the filamentary structures are bound, and compare results between clouds of different star formation characteristics.
Excitation of the arched filaments near the Galactic Center
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Colgan, Sean W. J.; Erickson, Edwin F.; Simpson, Janet P.; Haas, Michael R.; Morris, Mark
We discuss measurements of the far-infrared (FIR) fine structure lines from (S III) (33 microns), (Si II) (35 microns), (O III) (51, 88 microns), (OI) (63 microns), (C II) (158 microns), and the adjacent continua in a strip crossing two of the thermal radio filaments in the Galactic Center 'Arch'. The near spatial coincidence of the line and continuum emission maxima with the radio filaments demonstrates that any excitation mechanism must account for both the line and continuum emission. The peak FIR luminosity and (O III) emission pose difficulties for collisional excitation models; photoionization of molecular cloud edges by a random distribution of stars is the most plausible mechanism proposed.
Ionic wave propagation along actin filaments.
Tuszyński, J A; Portet, S; Dixon, J M; Luxford, C; Cantiello, H F
We investigate the conditions enabling actin filaments to act as electrical transmission lines for ion flows along their lengths. We propose a model in which each actin monomer is an electric element with a capacitive, inductive, and resistive property due to the molecular structure of the actin filament and viscosity of the solution. Based on Kirchhoff's laws taken in the continuum limit, a nonlinear partial differential equation is derived for the propagation of ionic waves. We solve this equation in two different regimes. In the first, the maximum propagation velocity wave is found in terms of Jacobi elliptic functions. In the general case, we analyze the equation in terms of Fisher-Kolmogoroff modes with both localized and extended wave characteristics. We propose a new signaling mechanism in the cell, especially in neurons. PMID:15041636
Role of Intermediate Filaments in Vesicular Traffic
Margiotta, Azzurra; Bucci, Cecilia
Intermediate filaments are an important component of the cellular cytoskeleton. The first established role attributed to intermediate filaments was the mechanical support to cells. However, it is now clear that intermediate filaments have many different roles affecting a variety of other biological functions, such as the organization of microtubules and microfilaments, the regulation of nuclear structure and activity, the control of cell cycle and the regulation of signal transduction pathways. Furthermore, a number of intermediate filament proteins have been involved in the acquisition of tumorigenic properties. Over the last years, a strong involvement of intermediate filament proteins in the regulation of several aspects of intracellular trafficking has strongly emerged. Here, we review the functions of intermediate filaments proteins focusing mainly on the recent knowledge gained from the discovery that intermediate filaments associate with key proteins of the vesicular membrane transport machinery. In particular, we analyze the current understanding of the contribution of intermediate filaments to the endocytic pathway. PMID:27120621
Role of Intermediate Filaments in Vesicular Traffic.
Margiotta, Azzurra; Bucci, Cecilia
Intermediate filaments are an important component of the cellular cytoskeleton. The first established role attributed to intermediate filaments was the mechanical support to cells. However, it is now clear that intermediate filaments have many different roles affecting a variety of other biological functions, such as the organization of microtubules and microfilaments, the regulation of nuclear structure and activity, the control of cell cycle and the regulation of signal transduction pathways. Furthermore, a number of intermediate filament proteins have been involved in the acquisition of tumorigenic properties. Over the last years, a strong involvement of intermediate filament proteins in the regulation of several aspects of intracellular trafficking has strongly emerged. Here, we review the functions of intermediate filaments proteins focusing mainly on the recent knowledge gained from the discovery that intermediate filaments associate with key proteins of the vesicular membrane transport machinery. In particular, we analyze the current understanding of the contribution of intermediate filaments to the endocytic pathway. PMID:27120621
Inverse cascade in the structure of substorm aurora and non-linear dynamics of field-aligned current filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kozelov, B. V.; Golovchanskaya, I. V.; Mingalev, O. V.
We investigate time evolution of scaling index αA that characterizes auroral luminosity fluctuations at the beginning of substorm expansion. With the use of UVI images from the Polar satellite, it is shown that αA typically varies from values less than unity to ~1.5, increasing with breakup progress. Similar scaling features were previously reported for fluctuations at smaller scales from all-sky TV observations. If this signature is interpreted in terms of non-linear interactions between scales, it means that the power of small-scale fluctuations is transferred with time to larger scales, a kind of the inverse cascade. Scaling behavior in the aurora during substorm activity is compared with that in the field-aligned currents simulated numerically in the model of non-linear interactions of Alfvénic coherent structures, according to the Chang et al. (2004) scenario. This scenario also suggests an inverse cascade, manifesting in clustering of small-scale field-aligned current filaments of the same polarity and formation of "coarse-grained" structures of field-aligned currents.
The structure and ionization of the extended emission-line filaments surrounding the QSO MR 2251-178
Macchetto, F.; Colina, L.; Golombek, D.; Perryman, M.A.C.; Di Serego Alighieri, S. ESA, Astrophysics Div., Noordwijk ESA, Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility, Garching )
This paper presents new VLA radio maps, at 6 cm and 20 cm, of the QSO MR 2251-178, together with deep high-spatial-resolution images in the O II forbidden 3727-A line in the O III forbidden 5007-A line, and H-alpha emission lines, showing the presence of extended emission-line filaments surrounding the MR 2251-178. The morphology of the circumnuclear emission-line regions and an extended system of filaments in different ionization states are shown. The physical characteristics, such as luminosities, densities, mass, and ionization parameters of different filaments are derived. 48 refs.
Students' understanding of molecular structure representations
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ferk, Vesna; Vrtacnik, Margareta; Blejec, Andrej; Gril, Alenka
The purpose of the investigation was to determine the meanings attached by students to the different kinds of molecular structure representations used in chemistry teaching. The students (n = 124) were from primary (aged 13-14 years) and secondary (aged 17-18 years) schools and a university (aged 21-25 years). A computerised 'Chemical Visualisation Test' was developed and applied. The research indicates that students' appreciation of three-dimensional molecular structures differs according to the kind of representation used. The best results were achieved with the use of concrete, and pseudo-concrete types of representations (e.g. three-dimensional models, their photographs, computer-generated models). However, the use of more abstract types (e.g. schematic representations, stereochemical formula) was less effective. A correlation between students' results on the Chemical Visualisation Test and their educational level, spatial visualisation, and spatial relations skills was shown statistically, but no statistically significant gender differences were observed.
2004 Reversible Associations in Structure & Molecular Biology
Edward Eisenstein Nancy Ryan Gray
The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on 2004 Gordon Research Conference on Reversible Associations in Structure & Molecular Biology was held at Four Points Sheraton, CA, 1/25-30/2004. The Conference was well attended with 82 participants (attendees list attached). The attendees represented the spectrum of endeavor in this field coming from academia, industry, and government laboratories, both U.S. and foreign scientists, senior researchers, young investigators, and students.
Magnetically driven filament probe.
Schmid, A; Herrmann, A; Rohde, V; Maraschek, M; Müller, H W
A radially movable probe has been developed for studies of filamentary transport in ASDEX Upgrade during edge localized modes (ELMs) by means of Langmuir tips and magnetic pickup coils. The probe is permanently installed at the low field side in the ASDEX Upgrade vacuum vessel and is not subject to limitations in probe size, as, for example, probes on a shared manipulator are. The probe is moved by a magnetic drive, which allows for easy installation in the vessel, and has moderate machine requirements, as it will only require an electric feedthrough and an external power supply. The drive gives a linear motion with a radial range of 5 cm within 50 ms, where range and velocity can be largely scaled according to experimental requirements. The probe has been installed in the outer midplane of the ASDEX Upgrade vessel, where ELM filaments are expected to have their maximum amplitude. Filaments are coherent substructures within an ELM, carrying a fraction of the ELM released energy towards the wall. The new probe allows to measure the structure of these filaments, in particular, parameters such as filament rotation (by time delay measurements) and size (by peak width analysis). Activating the drive moves the probe from a safe position behind the limiter to a position in front of the limiters, i.e., exposes the Langmuir pins to the scrape-off layer plasma. PMID:17552815
8B structure in Fermionic Molecular Dynamics
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Henninger, K. R.; Neff, T.; Feldmeier, H.
The structure of the light exotic nucleus 8B is investigated in the Fermionic Molecular Dynamics (FMD) model. The decay of 8B is responsible for almost the entire high- energy solar-neutrino flux, making structure calculations of 8B important for determining the solar core temperature. 8B is a proton halo candidate thought to exhibit clustering. FMD uses a wave-packet basis and is well-suited for modelling clustering and halos. For a multiconfiguration treatment we construct the many-body Hilbert space from antisymmetrised angular-momentum projected 8-particle states. First results show formation of a proton halo.
Intermediate Filaments: A Historical Perspective
Oshima, Robert G.
Intracellular protein filaments intermediate in size between actin microfilaments and microtubules are composed of a surprising variety of tissue specific proteins commonly interconnected with other filamentous systems for mechanical stability and decorated by a variety of proteins that provide specialized functions. The sequence conservation of the coiled-coil, alpha-helical structure responsible for polymerization into individual 10 nm filaments defines the classification of intermediate filament proteins into a large gene family. Individual filaments further assemble into bundles and branched cytoskeletons visible in the light microscope. However, it is the diversity of the variable terminal domains that likely contributes most to different functions. The search for the functions of intermediate filament proteins has led to discoveries of roles in diseases of the skin, heart, muscle, liver, brain, adipose tissues and even premature aging. The diversity of uses of intermediate filaments as structural elements and scaffolds for organizing the distribution of decorating molecules contrasts with other cytoskeletal elements. This review is an attempt to provide some recollection of how such a diverse field emerged and changed over about 30 years. PMID:17493611
Bridged filaments of histone-like nucleoid structuring protein pause RNA polymerase and aid termination in bacteria
Kotlajich, Matthew V; Hron, Daniel R; Boudreau, Beth A; Sun, Zhiqiang; Lyubchenko, Yuri L; Landick, Robert
Bacterial H-NS forms nucleoprotein filaments that spread on DNA and bridge distant DNA sites. H-NS filaments co-localize with sites of Rho-dependent termination in Escherichia coli, but their direct effects on transcriptional pausing and termination are untested. In this study, we report that bridged H-NS filaments strongly increase pausing by E. coli RNA polymerase at a subset of pause sites with high potential for backtracking. Bridged but not linear H-NS filaments promoted Rho-dependent termination by increasing pause dwell times and the kinetic window for Rho action. By observing single H-NS filaments and elongating RNA polymerase molecules using atomic force microscopy, we established that bridged filaments surround paused complexes. Our results favor a model in which H-NS-constrained changes in DNA supercoiling driven by transcription promote pausing at backtracking-susceptible sites. Our findings provide a mechanistic rationale for H-NS stimulation of Rho-dependent termination in horizontally transferred genes and during pervasive antisense and noncoding transcription in bacteria. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.04970.001 PMID:25594903
Growth of Wide-Bandgap Nanocrystalline Silicon Carbide Films by HWCVD: Influence of Filament Temperature on Structural and Optoelectronic Properties
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Jha, Himanshu S.; Yadav, Asha; Singh, Mukesh; Kumar, Shailendra; Agarwal, Pratima
Silicon carbide (SiC) thin films have been deposited using a hot-wire chemical vapor deposition technique on quartz substrates with a mixture of silane, methane, and hydrogen gases as precursors at a reasonably high deposition rate of approximately 15 nm/min to 50 nm/min. The influence of the filament temperature ( T F) on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of the SiC film has been investigated using x-ray diffraction, Raman scattering, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible-near infrared transmission spectroscopy, and dark conductivity ( σ d) studies. Films deposited at low T F (1800°C to 1900°C) are amorphous in nature with high density of Si-Si bonds, whereas high- T F (≥2000°C) films are nanocrystalline embedded in an amorphous SiC matrix with higher concentration of Si-C bonds and negligible concentration of Si-Si bonds. The bandgap ( E g) varies from 2.5 eV to 3.1 eV and σ d (50°C) from ˜10-9 Ω-1 cm-1 to 10-1 Ω-1 cm-1 as T F is increased from 1900°C to 2200°C. This increase in E g and σ d is due to microstructural changes and unintentional oxygen doping of the films.
Unwinding motion of a twisted active region filament
Yan, X. L.; Xue, Z. K.; Kong, D. F.; Liu, J. H.; Xu, C. L.
To better understand the structures of active region filaments and the eruption process, we study an active region filament eruption in active region NOAA 11082 in detail on 2010 June 22. Before the filament eruption, the opposite unidirectional material flows appeared in succession along the spine of the filament. The rising of the filament triggered two B-class flares at the upper part of the filament. As the bright material was injected into the filament from the sites of the flares, the filament exhibited a rapid uplift accompanying the counterclockwise rotation of the filament body. From the expansion of the filament, we can see that the filament consisted of twisted magnetic field lines. The total twist of the filament is at least 5π obtained by using a time slice method. According to the morphology change during the filament eruption, it is found that the active region filament was a twisted flux rope and its unwinding motion was like a solar tornado. We also find that there was a continuous magnetic helicity injection before and during the filament eruption. It is confirmed that magnetic helicity can be transferred from the photosphere to the filament. Using the extrapolated potential fields, the average decay index of the background magnetic fields over the filament is 0.91. Consequently, these findings imply that the mechanism of solar filament eruption could be due to the kink instability and magnetic helicity accumulation.
Chemical and biological structure and transport of a cool filament associated with a jet-eddy system of northern California in July 1986 (OPTOMA21)
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Jones, Burton H.; Mooers, Christopher N. K.; Rienecker, Michele M.; Stanton, Tim; Washburn, Libe
The distributions of nutrient, pigment, bio-optical, and physical variables were mapped in a jet-eddy system off Point Reyes and Point Arena, California, from July 7 to 19, 1986, in order to describe the 3D variability of the filament and its relation to the nutrient and phytoplankton distributions offshore, to examine the interaction between the filament and coastal water, and to estimate the transport of nutrients and phytoplankton by the jet system. Several cool filaments were distinguishable at distances of more than 35-50 km from the coast in satellite imagery during this period. The juxtaposition of these features as well as the presence of an offshore anticyclone and a cyclone south of the filament anchored to the coast at Point Arena led to complex patterns in all variables, aided by the apparent alongshore variability in the source of upwelled water. This structure has implications for the fluxes of organic material in the region and is probably significant in organizing the interactions among different trophic levels within the system.
Structural determinants governing S100A4-induced isoform-selective disassembly of nonmuscle myosin II filaments.
Kiss, Bence; Kalmár, Lajos; Nyitray, László; Pál, Gábor
The Ca(2+) -binding protein S100A4 interacts with the C terminus of nonmuscle myosin IIA (NMIIA) causing filament disassembly, which is correlated with an increased metastatic potential of tumor cells. Despite high sequence similarity of the three NMII isoforms, S100A4 discriminates against binding to NMIIB. We searched for structural determinants of this selectivity. Based on paralog scanning using phage display, we identified a single position as major determinant of isoform selectivity. Reciprocal single amino acid replacements showed that at position 1907 (NMIIA numbering), the NMIIA/NMIIC-specific alanine provides about 60-fold higher affinity than the NMIIB-specific asparagine. The structural background of this can be explained in part by a communication between the two consecutive α-helical binding segments. This communication is completely abolished by the Ala-to-Asn substitution. Mutual swapping of the disordered tailpieces only slightly affects the affinity of the NMII chimeras. Interestingly, we found that the tailpiece and position 1907 act in a nonadditive fashion. Finally, we also found that the higher stability of the C-terminal coiled-coil region of NMIIB also discriminates against interaction with S100A4. Our results clearly show that the isoform-selective binding of S100A4 is determined at multiple levels in the structure of the three NMII isoforms and the corresponding functional elements of NMII act synergistically with one another resulting in a complex interaction network. The experimental and in silico results suggest two divergent evolutionary pathways: NMIIA and NMIIB evolved to possess S100A4-dependent and -independent regulations, respectively. PMID:27029887
Determination of the persistence length of actin filaments on microcontact printed myosin patterns
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hajne, Joanna; Hanson, Kristi L.; van Zalinge, Harm; Nicolau, Dan V.; Nicolau, Dan V.
Protein molecular motors, which convert chemical energy into kinetic energy, are prime candidates for use in nanodevice in which active transport is required. To be able to design these devices it is essential that the properties of the cytoskeletal filaments propelled by the molecular motors are well established. Here we used micro-contact printed BSA to limit the amount of HMM that can adsorb creating a tightly confined pathway for the filaments to travel. Both the image and statistical analysis of the movement of the filaments through these structures have been used to new insights into the motility behaviour of actomyosin on topographically homogenous, but motor-heterogeneous planar systems. It will be shown that it is possible to determine the persistence length of the filaments and that it is related to the amount of locally adsorbed HMM. This provides a basis that can be used to optimize the design of future nanodevices incorporating the actomyosin system for the active transport.
Metabolic regulation via enzyme filamentation
Aughey, Gabriel N.; Liu, Ji-Long
Abstract Determining the mechanisms of enzymatic regulation is central to the study of cellular metabolism. Regulation of enzyme activity via polymerization-mediated strategies has been shown to be widespread, and plays a vital role in mediating cellular homeostasis. In this review, we begin with an overview of the filamentation of CTP synthase, which forms filamentous structures termed cytoophidia. We then highlight other important examples of the phenomenon. Moreover, we discuss recent data relating to the regulation of enzyme activity by compartmentalization into cytoophidia. Finally, we hypothesize potential roles for enzyme filament formation in the regulation of metabolism, development and disease. PMID:27098510
Explorations of molecular structure-property relationships.
Seybold, P G
The problem of the relationship between the structure of a molecule and its physical, chemical, and biological properties is one of the most fundamental in chemistry. Three molecular structure-property studies are discussed as illustrations of different approaches to this problem. In the first study the carcinogenic activities of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives are examined. Molecular orbital calculations of the presumptive activation steps and species for these compounds (based on the "bay region" theory of activation) are seen to yield a surprisingly good guide to the observed carcinogenic activities. Both activation and deactivation steps are considered. The second study reviews structure-property work on the tissue solubilities of halogenated hydrocarbons. Relatively simple structural descriptors give a good account of the solubilities of these compounds in blood, muscle, fat, and liver tissue. With the aid of principal components analysis it is shown that there are two dominant dimensions to this problem, which can be interpreted in terms of solubilities of the compounds in lipid and saline environments. The final study, which examines the boiling points of aliphatic alcohols, illustrates the value of using more than one descriptor set. The (perhaps surprising) conclusion is that a theoretical model can sometimes be more accurate than the data upon which it is based. Moreover, two models are better than one. PMID:10491848
The Molecular Structure of cis-FONO
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Lee, Timothy J.; Dateo, Christopher E.; Rice, Julia E.; Langhoff, Stephen R. (Technical Monitor)
The molecular structure of cis-FONO has been determined with the CCSD(T) correlation method using an spdf quality basis set. In agreement with previous coupled-cluster calculations but in disagreement with density functional theory, cis-FONO is found to exhibit normal bond distances. The quadratic and cubic force fields of cis-FONO have also been determined in order to evaluate the effect of vibrational averaging on the molecular geometry. Vibrational averaging is found to increase bond distances, as expected, but it does not affect the qualitative nature of the bonding. The CCSD(T)/spdf harmonic frequencies of cis-FONO support our previous assertion that a band observed at 1200 /cm is a combination band (upsilon(sub 3) + upsilon(sub 4)), and not a fundamental.
Filament identification through mathematical morphology
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Koch, Eric W.; Rosolowsky, Erik W.
We present a new algorithm for detecting filamentary structure FILFINDER. The algorithm uses the techniques of mathematical morphology for filament identification, presenting a complementary approach to current algorithms which use matched filtering or critical manifolds. Unlike other methods, FILFINDER identifies filaments over a wide dynamic range in brightness. We apply the new algorithm to far-infrared imaging data of dust emission released by the Herschel Gould Belt Survey team. Our preliminary analysis characterizes both filaments and fainter striations. We find a typical filament width of 0.09 pc across the sample, but the brightness varies from cloud to cloud. Several regions show a bimodal filament brightness distribution, with the bright mode (filaments) being an order of magnitude brighter than the faint mode (striations). Using the Rolling Hough Transform, we characterize the orientations of the striations in the data, finding preferred directions that agree with magnetic field direction where data are available. There is a suggestive but noisy correlation between typical filament brightness and literature values of the star formation rates for clouds in the Gould Belt.
High-resolution electron microscopic evidence for the filamentous structure of the cyst wall in Giardia muris and Giardia duodenalis.
Erlandsen, S L; Bemrick, W J; Pawley, J
High-resolution morphological studies of the cyst wall of Giardia spp. were performed using low-voltage scanning electron microscopy (LVSEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The cyst wall was composed of membranous and filamentous layers. The membranous layer consisted of an inner and an outer cyst membrane separated by a thin layer of cytoplasm. The filamentous layer contained individual filaments that ranged from 7 to 20 nm in diameter when measured by LVSEM, formed a dense meshwork with branches or interconnections, and were occasionally arranged on the surface in whorled patterns. Cysts of Giardia muris from mice, Giardia duodenalis from dogs, pigs, voles, beavers, muskrats, and humans, and Giardia psittaci from a bird (parakeet), possessed an essentially identical wall composed of filaments. Inducement of excystation in viable Giardia cysts produced a dramatic increase in the interfilament spacing over an entire cyst, but none was observed in heat-killed or chemically fixed control cysts. These results demonstrated that the cyst wall of Giardia spp. was composed of a complex arrangement of filaments, presumably formed during the process of encystment. PMID:2795382
Nobeyama 45m CO Galactic Plane Survey: Filament properties and star formation in M17
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Nishimura, Atsushi; Umemoto, Tomofumi; Minamidani, Tetsuhiro; Kuno, Nario; Tosaki, Tomoka; Fujita, Shinji; Matsuo, Mitsuhiro; Tsuda, Yuya; Ohashi, Satoshi
We present the 12CO(J=1-0), 13CO(J=1-0), and C18O(J=1-0) maps of M17 molecular clouds obtained as part of the Nobeyama 45m CO Galactic Plane Survey. The observations cover the entire area of M17 Cloud A and M17 SW with an angular resolution of ~15" which corresponds to ~0.15 pc, and they can be used to trace the formation and evolution of filamentary structure of molecular clouds in GMC scale. The Cloud A consists of a couple of twisted filaments, they are extended in parallel toward the HII region. The typicall width of the filaments is ~0.4 pc in 13CO intensity map. They are twisted with an interval of ~5 pc, and an amplitude of ~2 pc. Some filaments have a bright rim structure in 8μm at the filament edge facing the HII region. Therefore, the filaments might be formed by the feedback of the HII region. The mass distribution have a gradient depending on the distance of M17 HII region. Most of the filaments have points where the line mass exceed the critical value of 16 M⊙ pc-1. This indicates that the high-density cores can be formed on the most of the filaments in the Cloud A. In addition, YSOs distribution from MYStIX infrared excess source catalog shows that the most of YSOs are on the filaments in the Cloud A. Hence the filamentally structure plays an important role to form stars in Cloud A. However, the fact that most of the OB stars are located away from filaments suggests that the Cloud A filaments could not trigger the formation of the M17 cluster including OB stars. We found high-velocity clumps (Vlsr~23 km sec-1) which are associated with OB stars. The distribution of high-velocity clumps is anticorrelated with Cloud A and M17 SW. The Cloud A filaments (Vlsr~20 km sec-1) are corresponding to IRDCs identified by Spitzer, while the high-velocity clumps have no IRDC counterpart. Therefore, Cloud A filaments are located near side of the HII region and the high-velocity clumps are located far side of the HII region. One possibility which satisfy the
Bacillus subtilis Bactofilins Are Essential for Flagellar Hook- and Filament Assembly and Dynamically Localize into Structures of Less than 100 nm Diameter underneath the Cell Membrane
El Andari, Jihad; Altegoer, Florian; Bange, Gert; Graumann, Peter L.
Bactofilins are a widely conserved protein family implicated in cell shape maintenance and in bacterial motility. We show that the bactofilins BacE and BacF from Bacillus subtilis are essential for motility. The proteins are required for the establishment of flagellar hook- and filament structures, but apparently not for the formation of basal bodies. Functional YFP fusions to BacE and to BacF localize as discrete assemblies at the B. subtilis cell membrane, and have a diameter of 60 to 70 nm. BacF assemblies are relatively static, and partially colocalize with flagellar basal bodies, while BacE assemblies are fewer per cell than those of BacF and are highly mobile. Tracking of BacE foci showed that the assemblies arrest at a single point for a few hundred milliseconds, showing that a putative interaction with flagellar structures would be transient and fast. When overexpressed or expressed in a heterologous cell system, bactofilins can form filamentous structures, and also form multimers as purified proteins. Our data reveal a propensity for bactofilins to form filaments, however, in B. subtilis cells, bactofilins assemble into defined size assemblies that show a dynamic localization pattern and play a role in flagellar assembly. PMID:26517549
Structural features of sugars that trigger or support conidial germination in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger.
Hayer, Kimran; Stratford, Malcolm; Archer, David B
The asexual spores (conidia) of Aspergillus niger germinate to produce hyphae under appropriate conditions. Germination is initiated by conidial swelling and mobilization of internal carbon and energy stores, followed by polarization and emergence of a hyphal germ tube. The effects of different pyranose sugars, all analogues of d-glucose, on the germination of A. niger conidia were explored, and we define germination as the transition from a dormant conidium into a germling. Within germination, we distinguish two distinct stages, the initial swelling of the conidium and subsequent polarized growth. The stage of conidial swelling requires a germination trigger, which we define as a compound that is sensed by the conidium and which leads to catabolism of d-trehalose and isotropic growth. Sugars that triggered germination and outgrowth included d-glucose, d-mannose, and d-xylose. Sugars that triggered germination but did not support subsequent outgrowth included d-tagatose, d-lyxose, and 2-deoxy-d-glucose. Nontriggering sugars included d-galactose, l-glucose, and d-arabinose. Certain nontriggering sugars, including d-galactose, supported outgrowth if added in the presence of a complementary triggering sugar. This division of functions indicates that sugars are involved in two separate events in germination, triggering and subsequent outgrowth, and the structural features of sugars that support each, both, or none of these events are discussed. We also present data on the uptake of sugars during the germination process and discuss possible mechanisms of triggering in the absence of apparent sugar uptake during the initial swelling of conidia. PMID:23995938
Jiang, Yunchun; Hong, Junchao; Yang, Jiayan; Bi, Yi; Zheng, Ruisheng; Yang, Bo; Li, Haidong; Yang, Dan
We present a rare observation of an interaction between two filaments around AR 11358 and AR 11361 on 2011 December 3 that is strongly suggestive of the occurrence of slingshot reconnection. A small elbow-shaped active-region filament (F12) underwent a failed eruption that brought it into contact with a nearby larger, thicker filament (F34). Accompanied by the appearance of complicated internal structures below the erupting F12, its two legs separated away from each other and then connected into F34. This process led the filaments to change their connectivity to form two newly linked filaments, and one of them showed a clear inverse {gamma}-shape. However, the alteration in the filament connectivity was imperfect since F34 is discernible after the eruption. These observations can be interpreted as a partial slingshot reconnection between two filaments that had unequal axial magnetic flux.
Partial Slingshot Reconnection between Two Filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Jiang, Yunchun; Hong, Junchao; Yang, Jiayan; Bi, Yi; Zheng, Ruisheng; Yang, Bo; Li, Haidong; Yang, Dan
We present a rare observation of an interaction between two filaments around AR 11358 and AR 11361 on 2011 December 3 that is strongly suggestive of the occurrence of slingshot reconnection. A small elbow-shaped active-region filament (F12) underwent a failed eruption that brought it into contact with a nearby larger, thicker filament (F34). Accompanied by the appearance of complicated internal structures below the erupting F12, its two legs separated away from each other and then connected into F34. This process led the filaments to change their connectivity to form two newly linked filaments, and one of them showed a clear inverse γ-shape. However, the alteration in the filament connectivity was imperfect since F34 is discernible after the eruption. These observations can be interpreted as a partial slingshot reconnection between two filaments that had unequal axial magnetic flux.
Powers-Fletcher, Margaret V; Kendall, Brian A; Griffin, Allen T; Hanson, Kimberly E
Filamentous mycoses are often associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Prompt diagnosis and aggressive treatment are essential for good clinical outcomes in immunocompromised patients. The host immune response plays an essential role in determining the course of exposure to potential fungal pathogens. Depending on the effectiveness of immune response and the burden of organism exposure, fungi can either be cleared or infection can occur and progress to a potentially fatal invasive disease. Nonspecific cellular immunity (i.e., neutrophils, natural killer [NK] cells, and macrophages) combined with T-cell responses are the main immunologic mechanisms of protection. The most common potential mold pathogens include certain hyaline hyphomycetes, endemic fungi, the Mucorales, and some dematiaceous fungi. Laboratory diagnostics aimed at detecting and differentiating these organisms are crucial to helping clinicians make informed decisions about treatment. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the medically important fungal pathogens, as well as to discuss the patient characteristics, antifungal-therapy considerations, and laboratory tests used in current clinical practice for the immunocompromised host. PMID:27337469
A novel protocol for molecularly imprinted polymer filaments online coupled to GC-MS for the determination of androgenic steroids in urine.
Zhong, Qisheng; Hu, Yufei; Li, Gongke
An online system that can perform dynamic microextraction, on-coating derivatization and desorption, and subsequent GC-MS analysis with a large-volume injection was developed. A derivatization cell as the conjunction of the online system was developed for the online extraction and derivatization. To evaluate the feasibility of the online system, methyltestosterone molecularly imprinted polymer filaments (MIPFs) were prepared for the selective online extraction of five androgenic steroids, namely, methyltestosterone, testosterone, epitestosterone, nandrolone, and metandienone. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limits of testosterone and epitestosterone were 0.09 and 0.12 μg/L, respectively, which were under the minimum required performance limits between 2 and 10 μg/L from the World Anti-Doping Agency. The detection limits of the other three androgenic steroids were varied from 0.04 to 0.18 μg/L. Finally, the MIPFs-GC-MS method was applied for the determination of androgenic steroids in urine, and satisfactory recovery (78.0-96.9%) and reproducibility (3.2-8.9%) were obtained. The proposed online coupling system offers an attractive alternative for hyphenation to GC instruments and could also be extended to other adsorptive materials. PMID:24151099
Massive Quiescent Cores in Orion. VI. The Internal Structures and a Candidate of Transiting Core in NGC 2024 Filament
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ren, Zhiyuan; Li, Di
We present a multiwavelength observational study of the NGC 2024 filament using infrared to submillimeter continuum and the {{NH}}3 (1,1) and (2,2) inversion transitions centered on FIR-3, the most massive core therein. FIR-3 is found to have no significant infrared point sources in the Spitzer/IRAC bands. But the {{NH}}3 kinetic temperature map shows a peak value at the core center with {T}{{k}}=25 K, which is significantly higher than the surrounding level ({T}{{k}}\\quad = 15–19 K). Such internal heating signature without an infrared source suggests an ongoing core collapse possibly at a transition stage from first hydrostatic core (FHSC) to protostar. The eight dense cores in the filament have dust temperatures between 17.5 and 22 K. They are much cooler than the hot ridge ({T}{{d}}∼ 55 K) around the central heating star IRS-2b. Comparison with a dust heating model suggests that the filament should have a distance of 3–5 pc from IRS-2b. This value is much larger than the spatial extent of the hot ridge, suggesting that the filament is spatially separated from the hot region along the line of sight.
Mechanical properties of branched actin filaments.
Razbin, Mohammadhosein; Falcke, Martin; Benetatos, Panayotis; Zippelius, Annette
Cells moving on a two dimensional substrate generate motion by polymerizing actin filament networks inside a flat membrane protrusion. New filaments are generated by branching off existing ones, giving rise to branched network structures. We investigate the force-extension relation of branched filaments, grafted on an elastic structure at one end and pushing with the free ends against the leading edge cell membrane. Single filaments are modeled as worm-like chains, whose thermal bending fluctuations are restricted by the leading edge cell membrane, resulting in an effective force. Branching can increase the stiffness considerably; however the effect depends on branch point position and filament orientation, being most pronounced for intermediate tilt angles and intermediate branch point positions. We describe filament networks without cross-linkers to focus on the effect of branching. We use randomly positioned branch points, as generated in the process of treadmilling, and orientation distributions as measured in lamellipodia. These networks reproduce both the weak and strong force response of lamellipodia as measured in force-velocity experiments. We compare properties of branched and unbranched networks. The ratio of the network average of the force per branched filament to the average force per unbranched filament depends on the orientation distribution of the filaments. The ratio exhibits compression dependence and may go up to about 4.5 in networks with a narrow orientation distribution. With orientation distributions measured in lamellipodia, it is about two and essentially independent from network compression, graft elasticity and filament persistence length. PMID:26040560
Mechanical properties of branched actin filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Razbin, Mohammadhosein; Falcke, Martin; Benetatos, Panayotis; Zippelius, Annette
Cells moving on a two dimensional substrate generate motion by polymerizing actin filament networks inside a flat membrane protrusion. New filaments are generated by branching off existing ones, giving rise to branched network structures. We investigate the force-extension relation of branched filaments, grafted on an elastic structure at one end and pushing with the free ends against the leading edge cell membrane. Single filaments are modeled as worm-like chains, whose thermal bending fluctuations are restricted by the leading edge cell membrane, resulting in an effective force. Branching can increase the stiffness considerably; however the effect depends on branch point position and filament orientation, being most pronounced for intermediate tilt angles and intermediate branch point positions. We describe filament networks without cross-linkers to focus on the effect of branching. We use randomly positioned branch points, as generated in the process of treadmilling, and orientation distributions as measured in lamellipodia. These networks reproduce both the weak and strong force response of lamellipodia as measured in force-velocity experiments. We compare properties of branched and unbranched networks. The ratio of the network average of the force per branched filament to the average force per unbranched filament depends on the orientation distribution of the filaments. The ratio exhibits compression dependence and may go up to about 4.5 in networks with a narrow orientation distribution. With orientation distributions measured in lamellipodia, it is about two and essentially independent from network compression, graft elasticity and filament persistence length.
Observations of an active region filament
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zong, W. G.; Tang, Y. H.; Fang, C.; Xu, A. A.
An active region filament was well observed on September 4, 2002 with THEMIS at the Teide observatory and SOHO/MDI. The full Stokes parameters of the filament were obtained in Hα and FeI 6302 Å lines. Using the data, we have studied the fine structure of the filament and obtained the parameters at the barb endpoints, including intensity, velocity and longitudinal magnetic field. Our results indicate: (a) the Doppler velocities are quiet different at barb endpoints; (b) the longitudinal magnetic fields at the barb endpoints are very weak; (c) there is a strong magnetic field structure under the filament spine.
Structure and Dynamics of Cellulose Molecular Solutions
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wang, Howard; Zhang, Xin; Tyagi, Madhusudan; Mao, Yimin; Briber, Robert
Molecular dissolution of microcrystalline cellulose has been achieved through mixing with ionic liquid 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EMIMAc), and organic solvent dimethylformamide (DMF). The mechanism of cellulose dissolution in tertiary mixtures has been investigated by combining quasielastic and small angle neutron scattering (QENS and SANS). As SANS data show that cellulose chains take Gaussian-like conformations in homogenous solutions, which exhibit characteristics of having an upper critical solution temperature, the dynamic signals predominantly from EMIMAc molecules indicate strong association with cellulose in the dissolution state. The mean square displacement quantities support the observation of the stoichiometric 3:1 EMIMAc to cellulose unit molar ratio, which is a necessary criterion for the molecular dissolution of cellulose. Analyses of dynamics structure factors reveal the temperature dependence of a slow and a fast process for EMIMAc's bound to cellulose and in DMF, respectively, as well as a very fast process due possibly to the rotational motion of methyl groups, which persisted to near the absolute zero.
Algorithmic dimensionality reduction for molecular structure analysis
Brown, W. Michael; Martin, Shawn; Pollock, Sara N.; Coutsias, Evangelos A.; Watson, Jean-Paul
Dimensionality reduction approaches have been used to exploit the redundancy in a Cartesian coordinate representation of molecular motion by producing low-dimensional representations of molecular motion. This has been used to help visualize complex energy landscapes, to extend the time scales of simulation, and to improve the efficiency of optimization. Until recently, linear approaches for dimensionality reduction have been employed. Here, we investigate the efficacy of several automated algorithms for nonlinear dimensionality reduction for representation of trans, trans-1,2,4-trifluorocyclo-octane conformation—a molecule whose structure can be described on a 2-manifold in a Cartesian coordinate phase space. We describe an efficient approach for a deterministic enumeration of ring conformations. We demonstrate a drastic improvement in dimensionality reduction with the use of nonlinear methods. We discuss the use of dimensionality reduction algorithms for estimating intrinsic dimensionality and the relationship to the Whitney embedding theorem. Additionally, we investigate the influence of the choice of high-dimensional encoding on the reduction. We show for the case studied that, in terms of reconstruction error root mean square deviation, Cartesian coordinate representations and encodings based on interatom distances provide better performance than encodings based on a dihedral angle representation. PMID:18715062
Computing stoichiometric molecular composition from crystal structures
Gražulis, Saulius; Merkys, Andrius; Vaitkus, Antanas; Okulič-Kazarinas, Mykolas
Crystallographic investigations deliver high-accuracy information about positions of atoms in crystal unit cells. For chemists, however, the structure of a molecule is most often of interest. The structure must thus be reconstructed from crystallographic files using symmetry information and chemical properties of atoms. Most existing algorithms faithfully reconstruct separate molecules but not the overall stoichiometry of the complex present in a crystal. Here, an algorithm that can reconstruct stoichiometrically correct multimolecular ensembles is described. This algorithm uses only the crystal symmetry information for determining molecule numbers and their stoichiometric ratios. The algorithm can be used by chemists and crystallographers as a standalone implementation for investigating above-molecular ensembles or as a function implemented in graphical crystal analysis software. The greatest envisaged benefit of the algorithm, however, is for the users of large crystallographic and chemical databases, since it will permit database maintainers to generate stoichiometrically correct chemical representations of crystal structures automatically and to match them against chemical databases, enabling multidisciplinary searches across multiple databases. PMID:26089747
Structural disorder in molecular framework materials.
Cairns, Andrew B; Goodwin, Andrew L
It is increasingly apparent that many important classes of molecular framework material exhibit a variety of interesting and useful types of structural disorder. This tutorial review summarises a number of recent efforts to understand better both the complex microscopic nature of this disorder and also how it might be implicated in useful functionalities of these materials. We draw on a number of topical examples including topologically-disordered zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), porous aromatic frameworks (PAFs), the phenomena of temperature-, pressure- and desorption-induced amorphisation, partial interpenetration, ferroelectric transition-metal formates, negative thermal expansion in cyanide frameworks, and the mechanics and processing of layered frameworks. We outline the various uses of pair distribution function (PDF) analysis, dielectric spectroscopy, peak-shape analysis of powder diffraction data and single-crystal diffuse scattering measurements as means of characterising disorder in these systems, and we suggest a number of opportunities for future research in the field. PMID:23471316
Wide-field SCUBA-2 observations of NGC 2264: submillimetre clumps and filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Buckle, J. V.; Richer, J. S.
We present wide-field observations of the NGC 2264 molecular cloud in the dust continuum at 850 and 450 μm using SCUBA-2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. Using 12CO 3 → 2 molecular line data, we determine that emission from CO contaminates the 850 μm emission at levels ˜30 per cent in localized regions associated with high-velocity molecular outflows. Much higher contamination levels of 60 per cent are seen in shocked regions near the massive star S Mon. If not removed, the levels of CO contamination would contribute an extra 13 per cent to the dust mass in NGC 2264. We use the FELLWALKER routine to decompose the dust into clumpy structures, and a Hessian-based routine to decompose the dust into filamentary structures. The filaments can be described as a hub-filament structure, with lower column density filaments radiating from the NGC 2264 C protocluster hub. Above mean filament column densities of 2.4 × 1022 cm-2, star formation proceeds with the formation of two or more protostars. Below these column densities, filaments are starless, or contain only a single protostar.
Self-Organization of Treadmilling Filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Doubrovinski, K.; Kruse, K.
The cytoskeleton is an active network of polar filaments. The activity can lead to the polymerization of filaments at one end and depolymerization at the other. This phenomenon is called treadmilling and is essential for many cellular processes, in particular, the crawling of cells on a substrate. We develop a microscopic theoretical framework for describing systems of treadmilling filaments. We show that such systems can self-organize into structures observed in cell fragments, in particular, asters and moving spots.
Plant sex chromosomes: molecular structure and function.
Jamilena, M; Mariotti, B; Manzano, S
Recent molecular and genomic studies carried out in a number of model dioecious plant species, including Asparagus officinalis, Carica papaya, Silene latifolia, Rumex acetosa and Marchantia polymorpha, have shed light on the molecular structure of both homomorphic and heteromorphic sex chromosomes, and also on the gene functions they have maintained since their evolution from a pair of autosomes. The molecular structure of sex chromosomes in species from different plant families represents the evolutionary pathway followed by sex chromosomes during their evolution. The degree of Y chromosome degeneration that accompanies the suppression of recombination between the Xs and Ys differs among species. The primitive Ys of A. officinalis and C. papaya have only diverged from their homomorphic Xs in a short male-specific and non-recombining region (MSY), while the heteromorphic Ys of S. latifolia, R. acetosa and M. polymorpha have diverged from their respective Xs. As in the Y chromosomes of mammals and Drosophila, the accumulation of repetitive DNA, including both transposable elements and satellite DNA, has played an important role in the divergence and size enlargement of plant Ys, and consequently in reducing gene density. Nevertheless, the degeneration process in plants does not appear to have reached the Y-linked genes. Although a low gene density has been found in the sequenced Y chromosome of M. polymorpha, most of its genes are essential and are expressed in the vegetative and reproductive organs in both male and females. Similarly, most of the Y-linked genes that have been isolated and characterized up to now in S. latifolia are housekeeping genes that have X-linked homologues, and are therefore expressed in both males and females. Only one of them seems to be degenerate with respect to its homologous region in the X. Sequence analysis of larger regions in the homomorphic X and Y chromosomes of papaya and asparagus, and also in the heteromorphic sex chromosomes
Oligomeric assembly is required for chaperone activity of the filamentous γ-prefoldin.
Glover, Dominic J; Clark, Douglas S
Prefoldins (PFDs) are molecular chaperones with a distinctive jellyfish-shape that have a general role in de novo protein folding in Archaea and in the biogenesis of cytoskeleton proteins in eukaryotes. In general, PFDs are hetero-hexameric protein assemblies consisting of two α and four β subunits. However, a PFD variant called gamma-prefoldin (γPFD), isolated from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, exhibits a unique filamentous structure that is composed of hundreds of monomeric subunits. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the morphology of the γPFD filament and its ability to prevent protein aggregation. A chaperone assay demonstrated that γPFD must be in a filamentous assembly for functional activity and the distal regions of the coiled-coils are required for binding of non-native proteins. Molecular dynamic simulations were used to model the interactions between in silico thermally denatured protein substrates and the coiled-coils of a γPFD filament. During molecular dynamic simulations at 300 and 353 K, each coiled-coil was highly flexible, enabling it to widen the central cavity of the filament to potentially capture various non-native proteins. Docking molecular dynamic simulations of γPFD filaments with unfolded citrate synthase or insulin showed a size-dependence between the substrate and the number of interacting coiled-coils. To confirm this observation, we generated filaments containing specific numbers of subunits, and showed that between six and eight γPFD subunits are required for chaperone activity to prevent citrate synthase from thermal aggregation. These results provide insights into structure-function relationships of oligomeric chaperones and illuminate the potential role of γPFD in its native environment. PMID:26096656
Patterns and intrinsic fluctuations in semi-dilute motor-filament systems.
Swaminathan, S.; Ziebert, F.; Aranson, I. S.; Karpeev, D.; Northwestern Univ.; UMR CNRS Gulliver
We perform Brownian dynamics simulations of molecular motor-induced ordering and structure formations in semi-dilute cytoskeletal filament solutions. In contrast to the previously studied dilute case where binary filament interactions prevail, the semi-dilute regime is characterized by multiple motor-mediated interactions. Moreover, the forces and torques exerted by motors on filaments are intrinsically fluctuating quantities. We incorporate the influences of thermal and motor fluctuations into our model as additive and multiplicative noises, respectively. Numerical simulations reveal that filament bundles and vortices emerge from a disordered initial state. Subsequent analysis of motor noise effects reveals: (i) Pattern formation is very robust against fluctuations in motor force; (ii) bundle formation is associated with a significant reduction of the motor fluctuation contributions; (iii) the time scale of vortex formation and coalescence decreases with increases in motor noise amplitude.
Relating a Prominence Observed from the Solar Optical Telescope on the Hinode Satellite to Known 3-D Structures of Filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Martin, S. F.; Panasenco, O.; Agah, Y.; Engvold, O.; Lin, Y.
We address only a first step in relating limb and disk observations by illustrating and comparing the spines and barbs of three different quiescent prominences and filaments observed in Hα by three different telescopes. Although the appearance of the three quiescent prominences is quite different, we show that each consists of a spine, barbs extending from the spine, and arcs at the base of some of the curtains of barb threads.
The nonlinear evolution of magnetized solar filaments
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Sparks, L.; Van Hoven, G.; Schnack, D. D.
Thermal instability driven by optically thin radiation is believed to initiate the formation of plasma filaments in the solar corona. The fact that filaments are observed generally to separate regions of opposite, line-of-sight, magnetic polarity in the underlying photosphere suggests that filament formation requires the presence of a highly sheared, local magnetic field. Two-dimensional, nonlinear, magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the local genesis and growth of solar filaments in a force-free, sheared, magnetic field were performed, and the evolution of generic perturbations possessing broad spatial profiles was traced. It was found that simulations of the evolution of initial random-noise perturbations produce filamentary plasma structures that exhibit densities and temperatures characteristic of observed solar filaments. Furthermore, in each of these simulations, the filament axis lies at a finite angle with respect to the local magnetic field, consistent with solar observations.
Femtosecond Laser Filamentation for Atmospheric Sensing
Xu, Huai Liang; Chin, See Leang
Powerful femtosecond laser pulses propagating in transparent materials result in the formation of self-guided structures called filaments. Such filamentation in air can be controlled to occur at a distance as far as a few kilometers, making it ideally suited for remote sensing of pollutants in the atmosphere. On the one hand, the high intensity inside the filaments can induce the fragmentation of all matters in the path of filaments, resulting in the emission of characteristic fluorescence spectra (fingerprints) from the excited fragments, which can be used for the identification of various substances including chemical and biological species. On the other hand, along with the femtosecond laser filamentation, white-light supercontinuum emission in the infrared to UV range is generated, which can be used as an ideal light source for absorption Lidar. In this paper, we present an overview of recent progress concerning remote sensing of the atmosphere using femtosecond laser filamentation. PMID:22346566
Actively Contracting Bundles of Polar Filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kruse, K.; Jülicher, F.
We introduce a phenomenological model to study the properties of bundles of polar filaments which interact via active elements. The stability of the homogeneous state, the attractors of the dynamics in the unstable regime, and the tensile stress generated in the bundle are discussed. We find that the interaction of parallel filaments can induce unstable behavior and is responsible for active contraction and tension in the bundle. The interaction between antiparallel filaments leads to filament sorting. Our model could apply to simple contractile structures in cells such as stress fibers.
Correlation between Supercoiling and Conformational Motions of the Bacterial Flagellar Filament
Stadler, Andreas M.; Unruh, Tobias; Namba, Keiichi; Samatey, Fadel; Zaccai, Giuseppe
The bacterial flagellar filament is a very large macromolecular assembly of a single protein, flagellin. Various supercoiled states of the filament exist, which are formed by two structurally different conformations of flagellin in different ratios. We investigated the correlation between supercoiling of the protofilaments and molecular dynamics in the flagellar filament using quasielastic and elastic incoherent neutron scattering on the picosecond and nanosecond timescales. Thermal fluctuations in the straight L- and R-type filaments were measured and compared to the resting state of the wild-type filament. Amplitudes of motion on the picosecond timescale were found to be similar in the different conformational states. Mean-square displacements and protein resilience on the 0.1 ns timescale demonstrate that the L-type state is more flexible and less resilient than the R-type, whereas the wild-type state lies in between. Our results provide strong support that supercoiling of the protofilaments in the flagellar filament is determined by the strength of molecular forces in and between the flagellin subunits. PMID:24209861
HST imaging of the dusty filaments and nucleus swirl in NGC4696 at the centre of the Centaurus Cluster
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Fabian, A. C.; Walker, S. A.; Russell, H. R.; Pinto, C.; Canning, R. E. A.; Salome, P.; Sanders, J. S.; Taylor, G. B.; Zweibel, E. G.; Conselice, C. J.; Combes, F.; Crawford, C. S.; Ferland, G. J.; Gallagher, J. S.; Hatch, N. A.; Johnstone, R. M.; Reynolds, CS.
Narrow-band HST imaging has resolved the detailed internal structure of the 10 kpc diameter Hα+[NII] emission line nebulosity in NGC4696, the central galaxy in the nearby Centaurus cluster, showing that the dusty, molecular, filaments have a width of about 60pc. Optical morphology and velocity measurements indicate that the filaments are dragged out by the bubbling action of the radio source as part of the AGN feedback cycle. Using the drag force we find that the magnetic field in the filaments is in approximate pressure equipartition with the hot gas. The filamentary nature of the cold gas continues inward, swirling around and within the Bondi accretion radius of the central black hole, revealing the magnetic nature of the gas flows in massive elliptical galaxies. HST imaging resolves the magnetic, dusty, molecular filaments at the centre of the Centaurus cluster to a swirl around and within the Bondi radius.
HST imaging of the dusty filaments and nucleus swirl in NGC4696 at the centre of the Centaurus Cluster
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Fabian, A. C.; Walker, S. A.; Russell, H. R.; Pinto, C.; Canning, R. E. A.; Salome, P.; Sanders, J. S.; Taylor, G. B.; Zweibel, E. G.; Conselice, C. J.; Combes, F.; Crawford, C. S.; Ferland, G. J.; Gallagher, J. S., III; Hatch, N. A.; Johnstone, R. M.; Reynolds, C. S.
Narrow-band HST imaging has resolved the detailed internal structure of the 10 kpc diameter H α+[N II] emission line nebulosity in NGC4696, the central galaxy in the nearby Centaurus cluster, showing that the dusty, molecular, filaments have a width of about 60 pc. Optical morphology and velocity measurements indicate that the filaments are dragged out by the bubbling action of the radio source as part of the active galactic nucleus feedback cycle. Using the drag force we find that the magnetic field in the filaments is in approximate pressure equipartition with the hot gas. The filamentary nature of the cold gas continues inwards, swirling around and within the Bondi accretion radius of the central black hole, revealing the magnetic nature of the gas flows in massive elliptical galaxies. HST imaging resolves the magnetic, dusty, molecular filaments at the centre of the Centaurus cluster to a swirl around and within the Bondi radius.
Scrape-off Layer Current Model for Filament Structure Observed during Edge Localized Modes (ELMs) in the DIII-D Tokamak
Takahashi, Hironori; Fredrickson, E. D.; Schaffer, M. J.
The plasma in tokamaks often exhibits a relaxation oscillation called the edge localized mode (ELM), which is generally attributed to MHD instability driven by strong gradients at the plasma boundary. It is shown here that field-aligned currents flowing just outside the boundary may also play a role in the ELM process. The poloidal perturbation magnetic field during ELMs in the DIII–D tokamak calculated from measured currents can reproduce prominent observed features, including a narrow magnetic structure at the outboard midplane similar to filaments observed earlier in DIII–D and NSTX.
[Molecular structure of luminal diuretic receptors].
Gamba, G
Since day to day sodium and water intake is more or less constant, the output by urinary sodium excretion is the key to maintain extracellular fluid volume within physiologic ranges. To achieve this goal, the kidneys ensure that most of the large quantities of filtered sodium are reabsorbed, a function that takes place in the proximal tubule, the loop of Henle and the distal tubule, and then the kidneys adjust the small amount of sodium that is excreted in urine in such a way that sodium balance is maintained. This adjustment occurs in the collecting duct. Three groups of diuretic-sensitive sodium transport mechanisms have been identified in the apical membranes of the distal nephron based on their different sensitivities to diuretics and requirements for chloride and potassium: 1) the sulfamoylbenzoic (or bumetanide)-sensitive Na+:K+:2CI- and Na+:CI- symporters in the thick ascending loop of Henle; 2) the benzothiadiazine (or thiazide)-sensitive Na+:CI- cotransporter in the distal tubule; and 3) the amiloride-sensitive Na+ channel in the collecting tubule. The inhibition of any one of these proteins by diuretics results in increased sodium urinary excretion. Recently, the use of molecular biology techniques, specially the functional expression cloning in Xenopus laevis oocytes, has led to the identification of cDNA's encoding members of the three groups of diuretic-sensitive transport proteins. The present paper reviews the primary structure and some aspects of the relationship between structure and function of these transporters as well as the new protein families emerging from these sequences. It also discusses the future implications of these discoveries on the physiology and pathophysiology of kidney disease and sodium retaining states. PMID:7569367
Molecular structure of brown-dwarf disks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wiebe, D. S.; Semenov, D. A.; Henning, T.
We describe typical features of the chemical composition of proto-planetary disks around brown dwarfs. We model the chemical evolution in the disks around a low-mass T Tauri star and a cooler brown dwarf over a time span of 1 Myr using a model for the physical structure of an accretion disk with a vertical temperature gradient and an extensive set of gas-phase chemical reactions. We find that the disks of T Tauri stars are, in general, hotter and denser than the disks of lower-luminosity substellar objects. In addition, they have more pronounced vertical temperature gradients. The atmospheres of the disks around low-mass stars are more strongly ionized by UV and X-ray radiation, while less dense brown-dwarf disks have higher fractional ionizations in their midplanes. Nevertheless, in both cases, most molecules are concentrated in the so-called warm molecular layer between the ionized atmosphere and cold midplane, where grains with ice mantles are abundant.
The Determination of Molecular Structure from Rotational Spectra
DOE R&D Accomplishments Database
Laurie, V. W.; Herschbach, D. R.
An analysis is presented concerning the average molecular configuration variations and their effects on molecular structure determinations. It is noted that the isotopic dependence of the zero-point is often primarily governed by the isotopic variation of the average molecular configuration. (J.R.D.)
Filamentation of plasma in the auroral region by an ion-ion instability - A process for the formation of bidimensional potential structures
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Mottez, F.; Chanteur, G.; Roux, A.
The nonlinear behavior of electrostatic ion waves generated by an ion beam flowing through a thermal ion and electron background in a strongly magnetized plasma is investigated by means of a 2D, explicit, electrostatic particle code. To follow the nonlinear evolution of these ion waves, a long-lasting simulation is run with a large simulation grid: 128 x 512 lambda(d). Beam ions are shown to generate oblique waves. The nonlinear beatings between these oblique waves produce purely transverse waves, which leads to a strong modulation of the density and of the electric potential in a direction transverse to the magnetic field. The transverse scale of these essentially field-aligned filaments is 10 rho(i), where rho(i) is the ion Larmor radius of beam ions. Within these filaments, relatively stable field-aligned density and potential structures develop. Unlike the potential structures that develop in a two-component plasma with downgoing electrons, these structures move upward.
Three-dimensional Reconstruction of Tarantula Myosin Filaments Suggests How Phosphorylation May Regulate Myosin Activity
Alamo, Lorenzo; Wriggers, Willy; Pinto, Antonio; Bártoli, Fulvia; Salazar, Leiría; Zhao, Fa-Qing; Craig, Roger; Padrón, Raúl
Summary Muscle contraction involves the interaction of the myosin heads of the thick filaments with actin subunits of the thin filaments. Relaxation occurs when this interaction is blocked by molecular switches on these filaments. In many muscles, myosin-linked regulation involves phosphorylation of the myosin regulatory light chains (RLC). Electron microscopy of vertebrate smooth muscle myosin molecules (regulated by phosphorylation) has provided insight into the relaxed structure, revealing that myosin is switched off by intramolecular interactions between its two heads, the free-head and the blocked head. Three-dimensional reconstruction of frozen-hydrated specimens reveals that this asymmetric head interaction is also present in native thick filaments of tarantula striated muscle. Our goal here has been to elucidate the structural features of the tarantula filament involved in phosphorylation-based regulation. A new reconstruction reveals intra- and intermolecular myosin interactions in addition to those seen previously. To help interpret the interactions, we sequenced the tarantula RLC, and fitted to the reconstruction an atomic model of the myosin head that included the predicted RLC atomic structure and an S2 crystal structure. The fitting suggests an intramolecular interaction between the cardiomyopathy loop of the free-head and its own S2 and two intermolecular interactions—between the cardio-loop of the free head and the ELC of the blocked head, and between the Leu-305 - Gln-327 "interaction loop" (loop I) of the free-head and the N-terminal fragment of the RLC of the blocked-head. These interactions, added to those previously described, would help to switch off the thick filament. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest how phosphorylation could increase the helical content of the RLC N-terminus, weakening these interactions, thus releasing both heads and activating the thick filament. PMID:18951904
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Sterling, Alphonse C.
We've been investigating filament eruptions in recent years. Why do eruptions occur? Basic mechanism is magnetic, and can often include coronal mass ejections (CMEs), flares, and filament eruptions. Use filament eruptions as markers of the more-general eruption. From our studies, we can identify directions for future work to help predict when eruptions might occur.
Molecular cloning of chicken aggrecan. Structural analyses.
Chandrasekaran, L; Tanzer, M L
The large, aggregating chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan of cartilage, aggrecan, has served as a generic model of proteoglycan structure. Molecular cloning of aggrecans has further defined their amino acid sequences and domain structures. In this study, we have obtained the complete coding sequence of chicken sternal cartilage aggrecan by a combination of cDNA and genomic DNA sequencing. The composite sequence is 6117 bp in length, encoding 1951 amino acids. Comparison of chicken aggrecan protein primary structure with rat, human and bovine aggrecans has disclosed both similarities and differences. The domains which are most highly conserved at 70-80% identity are the N-terminal domains G1 and G2 and the C-terminal domain G3. The chondroitin sulphate domain of chicken aggrecan is smaller than that of rat and human aggrecans and has very distinctive repeat sequences. It has two separate sections, one comprising 12 consecutive Ser-Gly-Glu repeats of 20 amino acids each, adjacent to the other which has 23 discontinuous Ser-Gly-Glu repeats of 10 amino acids each; this latter region, N-terminal to the former one, appears to be unique to chicken aggrecan. The two regions contain a total of 94 potential chondroitin sulphate attachment sites. Genomic comparison shows that, although chicken exons 11-14 are identical in size to the rat and human exons, chicken exon 10 is the smallest of the three species. This is also reflected in the size of its chondroitin sulphate coding region and in the total number of Ser-Gly pairs. The putative keratan sulphate domain shows 31-45% identity with the other species and lacks the repetitive sequences seen in the others. In summary, while the linear arrangement of specific domains of chicken aggrecan is identical to that in the aggrecans of other species, and while there is considerable identity of three separate domains, chicken aggrecan demonstrates unique features, notably in its chondroitin sulphate domain and its keratan sulphate
Recent observations of the formation of filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Martin, Sara F.
Two examples of the formation of small filaments in H alpha are described and illustrated. In both cases, the formation is seen to be the spontaneous appearance of strands of absorbing mass that evolve from no previous structure. The initial development of the filaments appears to consist of the accumulation of these absorptive strands along approximately parallel paths in a channel between large-scale, opposite polarity magnetic fields on either side of the filaments. The strands exhibit continuous changes in shape and degree of absorption which can be due to successive condensations resulting in new strands, mass motions within the strands, and outflow of the mass from the strands. For at least several hours before the formation of both filaments, small-scale fragments of opposite polarity, line-of-sight magnetic flux adjacent to or immediately below the filaments, and at the ends of the filaments, were cancelling. This type of magnetic flux disappearance continued during the development of the filaments and is commonly observed in association with established filaments. Cancellation is interpreted as an important evolutionary change in the magnetic field that can lead to configurations suitable for the formation of filaments.
Solid friction between soft filaments
Ward, Andrew; Hilitski, Feodor; Schwenger, Walter; Welch, David; Lau, A.W. C.; Vitelli, Vincenzo; Mahadevan, L.; Dogic, Zvonimir
Any macroscopic deformation of a filamentous bundle is necessarily accompanied by local sliding and/or stretching of the constituent filaments1,2. Yet the nature of the sliding friction between two aligned filaments interacting through multiple contacts remains largely unexplored. Here, by directly measuring the sliding forces between two bundled F-actin filaments, we show that these frictional forces are unexpectedly large, scale logarithmically with sliding velocity as in solid-like friction, and exhibit complex dependence on the filaments' overlap length. We also show that a reduction of the frictional force by orders of magnitude, associated with a transition from solid-like friction to Stokes's drag, can be induced by coating F-actin with polymeric brushes. Furthermore, we observe similar transitions in filamentous microtubules and bacterial flagella. Our findings demonstrate how altering a filament's elasticity, structure and interactions can be used to engineer interfilament friction and thus tune the properties of fibrous composite materials. PMID:25730393
Nonequilibrium transport in superconducting filaments
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Arutyunov, K. YU.; Danilova, N. P.; Nikolaeva, A. A.
The step-like current-voltage characteristics of highly homogeneous single-crystalline tin and indium thin filaments has been measured. The length of the samples L approximately 1 cm was much greater than the nonequilibrium quasiparticle relaxation length Lambda. It was found that the activation of a successive i-th voltage step occurs at current significantly greater than the one derived with the assumption that the phase slip centers are weakly interacting on a scale L much greater than Lambda. The observation of 'subharmonic' fine structure on the voltage-current characteristics of tin filaments confirms the hypothesis of the long-range phase slip centers interaction.
A "Mechanistic" Explanation of the Multiple Helical Forms Adopted by Bacterial Flagellar Filaments
Calladine, C.R.; Luisi, B.F.; Pratap, J.V.
The corkscrew-like flagellar filaments emerging from the surface of bacteria such as Salmonella typhimurium propel the cells toward nutrient and away from repellents. This kind of motility depends upon the ability of the flagellar filaments to adopt a range of distinct helical forms. A filament is typically constructed from ~ 30,000 identical flagellin molecules, which self-assemble into a tubular structure containing 11 near-longitudinal protofilaments. A "mechanical" model, in which the flagellin building block has the capacity to switch between two principal interfacial states, predicts that the filament can assemble into a "canonical" family of 12 distinct helical forms, each having unique curvature and twist: these include two "extreme" straight forms having left- and right-handed twists, respectively, and 10 intermediate helical forms. Measured shapes of the filaments correspond well with predictions of the model. This report is concerned with two unanswered questions. First, what properties of the flagellin determine which of the 12 discrete forms is preferred? Second, how does the interfacial "switch" work, at a molecular level? Our proposed solution of these problems is based mainly on a detailed examination of differences between the available electron cryo-microscopy structures of the straight L and R filaments, respectively. PMID:23274110
Schmalzl, Markus; Kainulainen, Jouni; Henning, Thomas; Launhardt, Ralf; Quanz, Sascha P.; Alves, Joao; Goodman, Alyssa A.; Pineda, Jaime E.; Roman-Zuniga, Carlos G.
We present a study of dense structures in the L 1495 filament in the Taurus Molecular Cloud and examine its star-forming properties. In particular, we construct a dust extinction map of the filament using deep near-infrared observations, exposing its small-scale structure in unprecedented detail. The filament shows highly fragmented substructures and a high mass-per-length value of M{sub line} = 17 M{sub sun} pc{sup -1}, reflecting star-forming potential in all parts of it. However, a part of the filament, namely B 211, is remarkably devoid of young stellar objects. We argue that in this region the initial filament collapse and fragmentation is still taking place and star formation is yet to occur. In the star-forming part of the filament, we identify 39 cores with masses from 0.4 to 10 M{sub sun} and preferred separations in agreement with the local Jeans length. Most of these cores exceed the Bonnor-Ebert critical mass, and are therefore likely to collapse and form stars. The dense core mass function follows a power law with exponent {Gamma} = 1.2 {+-} 0.2, a form commonly observed in star-forming regions.
Molecular structure and motion in zero field magnetic resonance
Jarvie, T.P.
Zero field magnetic resonance is well suited for the determination of molecular structure and the study of motion in disordered materials. Experiments performed in zero applied magnetic field avoid the anisotropic broadening in high field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments. As a result, molecular structure and subtle effects of motion are more readily observed.
Molecular clouds and galactic spiral structure
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Dame, T. M.
Galactic CO line emission at 115 GHz was surveyed in order to study the distribution of molecular clouds in the inner galaxy. Comparison of this survey with similar H1 data reveals a detailed correlation with the most intense 21 cm features. To each of the classical 21 cm H1 spiral arms of the inner galaxy there corresponds a CO molecular arm which is generally more clearly defined and of higher contrast. A simple model is devised for the galactic distribution of molecular clouds. The modeling results suggest that molecular clouds are essentially transient objects, existing for 15 to 40 million years after their formation in a spiral arm, and are largely confined to spiral features about 300 pc wide.
Frazer, J.W.
A method of making tungsten filaments is described in which the tungsten is completely free of isotope impurities in the range of masses 234 to 245 for use in mass spectrometers. The filament comprises a tantalum core generally less than 1 mil in diameter having a coating of potassium-free tantalum-diffused tungsten molecularly bonded thereto. In the preferred process of manufacture a short, thin tantalum filament is first mounted between terminal posts mounted in insulated relation through a backing plate. The tungsten is most conveniently vapor plated onto the tantalum by a tungsten carbonyl vapor decomposition method having a critical step because of the tendency of the tantalum to volatilize at the temperature of operntion of the filament. The preferred recipe comprises volatilizing tantalum by resistance henting until the current drops by about 40%, cutting the voltage back to build up the tungsten, and then gradually building the temperature back up to balance the rate of tungsten deposition with the rate of tantalum volatilization. (AEC)
Unraveling the Molecular Structures of Asphaltenes by Atomic Force Microscopy.
Schuler, Bruno; Meyer, Gerhard; Peña, Diego; Mullins, Oliver C; Gross, Leo
Petroleum is one of the most precious and complex molecular mixtures existing. Because of its chemical complexity, the solid component of crude oil, the asphaltenes, poses an exceptional challenge for structure analysis, with tremendous economic relevance. Here, we combine atomic-resolution imaging using atomic force microscopy and molecular orbital imaging using scanning tunnelling microscopy to study more than 100 asphaltene molecules. The complexity and range of asphaltene polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are established in detail. Identifying molecular structures provides a foundation to understand all aspects of petroleum science from colloidal structure and interfacial interactions to petroleum thermodynamics, enabling a first-principles approach to optimize resource utilization. Particularly, the findings contribute to a long-standing debate about asphaltene molecular architecture. Our technique constitutes a paradigm shift for the analysis of complex molecular mixtures, with possible applications in molecular electronics, organic light emitting diodes, and photovoltaic devices. PMID:26170086
How cofilin severs an actin filament.
De La Cruz, Enrique M
The actin regulatory protein, cofilin, promotes actin assembly dynamics by severing filaments and increasing the number of ends from which subunits add and dissociate. Recent studies provide biophysical descriptions of cooperative filament interactions in energetic, mechanical and structural terms. A one-dimensional Ising model with nearest-neighbor interactions permits thermodynamic analysis of cooperative binding and indicates that one or a few cofilin molecules can sever a filament. Binding and cooperative interactions are entropically driven. A significant fraction of the binding free energy results from the linked dissociation of filament-associated ions (polyelectrolyte effect), which modulate filament structure, stability and mechanics. The remaining binding free energy and essentially all of the cooperative free energy arise from the enhanced conformational dynamics of the cofilactin complex. Filament mechanics are modulated by cofilin such that cofilin-saturated filaments are approximately 10- to 20-fold more compliant in bending and twisting than bare filaments. Cofilin activity is well described by models in which discontinuities in topology, mechanics and conformational dynamics generate stress concentration and promote fracture at junctions of bare and decorated segments, analogous to the grain boundary fracture of crystalline materials and the thermally driven formation of shear transformation zones in colloidal glass. PMID:20700473
Maintenance of electrostatic stabilization in altered tubulin lateral contacts may facilitate formation of helical filaments in foraminifera.
Bassen, David M; Hou, Yubo; Bowser, Samuel S; Banavali, Nilesh K
Microtubules in foraminiferan protists (forams) can convert into helical filament structures, in which longitudinal intraprotofilament interactions between tubulin heterodimers are thought to be lost, while lateral contacts across protofilaments are still maintained. The coarse geometric features of helical filaments are known through low-resolution negative stain electron microscopy (EM). In this study, geometric restraints derived from these experimental data were used to generate an average atomic-scale helical filament model, which anticipated a modest reorientation in the lateral tubulin heterodimer interface. Restrained molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the nearest neighbor interactions combined with a Genalized Born implicit solvent model were used to assess the lateral, longitudinal, and seam contacts in 13-3 microtubules and the reoriented lateral contacts in the helical filament model. This electrostatic analysis suggests that the change in the lateral interface in the helical filament does not greatly diminish the lateral electrostatic interaction. After longitudinal dissociation, the 13-3 seam interaction is much weaker than the reoriented lateral interface in the helical filament model, providing a plausible atomic-detail explanation for seam-to-lateral contact transition that enables the transition to a helical filament structure. PMID:27539392
Maintenance of electrostatic stabilization in altered tubulin lateral contacts may facilitate formation of helical filaments in foraminifera
Bassen, David M.; Hou, Yubo; Bowser, Samuel S.; Banavali, Nilesh K.
Microtubules in foraminiferan protists (forams) can convert into helical filament structures, in which longitudinal intraprotofilament interactions between tubulin heterodimers are thought to be lost, while lateral contacts across protofilaments are still maintained. The coarse geometric features of helical filaments are known through low-resolution negative stain electron microscopy (EM). In this study, geometric restraints derived from these experimental data were used to generate an average atomic-scale helical filament model, which anticipated a modest reorientation in the lateral tubulin heterodimer interface. Restrained molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the nearest neighbor interactions combined with a Genalized Born implicit solvent model were used to assess the lateral, longitudinal, and seam contacts in 13-3 microtubules and the reoriented lateral contacts in the helical filament model. This electrostatic analysis suggests that the change in the lateral interface in the helical filament does not greatly diminish the lateral electrostatic interaction. After longitudinal dissociation, the 13-3 seam interaction is much weaker than the reoriented lateral interface in the helical filament model, providing a plausible atomic-detail explanation for seam-to-lateral contact transition that enables the transition to a helical filament structure. PMID:27539392
A Survey of Quantitative Descriptions of Molecular Structure
Guha, Rajarshi; Willighagen, Egon
Numerical characterization of molecular structure is a first step in many computational analysis of chemical structure data. These numerical representations, termed descriptors, come in many forms, ranging from simple atom counts and invariants of the molecular graph to distribution of properties, such as charge, across a molecular surface. In this article we first present a broad categorization of descriptors and then describe applications and toolkits that can be employed to evaluate them. We highlight a number of issues surrounding molecular descriptor calculations such as versioning and reproducibility and describe how some toolkits have attempted to address these problems. PMID:23110530
Formation of silicon-based molecular electronic structures using flip-chip lamination.
Coll, Mariona; Miller, Lauren H; Richter, Lee J; Hines, Daniel R; Jurchescu, Oana D; Gergel-Hackett, Nadine; Richter, Curt A; Hacker, Christina A
We report the fabrication of molecular electronic test structures consisting of Au-molecule-Si junctions by first forming omega-functionalized self-assembled monolayers on ultrasmooth Au on a flexible substrate and subsequently bonding to Si(111) with flip-chip lamination by using nanotransfer printing (nTP). Infrared spectroscopy (IRS), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), water contact angle (CA), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) verified the monolayers self-assembled on ultrasmooth Au were dense, relatively defect-free, and the -COOH was exposed to the surface. The acid terminated monolayers were then reacted with a H-terminated Si(111) surface using moderate applied pressures to facilitate the interfacial reaction. After molecular junction formation, the monolayers were characterized with p-polarized backside reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (pb-RAIRS) and electrical current-voltage measurements. The monolayer quality remains largely unchanged after lamination to the Si(111) surface, with the exception of changes in the COOH and Si-O vibrations indicating chemical bonding. Both vibrational and electrical data indicate that electrical contact to the monolayer is formed while preserving the integrity of the molecules without metal filaments. This approach provides a facile means to fabricate high-quality molecular junctions consisting of dense monolayers chemically bonded to metal and silicon electrodes. PMID:19670858
Study on effects of substrate temperature on growth and structure of alignment carbon nanotubes in plasma-enhanced hot filament chemical vapor deposition system
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dang, Chun; Wang, Tingzhi
Alignment carbon nanotubes (ACNTs) were synthesized on silicon substrate coated with Ni catalyst film and Ta buffer layer by plasma-enhanced hot filament chemical vapor deposition using CH 4, NH 3, and H 2 as the reaction gas, and they were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. It is found that the diameter of the bamboo-structured ACNTs is increased from 62 to 177 nm when the substrate temperature was changed from 626 to 756 °C. Their growth rate is enhanced by the substrate temperature in a range of 626-683 °C and it is reversely reduced with the substrate temperature after the substrate temperature is over 683 °C. Beginning with wetting phenomenon, the effects of the substrate temperature on the structure and growth rate of the ACNTs are analyzed.
Gray, William J.; Scannapieco, Evan
Intergalactic filaments form the foundation of the cosmic web that connect galaxies together, and provide an important reservoir of gas for galaxy growth and accretion. Here we present very high resolution two-dimensional simulations of the thermal and chemical evolution of such filaments, making use of a 32 species chemistry network that tracks the evolution of key molecules formed from hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon. We study the evolution of filaments over a wide range of parameters including the initial density, initial temperature, strength of the dissociating UV background, and metallicity. In low-redshift, Z Almost-Equal-To 0.1 Z{sub Sun} filaments, the evolution is determined completely by the initial cooling time. If this is sufficiently short, the center of the filament always collapses to form a dense, cold core containing a substantial fraction of molecules. In high-redshift, Z = 10{sup -3} Z{sub Sun} filaments, the collapse proceeds much more slowly. This is mostly due to the lower initial temperatures, which lead to a much more modest increase in density before the atomic cooling limit is reached, making subsequent molecular cooling much less efficient. Finally, we study how the gravitational potential from a nearby dwarf galaxy affects the collapse of the filament and compare this to NGC 5253, a nearby starbursting dwarf galaxy thought to be fueled by the accretion of filament gas. In contrast to our fiducial case, a substantial density peak forms at the center of the potential. This peak evolves faster than the rest of the filament due to the increased rate at which chemical species form and cooling occurs. We find that we achieve similar accretion rates as NGC 5253 but our two-dimensional simulations do not recover the formation of the giant molecular clouds that are seen in radio observations.
Thermal and Chemical Evolution of Collapsing Filaments
Gray, William J.; Scannapieco, Evan
Intergalactic filaments form the foundation of the cosmic web that connect galaxies together, and provide an important reservoir of gas for galaxy growth and accretion. Here we present very high resolution two-dimensional simulations of the thermal and chemical evolution of such filaments, making use of a 32 species chemistry network that tracks the evolution of key molecules formed from hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon. We study the evolution of filaments over a wide range of parameters including the initial density, initial temperature, strength of the dissociating UV background, and metallicity. In low-redshift, Z ≈ 0.1Z⊙ filaments, the evolution is determined completely by the initial cooling time. If this is sufficiently short, the center of the filament always collapses to form dense, cold core containing a substantial fraction of molecules. In high-redshift, Z = 10-3Z⊙ filaments, the collapse proceeds much more slowly. This is due mostly to the lower initial temperatures, which leads to a much more modest increase in density before the atomic cooling limit is reached, making subsequent molecular cooling much less efficient. Finally, we study how the gravitational potential from a nearby dwarf galaxy affects the collapse of the filament and compare this to NGC 5253, a nearby starbusting dwarf galaxy thought to be fueled by the accretion of filament gas. In contrast to our fiducial case, a substantial density peak forms at the center of the potential. This peak evolves faster than the rest of the filament due to the increased rate at which chemical species form and cooling occur. We find that we achieve similar accretion rates as NGC 5253 but our two-dimensional simulations do not recover the formation of the giant molecular clouds that are seen in radio observations.
A Statistical Study of Solar Filament Eruptions
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Schanche, Nicole; Aggarwal, Ashna; Reeves, Kathy; Kempton, Dustin James; Angryk, Rafal
Solar filaments are cool, dark channels of partially-ionized plasma that lie above the chromosphere. Their structure follows the neutral line between local regions of opposite magnetic polarity. Previous research (e.g. Schmieder et al. 2013, McCauley et al. 2015) has shown a positive correlation (70-80%) between the occurrence of filament eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CME's). In this study, we attempt to use properties of the filament in order to predict whether or not a given filament will erupt. This prediction would help to better predict the occurrence of an oncoming CME. To track the evolution of a filament over time, a spatio-temporal algorithm that groups separate filament instances from the Heliophysics Event Knowledgebase (HEK) into filament tracks was developed. Filament features from the HEK metadata, such as length, chirality, and tilt are then combined with other physical features, such as the overlying decay index for two sets of filaments tracks - those that erupt and those that remain bound. Using statistical methods such as the Kolmogrov-Smirnov test and a Random Forest Classifier, we determine the effectiveness of the combined features in prediction. We conclude that there is significant overlap between the properties of filaments that erupt and those that do not, leading to predictions only ~5-10% above chance. However, the changes in features, such as a change in the filament's length over time, were determined to have the highest predictive power. We discuss the possible physical connections with the change in these features."This project has been supported by funding from the Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure within the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, the Division of Astronomical Sciences within the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences within the Directorate for Geosciences, under NSF award #1443061."
Molecular structural studies of human factor VIII.
McKee, P A; Andersen, J C; Switzer, M E
Neither normal nor hemophilic factor VIII protein enters a 5% sosium dodecyl sulfate gel; on reduction, however, a single 195 000-molecular-weight peptide is observed. Hemophilic and normal factor VIII contain carbohydrate and appear identical in subunit molecular weight, electrical charge, and major antigenic determinants. Thrombin activation and inactivation of factor VIII does not detectably change the subunit molecular weight. Trypsin causes similar activity changes and obviously cleaves the factor VIII subunit. Human plasmin destroys factor VIII procoagulant activity and degrades the factor VIII subunit to 103 000-, 88 000-, and 17 000-molecular-weight peptides. Both normal and hemophilic factor VIII as well as thrombin-inactivated factor VIII support ristocetin-induced platelet aggregation. Purified factor VIII chromatographed on 4% agarose in 1.0 M sodium chloride shows no dissociation of the procoagulant activity from the void volume protein. Gel chromatography on 4% agarose in 0.25 M calcium chloride results in a procoagulant activity peak removed from the void volume protein; both peaks contain protein which does not enter a 5% SDS gel, but on reduction a 195 000-molecular-weight subunit band is observed for each. Both the void volume protein peak and the procoagulant activity peak from the 0.25 M calcium chloride-agarose gel column support ristocetin-induced platelet aggregation. After removal of calcium, a small amount of procoagulant activity is present only in the void volume peak. These data suggest that both the procoagulant and von Willebrand activities are on the same molecule. Thus our previous conclusion remains the same: human factor VIII is a large glycoprotein composed of identical 195 000-molecular-weight subunits jointed by disulfide bonds and is responsible for both antihemophilic and von Willebrand activities in human plasma. PMID:122889
Kinetic theory of protein filament growth: Self-consistent methods and perturbative techniques
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Michaels, Thomas C. T.; Knowles, Tuomas P. J.
Filamentous protein structures are of high relevance for the normal functioning of the cell, where they provide the structural component for the cytoskeleton, but are also implicated in the pathogenesis of many disease states. The self-assembly of these supra-molecular structures from monomeric proteins has been studied extensively in the past 50 years and much interest has focused on elucidating the microscopic events that drive linear growth phenomena in a biological setting. Master equations have proven to be particularly fruitful in this context, allowing specific assembly mechanisms to be linked directly to experimental observations of filamentous growth. Recently, these approaches have increasingly been applied to aberrant protein polymerization, elucidating potential implications for controlling or combating the formation of pathological filamentous structures. This article reviews recent theoretical advances in the field of filamentous growth phenomena through the use of the master-equation formalism. We use perturbation and self-consistent methods for obtaining analytical solutions to the rate equations describing fibrillar growth and show how the resulting closed-form expressions can be used to shed light on the general physical laws underlying this complex phenomenon. We also present a connection between the underlying ideas of the self-consistent analysis of filamentous growth and the perturbative renormalization group.
Striation and convection in penumbral filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Spruit, H. C.; Scharmer, G. B.; Löfdahl, M. G.
Observations with the 1-m Swedish Solar Telescope of the flows seen in penumbral filaments are presented. Time sequences of bright filaments show overturning motions strikingly similar to those seen along the walls of small isolated structures in the active regions. The filaments show outward propagating striations with inclination angles suggesting that they are aligned with the local magnetic field. We interpret it as the equivalent of the striations seen in the walls of small isolated magnetic structures. Their origin is then a corrugation of the boundary between an overturning convective flow inside the filament and the magnetic field wrapping around it. The outward propagation is a combination of a pattern motion due to the downflow observed along the sides of bright filaments, and the Evershed flow. The observed short wavelength of the striation argues against the existence of a dynamically significant horizontal field inside the bright filaments. Its intensity contrast is explained by the same physical effect that causes the dark cores of filaments, light bridges and "canals". In this way striation represents an important clue to the physics of penumbral structure and its relation with other magnetic structures on the solar surface. We put this in perspective with results from the recent 3-D radiative hydrodynamic simulations. 4 movies are only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
Differential assembly of alpha- and gamma-filagenins into thick filaments in Caenorhabditis elegans
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Liu, F.; Ortiz, I.; Hutagalung, A.; Bauer, C. C.; Cook, R. G.; Epstein, H. F.
Muscle thick filaments are highly organized supramolecular assemblies of myosin and associated proteins with lengths, diameters and flexural rigidities characteristic of their source. The cores of body wall muscle thick filaments of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans are tubular structures of paramyosin sub-filaments coupled by filagenins and have been proposed to serve as templates for the assembly of native thick filaments. We have characterized alpha- and gamma-filagenins, two novel proteins of the cores with calculated molecular masses of 30,043 and 19,601 and isoelectric points of 10.52 and 11.49, respectively. Western blot and immunoelectron microscopy using affinity-purified antibodies confirmed that the two proteins are core components. Immunoelectron microscopy of the cores revealed that they assemble with different periodicities. Immunofluorescence microscopy showed that alpha-filagenin is localized in the medial regions of the A-bands of body wall muscle cells whereas gamma-filagenin is localized in the flanking regions, and that alpha-filagenin is expressed in 1.5-twofold embryos while gamma-filagenin becomes detectable only in late vermiform embryos. The expression of both proteins continues throughout later stages of development. C. elegans body wall muscle thick filaments of these developmental stages have distinct lengths. Our results suggest that the differential assembly of alpha- and gamma-filagenins into thick filaments of distinct lengths may be developmentally regulated.
A new paradigm for solar filament eruptions
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Rust, David M.
This article discusses the formation, magnetic structure, and eruption of solar filaments in terms of two contrasting paradigms. The standard paradigm is that filaments are formed by condensation of plasma on coronal magnetic fields that are twisted or dimpled as a result of photospheric motions. According to this paradigm, filaments erupt when photospheric motions shear the fields, increasing their energy and decreasing their stability. According to a new paradigm, subsurface motions generate toroidal magnetic flux ropes, and after these flux ropes emerge to form active regions, the most twisted parts migrate into the corona to form filaments. Filaments become unstable and are ejected after a sufficient accumulation of twist (i.e., magnetic helicity). Various proposed mechanisms for producing the needed helicity are reviewed, and several observational tests are proposed to differentiate among the possible mechanisms.
Externally refuelled optical filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Scheller, Maik; Mills, Matthew S.; Miri, Mohammad-Ali; Cheng, Weibo; Moloney, Jerome V.; Kolesik, Miroslav; Polynkin, Pavel; Christodoulides, Demetrios N.
Plasma channels produced in air through femtosecond laser filamentation hold great promise for a number of applications, including remote sensing, attosecond physics and spectroscopy, channelling microwaves and lightning protection. In such settings, extended filaments are desirable, yet their longitudinal span is limited by dissipative processes. Although various techniques aiming to prolong this process have been explored, the substantial extension of optical filaments remains a challenge. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that the natural range of a plasma column can be enhanced by at least an order of magnitude when the filament is prudently accompanied by an auxiliary beam. In this arrangement, the secondary low-intensity `dressing' beam propagates linearly and acts as a distributed energy reservoir, continuously refuelling the optical filament. Our approach offers an efficient and viable route towards the generation of extended light strings in air without inducing premature wave collapse or an undesirable beam break-up into multiple filaments.
Electron microscopic imaging revealed the flexible filamentous structure of the cell attachment protein P2 of Rice dwarf virus located around the icosahedral 5-fold axes.
Miyazaki, Naoyuki; Higashiura, Akifumi; Higashiura, Tomoko; Akita, Fusamichi; Hibino, Hiroyuki; Omura, Toshihiro; Nakagawa, Atsushi; Iwasaki, Kenji
The minor outer capsid protein P2 of Rice dwarf virus (RDV), a member of the genus Phytoreovirus in the family Reoviridae, is essential for viral cell entry. Here, we clarified the structure of P2 and the interactions to host insect cells. Negative stain electron microscopy (EM) showed that P2 proteins are monomeric and flexible L-shaped filamentous structures of ∼20 nm in length. Cryo-EM structure revealed the spatial arrangement of P2 in the capsid, which was prescribed by the characteristic virion structure. The P2 proteins were visualized as partial rod-shaped structures of ∼10 nm in length in the cryo-EM map and accommodated in crevasses on the viral surface around icosahedral 5-fold axes with hydrophobic interactions. The remaining disordered region of P2 assumed to be extended to the radial direction towards exterior. Electron tomography clearly showed that RDV particles were away from the cellular membrane at a uniform distance and several spike-like densities, probably corresponding to P2, connecting a viral particle to the host cellular membrane during cell entry. By combining the in vitro and in vivo structural information, we could gain new insights into the detailed mechanism of the cell entry of RDV. PMID:26374901
The global velocity field of the filament in NGC 6334
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zernickel, A.; Schilke, P.; Smith, R. J.
Aims: Star formation involves the collapse of gas from the scale of giant molecular clouds down to dense cores. Our aim is to trace the velocities in the filamentary, massive star-forming region NGC 6334 and to explain its dynamics. Methods: The main filament was mapped with the single-dish telescope APEX in HCO+ (J = 3-2) at 267.6 GHz to trace the dense gas. In order to reproduce the position-velocity diagram, we use a 3D radiative transfer code and create a model of a cylinder that undergoes a gravitational collapse toward its center. Results: We find a velocity gradient in the filament from the end toward its center, with the highest masses being found at both ends. Similar velocities have been predicted by recent calculations of the gravitational collapse of a sheet or cylinder of gas, and the observed velocities are consistent with these predictions. The 3D structure is revealed by taking the inclination and curvature of the filament into account. The free-fall collapse timescale of the filamentary molecular cloud is estimated to be ~1 Myr. This publication is based on data acquired with the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX). APEX is a collaboration between the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, the European Southern Observatory, and the Onsala Space Observatory.
Colour Chemistry, Part I, Principles, Colour, and Molecular Structure
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hallas, G.
Discusses various topics in color chemistry, including the electromagnetic spectrum, the absorption and reflection of light, additive and subtractive color mixing, and the molecular structure of simple colored substances. (MLH)
The near-atomic cryoEM structure of a flexible filamentous plant virus shows homology of its coat protein with nucleoproteins of animal viruses
Agirrezabala, Xabier; Méndez-López, Eduardo; Lasso, Gorka; Sánchez-Pina, M Amelia; Aranda, Miguel; Valle, Mikel
Flexible filamentous viruses include economically important plant pathogens. Their viral particles contain several hundred copies of a helically arrayed coat protein (CP) protecting a (+)ssRNA. We describe here a structure at 3.9 Å resolution, from electron cryomicroscopy, of Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV), a representative of the genus Potexvirus (family Alphaflexiviridae). Our results allow modeling of the CP and its interactions with viral RNA. The overall fold of PepMV CP resembles that of nucleoproteins (NPs) from the genus Phlebovirus (family Bunyaviridae), a group of enveloped (-)ssRNA viruses. The main difference between potexvirus CP and phlebovirus NP is in their C-terminal extensions, which appear to determine the characteristics of the distinct multimeric assemblies – a flexuous, helical rod or a loose ribonucleoprotein. The homology suggests gene transfer between eukaryotic (+) and (-)ssRNA viruses. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.11795.001 PMID:26673077
The near-atomic cryoEM structure of a flexible filamentous plant virus shows homology of its coat protein with nucleoproteins of animal viruses.
Agirrezabala, Xabier; Méndez-López, Eduardo; Lasso, Gorka; Sánchez-Pina, M Amelia; Aranda, Miguel; Valle, Mikel
Flexible filamentous viruses include economically important plant pathogens. Their viral particles contain several hundred copies of a helically arrayed coat protein (CP) protecting a (+)ssRNA. We describe here a structure at 3.9 Å resolution, from electron cryomicroscopy, of Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV), a representative of the genus Potexvirus (family Alphaflexiviridae). Our results allow modeling of the CP and its interactions with viral RNA. The overall fold of PepMV CP resembles that of nucleoproteins (NPs) from the genus Phlebovirus (family Bunyaviridae), a group of enveloped (-)ssRNA viruses. The main difference between potexvirus CP and phlebovirus NP is in their C-terminal extensions, which appear to determine the characteristics of the distinct multimeric assemblies - a flexuous, helical rod or a loose ribonucleoprotein. The homology suggests gene transfer between eukaryotic (+) and (-)ssRNA viruses. PMID:26673077
Structural hierarchy in molecular films of two class II hydrophobins.
Paananen, Arja; Vuorimaa, Elina; Torkkeli, Mika; Penttilä, Merja; Kauranen, Martti; Ikkala, Olli; Lemmetyinen, Helge; Serimaa, Ritva; Linder, Markus B
Hydrophobins are highly surface-active proteins that are specific to filamentous fungi. They function as coatings on various fungal structures, enable aerial growth of hyphae, and facilitate attachment to surfaces. Little is known about their structures and structure-function relationships. In this work we show highly organized surface layers of hydrophobins, representing the most detailed structural study of hydrophobin films so far. Langmuir-Blodgett films of class II hydrophobins HFBI and HFBII from Trichoderma reesei were prepared and analyzed by atomic force microscopy. The films showed highly ordered two-dimensional crystalline structures. By combining our recent results on small-angle X-ray scattering of hydrophobin solutions, we found that the unit cells in the films have dimensions similar to those of tetrameric aggregates found in solutions. Further analysis leads to a model in which the building blocks of the two-dimensional crystals are shape-persistent supramolecules consisting of four hydrophobin molecules. The results also indicate functional and structural differences between HFBI and HFBII that help to explain differences in their properties. The possibility that the highly organized surface assemblies of hydrophobins could allow a route for manufacturing functional surfaces is suggested. PMID:12731866
Modeling Polymorphic Molecular Crystals with Electronic Structure Theory.
Beran, Gregory J O
Interest in molecular crystals has grown thanks to their relevance to pharmaceuticals, organic semiconductor materials, foods, and many other applications. Electronic structure methods have become an increasingly important tool for modeling molecular crystals and polymorphism. This article reviews electronic structure techniques used to model molecular crystals, including periodic density functional theory, periodic second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory, fragment-based electronic structure methods, and diffusion Monte Carlo. It also discusses the use of these models for predicting a variety of crystal properties that are relevant to the study of polymorphism, including lattice energies, structures, crystal structure prediction, polymorphism, phase diagrams, vibrational spectroscopies, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Finally, tools for analyzing crystal structures and intermolecular interactions are briefly discussed. PMID:27008426
Physical properties of cytoplasmic intermediate filaments.
Block, Johanna; Schroeder, Viktor; Pawelzyk, Paul; Willenbacher, Norbert; Köster, Sarah
Intermediate filaments (IFs) constitute a sophisticated filament system in the cytoplasm of eukaryotes. They form bundles and networks with adapted viscoelastic properties and are strongly interconnected with the other filament types, microfilaments and microtubules. IFs are cell type specific and apart from biochemical functions, they act as mechanical entities to provide stability and resilience to cells and tissues. We review the physical properties of these abundant structural proteins including both in vitro studies and cell experiments. IFs are hierarchical structures and their physical properties seem to a large part be encoded in the very specific architecture of the biopolymers. Thus, we begin our review by presenting the assembly mechanism, followed by the mechanical properties of individual filaments, network and structure formation due to electrostatic interactions, and eventually the mechanics of in vitro and cellular networks. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Mechanobiology. PMID:25975455
Adaptive modelling of structured molecular representations for toxicity prediction
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bertinetto, Carlo; Duce, Celia; Micheli, Alessio; Solaro, Roberto; Tiné, Maria Rosaria
We investigated the possibility of modelling structure-toxicity relationships by direct treatment of the molecular structure (without using descriptors) through an adaptive model able to retain the appropriate structural information. With respect to traditional descriptor-based approaches, this provides a more general and flexible way to tackle prediction problems that is particularly suitable when little or no background knowledge is available. Our method employs a tree-structured molecular representation, which is processed by a recursive neural network (RNN). To explore the realization of RNN modelling in toxicological problems, we employed a data set containing growth impairment concentrations (IGC50) for Tetrahymena pyriformis.
Instructional Approach to Molecular Electronic Structure Theory
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Dykstra, Clifford E.; Schaefer, Henry F.
Describes a graduate quantum mechanics projects in which students write a computer program that performs ab initio calculations on the electronic structure of a simple molecule. Theoretical potential energy curves are produced. (MLH)
Synthesis and molecular structure of gold triarylcorroles.
Thomas, Kolle E; Alemayehu, Abraham B; Conradie, Jeanet; Beavers, Christine; Ghosh, Abhik
A number of third-row transition-metal corroles have remained elusive as synthetic targets until now, notably osmium, platinum, and gold corroles. Against this backdrop, we present a simple and general synthesis of β-unsubstituted gold(III) triarylcorroles and the first X-ray crystal structure of such a complex. Comparison with analogous copper and silver corrole structures, supplemented by extensive scalar-relativistic, dispersion-corrected density functional theory calculations, suggests that "inherent saddling" may occur for of all coinage metal corroles. The degree of saddling, however, varies considerably among the three metals, decreasing conspicuously along the series Cu > Ag > Au. The structural differences reflect significant differences in metal-corrole bonding, which are also reflected in the electrochemistry and electronic absorption spectra of the complexes. From Cu to Au, the electronic structure changes from noninnocent metal(II)-corrole(•2-) to relatively innocent metal(III)-corrole(3-). PMID:22111600
Assembly of bipolar microtubule structures by passive cross-linkers and molecular motors
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Johann, D.; Goswami, D.; Kruse, K.
During cell division, sister chromatids are segregated by the mitotic spindle, a bipolar assembly of interdigitating antiparallel polar filaments called microtubules. The spindle contains the midzone, a stable region of overlapping antiparallel microtubules, that is essential for maintaining bipolarity. Although a lot is known about the molecular players involved, the mechanism underlying midzone formation and maintenance is still poorly understood. We study the interaction of polar filaments that are cross-linked by molecular motors moving directionally and by passive cross-linkers diffusing along microtubules. Using a particle-based stochastic model, we find that the interplay of motors and passive cross-linkers can generate a stable finite overlap between a pair of antiparallel polar filaments. We develop a mean-field theory to study this mechanism in detail and investigate the influence of steric interactions between motors and passive cross-linkers on the overlap dynamics. In the presence of interspecies steric interactions, passive cross-linkers mimic the behavior of molecular motors and stable finite overlaps are generated even for non-cross-linking motors. Finally, we develop a mean-field theory for a bundle of aligned polar filaments and show that they can self-organize into a spindlelike pattern. Our work suggests possible ways as to how cells can generate spindle midzones and control their extensions.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ruiz, Michael J.; Perkins, James
We safely remove the outer glass bulb from an incandescent lamp and burn up the tungsten filament after the glass is removed. This demonstration dramatically illustrates the necessity of a vacuum or inert gas for the environment surrounding the tungsten filament inside the bulb. Our approach has added historical importance since the incandescent light bulb is being replaced by compact fluorescent and LED lamps.
SMART Observation of Magnetic Helicity in Solar Filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hagino, M.; Kitai, R.; Shibata, K.
We examined the magnetic helicity of solar filaments from their structure in the chromosphere and corona. The H-alpha telescope of the Solar Magnetic Activity Research Telescope (SMART) observed 239 intermediate filaments from 2005 July 1 to 2006 May 15. The intermediate filament usually locates between two active regions. Using these images, we identified the filament spine and its barbs, and determined the chromospheric filament helicity from the mean angle between each barbs and a spine. We found that 71% (78 of 110) of intermediate filaments in the northern hemisphere are negative helicity and 67% (87 of 129) of filaments in the southern hemisphere are positive, which agreed with the well-known hemispheric tendency of the magnetic helicity. Additionally, we studied the coronal helicity of intermediate filaments. The coronal filament helicity is defined as the crossing angle of threads formed a filament. The helicity pattern of coronal filaments obtained with EIT/SOHO 171A also shows the helicity hemispheric tendency. Namely, 65% (71 of 110) of coronal filaments in the northern hemisphere exhibit negative helicity and the 65% (84 of 129) of filaments in the southern hemisphere show negative helicity. These data were observed in the same day with the SMART H-alpha data. Moreover, we found 12 filament eruptions in our data. The 7 of 12 filaments show the clear opposite sign of the hemispheric tendency of the magnetic helicity. The helicity seems to be change during temporal evolution. This results suggest that filament instability may be driven by the opposite sign helicity injection from the foot point of the barb.
Molecular cloning, structural analysis, and tissue expression of the TNNT3 gene in Guizhou black goat.
Chen, Haolin; Zhang, Jinhua; Yu, Bo; Li, Liang; Shang, Yishun
The vertebrate fast skeletal troponin T (TNNT3) protein is an important regulatory and structural component of thin filaments in skeletal muscle, which improves meat quality traits of livestock and poultry. In this study, the troponin T isoforms from adult goat (skeletal muscle mRNA) were identified. We isolated the full-length coding sequence of the goat TNNT3 gene (GenBank: KM042888), analyzed its structure, and investigated its expression in different tissues from different aged goats (10, 30, 90, 180, and 360 days old). Real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses revealed that Guizhou black goat TNNT3 was highly expressed in the biceps femoris muscle, abdominal muscle, and longissimus dorsi muscle (P<0.01), and lowly expressed in the cardiac muscle, masseter muscle, and rumen tissue (P>0.05). Western blotting confirmed that the TNNT3 protein was expressed in the muscle tissues listed above, with the highest level found in the longissimus dorsi muscle, and the lowest level in the masseter muscle. In the 10 to 360day study period the TNNT3 protein expression level was the highest when the goats were 30 days old. A peptide, ASPPPAEVPEVHEEVH that may contribute to improved goat meat tenderness was identified. This study provides an insight into the molecular structure of the vertebrate TNNT3 gene. PMID:26187066
Role and structural mechanism of WASP-triggered conformational changes in branched actin filament nucleation by Arp2/3 complex.
Rodnick-Smith, Max; Luan, Qing; Liu, Su-Ling; Nolen, Brad J
The Arp2/3 (Actin-related proteins 2/3) complex is activated by WASP (Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein) family proteins to nucleate branched actin filaments that are important for cellular motility. WASP recruits actin monomers to the complex and stimulates movement of Arp2 and Arp3 into a "short-pitch" conformation that mimics the arrangement of actin subunits within filaments. The relative contribution of these functions in Arp2/3 complex activation and the mechanism by which WASP stimulates the conformational change have been unknown. We purified budding yeast Arp2/3 complex held in or near the short-pitch conformation by an engineered covalent cross-link to determine if the WASP-induced conformational change is sufficient for activity. Remarkably, cross-linked Arp2/3 complex bypasses the need for WASP in activation and is more active than WASP-activated Arp2/3 complex. These data indicate that stimulation of the short-pitch conformation is the critical activating function of WASP and that monomer delivery is not a fundamental requirement for nucleation but is a specific requirement for WASP-mediated activation. During activation, WASP limits nucleation rates by releasing slowly from nascent branches. The cross-linked complex is inhibited by WASP's CA region, even though CA potently stimulates cross-linking, suggesting that slow WASP detachment masks the activating potential of the short-pitch conformational switch. We use structure-based mutations and WASP-Arp fusion chimeras to determine how WASP stimulates movement toward the short-pitch conformation. Our data indicate that WASP displaces the autoinhibitory Arp3 C-terminal tail from a hydrophobic groove at Arp3's barbed end to destabilize the inactive state, providing a mechanism by which WASP stimulates the short-pitch conformation and activates Arp2/3 complex. PMID:27325766
Mechanics of vimentin intermediate filaments
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Wang, Ning; Stamenovic, Dimitrijie
It is increasingly evident that the cytoskeleton of living cells plays important roles in mechanical and biological functions of the cells. Here we focus on the contribution of intermediate filaments (IFs) to the mechanical behaviors of living cells. Vimentin, a major structural component of IFs in many cell types, is shown to play an important role in vital mechanical and biological functions such as cell contractility, migration, stiffness, stiffening, and proliferation.
Dynamic Filament Formation by a Divergent Bacterial Actin-Like ParM Protein
Brzoska, Anthony J.; Jensen, Slade O.; Barton, Deborah A.; Davies, Danielle S.; Overall, Robyn L.; Skurray, Ronald A.; Firth, Neville
Actin-like proteins (Alps) are a diverse family of proteins whose genes are abundant in the chromosomes and mobile genetic elements of many bacteria. The low-copy-number staphylococcal multiresistance plasmid pSK41 encodes ParM, an Alp involved in efficient plasmid partitioning. pSK41 ParM has previously been shown to form filaments in vitro that are structurally dissimilar to those formed by other bacterial Alps. The mechanistic implications of these differences are not known. In order to gain insights into the properties and behavior of the pSK41 ParM Alp in vivo, we reconstituted the parMRC system in the ectopic rod-shaped host, E. coli, which is larger and more genetically amenable than the native host, Staphylococcus aureus. Fluorescence microscopy showed a functional fusion protein, ParM-YFP, formed straight filaments in vivo when expressed in isolation. Strikingly, however, in the presence of ParR and parC, ParM-YFP adopted a dramatically different structure, instead forming axial curved filaments. Time-lapse imaging and selective photobleaching experiments revealed that, in the presence of all components of the parMRC system, ParM-YFP filaments were dynamic in nature. Finally, molecular dissection of the parMRC operon revealed that all components of the system are essential for the generation of dynamic filaments. PMID:27310470
3D-QSAR and molecular mechanics study for the differences in the azole activity against yeastlike and filamentous fungi and their relation to P450DM inhibition. 1. 3-substituted-4(3H)-quinazolinones.
Fratev, Filip; Benfenati, Emilio
A combination between 3D-QSAR and molecular mechanics (MM)-docking study was used as a tool to detail and model the mechanism of action of 46 antifungal azoles. Two methods of alignment of the ligands were performed: (i) alignment of the main skeleton without substituents and (ii) alignment of a defined substructure. The best model is characterized by q(2) with the values of 0.70 for yeastlike (yeast), 0.66 for filamentous fungi, and 0.70 for the selectivity against filamentous fungi. 3D-QSAR regression maps derived from six models were used to identify the regions responsible for the differences in the compounds activity against yeast and filamentous fungi. The binding energy of the important substructures (Local Binding Energy-LBE) and its standard deviation were calculated in order to demonstrate quantitatively the contribution of substituents reflecting the diversity of the antifungal activity. The comparisons of these results with the same regions of the contour maps indicated a good correspondence between the 3D-QSAR and MM (LBE) approaches allowing association between the maps and the participating residues in the active sites of P450DM of C. albicans and A. fumigatus. The pi-pi interactions of two or more aromatic groups of the ligands with Phe228 and Tyr132 prove to be most important for the differences in activity against C. albicans. In A. fumigatus there was a better occupation of the inner central I-spiral in the areas around the heme. For the activity against A. fumigatus the pi-pi interactions of aromatic groups of the compounds with Phe509, Phe228, and Tyr132 are significant for the activity. PMID:15921453
Liquid oxygen-compatible filament-winding matrix resin
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Harrison, E. S.
Polyurethanes derived from hydroxy terminated polyperfluoro propylene oxide prepolymers were evaluated as matrix resins for filament wound composites which would be exposed to liquid (and 100% gaseous) oxygen environments. A number of structural modifications were brought about by variations in prepolymer molecular weight, and alternative curing agents which allowed retention of the oxygen compatibility. Although satisfactory performance was achieved at sub-ambient temperatures, the derived composites suffered considerable property loss at ambient or slightly elevated temperatures. To attain overall effectiveness of the composite system, upgrading of the polymer thermomechanical properties must first be achieved.
Sequential myosin phosphorylation activates tarantula thick filament via a disorder-order transition.
Espinoza-Fonseca, L Michel; Alamo, Lorenzo; Pinto, Antonio; Thomas, David D; Padrón, Raúl
Phosphorylation of myosin regulatory light chain (RLC) N-terminal extension (NTE) activates myosin in thick filaments. RLC phosphorylation plays a primary regulatory role in smooth muscles and a secondary (modulatory) role in striated muscles, which is regulated by Ca(2+)via TnC/TM on the thin filament. Tarantula striated muscle exhibits both regulatory systems: one switches on/off contraction through thin filament regulation, and another through PKC constitutively Ser35 phosphorylated swaying free heads in the thick filaments that produces quick force on twitches regulated from 0 to 50% and modulation is accomplished recruiting additional force-potentiating free and blocked heads via Ca(2+)4-CaM-MLCK Ser45 phosphorylation. We have used microsecond molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of tarantula RLC NTE to understand the structural basis for phosphorylation-based regulation in tarantula thick filament activation. Trajectory analysis revealed that an inter-domain salt bridge network (R39/E58,E61) facilitates the formation of a stable helix-coil-helix (HCH) motif formed by helices P and A in the unphosphorylated NTE of both myosin heads. Phosphorylation of the blocked head on Ser45 does not induce any substantial structural changes. However, phosphorylation of the free head on Ser35 disrupts this salt bridge network and induces a partial extension of helix P along RLC helix A. While not directly participating in the HCH folding, phosphorylation of Ser35 unlocks a compact structure and allows the NTE to spontaneously undergo coil-helix transitions. The modest structural change induced by the subsequent Ser45 diphosphorylation monophosphorylated Ser35 free head facilitates full helix P extension into a single structurally stable α-helix through a network of intra-domain salt bridges (pS35/R38,R39,R42). We conclude that tarantula thick filament activation is controlled by sequential Ser35-Ser45 phosphorylation via a conserved disorder-to-order transition. PMID
Sequential Myosin Phosphorylation Activates Tarantula Thick Filament via a Disorder-Order Transition
Espinoza-Fonseca, L. Michel; Alamo, Lorenzo; Pinto, Antonio; Thomas, David D.; Padrón, Raúl
Phosphorylation of myosin regulatory light chain (RLC) N-terminal extension (NTE) activates myosin in thick filaments. RLC phosphorylation plays a primary regulatory role in smooth muscle and a secondary (modulatory) role in striated muscle, which is regulated by Ca2+ via TnC/TM on the thin filament. Tarantula striated muscle exhibits both regulatory systems: one switches on/off contraction through thin filament regulation, and another through PKC constitutively Ser35 phosphorylated swaying free heads in the thick filaments that produces quick force on twitches regulated from 0 to 50% and modulation is accomplished recruiting additional force-potentiating free and blocked heads via Ca2+4-CaM-MLCK Ser45 phosphorylation. We have used microsecond molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of tarantula RLC NTE to understand the structural basis for phosphorylation-based regulation in tarantula thick filament activation. Trajectories analysis revealed that an inter-domain salt bridges network (R39/E58,E61) facilitates formation of a stable helix-coil-helix (HCH) motif made up by helices P and A in the unphosphorylated NTE of both myosin heads. Phosphorylation of blocked head on Ser45 does not induce any substantial structural change. However, phosphorylation of free head on Ser35 disrupts this salt bridge network and induces a partial extension of helix P along RLC helix A. While not directly participating in the HCH inter-domain folding, phosphorylation of Ser35 unlocks compact structure and allows the NTE to spontaneously undergo coil-helix transitions. The modest structural change induced by subsequent Ser45 diphosphorylation monophosphorylated Ser35 free head, facilitates full helix P extension into a single structurally stable α-helix through a network of intra-domain salt bridges (pS35/R38,R39,R42). We conclude that tarantula thick filament activation is controlled by sequential Ser35-Ser45 phosphorylation via a conserved disorder-to-order transition. PMID:26038232
Molecular gymnastics: serpin structure, folding and misfolding.
Whisstock, James C; Bottomley, Stephen P
The native state of serpins represents a long-lived intermediate or metastable structure on the serpin folding pathway. Upon interaction with a protease, the serpin trap is sprung and the molecule continues to fold into a more stable conformation. However, thermodynamic stability can also be achieved through alternative, unproductive folding pathways that result in the formation of inactive conformations. Our increasing understanding of the mechanism of protease inhibition and the dynamics of native serpin structures has begun to reveal how evolution has harnessed the actual process of protein folding (rather than the final folded outcome) to elegantly achieve function. The cost of using metastability for function, however, is an increased propensity for misfolding. PMID:17079131
Hierarchical composition of the axial filament from spicules of the siliceous sponge Suberites domuncula: from biosilica-synthesizing nanofibrils to structure- and morphology-guiding triangular stems.
Müller, Werner E G; Mugnaioli, Enrico; Schröder, Heinz C; Schloßmacher, Ute; Giovine, Marco; Kolb, Ute; Wang, Xiaohong
The major structural and enzymatically active protein in spicules from siliceous sponges, e.g., for Suberites domuncula studied here, is silicatein. Silicatein has been established to be the key enzyme that catalyzes the formation of biosilica, a polymer that represents the inorganic scaffold for the spicule. In the present study, it is shown, by application of high-resolution transmission and scanning transmission electron microscopy that, during the initial phase of spicule synthesis, nanofibrils with a diameter of around 10 nm are formed that comprise bundles of between 10 and 20 nanofibrils. In intracellular vacuoles, silicasomes, the nanofibrils form polar structures with a pointed tip and a blunt end. In a time-dependent manner, these nanofibrillar bundles become embedded into a Si-rich matrix, indicative for the formation of biosilica via silicatein molecules that form the nanofibrils. These biosilicified nanofibrillar bundles become extruded from the intracellular space, where they are located in the silicasomes, to the extracellular environment by an evagination process, during which a cellular protrusion forms the axial canal in the growing spicule. The nanofibrillar bundles condense and progressively form the axial filament that becomes localized in the extracellular space. It is concluded that the silicatein-composing nanofibrils act not only as enzymatic silica bio-condensing platforms but also as a structure-giving guidance for the growing spicule. PMID:23135475
Molecular Eigensolution Symmetry Analysis and Fine Structure
Harter, William G.; Mitchell, Justin C.
Spectra of high-symmetry molecules contain fine and superfine level cluster structure related to J-tunneling between hills and valleys on rovibronic energy surfaces (RES). Such graphic visualizations help disentangle multi-level dynamics, selection rules, and state mixing effects including widespread violation of nuclear spin symmetry species. A review of RES analysis compares it to that of potential energy surfaces (PES) used in Born–Oppenheimer approximations. Both take advantage of adiabatic coupling in order to visualize Hamiltonian eigensolutions. RES of symmetric and D2 asymmetric top rank-2-tensor Hamiltonians are compared with Oh spherical top rank-4-tensor fine-structure clusters of 6-fold and 8-fold tunneling multiplets. Then extreme 12-fold and 24-fold multiplets are analyzed by RES plots of higher rank tensor Hamiltonians. Such extreme clustering is rare in fundamental bands but prevalent in hot bands, and analysis of its superfine structure requires more efficient labeling and a more powerful group theory. This is introduced using elementary examples involving two groups of order-6 (C6 and D3~C3v), then applied to families of Oh clusters in SF6 spectra and to extreme clusters. PMID:23344041
Sympathetic Solar Filament Eruptions
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wang, Rui; Liu, Ying D.; Zimovets, Ivan; Hu, Huidong; Dai, Xinghua; Yang, Zhongwei
The 2015 March 15 coronal mass ejection as one of the two that together drove the largest geomagnetic storm of solar cycle 24 so far was associated with sympathetic filament eruptions. We investigate the relations between the different filaments involved in the eruption. A surge-like small-scale filament motion is confirmed as the trigger that initiated the erupting filament with multi-wavelength observations and using a forced magnetic field extrapolation method. When the erupting filament moved to an open magnetic field region, it experienced an obvious acceleration process and was accompanied by a C-class flare and the rise of another larger filament that eventually failed to erupt. We measure the decay index of the background magnetic field, which presents a critical height of 118 Mm. Combining with a potential field source surface extrapolation method, we analyze the distributions of the large-scale magnetic field, which indicates that the open magnetic field region may provide a favorable condition for F2 rapid acceleration and have some relation with the largest solar storm. The comparison between the successful and failed filament eruptions suggests that the confining magnetic field plays an important role in the preconditions for an eruption.
Toala, Jesus A.; Vazquez-Semadeni, Enrique; Gomez, Gilberto C.
Molecular clouds often exhibit filamentary or sheet-like shapes. We compute the free-fall time ({tau}{sub ff}) for finite, uniform, self-gravitating circular sheets and filamentary clouds of small but finite thickness, so that their volume density {rho} can still be defined. We find that, for thin sheets, the free-fall time is larger than that of a uniform sphere with the same volume density by a factor proportional to {radical}A, where the aspect ratio A is given by A = R/h, R being the sheet's radius and h is its thickness. For filamentary clouds, the aspect ratio is defined as A=L/R, where L is the filament's half-length and R is its (small) radius, and the modification factor is more complicated, although in the limit of large A it again reduces to nearly {radical}A. We propose that our result for filamentary shapes naturally explains the ubiquitous configuration of clumps fed by filaments observed in the densest structures of molecular clouds. Also, the longer free-fall times for non-spherical geometries in general may contribute toward partially alleviating the 'star formation conundrum', namely, the star formation rate in the Galaxy appears to be proceeding in a timescale much larger than the total molecular mass in the Galaxy divided by its typical free-fall time. If molecular clouds are in general formed by thin sheets and long filaments, then their relevant free-fall time may have been systematically underestimated, possibly by factors of up to one order of magnitude.
Complementary molecular information changes our perception of food web structure
Wirta, Helena K.; Hebert, Paul D. N.; Kaartinen, Riikka; Prosser, Sean W.; Várkonyi, Gergely; Roslin, Tomas
How networks of ecological interactions are structured has a major impact on their functioning. However, accurately resolving both the nodes of the webs and the links between them is fraught with difficulties. We ask whether the new resolution conferred by molecular information changes perceptions of network structure. To probe a network of antagonistic interactions in the High Arctic, we use two complementary sources of molecular data: parasitoid DNA sequenced from the tissues of their hosts and host DNA sequenced from the gut of adult parasitoids. The information added by molecular analysis radically changes the properties of interaction structure. Overall, three times as many interaction types were revealed by combining molecular information from parasitoids and hosts with rearing data, versus rearing data alone. At the species level, our results alter the perceived host specificity of parasitoids, the parasitoid load of host species, and the web-wide role of predators with a cryptic lifestyle. As the northernmost network of host–parasitoid interactions quantified, our data point exerts high leverage on global comparisons of food web structure. However, how we view its structure will depend on what information we use: compared with variation among networks quantified at other sites, the properties of our web vary as much or much more depending on the techniques used to reconstruct it. We thus urge ecologists to combine multiple pieces of evidence in assessing the structure of interaction webs, and suggest that current perceptions of interaction structure may be strongly affected by the methods used to construct them. PMID:24449902
Production, characterization, and modeling of mineral filled polypropylene filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
George, Brian Robert
filaments increased with the increase in concentration of filler. The tensile tenacity, strain, and modulus were modeled with current composite models for particulate filled composites. The tenacity and strain models did not accurately predict the properties of the filaments, while the modulus models were more accurate, perhaps because the agglomerations of filler did not affect the modulus as much as it affected the tenacity and strain of the filaments. Production, characterization, and modeling of these filaments indicates that there are many areas for improvements, such as improved mixing of the filler and polypropylene, increased adhesion between matrix and filler, and decreased agglomerations of filler. Mechanically, these filaments can not match the properties of bone. However, they do have many structural similarities at the micro-mechanical level, so with some improvements in properties these filaments may be suitable models for modeling bone behavior.
Giant Molecular Cloud Structure and Evolution
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Hollenbach, David (Technical Monitor); Bodenheimer, P. H.
Bodenheimer and Burkert extended earlier calculations of cloud core models to study collapse and fragmentation. The initial condition for an SPH collapse calculation is the density distribution of a Bonnor-Ebert sphere, with near balance between turbulent plus thermal energy and gravitational energy. The main parameter is the turbulent Mach number. For each Mach number several runs are made, each with a different random realization of the initial turbulent velocity field. The turbulence decays on a dynamical time scale, leading the cloud into collapse. The collapse proceeds isothermally until the density has increased to about 10(exp 13) g cm(exp -3). Then heating is included in the dense regions. The nature of the fragmentation is investigated. About 15 different runs have been performed with Mach numbers ranging from 0.3 to 3.5 (the typical value observed in molecular cloud cores is 0.7). The results show a definite trend of increasing multiplicity with increasing Mach number (M), with the number of fragments approximately proportional to (1 + M). In general, this result agrees with that of Fisher, Klein, and McKee who published three cases with an AMR grid code. However our results show that there is a large spread about this curve. For example, for M=0.3 one case resulted in no fragmentation while a second produced three fragments. Thus it is not only the value of M but also the details of the superposition of the various velocity modes that play a critical role in the formation of binaries. Also, the simulations produce a wide range of separations (10-1000 AU) for the multiple systems, in rough agreement with observations. These results are discussed in two conference proceedings.
Ionization probes of molecular structure and chemistry
Johnson, P.M.
Various photoionization processes provide very sensitive probes for the detection and understanding of the spectra of molecules relevant to combustion processes. The detection of ionization can be selective by using resonant multiphoton ionization or by exploiting the fact that different molecules have different sets of ionization potentials. Therefore, the structure and dynamics of individual molecules can be studied even in a mixed sample. The authors are continuing to develop methods for the selective spectroscopic detection of molecules by ionization, and to use these methods for the study of some molecules of combustion interest.
A Robust Actin Filaments Image Analysis Framework.
Alioscha-Perez, Mitchel; Benadiba, Carine; Goossens, Katty; Kasas, Sandor; Dietler, Giovanni; Willaert, Ronnie; Sahli, Hichem
The cytoskeleton is a highly dynamical protein network that plays a central role in numerous cellular physiological processes, and is traditionally divided into three components according to its chemical composition, i.e. actin, tubulin and intermediate filament cytoskeletons. Understanding the cytoskeleton dynamics is of prime importance to unveil mechanisms involved in cell adaptation to any stress type. Fluorescence imaging of cytoskeleton structures allows analyzing the impact of mechanical stimulation in the cytoskeleton, but it also imposes additional challenges in the image processing stage, such as the presence of imaging-related artifacts and heavy blurring introduced by (high-throughput) automated scans. However, although there exists a considerable number of image-based analytical tools to address the image processing and analysis, most of them are unfit to cope with the aforementioned challenges. Filamentous structures in images can be considered as a piecewise composition of quasi-straight segments (at least in some finer or coarser scale). Based on this observation, we propose a three-steps actin filaments extraction methodology: (i) first the input image is decomposed into a 'cartoon' part corresponding to the filament structures in the image, and a noise/texture part, (ii) on the 'cartoon' image, we apply a multi-scale line detector coupled with a (iii) quasi-straight filaments merging algorithm for fiber extraction. The proposed robust actin filaments image analysis framework allows extracting individual filaments in the presence of noise, artifacts and heavy blurring. Moreover, it provides numerous parameters such as filaments orientation, position and length, useful for further analysis. Cell image decomposition is relatively under-exploited in biological images processing, and our study shows the benefits it provides when addressing such tasks. Experimental validation was conducted using publicly available datasets, and in osteoblasts grown in
A Robust Actin Filaments Image Analysis Framework
Alioscha-Perez, Mitchel; Benadiba, Carine; Goossens, Katty; Kasas, Sandor; Dietler, Giovanni; Willaert, Ronnie; Sahli, Hichem
The cytoskeleton is a highly dynamical protein network that plays a central role in numerous cellular physiological processes, and is traditionally divided into three components according to its chemical composition, i.e. actin, tubulin and intermediate filament cytoskeletons. Understanding the cytoskeleton dynamics is of prime importance to unveil mechanisms involved in cell adaptation to any stress type. Fluorescence imaging of cytoskeleton structures allows analyzing the impact of mechanical stimulation in the cytoskeleton, but it also imposes additional challenges in the image processing stage, such as the presence of imaging-related artifacts and heavy blurring introduced by (high-throughput) automated scans. However, although there exists a considerable number of image-based analytical tools to address the image processing and analysis, most of them are unfit to cope with the aforementioned challenges. Filamentous structures in images can be considered as a piecewise composition of quasi-straight segments (at least in some finer or coarser scale). Based on this observation, we propose a three-steps actin filaments extraction methodology: (i) first the input image is decomposed into a 'cartoon' part corresponding to the filament structures in the image, and a noise/texture part, (ii) on the 'cartoon' image, we apply a multi-scale line detector coupled with a (iii) quasi-straight filaments merging algorithm for fiber extraction. The proposed robust actin filaments image analysis framework allows extracting individual filaments in the presence of noise, artifacts and heavy blurring. Moreover, it provides numerous parameters such as filaments orientation, position and length, useful for further analysis. Cell image decomposition is relatively under-exploited in biological images processing, and our study shows the benefits it provides when addressing such tasks. Experimental validation was conducted using publicly available datasets, and in osteoblasts
Intermediate Filaments in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Zuela, Noam; Gruenbaum, Yosef
More than 70 different genes in humans and 12 different genes in Caenorhabditis elegans encode the superfamily of intermediate filament (IF) proteins. In C. elegans, similar to humans, these proteins are expressed in a cell- and tissue-specific manner, can assemble into heteropolymers and into 5-10nm wide filaments that account for the principal structural elements at the nuclear periphery, nucleoplasm, and cytoplasm. At least 5 of the 11 cytoplasmic IFs, as well as the nuclear IF, lamin, are essential. In this chapter, we will include a short review of our current knowledge of both cytoplasmic and nuclear IFs in C. elegans and will describe techniques used for their analyses. PMID:26795488
A Census of Large-scale (≥10 PC), Velocity-coherent, Dense Filaments in the Northern Galactic Plane: Automated Identification Using Minimum Spanning Tree
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wang, Ke; Testi, Leonardo; Burkert, Andreas; Walmsley, C. Malcolm; Beuther, Henrik; Henning, Thomas
Large-scale gaseous filaments with lengths up to the order of 100 pc are on the upper end of the filamentary hierarchy of the Galactic interstellar medium (ISM). Their association with respect to the Galactic structure and their role in Galactic star formation are of great interest from both an observational and theoretical point of view. Previous "by-eye" searches, combined together, have started to uncover the Galactic distribution of large filaments, yet inherent bias and small sample size limit conclusive statistical results from being drawn. Here, we present (1) a new, automated method for identifying large-scale velocity-coherent dense filaments, and (2) the first statistics and the Galactic distribution of these filaments. We use a customized minimum spanning tree algorithm to identify filaments by connecting voxels in the position–position–velocity space, using the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey spectroscopic catalog. In the range of 7\\buildrel{\\circ}\\over{.} 5≤slant l≤slant 194^\\circ , we have identified 54 large-scale filaments and derived mass (∼ {10}3{--}{10}5 {M}ȯ ), length (10–276 pc), linear mass density (54–8625 {M}ȯ pc‑1), aspect ratio, linearity, velocity gradient, temperature, fragmentation, Galactic location, and orientation angle. The filaments concentrate along major spiral arms. They are widely distributed across the Galactic disk, with 50% located within ±20 pc from the Galactic mid-plane and 27% run in the center of spiral arms. An order of 1% of the molecular ISM is confined in large filaments. Massive star formation is more favorable in large filaments compared to elsewhere. This is the first comprehensive catalog of large filaments that can be useful for a quantitative comparison with spiral structures and numerical simulations.
Structure and stability in TMC-1: Analysis of NH3 molecular line and Herschel continuum data
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Fehér, O.; Tóth, L. V.; Ward-Thompson, D.; Kirk, J.; Kraus, A.; Pelkonen, V.-M.; Pintér, S.; Zahorecz, S.
Aims: We examined the velocity, density, and temperature structure of Taurus molecular cloud-1 (TMC-1), a filamentary cloud in a nearby quiescent star forming area, to understand its morphology and evolution. Methods: We observed high signal-to-noise (S/N), high velocity resolution NH3(1,1), and (2, 2) emission on an extended map. By fitting multiple hyperfine-split line profiles to the NH3(1, 1) spectra, we derived the velocity distribution of the line components and calculated gas parameters on several positions. Herschel SPIRE far-infrared continuum observations were reduced and used to calculate the physical parameters of the Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (PGCCs) in the region, including the two in TMC-1. The morphology of TMC-1 was investigated with several types of clustering methods in the parameter space consisting of position, velocity, and column density. Results: Our Herschel-based column density map shows a main ridge with two local maxima and a separated peak to the south-west. The H2 column densities and dust colour temperatures are in the range of 0.5-3.3 × 1022 cm-2 and 10.5-12 K, respectively. The NH3 column densities and H2 volume densities are in the range of 2.8-14.2 × 1014 cm-2 and 0.4-2.8 × 104 cm-3. Kinetic temperatures are typically very low with a minimum of 9 K at the maximum NH3 and H2 column density region. The kinetic temperature maximum was found at the protostar IRAS 04381+2540 with a value of 13.7 K. The kinetic temperatures vary similarly to the colour temperatures in spite of the fact that densities are lower than the critical density for coupling between the gas and dust phase. The k-means clustering method separated four sub-filaments in TMC-1 with masses of 32.5, 19.6, 28.9, and 45.9 M⊙ and low turbulent velocity dispersion in the range of 0.13-0.2 km s-1. Conclusions: The main ridge of TMC-1 is composed of four sub-filaments that are close to gravitational equilibrium. We label these TMC-1F1 through F4. The sub-filaments TMC
Origin and Evolution of Filament-Prominence Systems
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Martens, Petrus C.; Zwaan, Cornelis
We present a ``head-to-tail'' linkage model for the formation, evolution, and eruption of solar filaments. The magnetic field structure of our model is based on the observation that filaments form exclusively in filament channels with no apparent magnetic connections above the polarity inversion line. The formation of a filament in this configuration is driven by flux convergence and cancellation, which produces looplike filament segments with a half-turn. Filament segments of like chirality may connect and form long quiescent filaments. Such filaments are stabilized through footpoint anchoring until further cancellation at the footpoints causes their eruption. The eruption restores the original filament channel so that filament formation may resume immediately. We then demonstrate that the combined workings of Hale's polarity law, Joy's law, and differential rotation introduce a strong hemispheric preference in the chirality of filaments formed poleward of the sunspot belt, which is in agreement with observations. We analyze the magnetic fine structure of filaments formed through our model and find consistency with the observed hemispheric preference for barb orientation and a simple explanation for barb formation. Finally, we consider the flux tubes retracted below the surface in the process of filament formation. We show that every cancellation event that generates a filament obeying the hemispheric chirality preference injects a flux tube below the surface with a poloidal field opposite that of the ongoing cycle. We suggest that this pattern of submergence of flux represents the specific mechanism for the reversal of the poloidal flux in a Babcock-Leighton-Durney-type model for the solar dynamo.
Reverse engineering chemical structures from molecular descriptors : how many solutions?
Brown, William Michael; Martin, Shawn Bryan; Faulon, Jean-Loup Michel
Physical, chemical and biological properties are the ultimate information of interest for chemical compounds. Molecular descriptors that map structural information to activities and properties are obvious candidates for information sharing. In this paper, we consider the feasibility of using molecular descriptors to safely exchange chemical information in such a way that the original chemical structures cannot be reverse engineered. To investigate the safety of sharing such descriptors, we compute the degeneracy (the number of structure matching a descriptor value) of several 2D descriptors, and use various methods to search for and reverse engineer structures. We examine degeneracy in the entire chemical space taking descriptors values from the alkane isomer series and the PubChem database. We further use a stochastic search to retrieve structures matching specific topological index values. Finally, we investigate the safety of exchanging of fragmental descriptors using deterministic enumeration.
The kinetics underlying the velocity of smooth muscle myosin filament sliding on actin filaments in vitro.
Haldeman, Brian D; Brizendine, Richard K; Facemyer, Kevin C; Baker, Josh E; Cremo, Christine R
Actin-myosin interactions are well studied using soluble myosin fragments, but little is known about effects of myosin filament structure on mechanochemistry. We stabilized unphosphorylated smooth muscle myosin (SMM) and phosphorylated smooth muscle myosin (pSMM) filaments against ATP-induced depolymerization using a cross-linker and attached fluorescent rhodamine (XL-Rh-SMM). Electron micrographs showed that these side polar filaments are very similar to unmodified filaments. They are ~0.63 μm long and contain ~176 molecules. Rate constants for ATP-induced dissociation and ADP release from acto-myosin for filaments and S1 heads were similar. Actin-activated ATPases of SMM and XL-Rh-SMM were similarly regulated. XL-Rh-pSMM filaments moved processively on F-actin that was bound to a PEG brush surface. ATP dependence of filament velocities was similar to that for solution ATPases at high [actin], suggesting that both processes are limited by the same kinetic step (weak to strong transition) and therefore are attachment- limited. This differs from actin sliding over myosin monomers, which is primarily detachment-limited. Fitting filament data to an attachment-limited model showed that approximately half of the heads are available to move the filament, consistent with a side polar structure. We suggest the low stiffness subfragment 2 (S2) domain remains unhindered during filament motion in our assay. Actin-bound negatively displaced heads will impart minimal drag force because of S2 buckling. Given the ADP release rate, the velocity, and the length of S2, these heads will detach from actin before slack is taken up into a backwardly displaced high stiffness position. This mechanism explains the lack of detachment- limited kinetics at physiological [ATP]. These findings address how nonlinear elasticity in assemblies of motors leads to efficient collective force generation. PMID:24907276
The Kinetics Underlying the Velocity of Smooth Muscle Myosin Filament Sliding on Actin Filaments in Vitro*
Haldeman, Brian D.; Brizendine, Richard K.; Facemyer, Kevin C.; Baker, Josh E.; Cremo, Christine R.
Actin-myosin interactions are well studied using soluble myosin fragments, but little is known about effects of myosin filament structure on mechanochemistry. We stabilized unphosphorylated smooth muscle myosin (SMM) and phosphorylated smooth muscle myosin (pSMM) filaments against ATP-induced depolymerization using a cross-linker and attached fluorescent rhodamine (XL-Rh-SMM). Electron micrographs showed that these side polar filaments are very similar to unmodified filaments. They are ∼0.63 μm long and contain ∼176 molecules. Rate constants for ATP-induced dissociation and ADP release from acto-myosin for filaments and S1 heads were similar. Actin-activated ATPases of SMM and XL-Rh-SMM were similarly regulated. XL-Rh-pSMM filaments moved processively on F-actin that was bound to a PEG brush surface. ATP dependence of filament velocities was similar to that for solution ATPases at high [actin], suggesting that both processes are limited by the same kinetic step (weak to strong transition) and therefore are attachment-limited. This differs from actin sliding over myosin monomers, which is primarily detachment-limited. Fitting filament data to an attachment-limited model showed that approximately half of the heads are available to move the filament, consistent with a side polar structure. We suggest the low stiffness subfragment 2 (S2) domain remains unhindered during filament motion in our assay. Actin-bound negatively displaced heads will impart minimal drag force because of S2 buckling. Given the ADP release rate, the velocity, and the length of S2, these heads will detach from actin before slack is taken up into a backwardly displaced high stiffness position. This mechanism explains the lack of detachment-limited kinetics at physiological [ATP]. These findings address how nonlinear elasticity in assemblies of motors leads to efficient collective force generation. PMID:24907276
Fragmentation in filamentary molecular clouds
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Contreras, Yanett; Garay, Guido; Rathborne, Jill M.; Sanhueza, Patricio
Recent surveys of dust continuum emission at sub-mm wavelengths have shown that filamentary molecular clouds are ubiquitous along the Galactic plane. These structures are inhomogeneous, with overdensities that are sometimes associated with infrared emission and active of star formation. To investigate the connection between filaments and star formation, requires an understanding of the processes that lead to the fragmentation of filaments and a determination of the physical properties of the overdensities (clumps). In this paper, we present a multiwavelength study of five filamentary molecular clouds, containing several clumps in different evolutionary stages of star formation. We analyse the fragmentation of the filaments and derive the physical properties of their clumps. We find that the clumps in all filaments have a characteristic spacing consistent with the prediction of the `sausage' instability theory, regardless of the complex morphology of the filaments or their evolutionary stage. We also find that most clumps have sufficient mass and density to form high-mass stars, supporting the idea that high-mass stars and clusters form within filaments.
Sonographic probing of laser filaments in air.
Yu, Jin; Mondelain, Didier; Kasparian, Jérôme; Salmon, Estelle; Geffroy, Sylvain; Favre, Catherine; Boutou, Véronique; Wolf, Jean-Pierre
The acoustic wave emitted from the plasma channel associated with a filament induced by a femtosecond laser pulse in air was detected with a microphone. This sonographic detection provides a new method to determine the length and the spatial profile of the free-electron density of a filament. The acoustic wave is emitted owing to the expansion of the gas in the filament, which is heated through collisions with high-energy photoelectrons generated by multiphoton ionization. Compared with other methods, the acoustic detection is simpler, more sensitive, and with higher spatial resolution, making it suitable for field measurements over kilometer-range distances or laboratory-scale studies on the fine structure of a filament. PMID:14717285
Comprehensive Molecular Structure of the Eukaryotic Ribosome
Taylor, Derek J.; Devkota, Batsal; Huang, Andrew D.; Topf, Maya; Narayanan, Eswar; Sali, Andrej; Harvey, Stephen C.; Frank, Joachim
Despite the emergence of a large number of X-ray crystallographic models of the bacterial 70S ribosome over the past decade, an accurate atomic model of the eukaryotic 80S ribosome is still not available. Eukaryotic ribosomes possess more ribosomal proteins and ribosomal RNA than bacterial ribosomes, which are implicated in extra-ribosomal functions in the eukaryotic cells. By combining cryo-EM with RNA and protein homology modeling, we obtained an atomic model of the yeast 80S ribosome complete with all ribosomal RNA expansion segments and all ribosomal proteins for which a structural homolog can be identified. Mutation or deletion of 80S ribosomal proteins can abrogate maturation of the ribosome, leading to several human diseases. We have localized one such protein unique to eukaryotes, rpS19e, whose mutations are associated with Diamond-Blackfan anemia in humans. Additionally, we characterize crucial and novel interactions between the dynamic stalk base of the ribosome with eukaryotic elongation factor 2. PMID:20004163
A very long solar filament that had been snaking around the Sun erupted on Dec. 6, 2010 with a flourish. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) caught the action in dramatic detail in extreme ultr...
Geometrically frustrated filament assemblies: Unravelling the connection between bundle shape and inter-filament order
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Grason, Gregory
From steel cables and textile fibers to filamentous protein bundles in cells and tissues, densely-packed assemblies of filaments are vital structural elements of the worlds around us and inside of us. Despite the ubiquity and utility of dense-filament assemblies in such diverse materials (across 7 orders of magnitude in size!) surprisingly little is known about the fundamental rules that govern their structure. This talk will discuss recent progress in our understanding of the non-linear relationship between the geometry of a rope-like assembly and the structure and energetics of inter-filament packing. In particular, we focus on mathematical models of the geometric frustration between twist - as in macroscopic cables or chiral biofilament bundles - and the preference for isometric, or ``constant spacing,'' packing of filaments in the cross section. Any measure of twist makes it geometrically impossible to evenly space filaments in bundles, begging the question what is the optimal packing of a twisted bundle? We show that geometry of interfilament contact can be mapped formally onto a problem of packing on a 2D non-Euclidean surfaces, whose intrinsically-curved geometry points to the necessity of a complex spectrum defects in the ground-state packing. We confirm the existence of defects and their sensitivity to bundle twist and radius through simulations of energy-minimizing assemblies of cohesive filaments.
Tauopathy with paired helical filaments in an aged chimpanzee.
Rosen, Rebecca F; Farberg, Aaron S; Gearing, Marla; Dooyema, Jeromy; Long, Patrick M; Anderson, Daniel C; Davis-Turak, Jeremy; Coppola, Giovanni; Geschwind, Daniel H; Paré, Jean-Francois; Duong, Timothy Q; Hopkins, William D; Preuss, Todd M; Walker, Lary C
An enigmatic feature of age-related neurodegenerative diseases is that they seldom, if ever, are fully manifested in nonhuman species under natural conditions. The neurodegenerative tauopathies are typified by the intracellular aggregation of hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) and the dysfunction and death of affected neurons. We document the first case of tauopathy with paired helical filaments in an aged chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Pathologic forms of tau in neuronal somata, neuropil threads, and plaque-like clusters of neurites were histologically identified throughout the neocortex and, to a lesser degree, in allocortical and subcortical structures. Ultrastructurally, the neurofibrillary tangles consisted of tau-immunoreactive paired helical filaments with a diameter and helical periodicity indistinguishable from those seen in Alzheimer's disease. A moderate degree of Abeta deposition was present in the cerebral vasculature and, less frequently, in senile plaques. Sequencing of the exons and flanking intronic regions in the genomic MAPT locus disclosed no mutations that are associated with the known human hereditary tauopathies, nor any polymorphisms of obvious functional significance. Although the lesion profile in this chimpanzee differed somewhat from that in Alzheimer's disease, the copresence of paired helical filaments and Abeta-amyloidosis indicates that the molecular mechanisms for the pathogenesis of the two canonical Alzheimer lesions--neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques--are present in aged chimpanzees. PMID:18481275
Co-option of the polarity gene network shapes filament morphology in angiosperms.
de Almeida, Ana Maria Rocha; Yockteng, Roxana; Schnable, James; Alvarez-Buylla, Elena R; Freeling, Michael; Specht, Chelsea D
The molecular genetic mechanisms underlying abaxial-adaxial polarity in plants have been studied as a property of lateral and flattened organs, such as leaves. In leaves, laminar expansion occurs as a result of balanced abaxial-adaxial gene expression. Over- or under- expression of either abaxializing or adaxializing genes inhibits laminar growth, resulting in a mutant radialized phenotype. Here, we show that co-option of the abaxial-adaxial polarity gene network plays a role in the evolution of stamen filament morphology in angiosperms. RNA-Seq data from species bearing laminar (flattened) or radial (cylindrical) filaments demonstrates that species with laminar filaments exhibit balanced expression of abaxial-adaxial (ab-ad) genes, while overexpression of a YABBY gene is found in species with radial filaments. This result suggests that unbalanced expression of ab-ad genes results in inhibition of laminar outgrowth, leading to a radially symmetric structure as found in many angiosperm filaments. We anticipate that co-option of the polarity gene network is a fundamental mechanism shaping many aspects of plant morphology during angiosperm evolution. PMID:25168962
Molecular structure and elastic properties of thermotropic liquid crystals: Integrated molecular dynamics—Statistical mechanical theory vs molecular field approach
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Capar, M. Ilk; Nar, A.; Ferrarini, A.; Frezza, E.; Greco, C.; Zakharov, A. V.; Vakulenko, A. A.
The connection between the molecular structure of liquid crystals and their elastic properties, which control the director deformations relevant for electro-optic applications, remains a challenging objective for theories and computations. Here, we compare two methods that have been proposed to this purpose, both characterized by a detailed molecular level description. One is an integrated molecular dynamics-statistical mechanical approach, where the bulk elastic constants of nematics are calculated from the direct correlation function (DCFs) and the single molecule orientational distribution function [D. A. McQuarrie, Statistical Mechanics (Harper & Row, New York, 1973)]. The latter is obtained from atomistic molecular dynamics trajectories, together with the radial distribution function, from which the DCF is then determined by solving the Ornstein-Zernike equation. The other approach is based on a molecular field theory, where the potential of mean torque experienced by a mesogen in the liquid crystal phase is parameterized according to its molecular surface. In this case, the calculation of elastic constants is combined with the Monte Carlo sampling of single molecule conformations. Using these different approaches, but the same description, at the level of molecular geometry and torsional potentials, we have investigated the elastic properties of the nematic phase of two typical mesogens, 4'-n-pentyloxy-4-cyanobiphenyl and 4'-n-heptyloxy-4-cyanobiphenyl. Both methods yield K3(bend) >K1 (splay) >K2 (twist), although there are some discrepancies in the average elastic constants and in their anisotropy. These are interpreted in terms of the different approximations and the different ways of accounting for the structural properties of molecules in the two approaches. In general, the results point to the role of the molecular shape, which is modulated by the conformational freedom and cannot be fully accounted for by a single descriptor such as the aspect ratio.
Molecular structure and elastic properties of thermotropic liquid crystals: integrated molecular dynamics--statistical mechanical theory vs molecular field approach.
Ilk Capar, M; Nar, A; Ferrarini, A; Frezza, E; Greco, C; Zakharov, A V; Vakulenko, A A
The connection between the molecular structure of liquid crystals and their elastic properties, which control the director deformations relevant for electro-optic applications, remains a challenging objective for theories and computations. Here, we compare two methods that have been proposed to this purpose, both characterized by a detailed molecular level description. One is an integrated molecular dynamics-statistical mechanical approach, where the bulk elastic constants of nematics are calculated from the direct correlation function (DCFs) and the single molecule orientational distribution function [D. A. McQuarrie, Statistical Mechanics (Harper & Row, New York, 1973)]. The latter is obtained from atomistic molecular dynamics trajectories, together with the radial distribution function, from which the DCF is then determined by solving the Ornstein-Zernike equation. The other approach is based on a molecular field theory, where the potential of mean torque experienced by a mesogen in the liquid crystal phase is parameterized according to its molecular surface. In this case, the calculation of elastic constants is combined with the Monte Carlo sampling of single molecule conformations. Using these different approaches, but the same description, at the level of molecular geometry and torsional potentials, we have investigated the elastic properties of the nematic phase of two typical mesogens, 4'-n-pentyloxy-4-cyanobiphenyl and 4'-n-heptyloxy-4-cyanobiphenyl. Both methods yield K3(bend) >K1 (splay) >K2 (twist), although there are some discrepancies in the average elastic constants and in their anisotropy. These are interpreted in terms of the different approximations and the different ways of accounting for the structural properties of molecules in the two approaches. In general, the results point to the role of the molecular shape, which is modulated by the conformational freedom and cannot be fully accounted for by a single descriptor such as the aspect ratio
Connecting the density structure of molecular clouds and star formation.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kainulainen, Jouni
In the current paradigm of turbulence-regulated interstellar medium (ISM), star formation rates of entire galaxies are intricately linked to the density structure of the individual molecular clouds in the ISM. This density structure is essentially encapsulated in the probability distribution function of volume densities (rho-PDF), which directly affects the star formation rates predicted by analytic models. Contrasting its fundamental role, the rho-PDF function and its evolution have remained virtually unconstrained by observations. I describe in this contribution our recent progress in attaining observational constraints for the rho-PDFs of molecular clouds. Specifically, I review our first systematic determination of the rho-PDFs in Solar neighborhood molecular clouds. I will also present new evidence of the time evolution of the projected rho-PDFs, i.e., column density PDFs. These results together enable us to build the first observationally constrained link between the evolving density structure of molecular clouds and the star formation within. Finally, I discuss our work to expand the analysis into a Galactic context and to observationally connect the physical processes acting at the scale of molecular clouds with star formation at the scale of galaxies.
Determination of structure parameters in molecular tunnelling ionisation model
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wang, Jun-Ping; Zhao, Song-Feng; Zhang, Cai-Rong; Li, Wei; Zhou, Xiao-Xin
We extracted the accurate structure parameters in a molecular tunnelling ionisation model (the so-called MO-ADK model) for 23 selected linear molecules including some inner orbitals. The molecular wave functions with the correct asymptotic behaviour are obtained by solving the time-independent Schrödinger equation with B-spline functions and molecular potentials numerically constructed using the modified Leeuwen-Baerends (LBα) model. We show that the orientation-dependent ionisation rate reflects the shape of the ionising orbitals in general. The influences of the Stark shifts of the energy levels on the orientation-dependent ionisation rates of the polar molecules are studied. We also examine the angle-dependent ionisation rates (or probabilities) based on the MO-ADK model by comparing with the molecular strong-field approximation calculations and with recent experimental measurements.
Heitsch, Fabian; Ballesteros-Paredes, Javier; Hartmann, Lee
Recent models of molecular cloud formation and evolution suggest that such clouds are dynamic and generally exhibit gravitational collapse. We present a simple analytic model of global collapse onto a filament and compare this with our numerical simulations of the flow-driven formation of an isolated molecular cloud to illustrate the supersonic motions and infall ram pressures expected in models of gravity-driven cloud evolution. We compare our results with observations of the Pipe Nebula, an especially suitable object for our purposes as its low star formation activity implies insignificant perturbations from stellar feedback. We show that our collapsing cloud model can explain the magnitude of the velocity dispersions seen in the {sup 13}CO filamentary structure by Onishi et al. and the ram pressures required by Lada et al. to confine the lower-mass cores in the Pipe Nebula. We further conjecture that higher-resolution simulations will show small velocity dispersions in the densest core gas, as observed, but which are infall motions and not supporting turbulence. Our results point out the inevitability of ram pressures as boundary conditions for molecular cloud filaments, and the possibility that especially lower-mass cores still can be accreting mass at significant rates, as suggested by observations.
[Structure and molecular mechanisms of infection and replication of HIV].
Sato, Hironori; Ode, Hirotaka; Motomura, Kazushi; Yokoyama, Masaru
Studies on molecular structure and mechanisms of replication of a pathogen are important from both scientific and clinical viewpoints. The replication study allows us to identify key molecules to regulate life cycle of the pathogen and to screen rationally anti-pathogen drugs. The structural study helps understand how the key molecules work at atomic levels and to design adequately the drugs. In this article, we review important findings on structural and replication studies of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). We also summarize the latest methods for the structural study, mainly focusing on computational simulation technology (in silico analysis). Finally, we summarize briefly standard methods to study replication of viruses. PMID:19177750
From non-random molecular structure to life and mind
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Fox, S. W.
The evolutionary hierarchy molecular structure-->macromolecular structure-->protobiological structure-->biological structure-->biological functions has been traced by experiments. The sequence always moves through protein. Extension of the experiments traces the formation of nucleic acids instructed by proteins. The proteins themselves were, in this picture, instructed by the self-sequencing of precursor amino acids. While the sequence indicated explains the thread of the emergence of life, protein in cellular membrane also provides the only known material basis for the emergence of mind in the context of emergence of life.
Molecular structure of DNA by scanning tunneling microscopy.
Cricenti, A; Selci, S; Felici, A C; Generosi, R; Gori, E; Djaczenko, W; Chiarotti, G
Uncoated DNA molecules marked with an activated tris(l-aziridinyl) phosphine oxide (TAPO) solution were deposited on gold substrates and imaged in air with the use of a high-resolution scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Constant-current and gap-modulated STM images show clear evidence of the helicity of the DNA structure: pitch periodicity ranges from 25 to 35 angstroms, whereas the average diameter is 20 angstroms. Molecular structure within a single helix turn was also observed. PMID:2781279
Molecular Structure of DNA by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Cricenti, A.; Selci, S.; Felici, A. C.; Generosi, R.; Gori, E.; Djaczenko, W.; Chiarotti, G.
Uncoated DNA molecules marked with an activated tris(1-aziridinyl) phosphine oxide (TAPO) solution were deposited on gold substrates and imaged in air with the use of a high-resolution scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Constant-current and gap-modulated STM images show clear evidence of the helicity of the DNA structure: pitch periodicity ranges from 25 and 35 angstroms, whereas the average diameter is 20 angstroms. Molecular structure within a single helix turn was also observed.
Relating Soil Organic Matter Dynamics to its Molecular Structure
Technology Transfer Automated Retrieval System (TEKTRAN)
Our understanding of the dynamics of soil organic matter (SOM) must be integrated with a sound knowledge of it biochemical complexity. The molecular structure of SOM was determined in 98% sand soils to eliminate the known protective effects of clay on the amount and turnover rate of the SOM constitu...
Arabidopsis VILLIN5, an Actin Filament Bundling and Severing Protein, Is Necessary for Normal Pollen Tube Growth[W
Zhang, Hua; Qu, Xiaolu; Bao, Chanchan; Khurana, Parul; Wang, Qiannan; Xie, Yurong; Zheng, Yiyan; Chen, Naizhi; Blanchoin, Laurent; Staiger, Christopher J.; Huang, Shanjin
A dynamic actin cytoskeleton is essential for pollen germination and tube growth. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the organization and turnover of the actin cytoskeleton in pollen remain poorly understood. Villin plays a key role in the formation of higher-order structures from actin filaments and in the regulation of actin dynamics in eukaryotic cells. It belongs to the villin/gelsolin/fragmin superfamily of actin binding proteins and is composed of six gelsolin-homology domains at its core and a villin headpiece domain at its C terminus. Recently, several villin family members from plants have been shown to sever, cap, and bundle actin filaments in vitro. Here, we characterized a villin isovariant, Arabidopsis thaliana VILLIN5 (VLN5), that is highly and preferentially expressed in pollen. VLN5 loss-of-function retarded pollen tube growth and sensitized actin filaments in pollen grains and tubes to latrunculin B. In vitro biochemical analyses revealed that VLN5 is a typical member of the villin family and retains a full suite of activities, including barbed-end capping, filament bundling, and calcium-dependent severing. The severing activity was confirmed with time-lapse evanescent wave microscopy of individual actin filaments in vitro. We propose that VLN5 is a major regulator of actin filament stability and turnover that functions in concert with oscillatory calcium gradients in pollen and therefore plays an integral role in pollen germination and tube growth. PMID:20807879
Biochemical characterization, molecular cloning, and structural modeling of an interesting β-1,4-glucanase from Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.
Chahed, Haifa; Ezzine, Aymen; Mlouka, Amine Ben; Hardouin, Julie; Jouenne, Thierry; Marzouki, Mohamed Najib
The filamentous fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum produces a complete set of cellulolytic enzymes needed for efficient solubilization of native cellulose, the major component of plants. In this work, we reported the molecular characterization of an important glycosyl-hydrolase enzyme classified as endo-β-1,4-glucanase. The importance of this enzyme was revealed with the in-gel activity staining, showing a high degradation capacity of cellulose. When purified from native gel and ran in denaturing polyacrylamide gel, the polypeptide has an apparent molecular mass of about 34 kDa called Endo2. For further characterization of this protein, a mass spectrometry approach was carried out. The LC-MS/MS analysis revealed two peptides belonging to this enzyme. The genomic DNA and cDNA sequences were resolved by PCR amplification and sequencing, revealing a gene with two intron sequences. The open reading frame of 987 bp encoded a putative polypeptide of 328 amino acids having a calculated molecular mass of 33,297 Da. Yet, the molecular modeling and comparative investigation of different 3D cellulase structures showed that this endoglucanase isoform has probably two domains. A core domain having a high similarity with endoglucanases family 5 and a cellulose-binding domain having similarities with those of exo-type cellulases of family 1, linked together by a serine-threonine-rich region. These results are with great interests and show new characteristics of S. sclerotiorum glucanase. PMID:24146430
Extracting Structure Parameters of Dimers for Molecular Tunneling Ionization Model
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Song-Feng, Zhao; Fang, Huang; Guo-Li, Wang; Xiao-Xin, Zhou
We determine structure parameters of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of 27 dimers for the molecular tunneling ionization (so called MO-ADK) model of Tong et al. [Phys. Rev. A 66 (2002) 033402]. The molecular wave functions with correct asymptotic behavior are obtained by solving the time-independent Schrödinger equation with B-spline functions and molecular potentials which are numerically created using the density functional theory. We examine the alignment-dependent tunneling ionization probabilities from MO-ADK model for several molecules by comparing with the molecular strong-field approximation (MO-SFA) calculations. We show the molecular Perelomov–Popov–Terent'ev (MO-PPT) can successfully give the laser wavelength dependence of ionization rates (or probabilities). Based on the MO-PPT model, two diatomic molecules having valence orbital with antibonding systems (i.e., Cl2, Ne2) show strong ionization suppression when compared with their corresponding closest companion atoms. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 11164025, 11264036, 11465016, 11364038, the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China under Grant No. 20116203120001, and the Basic Scientific Research Foundation for Institution of Higher Learning of Gansu Province
Extracting Structure Parameters of Dimers for Molecular Tunneling Ionization Model
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zhao, Song-Feng; Huang, Fang; Wang, Guo-Li; Zhou, Xiao-Xin
We determine structure parameters of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of 27 dimers for the molecular tunneling ionization (so called MO-ADK) model of Tong et al. [Phys. Rev. A 66 (2002) 033402]. The molecular wave functions with correct asymptotic behavior are obtained by solving the time-independent Schrödinger equation with B-spline functions and molecular potentials which are numerically created using the density functional theory. We examine the alignment-dependent tunneling ionization probabilities from MO-ADK model for several molecules by comparing with the molecular strong-field approximation (MO-SFA) calculations. We show the molecular Perelomov-Popov-Terent'ev (MO-PPT) can successfully give the laser wavelength dependence of ionization rates (or probabilities). Based on the MO-PPT model, two diatomic molecules having valence orbital with antibonding systems (i.e., Cl2, Ne2) show strong ionization suppression when compared with their corresponding closest companion atoms. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 11164025, 11264036, 11465016, 11364038, the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China under Grant No. 20116203120001, and the Basic Scientific Research Foundation for Institution of Higher Learning of Gansu Province
Molecular solids of actinide hexacyanoferrate: Structure and bonding
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dupouy, G.; Dumas, T.; Fillaux, C.; Guillaumont, D.; Moisy, P.; Den Auwer, C.; Le Naour, C.; Simoni, E.; Fuster, E. G.; Papalardo, R.; Sanchez Marcos, E.; Hennig, C.; Scheinost, A.; Conradson, S. D.; Shuh, D. K.; Tyliszczak, T.
The hexacyanometallate family is well known in transition metal chemistry because the remarkable electronic delocalization along the metal-cyano-metal bond can be tuned in order to design systems that undergo a reversible and controlled change of their physical properties. We have been working for few years on the description of the molecular and electronic structure of materials formed with [Fe(CN)6]n- building blocks and actinide ions (An = Th, U, Np, Pu, Am) and have compared these new materials to those obtained with lanthanide cations at oxidation state +III. In order to evaluate the influence of the actinide coordination polyhedron on the three-dimensional molecular structure, both atomic number and formal oxidation state have been varied : oxidation states +III, +IV. EXAFS at both iron K edge and actinide LIII edge is the dedicated structural probe to obtain structural information on these systems. Data at both edges have been combined to obtain a three-dimensional model. In addition, qualitative electronic information has been gathered with two spectroscopic tools : UV-Near IR spectrophotometry and low energy XANES data that can probe each atom of the structural unit : Fe, C, N and An. Coupling these spectroscopic tools to theoretical calculations will lead in the future to a better description of bonding in these molecular solids. Of primary interest is the actinide cation ability to form ionic — covalent bonding as 5f orbitals are being filled by modification of oxidation state and/or atomic number.
Molecular design for growth of supramolecular membranes with hierarchical structure.
Zha, R Helen; Velichko, Yuri S; Bitton, Ronit; Stupp, Samuel I
Membranes with hierarchical structure exist in biological systems, and bio-inspired building blocks have been used to grow synthetic analogues in the laboratory through self-assembly. The formation of these synthetic membranes is initiated at the interface of two aqueous solutions, one containing cationic peptide amphiphiles (PA) and the other containing the anionic biopolymer hyaluronic acid (HA). The membrane growth process starts within milliseconds of interface formation and continues over much longer timescales to generate robust membranes with supramolecular PA-HA nanofibers oriented orthogonal to the interface. Computer simulation indicates that formation of these hierarchically structured membranes requires strong interactions between molecular components at early time points in order to generate a diffusion barrier between both solutions. Experimental studies using structurally designed PAs confirm simulation results by showing that only PAs with high ζ potential are able to yield hierarchically structured membranes. Furthermore, the chemical structure of such PAs must incorporate residues that form β-sheets, which facilitates self-assembly of long nanofibers. In contrast, PAs that form low aspect ratio nanostructures interact weakly with HA and yield membranes that exhibit non-fibrous fingering protrusions. Furthermore, experimental results show that increasing HA molecular weight decreases the growth rate of orthogonal nanofibers. This result is supported by simulation results suggesting that the thickness of the interfacial contact layer generated immediately after initiation of self-assembly increases with polymer molecular weight. PMID:26649980
Photoelectron Angular Distribution and Molecular Structure in Multiply Charged Anions
Xing, Xiaopeng; Wang, Xue B.; Wang, Lai S.
Photoelectrons emitted from multiply charged anions (MCAs) carry information of the intramolecular Coulomb repulsion (ICR), which is dependent on molecular structures. Using photoelectron imaging, we observed the effects of ICR on photoelectron angular distributions (PAD) of the three isomers of benzene dicarboxylate dianions C6H4(CO2)22– (o-, m- and p-BDC2–). Photoelectrons were observed to peak along the laser polarization due to the ICR, but the anisotropy was the largest for p-BDC2–, followed by the m- and o-isomer. The observed anisotropy is related to the direction of the ICR or the detailed molecular structures, suggesting that photoelectron imaging may allow structural information to be obtained for complex multiply charged anions.
Structure factor and rheology of chain molecules from molecular dynamics
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Castrejón-González, Omar; Castillo-Tejas, Jorge; Manero, Octavio; Alvarado, Juan F. J.
Equilibrium and non-equilibrium molecular dynamics were performed to determine the relationship between the static structure factor, the molecular conformation, and the rheological properties of chain molecules. A spring-monomer model with Finitely Extensible Nonlinear Elastic and Lennard-Jones force field potentials was used to describe chain molecules. The equations of motion were solved for shear flow with SLLOD equations of motion integrated with Verlet's algorithm. A multiple time scale algorithm extended to non-equilibrium situations was used as the integration method. Concentric circular patterns in the structure factor were obtained, indicating an isotropic Newtonian behavior. Under simple shear flow, some peaks in the structure factor were emerged corresponding to an anisotropic pattern as chains aligned along the flow direction. Pure chain molecules and chain molecules in solution displayed shear-thinning regions. Power-law and Carreau-Yasuda models were used to adjust the generated data. Results are in qualitative agreement with rheological and light scattering experiments.
An improved direct-forcing immersed boundary method for fluid-structure interaction of a flexible filament
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zhang, Xing; Zhu, Xiaojue
We present an improved immersed boundary method for the simulation of fluid structure interaction (FSI) of a slender body. Our numerical method is based on the one proposed by Wang and Zhang (J. Comput. Phys. 30:3479-3499, 2011). Although an accurate prediction of total force can be achieved by using this method, unphysical spatial oscillation is observed in the force distribution. This oscillation is detrimental to the prediction of structure response in FSI. In this work, several modifications are made to improve this method. Firstly, the implicit forcing is replaced by an explicit forcing. Secondly, a more consistent way of computing each component of the forcing on a staggered mesh is proposed. Thirdly, for a slender body of zero thickness, the discrete delta-function with a ``negative-tail'' is adopted for the interpolation at the endpoints. Numerical simulations are performed to test the efficacy of the modifications. It is found that the measures taken successfully reduce the oscillation and the results obtained agree well with those from the literatures. This work was supported by NSFC 10872201.
On calculating the equilibrium structure of molecular crystals.
Mattsson, Ann Elisabet; Wixom, Ryan R.; Mattsson, Thomas Kjell Rene
The difficulty of calculating the ambient properties of molecular crystals, such as the explosive PETN, has long hampered much needed computational investigations of these materials. One reason for the shortcomings is that the exchange-correlation functionals available for Density Functional Theory (DFT) based calculations do not correctly describe the weak intermolecular van der Waals' forces present in molecular crystals. However, this weak interaction also poses other challenges for the computational schemes used. We will discuss these issues in the context of calculations of lattice constants and structure of PETN with a number of different functionals, and also discuss if these limitations can be circumvented for studies at non-ambient conditions.
Nebulin binding impedes mutant desmin filament assembly
Baker, Laura K.; Gillis, David C.; Sharma, Sarika; Ambrus, Andy; Herrmann, Harald; Conover, Gloria M.
Desmin intermediate filaments (DIFs) form an intricate meshwork that organizes myofibers within striated muscle cells. The mechanisms that regulate the association of desmin to sarcomeres and their role in desminopathy are incompletely understood. Here we compare the effect nebulin binding has on the assembly kinetics of desmin and three desminopathy-causing mutant desmin variants carrying mutations in the head, rod, or tail domains of desmin (S46F, E245D, and T453I). These mutants were chosen because the mutated residues are located within the nebulin-binding regions of desmin. We discovered that, although nebulin M160–164 bound to both desmin tetrameric complexes and mature filaments, all three mutants exhibited significantly delayed filament assembly kinetics when bound to nebulin. Correspondingly, all three mutants displayed enhanced binding affinities and capacities for nebulin relative to wild-type desmin. Electron micrographs showed that nebulin associates with elongated normal and mutant DIFs assembled in vitro. Moreover, we measured significantly delayed dynamics for the mutant desmin E245D relative to wild-type desmin in fluorescence recovery after photobleaching in live-cell imaging experiments. We propose a mechanism by which mutant desmin slows desmin remodeling in myocytes by retaining nebulin near the Z-discs. On the basis of these data, we suggest that for some filament-forming desmin mutants, the molecular etiology of desminopathy results from subtle deficiencies in their association with nebulin, a major actin-binding filament protein of striated muscle. PMID:23615443
Accurate prediction of lattice energies and structures of molecular crystals with molecular quantum chemistry methods.
Fang, Tao; Li, Wei; Gu, Fangwei; Li, Shuhua
We extend the generalized energy-based fragmentation (GEBF) approach to molecular crystals under periodic boundary conditions (PBC), and we demonstrate the performance of the method for a variety of molecular crystals. With this approach, the lattice energy of a molecular crystal can be obtained from the energies of a series of embedded subsystems, which can be computed with existing advanced molecular quantum chemistry methods. The use of the field compensation method allows the method to take long-range electrostatic interaction of the infinite crystal environment into account and make the method almost translationally invariant. The computational cost of the present method scales linearly with the number of molecules in the unit cell. Illustrative applications demonstrate that the PBC-GEBF method with explicitly correlated quantum chemistry methods is capable of providing accurate descriptions on the lattice energies and structures for various types of molecular crystals. In addition, this approach can be employed to quantify the contributions of various intermolecular interactions to the theoretical lattice energy. Such qualitative understanding is very useful for rational design of molecular crystals. PMID:26574207
MOLVIE: an interactive visualization environment for molecular structures.
Sun, Huandong; Li, Ming; Xu, Ying
A Molecular visualization interactive environment (MOLVIE), is designed to display three-dimensional (3D) structures of molecules and support the structural analysis and research on proteins. The paper presents the features, design considerations and applications of MOLVIE, especially the new functions used to compare the structures of two molecules and view the partial fragment of a molecule. Being developed in JAVA, MOLVIE is platform-independent. Moreover, it may run on a webpage as an applet for remote users. MOLVIE is available at http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~mli/Bioinf/software/index.html. PMID:12725967
Role of Active Contraction and Tropomodulins in Regulating Actin Filament Length and Sarcomere Structure in Developing Zebrafish Skeletal Muscle
Mazelet, Lise; Parker, Matthew O.; Li, Mei; Arner, Anders; Ashworth, Rachel
Whilst it is recognized that contraction plays an important part in maintaining the structure and function of mature skeletal muscle, its role during development remains undefined. In this study the role of movement in skeletal muscle maturation was investigated in intact zebrafish embryos using a combination of genetic and pharmacological approaches. An immotile mutant line (cacnb1ts25) which lacks functional voltage-gated calcium channels (dihydropyridine receptors) in the muscle and pharmacological immobilization of embryos with a reversible anesthetic (Tricaine), allowed the study of paralysis (in mutants and anesthetized fish) and recovery of movement (reversal of anesthetic treatment). The effect of paralysis in early embryos (aged between 17 and 24 hours post-fertilization, hpf) on skeletal muscle structure at both myofibrillar and myofilament level was determined using both immunostaining with confocal microscopy and small angle X-ray diffraction. The consequences of paralysis and subsequent recovery on the localization of the actin capping proteins Tropomodulin 1 & 4 (Tmod) in fish aged from 17 hpf until 42 hpf was also assessed. The functional consequences of early paralysis were investigated by examining the mechanical properties of the larval muscle. The length-force relationship, active and passive tension, was measured in immotile, recovered and control skeletal muscle at 5 and 7 day post-fertilization (dpf). Recovery of muscle function was also assessed by examining swimming patterns in recovered and control fish. Inhibition of the initial embryonic movements (up to 24 hpf) resulted in an increase in myofibril length and a decrease in width followed by almost complete recovery in both moving and paralyzed fish by 42 hpf. In conclusion, myofibril organization is regulated by a dual mechanism involving movement-dependent and movement-independent processes. The initial contractile event itself drives the localization of Tmod1 to its sarcomeric position
Role of Active Contraction and Tropomodulins in Regulating Actin Filament Length and Sarcomere Structure in Developing Zebrafish Skeletal Muscle.
Mazelet, Lise; Parker, Matthew O; Li, Mei; Arner, Anders; Ashworth, Rachel
Whilst it is recognized that contraction plays an important part in maintaining the structure and function of mature skeletal muscle, its role during development remains undefined. In this study the role of movement in skeletal muscle maturation was investigated in intact zebrafish embryos using a combination of genetic and pharmacological approaches. An immotile mutant line (cacnb1 (ts25) ) which lacks functional voltage-gated calcium channels (dihydropyridine receptors) in the muscle and pharmacological immobilization of embryos with a reversible anesthetic (Tricaine), allowed the study of paralysis (in mutants and anesthetized fish) and recovery of movement (reversal of anesthetic treatment). The effect of paralysis in early embryos (aged between 17 and 24 hours post-fertilization, hpf) on skeletal muscle structure at both myofibrillar and myofilament level was determined using both immunostaining with confocal microscopy and small angle X-ray diffraction. The consequences of paralysis and subsequent recovery on the localization of the actin capping proteins Tropomodulin 1 & 4 (Tmod) in fish aged from 17 hpf until 42 hpf was also assessed. The functional consequences of early paralysis were investigated by examining the mechanical properties of the larval muscle. The length-force relationship, active and passive tension, was measured in immotile, recovered and control skeletal muscle at 5 and 7 day post-fertilization (dpf). Recovery of muscle function was also assessed by examining swimming patterns in recovered and control fish. Inhibition of the initial embryonic movements (up to 24 hpf) resulted in an increase in myofibril length and a decrease in width followed by almost complete recovery in both moving and paralyzed fish by 42 hpf. In conclusion, myofibril organization is regulated by a dual mechanism involving movement-dependent and movement-independent processes. The initial contractile event itself drives the localization of Tmod1 to its sarcomeric
Structure of an invertebrate gene encoding cytoplasmic intermediate filament (IF) proteins: implications for the origin and the diversification of IF proteins.
Dodemont, H; Riemer, D; Weber, K
The structure of the single gene encoding the cytoplasmic intermediate filament (IF) proteins in non-neuronal cells of the gastropod Helix aspersa is described. Genomic and cDNA sequences show that the gene is composed of 10 introns and 11 exons, spanning greater than 60 kb of DNA. Alternative RNA processing accounts for two mRNA families which encode two IF proteins differing only in their C-terminal sequence. The intron/exon organization of the Helix rod domain is identical to that of the vertebrate type III IF genes in spite of low overall protein sequence homology and the presence of an additional 42 residues in coil 1b of the invertebrate sequence. Intron position homology extends to the entire coding sequence comprising both the rod and tail domains when the invertebrate IF gene is compared with the nuclear lamin LIII gene of Xenopus laevis presented in the accompanying report of Döring and Stick. In contrast the intron patterns of the tail domains of the invertebrate IF and the lamin genes differ from those of the vertebrate type III genes. The combined data are in line with an evolutionary descent of cytoplasmic IF proteins from a nuclear lamin-like progenitor and suggest a mechanism for this derivation. The unique position of intron 7 in the Helix IF gene indicates that the archetype IF gene arose by the elimination of the nuclear localization sequence due to the recruitment of a novel splice site. The presumptive structural organization of the archetype IF gene allows predictions with respect to the later diversification of metazoan IF genes. Whereas models proposing a direct derivation of neurofilament genes seem unlikely, the earlier speculation of an mRNA transposition mechanism is compatible with current results. Images Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 6. PMID:2249666
Primary structure and carbohydrate binding specificity of a potent anti-HIV lectin isolated from the filamentous cyanobacterium Oscillatoria agardhii.
Sato, Yuichiro; Okuyama, Satomi; Hori, Kanji
The primary structure of a lectin, designated Oscillatoria agardhii agglutinin (OAA), isolated from the freshwater cyanobacterium O. agardhii NIES-204 was determined by the combination of Edman degradation and electron spray ionization-mass spectrometry. OAA is a polypeptide (Mr 13,925) consisting of two tandem repeats. Interestingly, each repeat sequence of OAA showed a high degree of similarity to those of a myxobacterium, Myxococcus xanthus hemagglutinin, and a marine red alga Eucheuma serra lectin. A systematic binding assay with pyridylaminated oligosaccharides revealed that OAA exclusively binds to high mannose (HM)-type N-glycans but not to other N-glycans, including complex types, hybrid types, and the pentasaccharide core or oligosaccharides from glycolipids. OAA did not interact with any of free mono- and oligomannoses that are constituents of the branched oligomannosides. These results suggest that the core disaccharide, GlcNAc-GlcNAc, is also essential for binding to OAA. The binding activity of OAA to HM type N-glycans was dramatically decreased when alpha1-2 Man was attached to alpha1-3 Man branched from the alpha1-6 Man of the pentasaccharide core. This specificity of OAA for HM-type oligosaccharides is distinct from other HM-binding lectins. Kinetic analysis with an HM heptasaccharide revealed that OAA possesses two carbohydrate binding sites per molecule, with an association constant of 2.41x10(8) m-1. Furthermore, OAA potently inhibits human immunodeficiency virus replication in MT-4 cells (EC50=44.5 nm). Thus, we have found a novel lectin family sharing similar structure and carbohydrate binding specificity among bacteria, cyanobacteria, and marine algae. PMID:17314091
An invertebrate smooth muscle with striated muscle myosin filaments
Sulbarán, Guidenn; Alamo, Lorenzo; Pinto, Antonio; Márquez, Gustavo; Méndez, Franklin; Padrón, Raúl; Craig, Roger
Muscle tissues are classically divided into two major types, depending on the presence or absence of striations. In striated muscles, the actin filaments are anchored at Z-lines and the myosin and actin filaments are in register, whereas in smooth muscles, the actin filaments are attached to dense bodies and the myosin and actin filaments are out of register. The structure of the filaments in smooth muscles is also different from that in striated muscles. Here we have studied the structure of myosin filaments from the smooth muscles of the human parasite Schistosoma mansoni. We find, surprisingly, that they are indistinguishable from those in an arthropod striated muscle. This structural similarity is supported by sequence comparison between the schistosome myosin II heavy chain and known striated muscle myosins. In contrast, the actin filaments of schistosomes are similar to those of smooth muscles, lacking troponin-dependent regulation. We conclude that schistosome muscles are hybrids, containing striated muscle-like myosin filaments and smooth muscle-like actin filaments in a smooth muscle architecture. This surprising finding has broad significance for understanding how muscles are built and how they evolved, and challenges the paradigm that smooth and striated muscles always have distinctly different components. PMID:26443857
Disruption of the keratin filament network during epithelial cell division.
Lane, E B; Goodman, S L; Trejdosiewicz, L K
The behaviour of keratin filaments during cell division was examined in a wide range of epithelial lines from several species. Almost half of them show keratin disruption as described previously: by immunofluorescence, filaments are replaced during mitosis by a 'speckled' pattern of discrete cytoplasmic dots. In the electron microscope these ' speckles ' are seen as granules around the cell periphery, just below the actin cortical mesh, with no detectable 10 nm filament structure inside them and no keratin filament bundles in the rest of the cytoplasm. A time course of the filament reorganization was constructed from double immunofluorescence data; filaments are disrupted in prophase, and the filament network is intact again by cytokinesis. The phenomenon is restricted to cells rich in keratin filaments, such as keratinocytes; it is unrelated to the co-existence of vimentin in many of these cells, and vimentin is generally maintained as filaments while the keratin is restructured. Some resistance to the effect may be conferred by an extended cycle time. Filament reorganization takes place within minutes, so that a reversible mechanism seems more likely than one involving de novo protein synthesis, at this metabolically quiet stage of the cell cycle. Images Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Fig. 6. PMID:6202508
Tropomyosin - master regulator of actin filament function in the cytoskeleton.
Gunning, Peter W; Hardeman, Edna C; Lappalainen, Pekka; Mulvihill, Daniel P
Tropomyosin (Tpm) isoforms are the master regulators of the functions of individual actin filaments in fungi and metazoans. Tpms are coiled-coil parallel dimers that form a head-to-tail polymer along the length of actin filaments. Yeast only has two Tpm isoforms, whereas mammals have over 40. Each cytoskeletal actin filament contains a homopolymer of Tpm homodimers, resulting in a filament of uniform Tpm composition along its length. Evidence for this 'master regulator' role is based on four core sets of observation. First, spatially and functionally distinct actin filaments contain different Tpm isoforms, and recent data suggest that members of the formin family of actin filament nucleators can specify which Tpm isoform is added to the growing actin filament. Second, Tpms regulate whole-organism physiology in terms of morphogenesis, cell proliferation, vesicle trafficking, biomechanics, glucose metabolism and organ size in an isoform-specific manner. Third, Tpms achieve these functional outputs by regulating the interaction of actin filaments with myosin motors and actin-binding proteins in an isoform-specific manner. Last, the assembly of complex structures, such as stress fibers and podosomes involves the collaboration of multiple types of actin filament specified by their Tpm composition. This allows the cell to specify actin filament function in time and space by simply specifying their Tpm isoform composition. PMID:26240174
Microtubule-dependent transport and dynamics of vimentin intermediate filaments
Hookway, Caroline; Ding, Liya; Davidson, Michael W.; Rappoport, Joshua Z.; Danuser, Gaudenz; Gelfand, Vladimir I.
We studied two aspects of vimentin intermediate filament dynamics—transport of filaments and subunit exchange. We observed transport of long filaments in the periphery of cells using live-cell structured illumination microscopy. We studied filament transport elsewhere in cells using a photoconvertible-vimentin probe and total internal reflection microscopy. We found that filaments were rapidly transported along linear tracks in both anterograde and retrograde directions. Filament transport was microtubule dependent but independent of microtubule polymerization and/or an interaction with the plus end–binding protein APC. We also studied subunit exchange in filaments by long-term imaging after photoconversion. We found that converted vimentin remained in small clusters along the length of filaments rather than redistributing uniformly throughout the network, even in cells that divided after photoconversion. These data show that vimentin filaments do not depolymerize into individual subunits; they recompose by severing and reannealing. Together these results show that vimentin filaments are very dynamic and that their transport is required for network maintenance. PMID:25717187
Molecular spectroscopy and molecular structure - Selected communications presented at the 1st International Turkish Congress on Molecular Spectroscopy (TURCMOS 2013)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Durig, James R.; Fausto, Rui; Ünsalan, Ozan; Bayarı, Sevgi; Kuş, Nihal; Ildız, Gülce Ö.
The First International Turkish Congress on Molecular Spectroscopy (TURCMOS 2013) took place at the Harbiye Cultural Center & Museum, Istanbul, Turkey, September 15-20, 2013. The main aim of the congress was to encourage the exchange of scientific ideas and collaborations all around the world, introduce new techniques and instruments, and discuss recent developments in the field of molecular spectroscopy. Among the different subjects covered, particular emphasis was given to the relevance of spectroscopy to elucidate details of the molecular structure and the chemical and physical behavior of systems ranging from simple molecules to complex biochemical molecules. Besides experimental spectroscopic approaches, related computational and theoretical methods were also considered. In this volume, selected contributions presented at the congress were put together.
Synthesis, molecular structure, spectroscopic analysis, thermodynamic parameters and molecular modeling studies of (2-methoxyphenyl)oxalate
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Şahin, Zarife Sibel; Kantar, Günay Kaya; Şaşmaz, Selami; Büyükgüngör, Orhan
The aim of this study is to find out the molecular characteristic and structural parameters that govern the chemical behavior of a new (2-methoxyphenyl)oxalate compound and to compare predictions made from theory with experimental observations. The title compound, (2-methoxyphenyl)oxalate, (I), (C16H14O6), has been synthesized. The compound has been characterized by elemental analysis, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR spectroscopies and single crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. Optimized molecular structure, harmonic vibrational frequencies, 1H and 13C NMR chemical shifts have been investigated by B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) method using density functional theory (DFT). The calculated results show that the predicted geometry can well reproduce structural parameters. In addition, global chemical reactivity descriptors, molecular electrostatic potential map (MEP), frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs), Mulliken population method and natural population analysis (NPA) and thermodynamic properties have also been studied. The energetic behavior of title compound has been examined in solvent media using polarizable continuum model (PCM).
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Liu, R.; Xu, Y.; Wang, H.
We present a selected few cases in which the sense of chirality of filament barbs changed within periods as short as hours. We investigate in detail a quiescent filament on 2003 September 10 and 11. Of its four barbs displaying such changes, only one overlays a small polarity inversion line inside the EUV filament channel (EFC). No magnetic elements with magnitude above the noise level were detected at the endpoints of all barbs. In particular, a pair of barbs first approached toward, and then departed from, each other in Halpha , with the barb endpoints migrating as far as ˜ 10 arcsec. We conclude that the evolution of the barbs was driven by flux emergence and cancellation of small bipolar units at the EFC border.
Structural and Kinetic Effects of PAK3 phosphorylation mimic of cTnI(S151E) on the cTnC-cTnI Interaction in the Cardiac Thin Filament
Ouyang, Yexin; Mamidi, Ranganath; Jayasundar, Jayant James; Chandra, Murali; Dong, Wen-Ji
Residue Ser151 of cTnI is known to be phosphorylated by p21-activated kinase 3 (PAK3). It has been found that PAK3-mediated phosphorylation of cTnI induces an increase in myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity, but the detailed mechanism is unknown. We investigated how the structural and kinetic effects mediated by pseudo-phosphorylation of cTnI (S151E) modulates Ca2+-induced activation of cardiac thin filaments. Using steady-state, time-resolved Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) and stopped-flow kinetic measurements, we monitored Ca2+-induced changes in cTnI-cTnC interactions. Measurements were done using reconstituted thin filaments, which contained the pseudo-phosphorylated cTnI(S151E). We hypothesized that the thin filament regulation is modulated by altered cTnC-cTnI interactions due to charge modification caused by the phosphorylation of Ser151 in cTnI. Our results showed that the pseudo-phosphorylation of cTnI (S151E) sensitizes structural changes to Ca2+ by shortening the intersite distances between cTnC and cTnI. Furthermore, kinetic rates of Ca2+ dissociation-induced structural change in the regulatory region of cTnI were significantly reduced by cTnI (S151E). The aforementioned effects of pseudo-phosphorylation of cTnI were similar to the effects of strong crossbridges on structural changes in cTnI. Our results provide novel information on how cardiac thin filament regulation is modulated by PAK3 phosphorylation of cTnI. PMID:20540949
A dynamic data structure for flexible molecular maintenance and informatics
Bajaj, Chandrajit; Chowdhury, Rezaul Alam; Rasheed, Muhibur
Motivation: We present the 'Dynamic Packing Grid' (DPG), a neighborhood data structure for maintaining and manipulating flexible molecules and assemblies, for efficient computation of binding affinities in drug design or in molecular dynamics calculations. Results: DPG can efficiently maintain the molecular surface using only linear space and supports quasi-constant time insertion, deletion and movement (i.e. updates) of atoms or groups of atoms. DPG also supports constant time neighborhood queries from arbitrary points. Our results for maintenance of molecular surface and polarization energy computations using DPG exhibit marked improvement in time and space requirements. Availability: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~bajaj/cvc/software/DPG.shtml Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:21115440
Ab initio molecular crystal structures, spectra, and phase diagrams.
Hirata, So; Gilliard, Kandis; He, Xiao; Li, Jinjin; Sode, Olaseni
Conspectus Molecular crystals are chemists' solids in the sense that their structures and properties can be understood in terms of those of the constituent molecules merely perturbed by a crystalline environment. They form a large and important class of solids including ices of atmospheric species, drugs, explosives, and even some organic optoelectronic materials and supramolecular assemblies. Recently, surprisingly simple yet extremely efficient, versatile, easily implemented, and systematically accurate electronic structure methods for molecular crystals have been developed. The methods, collectively referred to as the embedded-fragment scheme, divide a crystal into monomers and overlapping dimers and apply modern molecular electronic structure methods and software to these fragments of the crystal that are embedded in a self-consistently determined crystalline electrostatic field. They enable facile applications of accurate but otherwise prohibitively expensive ab initio molecular orbital theories such as Møller-Plesset perturbation and coupled-cluster theories to a broad range of properties of solids such as internal energies, enthalpies, structures, equation of state, phonon dispersion curves and density of states, infrared and Raman spectra (including band intensities and sometimes anharmonic effects), inelastic neutron scattering spectra, heat capacities, Gibbs energies, and phase diagrams, while accounting for many-body electrostatic (namely, induction or polarization) effects as well as two-body exchange and dispersion interactions from first principles. They can fundamentally alter the role of computing in the studies of molecular crystals in the same way ab initio molecular orbital theories have transformed research practices in gas-phase physical chemistry and synthetic chemistry in the last half century. In this Account, after a brief summary of formalisms and algorithms, we discuss applications of these methods performed in our group as compelling
Develop and demonstrate manufacturing processes for fabricating graphite filament reinforced polymide (Gr/PI) composite structural elements
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Chase, V. A.; Harrison, E. S.
A study was conducted to assess the merits of using graphite/polyimide, NR-150B2 resin, for structural applications on advanced space launch vehicles. The program was divided into two phases: (1) Fabrication Process Development; and (2) Demonstration Components. The first phase of the program involved the selection of a graphite fiber, quality assurance of the NR-150B2 polyimide resin, and the quality assurance of the graphite/polyimide prepreg. In the second phase of the program, a limited number of components were fabricated before the NR-150B2 resin system was removed from the market by the supplier, Du Pont. The advancement of the NR-150B2 polyimide resin binder was found to vary significantly based on previous time and temperature history during the prepregging operation. Strength retention at 316C (600F) was found to be 50% that of room temperature strength. However, the composite would retain its initial strength after 200 hours exposure at 316C (600F). Basic chemistry studies are required for determining NR-150B2 resin binder quality assurance parameters. Graphite fibers are available that can withstand high temperature cure and postcure cycles.
Molecular structure in soil humic substances: The new view
Sutton, Rebecca; Sposito, Garrison
A critical examination of published data obtained primarily from recent nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy, electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry, and pyrolysis studies reveals an evolving new view of the molecular structure of soil humic substances. According to the new view, humic substances are collections of diverse, relatively low molecular mass components forming dynamic associations stabilized by hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds. These associations are capable of organizing into micellar structures in suitable aqueous environments. Humic components display contrasting molecular motional behavior and may be spatially segregated on a scale of nanometers. Within this new structural context, these components comprise any molecules intimately associated with a humic substance, such that they cannot be separated effectively by chemical or physical methods. Thus biomolecules strongly bound within humic fractions are by definition humic components, a conclusion that necessarily calls into question key biogeochemical pathways traditionally thought to be required for the formation of humic substances. Further research is needed to elucidate the intermolecular interactions that link humic components into supramolecular associations and to establish the pathways by which these associations emerge from the degradation of organic litter.
Wuest, Craig R.; Tillotson, Thomas M.; Johnson, III, Coleman V.
The present invention is a thin filament embedded in a low density aerogel for use in radiation detection instruments and incandescent lamps. The aerogel provides a supportive matrix that is thermally and electrically nonconductive, mechanically strong, highly porous, gas-permeable, and transparent to ionizing radiation over short distances. A low density, open-cell aerogel is cast around a fine filament or wire, which allows the wire to be positioned with little or no tension and keeps the wire in place in the event of breakage. The aerogel support reduces the stresses on the wire caused by vibrational, gravitational, electrical, and mechanical forces.
Wuest, C.R.; Tillotson, T.M.; Johnson, C.V. III
The present invention is a thin filament embedded in a low density aerogel for use in radiation detection instruments and incandescent lamps. The aerogel provides a supportive matrix that is thermally and electrically nonconductive, mechanically strong, highly porous, gas-permeable, and transparent to ionizing radiation over short distances. A low density, open-cell aerogel is cast around a fine filament or wire, which allows the wire to be positioned with little or no tension and keeps the wire in place in the event of breakage. The aerogel support reduces the stresses on the wire caused by vibrational, gravitational, electrical, and mechanical forces. 6 Figs.
Significance of settling model structures and parameter subsets in modelling WWTPs under wet-weather flow and filamentous bulking conditions.
Ramin, Elham; Sin, Gürkan; Mikkelsen, Peter Steen; Plósz, Benedek Gy
Current research focuses on predicting and mitigating the impacts of high hydraulic loadings on centralized wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) under wet-weather conditions. The maximum permissible inflow to WWTPs depends not only on the settleability of activated sludge in secondary settling tanks (SSTs) but also on the hydraulic behaviour of SSTs. The present study investigates the impacts of ideal and non-ideal flow (dry and wet weather) and settling (good settling and bulking) boundary conditions on the sensitivity of WWTP model outputs to uncertainties intrinsic to the one-dimensional (1-D) SST model structures and parameters. We identify the critical sources of uncertainty in WWTP models through global sensitivity analysis (GSA) using the Benchmark simulation model No. 1 in combination with first- and second-order 1-D SST models. The results obtained illustrate that the contribution of settling parameters to the total variance of the key WWTP process outputs significantly depends on the influent flow and settling conditions. The magnitude of the impact is found to vary, depending on which type of 1-D SST model is used. Therefore, we identify and recommend potential parameter subsets for WWTP model calibration, and propose optimal choice of 1-D SST models under different flow and settling boundary conditions. Additionally, the hydraulic parameters in the second-order SST model are found significant under dynamic wet-weather flow conditions. These results highlight the importance of developing a more mechanistic based flow-dependent hydraulic sub-model in second-order 1-D SST models in the future. PMID:25003213
Molecular dissection of SO (SOFT) protein in stress-induced aggregation and cell-to-cell interactive functions in filamentous fungal multicellularity.
Tsukasaki, Wakako; Saeki, Kei; Katayama, Takuya; Maruyama, Jun-Ichi; Kitamoto, Katsuhiko
Filamentous fungi grow by organizing multicellularity through hyphal compartmentalization and cell fusion. SO (SOFT) protein, which was originally identified in Neurospora crassa, plays distinct functional roles in cell-to-cell interactions, such as septal plugging and cell fusion. We previously reported that AoSO, an Aspergillus oryzae SO homologue, forms aggregates at the septal pore in response to stress, as well as upon hyphal wounding. However, the functional regions that mediate the multicellular functions of AoSO, which is a large protein composed of 1195 amino acids, have not been elucidated. Here, we divided AoSO protein into regions according to amino acid sequence conservation among other fungal SO homologues. By heterologous expression of full-length and truncated forms of AoSO in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the region responsible for the stress-induced aggregation of AoSO was identified to be between amino acids 556 and 1146. In A. oryzae, however, septal localization of AoSO aggregates required the 49 C-terminal amino acids. Thus, expression of only the C-terminal half of AoSO was sufficient for septal plugging and prevention of excessive cytoplasmic loss upon hyphal wounding. In contrast, the N-terminal half of AoSO, from amino acids 1 to 555, together with the C-terminal end, was revealed to be indispensable for cell fusion. Collectively, these findings suggest that the C-terminal half of AoSO, which mediates stress-induced aggregation, is required for both septal plugging and cell fusion, whereas the N-terminal half confers an additional functionality that is essential for cell fusion. PMID:27109373
Dense granule trafficking in Toxoplasma gondii requires a unique class 27 myosin and actin filaments.
Heaslip, Aoife T; Nelson, Shane R; Warshaw, David M
The survival of Toxoplasma gondii within its host cell requires protein release from secretory vesicles, called dense granules, to maintain the parasite's intracellular replicative niche. Despite the importance of DGs, nothing is known about the mechanisms underlying their transport. In higher eukaryotes, secretory vesicles are transported to the plasma membrane by molecular motors moving on their respective cytoskeletal tracks (i.e., microtubules and actin). Because the organization of these cytoskeletal structures differs substantially in T. gondii, the molecular motor dependence of DG trafficking is far from certain. By imaging the motions of green fluorescent protein-tagged DGs in intracellular parasites with high temporal and spatial resolution, we show through a combination of molecular genetics and chemical perturbations that directed DG transport is independent of microtubules and presumably their kinesin/dynein motors. However, directed DG transport is dependent on filamentous actin and a unique class 27 myosin, TgMyoF, which has structural similarity to myosin V, the prototypical cargo transporter. Actomyosin DG transport was unexpected, since filamentous parasite actin has yet to be visualized in vivo due in part to the prevailing model that parasite actin forms short, unstable filaments. Thus our data uncover new critical roles for these essential proteins in the lytic cycle of this devastating pathogen. PMID:27146112
Structural and Molecular Modeling Features of P2X Receptors
Alves, Luiz Anastacio; da Silva, João Herminio Martins; Ferreira, Dinarte Neto Moreira; Fidalgo-Neto, Antonio Augusto; Teixeira, Pedro Celso Nogueira; de Souza, Cristina Alves Magalhães; Caffarena, Ernesto Raúl; de Freitas, Mônica Santos
Currently, adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) is recognized as the extracellular messenger that acts through P2 receptors. P2 receptors are divided into two subtypes: P2Y metabotropic receptors and P2X ionotropic receptors, both of which are found in virtually all mammalian cell types studied. Due to the difficulty in studying membrane protein structures by X-ray crystallography or NMR techniques, there is little information about these structures available in the literature. Two structures of the P2X4 receptor in truncated form have been solved by crystallography. Molecular modeling has proven to be an excellent tool for studying ionotropic receptors. Recently, modeling studies carried out on P2X receptors have advanced our knowledge of the P2X receptor structure-function relationships. This review presents a brief history of ion channel structural studies and shows how modeling approaches can be used to address relevant questions about P2X receptors. PMID:24637936
Application of machine learning to structural molecular biology.
Sternberg, M J; King, R D; Lewis, R A; Muggleton, S
A technique of machine learning, inductive logic programming implemented in the program GOLEM, has been applied to three problems in structural molecular biology. These problems are: the prediction of protein secondary structure; the identification of rules governing the arrangement of beta-sheets strands in the tertiary folding of proteins; and the modelling of a quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) of a series of drugs. For secondary structure prediction and the QSAR, GOLEM yielded predictions comparable with contemporary approaches including neural networks. Rules for beta-strand arrangement are derived and it is planned to contrast their accuracy with those obtained by human inspection. In all three studies GOLEM discovered rules that provided insight into the stereochemistry of the system. We conclude machine learning used together with human intervention will provide a powerful tool to discover patterns in biological sequences and structures. PMID:7800706
A filament supported by different magnetic field configurations
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Guo, Y.; Schmieder, B.; Démoulin, P.; Wiegelmann, T.; Aulanier, G.; Török, T.; Bommier, V.
A nonlinear force-free magnetic field extrapolation of vector magnetogram data obtained by THEMIS/MTR on 2005 May 27 suggests the simultaneous existence of different magnetic configurations within one active region filament: one part of the filament is supported by field line dips within a flux rope, while the other part is located in dips within an arcade structure. Although the axial field chirality (dextral) and the magnetic helicity (negative) are the same along the whole filament, the chiralities of the filament barbs at different sections are opposite, i.e., right-bearing in the flux rope part and left-bearing in the arcade part. This argues against past suggestions that different barb chiralities imply different signs of helicity of the underlying magnetic field. This new finding about the chirality of filaments will be useful to associate eruptive filaments and magnetic cloud using the helicity parameter in the Space Weather Science.
Modeling Vertical Plasma Flows in Solar Filament Barbs
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Litvinenko, Y.
Speeds of observed flows in quiescent solar filaments are typically much less than the local Alfvén speed. This is why the flows in filament barbs can be modeled by perturbing a local magnetostatic solution describing the balance between the Lorentz force, gravity, and gas pressure in a barb. Similarly, large-scale filament flows can be treated as adiabatically slow deformations of a force-free magnetic equilibrium that describes the global structure of a filament. This approach reconciles current theoretical models with the puzzling observational result that some of the flows appear to be neither aligned with the magnetic field nor controlled by gravity.
Molecular Modeling of Nucleic Acid Structure: Electrostatics and Solvation
Bergonzo, Christina; Galindo-Murillo, Rodrigo; Cheatham, Thomas E.
This unit presents an overview of computer simulation techniques as applied to nucleic acid systems, ranging from simple in vacuo molecular modeling techniques to more complete all-atom molecular dynamics treatments that include an explicit representation of the environment. The third in a series of four units, this unit focuses on critical issues in solvation and the treatment of electrostatics. UNITS 7.5 & 7.8 introduced the modeling of nucleic acid structure at the molecular level. This included a discussion of how to generate an initial model, how to evaluate the utility or reliability of a given model, and ultimately how to manipulate this model to better understand the structure, dynamics, and interactions. Subject to an appropriate representation of the energy, such as a specifically parameterized empirical force field, the techniques of minimization and Monte Carlo simulation, as well as molecular dynamics (MD) methods, were introduced as means to sample conformational space for a better understanding of the relevance of a given model. From this discussion, the major limitations with modeling, in general, were highlighted. These are the difficult issues in sampling conformational space effectively—the multiple minima or conformational sampling problems—and accurately representing the underlying energy of interaction. In order to provide a realistic model of the underlying energetics for nucleic acids in their native environments, it is crucial to include some representation of solvation (by water) and also to properly treat the electrostatic interactions. These are discussed in detail in this unit. PMID:18428877
Molecular modeling of nucleic Acid structure: electrostatics and solvation.
Bergonzo, Christina; Galindo-Murillo, Rodrigo; Cheatham, Thomas E
This unit presents an overview of computer simulation techniques as applied to nucleic acid systems, ranging from simple in vacuo molecular modeling techniques to more complete all-atom molecular dynamics treatments that include an explicit representation of the environment. The third in a series of four units, this unit focuses on critical issues in solvation and the treatment of electrostatics. UNITS 7.5 & 7.8 introduced the modeling of nucleic acid structure at the molecular level. This included a discussion of how to generate an initial model, how to evaluate the utility or reliability of a given model, and ultimately how to manipulate this model to better understand its structure, dynamics, and interactions. Subject to an appropriate representation of the energy, such as a specifically parameterized empirical force field, the techniques of minimization and Monte Carlo simulation, as well as molecular dynamics (MD) methods, were introduced as a way of sampling conformational space for a better understanding of the relevance of a given model. This discussion highlighted the major limitations with modeling in general. When sampling conformational space effectively, difficult issues are encountered, such as multiple minima or conformational sampling problems, and accurately representing the underlying energy of interaction. In order to provide a realistic model of the underlying energetics for nucleic acids in their native environments, it is crucial to include some representation of solvation (by water) and also to properly treat the electrostatic interactions. These subjects are discussed in detail in this unit. PMID:25631536
Lens tilting effect on filamentation and filament-induced fluorescence
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kamali, Y.; Sun, Q.; Daigle, J.-F.; Azarm, A.; Bernhardt, J.; Chin, S. L.
In filament-induced fluorescence spectroscopy, we experimentally found that if the lens used for the creation and localization of filament is tilted, the signal to noise ratio of spectral measurement increases. Further study shows that with lens tilting, astigmatism occurs and the filament is split into shorter parts. In turn the shortening of filament reduces the generation of white light which is the major 'noise' source of the spectra.
Branching of keratin intermediate filaments.
Nafeey, Soufi; Martin, Ines; Felder, Tatiana; Walther, Paul; Felder, Edward
Keratin intermediate filaments (IFs) are crucial to maintain mechanical stability in epithelial cells. Since little is known about the network architecture that provides this stiffness and especially about branching properties of filaments, we addressed this question with different electron microscopic (EM) methods. Using EM tomography of high pressure frozen keratinocytes, we investigated the course of several filaments in a branching of a filament bundle. Moreover we found several putative bifurcations in individual filaments. To verify our observation we also visualized the keratin network in detergent extracted keratinocytes with scanning EM. Here bifurcations of individual filaments could unambiguously be identified additionally to bundle branchings. Interestingly, identical filament bifurcations were also found in purified keratin 8/18 filaments expressed in Escherichia coli which were reassembled in vitro. This excludes that an accessory protein contributes to the branch formation. Measurements of the filament cross sectional areas showed various ratios between the three bifurcation arms. This demonstrates that intermediate filament furcation is very different from actin furcation where an entire new filament is attached to an existing filament. Instead, the architecture of intermediate filament bifurcations is less predetermined and hence consistent with the general concept of IF formation. PMID:27039023
Su Yang; Veronig, Astrid; Temmer, Manuela; Wang Tongjiang; Gan Weiqun
Solar magnetized 'tornadoes', a phenomenon discovered in the solar atmosphere, appear as tornado-like structures in the corona but are rooted in the photosphere. Like other solar phenomena, solar tornadoes are a feature of magnetized plasma and therefore differ distinctly from terrestrial tornadoes. Here we report the first analysis of solar 'tornadoes' (two papers which focused on different aspects of solar tornadoes were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and Nature, respectively, during the revision of this Letter). A detailed case study of two events indicates that they are rotating vertical magnetic structures probably driven by underlying vortex flows in the photosphere. They usually exist as a group and are related to filaments/prominences, another important solar phenomenon whose formation and eruption are still mysteries. Solar tornadoes may play a distinct role in the supply of mass and twists to filaments. These findings could lead to a new explanation of filament formation and eruption.
Solar Magnetized "Tornadoes:" Relation to Filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Su, Yang; Wang, Tongjiang; Veronig, Astrid; Temmer, Manuela; Gan, Weiqun
Solar magnetized "tornadoes," a phenomenon discovered in the solar atmosphere, appear as tornado-like structures in the corona but are rooted in the photosphere. Like other solar phenomena, solar tornadoes are a feature of magnetized plasma and therefore differ distinctly from terrestrial tornadoes. Here we report the first analysis of solar "tornadoes" (two papers which focused on different aspects of solar tornadoes were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and Nature, respectively, during the revision of this Letter). A detailed case study of two events indicates that they are rotating vertical magnetic structures probably driven by underlying vortex flows in the photosphere. They usually exist as a group and are related to filaments/prominences, another important solar phenomenon whose formation and eruption are still mysteries. Solar tornadoes may play a distinct role in the supply of mass and twists to filaments. These findings could lead to a new explanation of filament formation and eruption.
Prediction of reactive hazards based on molecular structure.
Saraf, S R; Rogers, W J; Mannan, M S
There is considerable interest in prediction of reactive hazards based on chemical structure. Calorimetric measurements to determine reactivity can be resource consuming, so computational methods to predict reactivity hazards present an attractive option. This paper reviews some of the commonly employed theoretical hazard evaluation techniques, including the oxygen-balance method, ASTM CHETAH, and calculated adiabatic reaction temperature (CART). It also discusses the development of a study table to correlate and predict calorimetric properties of pure compounds. Quantitative structure-property relationships (QSPR) based on quantum mechanical calculations can be employed to correlate calorimetrically measured onset temperatures, T(o), and energies of reaction, -deltaH, with molecular properties. To test the feasibility of this approach, the QSPR technique is used to correlate differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) data, T(o) and -deltaH, with molecular properties for 19 nitro compounds. PMID:12628775
Molecular modelling of miraculin: Structural analyses and functional hypotheses.
Paladino, Antonella; Costantini, Susan; Colonna, Giovanni; Facchiano, Angelo M
Miraculin is a plant protein that displays the peculiar property of modifying taste by swiching sour into a sweet taste. Its monomer is flavourless at all pH as well as at high concentration; the dimer form elicits its taste-modifying activity at acidic pH; a tetrameric form is also reported as active. Two histidine residues, located in exposed regions, are the main responsible of miraculin activity, as demonstrated by mutagenesis studies. Since structural data of miraculin are not available, we have predicted its three-dimensional structure and simulated both its dimer and tetramer forms by comparative modelling and molecular docking techniques. Finally, molecular dynamics simulations at different pH conditions have indicated that at acidic pH the dimer assumes a widely open conformation, in agreement with the hypotheses coming from other studies. PMID:18158914
Molecular structure by two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Freeman, R.
Two examples are presented of the use of two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy to solve molecular structure problems. The first is called correlation spectroscopy (COSY) and it allows us to disentangle a complex network of spin-spin couplings. By dispersing the NMR information in two frequency dimensions, it facilitates the analysis of very complex spectra of organic and biochemical molecules, normally too crowded to be tractable. The second application exploits the special properties of multiple-quantum coherence to explore the molecular framework one CC linkage at a time. The natural product panamine is used as a test example; with some supplementary evidence, the structure of this six-ringed heterocyclic molecule is elucidated from the double-quantum filtered two-dimensional spectrum.
Advances in multimodality molecular imaging of bone structure and function
Lambers, Floor M; Kuhn, Gisela; Müller, Ralph
The skeleton is important to the body as a source of minerals and blood cells and provides a structural framework for strength, mobility and the protection of organs. Bone diseases and disorders can have deteriorating effects on the skeleton, but the biological processes underlying anatomical changes in bone diseases occurring in vivo are not well understood, mostly due to the lack of appropriate analysis techniques. Therefore, there is ongoing research in the development of novel in vivo imaging techniques and molecular markers that might help to gain more knowledge of these pathological pathways in animal models and patients. This perspective provides an overview of the latest developments in molecular imaging applied to bone. It emphasizes that multimodality imaging, the combination of multiple imaging techniques encompassing different image modalities, enhances the interpretability of data, and is imperative for the understanding of the biological processes and the associated changes in bone structure and function relationships in vivo. PMID:27127622
Molecular solutes in ionic liquids: a structural perspective.
Pádua, Agílio A H; Costa Gomes, Margarida F; Canongia Lopes, José N A
Understanding physicochemical properties of ionic liquids is important for their rational use in extractions, reactions, and other applications. Ionic liquids are not simple fluids: their ions are generally asymetric, flexible, with delocalized electrostatic charges, and available in a wide variety. It is difficult to capture their subtle properties with models that are too simplistic. Molecular simulation using atomistic force fields, which describe structures and interactions in detail, is an excellent tool to gain insights into their liquid-state organization, how they solvate different compounds, and what molecular factors determine their properties. The identification of certain ionic liquids as self-organized phases, with aggregated nonpolar and charged domains, provides a new way to interpret the solvation and structure of their mixtures. Many advances are the result of a successful interplay between experiment and modeling, possible in this field where none of the two methodologies had a previous advance. PMID:17661440
Toxicological implications of esterases-From molecular structures to functions
Satoh, Tetsuo . E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
This article reports on a keynote lecture at the 10th International Congress of Toxicology sponsored by the International Union of Toxicology and held on July 2004. Current developments in molecular-based studies into the structure and function of cholinesterases, carboxylesterases, and paraoxonases are described. This article covers mechanisms of regulation of gene expression of the various esterases by developmental factors and xenobiotics, as well as the interplay between physiological and chemical regulation of the enzyme activity.
A network of filaments detected by Herschel in the Serpens core. A laboratory to test simulations of low-mass star formation
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Roccatagliata, V.; Dale, J. E.; Ratzka, T.; Testi, L.; Burkert, A.; Koepferl, C.; Sicilia-Aguilar, A.; Eiroa, C.; Gaczkowski, B.
Context. Filaments represent a key structure during the early stages of the star formation process. Simulations show that filamentary structures commonly formed before and during the formation of cores. Aims: The Serpens core is an ideal laboratory for testing the state of the art of simulations of turbulent giant molecular clouds. Methods: We used Herschel observations of the Serpens core to compute temperature and column density maps of the region. We selected the early stages of a recent simulation of star-formation, before stellar feedback was initiated, with similar total mass and physical size as the Serpens core. We also derived temperature and column density maps from the simulations. The observed distribution of column densities of the filaments was analyzed, first including and then masking the cores. The same analysis was performed on the simulations as well. Results: A radial network of filaments was detected in the Serpens core. The analyzed simulation shows a striking morphological resemblance to the observed structures. The column density distribution of simulated filaments without cores shows only a log-normal distribution, while the observed filaments show a power-law tail. The power-law tail becomes evident in the simulation if the focus is only the column density distribution of the cores. In contrast, the observed cores show a flat distribution. Conclusions: Even though the simulated and observed filaments are subjectively similar-looking, we find that they behave in very different ways. The simulated filaments are turbulence-dominated regions; the observed filaments are instead self-gravitating structures that will probably fragment into cores. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.Appendices are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
Optimization techniques in molecular structure and function elucidation.
Sahinidis, Nikolaos V
This paper discusses recent optimization approaches to the protein side-chain prediction problem, protein structural alignment, and molecular structure determination from X-ray diffraction measurements. The machinery employed to solve these problems has included algorithms from linear programming, dynamic programming, combinatorial optimization, and mixed-integer nonlinear programming. Many of these problems are purely continuous in nature. Yet, to this date, they have been approached mostly via combinatorial optimization algorithms that are applied to discrete approximations. The main purpose of the paper is to offer an introduction and motivate further systems approaches to these problems. PMID:20160866
Nanoparticle Probes for Structural and Functional Photoacoustic Molecular Tomography
Chen, Haobin; Yuan, Zhen; Wu, Changfeng
Nowadays, nanoparticle probes have received extensive attention largely due to its potential biomedical applications in structural, functional, and molecular imaging. In addition, photoacoustic tomography (PAT), a method based on the photoacoustic effect, is widely recognized as a robust modality to evaluate the structure and function of biological tissues with high optical contrast and high acoustic resolution. The combination of PAT with nanoparticle probes holds promises for detecting and imaging diseased tissues or monitoring their treatments with high sensitivity. This review will introduce the recent advances in the emerging field of nanoparticle probes and their preclinical applications in PAT, as well as relevant perspectives on future development. PMID:26609534
The crystal and molecular structure of triethanol-ammonium nitrate
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bracuti, A. J.
The liquid propellant used in the 155-mm regenerative liquid propellant gun is XM46. XM46 is a solution of 60 percent hydroxyl ammonium nitrate (HAN), 20 percent triethanolammonium nitrate (TEAN), and 20 percent water. This material exhibits rather unusual liquid properties that have been attributed to its being a 'molten eutectic' of fused salts rather than a normal aqueous solution of two different nitrate salts. A hydrogen-bonded liquid structure for eutectic LP1946 was proposed previously based on the known structures of neat HAN and water and a best-guess estimate of the TEAN structure. To verify this estimate, the molecular structure of neat TEAN was recently determined. This investigation revealed TEAN has very unusual and interesting bifurcated intermolecular and trifurcated intramolecular hydrogen bonding configurations within the crystal. If these hydrogen bonding configurations are retained in aqueous solution, they could be responsible in some part to the observed unusual liquid properties of liquid propellant XM46.
Structure and dynamics of complex liquid water: Molecular dynamics simulation
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
S, Indrajith V.; Natesan, Baskaran
We have carried out detailed structure and dynamical studies of complex liquid water using molecular dynamics simulations. Three different model potentials, namely, TIP3P, TIP4P and SPC-E have been used in the simulations, in order to arrive at the best possible potential function that could reproduce the structure of experimental bulk water. All the simulations were performed in the NVE micro canonical ensemble using LAMMPS. The radial distribution functions, gOO, gOH and gHH and the self diffusion coefficient, Ds, were calculated for all three models. We conclude from our results that the structure and dynamical parameters obtained for SPC-E model matched well with the experimental values, suggesting that among the models studied here, the SPC-E model gives the best structure and dynamics of bulk water.
Bending Flexibility of Actin Filaments during Motor-Induced Sliding
Vikhorev, Petr G.; Vikhoreva, Natalia N.; Månsson, Alf
Muscle contraction and other forms of cell motility occur as a result of cyclic interactions between myosin molecules and actin filaments. Force generation is generally attributed to ATP-driven structural changes in myosin, whereas a passive role is ascribed to actin. However, some results challenge this view, predicting structural changes in actin during motor activity, e.g., when the actin filaments slide on a myosin-coated surface in vitro. Here, we analyzed statistical properties of the sliding filament paths, allowing us to detect changes of this type. It is interesting to note that evidence for substantial structural changes that led to increased bending flexibility of the filaments was found in phalloidin-stabilized, but not in phalloidin-free, actin filaments. The results are in accordance with the idea that a high-flexibility structural state of actin is a prerequisite for force production, but not the idea that a low-to-high flexibility transition of the actin filament should be an important component of the force-generating step per se. Finally, our data challenge the general view that phalloidin-stabilized filaments behave as native actin filaments in their interaction with myosin. This has important implications, since phalloidin stabilization is a routine procedure in most studies of actomyosin function. PMID:18835897
Naranjo-Romero, Raul; Zapata, Luis A.; Vazquez-Semadeni, Enrique; Takahashi, Satoko; Palau, Aina; Schilke, Peter
We report on high-sensitivity and high angular resolution archival Submillimeter Array observations of the large ({approx}15,000 AU) putative circumstellar disk associated with the O-type protostar NGC 7538 S. Observations of the continuum resolve this putative circumstellar disk into five compact sources, with sizes {approx}3000 AU and masses {approx}10 M{sub Sun }. This confirms the results of recent millimeter observations made with CARMA/BIMA toward this object. However, we find that most of these compact sources eject collimated bipolar outflows, revealed by our silicon monoxide (SiO J = 5-4) observations, and confirm that these sources have a (proto)stellar nature. All outflows are perpendicular to the large and rotating dusty structure. We propose therefore that, rather than being a single massive circumstellar disk, NGC 7538 S could instead be a large and massive contracting or rotating filament that is fragmenting at scales of 0.1-0.01 pc to form several B-type stars, via the standard process involving outflows and disks. As in recent high spatial resolution studies of dusty filaments, our observations also suggest that thermal pressure does not seem to be sufficient to support the filament, so that either additional support needs to be invoked or else the filament must be in the process of collapsing. A smoothed particle hydrodynamics numerical simulation of the formation of a molecular cloud by converging warm neutral medium flows produces contracting filaments whose dimensions and spacings between the stars forming within them, as well as their column densities, strongly resemble those observed in the filament reported here.
FtsZ Cytoskeletal Filaments as a Template for Metallic Nanowire Fabrication.
Ostrov, Nili; Fichman, Galit; Adler-Abramovich, Lihi; Gazit, Ehud
Supramolecular protein assemblies can serve as templates for the fabrication of inorganic nanowires due to their morphological reproducibility and innate proclivity to form well-ordered structures. Amongst the variety of naturally occurring nano-scale assemblies, cytoskeletal fibers from diverse biological sources represent a unique family of scaffolds for biomimetics as they efficiently self-assemble in vitro in a controllable manner to form stable filaments. Here, we harness the bacterial FtsZ filament system as a scaffold for protein-based metal nanowires, and further demonstrate the control of wire alignment with the use of an external magnetic field. Due to the ease at which the bacterial FtsZ is overexpressed and purified, as well as the extensive studies of its ultrastructural properties and physiological significance, FtsZ filaments are an ideal substrate for large-scale production and chemical manipulation. Using a biologically compatible electroless metal deposition technique initiated by adsorption of platinum as a surface catalyst, we demonstrate the coating of assembled FtsZ filaments with iron, nickel, gold, and copper to fabricate continuous nanowires with diameters ranging from 10-50 nm. Organic-inorganic hybrid wires were analyzed using high-resolution field-emission-gun transmission and scanning electron microscopy, and confirmed by energy-dispersive elemental analysis. We also achieved alignment of ferrofluid-coated FtsZ filaments using an external magnetic field. Overall, we provide evidence for the robustness of the FtsZ filament system as a molecular scaffold, and offer an efficient, biocompatible procedure for facile bottom-up assembly of metallic wires on biological templates. We believe that bottom-up fabrication methods as reported herein significantly contribute to the expanding toolkit available for the incorporation of biological materials in nano-scale devices for electronic and electromechanical applications. PMID:26328401
Molecular structures of amyloid and prion fibrils: consensus versus controversy.
Tycko, Robert; Wickner, Reed B
Many peptides and proteins self-assemble into amyloid fibrils. Examples include mammalian and fungal prion proteins, polypeptides associated with human amyloid diseases, and proteins that may have biologically functional amyloid states. To understand the propensity for polypeptides to form amyloid fibrils and to facilitate rational design of amyloid inhibitors and imaging agents, it is necessary to elucidate the molecular structures of these fibrils. Although fibril structures were largely mysterious 15 years ago, a considerable body of reliable structural information about amyloid fibril structures now exists, with essential contributions from solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. This Account reviews results from our laboratories and discusses several structural issues that have been controversial. In many cases, the amino acid sequences of amyloid fibrils do not uniquely determine their molecular structures. Self-propagating, molecular-level polymorphism complicates the structure determination problem and can lead to apparent disagreements between results from different laboratories, particularly when different laboratories study different polymorphs. For 40-residue β-amyloid (Aβ₁₋₄₀) fibrils associated with Alzheimer's disease, we have developed detailed structural models from solid state NMR and electron microscopy data for two polymorphs. These polymorphs have similar peptide conformations, identical in-register parallel β-sheet organizations, but different overall symmetry. Other polymorphs have also been partially characterized by solid state NMR and appear to have similar structures. In contrast, cryo-electron microscopy studies that use significantly different fibril growth conditions have identified structures that appear (at low resolution) to be different from those examined by solid state NMR. Based on solid state NMR and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements, the in-register parallel β-sheet organization
Regional orientation of actin filaments in the pericanalicular cytoplasm of rat hepatocytes.
Ishii, M; Washioka, H; Tonosaki, A; Toyota, T
To elucidate how actin filaments participate in bile formation, polarity of actin filaments in the pericanalicular cytoplasm was determined with myosin subfragment 1 by transmission electron microscopy of ultrathin sections and deep-etching replicas. Densely concentrated actin filaments were identified around the bile canaliculi in the forms of microvillous core filaments, pericanalicular web filaments, and filaments on the junctional complex. They bound subfragment 1 to form double-helical strands on the deep-etching replica or typical arrowheads on the ultrathin section. All microvillous core filaments showed their arrowheads pointing basally, suggesting the molecular growth occurring at their apical ends. In contrast, filaments of the pericanalicular web, running in parallel to the cell surface, showed unfixed polarities as indicated by their arrowheads. Furthermore, neighboring filament pairs often showed opposite polarities, an alignment necessary for filament sliding. The junctional complex had filaments with arrowheads pointed mostly at the cell center with a small number in opposite direction. In addition, a group of sporadic filaments appeared to be installed to link to both the canalicular membrane and coated vesicles. Such regionally specialized actin filaments are considered inclusively to form a cytoskeletal system that is in charge of (a) maintenance of length of the microvilli, (b) contraction of the canalicular walls, and (c) translocation of coated vesicles in the pericanalicular cytoplasm. PMID:1955131
Nonequilibrium structure and dynamics in a microscopic model of thin-film active gels
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Head, D. A.; Briels, W. J.; Gompper, Gerhard
In the presence of adenosine triphosphate, molecular motors generate active force dipoles that drive suspensions of protein filaments far from thermodynamic equilibrium, leading to exotic dynamics and pattern formation. Microscopic modeling can help to quantify the relationship between individual motors plus filaments to organization and dynamics on molecular and supramolecular length scales. Here, we present results of extensive numerical simulations of active gels where the motors and filaments are confined between two infinite parallel plates. Thermal fluctuations and excluded-volume interactions between filaments are included. A systematic variation of rates for motor motion, attachment, and detachment, including a differential detachment rate from filament ends, reveals a range of nonequilibrium behavior. Strong motor binding produces structured filament aggregates that we refer to as asters, bundles, or layers, whose stability depends on motor speed and differential end detachment. The gross features of the dependence of the observed structures on the motor rate and the filament concentration can be captured by a simple one-filament model. Loosely bound aggregates exhibit superdiffusive mass transport, where filament translocation scales with lag time with nonunique exponents that depend on motor kinetics. An empirical data collapse of filament speed as a function of motor speed and end detachment is found, suggesting a dimensional reduction of the relevant parameter space. We conclude by discussing the perspectives of microscopic modeling in the field of active gels.
Nonequilibrium structure and dynamics in a microscopic model of thin-film active gels.
Head, D A; Briels, W J; Gompper, Gerhard
In the presence of adenosine triphosphate, molecular motors generate active force dipoles that drive suspensions of protein filaments far from thermodynamic equilibrium, leading to exotic dynamics and pattern formation. Microscopic modeling can help to quantify the relationship between individual motors plus filaments to organization and dynamics on molecular and supramolecular length scales. Here, we present results of extensive numerical simulations of active gels where the motors and filaments are confined between two infinite parallel plates. Thermal fluctuations and excluded-volume interactions between filaments are included. A systematic variation of rates for motor motion, attachment, and detachment, including a differential detachment rate from filament ends, reveals a range of nonequilibrium behavior. Strong motor binding produces structured filament aggregates that we refer to as asters, bundles, or layers, whose stability depends on motor speed and differential end detachment. The gross features of the dependence of the observed structures on the motor rate and the filament concentration can be captured by a simple one-filament model. Loosely bound aggregates exhibit superdiffusive mass transport, where filament translocation scales with lag time with nonunique exponents that depend on motor kinetics. An empirical data collapse of filament speed as a function of motor speed and end detachment is found, suggesting a dimensional reduction of the relevant parameter space. We conclude by discussing the perspectives of microscopic modeling in the field of active gels. PMID:24730872
A 3D visualization system for molecular structures
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Green, Terry J.
The properties of molecules derive in part from their structures. Because of the importance of understanding molecular structures various methodologies, ranging from first principles to empirical technique, were developed for computing the structure of molecules. For large molecules such as polymer model compounds, the structural information is difficult to comprehend by examining tabulated data. Therefore, a molecular graphics display system, called MOLDS, was developed to help interpret the data. MOLDS is a menu-driven program developed to run on the LADC SNS computer systems. This program can read a data file generated by the modeling programs or data can be entered using the keyboard. MOLDS has the following capabilities: draws the 3-D representation of a molecule using stick, ball and ball, or space filled model from Cartesian coordinates, draws different perspective views of the molecule; rotates the molecule on the X, Y, Z axis or about some arbitrary line in space, zooms in on a small area of the molecule in order to obtain a better view of a specific region; and makes hard copy representation of molecules on a graphic printer. In addition, MOLDS can be easily updated and readily adapted to run on most computer systems.
A catalytic oligomeric motor that walks along a filament track
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Huang, Mu-Jie; Kapral, Raymond
Most biological motors in the cell execute chemically powered conformational changes as they walk on biopolymer filaments in order to carry out directed transport functions. Synthetic motors that operate in a similar manner are being studied since they have the potential to perform similar tasks in a variety of applications. In this paper, a synthetic nanomotor that moves along a filament track, without invoking motor conformational changes, is constructed and its properties are studied in detail. The motor is an oligomer comprising three linked beads with specific binding properties. The filament track is a stiff polymer chain, also described by a linear chain of linked coarse-grained molecular groups modeled as beads. Reactions on the filament that are catalyzed by a motor bead and use fuel in the environment, in conjunction within the binding affinities of the motor beads to the filament beads, lead to directed motion. The system operates out of equilibrium due to the state of the filament and supply of fuel. The motor, filament, and surrounding medium are all described at microscopic level that permits a full analysis of the motor motion. A stochastic model that captures the main trends seen in the simulations is also presented. The results of this study point to some of the key features that could be used to construct nanomotors that undergo biased walks powered by chemical reactions on filaments.
A catalytic oligomeric motor that walks along a filament track
Huang, Mu-Jie Kapral, Raymond
Most biological motors in the cell execute chemically powered conformational changes as they walk on biopolymer filaments in order to carry out directed transport functions. Synthetic motors that operate in a similar manner are being studied since they have the potential to perform similar tasks in a variety of applications. In this paper, a synthetic nanomotor that moves along a filament track, without invoking motor conformational changes, is constructed and its properties are studied in detail. The motor is an oligomer comprising three linked beads with specific binding properties. The filament track is a stiff polymer chain, also described by a linear chain of linked coarse-grained molecular groups modeled as beads. Reactions on the filament that are catalyzed by a motor bead and use fuel in the environment, in conjunction within the binding affinities of the motor beads to the filament beads, lead to directed motion. The system operates out of equilibrium due to the state of the filament and supply of fuel. The motor, filament, and surrounding medium are all described at microscopic level that permits a full analysis of the motor motion. A stochastic model that captures the main trends seen in the simulations is also presented. The results of this study point to some of the key features that could be used to construct nanomotors that undergo biased walks powered by chemical reactions on filaments.
A Conceptual Model of the Formation of Filament Barbs
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Martin, S. F.
Barbs are the structures along the sides of a filament that connect its horizontal axis to chromosphere. The barbs, previously called 'legs' can be considered as magnetic field conduits along which mass is continuously guided and transported to and from the chromosphere. In the model presented, the barbs represent a secondary stage in filament formation which follows an intial stage in which a nearly horizontal axial magnetic field is first formed along a filament channel. Barb formation is most effectively and readily illustrated where the filament channel is broad and well-developed such as exists among the decaying network remnants of active regions. In these circumstances, the filament channel is a region of relatively low magnetic flux density compared to adjacent areas further from the polarity inversion. H-alpha filtergrams show that the axial parts of the filament are low and nearly contiguous with the chromosphere. The low height of the axial field, and the relative absence of concentrations of network magnetic field, are favorable conditions for magnetic reconnection between the axial field of the filament and new ephemeral regions and intranetwork magnetic fields beneath the filament. These reconnections lead to the formation of the barbs joining parts of the newly emerged fields to the axial field of the filament. Barb formation and motions seen in H-alpha filtergrams provide the evidence for this initial part of the conceptual model. The remaining part of the model is a demonstration of why only right-bearing barbs are seen on dextral filaments and left-bearing barbs on sinistral filaments; this is due to the sinistral or dextral magnetic configuration of the filament channel which does not permit the survival of barbs of the non-observed chirality as will be illustrated.
Heat-induced changes to lipid molecular structure in Vimy flaxseed: Spectral intensity and molecular clustering
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Yu, Peiqiang; Damiran, Daalkhaijav
Autoclaving was used to manipulate nutrient utilization and availability. The objectives of this study were to characterize any changes of the functional groups mainly associated with lipid structure in flaxseed ( Linum usitatissimum, cv. Vimy), that occurred on a molecular level during the treatment process using infrared Fourier transform molecular spectroscopy. The parameters included lipid CH 3 asymmetric (ca. 2959 cm -1), CH 2 asymmetric (ca. 2928 cm -1), CH 3 symmetric (ca. 2871 cm -1) and CH 2 symmetric (ca. 2954 cm -1) functional groups, lipid carbonyl C dbnd O ester group (ca. 1745 cm -1), lipid unsaturation group (CH attached to C dbnd C) (ca. 3010 cm -1) as well as their ratios. Hierarchical cluster analysis (CLA) and principal components analysis (PCA) were conducted to identify molecular spectral differences. Flaxseed samples were kept raw for the control or autoclaved in batches at 120 °C for 20, 40 or 60 min for treatments 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Molecular spectral analysis of lipid functional group ratios showed a significant decrease ( P < 0.05) in the CH 2 asymmetric to CH 3 asymmetric stretching band peak intensity ratios for the flaxseed. There were linear and quadratic effects ( P < 0.05) of the treatment time from 0, 20, 40 and 60 min on the ratios of the CH 2 asymmetric to CH 3 asymmetric stretching vibration intensity. Autoclaving had no significant effect ( P > 0.05) on lipid carbonyl C dbnd O ester group and lipid unsaturation group (CH attached to C dbnd C) (with average spectral peak area intensities of 138.3 and 68.8 IR intensity units, respectively). Multivariate molecular spectral analyses, CLA and PCA, were unable to make distinctions between the different treatment original spectra at the CH 3 and CH 2 asymmetric and symmetric region (ca. 2988-2790 cm -1). The results indicated that autoclaving had an impact to the mid-infrared molecular spectrum of flaxseed to identify heat-induced changes in lipid conformation. A future study
Hollow cylindrical plasma filament waveguide with discontinuous finite thickness cladding
Alshershby, Mostafa; Hao Zuoqiang; Lin Jingquan
We have explored here a hollow cylindrical laser plasma multifilament waveguide with discontinuous finite thickness cladding, in which the separation between individual filaments is in the range of several millimeters and the waveguide cladding thickness is in the order of the microwave penetration depth. Such parameters give a closer representation of a realistic laser filament waveguide sustained by a long stable propagation of femtosecond (fs) laser pulses. We report how the waveguide losses depend on structural parameters like normalized plasma filament spacing, filament to filament distance or pitch, normal spatial frequency, and radius of the plasma filament. We found that for typical plasma parameters, the proposed waveguide can support guided modes of microwaves in extremely high frequency even with a cladding consisting of only one ring of plasma filaments. The loss of the microwave radiation is mainly caused by tunneling through the discontinuous finite cladding, i.e., confinement loss, and is weakly dependent on the plasma absorption. In addition, the analysis indicates that the propagation loss is fairly large compared with the loss of a plasma waveguide with a continuous infinite thickness cladding, while they are comparable when using a cladding contains more than one ring. Compared to free space propagation, this waveguide still presents a superior microwave transmission to some distance in the order of the filamentation length; thus, the laser plasma filaments waveguide may be a potential channel for transporting pulsed-modulated microwaves if ensuring a long and stable propagation of fs laser pulses.
Filament winding - Waking the sleeping giant
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Freeman, W. T., Jr.; Stein, B. A.
The use of filament winding (FW) in the production of aerospace composite structures is examined. The FW process applies spools of fiber and prepreg tow or prepreg tape to a male mandrel; the process is more efficient and cost effective than metallic construction. The fibers used in FW and the curing process are explained. The reduced storage and fabrication costs that result from FW are discussed. The use of FW to produce a filament-wound case for a solid rocket motor and the substructure and skin of an aircraft fuselage are described. Areas which require further development in order to expand the use of FW are listed and discussed.
Discovering structural alerts for mutagenicity using stable emerging molecular patterns.
Métivier, Jean-Philippe; Lepailleur, Alban; Buzmakov, Aleksey; Poezevara, Guillaume; Crémilleux, Bruno; Kuznetsov, Sergei O; Le Goff, Jérémie; Napoli, Amedeo; Bureau, Ronan; Cuissart, Bertrand
This study is dedicated to the introduction of a novel method that automatically extracts potential structural alerts from a data set of molecules. These triggering structures can be further used for knowledge discovery and classification purposes. Computation of the structural alerts results from an implementation of a sophisticated workflow that integrates a graph mining tool guided by growth rate and stability. The growth rate is a well-established measurement of contrast between classes. Moreover, the extracted patterns correspond to formal concepts; the most robust patterns, named the stable emerging patterns (SEPs), can then be identified thanks to their stability, a new notion originating from the domain of formal concept analysis. All of these elements are explained in the paper from the point of view of computation. The method was applied to a molecular data set on mutagenicity. The experimental results demonstrate its efficiency: it automatically outputs a manageable number of structural patterns that are strongly related to mutagenicity. Moreover, a part of the resulting structures corresponds to already known structural alerts. Finally, an in-depth chemical analysis relying on these structures demonstrates how the method can initiate promising processes of chemical knowledge discovery. PMID:25871768
The molecular structure of the left-handed supra-molecular helix of eukaryotic polyribosomes
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Myasnikov, Alexander G.; Afonina, Zhanna A.; Ménétret, Jean-François; Shirokov, Vladimir A.; Spirin, Alexander S.; Klaholz, Bruno P.
During protein synthesis, several ribosomes bind to a single messenger RNA (mRNA) forming large macromolecular assemblies called polyribosomes. Here we report the detailed molecular structure of a 100 MDa eukaryotic poly-ribosome complex derived from cryo electron tomography, sub-tomogram averaging and pseudo-atomic modelling by crystal structure fitting. The structure allowed the visualization of the three functional parts of the polysome assembly, the central core region that forms a rather compact left-handed supra-molecular helix, and the more open regions that harbour the initiation and termination sites at either ends. The helical region forms a continuous mRNA channel where the mRNA strand bridges neighbouring exit and entry sites of the ribosomes and prevents mRNA looping between ribosomes. This structure provides unprecedented insights into protein- and RNA-mediated inter-ribosome contacts that involve conserved sites through 40S subunits and long protruding RNA expansion segments, suggesting a role in stabilizing the overall polyribosomal assembly.
Evolution of molecular crystal optical phonons near structural phase transitions
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Michki, Nigel; Niessen, Katherine; Xu, Mengyang; Markelz, Andrea
Molecular crystals are increasingly important photonic and electronic materials. For example organic semiconductors are lightweight compared to inorganic semiconductors and have inexpensive scale up processing with roll to roll printing. However their implementation is limited by their environmental sensitivity, in part arising from the weak intermolecular interactions of the crystal. These weak interactions result in optical phonons in the terahertz frequency range. We examine the evolution of intermolecular interactions near structural phase transitions by measuring the optical phonons as a function of temperature and crystal orientation using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. The measured orientation dependence of the resonances provides an additional constraint for comparison of the observed spectra with the density functional calculations, enabling us to follow specific phonon modes. We observe crystal reorganization near 350 K for oxalic acid as it transforms from dihydrate to anhydrous form. We also report the first THz spectra for the molecular crystal fructose through its melting point.
Molecular structure and pathophysiological roles of the Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter.
Mammucari, Cristina; Raffaello, Anna; Vecellio Reane, Denis; Rizzuto, Rosario
Mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake regulates a wide array of cell functions, from stimulation of aerobic metabolism and ATP production in physiological settings, to induction of cell death in pathological conditions. The molecular identity of the Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter (MCU), the highly selective channel responsible for Ca(2+) entry through the IMM, has been described less than five years ago. Since then, research has been conducted to clarify the modulation of its activity, which relies on the dynamic interaction with regulatory proteins, and its contribution to the pathophysiology of organs and tissues. Particular attention has been placed on characterizing the role of MCU in cardiac and skeletal muscles. In this review we summarize the molecular structure and regulation of the MCU complex in addition to its pathophysiological role, with particular attention to striated muscle tissues. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Mitochondrial Channels edited by Pierre Sonveaux, Pierre Maechler and Jean-Claude Martinou. PMID:26968367
Characterization of the cytoplasmic filament protein gene (cfpA) of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum.
You, Y; Elmore, S; Colton, L L; Mackenzie, C; Stoops, J K; Weinstock, G M; Norris, S J
Treponema pallidum and other members of the genera Treponema, Spirochaeta, and Leptonema contain multiple cytoplasmic filaments that run the length of the organism just underneath the cytoplasmic membrane. These cytoplasmic filaments have a ribbon-like profile and consist of a major cytoplasmic filament protein subunit (CfpA, formerly called TpN83) with a relative molecular weight of approximately 80,000. Degenerate DNA primers based on N-terminal and CNBr cleavage fragment amino acid sequences of T. pallidum subsp. pallidum (Nichols) CfpA were utilized to amplify a fragment of the encoding gene (cfpA). A 6.8-kb EcoRI fragment containing all but the 5' end of cfpA was identified by hybridization with the resulting PCR product and cloned into Lambda ZAP II. The 5' region was obtained by inverse PCR, and the complete gene sequence was determined. The cfpA sequence contained a 2,034-nucleotide coding region, a putative promoter with consensus sequences (5'-TTTACA-3' for -35 and 5'-TACAAT-3' for -10) similar to the sigma70 recognition sequence of Escherichia coli and other organisms, and a putative ribosome-binding site (5'-AGGAG-3'). The deduced amino acid sequence of CfpA indicated a protein of 678 residues with a calculated molecular mass of 78.5 kDa and an estimated pI of 6.15. No significant homology to known proteins or structural motifs was found among known prokaryotic or eukaryotic sequences. Expression of a LacZ-CfpA fusion protein in E. coli was detrimental to survival and growth of the host strain and resulted in the formation of short, irregular filaments suggestive of partial self-assembly of CfpA. The cytoplasmic filaments of T. pallidum and other spirochetes appear to represent a unique form of prokaryotic intracytoplasmic inclusions. PMID:8655496
Line Profiles of Cores within Clusters. I. The Anatomy of a Filament
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Smith, Rowan J.; Shetty, Rahul; Stutz, Amelia M.; Klessen, Ralf S.
Observations are revealing the ubiquity of filamentary structures in molecular clouds. As cores are often embedded in filaments, it is important to understand how line profiles from such systems differ from those of isolated cores. We perform radiative transfer calculations on a hydrodynamic simulation of a molecular cloud in order to model line emission from collapsing cores embedded in filaments. We model two optically thick lines, CS(2-1) and HCN(1-0), and one optically thin line, N2H+(1-0), from three embedded cores. In the hydrodynamic simulation, gas self-gravity, turbulence, and bulk flows create filamentary regions within which cores form. Though the filaments have large dispersions, the N2H+(1-0) lines indicate subsonic velocities within the cores. We find that the observed optically thick line profiles of CS(2-1) and HCN(1-0) vary drastically with viewing angle. In over 50% of viewing angles, there is no sign of a blue asymmetry, an idealized signature of infall motions in an isolated spherical collapsing core. Profiles that primarily trace the cores, with little contribution from the surrounding filament, are characterized by a systematically higher HCN(1-0) peak intensity. The N2H+(1-0) lines do not follow this trend. We demonstrate that red asymmetric profiles are also feasible in the optically thick lines, due to emission from the filament or one-sided accretion flows onto the core. We conclude that embedded cores may frequently undergo collapse without showing a blue asymmetric profile, and that observational surveys including filamentary regions may underestimate the number of collapsing cores if based solely on profile shapes of optically thick lines.
Smith, Rowan J.; Shetty, Rahul; Klessen, Ralf S.; Stutz, Amelia M.
Observations are revealing the ubiquity of filamentary structures in molecular clouds. As cores are often embedded in filaments, it is important to understand how line profiles from such systems differ from those of isolated cores. We perform radiative transfer calculations on a hydrodynamic simulation of a molecular cloud in order to model line emission from collapsing cores embedded in filaments. We model two optically thick lines, CS(2-1) and HCN(1-0), and one optically thin line, N{sub 2}H{sup +}(1-0), from three embedded cores. In the hydrodynamic simulation, gas self-gravity, turbulence, and bulk flows create filamentary regions within which cores form. Though the filaments have large dispersions, the N{sub 2}H{sup +}(1-0) lines indicate subsonic velocities within the cores. We find that the observed optically thick line profiles of CS(2-1) and HCN(1-0) vary drastically with viewing angle. In over 50% of viewing angles, there is no sign of a blue asymmetry, an idealized signature of infall motions in an isolated spherical collapsing core. Profiles that primarily trace the cores, with little contribution from the surrounding filament, are characterized by a systematically higher HCN(1-0) peak intensity. The N{sub 2}H{sup +}(1-0) lines do not follow this trend. We demonstrate that red asymmetric profiles are also feasible in the optically thick lines, due to emission from the filament or one-sided accretion flows onto the core. We conclude that embedded cores may frequently undergo collapse without showing a blue asymmetric profile, and that observational surveys including filamentary regions may underestimate the number of collapsing cores if based solely on profile shapes of optically thick lines.
Molecular structures of carotenoids as predicted by MNDO-AM1 molecular orbital calculations
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hashimoto, Hideki; Yoda, Takeshi; Kobayashi, Takayoshi; Young, Andrew J.
Semi-empirical molecular orbital calculations using AM1 Hamiltonian (MNDO-AM1 method) were performed for a number of biologically important carotenoid molecules, namely all- trans-β-carotene, all- trans-zeaxanthin, and all- trans-violaxanthin (found in higher plants and algae) together with all- trans-canthaxanthin, all- trans-astaxanthin, and all- trans-tunaxanthin in order to predict their stable structures. The molecular structures of all- trans-β-carotene, all- trans-canthaxanthin, and all- trans-astaxanthin predicted based on molecular orbital calculations were compared with those determined by X-ray crystallography. Predicted bond lengths, bond angles, and dihedral angles showed an excellent agreement with those determined experimentally, a fact that validated the present theoretical calculations. Comparison of the bond lengths, bond angles and dihedral angles of the most stable conformer among all the carotenoid molecules showed that the displacements are localized around the substituent groups and hence around the cyclohexene rings. The most stable conformers of all- trans-zeaxanthin and all- trans-violaxanthin gave rise to a torsion angle around the C6-C7 bond to be ±48.7 and -84.8°, respectively. This difference is a key factor in relation to the biological function of these two carotenoids in plants and algae (the xanthophyll cycle). Further analyses by calculating the atomic charges and using enpartment calculations (division of bond energies between component atoms) were performed to ascribe the cause of the different observed torsion angles.
Structural and molecular modeling studies of quinazolinone anticonvulsants.
Duke, N E; Codding, P W
Studies of derivatives of the anticonvulsant methaqualone led to the discovery that unsaturation in the 2-substituent produced active but less toxic compounds; accordingly, 2-arylethanone derivatives have been developed. The crystal structures of five 2-arylethanone derivatives of methaqualone were determined to probe structure-activity relationships. Although these compounds display different activities, the solid-state and calculated structures are similar: each compound is observed as the neamine tautomer containing an intramolecular hydrogen bond between the ethanone and the amine N atom and the molecular conformations are the same. These studies conclude that recognition of the anticonvulsants arises from specific binding of an ortho substituent on the N(3) phenyl substituent, rather than from binding of a particular conformation or tautomeric form adopted by the compound containing an ortho substituent, and that such recognition is characteristic of a broad range of anticonvulsant drugs. Crystal data: [see text]. PMID:8397980
Theoretical investigation of the molecular structure of the isoquercitrin molecule
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Cornard, J. P.; Boudet, A. C.; Merlin, J. C.
Isoquercitrin is a glycosilated flavonoid that has received a great deal of attention because of its numerous biological effects. We present a theoretical study on isoquercitrin using both empirical (Molecular Mechanics (MM), with MMX force field) and quantum chemical (AM1 semiempirical method) techniques. The most stable structures of the molecule obtained by MM calculations have been used as input data for the semiempirical treatment. The position and orientation of the glucose moiety with regard to the remainder of the molecule have been investigated. The flexibility of isoquercitrin principally lies in rotations around the inter-ring bond and the sugar link. In order to know the structural modifications generated by the substitution by a sugar, geometrical parameters of quercetin (aglycon) and isoquercitrin have been compared. The good accordance between theoretical and experimental electronic spectra permits to confirm the reliability of the structural model.
Multiscale Modelling for investigating single molecule effects on the mechanics of actin filaments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
A, Deriu Marco; C, Bidone Tamara; Laura, Carbone; Cristina, Bignardi; M, Montevecchi Franco; Umberto, Morbiducci
This work presents a preliminary multiscale computational investigation of the effects of nucleotides and cations on the mechanics of actin filaments (F-actin). At the molecular level, Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations are employed to characterize the rearrangements of the actin monomers (G-actin) in terms of secondary structures evolution in physiological conditions. At the mesoscale level, a coarse grain (CG) procedure is adopted where each monomer is represented by means of Elastic Network Modeling (ENM) technique. At the macroscale level, actin filaments up to hundreds of nanometers are assumed as isotropic and elastic beams and characterized via Rotation Translation Block (RTB) analysis. F-actin bound to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) shows a persistence length around 5 μm, while actin filaments bound to adenosine diphosphate (ADP) have a persistence length of about 3 μm. With magnesium bound to the high affinity binding site of G-actin, the persistence length of F-actin decreases to about 2 μm only in the ADP-bound form of the filament, while the same ion has no effects, in terms of stiffness variation, on the ATP-bound form of F-actin. The molecular mechanisms behind these changes in flexibility are herein elucidated. Thus, this study allows to analyze how the local binding of cations and nucleotides on G-actin induce molecular rearrangements that transmit to the overall F-actin, characterizing shifts of mechanical properties, that can be related with physiological and pathological cellular phenomena, as cell migration and spreading. Further, this study provides the basis for upcoming investigating of network and cellular remodelling at higher length scales.
The molecular scale structure of water at interfaces
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Salmeron, Miquel
The molecular scale structure of water at surfaces and interfaces is an unresolved and fundamental topic in many areas of science and technology, and determines its wetting properties. In our studies of this very interesting topic we used scanning probes (STM, AFM), and electron and vibrational spectroscopies. STM studies on Pd(111) reveal that at low temperature (below 130K) water adsorbs as an intact molecule, forming clusters of dimers, trimers, etc. and finally H-bonded hexagonal structures with a V3xV3R30º periodicity. When the temperature is below 100K the O-H bonds in this structure are nearly parallel to the substrate except at the island edges where they point down towards the substrate or up leaving dangling bonds. Above 130K other structures form with molecules having unsaturated H bonds that point outwards from the surface and forming a superstructure of the V3xV3 structure. We have also studied the formation of dangling bonds in other water interfaces, including ice-vapor and on insulating substrates. On the ice surface, a thin layer exists that contains many H-dangling bonds near 0ºC. The thickness of this layer is less than a nanometer below -1ºC. On the basal plane of mica (an alumino silicate) water forms hexagonal structures with no unsaturated H-bonds and with the molecular dipole pointing on average towards the surface. On subsequent layers below 0ºC, the dipolar orientation persist and gives rise to ferroelectric ice. Above 0ºC however water layers above the first have free, unsaturated H-bonds pointing outwards from the surface as in the liquid form. On alkali halide surfaces water adsorbs preferentially at step edges at low humidity solvating the cations first. At higher humidity both cations and anions are solvated and finally, at deliquescence, when the salt dissolves, the anions segregate preferentially at the surface.
Beam wandering of femtosecond laser filament in air.
Yang, Jing; Zeng, Tao; Lin, Lie; Liu, Weiwei
The spatial wandering of a femtosecond laser filament caused by the filament heating effect in air has been studied. An empirical formula has also been derived from the classical Karman turbulence model, which determines quantitatively the displacement of the beam center as a function of the propagation distance and the effective turbulence structure constant. After fitting the experimental data with this formula, the effective turbulence structure constant has been estimated for a single filament generated in laboratory environment. With this result, one may be able to estimate quantitatively the displacement of a filament over long distance propagation and interpret the practical performance of the experiments assisted by femtosecond laser filamentation, such as remote air lasing, pulse compression, high order harmonic generation (HHG), etc. PMID:26480079
Roles in Modulation of Molecular Structures on Metal Surfaces
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gao, H.-J.
We studied the adsorption of organic molecules, their growth behavior, and their physical properties on silver and gold surfaces at the single molecule or sub-molecular scale by using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopes. Combined with low energy electron diffraction and first-principles density functional theory calculations, the key parameters in modulating molecular structures on metals are analyzed. It is found that the alkyl chains of quinacridone derivatives (QA) determine the orientation of molecular overlayers on an Ag(110) substrate. The interaction of QA and the Ag substrate is primarily due to chemical bonding of oxygen to specific positions at the silver substrate, determining the molecular orientation and preferred adsorption site. However, the intermolecular arrangement can be adjusted via the length of attached alkyl chains. We are thus able to fabricate uniform QA films with very well controlled physical properties. Furthermore, by thermal and chemical control, we are able to self-assemble three dimensional molecular nanostructures, e.g. ordered PTCDA structures exclusively on flat Ag(111) facets, or DMe-DCNQI structures exclusively on stepped Ag(221) facets. It is demonstrated that bonding, the key factor for selectivity, occurs via the end-atoms, while the molecule's mid-region arches away from the substrate. Theoretical results, obtained by high-level theory, are consistent with the experimental observations, which have previously been interpreted in terms of bonding through the mid-region. In collaboration with D.X. Shi, S.X. Du, W. Ji, Z.T. Deng, L. Gao, Institute of Physics, and X. Lin, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China; C. Seidel and H. Fuchs, Universit"at M"unster, Germany; W.A. Hofer, The University of Liverpool, Britain; and S. T. Pantelides, Vanderbilt University, USA. [1] D.X. Shi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 226101(2006). [2] S.X. Du et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 226101(2006). [3] L. Gao et al., Phys. Rev. B 73, 075424(2006).
The interface of protein structure, protein biophysics, and molecular evolution
Liberles, David A; Teichmann, Sarah A; Bahar, Ivet; Bastolla, Ugo; Bloom, Jesse; Bornberg-Bauer, Erich; Colwell, Lucy J; de Koning, A P Jason; Dokholyan, Nikolay V; Echave, Julian; Elofsson, Arne; Gerloff, Dietlind L; Goldstein, Richard A; Grahnen, Johan A; Holder, Mark T; Lakner, Clemens; Lartillot, Nicholas; Lovell, Simon C; Naylor, Gavin; Perica, Tina; Pollock, David D; Pupko, Tal; Regan, Lynne; Roger, Andrew; Rubinstein, Nimrod; Shakhnovich, Eugene; Sjölander, Kimmen; Sunyaev, Shamil; Teufel, Ashley I; Thorne, Jeffrey L; Thornton, Joseph W; Weinreich, Daniel M; Whelan, Simon
Abstract The interface of protein structural biology, protein biophysics, molecular evolution, and molecular population genetics forms the foundations for a mechanistic understanding of many aspects of protein biochemistry. Current efforts in interdisciplinary protein modeling are in their infancy and the state-of-the art of such models is described. Beyond the relationship between amino acid substitution and static protein structure, protein function, and corresponding organismal fitness, other considerations are also discussed. More complex mutational processes such as insertion and deletion and domain rearrangements and even circular permutations should be evaluated. The role of intrinsically disordered proteins is still controversial, but may be increasingly important to consider. Protein geometry and protein dynamics as a deviation from static considerations of protein structure are also important. Protein expression level is known to be a major determinant of evolutionary rate and several considerations including selection at the mRNA level and the role of interaction specificity are discussed. Lastly, the relationship between modeling and needed high-throughput experimental data as well as experimental examination of protein evolution using ancestral sequence resurrection and in vitro biochemistry are presented, towards an aim of ultimately generating better models for biological inference and prediction. PMID:22528593
Quantum Theory of Atomic and Molecular Structures and Interactions
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Makrides, Constantinos
This dissertation consists of topics in two related areas of research that together provide quantum mechanical descriptions of atomic and molecular interactions and reactions. The first is the ab initio electronic structure calculation that provides the atomic and molecular interaction potential, including the long-range potential. The second is the quantum theory of interactions that uses such potentials to understand scattering, long-range molecules, and reactions. In ab initio electronic structure calculations, we present results of dynamic polarizabilities for a variety of atoms and molecules, and the long-range dispersion coefficients for a number of atom-atom and atom-molecule cases. We also present results of a potential energy surface for the triatomic lithium-ytterbium-lithium system, aimed at understanding the related chemical reactions. In the quantum theory of interactions, we present a multichannel quantum-defect theory (MQDT) for atomic interactions in a magnetic field. This subject, which is complex especially for atoms with hyperfine structure, is essential for the understanding and the realization of control and tuning of atomic interactions by a magnetic field: a key feature that has popularized cold atom physics in its investigations of few-body and many-body quantum systems. Through the example of LiK, we show how MQDT provides a systematic and an efficient understanding of atomic interaction in a magnetic field, especially magnetic Feshbach resonances in nonzero partial waves.
Liquid-like bundles of crosslinked actin filaments contract without motors
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Weirich, Kimberly
The actin cytoskeleton is a dynamic, structural material that drives cellular-scale deformations during processes such as cell migration and division. Motor proteins are responsible for actively driving many deformations by buckling and translocating actin filaments. However, there is evidence that deformations, such as the constriction of the actin bundle that drives the separation of cells during division, can occur without motors, mediated instead by crosslinker proteins. How might crosslinkers, independent of motors, drive contraction of a bundle? Using a model system of purified proteins, we show that crosslinkers, analogous to molecular cohesion, create an effective surface tension that induces bundle contraction. Crosslinked short actin filaments form micron-sized spindle-shaped bundles. Similar to tactoid granules found at the isotropic-nematic phase transition in liquid crystals, these bundles coarsen and coalesce like liquid droplets. In contrast, crosslinked long filaments coarsen into a steady state of bundles that are frozen in a solid-like network. Near the liquid-solid boundary, filaments of intermediate length initially form bundles that spontaneously contract into tactoid droplets. Our results, that crosslinked actin bundles are liquid-like with an effective surface tension, provide evidence for a mechanism of motor-independent contractility in biological materials.
Actin Filaments and Myosin I Alpha Cooperate with Microtubules for the Movement of LysosomesV⃞
Cordonnier, Marie-Neige; Dauzonne, Daniel; Louvard, Daniel; Coudrier, Evelyne
An earlier report suggested that actin and myosin I alpha (MMIα), a myosin associated with endosomes and lysosomes, were involved in the delivery of internalized molecules to lysosomes. To determine whether actin and MMIα were involved in the movement of lysosomes, we analyzed by time-lapse video microscopy the dynamic of lysosomes in living mouse hepatoma cells (BWTG3 cells), producing green fluorescent protein actin or a nonfunctional domain of MMIα. In GFP-actin cells, lysosomes displayed a combination of rapid long-range directional movements dependent on microtubules, short random movements, and pauses, sometimes on actin filaments. We showed that the inhibition of the dynamics of actin filaments by cytochalasin D increased pauses of lysosomes on actin structures, while depolymerization of actin filaments using latrunculin A increased the mobility of lysosomes but impaired the directionality of their long-range movements. The production of a nonfunctional domain of MMIα impaired the intracellular distribution of lysosomes and the directionality of their long-range movements. Altogether, our observations indicate for the first time that both actin filaments and MMIα contribute to the movement of lysosomes in cooperation with microtubules and their associated molecular motors. PMID:11739797
Kinetic Effects of Aromatic Molecular Structures on Diffusion Flame Extinction
Won, Sang Hee; Dooley, S.; Dryer, F. L.; Ju, Yiguang
Kinetic effects of aromatic molecular structures for jet fuel surrogates on the extinction of diffusion flames have been investigated experimentally and numerically in the counterflow configuration for toluene, n-propylbenzene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, and 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene. Quantitative measurement of OH concentration for aromatic fuels was conducted by directly measuring the quenching rate from the emission lifetimes of OH planar laser induced fluorescence (LIF). The kinetic models for toluene and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene were validated against the measurements of extinction strain rates and LIF measurements. A semi-detailed n-propylbenzene kinetic model was developed and tested. The experimental results showed that the extinction limits are ranked from highest to lowest as n-propylbenzene, toluene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, and 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene. The present models for toluene and n-propylbenzene agree reasonably well with the measurements, whereas the model for 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene under-estimates extinction limits. Kinetic pathways of OH production and consumption were analyzed to investigate the impact of fuel fragmentation on OH formation. It was found that, for fuels with different molecular structures, the fuel decomposition pathways and their propagation into the formation of radical pool play an important role to determine the extinction limits of diffusion flames. Furthermore, OH concentrations were found to be representative of the entire radical pool concentration, the balance between chain branching and propagation/termination reactions and the balance between heat production from the reaction zone and heat losses to the fuel and oxidizer sides. Finally, a proposed "OH index," was defined to demonstrate a linear correlation between extinction strain rate and OH index and fuel mole fraction, suggesting that the diffusion flame extinctions for the tested aromatic fuels can be determined by the capability of a fuel to establish a radical pool
Filamentation with nonlinear Bessel vortices.
Jukna, V; Milián, C; Xie, C; Itina, T; Dudley, J; Courvoisier, F; Couairon, A
We present a new type of ring-shaped filaments featured by stationary nonlinear high-order Bessel solutions to the laser beam propagation equation. Two different regimes are identified by direct numerical simulations of the nonlinear propagation of axicon focused Gaussian beams carrying helicity in a Kerr medium with multiphoton absorption: the stable nonlinear propagation regime corresponds to a slow beam reshaping into one of the stationary nonlinear high-order Bessel solutions, called nonlinear Bessel vortices. The region of existence of nonlinear Bessel vortices is found semi-analytically. The influence of the Kerr nonlinearity and nonlinear losses on the beam shape is presented. Direct numerical simulations highlight the role of attractors played by nonlinear Bessel vortices in the stable propagation regime. Large input powers or small cone angles lead to the unstable propagation regime where nonlinear Bessel vortices break up into an helical multiple filament pattern or a more irregular structure. Nonlinear Bessel vortices are shown to be sufficiently intense to generate a ring-shaped filamentary ionized channel in the medium which is foreseen as opening the way to novel applications in laser material processing of transparent dielectrics. PMID:25401574
TRACE and SVST Observations of an Active-Region Filament
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
van Ballegooijen, A. A.; Deluca, E. E.
In June 1998 the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) observed filaments and prominences in coordination with various ground-based solar observatories, including the Swedish Vacuum Solar Telescope (SVST) on La Palma. Here we present results for an active-region filament observed on June 21-22. This horse-shoe shaped filament had a "barb" that reached down from the filament spine to the chomosphere below. We use high-resolution images obtained at the SVST on June 21 from 18:03 to 19:04 UT to study the fine structure and dynamics of plasmas in the barb and other parts of the filament. The data consist of narrowband Hα images taken with the Lockheed Tunable Filtergraph operating at a cadence of 20 s. We present Doppler maps derived from these images. The filament erupted six hours after the SVST observations. The eruption was observed with TRACE, which obtained images in Fe IX/X 171, Fe XII 195, Fe XV 284 and H I Lyalpha . At the start of the event, a thin bright loop appears high above the filament at the location of the barb. We interpret this feature as the outline of a magnetic "bubble" which forms as a result of kink instability in the magnetic field that supports the filament. The bright loop appears to be due to particle acceleration and impulsive heating along certain field lines on the periphery of this magnetic structure. A few minutes later, the dark filament threads turn into emission and move outward, exhibiting a helical structure. We discuss the magnetic structure of the barb and its possible role in the filament eruption.
Structurally Defined Molecular Hypervalent Iodine Catalysts for Intermolecular Enantioselective Reactions
Haubenreisser, Stefan; Wöste, Thorsten H.; Martínez, Claudio; Ishihara, Kazuaki
Abstract Molecular structures of the most prominent chiral non‐racemic hypervalent iodine(III) reagents to date have been elucidated for the first time. The formation of a chirally induced supramolecular scaffold based on a selective hydrogen‐bonding arrangement provides an explanation for the consistently high asymmetric induction with these reagents. As an exploratory example, their scope as chiral catalysts was extended to the enantioselective dioxygenation of alkenes. A series of terminal styrenes are converted into the corresponding vicinal diacetoxylation products under mild conditions and provide the proof of principle for a truly intermolecular asymmetric alkene oxidation under iodine(I/III) catalysis. PMID:26596513
Bohm's Quantum Potential and the Visualization of Molecular Structure
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Levit, Creon; Chancellor, Marisa K. (Technical Monitor)
David Bohm's ontological interpretation of quantum theory can shed light on otherwise counter-intuitive quantum mechanical phenomena including chemical bonding. In the field of quantum chemistry, Richard Bader has shown that the topology of the Laplacian of the electronic charge density characterizes many features of molecular structure and reactivity. Visual and computational examination suggests that the Laplacian of Bader and the quantum potential of Bohm are morphologically equivalent. It appears that Bohmian mechanics and the quantum potential can make chemistry as clear as they makes physics.
[Cardiac potassium channels: molecular structure, physiology, pathophysiology and therapeutic implications].
Mironov, N Iu; Golitsyn, S P
Potassium channels and currents play essential roles in cardiac repolarization. Potassium channel blockade by class III antiarrhythmic drugs prolongs cardiac repolarization and results in termination and prevention of cardiac arrhythmias. Excessive inhomogeneous repolarization prolongation may lead to electrical instability and proarrhythmia (Torsade de Pointes tachycardia). This review focuses on molecular structure, physiology, pathophysiology and therapeutic potential of potassium channels of cardiac conduction system and myocardium providing information on recent findings in pathogenesis of cardiac arrhythmias, including inherited genetic abnormalities, and future perspectives. PMID:24654438
Structural Assembly of Molecular Complexes Based on Residual Dipolar Couplings
Berlin, Konstantin; O'Leary, Dianne P.; Fushman, David
We present and evaluate a rigid-body molecular docking method, called PATIDOCK, that relies solely on the three-dimensional structure of the individual components and the experimentally derived residual dipolar couplings (RDC) for the complex. We show that, given an accurate ab initio predictor of the alignment tensor from a protein structure, it is possible to accurately assemble a protein-protein complex by utilizing the RDC's sensitivity to molecular shape to guide the docking. The proposed docking method is robust against experimental errors in the RDCs and computationally efficient. We analyze the accuracy and efficiency of this method using experimental or synthetic RDC data for several proteins, as well as synthetic data for a large variety of protein-protein complexes. We also test our method on two protein systems for which the structure of the complex and steric-alignment data are available (Lys48-linked diubiquitin and a complex of ubiquitin and a ubiquitin-associated domain) and analyze the effect of flexible unstructured tails on the outcome of docking. The results demonstrate that it is fundamentally possible to assemble a protein-protein complex based solely on experimental RDC data and the prediction of the alignment tensor from three-dimensional structures. Thus, despite the purely angular nature of residual dipolar couplings, they can be converted into intermolecular distance/translational constraints. Additionally we show a method for combining RDCs with other experimental data, such as ambiguous constraints from interface mapping, to further improve structure characterization of the protein complexes. PMID:20550109
Population dynamics of filamentous bacteria identified in Polish full-scale wastewater treatment plants with nutrients removal.
Miłobędzka, A; Muszyński, A
A comprehensive study of the identity and population dynamics of filamentous bacteria in five Polish full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with nutrients removal had been carried out for 2 years. A quantitative culture-independent, molecular method - fluorescence in situ hybridization - was applied to evaluate the structure of different filamentous bacteria populations and their temporal variations. Activated sludge was examined for the abundance of 11 groups of filamentous bacteria. On average, filaments constituted 28% of all bacteria. All samples presented a low diversity of probe-defined filamentous bacteria, usually with significant domination of Chloroflexi (with distinction to types 1851, 0803 and others) and/or Microthrix (14% and 7% of EUBmix, respectively). Haliscomenobacter hydrossis, Mycolata, Skermania piniformis and TM7 were less abundant, whereas Curvibacter, Thiothrix/021N and family Gordonia have not been detected in any of the samples. The tested WWTPs showed similarity among species found and differences in their abundance. The composition of filamentous populations was rather stable in each plant and similar to those found in other European countries. Little differences between plants were shown by multivariate analysis of variance in terms of Chloroflexi and Microthrix. No significant general correlations have been found with Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Medium correlation strength between the presence of different filaments was recorded only for Microthrix and Skermania piniformis. Deleterious effect on settling properties of sludge (measured as sludge volume index) was found only for abundance of Microthrix; a strong linear correlation was recorded between them. However, no other correlations with wastewater and operational data were revealed. PMID:25768213
Molecular structural order and anomalies in liquid silica.
Shell, M Scott; Debenedetti, Pablo G; Panagiotopoulos, Athanassios Z
The present investigation examines the relationship between structural order, diffusivity anomalies, and density anomalies in liquid silica by means of molecular dynamics simulations. We use previously defined orientational and translational order parameters to quantify local structural order in atomic configurations. Extensive simulations are performed at different state points to measure structural order, diffusivity, and thermodynamic properties. It is found that silica shares many trends recently reported for water [J. R. Errington and P. G. Debenedetti, Nature 409, 318 (2001)]. At intermediate densities, the distribution of local orientational order is bimodal. At fixed temperature, order parameter extrema occur upon compression: a maximum in orientational order followed by a minimum in translational order. Unlike water, however, silica's translational order parameter minimum is broad, and there is no range of thermodynamic conditions where both parameters are strictly coupled. Furthermore, the temperature-density regime where both structural order parameters decrease upon isothermal compression (the structurally anomalous regime) does not encompass the region of diffusivity anomalies, as was the case for water. PMID:12241346
Structure-Directed Exciton Dynamics in Templated Molecular Nanorings
Conjugated polymers with cyclic structures are interesting because their symmetry leads to unique electronic properties. Recent advances in Vernier templating now allow large shape-persistent fully conjugated porphyrin nanorings to be synthesized, exhibiting unique electronic properties. We examine the impact of different conformations on exciton delocalization and emission depolarization in a range of different porphyrin nanoring topologies with comparable spatial extent. Low photoluminescence anisotropy values are found to occur within the first few hundred femtoseconds after pulsed excitation, suggesting ultrafast delocalization of excitons across the nanoring structures. Molecular dynamics simulations show that further polarization memory loss is caused by out-of-plane distortions associated with twisting and bending of the templated nanoring topologies. PMID:25960822
Surfaces of Microparticles in Colloids: Structure and Molecular Adsorption Kinetics
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dai, Hai-Lung
Surfaces of micron and sub-micron size particles in liquid solution are probed by second harmonic generation (SHG) facilitated with femtosecond laser pulses. The particles probed include inorganic objects such as carbon black and color pigments, polymeric species like polystyrene beads, and biological systems such as blood cells and ecoli. In the experiments, dye molecules are first adsorbed onto the particle surface to allow generation of second harmonics upon light irradiation. Competition for adsorption between these surface dye molecules and the molecules of interest in the solution is then monitored by the SHG signal to reveal the molecular adsorption kinetics and surface structure. Specifically, surfactant adsorption on polymer surfaces, the structure of carbon black surface, and protein adsorption on biological surfaces, monitored by this technique, will be discussed.
Molecular structure of uranium carbides: Isomers of UC3
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zalazar, M. Fernanda; Rayón, Víctor M.; Largo, Antonio
In this article, the most relevant isomers of uranium tricarbide are studied through quantum chemical methods. It is found that the most stable isomer has a fan geometry in which the uranium atom is bonded to a quasilinear C3 unit. Both, a rhombic and a ring CU(C2) structures are found about 104-125 kJ/mol higher in energy. Other possible isomers including linear geometries are located even higher. For each structure, we provide predictions for those molecular properties (vibrational frequencies, IR intensities, dipole moments) that could eventually help in their experimental detection. We also discuss the possible routes for the formation of the different UC3 isomers as well as the bonding situation by means of a topological analysis of the electron density.
Molecular structure of uranium carbides: isomers of UC3.
Zalazar, M Fernanda; Rayón, Víctor M; Largo, Antonio
In this article, the most relevant isomers of uranium tricarbide are studied through quantum chemical methods. It is found that the most stable isomer has a fan geometry in which the uranium atom is bonded to a quasilinear C3 unit. Both, a rhombic and a ring CU(C2) structures are found about 104-125 kJ/mol higher in energy. Other possible isomers including linear geometries are located even higher. For each structure, we provide predictions for those molecular properties (vibrational frequencies, IR intensities, dipole moments) that could eventually help in their experimental detection. We also discuss the possible routes for the formation of the different UC3 isomers as well as the bonding situation by means of a topological analysis of the electron density. PMID:23534639
The Molecular Structure of a Phosphatidylserine Bilayer Determined by Scattering and Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Pan, Jianjun; Cheng, Xiaolin; Monticelli, Luca; Heberle, Frederick A; Kucerka, Norbert; Tieleman, D. Peter; Katsaras, John
Phosphatidylserine (PS) lipids play essential roles in biological processes, including enzyme activat