Resistance to drought stress is fundamental to plant survival and development. Abscisic acid (ABA) is one of the major hormones involved in different types of abiotic and biotic stress responses. ABA ...intracellular signaling has been extensively explored in Arabidopsis thaliana and occurs via a phosphorylation cascade mediated by three related protein kinases, denominated SnRK2s (SNF1-related protein kinases). However, the role of ABA signaling and the biochemistry of SnRK2 in crop plants remains underexplored. Considering the importance of the ABA hormone in abiotic stress tolerance, here we investigated the regulatory mechanism of sugarcane SnRK2s—known as stress/ABAactivated protein kinases (SAPKs). The crystal structure of ScSAPK10 revealed the characteristic SnRK2 family architecture, in which the regulatory SnRK2 box interacts with the kinase domain αC helix. To study sugarcane SnRK2 regulation, we produced a series of mutants for the protein regulatory domains SnRK2 box and ABA box. Mutations in ScSAPK8 SnRK2 box aimed at perturbing its interaction with the protein kinase domain reduced protein kinase activity in vitro. On the other hand, mutations to ScSAPK ABA box did not impact protein kinase activity but did alter the protein autophosphorylation pattern. Taken together, our results demonstrate that both SnRK2 and ABA boxes might play a role in sugarcane SnRK2 function.
The advent of high performance microcontrollers equipped with analog and digital peripherals, makes the design of a complete particle detector and a relative acquisition system on a single ...microcontroller chip possible. The existence of a world wide data infrastructure such as the internet, allows for the conception of a distributed network of cheap detectors able to elaborate and send data as well as to respond to setting commands. The internet infrastructure enables the distribution of the absolute time, with precision of a few milliseconds, to all devices independently of their physical location, when the sky view is accessible it possible to use a GPS module to reach synchronization of tens of nanoseconds. These devices can be far apart from each other and their relative distance can range from a few meters to thousands of kilometers. This allows for the design of a crowdsourcing experiment of citizen science, based on the use of many small scintillation-based particle detectors to monitor the high energetic cosmic ray and the radiation environment.
We present the preliminary test results of the prototype detector, working at Sphinx Observatory Center, Jungfraujoch (~3800m a.s.l.) HFSJG – Switzerland. This prototype detector is designed to ...measure large zenith angle showers produced by high energy neutrino interactions in the Earth crust. This station provides us an opportunity to understand if the prototype detector works safely (or not) under hard environmental conditions (the air temperature changes between −25°C and −5°C). The detector prototype is using silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) produced by SensL and DRS4 chip as read-out part. Measurements at different temperature at fixed bias voltage (~29.5V) were performed to reconstruct tracks by Time Of Flight.
Highlights • A novel radio-guided-surgery technique using beta- radiation is under development. • Simulations and lab tests demonstrated its potential compared to state-of-the-art. • A ...proof-of-principle test on patient confirmed tracer uptake and probe sensitivity. • It also confirmed that the dose delivered to the medical staff is negligible. • This is a proof-of-principle, not a case report, nor a clinical trial.
A LYSO calorimeter for the SuperB factory Eigen, G.; Zhou, Z.; Chao, D. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
08/2013, Letnik:
718
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The SuperB project is an asymmetric e+e− accelerator of 1036cm−2s−1 design luminosity, capable of collecting a data sample of 50–75ab−1 in five years running. The SuperB electromagnetic calorimeter ...(EMC) provides energy and direction measurement of photons and electrons, and is used for identification of electrons versus other charged particles. In particular we present its design, geometry study and related simulations, as well as R&D on LYSO crystals and developments on readout electronics. A matrix of 25 crystals has been tested at the Beam Test Facility of Frascati (BTF) in May 2011 at energies between 200MeV and 500MeV. Results from this test are presented.
Display omitted
•NETNES is one of the most complex molecules yet characterized in eukaryotes.•First work performing molecular dynamics simulations of a GPI-anchor with GROMOS96.•GPI structure is in ...good agreement with Nuclear Overhauser Effect experimental data.•Protein portion does not have any secondary structure, just bends and turns.•NETNES lies on membrane surface, exposing itself to the extracelullar medium.
Trypanosoma cruzi is a protozoan, responsible for Chagas disease, that parasites triatomines and some vertebrates, mainly Homo sapiens. In 2010, nearly 10 million people in whole world, most from Latin America, had Chagas disease, which is an illness of high morbidity, low mortality, and serious problems of quality of life. The available treatment has high toxicity and low efficacy at chronic phase. Some of the protozoan antigenic or virulence factors include complex carbohydrate structures that, due to their uniqueness, may constitute potential selective targets for the development of new treatments. One example of such structures is NETNES, a low abundance T. cruzi glycopeptide, comprising 13 amino acid residues, one or two N-glycosylation chains, a GPI anchor and two P-glycosylations. In this context, the current work aims to obtain an atomic model for NETNES, including its glycan chains and membrane attachment, in order to contribute in the characterization of its structure and dynamics. Based on POPC and GPI models built in agreement with experimental data, our results indicate that, in the first third of the simulation, NETNES peptide is very flexible in solution, bending itself between asparagine residues and lying down on some carbohydrates and membrane, exposing amino acid residues and some other glycans, mainly terminal mannoses, to the extracellular medium, remaining in this position until the end of simulations.
The possibilty of performing high-rate calorimetry with a slow scintillating crystal is studied. In this experimental situation, to avoid pulse pile-up, it can be necessary to base the energy ...measurement on only a fraction of the emitted light, thus spoiling the energy resolution. This effect was experimentally studied with a BGO crystal and a photomultiplier followed by an integrator, by measuring the maximum amplitude of the signals. The experimental data show that the energy resolution is exclusively due to the statistical fluctuations of the number of photoelectrons contributing to the maximum amplitude. When such number is small its fluctuations are even smaller than those predicted by Poisson statistics. These results were confirmed by a Monte Carlo simulation which allows to estimate, in a general case, the energy resolution, given the total number of photoelectrons, the scintillation time and the integration time.
The SuperB project is an asymmetric e+e− accelerator of 1036 cm−2s−1 luminosity, capable of collecting a 50–75 ab−1 data sample in five years of running. The SuperB electromagnetic calorimeter (EMC) ...provides energy and direction measurement of photons and electrons and identification versus other charged particles for electrons. A matrix of 25 LYSO crystals has been tested at the Beam Test Facility at Frascati in May 2011 at energies between 100 MeV and 500 MeV. Results from this test will be presented. Design and Monte Carlo studies for the general EMC system will also be presented.
We developed a highly configurable digitizer board including 12 complete acquisition channels: the board analog to digital converters (ADC) components can be chosen to tailor the specific ...application, ranging from 12 bit 65 MHz up to 14 bit 250 MHz. In this application the front-end circuit is dedicated to the Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM) of the BDX detector. The control is made by a commercial FPGA module to guarantee the scalability of the system. Having the possibility to choose the ADC and the “size” of the FPGA on the control module the price can be reduced to the minimum for a given application. The board permit the time synchronization using various methods including GPS and White Rabbit. The configurability of the board and the various options implemented permit to use it in a triggerless data acquisition system. Up to 240 channels can be hosted in a single 6U crate.
PDF
