Photoproduction of two neutral pions off the proton is studied using linearly polarized photons, and the polarization observables Is and Ic are measured for the first time. These two observables are ...unique to multi-meson final states; they characterize correlations between the linear photon polarization and the direction of outgoing single particles in photoproduction of three-body final states. The Is and Ic distributions suggest that, in the 1.8 to 2.0 GeV mass region, the N(1520)3/2−π intermediate state is reached with reaction dynamics consistent with a dominant JP=3/2+ wave. These data are included in the Bonn–Gatchina (BnGa) partial wave analysis which is based on a large variety of data; the analysis confirms a significant contribution from the reaction chain γp→N(1900)3/2+→N(1520)3/2−π0→pπ0π0.
Two homologous group I introns, the second intron of the cyt b gene, from related Saccharomyces species differ in their mobility. The S.capensis intron is mobile and encodes the I‐ScaI endonuclease ...promoting intron homing, whilst the homologous S.cerevisiae intron is not mobile, but functions as an RNA maturase promoting splicing. These two intron‐encoded proteins differ by only four amino acid substitutions. Taking advantage of the remarkable similarity of the two intron open reading frames and using biolistic transformation of mitochondria, we show that the replacement of only two non‐adjacent residues in the S.cerevisiae maturase carboxy‐terminal sequence is sufficient to induce a homing‐endonuclease activity without losing the splicing function. Also, we demonstrate that these two activities reside in the S.capensis bi2‐encoded protein which functions in both splicing and intron mobility in the wild‐type cells. These results provide new insight into our understanding of the activity and the evolution of group I intron‐encoded proteins.
The Rieske FeS protein, an essential catalytic subunit of the mitochondrial cytochrome bc1 complex, is encoded in yeast by the nuclear gene RIP1, whose deletion leads to a respiratory-deficient ...phenotype. By using biolistic transformation, we have relocated the nuclear RIP1 gene into mitochondria. To allow its expression within the organelle and to direct its integration downstream of the cox1 gene, we have fused the 3′end of the Saccharomyces douglasii cox1 gene upstream of the mitochondrial copy of RIP1 (RIP1m) flanked by the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cox1 promoter and terminator regions. We show that RIP1mintegrated between the cox1 and atp8 genes is mitotically stable and expressed, and it complements a deletion of the nuclear gene. Immunodetection experiments demonstrate that the mitochondrial genome containing RIP1mis able to produce the Rip1 protein in lower steady-state amounts than the wild type but still sufficient to maintain a functional cytochrome bc1 complex and respiratory competence to a RIP1-deleted strain. Thus, this recombined mitochondrial genome is a fully functional mitochondrial chromosome with an extended gene content. This successful mitochondrial expression of a nuclear gene essential for respiration can be viewed at the evolutionary level as an artificial reversal of evolutionary events.
The photoproduction of η′-mesons off different nuclei has been measured with the CBELSA/TAPS detector system for incident photon energies between 1500–2200 MeV. The transparency ratio has been ...deduced and compared to theoretical calculations describing the propagation of η′-mesons in nuclei. The comparison indicates a width of the η′-meson of the order of Γ=15–25 MeV at ρ=ρ0 for an average momentum pη′=1050 MeV/c, at which the η′-meson is produced in the nuclear rest frame. The inelastic η′N cross section is estimated to be 3–10 mb. Parameterizing the photoproduction cross section of η′-mesons by σ(A)=σ0Aα, a value of α=0.84±0.03 has been deduced.
The differential cross sections and unpolarized spin-density matrix elements for the reaction γp→pω were measured using the CBELSA/TAPS experiment for initial photon energies ranging from the ...reaction threshold to 2.5 GeV. These observables were measured from the radiative decay of the ω meson, ω→π0γ. The cross sections cover the full angular range and show the full extent of the t-channel forward rise. The overall shape of the angular distributions in the differential cross sections and unpolarized spin-density matrix elements are in fair agreement with previous data. In addition, for the first time, a beam of linearly-polarized tagged photons in the energy range from 1150 MeV to 1650 MeV was used to extract polarized spin-density matrix elements.
These data were included in the Bonn–Gatchina partial wave analysis (PWA). The dominant contribution to ω photoproduction near threshold was found to be the 3/2+ partial wave, which is primarily due to the sub-threshold N(1720)3/2+ resonance. At higher energies, pomeron-exchange was found to dominate whereas π-exchange remained small. These t-channel contributions as well as further contributions from nucleon resonances were necessary to describe the entire dataset: the 1/2−, 3/2−, and 5/2+ partial waves were also found to contribute significantly.
Properties of the Roper resonance, the first scalar excitation of the nucleon, are determined. Pole positions and residues of the P11 partial wave are studied in a combined analysis of pion- and ...photo-induced reactions. We find the Roper pole at {(1371±7)−i(92±10)} MeV and an elasticity of 0.61±0.03. The largest decay coupling is found for the Nσ (σ=(ππ)-S-wave). The analysis is based on new data on γp→pπ0π0 for photons in the energy range from the two-pion threshold to 820 MeV from TAPS at Mainz and from 0.4 to 1.3 GeV from Crystal Barrel at Bonn and includes further data from other experiments. The partial wave analysis excludes the possibility that the Roper resonance is split into two states with different partial decay widths.
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Precise data for quasi-free photoproduction of
η
-mesons off the deuteron have been measured at the Bonn ELSA accelerator with the combined Crystal Barrel/TAPS detector for incident photon energies ...up to 2.5GeV. The
η
-mesons have been detected in coincidence with recoil protons and neutrons. Possible nuclear effects like Fermi motion and re-scattering can be studied via a comparison of the quasi-free reaction off the bound proton to
η
-production off the free proton. No significant effects beyond the folding of the free cross-section with the momentum distribution of the bound protons have been found. These Fermi motion effects can be removed by an analysis using the invariant mass of the
η
-nucleon pairs reconstructed from the final-state four-momenta of the particles. The total cross-section for quasi-free
η
-photoproduction off the neutron reveals even without correction for Fermi motion a pronounced bump-like structure around 1GeV of incident photon energy, which is not observed for the proton. This structure is even narrower in the invariant-mass spectrum of the
η
-neutron pairs. Position and width of the peak in the invariant-mass spectrum are
W
≈ 1665 MeV and FWHM
Γ
≈ 25 MeV. The data are compared to the results of different models.
ω
photoproduction off hydrogen and deuterium has been studied with the tagged photon beam of the ELSA accelerator in Bonn for photon energies up to 2.0 GeV. The
ω
meson has been identified via the
ω
...→ π
0
γ
→
γγγ
decay mode, using the combined setup of the Crystal Barrel/TAPS detector systems. Both inclusive and exclusive analyses have been carried out. Differential and total cross-sections have been derived for
ω
mesons produced off free protons and off protons and neutrons bound in deuterium. The cross-section for the production off the bound neutron is found to be a factor of ≈ 1.3 larger than the one off the bound proton in the incident beam energy region 1.2 GeV <
E
γ
< 1.6 GeV. For higher incident beam energies this factor goes down to ≈ 1.1 at 2.0 GeV. The cross-sections of this work have been used as normalization for transparency ratio measurements.
The reaction γp→KS0Σ+ is studied in the photon energy range from threshold. Linearly polarised photon beams from coherent bremsstrahlung enabled the first measurement of photon beam asymmetries in ...this reaction up to Eγ=1650MeV. In addition, the recoil hyperon polarisation was determined through the asymmetry in the weak decay Σ+→pπ0 up to Eγ=2250MeV. The data are compared to partial wave analyses, and the possible impact on the interpretation of a recently observed prominent structure in the cross section near the K⁎ thresholds is discussed.