Characterization of a new tailoring domain in polyketide biogenesis: the amine transferase domain of MycA in the mycosubtilin gene cluster

We report the expression and characterization of a truncated form of MycA from the Mycosubtilin gene cluster from Bacillus subtilis. The MycA fragment contains a new amino transferase (AMT) tailoring domain, allowing the first detailed study of a PLP-dependent enzyme operating in cis within the PKS and NRPS biosynthetic paradigm. As the AMT domain acts on covalently bound beta-ketothioesters, and is therefore a single-turnover system, electrospray ionization-Fourier transform mass spectrometry (ESI-FTMS) was used to observe the amine-transfer reaction both for amine donor substrate specificity and to regiospecifically determine enzyme-bound intermediates. We confirm the function of the AMT domain, dissect the mechanistic steps of amine transfer, identify the preferred amine source, and localize the beta-ketothioester substrate during amine transfer.     

Lineability and spaceability of sets of functions on

We show that there is an infinite-dimensional vector space of differentiable functions on every non-zero element of which is nowhere monotone. We also show that there is a vector space of dimension of functions every non-zero element of which is everywhere surjective.

     

Separation Theorems for Group Invariant Polynomials

We study the existence of separation theorems by polynomials that are invariant under a group action. We show that if G is a finite subgroup of \(\textit{GL}(n,{\mathbb {C}})\), K is a set in \({\mathbb {C}}^{n}\) that is invariant under the action of G and z is a point in \({\mathbb {C}}^{n}\setminus K\) that can be separated from K by a polynomial Q, then z can be separated from K by a G-invariant polynomial P. Furthermore, if Q is homogeneous then P can be chosen to be homogeneous. As a particular case, if K is a symmetric polynomially convex compact set in \({\mathbb {C}}^{n}\) and \(z\notin K\) then there exists a symmetric polynomial that separates z and K.     

Crystal Growth and Structure Determination of Pigment Orange 82

The crystal structure of the important industrial orange pigment PO82, major part of the BASF Colors & Effects^® product Sicopal^® Orange K/L 2430, was solved from combined X‐ray single crystal, X‐ray and neutron powder diffraction, ¹¹⁹Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction, and chemical analyses. The structure contains Keggin type clusters composed of four [M₃O₁₃] trimers consisting each of three MO₆ octahedra that share edges and one common oxygen atom connecting the trimers to the central ZnO₄ tetrahedron. The octahedrally coordinated metal atom position is mixed occupied by Ti⁴⁺, Sn⁴⁺, and Zn²⁺. Adjacent Keggin clusters share vertices and are further interconnected to four ZnO₄ tetrahedra. This framework of interconnected MO₆ octahedra and ZnO₄ tetrahedra contains channels along [110], in which the Sn²⁺ cations are located.     

Spin texture and magnetoroton excitations at nu=1/3

Neutral spin texture (ST) excitations at nu=1/3 are directly observed for the first time by resonant inelastic light scattering. They are determined to involve two simultaneous spin flips. At low magnetic fields, the ST energy is below that of the magnetoroton minimum. With increasing in-plane magnetic field these mode energies cross at a critical ratio of the Zeeman and Coulomb energies of eta(c)=0.020+/-0.001. Surprisingly, the intensity of the ST mode grows with temperature in the range in which the magnetoroton modes collapse. The temperature dependence is interpreted in terms of a competition between coexisting phases supporting different excitations. We consider the role of the ST excitations in activated transport at nu=1/3.     

Observation of anomalous phonon softening in bilayer graphene

The interaction of electron-hole pairs with lattice vibrations exhibits a wealth of intriguing physical phenomena such as the renowned Kohn anomaly. Here we report the observation in bilayer graphene of an unusual phonon softening that provides the first experimental proof for another type of phonon anomaly. Similar to the Kohn anomaly, which is a logarithmic singularity in the phonon group velocity [W. Kohn, Phys. Rev. Lett. 2, 393 (1959)], the observed phonon anomaly exhibits a logarithmic singularity in the optical-phonon energy. Arising from a resonant electron-phonon coupling effect, the anomaly was also expected, albeit not observed, in monolayer graphene. We propose an explanation for why it is easier to observe in bilayer samples.