Donaldson's theorem,Heegaard Floer homology,and knots with unknotting number one

We establish an obstruction to unknotting an alternating knot by a single crossing change. The obstruction is lattice-theoretic in nature, and combines Donaldson's diagonalization theorem with an obstruction developed by Ozsváth and Szabó using Heegaard Floer homology. As an application, we enumerate the alternating 3-braid knots with unknotting number one, and show that each has an unknotting crossing in its standard alternating diagram.     

Parallel arrays of geometric nanowells for assembling curtains of DNA with controlled lateral dispersion

The analysis of individual molecules is evolving into an important tool for biological research, and presents conceptually new ways of approaching experimental design strategies. However, more robust methods are required if these technologies are to be made broadly available to the biological research community. To help achieve this goal we have combined nanofabrication techniques with single-molecule optical microscopy for assembling and visualizing curtains comprised of thousands of individual DNA molecules organized at engineered diffusion barriers on a lipid bilayer-coated surface. Here we present an important extension of this technology that implements geometric barrier patterns comprised of thousands of nanoscale wells that can be loaded with single molecules of DNA. We show that these geometric nanowells can be used to precisely control the lateral distribution of the individual DNA molecules within curtains assembled along the edges of the engineered barrier patterns. The individual molecules making up the DNA curtain can be separated from one another by a user-defined distance dictated by the dimensions of the nanowells. We demonstrate the broader utility of these patterned DNA curtains in a novel, real time restriction assay that we refer to as dynamic optical restriction mapping, which can be used to rapidly identify entire sets of cleavage sites within a large DNA molecule.     

Observation of broken time-reversal symmetry with Andreev bound state tunneling spectroscopy

Quasiparticle (QP) planar tunneling spectroscopy is used to investigate the density of states (DoS) of YBa₂Cu₃O₇ (YBCO). Temperature, crystallographic orientation, doping, damage and magnetic field dependencies confirm that the observed zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) is an Andreev bound state (ABS), an intrinsic property of a d-wave superconducting order parameter (OP) at an interface. In zero applied field, the splitting of the ZBCP below 8 K confirms a near-surface phase transition into a superconducting state with spontaneously broken time-reversal symmetry (BTRS). Tunneling into the ABS provides a phase-sensitive spectroscopy that can be used to measure a variety of DoS properties in an unconventional superconductor.     

Microwave electrodynamics of electron-doped cuprate superconductors

We report microwave cavity perturbation measurements of the temperature dependence of the penetration depth, lambda(T), and conductivity, sigma(T) of Pr(2-x)Ce(x)CuO(4-delta) (PCCO) crystals, as well as parallel-plate resonator measurements of lambda(T) in PCCO thin films. Penetration depth measurements are also presented for a Nd(2-x)Ce(x)CuO(4-delta) (NCCO) crystal. We find that Deltalambda(T) has a power-law behavior for T相似文献   

The acidic domains of the Toc159 chloroplast preprotein receptor family are intrinsically disordered protein domains

Background  

The Toc159 family of proteins serve as receptors for chloroplast-destined preproteins. They directly bind to transit peptides, and exhibit preprotein substrate selectivity conferred by an unknown mechanism. The Toc159 receptors each include three domains: C-terminal membrane, central GTPase, and N-terminal acidic (A-) domains. Although the function(s) of the A-domain remains largely unknown, the amino acid sequences are most variable within these domains, suggesting they may contribute to the functional specificity of the receptors.