Complete atomic model of the bacterial flagellar filament by electron cryomicroscopy

The bacterial flagellar filament is a helical propeller for bacterial locomotion. It is a helical assembly of a single protein, flagellin, and its tubular structure is formed by 11 protofilaments in two distinct conformations, L- and R-type, for supercoiling. The X-ray crystal structure of a flagellin fragment lacking about 100 terminal residues revealed the protofilament structure, but the full filament structure is still essential for understanding the mechanism of supercoiling and polymerization. Here we report a complete atomic model of the R-type filament by electron cryomicroscopy. A density map obtained from image data up to 4 A resolution shows the feature of alpha-helical backbone and some large side chains. The atomic model built on the map reveals intricate molecular packing and an alpha-helical coiled coil formed by the terminal chains in the inner core of the filament, with its intersubunit hydrophobic interactions having an important role in stabilizing the filament.     

Prokaryotic origin of the actin cytoskeleton.

It was thought until recently that bacteria lack the actin or tubulin filament networks that organize eukaryotic cytoplasm. However, we show here that the bacterial MreB protein assembles into filaments with a subunit repeat similar to that of F-actin-the physiological polymer of eukaryotic actin. By elucidating the MreB crystal structure we demonstrate that MreB and actin are very similar in three dimensions. Moreover, the crystals contain protofilaments, allowing visualization of actin-like strands at atomic resolution. The structure of the MreB protofilament is in remarkably good agreement with the model for F-actin, showing that the proteins assemble in identical orientations. The actin-like properties of MreB explain the finding that MreB forms large fibrous spirals under the cell membrane of rod-shaped cells, where they are involved in cell-shape determination. Thus, prokaryotes are now known to possess homologues both of tubulin, namely FtsZ, and of actin.     

细胞骨架微管管壁中电子的隧道效应

该文基于细胞骨架微管结构的对称性,将其壁上的原丝纤维视为一维的动力学系统,采用“双势阱”模型和量子力学的基本方法,对发生在微管壁上的一根原丝纤维上电子的势垒穿透几率和由隧道效应引起的基态能级劈裂进行了理论计算,得到了一些有意义的物理结果.     

Structure of the core and central channel of bacterial flagella

X-ray fibre diffraction analysis of bacterial flagellar filaments has allowed the subunit packing and secondary structure arrangement in the filament core to be determined. The central hole, presumably a channel for flagellin transport, is large enough to accommodate the folded elongated flagellin molecules during their transport to the distal end for filament growth.     

Structure of neurofilaments studied with scanning tunneling microscopy

Neurofilaments (NFs) were isolated from bovine spinal cord. The structure of purified NFs was studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The STM images showed that NF was composed of a long core filament and numerous sidearms flanking the rod regularly. The diameter of the rod was about 10 nm (10.2 ± 0.8 nm). Most of the sidearms were short and the distance between two adjacent sidearms was approximately 10 nm. There were some long sidearms between two proximal core filaments. The distance between two adjacent long sidearms was 21 nm. A three-quarter-staggered fashion of native NF structure was put forward.     

The Ndc80 kinetochore complex forms oligomeric arrays along microtubules

The Ndc80 complex is a key site of regulated kinetochore-microtubule attachment (a process required for cell division), but the molecular mechanism underlying its function remains unknown. Here we present a subnanometre-resolution cryo-electron microscopy reconstruction of the human Ndc80 complex bound to microtubules, sufficient for precise docking of crystal structures of the component proteins. We find that the Ndc80 complex binds the microtubule with a tubulin monomer repeat, recognizing α- and β-tubulin at both intra- and inter-tubulin dimer interfaces in a manner that is sensitive to tubulin conformation. Furthermore, Ndc80 complexes self-associate along protofilaments through interactions mediated by the amino-terminal tail of the NDC80 protein, which is the site of phospho-regulation by Aurora B kinase. The complex's mode of interaction with the microtubule and its oligomerization suggest a mechanism by which Aurora B could regulate the stability of load-bearing kinetochore-microtubule attachments.     

2种弧菌鞭毛蛋白的分离纯化与鉴定

尝试分离提取2种弧菌的鞭毛蛋白,采用垂直板聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳对所提蛋白进行分离纯化,Western免疫印迹检测,电镜鉴定。结果显示：实验已经成功分离提纯了哈维氏弧菌的鞭毛蛋白,获得了溶藻弧菌鞭毛蛋白的初提液。提纯的哈维氏弧菌鞭毛蛋白经SDS-PAGE显示3条清晰蛋白带（相对分子量分别为39.7,41.9和42.7KDa）,透射电镜观察表明该蛋白呈经典的丝状,可以认为哈维氏弧菌的鞭毛丝是由相对分子量分别为39.7,41.9和42.7KDa的3种鞭毛蛋白亚基构成。溶藻弧菌鞭毛蛋白的初提液经SDS-PAGE后显示5-9条蛋白带,其中36.8KDa的蛋白带有强的免疫原性。     

目标追踪位置估计的单目视觉算法

提出了单摄像机安装在机器人上的视觉伺服系统的位置估计方法．提出的方法集成了由运动恢复深度和由散焦恢复深度的技术以满足实时要求．对于远距运动物体，用Grassmarm-Cayley代数中的Plucker表示法获取物体的位置估计．对于近距运动物体，用多层前馈型神经网络来恢复物体位置．用提出的判据在两种方法中切换．实验结果表明，估计精度得以提高．     

Tuning charge transport in solution-sheared organic semiconductors using lattice strain

Circuits based on organic semiconductors are being actively explored for flexible, transparent and low-cost electronic applications. But to realize such applications, the charge carrier mobilities of solution-processed organic semiconductors must be improved. For inorganic semiconductors, a general method of increasing charge carrier mobility is to introduce strain within the crystal lattice. Here we describe a solution-processing technique for organic semiconductors in which lattice strain is used to increase charge carrier mobilities by introducing greater electron orbital overlap between the component molecules. For organic semiconductors, the spacing between cofacially stacked, conjugated backbones (the π-π stacking distance) greatly influences electron orbital overlap and therefore mobility. Using our method to incrementally introduce lattice strain, we alter the π-π stacking distance of 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) from 3.33?? to 3.08??. We believe that 3.08?? is the shortest π-π stacking distance that has been achieved in an organic semiconductor crystal lattice (although a π-π distance of 3.04?? has been achieved through intramolecular bonding). The positive charge carrier (hole) mobility in TIPS-pentacene transistors increased from 0.8?cm(2)?V(-1)?s(-1) for unstrained films to a high mobility of 4.6?cm(2)?V(-1)?s(-1) for a strained film. Using solution processing to modify molecular packing through lattice strain should aid the development of high-performance, low-cost organic semiconducting devices.     

Insights into DNA recombination from the structure of a RAD51-BRCA2 complex

The breast cancer susceptibility protein BRCA2 controls the function of RAD51, a recombinase enzyme, in pathways for DNA repair by homologous recombination. We report here the structure of a complex between an evolutionarily conserved sequence in BRCA2 (the BRC repeat) and the RecA-homology domain of RAD51. The BRC repeat mimics a motif in RAD51 that serves as an interface for oligomerization between individual RAD51 monomers, thus enabling BRCA2 to control the assembly of the RAD51 nucleoprotein filament, which is essential for strand-pairing reactions during DNA recombination. The RAD51 oligomerization motif is highly conserved among RecA-like recombinases, highlighting a common evolutionary origin for the mechanism of nucleoprotein filament formation, mirrored in the BRC repeat. Cancer-associated mutations that affect the BRC repeat disrupt its predicted interaction with RAD51, yielding structural insight into mechanisms for cancer susceptibility.     

The innate immune response to bacterial flagellin is mediated by Toll-like receptor 5

The innate immune system recognizes pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) that are expressed on infectious agents, but not on the host. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize PAMPs and mediate the production of cytokines necessary for the development of effective immunity. Flagellin, a principal component of bacterial flagella, is a virulence factor that is recognized by the innate immune system in organisms as diverse as flies, plants and mammals. Here we report that mammalian TLR5 recognizes bacterial flagellin from both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and that activation of the receptor mobilizes the nuclear factor NF-kappaB and stimulates tumour necrosis factor-alpha production. TLR5-stimulating activity was purified from Listeria monocytogenes culture supernatants and identified as flagellin by tandem mass spectrometry. Expression of L. monocytogenes flagellin in non-flagellated Escherichia coli conferred on the bacterium the ability to activate TLR5, whereas deletion of the flagellin genes from Salmonella typhimurium abrogated TLR5-stimulating activity. All known TLRs signal through the adaptor protein MyD88. Mice challenged with bacterial flagellin rapidly produced systemic interleukin-6, whereas MyD88-null mice did not respond to flagellin. Our data suggest that TLR5, a member of the evolutionarily conserved Toll-like receptor family, has evolved to permit mammals specifically to detect flagellated bacterial pathogens.     

A flagellin-induced complex of the receptor FLS2 and BAK1 initiates plant defence

Plants sense potential microbial invaders by using pattern-recognition receptors to recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). In Arabidopsis thaliana, the leucine-rich repeat receptor kinases flagellin-sensitive 2 (FLS2) (ref. 2) and elongation factor Tu receptor (EFR) (ref. 3) act as pattern-recognition receptors for the bacterial PAMPs flagellin and elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu) (ref. 5) and contribute to resistance against bacterial pathogens. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms that link receptor activation to intracellular signal transduction. Here we show that BAK1 (BRI1-associated receptor kinase 1), a leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase that has been reported to regulate the brassinosteroid receptor BRI1 (refs 6,7), is involved in signalling by FLS2 and EFR. Plants carrying bak1 mutations show normal flagellin binding but abnormal early and late flagellin-triggered responses, indicating that BAK1 acts as a positive regulator in signalling. The bak1-mutant plants also show a reduction in early, but not late, EF-Tu-triggered responses. The decrease in responses to PAMPs is not due to reduced sensitivity to brassinosteroids. We provide evidence that FLS2 and BAK1 form a complex in vivo, in a specific ligand-dependent manner, within the first minutes of stimulation with flagellin. Thus, BAK1 is not only associated with developmental regulation through the plant hormone receptor BRI1 (refs 6,7), but also has a functional role in PRR-dependent signalling, which initiates innate immunity.     

Sliding distance between actin and myosin filaments per ATP molecule hydrolysed in skinned muscle fibres

Muscle contraction is generally thought to be driven by tilting of the 19-nm-long myosin head, part of the thick filament, while attached to actin, part of the thin filament. This motion would produce about 12 nm of filament sliding. Recent estimates of the sliding distance per ATP molecule hydrolysed by actomyosin in vitro vary widely from 8 nm to greater than or equal to 200 nm. The latter value is incompatible with a power stroke incorporating a single tilting motion of the head. We have measured the isotonic sliding distance per ATP molecule hydrolysed during the interaction between myosin and actin in skinned muscle fibres. We directly estimated the proportion of simultaneously attached actomyosin complexes and their ATP use. We report here that at low loads the interaction distance is at least 40 nm. This distance corresponds to the length of the power stroke plus the filament sliding while actomyosin crossbridges bear negative drag forces. If the power stroke is 12 nm, then our results indicate the drag distance to be at least 28 nm. Our results could also be explained by multiple power strokes per ATP molecule hydrolysed.     

Performance Prediction of Carbon Fiber Protofilament Based on SAGA-SVR

The existing optimized performance prediction of carbon fiber protofilament process model is still unable to meet the production needs. A way of performance prediction on carbon fiber protofilament was presented based on support vector regression （SVR） which was optimized by an optimization algorithm combining simulated annealing algorithm and genetic algorithm （SAGA-SVR）. To verify the accuracy of the model, the carbon fiber protofilament production test data were analyzed and compared with BP neural network （BPNN）. The results show that SAGA-SVR can predict the performance parameters of the carbon fiber protofilament accurately.     

Rapid regeneration of the actin-myosin power stroke in contracting muscle.

At the molecular level, muscle contraction is the result of cyclic interaction between myosin crossbridges, which extend from the thick filament, and the thin filament, which consists mainly of actin. The energy for work done by a single crossbridge during a cycle of attachment, generation of force, shortening and detachment is believed to be coupled to the hydrolysis of one molecule of ATP. The distance the actin filament slides relative to the myosin filament in one crossbridge cycle has been estimated as 12 nm by step-length perturbation studies on single fibres from frog muscle. The 'mechanical' power stroke of the attached crossbridge can therefore be defined as 12-nm shortening with a force profile like that shown by the quick recovery of force following a length perturbation. According to this definition, power strokes cannot be repeated faster than the overall ATPase rate. Here, however, we show that the power stroke can be regenerated much faster than expected from the ATPase rate. This contradiction can be resolved if, in the shortening muscle, the free energy of ATP hydrolysis is used in several actin-myosin interactions consisting of elementary power strokes each of 5-10 nm.     

Sliding distance of actin filament induced by a myosin crossbridge during one ATP hydrolysis cycle

Muscle contraction results from a sliding movement of actin filaments induced by myosin crossbridges on hydrolysis of ATP, and many non-muscle cells are thought to move using a similar mechanism. The molecular mechanism of muscle contraction, however, is not completely understood. One of the major problems is the mechanochemical coupling at high velocity under near-zero load. Here, we report measurements of the sliding distance of an actin filament induced by a myosin crossbridge during one ATP hydrolysis cycle in an unloaded condition. We used single sarcomeres from which the Z-lines, structures which anchor the thin filaments in the sarcomere, had been completely removed by calcium-activated neutral protease (CANP) and trypsin, and measured both the sliding velocity of single actin filaments along myosin filaments and the ATPase activity during sliding. Our results show that the average sliding distance of the actin filament is less than or equal to 600 A during one ATP cycle, much longer than the length of power stroke of myosin crossbridges deduced from mechanical studies of muscle, which is of the order of 80 A (for example, ref. 15).     

单晶硅衬底上金刚石成核密度的研究

本文研究了用热灯丝化学气相沉积方法在单晶硅衬底上制备金刚石薄膜时其成核密度与制备条件的关系。结果表明,衬底表面状态、衬底温度、灯丝温度、灯丝与衬底表面间距离等对金刚石成核密度有明显的影响,且表面状态的影响最大。     

地黄居群遗传多样性的ISSR分析

采用ISSR分子标记,对地黄（Rehnwmnia glutinosa）14个自然居群、1个栽培居群和属内近缘种5个居群的遗传多样性与遗传结构进行了研究．结果表明：地黄不同居群的平均多态位点百分率（PPB）为40．53％,平均Shannon多样性指数为0．1915,平均Nei’s基因多样性指数h为0．1253,遗传多样性水平较低．AMOVA分析结果和基因分化系数显示遗传变异主要发生在居群内,居群间的遗传分化显著,其遗传分化水平介于异交物种和自交物种之间．地黄居群间的基因交流程度有限（基因流为0．3784）．Mantel检测显示自然居群间遗传距离与地理距离之间没有明显相关性．推断营养繁殖占优势和受人类栽培活动的长期影响可能是导致地黄遗传多样性水平低、居群间遗传分化显著的主要原因．     

SbsB structure and lattice reconstruction unveil Ca2+ triggered S-layer assembly

S-layers are regular two-dimensional semipermeable protein layers that constitute a major cell-wall component in archaea and many bacteria. The nanoscale repeat structure of the S-layer lattices and their self-assembly from S-layer proteins (SLPs) have sparked interest in their use as patterning and display scaffolds for a range of nano-biotechnological applications. Despite their biological abundance and the technological interest in them, structural information about SLPs is limited to truncated and assembly-negative proteins. Here we report the X-ray structure of the SbsB SLP of Geobacillus stearothermophilus PV72/p2 by the use of nanobody-aided crystallization. SbsB consists of a seven-domain protein, formed by an amino-terminal cell-wall attachment domain and six consecutive immunoglobulin-like domains, that organize into a φ-shaped disk-like monomeric crystallization unit stabilized by interdomain Ca(2+) ion coordination. A Ca(2+)-dependent switch to the condensed SbsB quaternary structure pre-positions intermolecular contact zones and renders the protein competent for S-layer assembly. On the basis of crystal packing, chemical crosslinking data and cryo-electron microscopy projections, we present a model for the molecular organization of this SLP into a porous protein sheet inside the S-layer. The SbsB lattice represents a previously undescribed structural model for protein assemblies and may advance our understanding of SLP physiology and self-assembly, as well as the rational design of engineered higher-order structures for biotechnology.     

Ultrafast polarization optical switch constructed from one-dimensional photonic crystal and its performance analysis

All-optical switch with the ultrafast optical switching rate is a key device in the next generation optical network. In this article, we propose a polarization switch with ps switching time, which is constructed from one-dimensional resonant photonic crystal （1D RPC）. The model of switch operating at 1.5 μm is established based on the optical stark effect （OSE）. We calculate the performance indices of the switch and the influences of errors of periods and refractive index on the performance characteristics.