P pili in uropathogenic E. coli are composite fibres with distinct fibrillar adhesive tips.

Escherichia coli is a frequent cause of several common bacterial infections in humans and animals, including urinary tract infections, bacteraemia and bacteria-related diarrhoea and is also the main cause of neonatal meningitis. Microbial attachment to surfaces is a key event in colonization and infection and results mainly from a stereochemical fit between microbial adhesins and complementary receptors on host cells. Bacterial adhesins required for extracellular colonization by Gram-negative bacteria are often minor components of heteropolymeric fibres called pili which must be oriented in an accessible manner in these structures to be able to bind to specific receptor architectures. P pili mediate the binding of uropathogenic E. coli to a digalactoside receptor determinant present in the urinary tract epithelium. We report here that the adhesin is a component of distinct fibrillar structures present at the tips of the pili. These virulence-associated tip fibrillae are thin, flexible polymers composed mostly of repeating subunits of PapE that frequently terminate with the alpha-D-galactopyranosyl-(1-4)-beta-D-galactopyranose or Gal alpha (1-4)Gal binding PapG adhesin.     

Probing met repressor-operator recognition in solution.

The three-dimensional crystal structure of the Escherichia coli methionine repressor, MetJ, complexed with a DNA operator fragment is described in an accompanying article. The complex exhibits several novel features of DNA-protein interaction. DNA sequence recognition is achieved largely by hydrogen-bond contacts between the bases and amino-acid side chains located on a beta-ribbon, a mode of recognition previously hypothesized on the basis of modelling of idealized beta-strands and DNA, and mutagenesis of the Salmonella phage P22 repressors Arc and Mnt. The complex comprises a pair of MetJ repressor dimers which bind to adjacent met-box sites on the DNA, and contact each other by means of a pair of antiparallel alpha-helices. Here we assess the importance of these contacts, and also of contacts that would be made between the C-helices of the protein and DNA in a previous model of the complex, by studying mutations aimed at disrupting them. The role of the carboxy-terminal helix face in operator binding was unclear, but we demonstrate that recognition of operator sequences occurs through side chains in the beta-strand motif and that dimer-dimer interactions are required for effective repression.     

Overcompensation and population cycles in an ungulate.

Although theoretical studies show that overcompensatory density-dependent mechanisms can potentially generate regular or chaotic fluctuations in animal numbers, the majority of realistic single-species models of invertebrate populations are not overcompensatory enough to cause sustained population cycles. The possibility that overcompensation may generate cycles or chaos in vertebrate populations has seldom been considered. Here we show that highly overcompensatng density-dependent mortality can generate recurrent population crashes consistent with those observed in a naturally limited population of Soay sheep. The observed interval of three or more years between crashes points to sharp 'focusing' of mortality over a narrow range of population density.     

超微粒MnO_2的合成

以MnCl_2和NaOH为原料,采用胶溶法,制备了超微粒MnO_2制得的MnO_2超微粒为非晶态,直径6.0～10.0 nm,呈球状,在有机溶剂中具有良好的分散性和透明性,考察了影响氧化锰溶胶调制的因素,获得了最佳制胶条件,研究了表面活性剂用量与Mn迁移率的关系;通过X-光粉末衍射、红外光谱、热重及差热分析,研究了产品的结构性能。     

特征结构提取的高阶Hopfield神经网络实现

本文首先建立了特征结构提取问题的罚函数表示，通过对罚函数求极小可以求得原始协方差矩阵的主特征向量及其对应的特征值。为了求得其他特征结构，特构造了一个协方差矩阵序列。如果将罚函数展开并进行整理，高阶Ｈｏｐｆｉｅｌｄ神经网络可被引入到特征结构提取中。这种方法比较直观，它将网络稳定时的输出与所求协方差矩阵的主特征向量的各个分量相对应，而网络稳定时的能量则对应于协方差矩阵的迹与所求特征值之差，计算机仿真结果验证了这种方法的正确性。     

炭黑／结晶性含氟树脂合金在自控温加热电缆中应用

选择了结晶性含氟树脂添加改性剂为树脂基体，与炭黑制居复合导电体系。通过这个对体系不同条件下ＰＴＣ特性的研究，对其配方与加工工艺进行优化。并利用扫描电镜，Ｘ射线衍射，ＤＳＣ等分析测试手段，对体系的各种开矿结构进行了研究，阐明了该导电复合体系的形态结构与性能的关系。     

巷道底板上锚杆布置形式对预防底鼓效果的模拟研究

本文采用三个边界元模型对巷道底板上锚杆的不同布置形式对防治底鼓的效果进行了模拟研究。根据研究结果,提出采用在巷道底板上分期安装锚杆的方法,可有效地防治巷道底鼓。本文对巷道底鼓产生机理和防治措施的研究结果,具有一定的理论价值和应用参考价值。     

非线性系统两变量控制下的分枝特性

采用分枝理论推导非线性系统两变量P和PI控制下的分枝特性,所导得的几个定理阐明了简单分枝点和Hopf分枝点的位置和性质。一个简化精馏塔模型用于演示这一过程,展示出精馏塔系统在闭环时,可能出现多态和极限环。     

Activation of a C. elegans Antennapedia homologue in migrating cells controls their direction of migration.

Anterior-posterior patterning in insects, vertebrates and nematodes involves members of conserved Antennapedia-class homeobox gene clusters (HOM-C) that are thought to give specific body regions their identities. The effects of these genes on region-specific body structures have been described extensively, particularly in Drosophila, but little is known about how HOM-C genes affect the behaviours of cells that migrate into their domains of function. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the Antennapedia-like HOM-C gene mab-5 not only specifies postembryonic fates of cells in a posterior body region, but also influences the migration of mesodermal and neural cells that move through this region. Here we show that as one neuroblast migrates into this posterior region, it switches on mab-5 gene expression; mab-5 then acts as a developmental switch to control the migratory behaviour of the neuroblast descendants. HOM-C genes can therefore not only direct region-specific patterns of cell division and differentiation, but can also act within migrating cells to programme region-specific migratory behaviour.