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Abstract: Archaeal family B DNA polymerases bind tightly to template-strand uracil and stall replication on encountering the pro-mutagenic base. This article describes an X-ray crystal structure, at 2.8 Å resolution, of Thermococcus gorgonarius polymerase in complex with a DNA primer–template containing uracil in the single-stranded region. The DNA backbone is distorted to position the uracil deeply within a pocket, located in the amino-terminal domain of the polymerase. Specificity arises from a combination of hydrogen bonds between the protein backbone and uracil, with the pocket shaped to prevent the stable binding of the four standard DNA bases. Strong interactions are seen with the two phosphates that flank the uracil and the structure gives clues concerning the coupling of uracil binding to the halting of replication. The importance of key amino acids, identified by the analysis of the structure and their conservation between archaeal polymerases, was confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis. The crystal structure of V93Q, a polymerase variant that no longer recognises uracil, is also reported, explaining the V93Q phenotype by the steric exclusion of uracil from the pocket.

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Abstract: Although LysR-type regulators (LTTRs) represent the largest family of transcriptional regulators in bacteria, the full-length structure of only one annotated LTTR (CbnR) has been deposited in the PDB. CrgA, a LTTR from pathogenic Neisseria meningitidis MC58, which is up-regulated upon bacterial cell contact with human epithelial cells, has been cloned, purified and crystallized. Crystals of full-length CrgA were obtained after buffer screening with a thermal shift assay and concentration with 0.2 M NDSB-256. Data were collected from two crystal forms of full-length CrgA belonging to space groups P212121 and P21, diffracting to 3.0 and 3.8 Å resolution and consistent with the presence of between six and ten and between ten and 20 copies of CrgA in the asymmetric unit, respectively. In addition, diffraction data were collected to 2.3 Å resolution from the selenomethionine derivative of the regulatory domain of CrgA. The crystals belonged to space group P21 and contained two molecules in the asymmetric unit.

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Abstract: Intersubband transitions within the conduction band in semiconductor quantum wells have been widely explored, which eventually led to their application in quantum well infrared photodetectors and quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). There have been considerably fewer studies of hole intersubband transitions, which are more complicated than their electronic counterparts. They are very interesting, however, because of optical activity for both TM and TE light polarization, offering the possibility of both edge and surface-normal emission or absorption. Earlier studies have mostly focused on bound- continuum transitions in GaAs/AlGaAs and Si/SiGe systems for infrared detection.

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Abstract: Principal component analysis (PCA) is a method of simplifying complex datasets to generate a lower number of parameters, while retaining the essential differences and allowing objective comparison of large numbers of datasets. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are a class of linear sulfated carbohydrates with diverse sequences and consequent complex conformation and structure. Here, PCA is applied to three problems in GAG research: (i) distinguishing origins of heparin preparations, (ii) structural analysis of heparin derivatives, and (iii) classification of chondroitin sulfates (CS). The results revealed the following. (i) PCA of heparin 13C NMR spectra allowed their origins to be distinguished and structural differences were identified. (ii) Analysis of the information-rich 1H and 13C NMR spectra of a series of systematically modified heparin derivatives uncovered underlying properties. These included the presence of interactions between residues, providing evidence that a degree of degeneracy exists in linkage geometry and that a different degree of variability exists for the two types of glycosidic linkage. The relative sensitivity of each position (C or H nucleus) in the disaccharide repeating unit to changes in O-, N-sulfation and N-acetylation was also revealed. (iii) Analysis of the 1H NMR and CD spectra of a series of CS samples from different origins allowed their structural classification and highlighted the power of employing complementary spectroscopic methods in concert with PCA.