Sister chromatid cohesion is established during DNA replication and maintained until metaphase in mitosis, when sister kinetochores are captured by microtubules associated with opposite poles of the spindle. The sister cohesion is released on anaphase thereby chromosome segregation brings about. Proteins needed for sister chromatid cohesion, named cohesins, were discovered and the regulation of cohesion has been revealed. We now better understand the molecular mechanism of chromosome segregation.
It is known that hnRNP D0 protein specifically binds to both telomere-sequence DNA and RNA. The hnRNP D0 structure has been determined, and the interactions with the target RNA/DNA have been characterized by NMR. Spatial localization of specific and non-specific interactions with RNA/DNA on the interactive β-sheet surface of hnRNP D0 has been found. It is also found that hnRNP D0 has the ability to transform RNA/DNA quadruplex to a single strand.
Time-resolved transient hole-burning (TRTHB) spectroscopy is quite effective to elucidate the conformational fluctuation dynamics of protein in ns-ms time regime, which has not been investigated intensively so far. It has also great importance for the understanding of the molecular-level mechanism of protein functioning. TRTHB study on Zn-substituted myoglobin has clarified its highly non-exponential fluctuation dynamics. The time scale of the observed fluctuation is distributed over very wide range from ns to μs. The results underscore the utility of the present method to characterize conformational dynamics of protein.
Using the pulse injection method, single-stranded DNA and double-stranded plasmid DNA have been deposited on well-defined Cu (111) surfaces under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) condition to obtain high resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images. These particular UHV-STM images have revealed that DNA molecules are adsorbed directly onto a clean Cu (111) surface, and exhibited the detailed structures of DNA which have not been resolved earlier. The single-stranded DNA oligomers have exhibited the images of individual internal base molecules and helix structures made of complementary base sequence. For the double-stranded plasmid DNA, the images has visualized Watson-Crick double-helix structures.
In animal and plant populations, local interactions between individuals generate some unique and global spatial patterns. For example, trees competing for light and nutrient with their neighbors in limited area show clumpy spatial distribution rather than random distribution. Here we introduce spatial patterns observed in forests and propose the models which describe their growing mechanisms. We focus on the wave regeneration patterns in subalpine forests, canopy-gap dynamics in a neotropical forest and fluctuating and synchronized reproduction in Beech forests. Theoretical analysis based on lattice models and CMLS was effective at describing characteristic interaction with neighbors and to reproduce observed spatial patterns.