Tissue-specific expression and silencing phenotypes of mitochondrial phosphate carrier paralogues in several insect species

The mitochondrial phosphate carrier gene (PiC) encodes a membrane protein that mediates the supply of inorganic phosphate from the cytosol into the mitochondrial matrix. This substrate-specific transport system plays an important role in efficient ATP synthesis. Mammals appear to have only one PiC with two alternative splicing variants whose functional differences remain unclear. The present study is the first to characterize the multiple genes that encode PiC in insects. Bombyx mori was found to have two PiC paralogues, one ubiquitous and one testis-specific, the latter seeming to be present only in Lepidoptera. Drosophila melanogaster was found to harbour two PiC paralogues, whereas Liriomyza chinensis, another dipteran, has three PiC paralogues. Two PiCs were found to be present in Plautia stali, and silencing either of these genes affected the normal development of P. stali nymphs, although their expression patterns differed amongst tissues. Schistocerca gregaria and Locusta migratoria have two PiC each, with different expression patterns. Tribolium castaneum was found to have only one PiC, which appears to play an essential role in larval development. Thus, although the inorganic phosphate transport system appears to be conserved across eukaryotes, PiC has become specialized in the different tissues of different insect species.

Middle region of FancM interacts with Mhf and Rmi1 in silkworms, a species lacking the Fanconi anaemia (FA) core complex

The Fanconi anaemia (FA) pathway is responsible for interstrand crosslink (ICL) repair. Among the FA core complex components, FANCM is believed to act as a damage sensor for the ICL-blocked replication fork and also as a molecular platform for FA core complex assembly and interaction with Bloom's syndrome (BS) complex that is thought to play an important role in the processing of DNA structures such as stalled replication forks. In the present study, we found that in silkworms, Bombyx mori, a species lacking the major FA core complex components (FANCA, B, C, E, F, and G), FancM is required for FancD2 monoubiquitination and cell proliferation in the presence of mitomycin C (MMC). Silkworm FancM (BmFancM) was phosphorylated in the middle regions, and the modification was associated with its subcellular localization. In addition, BmFancM interacted with Mhf1, a histone-fold protein, and Rmi1, a subunit of the BS complex, in the different regions. The interaction region containing at least these two protein-binding domains played an essential role in FancM-dependent resistance to MMC. Our results suggest that BmFancM also acts as a platform for recruitment of both the FA protein and the BS protein, although the silkworm genome seems to lose FAAP24, a FancM-binding partner protein in mammals.

Experimental validation of a novel compact focusing scheme for future energy-frontier linear lepton colliders

A novel scheme for the focusing of high-energy leptons in future linear colliders was proposed in 2001 [P. Raimondi and A. Seryi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3779 (2001)]. This scheme has many advantageous properties over previously studied focusing schemes, including being significantly shorter for a given energy and having a significantly better energy bandwidth. Experimental results from the ATF2 accelerator at KEK are presented that validate the operating principle of such a scheme by demonstrating the demagnification of a 1.3 GeV electron beam down to below 65 nm in height using an energy-scaled version of the compact focusing optics designed for the ILC collider.

Observation of B0-->pi0pi0

We report the observation of the decay B0-->pi(0)pi(0), using a 253 fb(-1) data sample collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB e(+)e(-) collider. The measured branching fraction is B(B0-->pi(0)pi(0))=(2.3(+0.4+0.2)(-0.5-0.3))x10(-6), with a significance of 5.8 standard deviations including systematic uncertainties. We also make a measurement of the direct CP violating asymmetry in this mode.

Evidence for direct CP violation in B0-->K+pi- decays

We report evidence for direct CP violation in the decay B0-->K+pi(-) with 253 fb(-1) of data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB e(+)e(-) collider. Using 275x10(6) BB pairs we observe a B-->K+/-pi(-/+) signal with 2140+/-53 events. The measured CP violating asymmetry is A(CP)(K+pi(-))=-0.101+/-0.025(stat)+/-0.005(syst), corresponding to a significance of 3.9sigma including systematics. We also search for CP violation in the decays B+-->K+pi(0) and B+-->pi(+)pi(0). The measured CP violating asymmetries are A(CP)(K+pi(0))=0.04+/-0.05(stat)+/-0.02(syst) and A(CP)(pi(+)pi(0))=-0.02+/-0.10(stat)+/-0.01(syst), corresponding to the intervals -0.05<A(CP)(K+pi(0))<0.13 and -0.18<A(CP)(pi(+)pi(0))<0.14 at 90% confidence level.

Observation of large CP violation and evidence for direct CP violation in B0-->pi(+)pi(-) decays

We report the first observation of CP violation in B0-->pi(+)pi(-) decays based on 152x10(6) gamma (4S)-->BB decays collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e(+)e(-) collider. We reconstruct a B0-->pi(+)pi(-) CP eigenstate and identify the flavor of the accompanying B meson from its decay products. From the distribution of the time intervals between the two B meson decay points, we obtain A(pipi)=+0.58+/-0.15(stat)+/-0.07(syst) and S(pipi)=-1.00+/-0.21(stat)+/-0.07(syst). We rule out the CP-conserving case, A(pipi)=S(pipi)=0, at a level of 5.2 standard deviations. We also find evidence for direct CP violation with a significance at or greater than 3.2 standard deviations for any S(pipi) value.

Measurements of the D(sJ) resonance properties

We report measurements of the properties of the D(+)(sJ)(2317) and D(+)(sJ)(2457) resonances produced in continuum e(+)e(-) annihilation near sqrt[s]=10.6 GeV. The analysis is based on an 86.9 fb(-1) data sample collected with the Belle detector at KEKB. We determine the masses to be M(D(+)(sJ)(2317))=2317.2+/-0.5(stat)+/-0.9(syst) MeV/c(2) and M(D(+)(sJ)(2457))=2456.5+/-1.3(stat)+/-1.3(syst) MeV/c(2). We observe the radiative decay mode D(+)(sJ)(2457)-->D(+)(s)gamma and the dipion decay mode D(+)(sJ)(2457)-->D(+)(s)pi(+)pi(-) and determine their branching fractions. No corresponding decays are observed for the D(sJ)(2317) state. These results are consistent with the spin-parity assignments of 0(+) for the D(sJ)(2317) and 1(+) for the D(sJ)(2457).

Measurement of time-dependent CP-violating asymmetries in B0-->phiK(0)S, K+K-K0(S), and eta'K0(S) decays

We present an improved measurement of CP-violation parameters in B0-->phiK(0)(S), K(+)K(-)K(0)(S), and eta(')K(0)(S) decays based on a 140 fb(-1) data sample collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB energy-asymmetric e(+)e(-) collider. One neutral B meson is fully reconstructed in one of the specified decay channels, and the flavor of the accompanying B meson is identified from its decay products. CP-violation parameters for each of the three modes are obtained from the asymmetries in the distributions of the proper-time intervals between the two B decays. We find that the observed CP asymmetry in the B-->phiK(0)(S) decay differs from the standard model (SM) expectation by 3.5 standard deviations, while the other cases are consistent with the SM.

Evidence for B0-->pi0pi0

We report evidence for the decay B0-->pi(0)pi(0). The analysis is based on a data sample of 152x10(6) BBmacr; pairs collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB e(+)e(-) storage ring. We detect a signal for B0-->pi(0)pi(0) with a significance of 3.4 standard deviations, and measure the branching fraction to be [1.7+/-0.6(stat)+/-0.2(syst)]x10(-6).