Two Arginine-Glutamate Ionic Locks Near the Extracellular Surface of FFAR1 Gate Receptor Activation

Activation of a number of class A G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is thought to involve two molecular switches, a rotamer toggle switch within the transmembrane domain and an ionic lock at the cytoplasmic surface of the receptor; however, the mechanism by which agonist binding changes these molecular interactions is not understood. Importantly, 80% of GPCRs including free fatty acid receptor 1 (FFAR1) lack the complement of amino acid residues implicated in either or both of these two switches; the mechanism of activation of these GPCRs is therefore less clear. By homology modeling, we identified two Glu residues (Glu-145 and Glu-172) in the second extracellular loop of FFAR1 that form putative interactions individually with two transmembrane Arg residues (Arg-183(5.39) and Arg-258(7.35)) to create two ionic locks. Molecular dynamics simulations showed that binding of agonists to FFAR1 leads to breakage of these Glu-Arg interactions. In mutagenesis experiments, breakage of these two putative interactions by substituting Ala for Glu-145 and Glu-172 caused constitutive receptor activation. Our results therefore reveal a molecular switch for receptor activation present on the extracellular surface of FFAR1 that is broken by agonist binding. Similar ionic locks between the transmembrane domains and the extracellular loops may constitute a mechanism common to other class A GPCRs also.

Extensive optical and near-infrared observations of the nearby, narrow-lined type Ic SN 2007gr: days 5 to 415

We present photometric and spectroscopic observations at optical and near-infrared wavelengths of the nearby type Ic supernova 2007gr. These represent the most extensive data-set to date of any supernova of this sub-type, with frequent coverage from shortly after discovery to more than one year post-explosion. We deduce a rise time to B-band maximum of 11.5 +/- 2.7 d. We find a peak B-band magnitude of M-B = -16.8, and light curves which are remarkably similar to the so-called "hypernova" SN 2002ap. In contrast, the spectra of SNe 2007gr and 2002ap show marked differences, not least in their respective expansion velocities. We attribute these differences primarily to the density profiles of their progenitor stars at the time of explosion i.e. a more compact star for SN 2007gr compared to SN 2002ap. From the quasi-bolometric light curve of SN 2007gr, we estimate that 0.076 +/- 0.010 M-circle dot of Ni-56 was produced in the explosion. Our near-infrared (IR) spectra clearly show the onset and disappearance of the first overtone of carbon monoxide (CO) between similar to 70 to 175 d relative to B-band maximum. The detection of the CO molecule implies that ionised He was not microscopically mixed within the carbon/oxygen layers. From the optical spectra, near-IR light curves, and colour evolution, we find no evidence for dust condensation in the ejecta out to about +400 d. Given the combination of unprecedented temporal coverage, and high signal-to-noise data, we suggest that SN 2007gr could be used as a template object for supernovae of this sub-class.

Type II-P supernovae as standardized candles: improvements using near-infrared data

We present the first near-infrared Hubble diagram for Type II-P supernovae (SNe), to further explore their value as distance indicators. We use a modified version of the standardized candle method, which relies on the tight correlation between the absolute magnitudes of Type II-P SNe and their expansion velocities during the plateau phase. Although our sample contains only 12 II-P SNe and they are necessarily local (z

USE OF RETRODIRECTIVE ARRAY PHASE CONJUGATION CIRCUITRY FOR NEAR- AND FAR-FIELD POSITION ANGLE OF ARRIVAL DETECTION

In this article, we present position indication functionality as obtained by using a retrodirective array, thereby allowing location information extraction of the position of the remote transmitter with which the retrodirective array is cooperating. This is carried out using straightforward circuitry with no requirement for complex angle of arrival algorithms, thereby giving a result in real time enabling tracking of fast moving transmitters. We show using a 10 x element retrodirective array, operating at 2.4 GHz that accuracies of far-field angle of arrival of within +/- 1 degrees over the arrays +/- 30 degrees azimuth field of view are possible. While in the near-field for angles of arrival of +/- 10 degrees it is possible to extract the position of a dipole source down to a resolution of 032 lambda. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52: 1031-1034, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.25097

Retrodirective Array Performance in the Presence of Near Field Obstructions

We investigate the situation where there are obstructing elements present in the near field of a retrodirective array. We describe three scattering cases, (1) by an array of straight wires, (2) by low loss medium density fibre board partially obscuring the array, and (3) by concrete blocks, totally and then partially obscuring the array. For all scenarios retrodirective action was shown to be able to provide various degrees of automatic compensation for loss in gain relative to that which would have occurred for a conventional (non-retrodirective) array in the presence of the same scattering screens. Gain improvements of up to 10 dB were observed when the retrodirective array was used. In addition we show how the induced variation of received and re-transmited amplitudes across the array, caused by the scattering screens, is the principle mechanism causing deterioration of the retrodirective arrays monostatic response.