Role Of Filaments Research Articles

The Milky Way atlas for linear filaments – II. Clump rotation versus filament orientation

ABSTRACT Dense clumps distributed along filaments are the immediate medium for star formation. Kinematic properties of the clumps, such as velocity gradient and angular momentum, combined with filament orientation, provide important clues to the formation mechanism of filament-clump configurations and the role of filaments in star formation. By cross-matching the Milky Way atlas for linear filaments and the structure, excitation and dynamics of the inner Galactic interstellar medium (SEDIGISM) $^{13}$CO (2-1) data, we aim to derive the velocity gradient and its direction, the specific angular momentum ($J/M$), and the ratio ($\beta$) between the rotational energy and gravitational energy of clumps, as well as to investigate the alignment between clump rotation and filament orientation. We found a monotonic increase in $J/M$ as a function of clump size (R), following a power-law relation $J/M~\propto ~R^{1.5\pm 0.2}$. The ratio $\beta$ ranges from 1.1 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ to 0.1, with a median value 1.0 $\times$ 10$^{-3}$, suggesting that clump rotation provides insignificant support against gravitational collapse. The distribution of the angle between clump rotation and natal filament orientation is random, indicating that the clumps’ rotational axes have no discernible correlation with the orientation of their hosting filaments. Counting only the most massive clump in each filament also finds no alignment between clump rotation and filament orientation.

Statistical analysis of plasma filaments in the island divertor of Wendelstein 7-X

Plasma filaments have been measured with alkali beam emission spectroscopy in the plasma edge, divertor island, and scrape-off layer of Wendelstein 7-X. Due to the high intensity of a 1–2 kHz plasma mode, a new, correlation based conditional averaging algorithm was used to search for filaments in the signals. With that method, effects of different magnetic configurations and density levels on filament properties are observed. In configurations where the islands are small and do not play an important role for the connection length topology, filaments behave similar to tokamaks. In contrast, in configurations with larger magnetic islands and more complex connection length profiles, filaments behave quite differently, for instance they may or may not appear in the inner side of the divertor island depending on the plasma parameters. Coupling between the filaments and lower frequency events are also showed. The role of filaments in the global and local particle transport is briefly discussed.

The role of filamentation in activation and DNA sequence specificity of the sequence-specific endonuclease SgrAI.

Filament formation by metabolic, biosynthetic, and other enzymes has recently come into focus as a mechanism to fine-tune enzyme activity in the cell. Filamentation is key to the function of SgrAI, a sequence-specific DNA endonuclease that has served as a model system to provide some of the deepest insights into the biophysical characteristics of filamentation and its functional consequences. Structure-function analyses reveal that, in the filamentous state, SgrAI stabilizes an activated enzyme conformation that leads to accelerated DNA cleavage activity and expanded DNA sequence specificity. The latter is thought to be mediated by sequence-specific DNA structure, protein-DNA interactions, and a disorder-to-order transition in the protein, which collectively affect the relative stabilities of the inactive, non-filamentous conformation and the active, filamentous conformation of SgrAI bound to DNA. Full global kinetic modeling of the DNA cleavage pathway reveals a slow, rate-limiting, second-order association rate constant for filament assembly, and simulations of in vivo activity predict that filamentation is superior to non-filamenting mechanisms in ensuring rapid activation and sequestration of SgrAI's DNA cleavage activity on phage DNA and away from the host chromosome. In vivo studies demonstrate the critical requirement for accelerated DNA cleavage by SgrAI in its biological role to safeguard the bacterial host. Collectively, these data have advanced our understanding of how filamentation can regulate enzyme structure and function, while the experimental strategies used for SgrAI can be applied to other enzymatic systems to identify novel functional roles for filamentation.

Self-Organization Emerging from Marangoni and Elastocapillary Effects Directed by Amphiphile Filament Connections.

Self-organization of meso- and macroscale structures is a highly active research field that exploits a wide variety of physicochemical phenomena, including surface tension, Marangoni flow, and (elasto)capillary effects. The release of surface-active compounds generates Marangoni flows that cause repulsion, whereas capillary forces attract floating particles via the Cheerios effect. Typically, the interactions resulting from these effects are nonselective because the gradients involved are uniform. In this work, we unravel the mechanisms involved in the self-organization of amphiphile filaments that connect and attract droplets floating at the air–water interface, and we demonstrate their potential for directional gradient formation and thereby selective interaction. We simulate Marangoni flow patterns resulting from the release and depletion of amphiphile molecules by source and drain droplets, respectively, and we predict that these flow patterns direct the growth of filaments from the source droplets toward specific drain droplets, based on their amphiphile depletion rate. The interaction between such droplets is then investigated experimentally by charting the flow patterns in their surroundings, while the role of filaments in source–drain attraction is studied using microscopy. Based on these observations, we attribute attraction of drain droplets and even solid objects toward the source to elastocapillary effects. Finally, the insights from our simulations and experiments are combined to construct a droplet-based system in which the composition of drain droplets regulates their ability to attract filaments and as a consequence be attracted toward the source. Thereby, we provide a novel method through which directional attraction can be established in synthetic self-organizing systems and advance our understanding of how complexity arises from simple building blocks.

Fused filament fabrication process window for good interlayer bonding: Application to highly filled polymers in metallic powder*

AbstractExtending the fused filament fabrication process to highly filled thermoplastics in metallic powder used in metal injection molding is a promising method to produce small series. However, the lack of adhesion between deposited filaments can cause ruptures during the fabrication or debinding process. We designed a simple device to measure the shear strength required to tear off a filament deposited on a substrate. This device makes it possible to quickly determine the processing window for a good welding of filaments. We developed a 2D thermal simulation using the finite difference method while integrating the enthalpy of fusion and crystallization kinetics of the material. We then fitted it to the thermal measurements at depths of 0.45 and 0.75 mm under the substrate surface using small‐diameter thermocouples. Simulation results highlight the key role of the thermal contact resistance between the filament and the substrate in the evolution of the interface temperature. This provides essential information to explain the process window that can be determined experimentally. The characteristic time of macromolecule diffusion was determined by rheological measurements and was found to be too small to play a role in filament bonding for the simulated cooling rates for the studied material. The methodology introduced in this work was used to improve highly filled polymers interlayer adhesion, but it can be used to improve other filled or unfilled polymers.

LUZP1 Controls Cell Division, Migration and Invasion Through Regulation of the Actin Cytoskeleton.

LUZP1 is a centrosomal and actin cytoskeleton-localizing protein that regulates both ciliogenesis and actin filament bundling. As the cytoskeleton and cilia are implicated in metastasis and tumor suppression, we examined roles for LUZP1 in the context of cancer. Here we show that LUZP1 exhibits frequent genomic aberrations in cancer, with a predominance of gene deletions. Furthermore, we demonstrate that CRISPR/Cas9-mediated loss of Luzp1 in mouse fibroblasts promotes cell migration and invasion features, reduces cell viability, and increases cell apoptosis, centriole numbers, and nuclear size while altering the actin cytoskeleton. Loss of Luzp1 also induced changes to ACTR3 (Actin Related Protein 3, also known as ARP3) and phospho-cofilin ratios, suggesting regulatory roles in actin polymerization, beyond its role in filament bundling. Our results point to an unprecedented role for LUZP1 in the regulation of cancer features through the control of actin cytoskeleton.

The RSC (Remodels the Structure of Chromatin) complex of Candida albicans shows compositional divergence with distinct roles in regulating pathogenic traits.

Regulation of gene expression programs is crucial for the survival of microbial pathogens in host environments and for their ability to cause disease. Here we investigated the epigenetic regulator RSC (Remodels the Structure of Chromatin) in the most prevalent human fungal pathogen Candida albicans. Biochemical analysis showed that CaRSC comprises 13 subunits and contains two novel non-essential members, which we named Nri1 and Nri2 (Novel RSC Interactors) that are exclusive to the CTG clade of Saccharomycotina. Genetic analysis showed distinct essentiality of C. albicans RSC subunits compared to model fungal species suggesting functional and structural divergence of RSC functions in this fungal pathogen. Transcriptomic and proteomic profiling of a conditional mutant of the essential catalytic subunit gene STH1 demonstrated global roles of RSC in C. albicans biology, with the majority of growth-related processes affected, as well as mis-regulation of genes involved in morphotype switching, host-pathogen interaction and adaptive fitness. We further assessed the functions of non-essential CaRSC subunits, showing that the novel subunit Nri1 and the bromodomain subunit Rsc4 play roles in filamentation and stress responses; and also interacted at the genetic level to regulate cell viability. Consistent with these roles, Rsc4 is required for full virulence of C. albicans in the murine model of systemic infection. Taken together, our data builds the first comprehensive study of the composition and roles of RSC in C. albicans, showing both conserved and distinct features compared to model fungal systems. The study illuminates how C. albicans uses RSC-dependent transcriptional regulation to respond to environmental signals and drive survival fitness and virulence in mammals.

Multi-diagnostic analysis of plasma filaments in the island divertor

Filaments or blobs are well known structures in turbulence in magnetic fusion devices, they are considered to be the major cross-transport channel in the scrape off layer. They originate at the last closed magnetic flux surface and propagate out on the low field side of toroidal devices due to polarization in the curved magnetic field. The Wendelstein 7-X stellarator has a complex three-dimensional magnetic field structure and additionally the plasma is bounded by a chain of magnetic islands, forming an island divertor. After the first observation of filaments in Wendelstein 7-X with video cameras a multi-diagnostic study is presented in this paper to reveal their 3D structure and dynamics. Filaments are seen to be born at the edge and, at least in some cases, seen to extend to up to 4 toroidal turns. After moving radially out a few cm they enter the edge island. Here they disappear from the equatorial plane and about 200 microseconds later reappear on the outboard side of the island. A long-wavelength (∼20–30 cm) quasi coherent mode is observed in both regions where filaments appear. The similarities and differences between the filaments seen in W7-X and other devices are discussed. Possible explanations for this strange radial propagation are considered, together with the likely role of filaments in the edge and island density profile.

Altering the size distribution of influenza virion populations

Harry Smith Vacation Studentship Laboratory-adapted influenza viruses produce predominantly spherical virions. In contrast, clinical and veterinary isolates produce a mixture of virions of different sizes, from 0.1 µm spheres to filaments which can reach tens of microns in length. Filamentous influenza virions were discovered in 1946, but the bulk of influenza research has analysed only spherical forms of the virus and the role of filaments in influenza infections is unclear. Functional studies of filaments require the development of methods to manipulate the ratio of spherical to filamentous virions, and we reasoned that this could be achieved by filtration. To test this, we infected MDCK cells with the filamentous Udorn strain of influenza A virus. We collected virus-containing growth media and passed this through filters with 5 µm, 0.45 µm and 0.2 µm pores. Filtrates and unfiltered virus were compared, using Western blotting to measure their protein composition, plaque assays to measure their infectivity and negative stain transmission electron microscopy to measure individual particle sizes. We found that filtration through a filter with 5 µm pores had little effect on composition, infectivity and the ratio of spherical to filamentous particles. In contrast, sub-micron filters, particularly those with 0.2 µm pores, caused a general depletion of virions but increased the sphere to filament ratio. We therefore concluded that sub-micron pore sizes can be used to preferentially remove filaments from populations of pleomorphic influenza virions, providing a useful tool for subtractive studies of the contribution filaments make to influenza virus infections.

On the role of filaments in perpendicular heat transport at the scrape-off layer

In this work we carry out quantitative measurements of particle and heat transport associated to SOL filaments in a tokamak, and relate density shoulder formation to the advection of energy in the far SOL. For the first time, this attempt includes direct measurements of ion and electron temperatures for background and filaments. With this aim, we combine data from a number of equivalent L-mode discharges from the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak in which different probe heads were installed on the midplane manipulator. This approach is validated by a comparison with independent diagnostics. Results indicate an increase of heat transport associated to filaments after the shoulder formation. Several centimeters into the SOL, filaments are still found to carry a substantial fraction (up to one fifth) of the power ejected at the separatrix.

Filamentation Involves Two Overlapping, but Distinct, Programs of Filamentation in the Pathogenic Fungus Candida albicans.

The ability of the human pathogenic fungus Candida albicans to switch between yeast-like and filamentous forms of growth has long been linked to pathogenesis. Numerous environmental conditions, including growth at high temperatures, nutrient limitation, and exposure to serum, can trigger this morphological switch and are frequently used in in vitro models to identify genes with roles in filamentation. Previous work has suggested that differences exist between the various in vitro models both in the genetic requirements for filamentation and transcriptional responses to distinct filamentation-inducing media, but these differences had not been analyzed in detail. We compared 10 in vitro models for filamentation and found broad genetic and transcriptomic differences between model systems. The comparative analysis enabled the discovery of novel media-independent genetic requirements for filamentation as well as a core filamentation transcriptional profile. Our data also suggest that the physical environment drives distinct programs of filamentation in C. albicans, which has significant implications for filamentation in vivo.

Hub-filament System in IRAS 05480+2545: Young Stellar Cluster and 6.7 GHz Methanol Maser

Abstract To probe the star formation (SF) process, we present a multi-wavelength study of IRAS 05480+2545 (hereafter I05480+2545). Analysis of Herschel data reveals a massive clump (M clump ∼ 1875 peak N(H2) ∼ 4.8 × 1022 cm−2; A V ∼ 51 mag) containing the 6.7 GHz methanol maser and I05480+2545, which is also depicted in a temperature range of 18–26 K. Several noticeable parsec-scale filaments are detected in the Herschel 250 μm image and seem to be radially directed to the massive clump. It resembles more of a “hub-filament” system. Deeply embedded young stellar objects (YSOs) have been identified using the 1–5 μm photometric data, and a significant fraction of YSOs and their clustering are spatially found toward the massive clump, revealing the intense SF activities. An infrared counterpart (IRc) of the maser is investigated in the Spitzer 3.6–4.5 μm images. The IRc does not appear as a point-like source and is most likely associated with the molecular outflow. Based on the 1.4 GHz and Hα continuum images, the ionized emission is absent toward the IRc, indicating that the massive clump harbors an early phase of a massive protostar before the onset of an ultracompact H ii region. Together, the I05480+2545 is embedded in a very similar “hub-filament” system to those seen in the Rosette Molecular Cloud. The outcome of the present work indicates the role of filaments in the formation of the massive star-forming clump and cluster of YSOs, which might help channel material to the central hub configuration and the clump/core.

The Regulatory Subunit of Protein Kinase A (Bcy1) in Candida albicans Plays Critical Roles in Filamentation and White-Opaque Switching but Is Not Essential for Cell Growth.

The conserved cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) is composed of the regulatory and catalytic subunits and acts as the central component of the cAMP signaling pathway. In the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans, the PKA regulatory subunit Bcy1 plays a critical role in the regulation of cell differentiation and death. It has long been considered that Bcy1 is essential for cell viability in C. albicans. In the current study, surprisingly, we found that Bcy1 is not required for cell growth, and we successfully generated a bcy1/bcy1 null mutant in C. albicans. Deletion of BCY1 leads to multiple cellular morphologies and promotes the development of filaments. Filamentous and smooth colonies are two typical morphological types of the bcy1/bcy1 mutant, which can undergo spontaneous switching between the two types. Cells of filamentous colonies grow better on a number of different culture media and have a higher survival rate than cells of smooth colonies. In addition, deletion of BCY1 significantly increased the frequency of white-to-opaque switching on N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc)-containing medium. The bcy1/bcy1 null mutant generated herein provides the field a new resource to study the biological functions of the cAMP signaling pathway in C. albicans.

Onset of ice VII phase of liquid water: role of filamentation in stimulated Raman scattering.

Energy dependent evolution of Stokes and anti-Stokes lines of ice VII via forward stimulated Raman scattering (FSRS) during propagation of a 30 ps laser pulse through liquid water, confirming structural change over GPa pressure range, is studied. Self-focusing of the intense laser pulses is observed to ionize the medium generating free electrons that dominate the evolution of SRS signals. The confinement of plasma-generated free electrons by filamentation is observed to enhance the signature Raman modes of ice VII by reducing the SRS threshold.

High-Mass Star Formation

A review on current theories and observations of high-mass star formation is given. Particularly the influence of magnetic fields and feedback mechanisms, and of varying initial conditions on theories are discussed. The, in my biased view, most important observations to put strong constraints on models of high-mass star formation are pres ented, in particular bearing on the existence and properties of high-mass starless cores, the role of filaments in the mass transport to high-mass cores, and the propertie s of disks around high-mass stars.

Two Rac paralogs regulate polarized growth in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

A genome wide analysis of the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii has revealed a number of duplications of highly conserved genes involved in morphogenesis. Previously, we reported that duplicate Cdc42 paralogs provide C. neoformans with niche-specific responses to environmental stresses: Cdc42 is required for thermotolerance, while Cdc420 supports the formation of titan cells. The related Rho-GTPase Rac1 has been shown in C. neoformans var. neoformans to play a major role in filamentation and to share Cdc42/Cdc420 binding partners. Here we report the characterization of a second Rac paralog in C. neoformans, Rac2, and describe its overlapping function with the previously described CnRac, Rac1. Further, we demonstrate that the Rac paralogs play a primary role in polarized growth via the organization of reactive oxygen species and play only a minor role in the organization of actin. Finally, we provide preliminary evidence that pharmacological inhibitors of Rac activity and actin stability have synergistic activity.

Role of Electrostatics in the Interactions of Muscle Thick Filament Proteins

Electrostatic interactions play a primary role in the assembly and stability of muscle thick filaments. This is illustrated by the solubility properties of the filament and its periodic structure, which correlates with the periodic distribution of positively and negatively charged residues in the sequence of light meromyosin (LMM), the main component of the filament core. In this work, we analysed the electrostatic fields of proteins associated with LMM in thick filaments, titin and MyBP-C, to explore further their role in filament assembly.The thick filament bound part of titin consists mainly of immunoglobulin (Ig) and fibronectin (Fn3) domains arranged in repeated patterns, or super-repeats, which size correlates with the periodic structure of the filament. Analysis of the domain electrostatics suggests periodic oscillations of the field along the super-repeats, with a major interval of ∼43 nm and a weaker (less consistent) interval of ∼14 nm. These oscillations result from the mostly opposing electrostatic fields from the Ig and Fn3 domains, respectively, and correlate with the periodic structure of the filament.Analysis of the electrostatic fields of the Ig and Fn3 domains of cardiac MyBP-C reveals three distinct regions: the N- (C0-C2) and C-terminal (C8-C10) groups of domains are positive or neutral, whereas the central domains (C3-C7) are mainly negative. Further analysis of binding partners of MyBP-C, including titin and LMM, illustrates general complementarity of the overall electrostatic fields of the interacting proteins, thus directly supporting the involvement of electrostatics in the interactions between all the major thick filament proteins.

A Role of Filaments in the Axisymmetrization of an Isolated Two-Dimensional Elliptic Vortex with a Non-Uniform Vorticity Distribution

A Role of Filaments in the Axisymmetrization of an Isolated Two-Dimensional Elliptic Vortex with a Non-Uniform Vorticity Distribution

Role of filamentation in Galleria mellonella killing by Candida albicans

Candida albicans is an important cause of morbidity in hospitalized and immunosuppressed patients. Virulence factors of C. albicans include: filamentation, proteinases, adherence proteins and biofilm formation. The objective of this work was to use Galleria mellonella as a model to study the roles of C. albicans filamentation in virulence. We focused our study to five genes BCR1, FLO8, KEM1, SUV3 and TEC1 that have been shown to play a role in filamentation. Filaments are necessary for biofilm formation and evading interaction with macrophages in mammalian infections. Among the five mutant strain tested, we found that only the flo8/ flo8 mutant strain did not form filaments within G. mellonella. This strain also exhibited reduced virulence in the larvae. Another strain that exhibited reduced pathogenicity in the G. mellonella model was tec1/ tec1 but by contrast, the tec1/ tec1 strain retained the ability to form filaments. Overexpression of TEC1 in the flo8/ flo8 mutant restored filamentation but did not restore virulence in the larvae as well as in a mouse model of C. albicans infection. The filamentation phenotype did not affect the ability of hemocytes, the immune cells of G. mellonella, to associate with the various mutant strains of C. albicans. The capacities of the tec1/ tec1 mutant and the flo8/ flo8 TDH3- TEC1 strains to form filaments with impaired virulence suggest that filamentation alone is not sufficient to kill G. mellonella and suggest other virulence factors may be associated with genes that regulate filamentation.

Automatic detection and tracking of filaments for a solar feature database

Abstract. A new method for the automatic detection and tracking of solar filaments is presented. The method addresses the problems facing existing catalogs, such as the one developed recently in the frame of the European Grid of Solar Observations (EGSO) project. In particular, it takes into account the structural and temporal evolution of filaments, differences in intensity as seen from one observation to the next, and the possibility of sudden disappearance followed by reappearance. In this study, the problem of tracking is solved by plotting all detected filaments during each solar rotation on a Carrington map and then by applying region growing techniques on those plots. Using this approach, the "fixed" positions of the envelopes in the Carrington system can be deduced. This is followed by a backward tracking of each filament by considering one full solar rotation. The resulting shifted Carrington map then enables one to follow any filament from one rotation to the next. Such maps should prove valuable for studies of the role of filaments in solar activity, notably coronal mass ejections (CMEs).