Two-dimensional quantum universality in the spin-1/2 triangular-lattice quantum antiferromagnet NaBaCo(PO)

Sheng, J.*; Wang, L.*; Candini, A.*; Jiang, W.*; Huang, L.*; Xi, B.*; Zhao, J.*; Ge, H.*; Zhao, N.*; Fu, Y.*; et al.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(51), p.e2211193119_1 - e2211193119_9, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2211193119

Atomic distribution and local structure in ice VII from in situ neutron diffraction

Yamashita, Keishiro*; Komatsu, Kazuki*; Klotz, S.*; Fabelo, O.*; Fernndez-Daz, M. T.*; Abe, Jun*; Machida, Shinichi*; Hattori, Takanori; Irifune, Tetsuo*; Shimmei, Toru*; et al.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(40), p.e2208717119_1 - e2208717119_6, 2022/10

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2208717119

Here we present the first elucidation of the disordered structure of ice VII, the dominant high-pressure form of water, at 2.2 GPa and 298 K from both single-crystal and powder neutron diffraction techniques. We reveal the three-dimensional atomic distributions from the maximum entropy method and unexpectedly find a ring-like distribution of hydrogen in contrast to the commonly-accepted discrete sites. In addition, total scattering analysis at 274 K clarified the difference in the intermolecular structure from ice VIII, the ordered counterpart of ice VII, despite an identical molecular geometry. Our complementary structure analyses robustly demonstrate the unique disordered structure of ice VII. Furthermore, these noble findings are related to the proton dynamics which drastically vary with pressure, and will contribute to an understanding of the structural origin of anomalous physical properties of ice VII under pressures.

Anomalous hydrogen dynamics of the ice VII-VIII transition revealed by high-pressure neutron diffraction

Komatsu, Kazuki*; Klotz, S.*; Machida, Shinichi*; Sano, Asami; Hattori, Takanori; Kagi, Hiroyuki*

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(12), p.6356 - 6361, 2020/03

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1920447117

Above 2 GPa the phase diagram of water simplifies considerably and exhibits only two solid phases up to 60 GPa, ice VII and ice VIII. The two phases are related to each other by hydrogen ordering, with the oxygen sub-lattice being essentially the same. Here we present neutron diffraction data to 15 GPa which reveal that the rate of hydrogen-ordering at the ice VII-VIII transition decreases strongly with pressure to reach time scales of minutes at 10 GPa. Surprisingly, the ordering process becomes more rapid again upon further compression. We show that such an unusual change in transition rate can be explained by a slowing-down of the rotational dynamics of water molecules with a simultaneous increase of translational motion of hydrogen under pressure, as previously suspected. The observed crossover in the hydrogen dynamics in ice is likely the origin of various hitherto unexplained anomalies of ice VII in the 10-15 GPa range reported by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and proton conductivity.

Giant cadherins Fat and Dachsous self-bend to organize properly spaced intercellular junctions

Tsukasaki, Yoshikazu*; Miyazaki, Naoyuki*; Matsumoto, Atsushi; Nagae, Shigenori*; Yonemura, Shigenobu*; Tanoue, Takuji*; Iwasaki, Kenji*; Takeichi, Masatoshi*

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(45), p.16011 - 16016, 2014/11

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1418990111

Deep-sea record of impact apparently unrelated to mass extinction in the Late Triassic

Onoue, Tetsuji*; Sato, Honami*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Noguchi, Takaaki*; Hidaka, Yoshihiro*; Shirai, Naoki*; Ebihara, Mitsuru*; Osawa, Takahito; Hatsukawa, Yuichi; Toh, Yosuke; et al.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(47), p.19134 - 19139, 2012/11

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1209486109

The 34 million year (My) interval of the Late Triassic is marked by the formation of several large impact structures on Earth. As with the Chicxulub impact event at the Cretaceous/Paleogene boudary, the Late Triassic impact events have been considered a factor in biotic extinction events in the Late Triassic (e.g., the Triassic/Jurassic boundary). However, the causal link between these impact events and a mass extinction event in the Late Triassic remains controversial because of a lack of stratigraphic records of their ejecta deposits. Here we report evidence for an impact event (platinum group elements anomaly, nickel-rich magnetite and microspherules) deposited within a Paleo-Pacific basin in the middle Norian (Upper Triassic) deep-sea sediment in Japan. This includes anomalously high abundances of iridium, up to 41.5 parts per billion (ppb), in the ejecta deposit, which suggests that the iridium anomaly may be found on a global scale. The middle Norian age of the ejecta deposit suggests that the impact event that produced the 100-km-wide Manicouagan crater in Canada8 is most likely related to its deposition. Our analysis of siliceous microfossils shows no evidence of a mass extinction event across the impact event horizon, and no contemporaneous faunal turnover is seen in other marine fossils. However, such an event has been reported among terrestrial tetrapods and floras in North America. We therefore hypothesize that the Manicouagan impact caused the catastrophic collapse of terrestrial ecosystems near the impact site, but not within the marine realm.

Electronic inhomogeneity in a Kondo lattice

Bauer, E. D.*; Yang, Y.-F.*; Capan, C.*; Urbano, R. R.*; Miclea, C. F.*; Sakai, Hironori; Ronning, F.*; Graf, M. J.*; Balatsky, A. V.*; Movshovich, R.*; et al.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(17), p.6857 - 6861, 2011/04

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1103965108

Here, we report a manifestation of electronic inhomogeneity in a strongly correlated -electron system, using CeCoIn as an example. A thermodynamic analysis of its superconductivity, combined with nuclear quadrupole resonance measurements, shows that nonmagnetic impurities (Y, La, Yb, Th, Hg, and Sn) locally suppress unconventional superconductivity, generating an inhomogeneous electronic "Swiss cheese" due to disrupted periodicity of the Kondo lattice. Our analysis may be generalized to include related systems, suggesting that electronic inhomogeneity should be considered broadly in Kondo lattice materials.

Low-barrier hydrogen bond in photoactive yellow protein

Yamaguchi, Shigeo*; Kamikubo, Hironari*; Kurihara, Kazuo; Kuroki, Ryota; Niimura, Nobuo*; Shimizu, Nobutaka*; Yamazaki, Yoichi*; Kataoka, Mikio*

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(2), p.440 - 444, 2009/01

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0811882106

Switch interactions control energy frustration and multiple flagellar filament structures

Kitao, Akio*; Yonekura, Koji*; Yonekura, Saori*; Samatey, F.*; Imada, Katsumi*; Namba, Keiichi*; Go, Nobuhiro

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(13), p.4894 - 4899, 2006/03

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0510285103

no abstracts in English

Neutron crystallographic study on rubredoxin from by BIX-3, a single-crystal diffractometer for biomacromolecules

Kurihara, Kazuo; Tanaka, Ichiro*; Chatake, Toshiyuki*; Adams, M. W. W.*; Jenney, F. E. Jr.*; Moiseeva, N.*; Bau, R.*; Niimura, Nobuo

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101(31), p.11215 - 11220, 2004/08

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0403807101

The structure of a rubredoxin (Rd) from , an organism that grows optimally at 100 C, was determined using the neutron single-crystal diffractometer for biological macromolecules (BIX-3) at the JRR-3 reactor of JAERI. Data were collected at room temperature up to a resolution of 1.5 , and the completeness of the data set was 81.9 %. The model contains 306 H atoms and 50 D atoms. A total of 37 hydration water molecules were identified. The model has been refined to final agreement factors of = 18.6 % and = 21.7 %. Several orientations of the O-D bonds of side chains, whose assignments from X-ray data were previously ambiguous, were clearly visible in the neutron structure. While most backbone N-H bonds had undergone some degree of H/D exchange throughout the molecule, five H atom positions still had distinctly negative (H) peaks. The neutron Fourier maps clearly showed the details of an extensive set of H bonds involving the ND terminus that may contribute to the unusual thermostability of this molecule.

Posttranslational modification of the -encoded subunit of DNA polymerase V regulates its interactions with the processivity clamp

Sutton, M. D.*; Narumi, Issei; Walker, G. C.*

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 99(8), p.5307 - 5312, 2002/04

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.082322099

The gene products (PolV) participate in both a DNA damage checkpoint control and translesion DNA synthesis. Interactions of the two gene products, UmuD and UmuD' proteins, with components of the replicative DNA polymerase (PolIII), are important for determining which biological role the gene products will play. We have shown that UmuD possesses a higher affinity for PolIII processivity clamp than does UmuD' because of the N-terminal arm of UmuD, much of which is missing in UmuD'. Futhermore, we identified specific amino acid residues of UmuD that crosslink to with a crosslinker, -azidoiodoacetanilide, defining the domain important for the interaction.