0000000001008760
AUTHOR
E. Erdal
DARWIN: Towards the ultimate dark matter detector
DARk matter WImp search with liquid xenoN (DARWIN) will be an experiment for the direct detection of dark matter using a multi-ton liquid xenon time projection chamber at its core. Its primary goal will be to explore the experimentally accessible parameter space for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) in a wide mass-range, until neutrino interactions with the target become an irreducible background. The prompt scintillation light and the charge signals induced by particle interactions in the xenon will be observed by VUV sensitive, ultra-low background photosensors. Besides its excellent sensitivity to WIMPs above a mass of 5 GeV/c2, such a detector with its large mass, low-energy …
Activation and Inactivation of Tetanus Toxin in Chromaffin Cells
Tetanus toxin is produced by Clostridium tetani as a single chain, almost non-toxic, protein with a molecular weight of approximately 150.000 representing 1315 amino acids. Bacterial proteases cleave the molecule between positions A 457 and S 458 (extracellular activation), yielding a heavy chain (MW 100.000) and a light chain (MW 50.000) tetanus toxin (HC-TeTx, LC-TeTx). Both chains remain connected to each other by a disulphur bond between positions C 439 and C 467 (Dichain-TeTx)1. The cleavage or nicking dramatically increases the biological activity2. HC-TeTx is involved in binding DC-TeTx to gangliosides lodged in the plasma membrane, which is a prerequisite for incorporation into the …
Processing of tetanus and botulinum A neurotoxins in isolated chromaffin cells.
Tetanus and botulinum A neurotoxins were introduced into the cytosol of chromaffin cells by means of an electric field in which the plasma membrane is forced to form pores of approximately 1 micron at the sites facing the electrodes. As demonstrated by electron microscopy, both [125I] and gold-labelled tetanus toxin (TeTx) diffuse through these transient openings. Dichain-TeTx, with its light chain linked to the heavy chain by means of a disulfide bond, causes the block of exocytosis to develop more slowly than does the purified light chain. The disulfide bonds, which in both toxins hold the subunits together, were cleaved by the intrinsic thioredoxin-reductase system. Single chain TeTx, in…