The cytochrome b6 f (Cyt b6 f) complex in flowering plants contains nine conserved subunits, of which three, PetG, PetL, and PetN, are bitopic plastid-encoded low-molecular-weight proteins of largely unknown function. Homoplastomic knockout lines of the three genes have been generated in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum ‘Petit Havana’) to analyze and compare their roles in assembly and stability of t...

In Salmonella enterica, PmrD is a connector protein that links the two-component systems PhoP-PhoQ and PmrA-PmrB. While Escherichia coli encodes a PmrD homolog, it is thought to be incapable of connecting PhoPQ and PmrAB in this organism due to functional divergence from the S. enterica protein. However, our laboratory previously observed that low concentrations of Mg(2+), a PhoPQ-activating si...

An optical system has been redesigned and used to measure detonation velocity as a function of condensed explosive density for RDX, HMX, PETN. These measurements are then used to determine and fine tune parameters appearing in the BKW (Beker-Kistiakowsky-Wilson) equation of state for gases at extremely high pressures. Steady state form of conservation equations along with the BKW state equation...

Speciation of complex mixtures of trace explosives presents a formidable challenge for sensors that rely on chemoselective interfaces due to the unspecific nature of weak intermolecular interactions. Nanomechanical infrared (IR) spectroscopy provides higher selectivity in molecular detection without using chemoselective interfaces by measuring the photothermal effect of adsorbed molecules on a ...

DNA sequences were analyzed from 19 populations of J. phoenicea from throughout its range. The sequence data (nrDNA, petN-psbM) revealed that J. phoenicea is clearly divided into two taxa. These taxa have been recognized as var. (subsp.) phoenicea and var. (subsp.) turbinata by Adams (2011) and Farjon (2005). However, the magnitude of the differences in the DNA regions, along with the differenc...