Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

About: Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic is a government organization based out in Prague, Czechia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Catalysis. The organization has 27866 authors who have published 71021 publications receiving 1821686 citations.

Intercalators. 1. Nature of Stacking Interactions between Intercalators (Ethidium, Daunomycin, Ellipticine, and 4‘,6-Diaminide-2-phenylindole) and DNA Base Pairs. Ab Initio Quantum Chemical, Density Functional Theory, and Empirical Potential Study

Abstract: Properties of isolated intercalators (ethidium (E), daunomycin (D), ellipticine (EL), and 4,6‘-diaminide-2-phenylindole (DAPI)) and their stacking interactions with adenine···thymine (AT) and guanine···cytosine (GC) nucleic acid base pairs were investigated by means of a nonempirical correlated ab initio method. All intercalators exhibit large charge delocalization, and none of them (including the DAPI dication) exhibits a site with dominant charge. All intercalators have large polarizability and are good electron acceptors, while base pairs are good electron donors. MP2/6-31G*(0.25) stabilization energies of intercalator···base pair complexes are large (E···AT, 22.4 kcal/mol; D···GC, 17.8 kcal/mol; EL···GC, 18.2 kcal/mol; DAPI···GC, 21.1 kcal/mol) and are well reproduced by modified AMBER potential (van der Waals radii of intercalator atoms are enlarged and their energy depths are increased). Standard AMBER potential underestimates binding, especially for DAPI-containing complexes. Because the DAPI dicat...

A reference genome for pea provides insight into legume genome evolution

Abstract: We report the first annotated chromosome-level reference genome assembly for pea, Gregor Mendel’s original genetic model. Phylogenetics and paleogenomics show genomic rearrangements across legumes and suggest a major role for repetitive elements in pea genome evolution. Compared to other sequenced Leguminosae genomes, the pea genome shows intense gene dynamics, most likely associated with genome size expansion when the Fabeae diverged from its sister tribes. During Pisum evolution, translocation and transposition differentially occurred across lineages. This reference sequence will accelerate our understanding of the molecular basis of agronomically important traits and support crop improvement.

A moment-based approach to registration of images with affine geometric distortion

Abstract: A new method is described for automatic control point selection and matching. First, reference and sensed images are segmented and closed-boundary regions are extracted. Each region is represented by a set of affine-invariant moment-based features. Correspondence between the regions is then established by a two-stage matching algorithm that works both in the feature space and in the image space. Centers of gravity of corresponding regions are used as control points. A practical use of the proposed method is demonstrated by registration of SPOT and Landsat TM images. It is shown that the authors' method can produce subpixel registration accuracy. >

Native GABA B receptors are heteromultimers with a family of auxiliary subunits

Abstract: GABA(B) receptors are the G-protein-coupled receptors for gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. They are expressed in almost all neurons of the brain, where they regulate synaptic transmission and signal propagation by controlling the activity of voltage-gated calcium (Ca(v)) and inward-rectifier potassium (K(ir)) channels. Molecular cloning revealed that functional GABA(B) receptors are formed by the heteromeric assembly of GABA(B1) with GABA(B2) subunits. However, cloned GABA(B(1,2)) receptors failed to reproduce the functional diversity observed with native GABA(B) receptors. Here we show by functional proteomics that GABA(B) receptors in the brain are high-molecular-mass complexes of GABA(B1), GABA(B2) and members of a subfamily of the KCTD (potassium channel tetramerization domain-containing) proteins. KCTD proteins 8, 12, 12b and 16 show distinct expression profiles in the brain and associate tightly with the carboxy terminus of GABA(B2) as tetramers. This co-assembly changes the properties of the GABA(B(1,2)) core receptor: the KCTD proteins increase agonist potency and markedly alter the G-protein signalling of the receptors by accelerating onset and promoting desensitization in a KCTD-subtype-specific manner. Taken together, our results establish the KCTD proteins as auxiliary subunits of GABA(B) receptors that determine the pharmacology and kinetics of the receptor response.

Hybrid exchange-correlation energy functionals for strongly correlated electrons: Applications to transition-metal monoxides

Abstract: For the treatment of strongly correlated electrons, the corresponding Hartree-Fock exchange energy is used instead of the local density approximation (LDA) or generalized gradient approximation (GGA) functional, as suggested recently [P. Nov\'ak et al., Phys. Status Solidi B 243, 563 (2006)]. If this is done only inside the atomic spheres, using an augmented plane wave scheme, a significant simplification and reduction of computational cost is achieved with respect to the usual but costly implementation of the Hartree-Fock formalism in solids. Starting from this, we construct exchange-correlation energy functionals of the hybrid form like B3PW91, PBE0, etc. These functionals are tested on the transition-metal monoxides MnO, FeO, CoO, and NiO, and the results are compared with the LDA, GGA, $\mathrm{LDA}+U$, and experimental ones. The results show that the proposed method, which does not contain any system-dependent input parameter, gives results comparable or superior to the ones obtained with $\mathrm{LDA}+U$ which is designed to improve significantly over the LDA and GGA results for systems containing strongly correlated electrons. The computational efficiency, similar to the $\mathrm{LDA}+U$ one, and accuracy of the proposed method show that it represents a very good alternative to $\mathrm{LDA}+U$.