A lower bound on the string tension for large beta in SU(2) LGT is derived. The derivation is from first principles and bounds the string tension from below by the expectation for the excitation of a single ‘tagged’ thick vortex winding around the lattice. Thus confinement follows if this expectation remains nonvanishing at large beta. Numerical simulations are presented to show that this is in...

The 4D compact U(1) lattice gauge theory (LGT) in the confinement phase is studied with the multi-level algorithm. The static potential, force and flux-tube profile between two static charges are precisely measured from correlation functions involving the Polyakov loop. Universality of the coefficient of the 1/r correction to the static potential, known as the Lüscher term, and the transversal ...

It is shown that in asymptotic transition from Fourier series to integrals an error and ambiguity may arise. Ambiguity reduces to a possibility of addition of some distribution to the result. Properties of such distributions are studied and conditions are established under which ambiguity doesn’t arise. Method for correction computation is suggested and conditions for correction turning to zero...

Legionella pneumophila is a facultative intracellular pathogen responsible for severe lung disease in humans, known as legionellosis or Legionnaires' disease. Previously, we reported on the approximately 60-kDa glucosyltransferase (Lgt1) from Legionella pneumophila, which modified eukaryotic elongation factor 1A. In the present study, using L. pneumophila Philadelphia-1, Lens, Paris, and Corby ...

Cryptophytes are unicellular eukaryotic algae that acquired photosynthesis secondarily through the uptake and retention of a red-algal endosymbiont. The plastid genome of the cryptophyte Rhodomonas salina CCMP1319 was recently sequenced and found to contain a genetic element similar to a group II intron. Here, we explore the distribution, structure and function of group II introns in the plasti...

Gram-negative bacteria express a diverse array of lipoproteins that are essential for various aspects of cell growth and virulence, including nutrient uptake, signal transduction, adhesion, conjugation, sporulation, and outer membrane protein folding. Lipoprotein maturation requires the sequential activity of three enzymes that are embedded in the cytoplasmic membrane. First, phosphatidylglycer...

The genus Streptococcus comprises important pathogens that have a severe impact on human health and are responsible for substantial economic losses to agriculture. Here, we utilize 46 Streptococcus genome sequences (44 species), including eight species sequenced here, to provide the first genomic level insight into the evolutionary history and genetic basis underlying the functional diversity o...

Many enzymes and other proteins are difficult subjects for bioinformatic analysis because they exhibit variant catalytic, structural, regulatory, and fusion mode features within a protein family whose sequences are not highly conserved. However, such features reflect dynamic and interesting scenarios of evolutionary importance. The value of experimental data obtained from individual organisms i...

Genomes record their own history. But if we want to look all the way back to life's beginnings some 4 billion years ago, the record of microbial evolution that is preserved in prokaryotic genomes is not easy to read. Microbiology has a lot in common with geology in that regard. Geologists know that plate tectonics and erosion have erased much of the geological record, with ancient rocks being t...