Co-appearance of superconductivity and ferromagnetism in a Ca2RuO4 nanofilm crystal.

By tuning the physical and chemical pressures of layered perovskite materials we can realize the quantum states of both superconductors and insulators. By reducing the thickness of a layered crystal to a nanometer level, a nanofilm crystal can provide novel quantum states that have not previously been found in bulk crystals. Here we report the realization of high-temperature superconductivity in Ca2RuO4 nanofilm single crystals. Ca2RuO4 thin film with the highest transition temperature Tc (midpoint) of 64 K exhibits zero resistance in electric transport measurements. The superconducting critical current exhibited a logarithmic dependence on temperature and was enhanced by an external magnetic field. Magnetic measurements revealed a ferromagnetic transition at 180 K and diamagnetic magnetization due to superconductivity. Our results suggest the co-appearance of superconductivity and ferromagnetism in Ca2RuO4 nanofilm crystals. We also found that the induced bias current and the tuned film thickness caused a superconductor-insulator transition. The fabrication of micro-nanocrystals made of layered material enables us to discuss rich superconducting phenomena in ruthenates.

Myosin-Va regulates exocytosis through the submicromolar Ca2+-dependent binding of syntaxin-1A.

Myosin-Va is an actin-based processive motor that conveys intracellular cargoes. Synaptic vesicles are one of the most important cargoes for myosin-Va, but the role of mammalian myosin-Va in secretion is less clear than for its yeast homologue, Myo2p. In the current studies, we show that myosin-Va on synaptic vesicles interacts with syntaxin-1A, a t-SNARE involved in exocytosis, at or above 0.3 microM Ca2+. Interference with formation of the syntaxin-1A-myosin-Va complex reduces the exocytotic frequency in chromaffin cells. Surprisingly, the syntaxin-1A-binding site was not in the tail of myosin-Va but rather in the neck, a region that contains calmodulin-binding IQ-motifs. Furthermore, we found that syntaxin-1A binding by myosin-Va in the presence of Ca2+ depends on the release of calmodulin from the myosin-Va neck, allowing syntaxin-1A to occupy the vacant IQ-motif. Using an anti-myosin-Va neck antibody, which blocks this binding, we demonstrated that the step most important for the antibody's inhibitory activity is the late sustained phase, which is involved in supplying readily releasable vesicles. Our results demonstrate that the interaction between myosin-Va and syntaxin-1A is involved in exocytosis and suggest that the myosin-Va neck contributes not only to the large step size but also to the regulation of exocytosis by Ca2+.

Minimal residues in linker domain of syntaxin 1A required for binding affinity to Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II.

The linker domain is important for the conformational change syntaxin 1A, which enables it to act as a SNARE for exocytosis. We found that when applied exogenously, the linker domain is a potent inhibitor of exocytosis through inhibiting interaction between autophosphorylated CaMKII and endogenous syntaxin 1A (Ohyama et al. [2002] J. Neurosci. 22:3342-3351). To identify the simplest and the most potent inhibitor for exocytosis, we further characterized the linker domain and determined the minimal number of residues required for CaMKII binding. The minimal length of the CaMKII-binding site was 145-172 residues and a loss of G172 considerably weakened affinity for CaMKII. The basic amino acid clusters, R151 and K146, were indispensable for binding, whereas R148 was not. A comparison of the CaMKII-binding in several syntaxin isoforms revealed that the substitution of S162 attenuated CaMKII-binding activity. These results suggest that S162 is an important residue as well as the basic amino acid cluster within region 145-172 of the linker domain.