Overlap of copper and iron uptake systems in mitochondria in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the mitochondrial carrier family protein Pic2 imports copper into the matrix. Deletion of PIC2 causes defects in mitochondrial copper uptake and copper-dependent growth phenotypes owing to decreased cytochrome c oxidase activity. However, copper import is not completely eliminated in this mutant, so alternative transport systems must exist. Deletion of MRS3, a component of the iron import machinery, also causes a copper-dependent growth defect on non-fermentable carbon. Deletion of both PIC2 and MRS3 led to a more severe respiratory growth defect than either individual mutant. In addition, MRS3 expressed from a high copy number vector was able to suppress the oxygen consumption and copper uptake defects of a strain lacking PIC2. When expressed in Lactococcus lactis, Mrs3 mediated copper and iron import. Finally, a PIC2 and MRS3 double mutant prevented the copper-dependent activation of a heterologously expressed copper sensor in the mitochondrial intermembrane space. Taken together, these data support a role for the iron transporter Mrs3 in copper import into the mitochondrial matrix.

The interscutularis muscle connectome.

The complete connectional map (connectome) of a neural circuit is essential for understanding its structure and function. Such maps have only been obtained in Caenorhabditis elegans. As an attempt at solving mammalian circuits, we reconstructed the connectomes of six interscutularis muscles from adult transgenic mice expressing fluorescent proteins in all motor axons. The reconstruction revealed several organizational principles of the neuromuscular circuit. First, the connectomes demonstrate the anatomical basis of the graded tensions in the size principle. Second, they reveal a robust quantitative relationship between axonal caliber, length, and synapse number. Third, they permit a direct comparison of the same neuron on the left and right sides of the same vertebrate animal, and reveal significant structural variations among such neurons, which contrast with the stereotypy of identified neurons in invertebrates. Finally, the wiring length of axons is often longer than necessary, contrary to the widely held view that neural wiring length should be minimized. These results show that mammalian muscle function is implemented with a variety of wiring diagrams that share certain global features but differ substantially in anatomical form. This variability may arise from the dominant role of synaptic competition in establishing the final circuit.

Scenario for spin-glass phase with infinitely many states.

A possible phase in short-range spin glasses exhibiting infinitely many equilibrium states is proposed and characterized in real space. Experimental signatures in equilibrating systems measured with scanning probes are discussed. Some models with correlations in their exchange interactions are argued to exhibit this phase. Questions are raised about more realistic models and related issues.

Short-term memory in orthogonal neural networks.

We study the ability of linear recurrent networks obeying discrete time dynamics to store long temporal sequences that are retrievable from the instantaneous state of the network. We calculate this temporal memory capacity for both distributed shift register and random orthogonal connectivity matrices. We show that the memory capacity of these networks scales with system size.