SummaryArabidopsis has a complex and ancient actin gene family encoding six divergent subclasses of proteins. One subclass is represented by ACT2 and ACT8, which encode nearly identical proteins. These two genes differ significantly in flanking and intron sequences and in silent nucleotide positions within codons. Gene-specific RNA gel blot hybridization and reverse transcriptase-mediated polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays showed that ACT2 and/or ACT8 mRNAs were coordinately and strongly expressed in leaves, roots, stems, flowers, pollen, and siliques. Together they account for greater than 80% of the actin mRNA in most Arabidopsis organs. The 5' flanking regions, including the promoter, the mRNA leader exon, an intron in the mRNA leader, and the first 19 codons, were coupled to a 13-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene and transformed into Arabidopsis. The ACT2/GUS construct was expressed strongly in nearly all the vegetative tissues in seedlings, juvenile plants, and mature plants. These activities persisted in older tissues. Little or no expression was observed in seed coats, hypocotyls, gynoecia, or pollen sacs. In contrast, the expression of the ACT8/GUS construct was weaker. It was observed only in a subset of the organs and tissues expressing ACT2/GUS and was not significantly expressed in the flower. ACT2, ACT8, and ACT8/GUS mRNAs were present at moderate to high levels in pollen, and yet neither ACT2/GUS nor ACT8/GUS enzyme expression could be detected in pollen.This suggested a mechanism of translational control affecting ACT2 and ACT8 expression in some tissues. The conservation of protein sequence and overlapping patterns of expression, in spite of significant DNA sequence divergence, suggests that the function and regulation of these two genes have been conserved during the evolution of the Brassicaceae.

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We find that optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) in reflection from a chemical-vapor-deposition graphene monolayer transferred onto a SiO2/Si(001) substrate is enhanced about 3 times by the flow of direct current electric current in graphene. Measurements of rotational-anisotropy SHG revealed that the current-induced SHG from the current-biased graphene/SiO2/Si(001) structure undergoes a phase inversion as the measurement location on graphene is shifted laterally along the current flow direction. The enhancement is due to current-associated charge trapping at the graphene/SiO2 interface, which introduces a vertical electric field across the SiO2/Si interface that produces electric field-induced SHG. The phase inversion is due to the positive-to-negative polarity switch in the current direction of the trapped charges at the current-biased graphene/SiO2 interface.

An understanding of the aging and oxidation of the (0001) surface of Bi2Se3 is critical to a comprehensive physical picture of its topologically protected surface states. Here, the authors contribute new experimental observations about the aging and oxidation process. The authors find that surface aging in ambient conditions occurs in two major steps. Within 2 h of exfoliation, a series of ∼3.2 Å high islands are observed by atomic force microscopy over approximately 10% of the surface. Subsequently, patch growth stops, and oxidation begins after the 2 h and continues until one quintuple layer has been oxidized. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows no sign of oxidation before ∼120 min of exposure to air, and the oxygen 1 s peak, as well as oxidized Se 3d and Bi 4d peaks, are clearly present after ∼190 min of ambient exposure. Variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry indicates that the oxidation of a full quintuple layer occurs on the time scale of days. These results are in good agreement with the time dependent changes observed in the surface crystal structure by second harmonic generation. In addition to providing the ability to nondestructively measure oxide on the surface of Bi2Se3 crystals, ellipsometry can be used to identify the thickness of Bi2Se3 flakes. With these methods, the authors have constructed a consistent, experimentally based model of aging process at the surface of Bi2Se3.

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We describe a femtosecond pump-probe study of ultrafast hopping dynamics of 5f electrons in the Mott insulator UO₂ following Mott-gap excitation at temperatures of 5-300 K. Hopping-induced response of the lattice and electrons is probed by transient reflectivity at mid- and above-gap photon energies, respectively. These measurements show an instantaneous hop, subsequent picosecond lattice deformation, followed by acoustic phonon emission and microsecond relaxation. Temperature-dependent studies indicate that the slow relaxation results from Hubbard excitons formed by U³⁺-U⁵⁺ pairs.