Progress on neutronic analysis for CFETR

The neutron induced irradiation field is a key problem in fusion reactor related to nuclear responses, shielding design, nuclear safety, and thermo-hydraulic analysis. To support the system design of China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR), the comprehensive analysis of irradiation field has been conducted in support of many new developed advanced tools. The paper first summarizes the recent progress on related neutronics code development effort including the geometry conversion tool cosVMPT, Monte Carlo variance reduction technology ‘on-the-fly’ global variance reduction (GVR). Such developed tools have been fully validated and applied on the CFETR nuclear analysis. The neutron irradiation has been evaluated on CFETR Water Cooled Ceramic Breeder (WCCB) blanket, divertor, vacuum vessel, superconductive coils and four kinds of heating systems including the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH), Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ICRH), Low Hybrid Wave (LHW) and Neutral Beam Injection (NBI). The nuclear responses of tritium breeding ratio (TBR), heating, irradiation damage, Hydrogen/Helium (H/He) production rate of material have been analyzed. In case of neutron damage and overheating deposition on the superconductive coils and Vacuum Vessel (VV), the interface and shielding design among heating systems, blanket and other systems has been initialized. The results show the shielding design can meet the requirement of coil and VV after several iterated neutronics calculation.

Ordinary Muon Capture for Double Beta Decay and Anti-Neutrino Nuclear Responses

This is a brief review on ordinary muon capture (OMC) experiments at Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP) Osaka University relevant for the study of double beta decays (DBDs) and astro anti-neutrinos (neutrino) nuclear responses. OMC usually leaves the nucleus in highly excited unbound state. OMC is a charge exchange reaction via the charged weak boson as given by (μ,vμ) reactions with μ and vμ being the muon and muon neutrino. Subjects discussed include 1) unique features of OMC for studying DBDs and astro anti-neutrino (neutrino) nuclear responses, 2) experiments of OMCs on 100Mo and natMo to study neutrino nuclear responses for DBDs and astro anti-neutrinos, 3) impact of the OMC results on neutrino nuclear responses for DBDs and astro anti-neutrinos. Remarks and perspectives on OMC experiments for neutrino nuclear responses are briefly described.

Experimental Approaches to Neutrino Nuclear Responses for ββ Decays and Astro-Neutrinos

Fundamental properties of neutrinos are investigated by studying double beta decays (ββ-decays), while atro-neutrino nucleo-syntheses and astro-neutrino productions are investigated by studying inverse beta decays (inverse β-decays) induced by astro-neutrinos. Neutrino nuclear responses for these ββ and β-decays are crucial for these neutrino studies in nuclei. This reports briefly perspectives on experimental studies of neutrino nuclear responses (square of nuclear matrix element) for ββ-decays and astro-neutrinos by using nuclear and leptonic (muon) charge-exchange reactions

Retrograde Control of Cytosolic Translation Targets Synthesis of Plastid Localized Proteins and Nuclear Responses for Efficient Light Acclimation

Canonical retrograde signaling is the transmission of information from organelles to the nucleus. Discrepancies between protein accumulation and transcript abundance in response to oxidative stress were suggestive of protein translation responding to retrograde signaling. Here we uncover multiple components of a translation-dependent retrograde signaling pathway that impact translation efficiency and gene expression, including the kinases, MPK6 and the SnRK1 subunit, AKIN10. Global ribosome foot-printing demonstrated rapid differential loading of 939 of transcripts from polyribosomes within 10 min after transfer from Low to High-light. Translationally regulated transcripts shared motifs in their 5’-UTR that act as binding sites for RBPs such as GAPC. The Stress Associated Proteins 2 and 3 carry such motifs in their UTRs and interact with the calcium sensor Calmodulin-like 49, relocating to the nucleus to co-regulate a translation-dependent transcriptional response. Translation dependent retrograde signaling bifurcates into a direct translational circuit and a translation-reliant nuclear circuit synchronizing translation, nuclear and anterograde response pathways, which may serve as a just in time-provision of needed proteins to the plastids.

NUCLEAR DATA SENSITIVITY/UNCERTAINTY PRE-ANALYSIS OF FNG WCLL FUSION BENCHMARK

To assure tritium self-sufficiency in future fusion reactors such as DEMO the accuracy of TRP calculations has to be demonstrated within the design uncertainties. A new neutronics experiment representing a mock-up of the Water Cooled Lithium Lead (WCLL) Test Blanket Module (TBM) is under preparation at the Frascati neutron generator (FNG) with the objective to provide an experimental validation of accuracy of nuclear data and neutron transport codes for the tritium production rate (TPR) calculations. The mock-up will consist of LiPb bricks, EUROFER plates and Perspex substituting water. The mock-up will be irradiated by 14 MeV neutrons at the FNG facility, and the TPR and detector reaction rates will be measured using Li2CO3 pellets and activation foils placed at different positions up to about 55 cm inside the mock-up. Computational pre-analyses for the design of the WCLL neutronics experiment using the SUSD3D sensitivity/uncertainty (S/U) code system is described and compared with the results of some similar FNG experiments performed in the past, in particular the FNG HCPB Tritium Breeder Module Mock-up (2005) and FNG-HCLL Tritium Breeder Module Mock-up (2009). The objective of the pre-analysis is to provide the calculated nuclear responses including the uncertainties due to the uncertainties in nuclear data and thus contributes to the optimisation of the design of the experimental set-up.

NS5 Sumoylation Directs Nuclear Responses That Permit Zika Virus To Persistently Infect Human Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells

ABSTRACT Zika virus (ZIKV) is cytopathic to neurons and persistently infects brain microvascular endothelial cells (hBMECs), which normally restrict viral access to neurons. Despite replicating in the cytoplasm, ZIKV and Dengue virus (DENV) polymerases, NS5 proteins, are predominantly trafficked to the nucleus. We found that a SUMO interaction motif in ZIKV and DENV NS5 proteins directs nuclear localization. However, ZIKV NS5 formed discrete punctate nuclear bodies (NBs), while DENV NS5 was uniformly dispersed in the nucleoplasm. Yet, mutating one DENV NS5 SUMO site (K546R) localized the NS5 mutant to discrete NBs, and NBs formed by the ZIKV NS5 SUMO mutant (K252R) were restructured into discrete protein complexes. In hBMECs, NBs formed by STAT2 and promyelocytic leukemia (PML) protein are present constitutively and enhance innate immunity. During ZIKV infection or NS5 expression, we found that ZIKV NS5 evicts PML from STAT2 NBs, forming NS5/STAT2 NBs that dramatically reduce PML expression in hBMECs and inhibit the transcription of interferon-stimulated genes (ISG). Expressing the ZIKV NS5 SUMO site mutant (K252R) resulted in NS5/STAT2/PML NBs that failed to degrade PML, reduce STAT2 expression, or inhibit ISG induction. Additionally, the K252 SUMOylation site and NS5 nuclear localization were required for ZIKV NS5 to regulate hBMEC cell cycle transcriptional responses. Our data reveal NS5 SUMO motifs as novel NB coordinating factors that distinguish flavivirus NS5 proteins. These findings establish SUMOylation of ZIKV NS5 as critical in the regulation of antiviral ISG and cell cycle responses that permit ZIKV to persistently infect hBMECs. IMPORTANCE ZIKV is a unique neurovirulent flavivirus that persistently infects human brain microvascular endothelial cells (hBMECs), the primary barrier that restricts viral access to neuronal compartments. Here, we demonstrate that flavivirus-specific SIM and SUMO sites determine the assembly of NS5 proteins into discrete nuclear bodies (NBs). We found that NS5 SIM sites are required for NS5 nuclear localization and that SUMO sites regulate NS5 NB complex constituents, assembly, and function. We reveal that ZIKV NS5 SUMO sites direct NS5 binding to STAT2, disrupt the formation of antiviral PML-STAT2 NBs, and direct PML degradation. ZIKV NS5 SUMO sites also transcriptionally regulate cell cycle and ISG responses that permit ZIKV to persistently infect hBMECs. Our findings demonstrate the function of SUMO sites in ZIKV NS5 NB formation and their importance in regulating nuclear responses that permit ZIKV to persistently infect hBMECs and thereby gain access to neurons.

A Micropatterning Strategy to Study Nuclear Mechanotransduction in Cells

Micropatterning techniques have been widely used in biology, particularly in studies involving cell adhesion and proliferation on different substrates. Cell micropatterning approaches are also increasingly employed as in vitro tools to investigate intracellular mechanotransduction processes. In this report, we examined how modulating cellular shapes on two-dimensional rectangular fibronectin micropatterns of different widths influences nuclear mechanotransduction mediated by emerin, a nuclear envelope protein implicated in Emery–Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD). Fibronectin microcontact printing was tested onto glass coverslips functionalized with three different silane reagents (hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS), (3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) and (3-Glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GPTMS)) using a vapor-phase deposition method. We observed that HMDS provides the most reliable printing surface for cell micropatterning, notably because it forms a hydrophobic organosilane monolayer that favors the retainment of surface antifouling agents on the coverslips. We showed that, under specific mechanical cues, emerin-null human skin fibroblasts display a significantly more deformed nucleus than skin fibroblasts expressing wild type emerin, indicating that emerin plays a crucial role in nuclear adaptability to mechanical stresses. We further showed that proper nuclear responses to forces involve a significant relocation of emerin from the inner nuclear envelope towards the outer nuclear envelope and the endoplasmic reticulum membrane network. Cell micropatterning by fibronectin microcontact printing directly on HMDS-treated glass represents a simple approach to apply steady-state biophysical cues to cells and study their specific mechanobiology responses in vitro.