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In plants, changes in cell size and shape during development fundamentally depend on the ability to synthesize and modify cell wall polysaccharides. The main classes of cell wall polysaccharides produced by terrestrial plants are cellulose, hemicelluloses, and pectins. Members of the cellulose synthase (CESA) and cellulose synthase-like (CSL) families encode glycosyltransferases that synthesize the β-1,4-linked glycan backbones of cellulose and most hemicellulosic polysaccharides that comprise plant cell walls. Cellulose microfibrils are the major load-bearing component in plant cell walls and are assembled from individual β-1,4-glucan polymers synthesized by CESA proteins that are organized into multimeric complexes called CESA complexes, in the plant plasma membrane. During distinct modes of polarized cell wall deposition, such as in the tip growth that occurs during the formation of root hairs and pollen tubes or de novo formation of cell plates during plant cytokinesis, newly synthesized cell wall polysaccharides are deposited in a restricted region of the cell. These processes require the activity of members of the CESA-like D subfamily. However, while these CSLD polysaccharide synthases are essential, the nature of the polysaccharides they synthesize has remained elusive. Here, we use a combination of genetic rescue experiments with CSLD-CESA chimeric proteins, in vitro biochemical reconstitution, and supporting computational modeling and simulation, to demonstrate that Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) CSLD3 is a UDP-glucose-dependent β-1,4-glucan synthase that forms protein complexes displaying similar ultrastructural features to those formed by CESA6. 

A search for new physics in final states consisting of at least one photon, multiple jets, and large missing transverse momentum is presented, using proton-proton collision events at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb⁻¹, recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC from 2016 to 2018. The events are divided into mutually exclusive bins characterized by the missing transverse momentum, the number of jets, the number of b-tagged jets, and jets consistent with the presence of hadronically decaying W, Z, or Higgs bosons. The observed data are found to be consistent with the prediction from standard model processes. The results are interpreted in the context of simplified models of pair production of supersymmetric particles via strong and electroweak interactions. Depending on the details of the signal models, gluinos and squarks of masses up to 2.35 and 1.43 TeV, respectively, and electroweakinos of masses up to 1.23 TeV are excluded at 95% confidence level.

 

A search for high-mass dimuon resonance production in association with one or more b quark jets is presented. The study uses proton-proton collision data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb⁻¹at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Model-independent limits are derived on the number of signal events with exactly one or more than one b quark jet. Results are also interpreted in a lepton-flavor-universal model with Z′ boson couplings to a bb quark pair (g_b), an sb quark pair (g_bδ_bs), and any same-flavor charged lepton (g_ℓ) or neutrino pair (g_ν), with|g_ν|=|g_ℓ|. For a Z′ boson with a mass$$ {m}_{{\textrm{Z}}^{\prime }} $$$m_{Z^{\prime }}$= 350 GeV (2 TeV) and|δ_bs|< 0.25, the majority of the parameter space with 0.0057 <|g_ℓ|< 0.35 (0.25 <|g_ℓ|< 0.43) and 0.0079 < |g_b| < 0.46 (0.34 < |g_b| < 0.57) is excluded at 95% confidence level. Finally, constraints are set on a Z′ model with parameters consistent with low-energy b → sℓℓmeasurements. In this scenario, most of the allowed parameter space is excluded for a Z′ boson with 350 <$$ {m}_{{\textrm{Z}}^{\prime }} $$$m_{Z^{\prime }}$< 500 GeV, while the constraints are less stringent for higher$$ {m}_{{\textrm{Z}}^{\prime }} $$$m_{Z^{\prime }}$hypotheses. This is the first dedicated search at the LHC for a high-mass dimuon resonance produced in association with multiple b quark jets, and the constraints obtained on models with this signature are the most stringent to date.

 

The second-order (v₂) and third-order (v₃) Fourier coefficients describing the azimuthal anisotropy of prompt and nonprompt (from b-hadron decays) J/ψ, as well as prompt ψ(2S) mesons are measured in lead-lead collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of$$ \sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}} $$$\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$= 5.02 TeV. The analysis uses a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.61 nb⁻¹recorded with the CMS detector. The J/ψ and ψ(2S) mesons are reconstructed using their dimuon decay channel. Thev₂andv₃coefficients are extracted using the scalar product method and studied as functions of meson transverse momentum and collision centrality. The measuredv₂values for prompt J/ψ mesons are found to be larger than those for nonprompt J/ψ mesons. The prompt J/ψv₂values at highp_Tare found to be underpredicted by a model incorporating only parton energy loss effects in a quark-gluon plasma medium. Prompt and nonprompt J/ψ mesonv₃and prompt ψ(2S)v₂andv₃values are also reported for the first time, providing new information about heavy quark interactions in the hot and dense medium created in heavy ion collisions.

 

A bstract Measurements of the inclusive and differential fiducial cross sections for the Higgs boson production in the H → ZZ → 4 ℓ ( ℓ = e , μ ) decay channel are presented. The results are obtained from the analysis of proton-proton collision data recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb − 1 . The measured inclusive fiducial cross section is 2 . 73 ± 0 . 26 fb, in agreement with the standard model expectation of 2 . 86 ± 0 . 1 fb. Differential cross sections are measured as a function of several kinematic observables sensitive to the Higgs boson production and decay to four leptons. A set of double-differential measurements is also performed, yielding a comprehensive characterization of the four leptons final state. Constraints on the Higgs boson trilinear coupling and on the bottom and charm quark coupling modifiers are derived from its transverse momentum distribution. All results are consistent with theoretical predictions from the standard model.