Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
In molecular biology, a displacement loop or D-loop is a DNA structure where the two strands of a double-stranded DNA molecule are separated for a stretch and held apart by a third strand of DNA. An R-loop is similar to a D-loop, but in that case the third strand is RNA rather than DNA. The third strand has a base sequence which is complementary to one of the main strands and pairs with it, thus displacing the other complementary main strand in the region. Within that region the structure is thus a form of triple-stranded DNA. A diagram in the paper introducing the term illustrated the D-loop with a shape resembling a capital "D", where the displaced strand formed the loop of the "D".[1]
D-loops occur in a number of particular situations, including in DNA repair, in telomeres, and as a semi-stable structure in mitochondrial circular DNA molecules.
Researchers at Caltech discovered in 1971 that the circular mitochondrial DNA from growing cells included a short segment of three strands which they called a displacement loop.[1] They found the third strand was a replicated segment of the heavy strand (or H-strand) of the molecule, which it displaced, and was hydrogen bonded to the light strand (or L-strand). Since then, it has been shown that the third strand is the initial segment generated by a replication of the heavy strand that has been arrested shortly after initiation and is often maintained for some period in that state.[2] The D-loop occurs in the main non-coding area of the mitochondrial DNA molecule, a segment called the control region or D-loop region.[citation needed]
Replication of the mitochondrial DNA can occur in two different ways, both starting in the D-loop region.[3] One way continues replication of the heavy strand through a substantial part (e.g. two-thirds) of the circular molecule, and then replication of the light strand begins. The more recently reported mode starts at a different origin within the D-loop region and uses coupled-strand replication with simultaneous synthesis of both strands.[3][4]
Certain bases within the D-loop region are conserved, but large parts are highly variable and the region has proven to be useful for the study of the evolutionary history of vertebrates.[5] The region contains promoters for the transcription of RNA from the two strands of mitochondrial DNA immediately adjacent to the D-loop structure that is associated with initiation of DNA replication.[6] D-loop sequences are also of interest in the study of cancers.[7]
The function of the D-loop is not yet clear, but recent research suggests that it participates in the organization of the mitochondrial nucleoid.[8][9]
The single third strand is also called 7S DNA. The primer used for 7S DNA synthesis is called 7S RNA.[10]
In 1999 it was reported that telomeres, which cap the end of chromosomes, terminate in a lariat-like structure termed a T-loop (Telomere-loop).[11] This is a loop of both strands of the chromosome which are joined to an earlier point in the double-stranded DNA by the 3' strand end invading the strand pair to form a D-loop. The joint is stabilized by the shelterin protein POT1.[12] The T-loop, which is completed by the D-loop splice, protects the end of the chromosome from damage.[13]
When a double-stranded DNA molecule has suffered a break in both strands, one repair mechanism available in diploid eukaryotic cells is homologous recombination repair. This makes use of the intact chromosome homologous to the broken one as a template to bring the two double-stranded pieces into correct alignment for rejoining. Early in this process, one strand of one piece is matched to a strand of the intact chromosome and that strand is used to form a D-loop at that point, displacing the intact chromosome's other strand. Various ligation and synthesis steps follow to effect the rejoining.[14]
In humans, the protein RAD51 is central to the homologous search and formation of the D-loop. In the bacterium Escherichia coli, a similar function is performed by the protein RecA.[15]

During meiosis, repair of double-strand damages, particularly double-strand breaks, occurs by the recombination process outlined in the accompanying diagram. As shown in the diagram, a D-loop plays a central role in meiotic recombinational repair of such damages. During this process, Rad51 and Dmc1 recombinases bind the 3' single-strand DNA (ssDNA) tails to form helical nucleoprotein filaments that perform a search for intact homologous double-stranded DNA (dsDNA).[16] Once the homologous sequence is found, the recombinases facilitate invasion of the ssDNA end into the homologous dsDNA to form a D-loop. After strand exchange, homologous recombination intermediates are processed by either of two distinct pathways (see diagram) to form the final recombinant chromosomes.[citation needed]
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In molecular biology, a displacement loop or D-loop is a DNA structure where the two strands of a double-stranded DNA molecule are separated for a stretch and held apart by a third strand of DNA. An R-loop is similar to a D-loop, but in that case the third strand is RNA rather than DNA. The third strand has a base sequence which is complementary to one of the main strands and pairs with it, thus displacing the other complementary main strand in the region. Within that region the structure is thus a form of triple-stranded DNA. A diagram in the paper introducing the term illustrated the D-loop with a shape resembling a capital "D", where the displaced strand formed the loop of the "D". D-loops occur in a number of particular situations, including in DNA repair, in telomeres, and as a semi-stable structure in mitochondrial circular DNA molecules.
D-loop replication is a proposed process by which circular DNA molecules like those found in many (though not all) chloroplasts and mitochondria replicate their genetic material. These circular chromosomes often contain D-loops, short regions of triple-stranded DNA where the double-stranded duplex molecule is opened and one of the strands is displaced by a third, independent strand of variable length. Not all circular genomes use D-loop replication, however, nor do all chloroplasts and mitochondria use circular chromosomes; in those with linear chromosomes, D-loop replication does not occur.
A closed-loop controller or feedback controller is a control loop which incorporates feedback, in contrast to an open-loop controller or non-feedback controller. A closed-loop controller uses feedback to control states or outputs of a dynamical system. Its name comes from the information path in the system: process inputs (e.g., voltage applied to an electric motor) have an effect on the process outputs (e.g., speed or torque of the motor), which is measured with sensors and processed by the controller; the result (the control signal) is "fed back" as input to the process, closing the loop. In the case of linear feedback systems, a control loop including sensors, control algorithms, and actuators is arranged in an attempt to regulate a variable at a setpoint (SP). An everyday example is the cruise control on a road vehicle; where external influences such as hills would cause speed changes, and the driver has the ability to alter the desired set speed. The PID algorithm in the controller restores the actual speed to the desired speed in an optimum way, with minimal delay or overshoot, by controlling the power output of the vehicle's engine. Control systems that include some sensing of the results they are trying to achieve are making use of feedback and can adapt to varying circumstances to some extent. Open-loop control systems do not make use of feedback, and run only in pre-arranged ways. Closed-loop controllers have the following advantages over open-loop controllers: disturbance rejection (such as hills in the cruise control example above) guaranteed performance even with model uncertainties, when the model structure does not match perfectly the real process and the model parameters are not exact unstable processes can be stabilized reduced sensitivity to parameter variations improved reference tracking performance improved rectification of random fluctuations In some systems, closed-loop and open-loop control are used simultaneously. In such systems, the open-loop control is termed feedforward and serves to further improve reference tracking performance. A common closed-loop controller architecture is the PID controller.
The D arm is a conserved structural element of transfer RNA (tRNA) composed of a short D stem and a D-loop that characteristically contains the modified nucleotide dihydrouridine. It plays important roles in stabilizing tRNA tertiary structure and in molecular recognition, particularly by aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases during protein synthesis. Although broadly conserved across Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryota, the D arm exhibits structural variation among different tRNA types and organisms, and is absent from certain mitochondrial tRNAs.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker