The merlin-ERM (ezrin, radixin, moesin) family of proteins plays a central role in linking the cellular membranes to the cortical actin cytoskeleton. Merlin regulates contact inhibition and is an integral part of cell–cell junctions, while ERM proteins, ezrin, radixin and moesin, assist in the formation and maintenance of specialized plasma membrane structures and membrane vesicle structures. These two protein families share a common evolutionary history, having arisen and separated via gene duplication near the origin of metazoa. During approximately 0.5 billion years of evolution, the merlin and ERM family proteins have maintained both sequence and structural conservation to an extraordinary level. Comparing crystal structures of merlin-ERM proteins and their complexes, a picture emerges of the merlin-ERM proteins acting as switchable interaction hubs, assembling protein complexes on cellular membranes and linking them to the actin cytoskeleton. Given the high level of structural conservation between the merlin and ERM family proteins we speculate that they may function together.

Quantum dot quantum computing architectures rely on systems in which inversion symmetry is broken, and spin-orbit coupling is present, causing even single-spin qubits to be susceptible to charge noise. We derive an effective Hamiltonian for the combined action of noise and spin-orbit coupling on a single-spin qubit, identify the mechanisms behind dephasing, and estimate the free induction decay dephasing times T * 2 for common materials such as Si and GaAs. Dephasing is driven by noise matrix elements that cause relative fluctuations between orbital levels, which are dominated by screened whole charge defects and unscreened dipole defects in the substrate. Dephasing times T * 2 differ markedly between materials, and can be enhanced by increasing gate fields, choosing materials with weak spin-orbit, making dots narrower, or using accumulation dots. arXiv:1408.4123v2 [cond-mat.mes-hall]

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