Folding of Synthetic Homogeneous Glycoproteins in the Presence of a Glycoprotein Folding Sensor Enzyme

UDP‐glucose:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase (UGGT) plays a key role in recognizing folded and misfolded glycoproteins in the glycoprotein quality control system of the endoplasmic reticulum. UGGT detects misfolded glycoproteins and re‐glucosylates them as a tag for misfolded glycoproteins. A flexible model to reproduce in vitro folding of a glycoprotein in the presence of UGGT in a mixture containing correctly folded, folding intermediates, and misfolded glycoproteins is described. The data demonstrates that UGGT can re‐glucosylate all intermediates in the in vitro folding experiments, thus indicating that UGGT inspects not only final folded products, but also the glycoprotein folding intermediates.     

Uncovering the Stoichiometry of Pyrococcus furiosus RNase P,a Multi‐Subunit Catalytic Ribonucleoprotein Complex,by Surface‐Induced Dissociation and Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry

We demonstrate that surface‐induced dissociation (SID) coupled with ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM‐MS) is a powerful tool for determining the stoichiometry of a multi‐subunit ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex assembled in a solution containing Mg²⁺. We investigated Pyrococcus furiosus (Pfu) RNase P, an archaeal RNP that catalyzes tRNA 5′ maturation. Previous step‐wise, Mg²⁺‐dependent reconstitutions of Pfu RNase P with its catalytic RNA subunit and two interacting protein cofactor pairs (RPP21?RPP29 and POP5?RPP30) revealed functional RNP intermediates en route to the RNase P enzyme, but provided no information on subunit stoichiometry. Our native MS studies with the proteins showed RPP21?RPP29 and (POP5?RPP30)₂ complexes, but indicated a 1:1 composition for all subunits when either one or both protein complexes bind the cognate RNA. These results highlight the utility of SID and IM‐MS in resolving conformational heterogeneity and yielding insights on RNP assembly.     

Synthesis of novel fluorescently labeled water-soluble fullerenes and their application to its cellar uptake and distribution properties

Fullerene is a well-known carbon nanomaterial, which can be potentially used for drug manufacture or delivery. Despite several successful examples of utilizing fullerene derivatives as drug candidate materials, their low water solubility under physiological conditions negatively affects the cell penetration efficiency after treatment. In this work, we successfully synthesized two fullerene derivatives with covalently attached fluorescein and boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) fluorophore moieties, which exhibited cellular uptake and intracellular localization. While both fluorophores decreased their fluorescence intensity in the vicinity of fullerene, the cellar uptake of the fluorescein-modified fullerene was detected via fluorescence microscopy observations. Moreover, decreases in the fluorescence intensities of the intact fluorescein and BODIPY species were observed when both fluorophores and fullerene coexisted in aqueous media.     

Trypanocidal terpenoids from Laurus nobilis L

Trypanocidal constituents of dried leaves of Laurus nobilis L. (Lauraceae) were examined. Activity-guided fractionation of the methanol extract resulted in the isolation of two guaianolides, dehydrocostus lactone (1) and zaluzanin D (2), and a new p-menthane hydroperoxide, (1R,4S)-1-hydroperoxy-p-menth-2-en-8-ol acetate (3). The minimum lethal concentrations of these compounds against epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi were 6.3, 2.5, and 1.4 microM, respectively.     

Resonance Raman effect in thiourea

Raman spectra of thiourea have been observed in H₂O and D₂O solutions with the exciting laser beams of 514.5, 488.0, 457.9, 363.8, 325.0, and 257.3 nm. The resonance Raman excitation profile of the 729-cm^?1 line has been examined in the region of the 237-nm absorption band ($\text{π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>CS</mtext>}}{}^1\text{← π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>CS</mtext>}}$) by use of a solvent shift of the absorption band instead of by changing the wavelength of the exciting beam. The depolarization degree of this line was measured and its overtone Raman line was also observed. On the basis of the results of these experiments, it has been concluded that the 729-cm^?1 Raman line, assignable to the CS stretching vibration, derives its intensity solely from the 237-nm band when it is excited at 257.3 or 325.0 nm. On exciting in the region 363.8–514.5 nm, however, contributions of the higher-frequency bands are predominant rather than the contribution from the 237-nm band. The Raman line at 1520 cm^?1 of thiourea-d₄ is assignable to the NCN antisymmetric stretching vibration. From its excitation profile, its intensity has been considered to come from a vibronic coupling between the excited electronic states of the 220-nm ($\text{π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>CS</mtext>}}{}^1\text{← π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>N</mtext>}}\text{? π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>N</mtext>}}$) and the 197-nm ($\text{π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>CS</mtext>}}{}^1\text{← π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>N</mtext>}}\text{+ π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>N</mtext>}}$) bands.     

Low-coherence tandem interferometer for measurement of group refractive index without knowledge of the thickness of the test sample

A new low-coherence interferometric technique is proposed for measuring the group refractive indices of dispersive samples with high accuracy. A tandem configuration of interferometers is used to compensate for the asymmetrical distortion of interferograms that results from the broad spectrum of the light source. The group refractive index can be measured without knowledge of the geometrical thickness of the sample under test. The proposed technique can successfully measure even a thick sample. Computer calculations have shown the effectiveness of the proposed technique, which was verified by preliminary experiments; the difference between the experimental result and the catalog data was 7 x 10(-4).     

Broad-spectrum frequency comb generation and carrier-envelope offset frequency measurement by second-harmonic generation of a mode-locked fiber laser

A frequency comb spanning more than one octave has been achieved by injecting the second-harmonic generation (780 nm) of a mode-locked fiber laser (1.56 microm) into a photonic crystal fiber. We propose and realize a novel interferometric scheme for observing the carrier-envelope offset frequency of the frequency comb. Frequency noise has been observed on the measured carrier-envelope offset frequency, which has been confirmed to be generated in the photonic crystal fiber by comparing the measured beat frequencies between cw lasers and frequency combs before and after the photonic crystal fiber. The mode-locked fiber laser is considered to be an important candidate for the light source used in realizing a compact optical frequency measurement system including applications in the telecommunication bands.     

Helical gold nanotube synthesized at 150 K

Gold nanowires were synthesized at 150 K by electron beam thinning of a gold thin foil in an UHV electron microscope. The gold nanowires were found to have a helical multishell structure (HMS). One particular nanowire, which was thinner than the 7-1 HMS nanowire, was found to have a tubular structure. The gold single wall nanotube is composed of five atomic rows that coil about the tube axis. The diameter was 0.4 nm and the pitch was 11 nm. The stability of the (5,3) nanotube was discussed in terms of the shear deformation of the triangular network of gold atoms.     

Selective cross-catenation of Pd(II) and Pt(II) coordination rings

The reversible cross-catenation of two different coordination rings (Pd(II)- and Pt(II)-linked rings) has been achieved by using the labile nature of the Pd-N interaction and efficient hydrophobic contact between the rings.     

Versatile and cooperative reactivity of a triruthenium polyhydride cluster. A computational study

The reaction of a trinuclear polyhydride complex Ru3H5(C5H5)3 with cyclopentadiene, C5H6, has been studied computationally. A mechanism for the experimentally observed selective C-C bond activation is proposed. All three Ru centers participate in various steps of the mechanism. The catalytic involvement of two cluster hydrides in the transformation of the C5Hn fragment is emphasized.