Biosynthesis of isoprenoids. purification and properties of IspG protein from Escherichia coli

[Structure: see text]. The IspG protein is known to catalyze the transformation of 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol 2,4-cyclodiphosphate into 1-hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(E)-butenyl 4-diphosphate in the nonmevalonate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis. We have found that the apparent IspG activity in the cell extracts of recombinant Escherichia coli cells as observed by a radiochemical assay can be enhanced severalfold by coexpression of the isc operon which is involved in the assembly of iron-sulfur clusters. The recombinant protein was isolated by affinity chromatography under anaerobic conditions. With a mixture of flavodoxin, flavodoxin reductase, and NADPH as the reducing agent, stringent assay methods based on photometry or on 13C NMR detection of multiply 13C-labeled substrate/product ratios afforded catalytic activities greater than 60 nmol mg(-1) min(-1) for the protein "as isolated" (i.e., without reconstitution of any kind). Lower apparent activities were found using photoreduced deazaflavin as an artifactual electron donor, whereas dithionite was unable to serve as an artificial electron donor. The apparent Michaelis constant for 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 2,4-cyclodiphosphate was 700 microM. The enzyme was inactivated by EDTA and could be reactivated by Mn2+. The pH optimum was at 9.0. The protein contained 2.4 iron ions and 4.4 sulfide ions per subunit. The replacement of any of the three conserved cysteine residues afforded mutant proteins which were devoid of catalytic activity and contained less than 6% of Fe2+ and less than 23% of S2- as compared to the wild-type protein. Sequence comparison indicates that putative IspG proteins of plants, the apicomplexan protozoan Plasmodium falciparum, and bacteria from the Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi group contain an insert of about 170-320 amino acid residues as compared with eubacterial enzymes.     

The synthesis and transition temperatures of some trans-4-alkylcyclohexylethyl-substituted 2,3-difluorobiphenyls

Terphenyls with two lateral ortho-fluoro-substituents have proved to be excellent host materials for ferroelectric (S_C*) mixtures. The compounds reported here are biphenyls with the same arrangement of lateral substituents but with a trans-4-alkylcyclohexylethyl moiety as one of the terminal substituents. Such three ring systems retain the ability to generate the S_C mesophase and have low melting points. Low temperature lithiation procedures were used to prepare phenylboronic acids, which were then used in palladium catalysed cross-coupling procedures to prepare the desired compounds. The effect of molecular structure on the mesophase types and thermal stabilities is discussed and comparisons are made with analogous terphenyls and biphenyls with open chain terminal substituents.     

Raman H-bond pair volume for water

The dispersion of the H-bond pair volume Delta V over the decoupled OD and coupled OH-stretching contours from HDO in H(2)O was determined from Raman intensities at pressures to 9700 bar at 301 K. The dispersion of Delta V was determined from -RT[partial differential ln(I(i)/I(REF))/ partial differential P](T) versus omega (in cm(-1)), where i refers to omega's over the stretching contours and I(REF) refers to the reference intensity at the isosbestic frequency. The maximum H-bond pair volume (defined for breakage) is 1.4+/-0.1 cm(3)/mol H-bond, which corresponds to the volume difference between a large dispersion maximum at 2,675 cm(-1) (near the OD stretch omega of HDO in dense supercritical water) and a large, broad minimum centered near 2,375 cm(-1) (just below the OD stretch omega of HDO in lda ice). The average DeltaV is 0.71+/-0.10 cm(3)/mol H-bond. Other minima near 2,625 cm(-1) (OD) and 3550 cm(-1) (OH) refers to bent H-bonds whose angles are approximately 150 deg. Isothermal pressurization of water lowers the molal volume by decreasing the concentration of long, weak H-bonds, and increasing the concentrations of bent H-bonds and short, strong, linear H-bonds. Such bending, shortening, and strengthening produces freezing to ice VI near 10 kbar at 301 K. The isobaric temperature derivative of the maximum H-bond volume is (partial differential Delta V/partial differential T)(P)< or =(2-5) x 10(-3) cm(3)/deg mol H-bond. The OH enthalpy dispersion curve for saturated NaBF(4) in water, yields a large maximum at 3,530-3,540 cm(-1) indicating that BF(4) (-) interacts preferentially with the dangling or "free" OH groups of water thus producing weak, strongly bent H-bonds having angles similar to those of the 3,550 cm(-1) high-pressure H-bond bending feature.     

Solution-phase, triangular ag nanotriangles fabricated by nanosphere lithography

A novel method to produce solution-phase triangular silver nanoparticles is presented. Ag nanoparticles are prepared by nanosphere lithography and are subsequently released into solution. The resulting nanoparticles are asymmetrically functionalized to produce either single isolated nanoparticles or dimer pairs. The structural and optical properties of Ag nanoparticles have been characterized. Mie theory and the Discrete Dipole Approximation method (DDA) have been used to model and interpret the optical properties of the released Ag nanoparticles.     

Large-scale synthesis of globotriose derivatives through recombinant E. coli

The carbohydrate chains decorating cell membranes and secreted proteins participate in a range of important biological processes. However, their ultimate significance and possible therapeutic potential have not been fully explored due to the lack of economical methods for their production. This study is an example of the use of a genetically engineered bacterial strain in the preparation of diverse oligosaccharides. Based on an ex vivo biosynthetic pathway, an artificial gene cluster was constructed by linking the genes of five associated enzymes on a plasmid vector. This plasmid was inserted into the E. coli NM522 strain to form globotriose-producing cells ('superbug' pLDR20-CKTUF). The specific strain was conveniently applied to the synthesis of globotriose trisaccharide and its derivatives, as potential neutralizers for Shiga toxin. This work demonstrates a novel and economical method for generating ligand diversity for carbohydrate drug development.