On the estimation of stability parameters from heat-induced conformational transition curves of proteins

A method is suggested to determine valid and authentic values of thermodynamic stability parameters of proteins from their heat-induced conformational transition curves. We show (a) that the estimate of ΔH_m ^van, the enthalpy change on denaturation at T_m, the midpoint of denaturation, is significantly less than ΔH_m ^cal, the value obtained by the calorimetric measurements, if the analysis of the conformational transition curve uses the conventional method which assumes a linear temperature-dependence of the pre- and post-transition baselines; and (b) that there exists an excellent agreement between ΔH_m ^van and ΔH_m ^cal values of proteins, if the analysis of thermal denaturation curves assumes that the temperature-dependence of pre- and post-transition baselines is described by a parabolic function. The latter analysis is supported by our observations that the temperaturedependencies of the absorption and circular dichroism properties of protein groups are indeed nonlinear. It is observed that the estimate of ΔC_p, the constant-pressure heat capacity change is independent of the model used to describe the temperaturedependence of the pre- and post-transition baselines. An important conclusion is that for proteins which exhibit a two-state character, all stability parameters are measured with the same error as that observed with a calorimeter.     

Synthesis of temperature-sensitive micron-sized monodispersed composite polymer particles and its application as a carrier for biomolecules

 Temperature-sensitive micron-sized monodispersed composite polymer particles were prepared by seeded copolymerization of dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate with 1.77 μm-sized monodispersed polystyrene seed particles. The change in surface property at temperature above and below 35 °C was examined by differential scanning calorimetry, trypsin activity and the adsorption/ desorption behaviors of low molecular weight cationic emulsifier as well as biomolecules. Received: 6 August 1997 Accepted: 16 January 1998     

Sequence-dependent conformational energy of DNA derived from molecular dynamics simulations: toward understanding the indirect readout mechanism in protein-DNA recognition

Sequence dependence of DNA conformation plays a crucial role in its recognition by proteins and ligands. To clarify the relationship between sequence and conformation, it is necessary to quantify the conformational energy and specificity of DNA. Here, we make a systematic analysis of dodecamer DNA structures including all the 136 unique tetranucleotide sequences at the center by molecular dynamics simulations. Using a simplified conformational model with six parameters to describe the geometry of adjacent base pairs and harmonic potentials along these coordinates, we estimated the equilibrium conformational parameters and the harmonic potentials of mean force for the central base-pair steps from many trajectories of the simulations. This enabled us to estimate the conformational energy and the specificity for any given DNA sequence and structure. We tested our method by using sequence-structure threading to estimate the conformational energy and the Z-score as a measure of specificity for many B-DNA and A-DNA crystal structures. The average Z-scores were negative for both kinds of structures, indicating that the potential of mean force from the simulation is capable of predicting sequence specificity for the crystal structures and that it may be used to study the sequence specificity of both types of DNA. We also estimated the positional distribution of conformational energy and Z-score within DNA and showed that they are strongly position dependent. This analysis enabled us to identify particular conformations responsible for the specificity. The presented results will provide an insight into the mechanisms of DNA sequence recognition by proteins and ligands.     

Determination of toxic elements in tea,leaves by instrumental neutron activation analysis

The concentration of certain toxic and essential elements in various brands of tea consumed locally were determined using instrumental neutron activation analysis. Transference of these elements into the drinkable portion was studied by brewing and boiling tea leaves for two minutes and the approximate intake was calculated from this data. The toxic effects of Hg, Se, As, Br and Sb are briefly discussed.     

Semiquantitative determination of thiourea,thiocyanate, and sulfide by circular thin layer chromatography

Summary A method for semiquantitative determination of thiourea, thiocyanate, and sulfide is described. It involves making circular spots or rings on chromatoplates using the circular thin layer Chromatographic apparatus. The method is based on sensitivity and specificity of spot reactions and comparison of the color intensity of a circular spot with that of sensitivity standards. The accuracy of the method is ± 5% and the procedure is rapid, simple and economical.

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Zusammenfassung Ein Verfahren zur halbquantitativen Bestimmung von Thioharnstoff, Thiocyanat und Sulfid wurde beschrieben. Es beruht auf der chromatographischen Herstellung kreisförmiger Flecken oder Ringe auf Dünnschichtplatten. Mit empfindlichen und spezifischen Tüpfelreaktionen wurden die Flecken gefärbt und die Farbintensität mit Standardproben verglichen. Die Genauigkeit beträgt ± 5%.

     

Crosslinking of ethylene-propylene (-diene) terpolymer elastomer initiated by an excimer laser

Excimer laser-induced crosslinking of ethylene-propylene-diene elastomer using a trace amount of photoinitiator, 1-hydroxy cyclohexyl phenyl ketone, was evaluated. Gel content measurements on irradiated samples showed that crosslinking was a natural consequence in all, which had undergone exposure to laser radiation. Degree of crosslinking was found to be linear with the laser exposure energy and was found to reach a saturation value of approximately 80% at about 100 J. However, for thicker samples the dependence of gel content i.e. crosslinking was found to be exponential over the range of laser exposure energy in excess of 200 J. As is expected, the tensile strength increased significantly with the increase of crosslinking. The band at 808 cm⁻¹ in the infrared spectra was attributed to the 5-ethylidene-2-norbornene (ENB) content in the polymer. The ENB has a double bond which is considered to be consumed with a high radiochemical yield and thereby contributes to the increase in rate of the formation of intermolecular bridge density.     

Stable gaseous aziridinium ions

Gaseous protonated aziridine ions are produced at the threshold from β-phenoxyethylamine molecular ions. The evidence for this is collisional activation spectra, using various precursors (including labelled analogues) under electron impact and field ionization conditions. Partial conversion to the acyclic \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ {\rm CH}_{\rm 3} {\rm CH = }\mathop {\rm N}\limits^ + {\rm H}_{\rm 2} $\end{document} isomer occurs at higher electron energies and is rationalized by means of a potential energy surface constructed from energetic data.     

Circular thin-layer chromatography of aromatic andα,β-unsaturated aldehydes

Summary A simple method based on circular thin-layer chromatography is described for the separation of aromatic and,-unsaturated aldehydes as their isonicotinoyl hydrazones. The development of the chromatoplate is complete within 2 minutes.

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Zusammenfassung Aromatische und,-ungesättigte Aldehyde lassen sich durch ringförmige Dünnschichtchromatographie ihrer Isonikotinoylhydrazone trennen. Die Entwicklung der Dünnschichtplatten ist innerhalb 2 Minuten zu bewerkstelligen.

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Résumé On décrit une méthode simple fondée sur la chromatographie circulaire en couche mince pour séparer les aldéhydes aromatiques et, non saturés, sous forme de leurs hydrazones isonicotinoyles. Le développement de la chromatoplaque est complet en deux minutes.

     

The structure of the diazonium coupling products of phenacyl thiocyanate and phenacyl selenocyanate with diazotized 3-phenyl-5-aminopyrazole

The reaction of diazotized 3-phenyl-5-aminopyrazole with phenacyl thiocyanate 1a and phenacyl selenocyanate 1b afforded directly 2-imino-3-(3-phenyl-5-pyrazolyl)-5-benzoyl-2,3-dihydro-1,3,4-thiadiazole monohydrate 9a and 2-imino-3-(3-phenyl-5-pyrazolyl)-5-benzoyl-2,3-dihydro-1,3,4-selenadiazole monohydrate 9b , respectively. The products 9a and 9b were also obtained from the reaction of C-benzoyl-N-(3-phenyl-5-pyrazolyl)formohydrazidoyl bromide 10 with potassium thiocyanate and potassium selenocyanate, respectively. Acetylation, benzoylation, and nitrosation of 9 afforded the corresponding diacetyl, dibenzoyl, and nitroso derivatives 11-13 , respectively. Cyclization of C-benzoyl-N-(3-phenyl-5-pyrazolyl)-nitrilimine 6 was shown to give the pyrazolo [5,1-d]triazole 8 and not the pyrazolo[5,1-c]-as-triazine derivative 7 , as previously reported.     

Heavy-metal remediation by a fungus as a means of production of lead and cadmium carbonate crystals

We show here that reaction of the fungus, Fusarium oxysporum, with the aqueous heavy-metal ions Pb2+ and Cd2+ results in the one-step formation of the corresponding metal carbonates. The metal carbonates are formed by reaction of the heavy-metal ions with CO2 produced by the fungus during metabolism and thus provide a completely biological method for production of crystals of metal carbonates. The PbCO3 and CdCO3 crystals thus produced have interesting morphologies that are shown to arise because of interaction of the growing crystals with specific proteins secreted by the fungus during reaction. An additional advantage of this approach is that the reaction leads to detoxification of the aqueous solution and could have immense potential for bioremediation of heavy metals. Under conditions of this study, the metal ions are not toxic to the fungus, which readily grows after exposure to the metal ions.