Comparative resin kinetics using in situ fluorescence measurements

The aminolysis of a novel activated ester resin was utilized for kinetic study via continuous in situ fluorescence measurements. A variety of resin compositions (polystyrene, JandaJel, ArgoPore, TentaGel, NovaGel, and PEGA) and solvents (dimethylformamide, acetonitrile, tetrahydrofuran, 1,2-dichlorethane, and toluene) were tested to compare their effects on the reaction rate. A linear relationship between the reaction rate and (solvent polarity x swelling of resin) was elucidated for the aminolysis reaction.     

Stereocontrolled Iodolactonization of Acyclic Olefinic Amides

Acyclic olefinic amides were iodolactonized in the mixed solvent of CH₃CN and H₂O (90:10₂ v/v) under reflux to give products with trans configuration of the newly formed iodomethyl to the inherent alkyl group in high yield.     

Density-fluctuation-induced swelling of polymer thin films in carbon dioxide

We report an anomalous swelling of polymer thin films in carbon dioxide (CO(2)) which is associated (in both locus and form) with the density fluctuation ridge that forms along the extension of the coexistence curve of gas and liquid in the P-T phase diagram. Neutron reflectivity results showed that CO(2) could be sorbed to a large extent ( approximately 60%) in thin polymer films even when the bulk miscibility of the polymer with CO(2) is very poor. The anomalous swelling is found to scale with the polymer radius of gyration (R(g)) and extends to a distance approximately 10 R(g).     

Neuronal RNA granule contains ApCPEB1, a novel cytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding protein, in Aplysia sensory neuron

The cytoplasmic polyadenylation element (CPE)-binding protein (CPEB) binds to CPE containing mRNAs on their 3'' untranslated regions (3''UTRs). This RNA binding protein comes out many important tasks, especially in learning and memory, by modifying the translational efficiency of target mRNAs via poly (A) tailing. Overexpressed CPEB has been reported to induce the formation of stress granules (SGs), a sort of RNA granule in mammalian cell lines. RNA granule is considered to be a potentially important factor in learning and memory. However, there is no study about RNA granule in Aplysia. To examine whether an Aplysia CPEB, ApCPEB1, forms RNA granules, we overexpressed ApCPEB1-EGFP in Aplysia sensory neurons. Consistent with the localization of mammalian CPEB, overexpressed ApCPEB1 formed granular structures, and was colocalized with RNAs and another RNA binding protein, ApCPEB, showing that ApCPEB1 positive granules are RNA-protein complexes. In addition, ApCPEB1 has a high turnover rate in RNA granules which were mobile structures. Thus, our results indicate that overexpressed ApCPEB1 is incorporated into RNA granule which is a dynamic structure in Aplysia sensory neuron. We propose that ApCPEB1 granule might modulate translation, as other RNA granules do, and furthermore, influence memory.     

Influence of electric field intensity, ionic strength, and migration distance on the mobility and diffusion in DNA surface electrophoresis

In order to increase the separation rate of surface electrophoresis while preserving the resolution for large DNA chains, e.g., genomic DNA, the mobility and diffusion of Lambda DNA chains adsorbed on flat silicon substrate under an applied electric field, as a function of migration distance, ionic strength, and field intensity, were studied using laser fluorescence microscope. The mobility was found to follow a power law with the field intensity beyond a certain threshold. The detected DNA peak width was shown to be constant with migration distance, slightly smaller with stronger field intensity, but significantly decreased with higher ionic strength. The molecular dynamics simulation demonstrated that the peak width was strongly related with the conformation of DNA chains adsorbed onto surface. The results also implied that there was no diffusion of DNA during migration on surface. Therefore, the Nernst-Einstein relation is not valid in the surface electrophoresis and the separation rate could be improved without losing resolution by decreasing separation distance, increasing buffer concentration, and field intensity. The results indicate the fast separation of genomic DNA chains by surface electrophoresis is possible.     

On the ring loading problem with demand splitting

In this paper, we improve the rerouting step of Myung, Kim and Tcha's algorithm for the ring loading problem with demand splitting and achieve a better running time. We also conduct a computational study to evaluate the practical performance of the proposed algorithm.     

Inactivation of the carbamoyltransferase gene refines post-polyketide synthase modification steps in the biosynthesis of the antitumor agent geldanamycin

The post-polyketide synthase modification of geldanamycin (1) biosynthesis is of interest as a means of introducing structural diversity into the compound. From the inactivation of a gene encoding carbamoyltransferase, we demonstrated that the C-17 hydroxylation and the C-21 oxidation precede O-carbamoylation and that the hypothetical progeldanamycin does not possess a double bond at C-4 and C-5. More importantly, our result revealed new intermediates 4,5-dihydro-7-O-descarbamoyl-7-hydroxygeldanamycin (3) and 4,5-dihydrogeldanamycin (5), indicating that O-carbamoylation occurs prior to the C-4,5 cis double bond formation in geldanamycin biosynthesis.     

DNA separation at a liquid-solid interface

We demonstrate that it is possible to separate a broad band of DNA on a solid substrate without topological obstacles. The mobility was found to scale with molecular size (N) as N(-0.25), while the resolution scaled as N(0.75) indicating that diffusivity on this substrate was minimal. By varying the buffer concentration we were able to show that the mobility for a given chain length scaled with the persistent length (p) as p(1/2). This could be shown to be related to the Gaussian conformation of the chains adsorbed on the surface. A two-dimensional corrugated surface of nonporous silica beads was produced using a self-assembling process at the air/water interface. Even though the surface corrugations were comparable to persistence length we show that they do not affect the mobility, indicating that surface friction rather than topological constraints are the predominant mechanism of separation on a surface.     

Adsorption of myoglobin to Cu(II)-IDA and Ni(II)-IDA functionalized langmuir monolayers: study of the protein layer structure during the adsorption process by neutron and X-ray reflectivity

The structure and orientation of adsorbed myoglobin as directed by metal-histidine complexation at the liquid-film interface was studied as a function of time using neutron and X-ray reflectivity (NR and XR, respectively). In this system, adsorption is due to the interaction between iminodiacetate (IDA)-chelated divalent metal ions Ni(II) and Cu(II) and histidine moieties at the outer surface of the protein. Adsorption was examined under conditions of constant area per lipid molecule at an initial pressure of 40 mN/m. Adsorption occurred over a time period of about 15 h, allowing detailed characterization of the layer structure throughout the process. The layer thickness and the in-plane averaged segment volume fraction were obtained at roughly 40 min intervals by NR. The binding constant of histidine with Cu(II)-IDA is known to be about four times greater than that of histidine with Ni(II)-IDA. The difference in interaction energy led to significant differences in the structure of the adsorbed layer. For Cu(II)-IDA, the thickness of the adsorbed layer at low protein coverage was < or = 20 A and the thickness increased almost linearly with increasing coverage to 42 A. For Ni(II)-IDA, the thickness at low coverage was approximately 38 A and increased gradually with coverage to 47 A. The in-plane averaged segment volume fraction of the adsorbed layer independently confirmed a thinner layer at low coverage for Cu(II)-IDA. These structural differences at the early stages are discussed in terms of either different preferred orientations for isolated chains in the two cases or more extensive conformational changes upon adsorption in the case of Cu(II)-IDA. Subphase dilution experiments provided additional insight, indicating that the adsorbed layer was not in equilibrium with the bulk solution even at low coverages for both IDA-chelated metal ions. We conclude that the weight of the evidence favors the interpretation based on more extensive conformational changes upon adsorption to Cu(II)-IDA.     

Isolation and structure elucidation of secoiridoid glucosides from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fraxinus rhynchophylla</Emphasis> leaves

A new secoiridoid glucoside, oleuropein-4″-methyl ether, was isolated, together with two known secoiridoid glucosides, ligstroside and oleuropein, from the leaves of Fraxinus rhynchophylla Hance by repeated column chromatography over Sephadex LH-20. The structure of the new compound has been characterized on the basis of spectroscopic evidence.