Zeaxanthin Production by Novel Marine Isolates from Coastal sand of India and its Antioxidant Properties

Zeaxanthin carotenoids are class of commercially important natural products and diverse biomolecules produced by plants and many microorganisms. Bacteria often produce a cocktail of polar and nonpolar carotenoids limiting their industrial applications. Marine members of the family Flavobacteriaceae are known to produce potential carotenoids such as astaxanthin and zeaxanthin. A few bacterial species have been reported for the predominant production zeaxanthin. Here, we report the molecular identification of the zeaxanthin as a major carotenoid produced by two novel bacteria (YUAB-SO-11 and YUAB-SO-45) isolated from sandy beaches of South West Coast of India and the effect of carbon sources on the production of zeaxanthin. The strains were identified based on the 16S rRNA gene sequencing as a member of genus Muricauda. The closest relatives of YUAB-SO-11 and YUAB-SO-45 were Muricauda aquimarina (JCM 11811^T) (98.9 %) and Muricauda olearia (JCM 15563^T) (99.2 %), respectively, indicating that both of these strains might represent a novel species. The highest level of zeaxanthin production was achieved (YUAB-SO-11, 1.20?±?0.11 mg g^?1) and (YUAB-SO-45, 1.02?±?0.13 mg g^?1) when cultivated in marine broth supplemented with 2 % NaCl (pH 7) and incubated at 30 °C. Addition of 0.1 M glutamic acid, an intermediate of citric acid cycle, enhanced the zeaxanthin production as 18 and 14 % by the strains YUAB-SO-11 and YUAB-SO-45 respectively. The zeaxanthin showed in vitro nitric oxide scavenging, inhibition of lipid peroxidation, and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl scavenging activities higher than the commercial zeaxanthin. The results of this study suggest that two novel strains YUAB-SO-11 and YUAB-SO-45 belonging to genus Muricauda produce zeaxanthin as a predominant carotenoid, and higher production of zeaxanthin was achieved on glutamic acid supplementation. The pigment showed good in vitro antioxidant activity, which can be exploited further for commercial applications.     

1-Methylimidazole-catalyzed reaction between tosylmethyl isocyanide and dialkyl acetylenedicarboxylates:An efficient synthesis of functionalized pyrroles

An efficient 1-methylimidazole-catalyzed synthesis of dialkyl 2-[(4-methylphenyl)sulfonyl]-1H-pyrrole-3,4-dicarboxylates is described.The reactive 1:1 zwitterionic intermediate formed by the addition of 1-methylimidazole to dialkyl acetylenedicarboxylates is trapped by tosylmethyl isocyanide(TOSMIC) to afford the title compounds in excellent yields.     

X-Ray kinetic study of glassy crystal formation in adamantane derivatives: TTT curves and crystal size effect

Abstract

The kinetics of polymorphic solid-state transformation in mixed adamantane compounds (CN_1?x Cl _x ADM: x = 0 and x = 0.25) have been studied by X-ray scattering. The classical form of the time-temperature-transformation TTT curves has been directly observed for the first time for the ordering supercooled plastic phases. For both compounds a considerable effect of crystal size on the kinetics has been observed. For x = 0.25 it leads to a continuous transition from Avrami to nucleation behaviour. These observations help us to understand the factors controlling nucleation and growth as well as to establish better operating conditions in order to form a glassy crystal.     

Reaction between anthranilic acids, salicylaldehydes and isocyanides in water: an efficient synthesis of 2-{[2-(alkylimino)-1-benzofuran-3-yliden]amino}benzoic acids

A novel, one-pot and three-component reaction for the preparation of 2-{[2-(alkylimino)-1-benzofuran-3-yliden]amino}benzoic acids is described. Heating a mixture of an anthranilic acid, a salicylaldehyde, and an isocyanide in water affords the title compounds in good to excellent yields.     

On the Use of Depleted Uranium Dioxide as a Neutron Filter

A simple additive formula is given which, for neutron energies in the range 10^-4 < E<10 eV, permits calculation of the nuclear capture, thermal diffuse and Bragg scattering cross-sections of a crystalline material as a function of its crystal constants and temperature. Computer codes PUO and SUO were developed to calculate the total attenuation of reactor neutrons through poly- and mono-crystalline samples, respectively. The codes were applied to calculate the total cross-section of polycrystalline uranium and thorium dioxides in the energy range from 4 meV to 1 eV. The obtained agreement between the calculated values and available experimental values justifies the applicability of the used formula and the computer codes. A feasibility study on using depleted polycrystalline uranium dioxide as a cold neutron filter and the single crystal as a thermal neutron filter is given. The optimum crystal parameters and thickness for efficiently transmitting the thermal reactor neutrons while strongly attenuating both fast neutrons and -rays accompanying the thermal ones is also given.     

Facile and rapid access to inosine puromycin analogues through the use of adenylate deaminase

To study the ribosomal peptidyl transfer, puromycin analogues are of interest in which adenine has been replaced by hypoxanthine. We synthesized inosine puromycin analogues from 3'-azidodeoxyadenosine derivatives using adenylate deaminase for the quantitative transformation of the N-heterocycle. The amino acid coupling was carried out under Staudinger-Vilarrasa conditions in 94% yield starting from the protected and in 82% using the unprotected azide, thus, in the presence of two hydroxyls and a lactam function.     

Facile preparation of highly stable and active hybrid palladium nanoparticles: effectual,reusable and heterogeneous catalyst for coupling reactions

Palladium nanoparticles were supported on a bed of Fe₃O₄@‐NH₂@Murexide using a simple and efficient method, and characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopies and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. The catalytic system showed great efficiency in cross‐coupling reaction of aryl iodides and arylboronic acid and in Sonogashira cross‐coupling reaction in the green solvent EtOH–H₂O (1:1). The isolation and recovery of the catalyst were simple and facile and it could be used for several successive Suzuki–Miyaura coupling and Sonogashira cross‐coupling reactions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Direct use of unassigned resonances in NMR structure calculations with proxy residues

We present a method that significantly enhances the robustness of (automated) NMR structure determination by allowing the NOE data corresponding to unassigned NMR resonances to be used directly in the calculations. The unassigned resonances are represented by additional atoms or groups of atoms that have no interaction with the regular protein atoms except through distance restraints. These so-called "proxy" residues can be used to generate NOE-based distance restraints in a similar fashion as for the assigned part of the protein. If sufficient NOE information is available, the restraints are expected to place the proxies at positions close to the correct atoms for the unassigned resonance, which can facilitate subsequent assignment. Convergence can be further improved by supplying additional information about the possible identities of the unassigned resonances. We have implemented this approach in the widely used automated assignment and structure calculation protocols ARIA and CANDID. We find that it significantly increases the robustness of structure calculations with regard to missing assignments and yields structures of higher quality. Our approach is still able to find correctly folded structures with up to 30% randomly missing resonance assignments, and even when only backbone and beta resonances are present! This should be of significant value to NMR-based structural proteomics initiatives.