On the Laplacian spectral radii of trees with perfect matchings

Denote by the set of trees of order 2k with perfect matchings. GUO [Guo, Linear Algebra Appl. 368:379–385, 2003.] determined the largest value of Laplacian spectral radii μ(T) of the trees T in and gave the corresponding tree T in whose μ(T) reaches this largest value. In this paper, we determine the second to the sixth largest values of μ(T) of the trees T in and also give the corresponding trees T in whose μ(T) reach these values.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis>-glutathionyl quantification in the attomole range using glutaredoxin-3-catalyzed cysteine derivatization and capillary gel electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection

S-glutathionylation (Pr–SSG) is a specific post-translational modification of cysteine residues by the addition of glutathione. S-Glutathionylated proteins induced by oxidative or nitrosative stress play an essential role in understanding the pathogenesis of the aging and age-related disorder, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The purpose of this research is to develop a novel and ultrasensitive method to accurately and rapidly quantify the Pr–SSG by using capillary gel electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection (CGE-LIF). The derivatization method is based on the specific reduction of protein-bound S-glutathionylation with glutaredoxin (Grx) and labeling with thiol-reactive fluorescent dye (Dylight 488 maleimide). The experiments were performed by coupling the derivatization method with CGE-LIF to study electrophoretic profiling in in vitro oxidative stress model–S-glutathionylated bovine serum albumin (BSA-SSG), oxidant-induced human colon adenocarcinoma (HT-29) cells, brain tissues, and whole blood samples from an AD transgenic (Tg) mouse model. The results showed almost an eightfold increase in S-glutathionyl abundance when subjecting HT-29 cells in an oxidant environment, resulting in Pr–SSG at 232 ± 10.64 (average ±SD; n = 3) nmol/mg. In the AD–Tg mouse model, an initial quantitative measurement demonstrated the extent of protein S-glutathionylation in three brain regions (hippocampus, cerebellum, and cerebrum), ranging from 1 to 10 nmol/mg. Additionally, we described our developed method to potentially serve as a highly desirable diagnostic tool for monitoring S-glutathionylated protein profile in minuscule amount of whole blood. The whole blood samples for S-glutathionyl expression of 5-month-old AD–Tg mice are quantified as 16.3 μmol/L (=7.2 nmol/mg protein). Altogether, this is a fast, easy, and accurate method, reaching the lowest limit of Pr–SSG detection at 1.8 attomole (amol) level, reported to date.     

Control and Optimization of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Clostridium tyrobutyricum</Emphasis> ATCC 25755 Adhesion into Fibrous Matrix in a Fibrous Bed Bioreactor

The great performance of a fibrous bed bioreactor (FBB) is mainly dependent on the cell adhesion and immobilization into the fibrous matrix. Therefore, understanding the mechanism and factors controling cell adhesion in the fibrous matrix is necessary to optimize the FBB setup and further improve the fermentability. The adhesion behavior of a strain of Clostridium tyrobutyricum isolated from an FBB was studied, which was proven to be affected by the different environmental conditions, such as growth phase of cells, pH, ionic strength, ionic species, and composition of media. Our results also suggested that electrostatic interactions played an important role on bacteria adhesion into the fibrous matrix. This study demonstrated that the compositions of fermentation broth would have a significant effect on cell adhesion. Consequently, a two-stage glucose supply control strategy was developed to improve the performance of FBB with higher viable cell density in the operation of the FBB setup.     

Novel sol–gel derived cellular foam: reaction of an organotrialkoxysilane with sodium hypophosphite

(3-Triethoxysilylpropyl)succinic anhydride (TESP-SA) is an organo-functional silicon compound that can be converted into a polysilsesquioxane when it is hydrolyzed and subsequently subjected to a condensation reaction at elevated temperatures (>160 °C). If this process is performed without sodium hypophosphite (SHP), a hard solid material is obtained. In contrast, the condensation reaction of TESP-SA in conjunction with SHP results in the formation of a foamed, brittle material with closed macro cells. The foam was characterized by means of various analytical methods (FT-IR, ²⁹Si MAS NMR, XRD, TG-MS, SEM).

Template synthesis in the nickel(II)–thiocarbohydrazide–propanone triple system

The complexing process proceeding in the Ni^II–thiocarbohydrazide (H₂N–H–NC(=S)–NH–NH₂)–propanone triple system in EtOH solution and nickel(II)hexacyanoferrate(II) gelatin-immobilized matrix has been studied. It has been found that in the first case, template synthesis leading, as a minimum, to formation of three coordination compounds of Ni^II with (N,N,S,S)-donor tetradentate ligands having NiL¹, NiL² and NiL³compositions where L¹ is 4,6,6-trimethyl-2,3,7,8-tetraazanonen-3-di(thiohydrazide)-1,9, L² is 4,6,6,12-tetrametyl-1,9-dithio-2,3,7,8,10,11-hexaazatridekadien-3,11-hydrazide-1 and L³ is 2,8,10,10,16-pentamethyl-5,13-dithio-3,4,6,7,11,12,14,15-octaazaheptadekatrien-2,7,15 is observed, whereas in the gelatin-immobilized matrix, a complexing process in the system considered does not occur.     

Effect of Cysteic Acid Position on the Negative Ion Fragmentation of Proteolytic Derived Peptides

A study on the effect of cysteic acid position on the types of fragment ions formed by collision-induced dissociation (CID) of [M – H]⁻ ions is presented. Of particular note is the observation of d-type fragment ions for peptides that contain an N-terminal cysteic acid (fixed negative charge) and cleavable amino acid side chains possessing a β-γ carbon–carbon bond. For example, the CID mass spectrum of oxidized cys-kemptide (C_oxLRRASLG) [M – H + O₃]⁻ ions contains abundant series of d-type fragment ions, and similar results are observed for oxidized cysteine-containing ribonuclease A proteolytic peptides. The d _i fragment ions are assumed to arise by a charge-remote and/or charge-assisted fragmentation mechanism, which both occur at high collision energies and involve consecutive reactions (i.e., the formation of a _i ions followed by the elimination of the side chain to form d _i ions).     

Towards liquid chromatography time-scale peptide sequencing and characterization of post-translational modifications in the negative-ion mode using electron detachment dissociation tandem mass spectrometry

Electron detachment dissociation (EDD) of peptide poly-anions is gentle towards post-translational modifications (PTMs) and produces predictable and interpretable fragment ion types (a., x ions). However, EDD is considered an inefficient fragmentation technique and has not yet been implemented in large-scale peptide characterization strategies. We successfully increased the EDD fragmentation efficiency (up to 9%), and demonstrate for the first time the utility of EDD-MS/MS in liquid chromatography time-scale experiments. Peptides and phosphopeptides were analyzed in both positive- and negative-ion mode using electron capture/transfer dissociation (ECD/ETD) and EDD in comparison. Using approximately 1 pmol of a BSA tryptic digest, LC-EDD-MS/MS sequenced 14 peptides (27% aa sequence coverage) and LC-ECD-MS/MS sequenced 19 peptides (39% aa sequence coverage). Seven peptides (18% aa sequence coverage) were sequenced by both EDD and ECD. The relative small overlap of identified BSA peptides demonstrates the complementarity of the two dissociation modes. Phosphopeptide mixtures from three trypsin-digested phosphoproteins were subjected to LC-EDD-MS/MS resulting in the identification of five phospho-peptides. Of those, one was not found in a previous study using a similar sample and LC-ETD-MS/MS in the positive-ion mode. In this study, the ECD fragmentation efficiency (15.7% av.) was superior to the EDD fragmentation efficiency (3.6% av.). However, given the increase in amino acid sequence coverage and extended PTM characterization the new regime of EDD in combination with other ion-electron fragmentation techniques in the positive-ion mode is a step towards a more comprehensive strategy of analysis in proteome research.     

Study of a new derivatizing reagent that improves the analysis of amino acids by HPLC with fluorescence detection: application to hydrolyzed rape bee pollen

A simple and sensitive method for evaluating the chemical compositions of protein amino acids, including cystine (Cys)₂ and tryptophane (Try) has been developed, based on the use of a sensitive labeling reagent 2-(11H-benzo[α]-carbazol-11-yl) ethyl chloroformate (BCEC–Cl) along with fluorescence detection. The chromophore of the 1,2-benzo-3,4-dihydrocarbazole-ethyl chloroformate (BCEOC-Cl) molecule was replaced with the 2-(11H-benzo[α]-carbazol-11-yl) ethyl functional group, yielding the sensitive fluorescence molecule BCEC–Cl. The new reagent BCEC–Cl could then be substituted for labeling reagents commonly used in amino acid derivatization. The BCEC–amino acid derivatives exhibited very high detection sensitivities, particularly in the cases of (Cys)₂ and Try, which cannot be determined using traditional labeling reagents such as 9-fluorenyl methylchloroformate (FMOC-Cl) and ortho-phthaldialdehyde (OPA). The fluorescence detection intensities for the BCEC derivatives were compared to those obtained when using FMOC-Cl and BCEOC-Cl as labeling reagents. The ratios I _BCEC/I _BCEOC = 1.17–3.57, I _BCEC/I _FMOC = 1.13–8.21, and UV_BCEC/UV_BCEOC = 1.67–4.90 (where I is the fluorescence intensity and UV is the ultraviolet absorbance). Derivative separation was optimized on a Hypersil BDS C₁₈ column. The detection limits calculated from 1.0 pmol injections, at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3, ranged from 7.2 fmol for Try to 8.4 fmol for (Cys)₂. Excellent linear responses were observed, with coefficients of >0.9994. When coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography, the method established here allowed the development of a highly sensitive and specific method for the quantitative analysis of trace levels of amino acids including (Cys)₂ and Try from bee-collected pollen (bee pollen) samples.     

Trennung,Identifizierung und Bestimmung von Bactericiden auf der Basis von halogenierten Aromaten mittels Gas-Chromatographie

The separation of a mixture of 22 bactericides has been achieved by gas chromatography on columns with silicone rubber W-982 as stationary phase with temperatures between 100° and 300°C. The unchanged compounds as well as their silylation products have been used. The latter are more conveniently used especially for the quantitative determination. To be able to calculate the retention indices after Kovats gas chromatography has been performed isothermally at 180°C for the more volatile compounds and at 250°C for all other bactericides.The retention indices obtained under these conditions are tabulated together with the limits of detection.