Fatty acid binding site of mitochondrial uncoupling protein UCP2 as probed by EPR spectroscopy of spin-labeled fatty acids

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy of spin-labeled fatty acids was used to investigate their interaction withEscherichia coli-expressed human mitochondrial uncoupling protein UCP2 refolded from inclusion bodies in nonaethylene glycol monododecyl ether (C₁₂E₉) micelles. 5-DOXYL-stearic acid and 4-PROXYL-palmitic acid bound to UCP2 exhibited additional clearly separated h_+1I, h_?1I “immobile” peaks in the low- and high-field region, respectively, separated by 42 and 44 Gauss, and extensively reduced h_+1M, h_?1M “mobile” peaks, separated by about 30 G, whereas with 7-DOXYL-stearic acid the I and M peaks were smoothed together into one wide peak. Competition of 4-PROXYL-palmitic acid with added palmitic acid, arachidonic acid, and all-cis-8,11,14-eicosatrienoic acid and of 7-DOXYL-stearic acid with arachidonic acid was indicated by the disappearance of the h_+1I, h_?1I “immobile” peaks, whereas redistribution in micelles without protein was indicated by the rising of the h_+1M, h_?1M “mobile” peaks. In conclusion, a competition of palmitic, arachidonic, and eicosatrienoic acid within a putative fatty acid binding site was observed for mitochondrial uncoupling protein UCP2. This finding together with the observation of EPR spectra of highly immobilized probes exclusively in the presence of the recombinant UCP2 suggest the existence of a fatty acid binding site on UCP2 which is a prerequisite of the fatty acid cycling mechanism as previously postulated for UCP1.     

Commutative idempotent residuated lattices

We investigate the variety of residuated lattices with a commutative and idempotent monoid reduct.     

Neutral Community Theory: How Stochasticity and Dispersal-Limitation Can Explain Species Coexistence

Neutral community theory explains biodiversity, i.e. the coexistence of several species, as the result of a stochastic balance between immigration and extinction on a local level, and between speciation and extinction on a regional level. The most popular model, presented by Hubbell in 2001, has seen many analytical developments in recent years, which can be used in model analysis, model testing and model comparison. We review these developments here, and present alternative derivations and shine previously unnoticed lights on them.     

Quantification of trace elements in human serum fractions by liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

On‐line coupling of LC and ICP‐MS has been used for fractionation and detection of species of Cu, Fe, I, Se and Zn in human serum. It has been shown that anion exchange chromatography provided better separation capability (both intra‐ and inter‐element) than size‐exclusion chromatography. The mobile phases for ion exchange chromatography consisted of Tris–HNO₃ buffer and ammonium salt (nitrate, acetate or formate). Formate was found to be the best mobile phase counter ion, enabling good chromatographic separation, and is acceptable for mass spectrometry too. The quantitative evaluation of element concentrations adhering to individual fractions was performed by the peak area normalization method. The repeatability of results ranged from 3 to 15% (depending on the element concentration level) and represented the main part of the result uncertainty. The accuracy of Cu and Zn fraction determinations was confirmed by comparison with the isotope dilution technique. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the chromatic polynomial of a graph

Let P(G,λ) be the chromatic polynomial of a graph G with n vertices, independence number α and clique number ω. We show that for every λ≥n, ()^α≤≤ () ^{n −ω}. We characterize the graphs that yield the lower bound or the upper bound.?These results give new bounds on the mean colour number μ(G) of G: n− (n−ω)() ^{n −ω}≤μ(G)≤n−α() ^α. Received: December 12, 2000 / Accepted: October 18, 2001?Published online February 14, 2002     

Optimal Investment in a Levy Market

In this paper we consider the optimal investment problem in a market where the stock price process is modeled by a geometric Levy process (taking into account jumps). Except for the geometric Brownian model and the geometric Poissonian model, the resulting models are incomplete and there are many equivalent martingale measures. However, the model can be completed by the so-called power-jump assets. By doing this we allow investment in these new assets and we can try to maximize the expected utility of these portfolios. As particular cases we obtain the optimal portfolios based in stocks and bonds, showing that the new assets are superfluous for certain martingale measures that depend on the utility function we use.     

Activation profiles of opioid ligands in HEK cells expressing δ opioid receptors

Background  

The aim of the present study was to characterize the activation profiles of 15 opioid ligands in transfected human embryonic kidney cells expressing only δ opioid receptors. Activation profiles of most of these ligands at δ opioid receptors had not been previously characterized in vitro. Receptor activation was assessed by measuring the inhibition of forskolin-stimulated cAMP production.     

Some covering properties in topological and uniform spaces

Recent progress in selection principles theory is discussed and is illustrated mainly by the Hurewicz covering property and its strong version, the Gerlits-Nagy property GN(*). Some results that have not been published elsewhere are given with proofs.     

Estimating Invariant Probability Densities for Dynamical Systems

Knowing a probability density (ideally, an invariant density) for the trajectories of a dynamical system allows many significant estimates to be made, from the well-known dynamical invariants such as Lyapunov exponents and mutual information to conditional probabilities which are potentially more suitable for prediction than the single number produced by most predictors. Densities on typical attractors have properties, such as singularity with respect to Lebesgue measure, which make standard density estimators less useful than one would hope. In this paper we present a new method of estimating densities which can smooth in a way that tends to preserve fractal structure down to some level, and that also maintains invariance. We demonstrate with applications to real and artificial data.