Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-post source decay fragmentation of cystine- containing amphibian peptides with novel cysteine tags

Long disulphide-containing peptides brevinins 1E and 2Ec from the skin secretion of the frog Rana ridibunda were reduced and alkylated with ten novel and three known derivatizing agents. Nine of novel reagents are maleimide derivatives. The peptides were also reduced with DTT directly onto the MALDI target without alkylation. Modified samples were subjected to MALDI-PSD study. Procedures, fragmentation patterns, fragment ion signal abundances and sequence coverage for two peptides modified with thirteen tags (or on-plate reduced) are described. The fast on-plate procedure for reduction/alkylation was applied to Rana ridibunda crude secretion, providing intensive signals of derivatized peptides. The corresponding ions may be used for the MS/MS sequencing procedure.     

Synthesis and properties of Cu(II) and Pd(ii) complexes with chiral bis-α-sulfanyl oxymes,the derivatives of natural monoterpene, α-pinene

Coordination compounds Cu₂(H₂L¹)Cl₄ (I), Pd₂(H₂L¹)Cl₄ (II), Cu₂(H₂L²)Cl₄ (III), and Pd₂(H₂L²) Cl₄ (IV) with chiral bis-α-sulfanyloximes, the derivatives of the monoterpenoid (−)-α-pinene, were obtained. The complexes I and III are paramagnetic (μ_eff = 2.45 and 2.67 μ_B, respectively), II and IV are diamagnetic. According to IR spectroscopy, in the compounds I–IV the nearest environment of Cu and Pd atoms includes N, S, and Cl atoms. The values of μ_eff and parameters of ESR spectra of the solid phase and solutions of I and III show a binuclear structure of the Cu(II) complexes. Parameters of the ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra of compounds II and IV indicate the formation of binuclear Pd(II) complexes of C ₂ symmetry and the closure of fivemembered chelate rings PdNSC₂. The PdCl₂ fragments are in transoid position. H₂L¹ and H₂L² are tetradentate bridging chelating ligands.     

HPLC and MALDI investigation of the stress influence on the composition of skin secretion of the Common frog <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rana temporaria</Emphasis>

Skin secretory amphibian antimicrobial peptides are the part of their immune defense. The present work is devoted to the study of the influence of “water environment stress” and additional bacterial impact on the composition of the skin secretion of the Common frog (Rana temporaria) by means of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry. It was shown that the contact of the amphibian species with Micrococcus luteus and Staphylococcus aureus stimulates the release of antimicrobial peptides, maintains the high bradykinin and related peptides levels in the skin secretion and influences the processing of the latter ones. The possibilities of mass spectrometric profiling by using HPLC and MALDI were demonstrated. This feature allows the detection of potentially bioactive peptides for their future direct testing, as has been shown for temporin M and brevinin 1Tb in the present study.     

Collision-Induced Dissociation Fragmentation Inside Disulfide C-Terminal Loops of Natural Non-Tryptic Peptides

Collision-induced dissociation (CID) spectra of long non-tryptic peptides are usually quite complicated and rather difficult to interpret. Disulfide bond formed by two cysteine residues at C-terminus of frog skin peptides precludes one to determine sequence inside the forming loop. Thereby, chemical modification of S–S bonds is often used in “bottom up” sequencing approach. However, low-energy CID spectra of natural non-tryptic peptides with C-terminal disulfide cycle demonstrate an unusual fragmentation route, which may be used to elucidate the “hidden” C-terminal sequence. Low charge state protonated molecules experience peptide bond cleavage at the N-terminus of C-terminal cysteine. The forming isomeric acyclic ions serve as precursors for a series of b-type ions revealing sequence inside former disulfide cycle. The reaction is preferable for peptides with basic lysine residues inside the cycle. It may also be activated by acidic protons of Asp and Glu residues neighboring the loop. The observed cleavages may be quite competitive, revealing the sequence inside disulfide cycle, although S–S bond rupture does not occur in this case.

Pyteomics—a Python Framework for Exploratory Data Analysis and Rapid Software Prototyping in Proteomics

Pyteomics is a cross-platform, open-source Python library providing a rich set of tools for MS-based proteomics. It provides modules for reading LC-MS/MS data, search engine output, protein sequence databases, theoretical prediction of retention times, electrochemical properties of polypeptides, mass and m/z calculations, and sequence parsing. Pyteomics is available under Apache license; release versions are available at the Python Package Index http://pypi.python.org/pyteomics, the source code repository at http://hg.theorchromo.ru/pyteomics, documentation at http://packages.python.org/pyteomics. Pyteomics.biolccc documentation is available at http://packages.python.org/pyteomics.biolccc/. Questions on installation and usage can be addressed to pyteomics mailing list: pyteomics@googlegroups.com      

Space localization of the electrode reaction in copper-ion-exchanger nanocomposites

The formation of copper nanoparticles in a KU-23 15/100 sulfocation-exchanger was studied. It was demonstrated that the formation of copper as assemblies from nanoparticles with sizes of 3 to 10 nm during chemical synthesis is determined by the nature of the polymer and does not depend on the amount of metal precipitated. The percolation threshold of electron conductivity, which determines the formation of electrochemical activity of nanocomposites, was discovered. It was determined that the electroreduction of molecular oxygen takes place on the surface and in the subsurface zone of a nanocomposite grain, the size of which is determined by the local concentration of metal particles in the ion-exchanger phase.     

Effects of structural disorder in lithium manganite and titanate oxides

The structures and magnetic states of stoichiometric lithium manganite LiMn₂O₄ and manganites and titanates Li_1.33Mn_1.67O₄ and Li_1.33Ti_1.67O₄ with excess lithium in both the initial (as-synthesized) state and after irradiation by fast (E _eff ≥ 1 MeV) neutrons with a fluence of 2 × 10²⁰ cm⁻² have been studied using neutron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, and magnetic methods. It has been established that the irradiation brings about a noticeable redistribution of manganese, titanium, and lithium cations over nonequivalent tetrahedral (8a) and octahedral (16d) positions of a spinel lattice. This structural disorder causes a radical change in the physical properties of the materials under study. The charge order existing in the initial LiMn₂O₄ sample is destroyed. There arises a strong intersublattice indirect exchange interaction Mn(8a)-O-Mn(16d). The disorder is accompanied by the antiferromagnet-ferrimagnet (LiMn₂O₄) and paramagnet-ferrimagnet (Li_1.33Mn_1.67O₄) magnetic transitions.