Allosteric inhibition of the protein-protein interaction between the leukemia-associated proteins Runx1 and CBFbeta

The two subunits of core binding factor (Runx1 and CBFbeta) play critical roles in hematopoiesis and are frequent targets of chromosomal translocations found in leukemia. The binding of the CBFbeta-smooth muscle myosin heavy chain (SMMHC) fusion protein to Runx1 is essential for leukemogenesis, making this a viable target for treatment. We have developed inhibitors with low micromolar affinity which effectively block binding of Runx1 to CBFbeta. NMR-based docking shows that these compounds bind to CBFbeta at a site displaced from the binding interface for Runx1, that is, these compounds function as allosteric inhibitors of this protein-protein interaction, a potentially generalizable approach. Treatment of the human leukemia cell line ME-1 with these compounds shows decreased proliferation, indicating these are good candidates for further development.     

Tyrosinase/laccase bienzyme biosensor for amperometric determination of phenolic compounds

Tyrosinase/laccase bienzyme biosensor for amperometric determination of phenolic compounds was constructed. Enzymes were immobilized in titania gel matrix. The obtained biosensor was successfully used for determination of 2,6-dimethoxyphenol, 4-tertbutylcatechol, 4-methylcatechol, 3-chlorophenol and catechol. The highest sensitivity and the widest linear range were noticed for catechol, 234 mA L mol^− 1 and 2.0 × 10^− 7–3.2 × 10^− 5 mol/L, respectively. Detection limit for catechol, at signal-to-noise ratio of 3 was 1.3 × 10^− 7 mol/L.     

The unusual binding abilities of the His-analogue of Arg-vasopressin towards Cu2+

A new vasopressin analogue, [His(1,6)]AVP, was synthesized and characterized by potentiometric measurements as well as by UV-Vis, CD and EPR spectroscopy. At the physiological pH the peptide forms a stable complex with Cu(2+) ions which is characterized by the {NH(2), N(Im), N(Im(macrochelate))} binding mode. The replacement of both Cys by His residues in the vasopressin sequence results in a very significant increase in the efficiency of Cu(2+) binding.     

Titanium and zirconium benzofuranoxides. Crystal structures and catalytic properties

Reactions of Ti(OiPr)4 or Zr(OEt)4 with 4 equivalents of 2,3-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-7-benzofuranol (ddbfoH) in toluene gave neutral complexes that in the solid state are dimers of [Ti(micro-ddbfo)2(ddbfo)6] and [Zr(ddbfo)3(EtOH)(micro-EtO)]2 composition. The former could also be conveniently synthesized in a direct reaction of TiCl4 with ddbfoH. This air-stable aryloxo compound was found to initiate living ring-opening polymerization of lactides affording polyesters with narrow molecular weight distribution. It also catalyzed addition of terminal acetylenes to aryl aldehydes.     

Melting and crystallization DSC profiles of milk fat depending on selected factors

The aim of this study was to test selected factors, such as sample preparation and measurement procedure, potentially influencing repeatability of DSC analysis of milk fat melting and crystallization. The study investigated the effect of such factors as scanning rate, type of sample pans, method of butter dehydration, and final temperature in the cooling experiment. Based on recorded results, it was observed that cooling rate has a considerable effect on temperature, enthalpy, and height of peaks in the process of milk fat crystallization, as well as peak height and enthalpy in the melting process. By contrast, in the melting process no significant differences were observed in all measured temperatures in the range of heating rate of 2–20 °C min^?1 (p > 0.05). No statistically significant effect on thermodynamic parameters was found for sample pan type, the applied butter dehydration method and various final cooling temperatures (?60, ?50, and ?40 °C) either in the melting or crystallization processes. Only temperature of the second peak (T _c2) in the crystallization process constituted an exception in this respect, with significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) being recorded depending on the applied pan and dehydration method. With regard to the dehydration method, for the extraction and centrifugation methods the first peak forming during crystallization was characterized by high instability, manifested by various peak shape. Generally, it was found that the analysis of the melting and crystallization processes in milk fat, despite its complex composition, is characterized by high repeatability. Mean values of RSD calculated from all the experiments were very low, i.e., 1.8 % for the temperature in the melting process and 1.5 % in crystallization, 0.9 % for melting enthalpy, and 3.2 % for crystallization enthalpy, whereas for peak heights in melting it was 2.9 % and for crystallization it was 9.3 %, respectively.     

Quotients of peripherally continuous functions

We characterize the family of quotients of peripherally continuous functions. Moreover, we study cardinal invariants related to quotients in the case of peripherally continuous functions and the complement of this family.     

Comparison of ground and excited state polarizabilities of thiophene,cyclopentadiene, and fulvene oligomers and their cyano substituted derivatives—Ab initio study

Ab Initio study of the ground and excited state polarizabilities of thiophene, fulvene, and cyclopentadiene based conducting oligomers and their cyano derivatives have been performed using the restricted Hartree–Fock (RHF) and the configuration interaction singles (CIS) approaches, respectively, with 3‐21G* basis set. For comparison purposes, for some small oligomers (monomers and dimers), higher basis sets (6‐31G*, 6‐31+G*, aug‐cc‐pVTZ) were also employed in the computations of polarizabilities. The trends in polarizability as a function of oligomer length were investigated. For all systems, the RHF polarizability increases as n^1.2–1.3 as n gets larger and the CIS polarizability increases as n^1.4–1.6 for n less than seven or eight rings and then increases approximately linearly with n for larger n. For the thiophene based systems the dependence of the polarizability on bond length alternation (BLA) along the backbone of the oligomers was also investigated using the RHF, density functional (DFT), and CIS theories (with 3‐21G* basis set). For thiophene dimer, we also performed RHF/aug‐cc‐pVTZ calculations of polarizabilities versus BLA. We found that the polarizability is largest when BLA is near zero (for both ground and excited states), which correlates with the lowest excitation energy. Comparison with experimental results has been made where possible. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 1983–1995, 2007     

A Mechanism of Efficient G6PD Inhibition by a Molecular Clip

Triple duty : A synthetic molecular clip traps nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP⁺; see picture) as well as occupying both the cofactor‐ and the substrate‐binding site in glucose‐6‐phosphate (G6P) dehydrogenase. This combination of two inhibition mechanisms makes the clip highly effective and selective for this enzyme over other dehydrogenases.