Tyr72 and Tyr80 are Involved in the Formation of an Active Site of a Luciferase of Copepod Metridia longa

Luciferase of copepod Metridia longa (MLuc) is a naturally secreted enzyme catalyzing the oxidative decarboxylation of coelenterazine with the emission of light. To date, three nonallelic isoforms of different lengths (17–24 kDa) for M. longa luciferase have been cloned. All the isoforms are single‐chain proteins consisting of a 17‐residue signal peptide for secretion, variable N‐terminal part and conservative C‐terminus responsible for luciferase activity. In contrast to other bioluminescent proteins containing a lot of aromatic residues which are frequently involved in light emission reaction, the C‐terminal part of MLuc contains only four Phe, two Tyr, one Trp and two His residues. To figure out whether Tyr residues influence bioluminescence, we constructed the mutants with substitution of Tyr to Phe (Y72F and Y80F). Tyrosine substitutions do not eliminate the ability of luciferase to bioluminescence albeit significantly reduce relative specific activity and change bioluminescence kinetics. In addition, the Tyr replacements have no effect on bioluminescence spectrum, thereby indicating that tyrosines are not involved in the emitter formation. However, as it was found that the intrinsic fluorescence caused by Tyr residues is quenched by a reaction substrate, coelenterazine, in concentration‐dependent manner, we infer that both tyrosine residues are located in the luciferase substrate‐binding cavity.     

Near-infrared luminescent and magnetic cyano-bridged coordination polymers Nd(phen)n(DMF)m[M(CN)8] (M = Mo, W)

New cyano-bridged coordination polymers [Nd(phen)(2)(DMF)(2)(H(2)O)Mo(CN)(8)]·2H(2)O (1) and [Nd(phen)(DMF)(5)M(CN)(8)]·xH(2)O [M = Mo (2), W (3); phen = 1,10-phenanthroline] have one-dimensional structures with variable number of phenanthroline ligands. Compounds exhibit photoluminescence in the near-infrared region and ferromagnetic Nd(3+)-M(5+) interactions.     

Autocatalytic sonolysis of iron pentacarbonyl in room temperature ionic liquid [BuMeIm][Tf2N

The autocatalytic sonochemical reaction of Fe(CO)(5) decomposition in [BuMeIm][Tf(2)N] provides iron nanoparticles in higher yields than in tetralin. Such a difference is explained by the higher decomposition of the intermediate Fe(3)(CO)(12) according to the two-sites model of the sonochemical reactions and the specific properties of the ionic liquid.     

Bifunctional Mixed-Lanthanide Cyano-Bridged Coordination Polymers Ln(0.5)Ln'(0.5)(H(2)O)(5)[W(CN)(8)] (Ln/Ln' = Eu(3+)/Tb(3+), Eu(3+)/Gd(3+), Tb(3+)/Sm(3+))

A new family of mixed-lanthanide cyano-bridged coordination polymers Ln(0.5)Ln'(0.5)(H(2)O)(5)[W(CN)(8)] (where Ln/Ln' = Eu(3+)/Tb(3+), Eu(3+)/Gd(3+), and Tb(3+)/Sm(3+)) containing two lanthanide and one transition metal ions were obtained and characterized by X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence spectroscopy, magnetic analyses, and theoretical computation. These compounds are isotypical and crystallize in the tetragonal system P4/nmm forming two-dimensional grid-like networks. They present a magnetic ordering at low temperature and display the red Eu(3+) ((5)D(0) → (7)F(0-4)) and green Tb(3+) ((5)D(4) → (7)F(6-2)) characteristic photoluminescence. The Tb(0.5)Eu(0.5)(H(2)O)(5)[W(CN)(8)] compound presents therefore green and red emission and shows Tb(3+)-to-Eu(3+) energy transfer.     

Fragmentation of <Superscript>7</Superscript>Li relativistic nuclei on a proton into the <Superscript>3</Superscript>H + <Superscript>4</Superscript>He channel

In a track nuclear photoemulsion exposed to a beam of ⁷Li nuclei accelerated to a momentum of 3 GeV/c per nucleon at the synchrophasotron of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, Dubna), 13 events in which ⁷Li nuclei interacting with protons break up into ³H and ⁴He fragments were detected among 3730 inelastic-interaction events. For this fragmentation channel, the cross section was found to be 8 ± 2 mb. The average value of the fragment total transverse momentum was 214 ± 5 MeV/c. This value exceeds markedly the average value of the transverse-momentum transfer in the coherent dissociation of ⁷Li nuclei on track-emulsion nuclei (166±5MeV/c). The recoil-proton transverse momentum was on average 98% of the total proton momentum. The longitudinal-momentum distribution of protons was characterized by a variance of 16 MeV/c and a mean value of 37 ± 2MeV/c.     

Synthesis of complex oxides with garnet structure by spray drying of an aqueous salt solution

The use of spray drying to obtain powders of complex oxides with a garnet structure has demonstrated. The processes occurring during heating of the synthesized oxide–salt product, leading to the formation of a material with a garnet structure, have been investigated using DTA, TGA, XPS, and XRD. It has been shown that a single-phase garnet structure of system (Y _x Gd_(3–x))₃Al₅O₁₂ can be synthesized over the entire range of compositions.     

Optical bistability and spatial resonator solitons based on exciton-polariton nonlinearity

We show experimentally optical bistability and the existence of bright and dark resonator solitons in the strong coupling regime between quantum-well excitons and the optical field in a semiconductor microcavity. The strong coupling results in a quasi-particle exciton-polariton, which gives access to positive and negative reactive and dissipative optical nonlinearities, as opposed to the usual room temperature semiconductor nonlinearities possessing essentially only one sign. The existence range and the properties of solitons can be varied widely by the detuning between polariton states and light frequency.     

Role of the nuclear and electromagnetic interactions in the coherent dissociation of the relativistic <Superscript>7</Superscript>Li nucleus into the <Superscript>3</Superscript>H + <Superscript>4</Superscript>He channel

The differential cross section in the transverse momentum Q and a total cross section of (31 ± 4) mb for the coherent dissociation of a 3-A-Ge V/c ⁷Li nucleus through the ³H + ⁴He channel have been measured on emulsion nuclei. The observed Q dependence of the cross section is explained by the predominant supposition of the nuclear diffraction patterns on light (C, N, O) and heavy (Br, Ag) emulsion nuclei. The contributions to the cross section from nuclear diffraction (Q ≤ 400 Me V/c) and Coulomb (Q ≤ 50 Me V/c) dissociations are calculated to be 40.7 and 4 mb, respectively.     

Layer-by-layer adsorption of biopolyelectrolytes as a universal approach to fabrication of protein-loaded microparticles

This study was aimed at examination of microparticles formed via the layer-by-layer adsorption of dextran sulfate and chitosan onto the insoluble complexes of various proteins with polyanions. Microparticles with all tested proteins were stable at pH values of 1–5. At pH > 6 the mucoadhesivity of the microparticles changed and the encapsulated proteins were released. Microparticles were able to protect the proteins from proteases. Proteinous protease inhibitors encapsulated as well (2–3%) completely prevented protein proteolysis. The pharmacological effect of microencapsulated insulin was studied in vivo using the model of chronic diabetes in rats, which were treated by oral administration.