Mechanistic aspects of the interaction of intercalating metal complexes with nucleic acids

Since the discovery of the intercalative binding mode, almost half a century ago, intense efforts have been devoted to design, synthesize and test new small molecules that can bind nucleic acids with improved recognition and affinity. Among them, metal bearing compounds play a principal role. Despite the plethora of different metal complexes which have been designed to react with DNA and which have been tested, the binding mechanisms have often not been analysed. This is unfortunate, considering the importance of understanding of the binding features in depth in order to optimise their biological effects. This review covers articles where an analysis of the kinetic aspects of the interaction between the target metal compound and nucleic acids has been carried out and details of the reaction mechanism are provided. Flat metal complexes (porphyrins), spherical complexes with protruding intercalating residues, azamacrocycle metallo-intercalators and intercalators with metal bearing pendant arms are the classes of molecules that have been taken into account. The limits of the SDS method, employed to measure the rates of drug dissociation from polynucleotides, are also discussed.     

Future teachers’ competence to plan a lesson: first results of a six-country study on the efficiency of teacher education

The study "Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century (MT21)" focuses beyond others on the measurement of teachers’ general pedagogical knowledge (GPK). GPK is regarded as a latent construct embedded in a larger theory of teachers’ professional competence. It is laid out how GPK was defined and operationalized. As part of an international comparison GPK was measured with several complex vignettes. In the present paper, the results of future mathematics teachers’ knowledge from four countries (Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, and the US) with very different teacher-education systems are presented. Significant and relevant differences between the four countries as well as between future teachers at the beginning and at the end of teacher education were found. The results are discussed with reference to cultural discourses about teacher education.     

High-order finite elements in numerical electromagnetism: degrees of freedom and generators in duality

Explicit generators for high-order (r>1) scalar and vector finite element spaces generally used in numerical electromagnetism are presented and classical degrees of freedom, the so-called moments, revisited. Properties of these generators on simplicial meshes are investigated, and a general technique to restore duality between moments and generators is proposed. Algebraic and exponential optimal h- and r-error rates are numerically validated for high-order edge elements on the problem of Maxwell’s eigenvalues in a square domain.     

Spatio-Temporal Variation of the Bacterial Communities along a Salinity Gradient within a Thalassohaline Environment (Saline di Tarquinia Salterns,Italy)

The “Saline di Tarquinia” salterns have been scarcely investigated regarding their microbiological aspects. This work studied the structure and composition of their bacterial communities along the salinity gradient (from the nearby sea through different ponds). The communities showed increasing simplification of pond bacterial diversity along the gradient (particularly if compared to those of the sea). Among the 38 assigned phyla, the most represented were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Differently to other marine salterns, where at the highest salinities Bacteroidetes dominated, preponderance of Proteobacteria was observed. At the genus level the most abundant taxa were Pontimonas, Marivita, Spiribacter, Bordetella, GpVII and Lentibacter. The α-diversity analysis showed that the communities were highly uneven, and the Canonical Correspondence Analysis indicated that they were structured by various factors (sampling site, sampling year, salinity, and sampling month). Moreover, the taxa abundance variation in relation to these significant parameters were investigated by Generalized Linear Models. This work represents the first investigation of a marine saltern, carried out by a metabarcoding approach, which permitted a broad vision of the bacterial diversity, covering both a wide temporal span (two years with monthly sampling) and the entire salinity gradient (from the nearby sea up to the crystallisation ponds).     

Synthesis and characterization of cobalt(II) and copper(II) complexes with 5-amino-3,4-dimethylisoxazole

Summary Complexes of cobalt(II) and copper(II) with 5-amino-3,4-dimethylisoxazole (5-ADI) have been prepared and studied by means of magnetic susceptibility measurements, near and far i.r. spectra, electronic spectroscopy and, when possible, conductivity measurements. The 5-ADI generally behaves as bridging (N_ring-, O- or N_ring-, -NH₂) ligand. All the complexes have an octahedral sterochemistry, except Co(5-ADI)₂X₂ (X = Cl, Br), Co₂(5-ADI)₇I₄ which are tetrahedral and Cu(5-ADI)₂ (ClO₄)₂ · 4 H₂O which is square planar.     

Measurement of elastic scattering in antiproton-proton collisions at 52.8 GeV centre-of-mass energy

We measured the differential cross section for p?p and pp elastic scattering in the momentum-transfer range 0.01 <|t| < 1.0 GeV² at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings with center-of-mass energy $\text{s}\text{= 52.8}\text{GeV}$. Fitting the differential cross section with an exponential [Aexp (bt)], we found $\text{b}\text{p}\text{p = 13.92 ± 0.59}\text{GeV}{}^{\mathrm{?2}}$ for |t| < 0.05 GeV², whilst for |t| > 0.09 GeV², $\text{b}\text{p}\text{p = 10.68 ± 0.26}\text{GeV}{}^{\mathrm{?2}}$. Using the optical theorem, we obtained for the total cross section $\text{σ}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>tot</mtext>}}\text{(}\text{p}\text{p)= 44.86 ± 0.78}\text{mb}$ and, by integrating the differential cross section, we obtained for the total elastic cross section $\text{σ}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>el</mtext>}}\text{(}\text{p}\text{p) = 7.89 ± 0.28}\text{mb}$. Calculations of σ_tot combining elastic-rate and total-rate measurements are also given. All of these measurements were also performed for pp scattering at the same energy, and the results for both reactions are compared.     

High-throughput mutational screening for beta-thalassemia by single-nucleotide extension

In this work a high-throughput method based on the single-nucleotide extension (SNE) reaction and multicolour detection in a DNA sequencer was developed to screen for eight mutations in the human beta-globin gene: IVSI.110, cd39, IVSI.1, IVSI.6, IVSII.745, HbC, HbS and cd6. The method has been validated on a large number of samples for the two most common mutations causing beta-thalassemia in the Mediterranean area (IVSI.110 and cd39). The development of a high-throughput, fast and reliable method to assay beta-thalassemia mutations represents a significant improvement in molecular diagnosis of this disease. The multicolour detection and the use of multiple injections further enhances the throughput of mutational screening by the DNA sequencer and facilitates automated genotyping for routine molecular diagnostics.     

The genomisotopic approach: a systematic method to isolate products of orphan biosynthetic gene clusters

With the increasing number of genomes sequenced and available in the public domain, a large number of orphan gene clusters, for which the encoded natural product is unknown, have been identified. These orphan gene clusters represent a tremendous source of novel and possibly bioactive compounds. Here, we describe a "genomisotopic approach," which employs a combination of genomic sequence analysis and isotope-guided fractionation to identify unknown compounds synthesized from orphan gene clusters containing nonribosomal peptide synthetases. Analysis of the Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf-5 genome led to the identification of an orphan gene cluster predicted to code for the biosynthesis of a lipopeptide natural product. Application of the genomisotopic approach to isolate the product of this gene cluster resulted in the discovery of orfamide A, founder of a group of bioactive cyclic lipopeptides.