Xylanase Isozymes from the Newly Isolated Bacillus sp. CKBx1D and Optimization of Its Deinking Potentiality

Recycling of civic paper waste by enzyme-based technology is nowadays a point of much concern for pollution-less green environment. In this study, the deinking effectiveness of purified xylanase from a newly isolated bacterium was evaluated for recycling of laser jet paper waste. A potent xylanases-producing bacterium from the microbial consortia of termite gut was isolated, which was further identified on the basis of 16S rRNA sequence as Bacillus sp. CKBx1D. In submerged fermentation condition, the isolate produced the highest level of xylanase (480?U/ml) at 36?h of growth. The extracellular xylanase system comprises of three distinct isozymes (est. Mw 35.28, 28.63, 18.94?kDa). The deinking of laser printed paper waste was performed using the purified enzyme mixture. Whole operational parameters were optimized using the Response Surface Methodology; it was found that at pH 6.8 with 47.2?h of continuous shaking at constant temperature of 35?°C, enzymes showed best deinking activity. After enzyme treatment, the physical properties of the pulp like brightness and ERIC (effective residual ink content) values were enhanced, whereas the pulp opacity was more reduced than the control treatment. Hence, the bacterial isolate and its xylanolytic enzyme system could efficiently be used in recycling paper waste as deinking agent.     

Excited state chemistry of capsular assemblies in aqueous solution and on silica surfaces

Synthesis and encapsulation properties of two new water-soluble resorcinol-capped organic cavitands (tetra acid and octa acid; RTA and ROA) are reported in this Letter. Organic guest molecules template the formation of capsular assembly of the above cavitands in water. Depending upon the guest, either 1:2 (guest to host) or 2:2 capsular assemblies were formed. The excited state properties of guests such as anthracene, camphorthione, and 4,4'-dimethyl benzil were distinctly different within a capsular assembly from those when they were free in a solution. Importantly, the host-guest complexes of the above two hosts (RTA and ROA) as well as octa acid (OA) could be transferred to a silica surface. The excited state behavior of host-guest assemblies on silica surface resembled that in solution. The high cage effect in the decarbonylation products and high yield of rearrangement product obtained upon photolysis of 1-phenyl-3-tolyl-2-propanone included within RTA, ROA, and OA both in solution and on silica surface supported the conclusion that capsular assemblies of these hosts are stable on silica surface.     

Characterization of the interactions of fluorescent probes with proteins: coumarin 153 and 1,8-ANS in complex with holo- and apomyoglobin

In order to provide a thorough characterization of a system with which to study the dielectric response of a protein, a well-defined system complex of a fluorescent probe and protein is required. We have argued that such a system is provided by coumarin 153 and apomyoglobin (Photochem. Photobiol. 79, 440-446 [2004]). In order to demonstrate further that coumarin 153 exhibits negligible nonspecific binding to the surface of apomyoglobin, we study its interactions with both the apo and holo proteins. We further make a similar comparison with 8-anilino-l-naphthalenesulfonic acid, for which an NMR structure with apomyoglobin has been obtained. Our results confirm the appropriateness of the system of coumarin 153 and apomyoglobin for the investigation of solvation by the protein matrix.     

Maristentorin, a novel pigment from the positively phototactic marine ciliate Maristentor dinoferus, is structurally related to hypericin and stentorin

The photoreceptor pigment of the heterotrich ciliate, Maristentor dinoferus, has been characterized. It is structurally similar to those of Stentor coeruleus and Blepharisma japonicum but differs significantly in that it bears no aromatic hydrogens. The structure of the pigment, maristentorin, is based upon the hypericin skeleton, and its spectra are nearly identical to those of hypericin but shifted toward the red. Within experimental error, its fluorescence lifetime is identical to that of hypericin, approximately 5.5 ns in dimethylsulfoxide. It is remarkable that while the pigments are structurally similar in S. coeruleus and M. dinoferus, in the former there is an abrupt photophobic response, whereas in the latter there is a slow response toward light. The roles of the hypericin-like pigments in the heterotrich ciliates are discussed as potentially analogous in Maristentor.     

Copper(II) α-hydroxycarboxylate complexes of bis(2-pyridylcarbonyl)amine ligand: From mononuclear complex to one-dimensional coordination polymer

The coordination geometry and supramolecular structures of three copper(II) complexes of two α-hydroxycarboxylates and one α-methoxycarboxylate with nitrogen donor co-ligands are discussed. The complexes have been characterized by elemental analysis, ESI-MS, IR and electronic spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and magnetic measurements. The X-ray structure analysis of all the complexes, namely [(BPCA)Cu^II(MA)] (1), [(BPCA)Cu^II(MPA)(H₂O)] (2) and [(BPCA)Cu^II(BA)]_n (3), where BPCA = bis(2-pyridylcarbonyl)amidate, MA = racemic mandelate, MPA = racemic α-methoxy phenylacetate and BA = benzilate anion, shows the copper(II) ion in a distorted square-pyramidal geometry. In 1 the mandelate anion is coordinated to the copper(II) center in a bidentate fashion while in 2 the α-methoxycarboxylate is monodentate. In both cases a one-dimensional supramolecular array is formed through hydrogen bonds: the mononuclear units are directly connected in 1 by the MA hydroxyl group, whereas in 2 is the coordinated water that operates as H donor towards the MPA carboxylate group and the BPCA carbonyl oxygens of nearby complexes. In 3 the benzilate anion, acting as bridging ligand between copper ions, gives rise to a one-dimensional coordination polymer. In the latter, intra- and inter-chain π?π stacking interactions between pyridines and one phenyl ring of benzilate anions are observed in the packing.     

Nonlinear dynamics of unicycles in leader–follower formation

In this paper, a dynamical systems analysis is presented for characterizing the motion of a group of unicycles in leader–follower formation. The equilibrium formations are characterized along with their local stability analysis. It is demonstrated that with the variation in control gain, the collective dynamics might undergo Andronov–Hopf and Fold–Hopf bifurcations. The vigor of quasi-periodicity in the regime of Andronov–Hopf bifurcation and heteroclinic bursts between quasi-periodic and chaotic behavior in the regime of Fold–Hopf bifurcation increases with the number of unicycles. Numerical simulations also suggest the occurrence of global bifurcations involving the destruction of heteroclinic orbit.     

Inhibition of emission wavelength blueshift in annealed InAs/GaAs quantum dot stacks: an important observation for their potential application in photovoltaic devices

We have investigated the effect of post growth rapid thermal annealing on self-assembled InAs/GaAs multilayer QDs (MQD) overgrown with a combination barrier of InAlGaAs and GaAs for their possible use in photovoltaic device application. The samples were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence measurements. We noticed a thermally induced material interdiffusion between the QDs and the wetting layer in the MQD sample up to a certain annealing temperature. The QD heterostructure exhibited a thermal stability in the emission peak wavelength on annealing up to 700 ^°C temperature. A phenomenological model has been proposed for this stability of the emission peak. The model considers the effect of the strain field, propagating from the underlying QD layer to the upper layers of the multilayer QD and the effect of indium atom gradient in the combination barrier layer due to the presence of a quaternary InAlGaAs layer.     

Application of a Multilayer Perceptron Artificial Neural Network for the Prediction and Optimization of the Andrographolide Content in Andrographis paniculata

Andrographolide, the principal secondary metabolite of Andrographis paniculata, displays a wide spectrum of medicinal activities. The content of andrographolide varies significantly in the species collected from different geographical regions. Therefore, this study aims at investigating the role of different abiotic factors and selecting suitable sites for the cultivation of A. paniculata with high andrographolide content using a multilayer perceptron artificial neural network (MLP-ANN) approach. A total of 150 accessions of A. paniculata collected from different regions of Odisha and West Bengal in eastern India showed a variation in andrographolide content in the range of 0.28–5.45% on a dry weight basis. The MLP-ANN was trained using climatic factors and soil nutrients as the input layer and the andrographolide content as the output layer. The best topological ANN architecture, consisting of 14 input neurons, 12 hidden neurons, and 1 output neuron, could predict the andrographolide content with 90% accuracy. The developed ANN model showed good predictive performance with a correlation coefficient (R²) of 0.9716 and a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.18. The global sensitivity analysis revealed nitrogen followed by phosphorus and potassium as the predominant input variables influencing the andrographolide content. The andrographolide content could be increased from 3.38% to 4.90% by optimizing these sensitive factors. The result showed that the ANN approach is reliable for the prediction of suitable sites for the optimum andrographolide yield in A. paniculata.