LptA Assembles into Rod-Like Oligomers Involving Disorder-to-Order Transitions

LptA is a periplasmic protein involved in the transport of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from the inner membrane (IM) to the outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria. Growing evidence supports a model in which LptA assembles into oligomers, forming a physical bridge connecting IM and OM. This work investigates assembly and architecture of LptA oligomers. Circular dichroism and “native” electrospray-ionization ion-mobility mass spectrometry (ESI-IM-MS) are employed to test concentration dependence of LptA structural features and to analyze the morphology of higher-order aggregates. The results show that LptA progressively assembles into rod-like oligomers without fixed stoichiometry, and grows by an n + 1 mechanism up to at least the pentamer. The oligomerization process induces disorder-to-order transitions in the polypeptide chain. Comparison with crystallographic and computational data suggests that these conformational changes likely involve short disordered regions at the N- and C-termini of monomeric LptA. The protein response to thermal denaturation displays strong concentration dependence, indicating that oligomerization increases protein stability. LptA conformational stability can also be enhanced by in vitro LPS binding. The genesis of these fibrillar structures could be relevant for the correct transport of LPS across the bacterial periplasm.      

Design and Synthesis of Olefin Copolymers with Tunable Amounts of Comonomers Bearing Stabilizing Functionalities

The aim of this work is to search for innovative solutions to avoid physical migration of the stabilizers from plastic films. New families of macromolecular additives bearing tuned amounts of a selected functionality were explored, in particular, novel random copolymers of ethylene with 1‐olefin co‐units bearing an efficient antioxidant and/or anti‐UV moiety covalently bonded to a mono‐ or disubstituted olefinic bond. Polyolefin blends containing the novel macromolecular additives showed higher degradation temperatures with respect to the neat matrix and its blends with 2,6‐t‐butyl‐4‐methoxyphenol (BHA). Aging tests showed that the novel antioxidants also constitute a protection against photo‐oxidation.

     

Lipid profile of fish species by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry and a novel linear retention index database

In a previous article, Rigano et al. established a new linear retention index system for the identification of triacylglycerols by liquid chromatography methods only on the basis of the retention behavior and independently from many experimental parameters. In that work, a database of 209 compounds was built, but only 54 of them, typical of vegetable oils, were confirmed by mass spectrometry. The aim of the present research is to extend the applicability of the novel approach to more complex samples, such as fish lipid extracts, and assess the complementarity between mass spectromtery and retention information to achieve univocal identification. With this purpose, a new software was implemented to make the identification process easy and automatic as in gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry where the retention index filter is added in the spectral search to discriminate between compounds with similar mass spectrometry spectra. A total of 69 species were identified and, thanks to their baseline separation obtained by an ultra high performance liquid chromatography method, a semiquantification was also performed. The species under investigation were Dicentrarchus labrax, coming from aquaculture and the wild. Some differences in their native lipid composition were observed, probably related to a different diet. A major number of samples would be necessary to confirm such a preliminary finding.     

Determination of four bisphenols in water and urine samples by magnetic dispersive solid‐phase extraction using a modified zeolite/iron oxide composite prior to liquid chromatography diode array detection

A novel approach is presented to determine four bisphenols in water and urine samples, employing magnetic dispersive solid‐phase extraction combined with liquid chromatography and diode array detection. A modified zeolite‐based magnetic composite was used as an efficient sorbent, combining the advantages of magnetic materials with the remarkable properties of zeolites. A multivariate optimization design was employed to optimize some experimental factors affecting magnetic dispersive solid‐phase extraction. The method was evaluated under optimized conditions (i.e., amount of sorbent, 50 mg; sample pH, unadjusted; NaCl concentration, 1.25%; extraction and elution time, 2 min; eluent solvent, ethanol; eluent solvent volume, 400 µL), obtaining good linearity with correlation coefficients ranging between 0.995 and 0.999 (N = 5) (from 2 to 250 µg/L for bisphenol A, bisphenol AP, and bisphenol P and from 5 to 250 µg/L for bisphenol AF). Method repeatability was assessed obtaining coefficients of variation between 3 and 11% (n = 6). Finally, the method was applied to spiked real samples, obtaining for water samples relative recoveries between 83 and 105%, and for urine samples between 81 and 108% for bisphenol A, bisphenol AP, and bisphenol AF, and between 47 and 59% for bisphenol P.     

Infrared versus light scattering techniques to monitor the gel to liquid crystal phase transition in lipid membranes

In this study, Fourier transform infrared, Raman and Brillouin spectroscopy have been used to study lipid phase behavior of hydrated as well as dried multilamellar l ‐α‐phosphatidylcholine assemblies, in order to compare limitations and potentials of the different techniques. Dried lipid samples have been studied in the presence and absence of trehalose, which is known to affect the phase behavior of these systems. The methylene C‐H stretching (2800–3000 cm⁻¹) region in infrared (IR) and Raman spectra provided mutually consistent information on the rearrangement of lipid acyl chains occurring at the lipid melting temperature. IR spectra have a higher signal‐to‐noise ratio, thus permitting a more precise evaluation of the melting temperature. In the hydrated lipid samples, the C‐H stretching region in the Raman spectra is less affected by the contribution of water compared with that in the IR spectra. Raman spectra are particularly suitable to simultaneously study both lipid and water contributions allowing to distinguish ice from non‐frozen water below 0 °C. Brillouin light scattering was used to probe the collective dynamics, i.e. the propagation velocity and the attenuation of longitudinal acoustic modes in the lipid samples. Lipid phase transitions are evident from a change in the temperature behavior of the acoustic velocity. Moreover, a strong relaxation process with a characteristic time of 14 ps was observed in the sample dried without trehalose with a maximum in acoustic attenuation at about 45 °C, which likely reflects the rearrangement of acyl chains. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical approximation of quadratic observables of Schrödinger-type equations in the semi-classical limit

We apply Wigner-transform techniques to the analysis of difference methods for Schr?dinger-type equations in the case of a small Planck constant. In this way we are able to obtain sharp conditions on the spatial-temporal grid which guarantee convergence for average values of observables as the Planck constant tends to zero. The theory developed in this paper is not based on local and global error estimates and does not depend on whether caustics develop or not. Numerical test examples are presented to help interpret the theory. Received April 17, 1997 / Revised version received February 23, 1998     

Calorimetric analyses on aged Al–4.4Cu–0.5Mg–0.9Si–0.8Mn alloy (AA2014 grade)

An Al–4.4Cu–0.5Mg–0.9Si–0.8Mn alloy (IADS 2014 grade) in the solution annealed and peak aged condition was exposed at 170°C for relatively long times (up to about 1800 h) in order to check the stability of the alloy. The investigated aging temperature was in the frame of a research on the long-term mechanical behaviour of such alloy. Microstructure evolution was monitored via calorimetric analyses, metallographic inspections and hardness measurements. Further, X-ray analyses were carried out on selected samples. The attention was focused on differential scanning calorimetry performed at different scanning rates, with the aim of evaluating the kinetics of the precipitation phenomena. Notwithstanding the wide industrial diffusion of this alloy, literature survey showed that there is not a consensus view on the precipitation sequences and on calorimetric peak identification. The present results show the progressive evolution of calorimetric peaks, corresponding to that of strengthening particles towards more stable phases, proved by the disappearance of exothermic peaks. Activation energy from Kissinger kinetic analysis in the case of aged samples provided scattered values that could be reasonably attributed to an overlapping of transformation peaks. Moreover, in these samples transformations partially occurred before DSC scans, providing non-constant transformation fraction at signal peak temperatures and resulting in different activation energies.     

Unsaturated alkoxy‐substituted poly(p‐phenylene 1,3,4‐oxadiazole)s: Synthesis and chemical–physical characterization

A new series of alkoxy‐substituted poly(p‐phenylene 1,3,4‐oxadiazole)s modified by the insertion of small percentages of various comonomers were synthesized through the precursor polyhydrazides. The comonomers used contained trans double bonds or meta‐alkoxy‐substituted aromatic rings to improve the solubility of the final polymers. The synthesized copolymers were chemically characterized by ¹H NMR and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. In some cases, the copolymers really showed improved solubility in organic solvents. The ¹⁵N solid‐state NMR technique was applied to examine the degree of conversion from the precursor polyhydrazides to the final polymers, which determined the effective conjugated length in the target polyoxadiazoles. Thermal stability and structural characteristics of all the polymers as well as a preliminary investigation on the optical properties of polyoxadiazoles are also reported. The copolymers retained high absorbance in the UV region and high transmission in the whole telecommunication range. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 3916–3928, 2003     

Submanifolds of Weyl Flat Manifolds

 We consider compact Weyl submanifolds of Weyl flat manifolds with special attention on compact Einstein-Weyl hypersurfaces. In particular, in the last part of the paper, we study Weyl submanifolds of special noncompact manifolds, called PC-manifolds. Received July 16, 2001; in revised form February 6, 2002 Published online August 9, 2002