The problem of amino acid complementarity and antisense peptides

The review presents three hypotheses concerning the amino acid complementarity: 1) the Mekler-Blalock antisense hypothesis; 2) the Root-Bernstein approach based on stereochemical complementarity of amino acids and anti-amino acids coded by anticodons read in parallel with the coding DNA strand; 3) Siemion hypothesis resulting from the periodicity of the genetic code. The current state of knowledge as well as the results of the implementations of these hypotheses are compared. A special attention is given to Root-Bernstein and Siemion hypotheses, which differ in only few points of the complementarity prediction. We describe methods of investigation of peptide-antipeptide pairing, including circular dichroism, mass spectrometry, affinity chromatography and other techniques. The biological applications of complementarity principle are considered, such as search for bioeffector-bioreceptor interaction systems, the influence of peptide-antipeptide pairing on the activity of peptide hormones, and the application of antipeptides in immunochemistry. The possible role of amino acid-anti-amino acid interactions in the formation of the spatial structures of peptides, proteins and protein complexes is discussed. Such problems as the pairing preferences of protein-protein interfaces, the role of the pairing in the creation of disulfide bonds and the possible appearance of such interactions in beta-structure are also examined. The main intention of the paper is to bring the complementarity problem to the attention of the scientific community, as a possible tool in proteomics, molecular design and molecular recognition.     

A characterization of radius-critical graphs

A graph G is radius-critical if every proper induced connected subgraph of G has radius strictly smaller than the original graph. Our main purpose is to characterize all such graphs.     

Efficient image projection by Fourier electroholography

An improved efficient projection of color images is presented. It uses a phase spatial light modulator with three iteratively optimized Fourier holograms displayed simultaneously--each for one primary color. This spatial division instead of time division provides stable images. A pixelated structure of the modulator and fluctuations of liquid crystal molecules cause a zeroth-order peak, eliminated by additional wavelength-dependent phase factors shifting it before the image plane, where it is blocked with a matched filter. Speckles are suppressed by time integration of variable speckle patterns generated by additional randomizations of an initial phase and minor changes of the signal.     

Effect of pH on lipid oxidation of red onion skin extracts treated with washed tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) muscle model systems

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of pH on the lipid oxidation of red onion skin extracts (ROSEs) treated with washed tilapia muscle model systems (WTMS). Minced and buffered washed samples were prepared at pH 6.3 and 6.8. The WTMS were treated with2 different concentrations of red onion skin prior to storage for 5 days. Lipid oxidation was investigated via peroxide values (PVs), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and the formation of volatile compounds. Fatty acid profiles of the samples were also identified. The ROSEs were able to significantly suppress the PV (~71%) and TBARS (~42%) formation. Hexanal and octanal formations in the WTMS were relatively less in the ROSE-treated samples. The WTMS samples prepared at pH 6.3 were more vulnerable to lipid oxidation than those prepared at pH 6.8. Red onion skin polyphenols may increase the lag phase of lipid oxidation, depending on pH levels, resulting in the shelf life extension of raw fish.     

Conformational investigations of cyclic dipeptides: Cyclo-glycyl-L-methionyl,cyclo-glycyl-D,L-norleucyl and cyclo-glycyl-D,L-norvalyl

The E₀ rotamer of c-Gly-Met has been found to be almost as equally populated as the F rotamer at low temperatures, whereas in c-Gly-D ,L -Nle and c-Gly-D ,L -Nvl the F rotamer predominates. The increase of the E₀ rotamer population parallels the increase of the boat diketopiperazine (DKP) ring conformation, in which Med side-chain occupies a pseudoaxial position. Thermodynamic parameters for DKP ring inversion and for conformational transitions in the side-chains were experimentally determined for each cyclic dipeptide investigated.     

Conformational investigations on cyclic dipeptides containing a proline residue by means of 13C n.m.r. spectroscopy

The amounts of boat (A) and planar (B) forms for the equilibrium state in D₂O and CD₃OD/d₆-DMSO (1:1) were calculated for seven proline-containing cyclic dipeptides from their ¹³C n.m.r. spectra. For c-Pro-Val the thermodynamic functions for the conversion between the boat and planar forms have been obtained from measurements of equilibrium constants at different temperatures.     

Off-axis metallic diffractive lens for terahertz beams

A diffractive optical element for off-axis focusing of terahertz radiation is presented. It was designed in a nonparaxial regime and manufactured in a metal slab by laser cutting of curved stripes. The optical function of the structure includes focusing and deflecting the illuminating beam of a chosen frequency in a particular place. Therefore, the element acts as both a spatial and a spectral filter; hence it is especially suitable for separating the terahertz signal from a broadband thermal load in passive detection devices. The experimental evaluation of the proposed diffractive lens by means of time-domain spectroscopy is presented and discussed.