Fatty acid binding site of mitochondrial uncoupling protein UCP2 as probed by EPR spectroscopy of spin-labeled fatty acids

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy of spin-labeled fatty acids was used to investigate their interaction withEscherichia coli-expressed human mitochondrial uncoupling protein UCP2 refolded from inclusion bodies in nonaethylene glycol monododecyl ether (C₁₂E₉) micelles. 5-DOXYL-stearic acid and 4-PROXYL-palmitic acid bound to UCP2 exhibited additional clearly separated h_+1I, h_?1I “immobile” peaks in the low- and high-field region, respectively, separated by 42 and 44 Gauss, and extensively reduced h_+1M, h_?1M “mobile” peaks, separated by about 30 G, whereas with 7-DOXYL-stearic acid the I and M peaks were smoothed together into one wide peak. Competition of 4-PROXYL-palmitic acid with added palmitic acid, arachidonic acid, and all-cis-8,11,14-eicosatrienoic acid and of 7-DOXYL-stearic acid with arachidonic acid was indicated by the disappearance of the h_+1I, h_?1I “immobile” peaks, whereas redistribution in micelles without protein was indicated by the rising of the h_+1M, h_?1M “mobile” peaks. In conclusion, a competition of palmitic, arachidonic, and eicosatrienoic acid within a putative fatty acid binding site was observed for mitochondrial uncoupling protein UCP2. This finding together with the observation of EPR spectra of highly immobilized probes exclusively in the presence of the recombinant UCP2 suggest the existence of a fatty acid binding site on UCP2 which is a prerequisite of the fatty acid cycling mechanism as previously postulated for UCP1.     

Titanium nanocarbides: Synthesis and modeling

The present state of research on the production and modeling of nanostructures based on titanium carbide-a typical representative of an extensive class of carbides of d-and f-metals-is reviewed. Methods for the synthesis of various Ti-C nanostructures (molecular clusters, nanocrystallites, nanospheres, nanofibers, nanowires) are examined, and their morphology, atomic structure, and known physicochemical characteristics are described. Theoretical models of the atomic structure and properties of new types of nanostructures in the titanium-carbon system (endo-and exohedral titanofullerenes, “hybrid” structures based on carbon nanotubes, the so-called peapods, nanocables, and a number of others) and the prospects for their application as components of nanoceramics, hydrogen accumulators, materials for spintronics, etc. are discussed. __________ Translated from Teoreticheskaya i éksperimental’naya Khimiya, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 1–23, January–February, 2007.     

On the existence and the stability of solutions for higher-order semilinear Dirichlet problems

We investigate the existence and stability of solutions for higher-order two-point boundary value problems in case the differential operator is not necessarily positive definite, i.e. with superlinear nonlinearities. We write an abstract realization of the Dirichlet problem and provide abstract existence and stability results which are further applied to concrete problems.     

Interpolation of positive operators

We study problems of interpolation of positive linear operators in couples of ordered Banach spaces. From this viewpoint, we study couples of noncommutative spaces L ₁, L _∞ associated with weights and traces on von Neumann algebras.     

Flat transversals to flats and convex sets of a fixed dimension

Helly and Hadwiger type theorems for transversal m-flats to families of flats and, respectively, convex sets of dimension n are proved in the case of general position. The proofs rely on Helly type theorems for “linear partitions” and “convex partitions,” so that a general theory of Helly numbers is also developed.