Nonenzymatic Rubylation and Ubiquitination of Proteins for Structural and Functional Studies

Uncovering the mechanisms that allow conjugates of ubiquitin (Ub) and/or Ub‐like (UBL) proteins such as Rub1 to serve as distinct molecular signals requires the ability to make them with native connectivity and defined length and linkage composition. A novel, effective, and affordable strategy for controlled chemical assembly of fully natural UBL–Ub, Ub–UBL, and UBL–UBL conjugates from recombinant monomers is presented. Rubylation of Ub and Rub1 and ubiquitination of Rub1 was achieved without E2/E3 enzymes. New residue‐specific information was obtained on the interdomain contacts in naturally‐occurring K48‐linked Rub1–Ub and Ub–Rub1, and K29‐linked Rub1–Ub heterodimers, and their recognition by a K48‐linkage‐specific Ub receptor. The disassembly of these heterodimers by major deubiquitinating enzymes was examined and it was discovered that some deubiquitinases also possess derubylase activity. This unexpected result suggests possible crosstalk between Ub and Rub1/Nedd8 signaling pathways.     

Crystal Structure Analysis of 3'5' (dichloro phenyl)‐3‐ethyl‐5‐phenyl thio indalo [1,2‐e] imidazolidine

The title compound crystallizes in monoclinic system with space group P2₁ /n. The cell parameters are a = 12.3824(3) Å, b = 8.9255(1) Å, c = 19.9188(4) Å, V = 2181.75(7) ų , α = γ = 90.0° and β = 97.663(1)°. The structure has an indole moiety and an imidazolidine ring connected together. The phenyl sulfonyl group is attached to the indole moiety and the dichlorophenyl ring to the imidazolidine ring. The structure has a C‐H … Cl intra molecular hydrogen bond and C‐H … π type intermolecular interactions.     

A technique for multicoloring triangle-free hexagonal graphs

In order to avoid interference in cellular telephone networks, sets of radio frequencies are to be assigned to transmitters such that adjacent transmitters are allotted disjoint sets of frequencies. Often these transmitters are laid out like vertices of a triangular lattice in a plane. This problem corresponds to the problem of multicoloring an induced subgraph of a triangular lattice with integer demands associated with each vertex. We deal with the simpler case of triangle-free subgraphs of the lattice. [Frédéric Havet, Discrete Math. 233 (2001) 1–3] uses inductive arguments to prove that triangle-free hexagonal graphs can be colored with colors where ω_d is the maximum demand on a clique in the graph. We give a simpler proof and hope that our techniques can be used to prove the conjecture by [McDiarmid and Reed, Networks Suppl. 36 (2000) 114–117] that these graphs are -multicolorable.     

Energy transfer photophysics from serum albumins to sequestered 3-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid, an excited state intramolecular proton-transfer probe

The steady-state and time-resolved studies of the sensitized emission of the excited-state proton transfer (ESIPT) probe 3-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid (3HNA) when bound to bovine serum albumin (BSA) and human serum albumin (HSA) indicate that the nonradiative dipole-dipole F?rster type energy transfer from Trp singlet state of proteins to the ESIPT singlet state of 3HNA is greater in the case of HSA. This is supported by the distance and the orientation of the donor-acceptor pair obtained from the protein-ligand docking studies. The docking studies of the complex of BSA-3HNA also indicate that Trp 134 rather than Trp 213 is involved in the energy transfer process. The local environment of Trp 134 in BSA rather than that of Trp 213 is perturbed because of interaction with 3HNA as revealed by the optical resolution of Trp 134 phosphorescence in the complex at 77 K. Docking studies support the larger rotational correlation time, thetac (approximately 50 ns), observed for Trp residue/residues in the complexes of HSA and BSA compared with that in the free proteins.     

Role of length-dependent stability of collagen-like peptides

Understanding the structure, folding, and stability of collagen is complex because of its length and variations in the amino acid (AA) sequence composition. It is well known that the basic constituent of the collagen helix is the triplet repeating sequence of the form Gly-X(AA)-Y(AA). On the basis of previous models and with the frequency of occurrence of the triplets, the ((Gly-Pro-Hyp)n)3 (where n is the number of triplets) sequence replicate has been chosen as the model for the most stable form of the collagen-like sequence. With a view to understand the role of sequence length (or the number of triplets) on the stability of collagen, molecular dynamics simulations have been carried out by varying the number of triplet units on the model collagen-like peptides. The results reveal that five triplets are required to form the stable triple helix. Further analysis shows that the intermolecular structural rigidity of the imino acid residues, hydrogen bonding, and water structure around the three chains of the triple helix play the dominant roles on its structure, folding, and stabilization.     

Ionic-Liquid-Based Nanofluids and Their Heat-Transfer Applications: A Comprehensive Review

Due to the improved thermophysical characteristics of ionic liquids (ILs), such as their strong ionic conductivity, negligible vapor pressure, and thermal stability at high temperatures, they are being looked at viable contender for future heat transfer fluids. Additionally, the dispersing nanoparticles can further improve the thermophysical characteristics and thermal performance of ionic liquids, which is one of the emerging research interests to increase the heat transfer rates of the thermal devices. The latest investigations about the utilization of ionic liquid nanofluids as a heat transfer fluid is summarized in this work. These summaries are broken down into three types: (a) the thermophysical parameters including thermal conductivity, viscosity, density, and specific heat of ionic liquids (base fluids), (b) the thermophysical properties like thermal conductivity, viscosity, density, and viscosity of ionic liquids based nanofluids (IL nanofluids), and (iii) utilization of IL nanofluids as a heat transfer fluid in the thermal devices. The techniques for measuring the thermophysical characteristics and the synthesis of IL nanofluids are also covered. The suggestions for potential future research directions for IL nanofluids are summarized.     

Kinetics of ruthenium(III) catalyzed and uncatalyzed oxidation of monoethanolamine by <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-bromosuccinimide

Kinetics of uncatalyzed and ruthenium(III) catalyzed oxidation of monoethanolamine by N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) has been studied in an aqueous acetic acid medium in the presence of sodium acetate and perchloric acid, respectively. In the uncatalyzed oxidation the kinetic orders are: the first order in NBS, a fractional order in the substrate. The rate of the reaction increased with an increase in the sodium acetate concentration and decreased with an increase in the perchloric acid concentration. This indicates that free amine molecules are the reactive species. Addition of halide ions results in a decrease in the kinetic rate, which is noteworthy. Both in absence and presence of a catalyst, a decrease in the dielectric constant of the medium decreases the kinetic rate pointing out that these are dipole—dipole reactions. A relatively higher oxidation state of ruthenium i.e., Ru(V) was found to be the active species in Ru(III) catalyzed reactions. A suitable mechanism consistent with the observations has been proposed and a rate law has been derived to explain the kinetic orders.     

Synthesis,spectral, magnetic,electrochemical and kinetic studies of copper(II), nickel(II) and zinc(II) acetate complexes derived from phenol based ‘end-off’ ligands: Effect of p-substituents

A new class of symmetric, end-off, N-methyl piperazine armed binucleating ligands 2,6-bis(4-methyl piperazin-1-yl-methyl)-4-acetyl phenol (HL¹) and 2,6-bis[(4-methyl piperazin-1-yl-methyl)]-(4-methylcarboxy) phenol (HL²) were synthesized by the Mannich reaction. Their mononuclear and binuclear Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) complexes have been synthesized. These complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, infra-red and electronic spectral analysis. In the electronic spectra, the lower electron withdrawing nature of the C(O)CH₃p-substituent (HL¹) compared with the C(O)OCH₃p-substituent (HL²) of the phenolic ring causes a red shift in the LMCT-charge transfer band. The mononuclear Cu(II) complexes 1 and 7 have a magnetic moment value close to the spin only value with four hyperfine EPR signals. The binuclear Cu(II) complexes 4 and 10 illustrate an antiferromagnetic interaction (μ_eff 1.56 and 1.55 BM) at 298 K with a broad EPR signal. A variable temperature magnetic moment study of the binuclear copper(II) complexes shows that the extent of antiferromagnetic coupling increases in the order: CHO [K. Shanmuga Bharathi, A. Kalilur Rahiman, K. Rajesh, S. Sreedaran, P.G. Aravindan, D. Velmurugan, V. Narayanan, Polyhedron 25 (2006) 2859] < C(O)CH₃ < C(O)OCH₃ (−2J values 134 [Shanmuga Bharathi et al., mentioned above], 149 and 158 cm⁻¹, respectively). The mononuclear Ni(II) complexes 2 and 8 are square planar and diamagnetic. The six coordinated binuclear Ni(II) complexes 5 and 11 show a magnetic moment value of 2.96 and 2.95 BM, respectively. Electrochemical studies of the complexes reveal that all the mononuclear complexes show a single irreversible one-electron transfer reduction wave and the binuclear complexes show two irreversible one-electron transfer reduction waves in the cathodic region. There is an anodic shift in the reduction of the metal centres when the electron withdrawing nature of the p-substituent of the phenolic ring increases. The catecholase activity of the mono and binuclear copper(II) complexes, using pyrocatechol as a model substrate, and the hydrolysis of 4-nitrophenyl phosphate using the mono and binuclear copper(II), nickel(II) and zinc(II) complexes as catalysts showed that the binuclear complexes have higher rate constant values than those of the corresponding mononuclear complexes. A comparison of the spectral, electrochemical and magnetic behaviour of the complexes derived from the ligands is discussed on the basis of the substituent at the para position of the phenolic ring.