Implicit numerical schemes for the stochastic Liouville equation in Langevin form

We present and numerically test implicit as well as explicit numerical schemes for solving the Stochastic Liouville Equation in Langevin form. It is found that implicit schemes provide significant gain in robustness, for example, when nonsecular Hamiltonian terms cannot be ignored in electron and nuclear spin resonance. Implicit schemes open up several spectroscopic relaxation problems for direct interpretation using the Stochastic Liouville Equation. To illustrate the proposed numerical schemes, studies are presented for an electron paramagnetic resonance problem involving a coordinated copper complex and a fluorescence problem.     

Topological characterisation and identification of critical domains within glucosyltransferase IV (GtrIV) of Shigella flexneri

Background

Uncharacterized proteases naturally expressed by bacterial pathogens represents important topic in infectious disease research, because these enzymes may have critical roles in pathogenicity and cell physiology. It has been observed that cloning, expression and purification of proteases often fail due to their catalytic functions which, in turn, cause toxicity in the E. coli heterologous host.

Results

In order to address this problem systematically, a modified pipeline of our high-throughput protein expression and purification platform was developed. This included the use of a specific E. coli strain, BL21(DE3) pLysS to tightly control the expression of recombinant proteins and various expression vectors encoding fusion proteins to enhance recombinant protein solubility. Proteases fused to large fusion protein domains, maltosebinding protein (MBP), SP-MBP which contains signal peptide at the N-terminus of MBP, disulfide oxidoreductase (DsbA) and Glutathione S-transferase (GST) improved expression and solubility of proteases. Overall, 86.1% of selected protease genes including hypothetical proteins were expressed and purified using a combination of five different expression vectors. To detect novel proteolytic activities, zymography and fluorescence-based assays were performed and the protease activities of more than 46% of purified proteases and 40% of hypothetical proteins that were predicted to be proteases were confirmed.

Conclusions

Multiple expression vectors, employing distinct fusion tags in a high throughput pipeline increased overall success rates in expression, solubility and purification of proteases. The combinatorial functional analysis of the purified proteases using fluorescence assays and zymography confirmed their function.     

The Application of 2D NMR Techniques in the Structural Assignment of the Diterpenoid Alkaloid,Delphinine

The two dimensional inverse detected heteronuclear correlation experiment HMQC and the homonuclear correlation experiments COSY and ROESY were performed on the natural alkaloid, delphinine enabling complete assignments of the ¹H and ¹³C spectra. The stereochemistry of ring A and B have been determined in solution. The results suggest that the application of direct correlation multipulse NMR techniques allows for unambiguous structural assignment of delphinine.     

Polyurethane-polyacrylamide IPNs. I. Synthesis and characterization

Hydrophobic-hydrophilic interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) of polyurethane and polyacrylamide have been synthesized. The IPNs have been characterized by IR, thermal, and mechanical studies. SEM studies indicate phase mixing of some IPNs. Solvent resistance and surface hydrophilicity as evidenced by contact angle measurements suggest that these IPNs could be used for biomedical applications.     

Permeability of R6G across Cx43 hemichannels through a novel combination of patch clamp and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy

We have measured the permeability of rhodamine-6G across Cx43 hemichannels reconstituted on a pipette tip. Cx43 hemichannels were overexpressed in Sf9 cells, and affinity-purified. The hemichannels were reconstituted in a lipid bilayer on a pipette tip by the tip-dip method. R6G in the pipette permeated across the channels into the bath. The permeability of R6G was quantified by measuring R6G concentration in the bath after several hours by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) with 100 nm silver colloid particles. The ratio of the permeability of dye to salt, as extracted by this combined electrical-SERS technique, is compatible with similar ratios for other dyes across whole gap junction channels. The results for the permeability ratio were further compared to fluorescence measurements. The novel combination of patch and SERS techniques can be extended to quantifying the transport of biologically significant non-fluorescent molecules, such as cAMP and IP3, across 1 nm sized pores, such as the gap junction channel.     

Polystyrene-co-maleic acid/CdS nanocomposites: Preparation and properties

Composites of CdS nanoparticles confined in a polystyrene-co-maleic acid (PS-co-MAc) matrix have been prepared and characterized. It was shown that the acid groups of the co-polymer could be successfully used to control the aggregation of the nanoparticles, because they act as coordinate sites for Cd ions. UV-VIS measurements showed a blue shift of the absorption threshold, proving the presence of nanoparticles. An average size of the nanoparticles of about 4 nm is estimated from the change in band gap energy. Although the FTIR spectrum of the nanocomposite showed the presence of C-S bonds, a broad emission originating from surface recombination sites are noticed. DSC and TGA measurements revealed changes in thermal properties upon incorporation of nanoparticles. No thermal transition was observed in the nanocomposite, while the pure co-polymer exhibits a glass transition at 190 °C. In the presence of nanoparticles the onset of the thermal decomposition of the matrix is also shifted by 50 °C towards a higher temperature.     

Application of the extended Barshay-Temmer theorem to heavy-ion reactions

The reactions ¹⁰B+¹²C, ¹⁴N+¹⁶O leading to various final states in the isobaric mass systems 11, 13 and 15, respectively, have been investigated experimentally. These measurements provide a number of applications for the extended Barshay-Temmer theorem.