Relative Abundance of Alpha-Amylase/Trypsin Inhibitors in Selected Sorghum Cultivars

Sorghum is of growing interest and considered as a safe food for wheat related disorders. Besides the gluten, α-amylase/trypsin-inhibitors (ATIs) have been identified as probable candidates for these disorders. Several studies focused on wheat-ATIs although there is still a lack of data referring to the relative abundance of sorghum-ATIs. The objective of this work was therefore to contribute to the characterization of sorghum ATI profiles by targeted proteomics tools. Fifteen sorghum cultivars from different regions were investigated with raw proteins ranging from 7.9 to 17.0 g/100 g. Ammonium bicarbonate buffer in combination with urea was applied for protein extraction, with concentration from 0.588 ± 0.047 to 4.140 ± 0.066 mg/mL. Corresponding electrophoresis data showed different protein profiles. UniProtKB data base research reveals two sorghum ATIs, {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"P81367","term_id":"3913899","term_text":"P81367"}}P81367 and {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"P81368","term_id":"3913900","term_text":"P81368"}}P81368; both reviewed and a targeted LC–MS/MS method was developed to analyze these. Quantifier peptides ELAAVPSR ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"P81367","term_id":"3913899","term_text":"P81367"}}P81367) and TYMVR ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"P81368","term_id":"3913900","term_text":"P81368"}}P81368) were identified and retained as biomarkers for relative quantification. Different reducing and alkylating agents were assessed and combination of tris (2 carboxyethyl) phosphine/iodoacetamide gave the best response. Linearity was demonstrated for the quantifier peptides with standard recovery between 92.2 and 107.6%. Nine sorghum cultivars presented up to 60 times lower ATI contents as compared to wheat samples. This data suggests that sorghum can effectively be considered as a good alternative to wheat.     

The application of size exclusion chromatography to the analysis of biopolymers

High performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC), employing microparticulate, hydrophilic, surface-modified silicas or hydrophilic, cross-linked, organic polymers and buffered eluents, is an effective means of separating native and denatured proteins of molecular weights in the 10 000–500 000 range. HPSEC can be further used for molecular weight identification, and the fractionation and isolation of proteins.     

Multi-Stage Phase-Segregation of Mixed Halide Perovskites under Illumination: A Quantitative Comparison of Experimental Observations and Thermodynamic Models

Photo- and charge-carrier-induced ion migration is a major challenge when utilizing metal halide perovskite semiconductors for optoelectronic applications. For mixed iodide/bromide perovskites, the compositional instability due to light- or electrical bias induced phase-segregation restricts the exploitation of the entire bandgap range. Previous experimental and theoretical work suggests that excited states or charge carriers trigger the process, but the exact mechanism is still under debate. To identify the mechanism and cause of light-induced phase-segregation phenomena, the full compositional range of methylammonium lead bromide/iodide samples are investigated, MAPb(Br_xI_1-x)₃ with x = 0…1, by simultaneous in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy during illumination. The quantitative comparison of composition-dependent in situ XRD and PL shows that at excitation densities of 1 sun, only the initial stage of photo-segregation is rationalized with the previously established thermodynamic models. However, a progression of the phase segregation is observed that is rationalized by considering long-lived accumulative photo-induced material alterations. It is suggested that (additional) photo-induced defects, possibly halide vacancies and interstitials, need to be considered to fully rationalize light-induced phase segregation and anticipate the findings to provide crucial insight for the development of more sophisticated models.     

Covalent Adaptable Microstructures via Combining Two-Photon Laser Printing and Alkoxyamine Chemistry: Toward Living 3D Microstructures

Manufacturing programmable materials, whose mechanical properties can be adapted on demand, is highly desired for their application in areas ranging from robotics, to biomedicine, or microfluidics. Herein, the inclusion of dynamic and living bonds, such as alkoxyamines, in a printable formulation suitable for two-photon 3D laser printing is exploited. On one hand, taking advantage of the dynamic covalent character of alkoxyamines, the nitroxide exchange reaction is investigated. As a consequence, a reduction of the Young´s Modulus by 50%, is measured by nanoindentation. On the other hand, due to its “living” characteristic, the chain extension becomes possible via nitroxide mediated polymerization. In particular, living nitroxide mediated polymerization of styrene results not only in a dramatic increase of the volume (≈8 times) of the 3D printed microstructure but also an increase of the Young's Modulus by two orders of magnitude (from 14 MPa to 2.7 GPa), while maintaining the shape including fine structural details. Thus, the approach introduces a new dimension by enabling to create microstructures with dynamically tunable size and mechanical properties.     

A characterization of reflexive Banach spaces

A Banach space is not reflexive if and only if there exist a closed separable subspace of and a convex closed subset of with empty interior which contains translates of all compact sets in . If, moreover, is separable, then it is possible to put .

     

Properties study of anhydrite(II) prepared from waste gypsums

Anhydrites(II)- CaSO₄ were prepared from two waste gypsums (PRECHEZA Perov, FOSFA Potorná). The samples of anhydrites(II) with sulphate activators were tested on spillage, beginning and the end of setting time, bending and pressure strength. Both sodium and potassium sulphates accelerated setting of anhydrite, more impressively that prepared from Potorná gypsum. The addition of Na₂SO₄ influenced the strength of this anhydrite very favourably. On the contrary K₂SO₄ influenced favourably the strength of Perov anhydrite. Results confirm the necessity to evaluate properties of such materials with respect to their origin.     

Microporous hypercrosslinked polystyrene Styrosorb as a restricted access packing in sample clean-up for high performance liquid chromatography. Part I: Evaluation of restricted access properties

Summary Styrosorb is a beaded microporous polystyrene with particle sizes between 2 and 4 m. In spite of hypercrosslinkage the material was seen to swell in organic solvents. The native material is functionalized with Tris-groups at the outer surface of the particles. The average pore diameter was determined as 1.45±0.3 nm from size exclusion data using polystyrene and polyethylene standards in THF. The reversed phase behavior of the restricted access phase Styrosorb was investigated by injection of two test mixtures. Mixture I contained five aromatic amines, mixture II consisted of Amperozide^R and four related compounds. The optimum range of mobile phase composition was assessed so that analytes were separated whilst any proteins present were eluted unretained. Due to the small particle size short columns of 29×4 mm can be used for both sample clean-up and analytical separation of Amperozide^R and its metabolite.