PHOTOSENSORY BEHAVIOR OF A BACTERIORHODOPSIN-DEFICIENT MUTANT, ET-15, OF Halobacterium halobium

– Halobacterium halobium , strain ET-15, which does not contain detectable amounts of bacteriorhodopsin (BR) shows behavioral responses to UV and yellow-green light. Attractant stimuli. i.e. light-increases in the yellow-green range or light-decreases in the UV, suppress the spontaneous reversals of the swimming direction for a certain time. Repellent stimuli, i.e. light-decreases in the yellow-green range or light-increases in the UV, elicit an additional reversal response after a few seconds. Action spectra of both sensory photosystems, PS 370 and PS 565, were measured with attractant as well as with repellent stimuli. As in BR-containing cells, maximal sensitivity was always found at 370 nm for the UV-system and at 565 nm for the long-wavelength system. Fluence-response curves at 370 and 565 nm obtained with strain ET-15 and with a BR-containing strain show that the sensitivity of both photosystems is not reduced in the absence of BR. It is concluded that BR is required neither for PS 565 nor for PS 370. Instead retinal-containing pigments different from BR have to be assumed to mediate photosensory behavior.     

Übergangsmetall-substituierte phosphane,arsane und stibane : XXV. C5H5(CO)2[P(OMe)3]M-substituierte dioxaphospholane und dioxarsolane; stereochemische evidenz für den intermolekularen ablauf einer isomerisierung unter methylgruppenverschiebung

2-C₅H₅(CO)₂[P(OMe)₃]Mo(W)-substituted 4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxarsolanes and -dioxaphospholanes (Ia–Ic) are obtained from C₅H₅(CO)₃M derivatives via CO/P(OMe)₃ exchange. In all cases the phosphite ligand appears trans to the σ-bonded arsenic heterocycle, which prefers a conformation with the transition metal group in an axial position. The dioxaphospholane-metal (Ia) undergoes isomerization with alkyl migration at 0°C, which due to stereochemical reasons can only occur by an intermolecular mechanism.     

Beeinflussung des dielektrischen und mechanischen Relaxationsverhaltens von Hochpolymeren durch die mechanische und thermische Vorgeschichte

Zusammenfassung Nach einem kurzen, allgemeinen Überblick über die wichtigsten Gesetzmäßigkeiten, die das dielektrische und mechanische Relaxationsverhalten der Hochpolymeren bestimmen, werden die bisher bekannt gewordenen Änderungen der dielektrischen und mechanischen Verlustkurven bei thermischer und mechanischer Vorbehandlung an Hand von Beispielen erläutert. Es zeigt sich, daß das experimentelle Material vielfach noch nicht ausreicht, um die einander teilweise widersprechenden Ergebnisse in allen Fällen befriedigend deuten zu können. Im einzelnen werden behandelt: Veränderung der Hauptkettenbeweglichkeit bei den amorphen Hochpolymeren, Veränderungen bei den Nebenmaxima der amorphen und partiell-kristallinen Hochpolymeren, Veränderungen der amorphen und kristallinen Hauptmaxima bei den partiell-kristallinen Hochpolymeren und Zeiteffekte beim Kristallisieren.Dem Leiter der Meß- und Prüfabteilung,K. Wolf, sowie meinen KollegenH. Hendus, K. Schmieder, G. Schnell undF. Würstlin danke ich für anregende Diskussionen und die Erlaubnis, noch unveröffentlichte Messungen zu zitieren. K. Wolf undK. Schmieder bin ich für die kritische Durchsicht des Manuskriptes zu besonderem Dank verpflichtet.     

Immunoaffinity screening with capillary electrochromatography

Highly efficient capillary electrochromatographic separations of cardiac glycosides and other steroids are presented. Employing butyl-derivatized silica particles as stationary phase resulted in a nearly three times faster electroosmotic flow (EOF) compared to capillary electrochromatography (CEC) with octadecyl silica particles. On-column focusing with a preconcentration factor of 180 was performed and separation efficiencies of up to 240,000 plates per meter were obtained. Using label-free standard UV absorbance, detection limits of 10-80 nM were reached for all steroids tested. For screening of cardiac glycosides, e.g., digoxin and digitoxin in mixtures of steroids, CEC was combined with immunoaffinity extraction using immobilized polyclonal anti-digoxigenin antibodies and F(ab) fragments. Simply adding small amounts of antibody carrying particles to the samples and comparing chromatograms before and after antibody addition allowed screening for high affinity antigens in mixtures with moderate numbers of compounds. Under conditions of competing antigens, affinity fingerprints of immobilized anti-digoxigenin and anti-digitoxin antibodies were obtained, reflecting the cross-reactivity of eleven steroids. The method provides high selectivity due to the combination of bioaffinity interaction with highly efficient CEC separation and UV detection at several wavelengths in parallel. This selectivity was exploited for the detection of four cardiac glycosides in submicromolar concentrations in an untreated urine sample.     

d,h-m̈-Alkoxoalkylphosphonato-e-m̈-alkoxo-f-m̈-oxo-bis[trichloroantimon(V)]-Verbindungen

d,h-m?-Alkoxoalkylphosphonato-e-m?-alkoxo-f-m?-oxo-bis[trichloroantimony(V)] Compounds The binuclear antimony(V) complexes Cl₃Sb(O)[R³(R¹O)PO₂](OR²)SbCl₃ 1 to 7 with R¹, R² and R³ = Me or Et in solution slowly exchanges the R² groups between the equatorial oxygen atoms of the Sb₂O₂ ring. The SbO(3)PO(3)Sb ringsystem makes rapid pseudorotation. The resulting isomeres are detected by nmr spectroscopy.     

Hierarchical dynamics in allostery following ATP hydrolysis monitored by single molecule FRET measurements and MD simulations

We report on a study that combines advanced fluorescence methods with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to cover timescales from nanoseconds to milliseconds for a large protein. This allows us to delineate how ATP hydrolysis in a protein causes allosteric changes at a distant protein binding site, using the chaperone Hsp90 as test system. The allosteric process occurs via hierarchical dynamics involving timescales from nano- to milliseconds and length scales from Ångstroms to several nanometers. We find that hydrolysis of one ATP is coupled to a conformational change of Arg380, which in turn passes structural information via the large M-domain α-helix to the whole protein. The resulting structural asymmetry in Hsp90 leads to the collapse of a central folding substrate binding site, causing the formation of a novel collapsed state (closed state B) that we characterise structurally. We presume that similar hierarchical mechanisms are fundamental for information transfer induced by ATP hydrolysis through many other proteins.

We report on a study that combines advanced fluorescence methods with molecular dynamics simulations to cover timescales from nanoseconds to milliseconds for a large protein, the chaperone Hsp90.