Self-assembly of bioelastomeric structures from solutions: Mean-field critical behavior and Flory-Huggins free energy of interactions

Elastic and quasi-elastic light scattering studies were performed on aqueous solutions of poly (Val-Pro-Gly-Gly), a representative synthetic bioelastomer that differs from the previously studied poly (Val-Pro-Gly-Val-Gly) by the deletion of the hydrophobic Val in position four. When the spinodal line was approached from the region of thermodynamic stability, the intensity of light scattered by fluctuations, and the related lifetime and correlation length, were observed to diverge with mean-field critical exponents for both systems. Fitting of the experimental data allowed determining the spinodal and binodal (coexistence) lines that characterize the phase diagrams of the two systems, and it…

Anomalies in the temperature dependence of the 1.2-? absorption of liquid water

The weakly absorbed 1.2-μ combination band of water was accurately studied as a function of temperature, in both its profile and first derivative, to obtain information on the bulk properties of liquid water. Arrhenius plots of integrated component intensity ratios showed well aligned experimental points, except for a neatly defined break occurring in the 30 to 40°C temperature interval for pure water A similar break, shifted by some 18°C towards lower temperature, was found in the case of 1M NaClO4 aqueous solutions. The breaks are tentatively assumed to result from abrupt though subtle changes involving low-frequency modes. This tentative, assumption appears independent of specific models…

Isotope Effects and Collective Excitations

Isotopic substitution in the aqueous solvent is discussed as an effective method for probing the role of solvent dynamics in the stability of biomolecular conformation.

Multiple interactions between molecular and supramolecular ordering

We report studies of the interplay among processes of molecular conformational changes, spinodal demixing of the solution, and molecular crosslinking involved in the physical gelation of a biopolysaccharide-water system. Multiple interactions and kinetic competition among these processes were studied under largely different absolute and relative values of their individual rates by appropriate choices of the quenching temperature at constant polymer concentration. Quenching temperature strongly affects the rate of growth but not the final value of the fractal dimension of the gel. Kinetic competition plays a central role in determining the final conformation of individual molecules and the s…

Solvent structure and dynamics: How relevant to molecular and quantum pharmacology?

A close scrutiny of the relationship between geometric constraints and motion in a system of water molecules allows the prediction of a role of solvent dynamics in the solvent-mediated interaction between two solutes and between different parts of one solute. The predicted mechanism is cooperative, and its operation is widely supported by experiments (not only by our group) in which solvent dynamics were modulated by isotopic or cosolvent perturbations. More recent experimental work by our group and simulation work of MCY water by Fornili et al, strengthens this evidence and visualizes how an immobilized water molecule can “seed” or “pin” a high-connectivity patch of H bonds. Involvement of…

Low-temperature optical absorption of nickel fluosilicate crystals

Abstract The vibronic absorption spectrum of the Ni++ ion in an electric field of trigonal (nearly cubic) symmetry at temperatures down to 4°K is reported and analysed in terms of ligand field and vibronic theory. The positions, widths, shapes and strengths of the bands are satisfactorily explained, together with their associated fine structures. In particular, the complex structure of the red band is well explained in detail as a consequence of the mutual perturbation of the 1E and 3T4 levels, which strongly modifies the vibronic coupling and results in two fairly narrow bands, each showing resolved vibrational structure, superposed on a broad band. A Trees correction term, αL(L+1), helps …

Micro- and mesoscopic process interactions in protein coagulation

It has recently been recognized that pathological protein coagulation is responsible for lethal pathologies as diverse as amyloidosis, Alzheimer and TSE. Understanding the coagulation mechanisms is therefore stirring great interest. In previous studies we have shown that on profoundly different systems coagulation is the result of a strong interaction between two processes on different length scales (mesoscopic and microscopic). Here we report experiments on bovine serum albumin (BSA) showing that the overall mechanism is the result of at least 3 distinct and strongly intertwined processes, on both length scales: molecular conformational changes, solution demixing and intermolecular crossli…

Collective properties of hydration: long range and specificity of hydrophobic interactions

We report results of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of composite model solutes in explicit molecular water solvent, eliciting novel aspects of the recently demonstrated, strong many-body character of hydration. Our solutes consist of identical apolar (hydrophobic) elements in fixed configurations. Results show that the many-body character of PMF is sufficiently strong to cause 1) a remarkable extension of the range of hydrophobic interactions between pairs of solute elements, up to distances large enough to rule out pairwise interactions of any type, and 2) a SIF that drives one of the hydrophobic solute elements toward the solvent rather than away from it. These findings complement re…

Self-assembly of a bioelastomeric structure: solution dynamics and the spinodal and coacervation lines.

The stability, metastability, and instability regions of aqueous solutions of a representative synthetic bioelastomeric polymer, poly (Val-Pro-Gly-Val-Gly), were determined by a combined use of elastic and quasi-elastic light scattering experiments. The approach followed here offers the attractive advantage of singling out the relevant contributions to the total scattering even in the presence of traces of noninteracting larger sized impurities. Conclusions so reached were checked by means of independent experiments. The present results provide descriptions of the very early events in the physics of bioelastogenesis in terms of general polymer science and phase transitions, and in terms of …

Time-Resolved study of network self-organization from a biopolymeric solution

Time-resolved studies of network self-organization from homogeneous solutions of the representative biostructural polymer agarose are presented. Solutions are temperature quenched and observed by several techniques. Consistent with previous suggestions by the authors, experiments at concentrations up to about 1.75% w/v provide direct kinetic evidence for the occurrence of at least two distinct processes, leading, in sequence, to self-assembly. These are as follows: (a) a liquid–liquid phase separation of the solution occurring via spinodal demixing and resulting in two sets of regions that have, respectively, higher and lower than average concentrations of random-coiled polymers; and (b) th…

Cooperative onset of a different state of water in the presence of macromolecules.

Interacting processes in protein coagulation

A strong interest is currently focused on protein self-association and deposit. This usually involves conformational changes of the entire protein or of a fragment. It can occur even at low concentrations and is responsible for pathologies such as systemic amyloidosis, Alzheimer's and Prion diseases, and other neurodegenerative pathologies. Readily available proteins, exhibiting at low concentration self-association properties related to conformational changes, offer very convenient model systems capable of providing insight into this class of problems. Here we report experiments on bovine serum albumin, showing that the process of conformational change of this protein towards an intermedia…

Contributory presentations/posters

Behaviour of Interacting Protons: The Average-Mass Approach to its Study and its Possible Biological Relevance

Among all other kinds of ions occurring in the solid, liquid and living states of matter, positive hydrogen ions (which we shall henceforth call protons for brevity) are singled out by their exceptionally small mass. This is the reason for their specific property of tunnelling through potential barriers, which in turn is responsible for such properties as hydrogen bonding. This is also responsible for the unique properties exhibited in many cases by (sub)systems of interacting protons. Examples are the intriguing properties of liquid water and ice [1]; the para-ferroelectric transition in hydrogen-bonded ferroelectrics [2]; the cooperative transitions in ammonium salts [3] and in hexamine h…

Relation between Liquid-Liquid demixing and crystallization rates in lysozyme + NaCl solutions