Search results for "Assembly"
showing 10 items of 768 documents
Constructing Large 2D Lattices Out of DNA-Tiles.
2021
The predictable nature of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) interactions enables assembly of DNA into almost any arbitrary shape with programmable features of nanometer precision. The recent progress of DNA nanotechnology has allowed production of an even wider gamut of possible shapes with high-yield and error-free assembly processes. Most of these structures are, however, limited in size to a nanometer scale. To overcome this limitation, a plethora of studies has been carried out to form larger structures using DNA assemblies as building blocks or tiles. Therefore, DNA tiles have become one of the most widely used building blocks for engineering large, intricate structures with nanometer precis…
Self-assembly of biopolymeric structures below the threshold of random cross-link percolation
1996
Self-assembly of extended structures via cross-linking of individual biomolecules often occurs in solutions at concentrations well below the estimated threshold for random cross-link percolation. This requires solute-solute correlations. Here we study bovine serum albumin. Its unfolding causes the appearance of an instability region of the sol, not observed for native bovine serum albumin. As a consequence, spinodal demixing of the sol is observed. The thermodynamic phase transition corresponding to this demixing is the determinative symmetry-breaking step allowing the subsequent occurrence of (correlated) cross-linking and its progress up to the topological phase transition of gelation. Th…
Thioflavin T templates amyloid β(1–40) conformation and aggregation pathway
2015
Aβ(1-40) peptide supramolecular assembly and fibril formation processes are widely recognized to have direct implications in the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The molecular basis of this biological process is still unknown and there is a strong need of developing effective strategies to control the occurring events. To this purpose the exploitation of small molecules interacting with Aβ aggregation represents one of the possible routes. Moreover, the use specific labeling has represented so far one of the most common and effective methods to investigate such a process. This possibility in turn rests on the reliability of the probe/labels involved. Here we present evidences of the effe…
Self-assembly mechanism of nanoparticles of Ni-based Prussian Blue analogues at the air/liquid interface: a synchrotron X-ray reflectivity study.
2015
Prussian Blue analogue (PBA) nanoparticles can be self-assembled at air/liquid interfaces to build novel materials with interesting magnetic features. Herein, we study the influence of the size of PBA Cs0.4 Ni[Cr(CN)6 ]0.9 and K0.25 Ni[Fe(CN)6 ]0.75 nanoparticles on the self-assembly behavior by synchrotron X-ray reflectivity. Both nanoparticles show similar Z-potential values. The phospholipid dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and the amino surfactant dimethyldioctadecylammonium have been used as Langmuir monolayers to anchor the PBA nanoparticles and study the interplay of forces directing the self-assembly of the nanoparticles at the surfactant/liquid interface. Whereas Cs0.4 Ni[Cr(CN)6 ]0.…
Synthesis and self-assembly of novel fluorous cationic amphiphiles with a 3,4-dihydro-2(1H)-pyridone spacer
2011
Abstract The synthesis of fluorous (highly fluorinated) 3,4-dihydro-2(1 H )-pyridone-5-carboxylate cationic amphiphiles have been described, where the dihydropyridone serves as a spacer and either a pyridinium bromide or a triphenylphosphonium bromide form the polar cationic head group. The in water self-assembled aggregates have been observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS).
Monte Carlo simulation of block copolymers
2000
Monte Carlo simulations deal with crudely simplified but well-defined models and have the advantage that they treat the statistical thermodynamics of the considered model exactly (apart from statistical errors and problems due to finite size effects). Therefore, these simulations are well suited to test various approximate theories of block copolymer ordering, e.g. the self-consistent field theory. Recent examples of this approach include the study of block copolymer ordering at melt surfaces and confinement effects in thin films, adsorption of block copolymers at interfaces of unmixed homopolymer blends, the phase behavior of ternary mixtures of two homopolymers and their block copolymer, …
Cyclic AMP-induced Chromatin Changes Support the NFATc-mediated Recruitment of GATA-3 to the Interleukin 5 Promoter
2008
Elevated intracellular cyclic AMP levels, which suppress the proliferation of naive T cells and type 1 T helper (Th1) cells are a property of T helper 2 (Th2) cells and regulatory T cells. While cyclic AMP signals interfere with the IL-2 promoter induction, they support the induction of Th2-type genes, in particular of il-5 gene. We show here that cyclic AMP signals support the generation of three inducible DNase I hypersensitive chromatin sites over the il-5 locus, including its promoter region. In addition, cyclic AMP signals enhance histone H3 acetylation at the IL-5 promoter and the concerted binding of GATA-3 and NFATc to the promoter. This is facilitated by direct protein-protein inte…
Secondary interactions as driving force in heterocomplex formation of 2,7-disubstituted-1,8-naphthyridines: Quantum chemical, NMR and mass spectral i…
2009
Abstract Tautomerism and dimerization of 2,7-disubstituted-1,8-naphtyridines has been studied theoretically by quantum chemical methods and experimentally by liquid and solid state NMR and ESI-TOF mass spectral techniques. The heterocomplex formation has been proven in solution by variable temperature 1H NMR and in solid state by 13C CPMAS NMR spectra of a grinded mixture of two congeners. Secondary interactions have been proposed as driving forces in the heterocomplex formation. The energy differences between homo- and heterocomplexes were calculated with recently developed DFT + D methods. The energy data obtained by the quantum chemical methods are in agreement with the concept of second…
Helminth communities of owls (strigiformes) indicate strong biological and ecological differences from birds of prey (accipitriformes and falconiform…
2012
We compared the helminth communities of 5 owl species from Calabria (Italy) and evaluated the effect of phylogenetic and ecological factors on community structure. Two host taxonomic scales were considered, i.e., owl species, and owls vs. birds of prey. The latter scale was dealt with by comparing the data here obtained with that of birds of prey from the same locality and with those published previously on owls and birds of prey from Galicia (Spain). A total of 19 helminth taxa were found in owls from Calabria. Statistical comparison showed only marginal differences between scops owls (Otus scops) and little owls (Athene noctua) and tawny owls (Strix aluco). It would indicate that all owl …
Ultrathin Organic Multilayer Films Via Salt Formation: Easy Access To Tailor-made Coatings In The Thickness Range Of 1 Nm To 500 Nm
2005
The state of the art technologies for the preparation of well defined ultrathin films in the submicron range are the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique and self-assembly (SA) methods based on chemisorption [l]. Whereas the LBtechnique requires sophisticated apparatus and is generally limited to small film areas [2], the SA-methods are relatively simple [3,4], hut have not been employed for the preparation of films thicker than 8 layers ( 20nm) [4], probably due to the loss of chemical functionality. Our approach avoids these limits and extends the SA-concept by emploing salt formation as the driving force for the construction of multilayer supramolecular assemblies.