Search results for "Biophysics"

2015

The rationale of the study was two-fold: (i) develop a functional synthetic model of the Cytochrome c oxidase (CcO) active site, (ii) use it as a convenient tool to understand or predict the outcome of the reaction of CcO with ligands (physiologically relevant gases and other ligands). At physiological pH and potential, the model catalyzes the 4-electron reduction of oxygen. This model was immobilized on self-assembled-monolayer (SAM) modified electrode. During catalytic oxygen reduction, electron delivery through SAMs is rate limiting, similar to the situation in CcO. This model contains all three redox-active components in CcO's active site, which are required to minimize the production o…

Introducing PeptoPlexes: Polylysine-block-Polysarcosine Based Polyplexes for Transfection of HEK 293T Cells

2014

A series of well-defined polypeptide-polypeptoid block copolymers based on the body's own amino acids sarcosine and lysine are prepared by ring opening polymerization of N-carboxyanhydrides. Block lengths were varied between 200-300 for the shielding polysarcosine block and 20-70 for the complexing polylysine block. Dispersity indexes ranged from 1.05 to 1.18. Polylysine is polymerized with benzyloxycarbonyl as well as trifluoroacetyl protecting groups at the ϵ-amine group and optimized deprotection protocols for both groups are reported. The obtained block ionomers are used to complex pDNA resulting in the formation of polyplexes (PeptoPlexes). The PeptoPlexes can be successfully applied i…

Relaxation of electron-hole pairs and scintillation mechanism in alkali halide crystals

1997

Abstract The mechanism of the ionizing radiation energy transfer from host lattice to luminescence centers is discussed taking into account the results of the recent experimental investigations of electron-hole pair relaxation in alkali iodide crystals. The high scintillation yield in CsI-Tl, CsI-Na and partially in Nal-Tl crystals is explained by the process of the motion and capture of a one-center self-trapped exciton by impurity ions.

Polymer-induced phase separation in suspensions of bacteria

2010

We study phase separation in suspensions of two unrelated species of rod-like bacteria, Escherichia coli and Sinorhizobium meliloti, induced by the addition of two different anionic polyelectrolytes, sodium polystyrene sulfonate or succinoglycan, the former being synthetic and the latter of natural origin. Comparison with the known behaviour of synthetic colloid-polymer mixtures and with simulations show that "depletion" (or, equivalently, "macromolecular crowding") is the dominant mechanism: exclusion of the non-adsorbing polymer from the region between two neighbouring bacteria creates an unbalanced osmotic force pushing them together. The implications of our results for understanding phe…

Conformational preferences of side-chain protected amino acid residues and their impact in peptide synthesis

1983

Using the host-guest technique, tentative scales for the helix-inducing power and the β-structure-forming potential of various side-chain protected amino acid residues in trifluoro-ethanol are established mainly by CD measurements. The generally lower tendency for β-structure formation of the host–guest peptides compared to that of the host peptide is discussed. The influence of these conformational features on the solubility of the peptides is also pointed out.

Thermodynamics of binary mixtures: Volumes, heat capacities, and dilution enthalpies for then-pentanol+2-methyl-2-butanol system

1983

The densities, heat capacities, and dilution enthalpies ofn-pentanol+2-methyl-2-butanol mixtures have been measured, in many cases as a function of temperature, over the complete mole fraction range. Excesses thermodynamic properties, apparent and partial molar heat capacities, volumes and expansibilities were derived. The concentration and temperature dependences of these functions are discussed in terms of the variations of the structure of the system caused by the participation of the two alcohol molecules (with quite different steric hindrance of the alkyl chain around the-OH group) in the dynamic intermolecular association process through hydrogen bonding.

Forever Young: Structural Stability of Telomeric Guanine-Quadruplexes in Presence of Oxidative DNA Lesions

2020

AbstractHuman telomeric DNA (h-Telo), in G-quadruplex (G4) conformation, is characterized by a remarkable structural stability that confers it the capacity to resist to oxidative stress producing one or even clustered 8-oxoguanine lesions. We present a combined experimental/computational investigation, by using circular dichroism in aqueous solutions, cellular immunofluorescence assays and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, that identifies the crucial role of the stability of G4s to oxidative lesions, related also to their biological role as inhibitors of telomerase, an enzyme overexpressed in most cancers associated to oxidative stress.

Heat capacities of butanol and pentanol in aqueous dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide solutions

1987

Heat capacities of the ternary systems water-dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB)-butanol and water-DTAB-pentanol were measured at 25°C. The standard partial molar heat capacities of pentanol in micellar solutions show a maximum at about 0.35 mol-kg−1 DTAB that has been attributed to a micellar structural transition. This maximum tends to vanish by increasing the alcohol concentration and by decreasing the alcohol alkyl chain length; in the case of butanol it was not detected. The behavior of the standard partial molar heat capacities of alcohols in micellar solutions in the region above the cmc and below the structural transition was explained using a previously reported mass-action mod…

Fatty Acid Aggregates Simulated using Constant pH Molecular Dynamics with a Coarse-Grained Model

2013

Fatty acids are crucial biomolecules, important for lipid metabolism, signaling, models for protocell membranes, soaps, industrial applications, and drug delivery. Oleic acid has complex phase behavior with respect to the protonation state of the carboxylic head group, which depends on the pH of the solution. Oils form at low pHs, vesicles at intermediate pHs, and micelles at high pHs. We use constant pH molecular dynamics with the MARTINI coarse-grained model to investigate oleic acid aggregates at different pH conditions. We determine titration curves for the oleic acid monomers in different aggregates, and observe a shift in the microscopic pKa. In agreement with experimental results, th…

Membrane-Perturbing Activities of KL4-Related Surfactant Peptides

2013

KL4 is a 21-residue peptide proposed as a potential substitute of pulmonary surfactant protein SP-B in synthetic surfactants, intended for the treatment of respiratory pathologies. The peptide, composed by leucines interrupted by lysine every four residues, was synthesized to simulate C-terminal amphipathic helical segments of SP-B. Once incorporated into lipid-protein complexes, KL4 promotes formation of interfacial films that produce and maintain surface tensions below 5 mN/m during compression-expansion cycling. Although KL4 was designed as an amphipathic helix at the membrane surface, the data on orientation and interactions of the peptide in membranes are contradictory. In the present …