Search results for "Macro"

Carotenoids and the Assembly of Light-harvesting Complexes

2006

Carotenoids are constitutive components of all light-harvesting complexes in plants and many such complexes in bacteria. In the crystal structures of several light-harvesting complexes, carotenoids are seen to span the lipid bilayer and connect components of the complex on both membrane surfaces and/or to mediate the interaction of transmembrane protein helices. This important stabilizing function suggests that these pigments are also actively involved in the assembly of light-harvesting complexes. Verification of this notion appears too ambitious a goal at present, as the question of how the pigment-protein complexes of the photosynthetic apparatus are assembled is still open. However, inf…

Self-instructed condensation of amino acids and the origin of biological information

1984

In contemporary cells biological information is largely stored in nucleic acids. Therefore, a prerequisite in many theories on the origin of cellular life is the pre-existence of self-replicating polynucleotides that had to be formed by abiotic processes on the prebiotic Earth. It is usually assumed that the spontaneous synthesis of a self-replicating polynucleotide could take place readily. However, serious stereochemical obstacles exist which make such a synthesis extremely improbable. Amino acids, on the other hand, which are abundantly formed in prebiotic simulation experiments, are relatively easily polymerized to macromolecules (protoproteins) that share with modern proteins many prop…

Chitin: A Structural Biopolysaccharide with Multiple Applications

2014

Chitin is a naturally occurring fibre-forming polymer that plays a protective role in many lower eukaryotes similar to that of cellulose in plants. Chemically it is a long-chain unbranched polysaccharide made of N-acetylglucosamine residues linked through β-1,4 covalent bonds; it is the second most abundant organic compound in nature, after cellulose. Taking into account the role played by chitin in different biological structures (i.e. fungal cell walls, insect peritrophic matrix, insect and crustacean cuticles, eggshells from nematodes, cyst wall of protozoa), its metabolism (biosynthesis and degradation) is essential for different morphogenetic events. Absent in vertebrates and plants, c…

Molecular characterization of the phenolic acid metabolism in the lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum

2001

The lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus plantarumdisplays substrate-inducible decar- boxylase activities on p-coumaric, caffeic and ferulic acids. Purification of the p-coumaric acid decarboxylase (PDC) was performed. Sequence of the N-terminal part of the PDC led to the cloning of the corresponding pdc gene. Expression of this gene in Escherichia colirevealed that PDC displayed a weak activity on ferulic acid, detectable in vitro in the presence of ammonium sulfate. Transcrip- tional studies of this gene in L. plantarum demonstrated that the pdc transcription is phenolic acid- dependent. A mutant deficient in the PDC activity, designated LPD1, was constructed to study phe- nolic acid altern…

The Receptor Functions of Endogenous C1q, a Subcomponent of the First Component of Complement, on Peritoneal Macrophages

1982

Abstract C1q, the Fc recognizing subcomponent of the first complement component was shown to be synthesized by peritoneal macrophages. Evidence is presented that C1q serves during the secretion phase as Fc binding protein on the membrane of these macrophages. A dose-dependent inhibition of Fc rosette formation occured when the macrophages were pretreated with anti-C1q -F(ab') 2 . The C3b rosette formation was not affected. In addition, preincubation of peritoneal macrophages with anti-C1q -F(ab') 2 abolished specifically the polyanion mediated stimulation to secrete dose and time dependently lysosomal enzymes. There was no polyanion-induced enzyme release after incubation of polyanions with…

TI: Cyclophosphazenes as polymer modifiers

2003

The utilization of cyclophosphazenes as polymer modifiers is reviewed, with particular concern to their exploitation as versatile chain extenders, possibly for recycle problems, crosslinkers, to enhance mechanical properties of polymeric materials, branchers, to selectively introduce ramifications in linear polymers, and compatibilizers, to favor the formation of blends between originally incompatible organic macromolecules. The great versatility of the synthetic methods put forward for these substrates, together with the ease of controlling their modification, functionalization and reactivity are important parameters for the evaluation of which type of use is more feasible for these trimer…

24. Molecular Biology

1987

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the use of neutron scattering in molecular biology. The neutron small-angle camera D11 is discussed. The objective of scattering studies on biological macromolecules is to determine molecular conformations and arrangements, particularly those that may contribute to specific biological functions. The principles of neutron scattering are very similar to those of x rays, but some important differences exist due to the different characteristics of the two radiations. If the scattering specimen is a single macromolecule with no regular separation between neighboring structures, then the scattering is continuous. In a coherent scattering process, the ampli…

RELAXATION METHODS FOR STUDYING MACROMOLECULAR MOTION IN THE BULK

1982

Abstract Macromolecular motion in amorphous and partially crystalline polymers is discussed in the light of recent relaxation experiments with particular emphasis on NMR methods. Polystyrene and polyethylene serve as pertinent examples where a considerable amount of new experimental data provides a bysis for better understanding molecular processes below and above the glass transition, and in the melt.

Structure and properties of pharmacologically active polymers

1975

Although the concept of using pharmacologically active macromolecular compounds as drugs is still regarded with much skepticism for both theoretical and practical reasons, interest in this field has grown in recent years because of the opportunity to take advantage of the specific properties of polymeric materials. For low molecular weight drugs, changes in structure often lead to a loss of specific activity. On the other hand, the properties of macromolecular drugs depend on the structure of the polymer used and this can be varied over a wide range by the incorporation of comonomer units, by the application of polymer-analogous reactions, or by related structural changes. A new model is pr…

1981

Elution curves on spherosil gels in pure and mixed eluents of poly(dimethylsiloxane), PDMS, and poly(methyl methacrylate), PMMA, as well as those of polystyrene, PS, just for comparison, have been determined. In a general way, PDMS elution volumers fit to those of PS, whereas PMMA elution curves shift to higher retention volumes. The differences in retention volumes between the different polymeric solutes have been interpreted in terms of differences in polymer-gel and polymer-solvent interactions. Hydrogen-bonding seems to be the main contribution to solute-substrate interactions.