Search results for "Macromolecule"
showing 10 items of 235 documents
Ab initio determination of the electron affinities of DNA and RNA nucleobases
2008
High-level quantum-chemical ab initio coupled-cluster and multiconfigurational perturbation methods have been used to compute the vertical and adiabatic electron affinities of the five canonical DNA and RNA nucleobases: uracil, thymine, cytosine, adenine, and guanine. The present results aim for the accurate determination of the intrinsic electron acceptor properties of the isolated nucleic acid bases as described by their electron affinities, establishing an overall set of theoretical reference values at a level not reported before and helping to rule out less reliable theoretical and experimental data and to calibrate theoretical strategies. Daniel.Roca@uv.es Manuela.Merchan@uv.es Luis.Se…
A versatile methodology for the controlled synthesis of photoluminescent high-boron-content dendrimers.
2013
Fluorescent star-shaped mol- ecules and dendrimers with a 1,3,5-tri- phenylbenzene moiety as the core and 3 or 9 carborane derivatives at the pe- riphery, have been prepared in very good yields by following different ap- proaches. One procedure relies on the nucleophilic substitution of Br groups in 1,3,5-tris(4-(3-bromopropoxy)phe- nyl)benzene with the monolithium salts of methyl and phenyl-o-carborane. The second method is the hydrosilylation reactions on the peripheral allyl ether functions of 1,3,5-tris(4-allyloxy-phe- nyl)benzene and 1,3,5-tris(4-(3,4,5-tris- AAA with suitable carboranyl-silanes to produce different generations of dendrimers decorated with carboranyl fragments. This ap…
Construction and characterization of models of hypercrosslinked polystyrene
2012
A simple algorithm involving classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations is here suggested to build up models of hypercrosslinked polystyrene showing macroporous structure. The algorithm is composed by three consecutive stages: MD simulation of a single polystyrene coil, crosslink formation, and finally relaxation of the structure. The models, which are differentiated by the crosslinker concentration in the initial polystyrene chain, can be characterized by employing tools of the small angle neutron scattering analysis and procedures associated to the crosslinking algorithm, which allows one to discriminate among the different kinds of crosslinks between phenyl rings and to calculate the …
In-Situ atomic force microscopic observation of ion beam bombarded plant cell envelopes
2007
Abstract A program in ion beam bioengineering has been established at Chiang Mai University (CMU), Thailand, and ion beam induced transfer of plasmid DNA molecules into bacterial cells (Escherichia coli) has been demonstrated. However, a good understanding of the fundamental physical processes involved is lacking. In parallel work, onion skin cells have been bombarded with Ar+ ions at energy 25 keV and fluence1–2 × 1015 ions/cm2, revealing the formation of microcrater-like structures on the cell wall that could serve as channels for the transfer of large macromolecules into the cell interior. An in-situ atomic force microscope (AFM) system has been designed and installed in the CMU bio-impl…
Diffusion of labeled macromolecules in molten polystyrenes studied by a holographic grating technique
1984
Diffusion de polystyrene, de differentes masses moleculaires marque a la fluoresceine. Influence de la temperature
Preparation of large unilamellar vesicles
1982
Single (unilamellar) and oligolamellar lipid bilayer vesicles of large diameter have great potential in membrane research. In particular, large unilamellar bilayer vesicles (diam. >50 m) would permit the insertion of microelectrodes for the measurement of the electrical properties of lipid bilayer membranes of different compositions. Furthermore, vesicles large enough to be observed by light microscopy could be fused with cells with the aid of the electric field method [l-4]. Since vesicles (liposomes) can be loaded with macromolecules, this might be an elegant means of transferring proteins or plasmids into cells. Large vesicles with different lipid compositions and only one unit membrane …
Macromolecules in ordered media. 6. Effect of the phospholipidic bilayer composition on poly (2-vinyl pyridine) - liposome association
1997
The intrinsic fluorescence emission of poly (2-vinyl pyridine) has been exploited in order to gain insight into the nature of the interaction with artificial membranes. In this contribution, the study has been focused on the effect of the phospholipid bilayer composition on the association to the polymer. Fluorescence data have been converted into association isotherms and then analyzed in terms of both binding and partition models. Results show that the association is enhanced by the presence of negative charged phospholipid as a constituent of the liposomal membrane. The strong surface density dependence of the polymer-liposome association indicatesthe predominantly electrostatic nature o…
Acetylcholine-binding protein in the hemolymph of the planorbid snail Biomphalaria glabrata is a pentagonal dodecahedron (60 subunits).
2012
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) play important neurophysiological roles and are of considerable medical relevance. They have been studied extensively, greatly facilitated by the gastropod acetylcholine-binding proteins (AChBP) which represent soluble structural and functional homologues of the ligand-binding domain of nAChR. All these proteins are ring-like pentamers. Here we report that AChBP exists in the hemolymph of the planorbid snail Biomphalaria glabrata (vector of the schistosomiasis parasite) as a regular pentagonal dodecahedron, 22 nm in diameter (12 pentamers, 60 active sites). We sequenced and recombinantly expressed two ∼25 kDa polypeptides (BgAChBP1 and BgAChBP2) wit…
Construction of Chimeric Dual-Chain Avidin by Tandem Fusion of the Related Avidins
2011
BackgroundAvidin is a chicken egg-white protein with high affinity to vitamin H, also known as D-biotin. Many applications in life science research are based on this strong interaction. Avidin is a homotetrameric protein, which promotes its modification to symmetrical entities. Dual-chain avidin, a genetically engineered avidin form, has two circularly permuted chicken avidin monomers that are tandem-fused into one polypeptide chain. This form of avidin enables independent modification of the two domains, including the two biotin-binding pockets; however, decreased yields in protein production, compared to wt avidin, and complicated genetic manipulation of two highly similar DNA sequences i…
Negative staining and cryo-negative staining of macromolecules and viruses for TEM
2011
In this review we cover the technical background to negative staining of biomolecules and viruses, and then expand upon the different possibilities and limitations. Topics range from conventional air-dry negative staining of samples adsorbed to carbon support films, the variant termed the "negative staining-carbon film" technique and negative staining of samples spread across the holes of holey-carbon support films, to a consideration of dynamic/time-dependent negative staining. For each of these approaches examples of attainable data are given. The cryo-negative staining technique for the specimen preparation of frozen-hydrated/vitrified samples is also presented. A detailed protocol to su…