Search results for "Molecular systems"

Negatively Charged Gangliosides Promote Membrane Association of Amphipathic Neurotransmitters

2018

Lipophilic neurotransmitters (NTs) such as dopamine are chemical messengers enabling neurotransmission by adhering onto the extracellular surface of the post-synaptic membrane in a synapse, followed by binding to their receptors. Previous studies have shown that the strength of the NT-membrane association is dependent on the lipid composition of the membrane. Negatively charged lipids such as phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidic acid have been indicated to promote NT-membrane binding, however these anionic lipids reside almost exclusively in the intracellular leaflet of the post-synaptic membrane instead of the extracellular leaflet facing the synaptic cleft. Meanwhile…

Quadruplex detection in human cells

2020

Abstract The precise detection of both DNA and RNA quadruplexes in human cells remains challenging. Efforts are being invested to design, synthesize and operate molecular tools to track and detect quadruplexes in cells. Such probes now have sufficient molecular specificity and suitable spectroscopic properties to shed light on quadruplexes in their cellular context, thus providing reliable details about their existence in cells. Herein, the most important steps in this line of development are summarized, from the very first attempts with organometallic complexes to the development of immunodetection technologies; and from in vitro to live-cell investigations performed with cell-permeable qu…

Evolutionary Analysis of DELLA-Associated Transcriptional Networks

2017

DELLA proteins are transcriptional regulators present in all land plants which have been shown to modulate the activity of over 100 transcription factors in Arabidopsis, involved in multiple physiological and developmental processes. It has been proposed that DELLAs transduce environmental information to pre-wired transcriptional circuits because their stability is regulated by gibberellins (GAs), whose homeostasis largely depends on environmental signals. The ability of GAs to promote DELLA degradation coincides with the origin of vascular plants, but the presence of DELLAs in other land plants poses at least two questions: what regulatory properties have DELLAs provided to the behavior of…

Efficient Linear-Scaling Density Functional Theory for Molecular Systems

2013

Despite recent progress in linear scaling (LS) density function theory (DFT), the computational cost of the existing LS methods remains too high for a widespread adoption at present. In this work, we exploit nonorthogonal localized molecular orbitals to develop a series of LS methods for molecular systems with a low computational overhead. High efficiency of the proposed methods is achieved with a new robust two-stage variational procedure or by replacing the optimization altogether with an accurate nonself-consistent approach. We demonstrate that, even for challenging condensed-phase systems, the implemented LS methods are capable of extending the range of accurate DFT simulations to molec…

Materials for molecular electronics and magnetism

2021

Functional molecular materials exhibiting, in particular, electrical, magnetic or optical properties have been an active focus of research over the last 50 years. These materials have been a source of inspiration in two interrelated areas of research, namely, molecular electronics and molecular magnetism, with important implications in biomedical areas. This themed issue highlights recent progress and perspectives in these important areas of materials science. The issue covers topics from the chemical design and manipulation of novel molecular materials with unprecedented control over their properties, even at the single-molecule level, to exciting applications of these special molecular sy…

The evolving role of platelets in inflammation.

2003

Platelets are small in size and simple in structure. Nevertheless, these anucleate cytoplasts utilize complex molecular systems to regulate a variety of biological functions. Here we review evolutionary paths, traditional roles, and previously unrecognized biological capacities of platelets that interface thrombosis with inflammation and potentially identify new roles in inflammatory diseases.

Development of non-equilibrium Green's functions for use with full interaction in complex systems

2016

We present an ongoing development of an existing code for calculating groundstate, steady-state, and transient properties of many-particle systems. The development involves the addition of the full four-index two electron integrals, which allows for the calculation of transport systems, as well as the extension to multi-level electronic systems, such as atomic and molecular systems and other applications. The necessary derivations are shown, along with some preliminary results and a summary of future plans for the code. peerReviewed

Out‐of‐Equilibrium (Supra)molecular Systems and Materials: An Introduction

2021

A two-scale approach to electron correlation in multiconfigurational perturbation theory.

2014

We present a new approach for the calculation of dynamic electron correlation effects in large molecular systems using multiconfigurational second-order perturbation theory (CASPT2). The method is restricted to cases where partitioning of the molecular system into an active site and an environment is meaningful. Only dynamic correlation effects derived from orbitals extending over the active site are included at the CASPT2 level of theory, whereas the correlation effects of the environment are retrieved at lower computational costs. For sufficiently large systems, the small errors introduced by this approximation are contrasted by the substantial savings in both storage and computational de…

Quantum chemistry of the excited state: 2005 overview

2005

The present contribution contains an overview of quantum-chemical methods and strategies to compute and interpret spectroscopic and photochemical phenomena in molecular systems. The state of the art for the quantum chemistry of the excited state is reviewed, focusing in the advantages and disadvantages of the most commonly employed computational methods, from the single configurational procedures like CI-Singles (CIS), propagator approaches, and Coupled-Cluster (CC) techniques, to the more sophisticated multiconfigurational treatments, with particular emphasis on perturbation theory, the CASPT2 approach. Also, a short summary on the performance, lights, and shadows of the popular TDDFT meth…