Search results for "Quaternary"
showing 10 items of 411 documents
EMPLOYMENT OF CATIONIC SOLID-LIPID NANOPARTICLES AS RNA CARRIERS
2007
Gene transfer represents an important advance in the treatment of both genetic and acquired diseases. In this article, the suitability of cationically modified solid-lipid nanoparticles (SLN) as a nonviral vector for gene delivery was investigated, in order to obtain stable materials able to condense RNA. Cationic SLN were produced by microemulsion using Compritol ATO 888 as matrix lipid, Pluronic F68 as tenside, and dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide (DDAB) as cationic lipid. The resulting particles were approximately 100 nm in size and showed a highly positive surface charge (+41 mV) in water. Size and shape were further characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements. M…
Roman lava quarries in the Eifel region (Germany): geochemical data for millstone provenance studies
2009
Roman millstones of assumed Eifel origin were produced and exported in huge quantities to many parts of Roman Europe and can be used as tracers for trade patterns in Roman times. This study presents for the first time a raw-material centred geochemical definition of the 13 well-known Roman basaltic lava quarries in the Quaternary East and West Eifel volcanic fields. The aim is to find a way to characterize the individual exploitation sites precisely by means of their geochemical composition and to recommend a standard procedure for further millstone provenance analysis. Based on major and trace element composition analyses by XRF, a differentiation of each quarry is achieved by using a comb…
Band Gap Modeling of Different Ternary and Quaternary Alumina Garnet Phases Y3(AlXGa1-X)5O12 (YAGG) and Lu3(AlXGa1-X)5O12 (LuAGG). A Semiempirical Ap…
2022
A further generalization to quaternary oxide systems of the modeling equation of optical band gap values, based on the semiempirical correlation between the differences in the electronegativity of oxygen and the average cationic electronegativity, proposed some years ago, has been carried out by expanding the approach recently employed for ternary mixed oxides. The choice of oxide polymorphs and their influence on the fitting procedure of an experimental data set is evidenced by a detailed discussion of the fitting process of the literature's experimental band gap data pertaining two quaternary oxide systems of the garnet family, namely, Y3(AlxGa1-x)5O12 (YAGG) and Lu3(AlxGa1-x)5O12 (LuAGG)…
The use of low-resolution phasing followed by phase extension from 7.6 to 2.5 Å resolution with noncrystallographic symmetry to solve the structure o…
2011
P2, the major capsid protein of bacteriophage PM2, adopts the double β-barrel fold characteristic of the PRD1-adenoviral lineage. The 2.5 Å resolution X-ray data obtained by analysis of the two major lattices of a multiple crystal of P2 were phased by molecular replacement, using as a search model structure factors to 7.6 Å resolution obtained from electron density cut from the map of the entire PM2 virion. Phase extension to 2.5 Å resolution used solely sixfold cycling averaging and solvent flattening. This represents an atypical example of an oligomeric protein for which the structure has been determined at high resolution by bootstrapping from low-resolution initial phases.
Cyclic triureas—synthesis, crystal structures and properties
2008
The synthesis of 24-membered macrocycles is described, in which rigid xanthene units (X) and/or diphenyl ether units (D) as flexible analogues are linked via urea groups. All four possible combinations (XXX, XXD, XDD, DDD) have been obtained with yields of 40-72% for the cyclisation step. In two cases, the respective cyclic hexamers (XXDXXD, XXXXXX) were also isolated. Two compounds have been characterised by a single crystal X-ray analysis of the free triurea (XXD, XDD) and one example (DDD) by its complex with tetrabutylammonium chloride. It shows the chloride anion in the centre of the macrocycle, held by six NH...Cl- hydrogen bonds. The interaction with various other anions has been stu…
Tryptophan quenching as linear sensor for oxygen binding of arthropod hemocyanins.
2008
Oxygen binding of hemocyanins results in an absorption band around 340nm and a strong quenching of the intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence. Our study analyses in detail the fluorescence quenching within two hemocyanins, a hexamer (Panulirus interruptus) and a 4 x 6-mer (Eurypelma californicum). Based on the comparison of calculated and measured transfer efficiencies we could show that: (1) For both hemocyanins FRET (fluorescence resonance energy transfer) is exclusively responsible for quenching of the tryptophan fluorescence upon oxygen binding. (2) Tryptophan quenching by FRET is independent of the oxy- or deoxy conformation of the protein. (3) The quenching takes place at the subunit level…
Introduction of histidine residues into avidin subunit interfaces allows pH-dependent regulation of quaternary structure and biotin binding
2003
AbstractIn order to turn the subunit association and biotin binding of avidin into pH-sensitive phenomena, we have replaced individually three amino acid residues in avidin (Met96, Val115 and Ile117) with histidines in the 1–3 interface, and in combination with a histidine conversion in the 1–2 interface (Trp110). The single replacements Met96His and Val115His in the 1–3 interface were found to have a clear effect on the quaternary structure of avidin, since subunit associations of these mutants became pH-dependent. The histidine replacement in the 1–2 interface affected the biotin-binding properties of the mutants, in particular reversibility of binding and protein–ligand complex formation…
Construction of a dual chain pseudotetrameric chicken avidin by combining two circularly permuted avidins.
2004
Two distinct circularly permuted forms of chicken avidin were designed with the aim of constructing a fusion avidin containing two biotin-binding sites in one polypeptide. The old N and C termini of wild-type avidin were connected to each other via a glycine/serine-rich linker, and the new termini were introduced into two different loops. This enabled the creation of the desired fusion construct using a short linker peptide between the two different circularly permuted subunits. The circularly permuted avidins (circularly permuted avidin 5 → 4 and circularly permuted avidin 6 → 5) and their fusion, pseudotetrameric dual chain avidin, were biologically active, i.e. showed biotin binding, and…
Theoretical characterization of end-on and side-on peroxide coordination in ligated Cu2O2 models.
2006
The relative energetics of mu-eta1:eta1 (trans end-on) and mu-eta2:eta2 (side-on) peroxo isomers of Cu2O2 fragments supported by 0, 2, 4, and 6 ammonia ligands have been computed with various density functional, coupled-cluster, and multiconfigurational protocols. There is substantial disagreement between the different levels for most cases, although completely renormalized coupled-cluster methods appear to offer the most reliable predictions. The significant biradical character of the end-on peroxo isomer proves problematic for the density functionals, while the demands on active space size and the need to account for interactions between different states in second-order perturbation theor…
Plasticity of the PAS domain and a potential role for signal transduction in the histidine kinase DcuS
2008
The mechanistic understanding of how membrane-embedded sensor kinases recognize signals and regulate kinase activity is currently limited. Here we report structure-function relationships of the multidomain membrane sensor kinase DcuS using solid-state NMR, structural modeling and mutagenesis. Experimental data of an individual cytoplasmic Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) domain were compared to structural models generated in silico. These studies, together with previous NMR work on the periplasmic PAS domain, enabled structural investigations of a membrane-embedded 40-kDa construct by solid-state NMR, comprising both PAS segments and the membrane domain. Structural alterations are largely limited to prot…