Search results for "Structural Biology."

Thermal restraint of a bacterial exopolysaccharide of shallow vent origin

2018

This is the post-print version of the following article: "Thermal restraint of a bacterial exopolysaccharide of shallow vent origin", which has been published in final form at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141813018308250?via%3Dihub; International audience; To dynamically characterize the thermal properties of the fructose-rich exopolysaccharide (EPS1-T14), produced by themarine thermophilic Bacillus licheniformis T14, the Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infra-Redspectroscopy was coupled to variable temperature ranging from ambient to 80 °C.The spectra were analyzed by the following innovative mathematical tools: i) non-ideal spectral deviation, ii) OHst…

Bamboo-like Chained Cavities and Other Halogen-Bonded Complexes from Tetrahaloethynyl Cavitands with Simple Ditopic Halogen Bond Acceptors

2018

Halogen bonding provides a useful complement to hydrogen bonding and metal-coordination as a tool for organizing supramolecular systems. Resorcinarenes, tetrameric bowl-shaped cavitands, have been previously shown to function as efficient scaffolds for generating dimeric capsules in both solution and solid-phase, and complicated one-, two-, and three-dimensional frameworks in the solid phase. Tetrahaloethynyl resorcinarenes (bromide and iodide) position the halogen atoms in a very promising “crown-like” orientation for acting as organizing halogen-bond donors to help build capsules and higher-order networks. Symmetric divalent halogen bond acceptors including bipyridines, 1,4-dioxane, and 1…

Sustainable metabolic engineering for sustainability optimisation of industrial biotechnology

2021

Industrial biotechnology represents one of the most innovating and labour-productive industries with an estimated stable economic growth, thus giving space for improvement of the existing and setting up new value chains. In addition, biotechnology has clear environmental advantages over the chemical industry. Still, biotechnology’s environmental contribution is sometimes valued with controversy and societal aspects are frequently ignored. Environmental, economic and societal sustainability of various bioprocesses becomes increasingly important due to the growing understanding about complex and interlinked consequences of different human activities. Neglecting the sustainability issues in th…

Proton dynamics in bacterial spores, a neutron scattering investigation

2014

International audience; Results from first neutron scattering experiments on bacterial spores are reported. The elastic intensities and mean square displacements have a non-linear behaviour as function of temperature, which is in agreement with a model presenting more pronounced variations at around 330 K (57 • C) and 400 K (127 • C). Based on the available literature on thermal properties of bacterial spores, mainly referring to differential scanning calorimetry, they are suggested to be associated to main endothermic transitions induced by coat and/or core bacterial response to heat treatment.

Chromosomal location polymorphism of major rDNA sites in two Mediterranean populations of the killifih Aphanius fasciatus (Pisces: Cyprinodontidae)

2005

The chromosomes of the Mediterranean killifish, Aphanius fasciatus from two populations, the Lagoon of Venice (LV, 15 specimens) and the Lagoon ‘Stagnone di Marsala’ (Sicily) (SM, 48 specimens), have been investigated using conventional Ag-staining and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with 18S rDNA probe. The two methods revealed variation in the number of major rDNA sites ranging from 8 to 14 (LV) and from 1 to 4 (SM) per individual. The fact that each individual possessed its own number of sites implies that observed variation was structural. Moreover, overlapping of silver staining and FISH patterns demonstrated that all ribosomal genes were transcriptionally active in each speci…

Fluidizing the Membrane by a Local Anesthetic: Phenylethanol Affects Membrane Protein Oligomerization

2010

The exact mechanism of action of anesthetics is still an open question. While some observations suggest specific anesthetic-protein interactions, nonspecific perturbation of the lipid bilayer has also been suggested. Perturbations of bilayer properties could subsequently affect the structure and function of membrane proteins. Addition of the local anesthetic phenylethanol (PEtOH) to model membranes and intact Escherichia coli cells not only affected membrane fluidity but also severely altered the defined helix-helix interaction within the membrane. This experimental observation suggests that certain anesthetics modulate membrane physical properties and thereby indirectly affect transmembran…

Corrigendum to “Zinc oxide nanoparticles mediated cytotoxicity, mitochondrial membrane potential and level of antioxidants in presence of melatonin” …

2021

FLUCTUATIONS IN LIPID BILAYERS: ARE THEY UNDERSTOOD?

2013

We review recent computer simulation studies of undulating lipid bilayers. Theoretical interpretations of such fluctuating membranes are most commonly based on generalized Helfrich-type elastic models, with additional contributions of local "protrusions" and/or density fluctuations. Such models provide an excellent basis for describing the fluctuations of tensionless bilayers in the fluid phase at a quantitative level. However, this description is found to fail for membranes in the gel phase and for membranes subject to high tensions. The fluctuations of tilted gel membranes show a signature of the modulated ripple structure, which is a nearby phase observed in the pretransition regime betw…

Substrate pathways and mechanisms of inhibition in the sulfur oxygenase reductase of Acidianus ambivalens

2011

Background: The sulfur oxygenase reductase (SOR) is the initial enzyme of the sulfur oxidation pathway in the thermoacidophilic Archaeon Acidianus ambivalens. The SOR catalyzes an oxygen-dependent sulfur disproportionation to H2S, sulfite and thiosulfate. The spherical, hollow, cytoplasmic enzyme is composed of 24 identical subunits with an active site pocket each comprising a mononuclear non-heme iron site and a cysteine persulfide. Substrate access and product exit occur via apolar chimney-like protrusions at the four-fold symmetry axes, via narrow polar pores at the three-fold symmetry axes and via narrow apolar pores within in each subunit. In order to investigate the function of the po…

Oxygen as a morphogenic factor in sponges: expression of a tyrosinase gene in the sponge Suberites domuncula

2004

Sponges live in a symbiotic relationship with microorganisms, especially bacteria. Here we show, using the demosponge Suberites domuncula as a model, that the sponge expresses the enzyme tyrosinase which synthesizes diphenols from monophenolic compounds. It is assumed that these products serve as carbon source for symbiotic bacteria to grow.