Faunal assembly in chironomids (Diptera): generic association and spread

Faunal assembly in chironomids was analysed using published data in the fauna of three rivers in southern England and of Great Britain as a whole. Two questions, both relating to the generic composition of local faunal assemblages, were asked: (i) to what extent are faunas from different sites within a single geographical area associated in terms of the occurrence of genera ('generic association'); (ü) given the total number of species observed, is the number of different genera represented ('generic spread') more than would be expected by chance. The latter question relates to the hypothesis that if interspecific competition is a strong organizing force of local faunal assemblages, species would be more likely to occur as widely spread out among different genera, thus decreasing overlap in resource use and hence the possibility of outright competition. Null models of species occurrence were constructed through Monte Carlo simulation to evaluate quantitatively these two questions. Generic association of faunal assemblages from three localities was statistically significant, though there was some variation among different subfamilies of Chironomidae. No evidence of generic diversification (more genera occurring in the fauna than expected by chance) was found. These results and the original questions were given critical considerations in the discussion.     

Hybrid MC/QC simulations of water-assisted proton transfer in nucleosides. Guanosine and its analog acyclovir

To provide an in-depth insight into the molecular basis of spontaneous tautomerism in DNA and RNA base pairs, a hybrid Monte Carlo (MC)–quantum chemical (QC) methodology is implemented to map two-dimensional potential energy surfaces along the reaction coordinates of solvent-assisted proton transfer processes in guanosine and its analog acyclovir in aqueous solution. The solvent effects were simulated by explicit inclusion of water molecules that model the relevant part of the first hydration shell around the solute. The position of these water molecules was estimated by carrying out a classical Metropolis Monte Carlo simulation of dilute water solutions of the guanosine (Gs) and acyclovir (ACV) and subsequently analyzing solute–solvent intermolecular interactions in the statistically-independent MC-generated configurations. The solvent-assisted proton transfer processes were further investigated using two different ab initio MP2 quantum chemical approaches. In the first one, potential energy surfaces of the ‘bare’ finite solute–solvent clusters containing Gs/ACV and four water molecules (MP2/6-31+G(d,p) level) were explored, while within the second approach, these clusters were embedded in ‘bulk’ solvent treated as polarizable continuum (C-PCM/MP2/6-31+G(d,p) level of theory). It was found that in the gas phase and in water solution, the most stable tautomer for guanosine and acyclovir is the 1H-2-amino-6-oxo form followed by the 2-amino-6-(sZ)-hydroxy form. The energy barriers of the water-assisted proton transfer reaction in guanosine and in acyclovir are found to be very similar – 11.74 kcal mol^?1 for guanosine and 11.16 kcal mol^?1 for acyclovir, and the respective rate constants (k = 1.5?×?10¹ s^?1, guanosine and k = 4.09?×?10¹ s^?1, acyclovir), are sufficiently large to generate the 2-amino-6-(sZ)-hydroxy tautomer. The analysis of the reaction profiles in both compounds shows that the proton transfer processes occur through the asynchronous concerted mechanism.     

Structural basis of hierarchical multiple substates of a protein. IV: Rearrangements in atom packing and local deformations

Differences in atom packing are studied in the minimum energy conformations derived from the record of the Monte Carlo simulation of conformational fluctuation in the native state of a globular protein, bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor. It is found that local deformations observed among the minima which are found in the previous paper are accompanied by rearrangement of atom packing. Spatial locations of the local deformations in the three-dimensional folded structure are also studied. It is found that the local deformations are distributed in space in several clusters in the folded structure. The size and location of the clusters characterize the respective fluctuations of the first and the second levels observed in the simulation. In the fluctuations of the first level local deformations, each of which usually involves a few side chains and one main chain local segment, are thermally exited independently of each other near the surface of the molecule. The observed fluctuation of the second level involves a cooperative deformation involving many side chains and local main chain segments all in one cluster, which goes though the core of the molecule. The collective local deformations observed both in the first and second levels are plastic in the sense that they are accompanied with rearrangement of atom packing.