Purification of gramicidin A.

A simple chromatographic purification of the naturally occurring ion channel-forming pentadecapeptide gramicidin A (gA) is presented. This procedure allows gA to be isolated in gram quantities from the commercially available mixture of isomers after chromatography on silica gel. The gramicidin A obtained in this manner is greater than 95% pure as determined by 1HNMR, HPLC, and amino acid analysis.     

Changes in movement final position associated with agonist and antagonist muscle fatigue

We have tested the hypothesis that agonist and antagonist muscle fatigue could affect the final position of rapid, discrete movements. Six subjects performed consecutive elbow flexion and extension movements between two targets, with their eyes closed prior to, and after fatiguing the elbow extensor muscles. The results demonstrate that elbow extension movements performed in the post-test period systematically undershot the final position as compared to pre-test movements. However, attainment of the aimed final position in elbow flexion movements was unaffected by fatiguing of the extensor muscles. Undershoot of the final position obtained in extension movements was associated with agonist muscle fatigue, a result that was expected from the point of view of current motor control theories, and that could be explained by a reduced ability of the shortening muscle to exert force. On the other hand, the absence of the expected overshoot of the final position when the antagonist is fatigued, indicates the involvement of various reflex and/or central mechanisms operating around the stretched muscle that could contribute to returning the limb to the standard final position after a brief prominent overshoot.     

Properties and applications of undecylprodigiosin and other bacterial prodigiosins

The growing demand to fulfill the needs of present-day medicine in terms of novel effective molecules has lead to reexamining some of the old and known bacterial secondary metabolites. Bacterial prodigiosins (prodiginines) have a long history of being re markable multipurpose compounds, best examined for their anticancer and antimalarial activities. Production of prodigiosin in the most common producer strain Serratia marcescens has been described in great detail. However, few reports have discussed the ecophysiological roles of these molecules in the producing strains, as well as their antibiotic and UV-protective properties. This review describes recent advances in the production process, biosynthesis, properties, and applications of bacterial prodigiosins. Special emphasis is put on undecylprodigiosin which has generally been a less studied member of the prodigiosin family. In addition, it has been suggested that proteins involved in undecylprodigiosin synthesis, RedG and RedH, could be a useful addition to the biocatalytic toolbox being able to mediate regio- and stereoselective oxidative cyclization. Judging by the number of recent references (216 for the 2007–2013 period), it has become clear that undecylprodigiosin and other bacterial prodigiosins still hold surprises in terms of valuable properties and applicative potential to medical and other industrial fields and that they still deserve continuing research curiosity.     

Photo-modulated ion channels based on covalently linked gramicidins.

The covalent coupling of two gramicidin A monomers proved to be a useful tool for the rational design of ion channels with predictable electrophysiological properties (Stankovic, C.J., Heinemann, S.H., Delfino, J.M., Sigworth, F.J. and Schreiber, S.L. (1989) Science 244, 813-817; Stankovic, C.J., Heinemann, S.H. and Schreiber, S.L. (1990) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 112, 3702-3704). Herein we report on our first efforts to equip such channels with an artificial gating mechanism. Gramicidin monomers were covalently linked with 3,3'-azobis(benzeneacetic acid). Based on computer modeling of the beta-helix channel motif, this linker in its dark-adapted (trans) form does not allow for the formation of unimolecular ion channels, while the photo-activated (cis) form was expected to provide this possibility. The electrophysiological assays showed that (A) the trans-isomer does form characteristic ion channels, and (B) irradiation transforms these channels into a new distinct, flickering channel type in a reversible manner. The results are discussed in the framework of intermolecular gramicidin aggregates.