The significance of the activity of dissolved oxygen, and other gases, enhanced by high hydrostatic pressure

The partial pressure of oxygen and other gases dissolved in water and subjected to high hydrostatic pressure is increased. Although this was established many years ago it remains a problematical phenomenon. The review deals with some of the underlying theoretical difficulties and discusses the kinetic and environmental implications of the pressure-enhanced partial pressures.     

Intracellular phosphorus metabolism of Microcystis aeruginosa under various redox potential in darkness

Phosphorus metabolism of Microcystis aeruginosa was studied under gradient redox potential from 252 mV to –70 mV in darkness. The release of phosphorus occurred in all the treatments, and this process was accelerated in darkness when the redox potential was lowered. Low redox potential in darkness stimulated the accumulation of polyphosphate (PolyP) and the degradation of polyglucose. The synthesis of PolyP delayed the decrease of intracellular orthophosphate. The death of M. aeruginosa was slowered when the redox potential was low in darkness. The accumulation of PolyP under low redox potential in the dark was very important to M. aeruginosa for endurance through the unfavorable growth conditions for maintaining phosphorus concentration, energy storage, and other physiological functions. The ability to accumulate PolyP in the dark and negative redox potential may be of considerable advantage in the low-light, organically rich, and low-redox habitats.     

Structure activity relationship study of curcumin analogues toward the amyloid-beta aggregation inhibitor

Inhibition of the amyloid β aggregation process could possibly prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. In this article, we report a structure–activity relationship study of curcumin analogues for anti amyloid β aggregation activity. Compound 7, the ideal amyloid β aggregation inhibitor in vitro among synthesized curcumin analogues, has not only potent anti amyloid β aggregation effects, but also water solubility more than 160 times that of curcumin. In addition, new approaches to improve water solubility of curcumin-type compounds are proposed.     

Guiding the Selection of Processing Additives for Increasing the Efficiency of Bulk Heterojunction Polymeric Solar Cells

In bulk heterojunction (BHJ) polymeric organic solar cells (OSCs), the use of processing additives in the material formulation has emerged as a promising, cost‐effective, and widely applicable method for optimizing the phase separation between the donor (D) and acceptor (A) materials, thus increasing their efficiency. So far, however, there has been no systematic approach for identifying suitable processing additives for a given D:A system. A method based on the Hansen solubility parameters (HSPs) is proposed for guiding the selection of processing additives for a given D:A combination. The method is applied to the archetypical poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]‐phenyl‐C₆₁‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) system. The HSPs of these materials are determined and used to define a set of numerical criteria that need to be satisfied by a processing additive in order for it to be effective in realizing a higher efficiency OSC. Applying the selection criteria results in the identification of three novel processing additives. OSCs made of these formulations demonstrate an increase in their short‐circuit current density (J_SC) and power conversion efficiency (PCE). These results demonstrate the efficiency of these novel processing additives and show that the HSPs represent a useful tool to determine and explore new types of processing additives for BHJ‐OSCs.     

A general approach to antibody thermostabilization

Antibody engineering to enhance thermostability may enable further application and ease of use of antibodies across a number of different areas. A modified human IgG framework has been developed through a combination of engineering approaches, which can be used to stabilize antibodies of diverse specificity. This is achieved through a combination of complementarity-determining region (CDR)-grafting onto the stable framework, mammalian cell display and in vitro somatic hypermutation (SHM). This approach allows both stabilization and maturation to affinities beyond those of the original antibody, as shown by the stabilization of an anti-HA33 antibody by approximately 10°C and affinity maturation of approximately 300-fold over the original antibody. Specificities of 10 antibodies of diverse origin were successfully transferred to the stable framework through CDR-grafting, with 8 of these successfully stabilized, including the therapeutic antibodies adalimumab, stabilized by 9.9°C, denosumab, stabilized by 7°C, cetuximab stabilized by 6.9°C and to a lesser extent trastuzumab stabilized by 0.8°C. This data suggests that this approach may be broadly useful for improving the biophysical characteristics of antibodies across a number of applications.     

Deposition of condensed phosphate as an effect of varying sulfur deficiency in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. (Anacystis nidulans)

Uptake of orthophosphate and deposition of condensed phosphate were investigated in cells of Synechococcus sp. (Anacystis nidulans) deficient in phosphorus or sulfur. When phosphorus was restored to phosphorus-starved cells, uptake was rapid and immediate, with the greatest accumulation occurring within the first hour. Uptake was optimum in the pH 7.5–8.5 range. Long-term (6-day) studies of uptake and deposition with cells exposed to a wide range of sulfur deficiency showed that both processes were greatest when the level of exogenous sulfur was reduced to zero. The increase in cellular phosphorus as determined chemically was in agreement with the increased number and size of polyphosphate bodies at the ultrastructural level. Possible mechanisms for the control of phosphorus uptake and condensed phosphate formation by exogenous sulfur are discussed.     

奈妥吡坦/β-环糊精包合物的制备、评价与表征

目的:制备奈妥吡坦/β-环糊精包合物,用以提高奈妥吡坦的水溶性.方法:采用饱和水溶液法,制备奈妥吡坦/β-环糊精包合物;以载药量为指标,考察奈妥吡坦与β-环糊精的质量比(芯壁比)、包合温度、包合时间、搅拌速度的影响.基于单因素试验结果,采用正交设计实验对制备处方和工艺进行优化,得到最优奈妥吡坦/β-环糊精包合物,并对其...     

Yolk hydrolases in the eggs of Anticarsia gemmatalis hubner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): A role for inorganic polyphosphate towards yolk mobilization

Despite being the main insect pest on soybean crops in the Americas, very few studies have approached the general biology of the lepidopteran Anticarsia gemmatalis and there is a paucity of studies with embryo formation and yolk mobilization in this species. In the present work, we identified an acid phosphatase activity in the eggs of A. gemmatalis (agAP) that we further characterized by means of biochemistry and cell biology experiments. By testing several candidate substrates, this enzyme proved chiefly active with phosphotyrosine; in vitro assays suggested a link between agAP activity and dephosphorylation of egg yolk phosphotyrosine. We also detected strong activity with endogenous and exogenous short chain polyphosphates (PolyP), which are polymers of phosphate residues involved in a number of physiological processes. Both agAP activity and PolyP were shown to initially concentrate in small vesicles clearly distinct from typically larger yolk granules, suggesting subcellular compartmentalization. As PolyP has been implicated in inhibition of yolk proteases, we performed in vitro enzymatic assays with a cysteine protease to test whether it would be inhibited by PolyP. This cysteine protease is prominent in Anticarsia egg homogenates. Accordingly, short chain PolyP was a potent inhibitor of cysteine protease. We thereby suggest that PolyP hydrolysis by agAP is a triggering mechanism of yolk mobilization in A. gemmatalis.     

表达大肠杆菌分子伴侣GroEL、GroES和GrpE载体的构建及其应用

大肠杆菌（Escherichia coli）共表达系统常要求质粒具有不同抗生素抗性以及不同的复制子。利用粘性末端PCR技术,以含有大肠杆菌分子伴侣基因GroEL、GroES和唧E的pR—GESP质粒为模板,设计两对引物,通过两次独立的PCR反应扩增3个基因的多顺反子,将形成粘性末端的PCR产物插入NcoI和Xho1酶切的pACY．CDuet-1质粒,构建的pA—GESP质粒具有p15A复制子及氯霉素抗性,和具有ColE1复制子及卡那霉素抗性表达载体pET28b相容。SDS—PAGE显示含有pA—GESP质粒的大肠杆菌细胞中3个分子伴侣蛋白的表达水平和含有pR—GESP质粒的大肠杆菌细胞没有明显差异,它们对玉米丝氨酸消旋酶的可溶性表达有部分促进作用,但对N端含有组氨酸标签的玉米铁氧还蛋白还原酶的表达没有作用,在三个含有不同抗生素基因的质粒中共表达分子伴侣、5-氨基乙酰丙酸合酶和尿卟啉原III甲基化酶,两个酶连续催化的荧光产物在细胞内积累量为562．13±3．17／OD600,而没有分子伴侣的积累量为457．66±4．98／OD600,表明分子伴侣改善部分蛋白在大肠杆菌的可溶性表达和催化功能。     

Solvent polarity effects on supramolecular chirality of a polyfluorene‐thiophene copolymer

This study demonstrates the supramolecular chirality control of a conjugated polymer via solvent polarity. We designed and synthesized a chiral polyfluorene‐thiophene copolymer having two different chiral side chains at the 9‐position of the fluorene unit. Chiral cyclic and alkyl ethers with different polarities were selected as the chiral side chains. The sign of the circular dichroism spectra in the visible wavelength region was affected by the solvent system, resulting from the change of supramolecular structure. The estimation of the solubility parameter revealed that the solubility difference of the side chains contributed to the change of the circular dichroism sign, which was also observed in spin‐coated films prepared from good solvents having different polarities.