Mechanism and dynamics of conformational ordering in xanthan polysaccharide

The thermally induced order-disorder transition of xanthan (extracellular bacterial polysaccharide from Xanthomonas campestris) has been investigated by optical rotation, differential scanning calorimetry, stopped-flow reaction kinetics and low-angle laser light scattering, and the results have been analysed in terms of Zimm -Bragg helix-coil transition theory. The reciprocal of the transition midpoint temperature (Tm) varies linearly with the logarithm of cation (K+) the salt dependence of Tm, is in agreement with Manning polyelectrolyte theory the ordered structure. The associated increase in cation binding, calculated from the salt dependence of tm, is in agreement with the Manning polyelectrolyte theory for one of the candidate structures from X-ray diffraction, a 5(1) single helix stabilized by packing of side-chains along the polymer backbone, but not for the alternative double-helix structure that has also been proposed. At each salt concentration, the two fundamental parameters of the Zimm -Bragg theory, s and sigma, were calculated. The equilibrium constant for growth of the ordered structure (s) is derived directly from calorimetric measurement of transition enthalpy (delta Hcal ), and sigma, which quantifies the relative instability of the helix nucleus, is derived from the ratio of delta Hcal to the apparent transition enthalpy (delta Happ ) obtained by van't Hoff analysis of the optical rotation data. The temperature course of conformational ordering calculated theoretically is in good quantitative agreement with experimental results from both optical rotation and scanning calorimetry. The calculated average length of stable, ordered chain-sequences increases with decreasing temperature, but equals or exceeds the total chain length from light scattering only at temperatures more than approximately equal to 70 K below Tm, suggesting that ordered and disordered regions may co-exist within the same xanthan molecule. Consistent with this interpretation, the observed rate of conformational ordering increases sharply under conditions where the starting solution for dynamic measurements is partially ordered, suggesting that ordered sequences within each chain may act as helix nuclei for adjacent disordered regions, so that helix growth, rather than the slower nucleation process, becomes rate limiting.     

Patterns of Sleeping Site and Sleeping Tree Selection by Black-and-Gold Howler Monkeys (Alouatta caraya) in Northern Argentina

International Journal of Primatology - The selection of sleeping sites and sleeping trees in nonhuman primates is related to social and ecological factors. We investigate the role of body...     

Comparison of the effects of smooth and skeletal tropomyosin on skeletal actomyosin subfragment 1 ATPase

Chicken gizzard tropomyosin, like rabbit skeletal tropomyosin, inhibits and activates skeletal actomyosin subfragment 1 ATPase at low and high [subfragment 1], respectively, showing that both smooth and skeletal tropomyosin qualitatively produce similar cooperative effects on activity. For gizzard tropomyosin, however, the extent of the inhibition was less, and the activation curve rose more sharply at lower [subfragment 1]. In terms of a two-state cooperative activity model for the actin-tropomyosin filament (Hill, T. L., Eisenberg, E., and Chalovich, J. (1981) Biophys. J. 35, 99-112), these results qualitatively suggest that, for the gizzard tropomyosin system, more units are initially in the active state (in the absence of subfragment 1) and that the switching of units to the active state is more cooperative. The greater cooperativity indicated for the gizzard system may be a consequence of the greater rigidity of gizzard tropomyosin indicated from conformational studies.     

Praying for Drought: Persistent Vulnerability and the Politics of Patronage in Ceará, Northeast Brazil

ABSTRACT   The phrase persistent vulnerability reflects the enduring relationship of the rural population in Ceará with a highly variable climate. Persistence underscores the historical and unyielding nature of this vulnerability. Yet contrary to once-catastrophic rates of mortality etched in a public consciousness, no one dies from severe droughts and few people flee them as in the past. Government relief and social transfers have become the institutionalized form of adaptation, giving way to the counterintuitive reality that drought stabilizes the food and income supply for poor people. We analyze how maladaptive risk reduction, which is embedded in clientilistic social relations, undermines resilience, and we examine pathways toward a more sustainable adaptive relationship.     

A statistical method for correlating tRNA sequence with amino acid specificity.

A statistical method for finding the nucleotide positions in tRNA sequences that correlate with amino acid specificity has been developed. The procedure involves finding the subset of nucleotide positions and groups of positions where the marginal density of one amino acid tRNA class does not overlap that of any other amino acid class. The procedure is an application of a statistical method known as the Expectation Maximization algorithm.     

Changes in the levels of wheat- and barley-germ agglutinin during embryogenesis in vivo,in vitro and during germination

Radioimmunoassay has been used to measure levels of wheat-germ agglutinin and barley-germ agglutinin during embryogenesis and germination. The two lectins exhibited similar patterns of accumulation during grain maturation in vivo and both decreased to low levels after imbibition of harvest-ripe grains for 3 d. Precocious germination of immature wheat and barley embryos excised and cultured in vitro could be prevented either by inclusion of abscisic acid or mannitol in the culture medium. Changes in the level of wheat-germ agglutinin induced by in vitro culture depended on the maturation stage of the embryo. No direct correlation was found between application of exogenous abscisic acid and accumulation of the lectin.