Desangeloylshairidin,X-ray structure determination of a sesquiterpene lactone from Guillonea scabra

The structure and absolute configuration of desangeloylshairidin, a guaianolide isolated from Guillonea scabra, have been established by X-ray diffraction analysis. No conformational change was observed in its seven-membered ring between the crystal and deuterochloroform solution states.     

Phylogeny,biogeography, and morphological ancestral character reconstruction in the Mediterranean genus Fumana (Cistaceae)

Fumana is a diverse genus of the Cistaceae family, consisting of 21 currently accepted species. In this study, nuclear (ITS) and plastid (matK, trnT‐L) molecular markers were used to reconstruct the phylogeny and to estimate divergence times, including 19 species of Fumana. Phylogenetic analyses (Bayesian Inference, Maximum Parsimony and Maximum Likelihood) confirmed the monophyly of Fumana and did not support the infrageneric divisions previously established. The results support four main clades that group species that differ in vegetative and reproductive characters. Given the impossibility to define morphological characters common to all species within the clades, our proposal is to reject infrageneric divisions. Molecular dating and ancestral area analyses provide evidence for a Miocene diversification of the genus in the north‐western Mediterranean. Ancestral state reconstructions revealed ancestral character states for some traits related to xeric and arid habitats, suggesting a preadaptation to the Mediterranean climate.     

Integration of life cycle assessment into a decision support system for selecting sustainable road asphalt pavement mixtures prepared with waste

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment - A challenge that the road paving sector is facing concerns the achievement of highly performing bituminous asphalt mixture solutions that do not...     

Induction of flexibility through protein-protein interactions

The dimerization/docking (D/D) domain of the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) holoenzyme mediates important protein-protein interactions that direct the subcellular localization of the enzyme. A kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs) provide the molecular scaffold for the localization of PKA. The recent solution structures of two D/D AKAP complexes revealed that the AKAP binds to a surface-exposed, hydrophobic groove on the D/D. In the present study, we present an analysis of the changes in hydrogen/deuterium exchange protection and internal motions of the backbone of the D/D when free and bound to the prototype anchoring protein, Ht31(pep). We observe that formation of the complex results in significant, but small, increases in H/D exchange protection factors as well as increases in backbone flexibility, throughout the D/D, and in particular, in the hydrophobic binding groove. This unusual observation of increased backbone flexibility and marginal H/D exchange protection, despite high affinity protein-ligand interactions, may be a general effect observed for the stabilization of hydrophobic ligand/hydrophobic pocket interactions.     

Distinct interaction modes of an AKAP bound to two regulatory subunit isoforms of protein kinase A revealed by amide hydrogen/deuterium exchange

The structure of an AKAP docked to the dimerization/docking (D/D) domain of the type II (RIIalpha) isoform of protein kinase A (PKA) has been well characterized, but there currently is no detailed structural information of an AKAP docked to the type I (RIalpha) isoform. Dual-specific AKAP2 (D-AKAP2) binds in the nanomolar range to both isoforms and provided us with an opportunity to characterize the isoform-selective nature of AKAP binding using a common docked ligand. Hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange combined with mass spectrometry (DXMS) was used to probe backbone structural changes of an alpha-helical A-kinase binding (AKB) motif from D-AKAP2 docked to both RIalpha and RIIalpha D/D domains. The region of protection upon complex formation and the magnitude of protection from H/D exchange were determined for both interacting partners in each complex. The backbone of the AKB ligand was more protected when bound to RIalpha compared to RIIalpha, suggesting an increased helical stabilization of the docked AKB ligand. This combined with a broader region of backbone protection induced by the AKAP on the docking surface of RIalpha indicated that there were more binding constraints for the AKB ligand when bound to RIalpha. This was in contrast to RIIalpha, which has a preformed, localized binding surface. These distinct modes of AKAP binding may contribute to the more discriminating nature of the RIalpha AKAP-docking surface. DXMS provides valuable structural information for understanding binding specificity in the absence of a high-resolution structure, and can readily be applied to other protein-ligand and protein-protein interactions.     

Induction of gentisic acid 5-O-beta-D-xylopyranoside in tomato and cucumber plants infected by different pathogens

Tomato plants infected with the citrus exocortis viroid exhibited strongly elevated levels of a compound identified as 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (gentisic acid, GA) 5-O-beta-D-xylopyranoside. The compound accumulated early in leaves expressing mild symptoms from both citrus exocortis viroid-infected tomato, and prunus necrotic ringspot virus-infected cucumber plants, and progressively accumulated concomitant with symptom development. The work presented here demonstrates that GA, mainly associated with systemic infections in compatible plant-pathogen interactions [Bellés, J.M., Garro, R., Fayos, J., Navarro, P., Primo, J., Conejero, V., 1999. Gentisic acid as a pathogen-inducible signal, additional to salicylic acid for activation of plant defenses in tomato. Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. 12, 227-235], is conjugated to xylose. Notably, this result contrasts with those previously found in other plant-pathogen interactions in which phenolics analogues of GA as benzoic or salicylic acids, are conjugated to glucose.     

Masting uncoupling: mast seeding does not follow all mast flowering episodes in a dioecious juniper tree

Evolutionary selective forces, like predator satiation and pollination efficiency, are acknowledged to be major causes of masting (the variable, periodic and synchronic production of seeds in a population). However, a number of recent studies indicate that resources might also play an important role on shaping masting patterns. Dioecious masting species offer a privileged framework to study the role of resources on masting variation, since male and female plants often experience different reproductive costs and selective pressures. We followed masting and reproductive investment (RI) of the dioecious tree Juniperus thurifera in two populations along 10 years and studied the different response of males and females to experimentally increased water and nutrient availability in a third population. Juniperus thurifera females invested in reproduction three times more resources than males. Such disparity generated different resource‐use strategies in male and female trees. Tree‐ring growth and water use efficiency (WUE) confirmed that sexes differed in their resource investment temporal pattern, with males using current resources for reproduction and females using resources accumulated during longer periods. Watered and fertilized female trees presented significantly higher flowering reproductive investments than males and experienced an extraordinary mast‐flowering event. However, seeding RI and mast seeding were not affected by the treatment. This suggests that although resource availability affects the reproductive output of this species, there are other major forces regulating masting on J. thurifera. During 10 years, J. thurifera male and female trees presented high and low flowering years more or less synchronously. However, not all mast flowering episodes resulted in mast seeding, leading to masting uncoupling between flowering and seeding. Since flowering costs represent only 1% of females’ total reproductive investments, masting uncoupling could be a beneficial bet‐hedging strategy to maximize reproductive output in spite of unpredictable catastrophic events.