TY - JOUR A1 - Wronski, Torsten A1 - Apio, Ann A1 - Plath, Martin T1 - The communicatory significance of localised defecation sites in bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) N2 - Like several other mammals, bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) deposit faeces in specific localised defecation sites (LDS). A previous study has ruled out a function of LDS in the context of parasite avoidance. In this study, we investigated the communicatory significance of LDS. In a free ranging population, we tested whether LDS serve to demarcate home ranges, and/or if LDS are used for communication in a non-territorial context. In both sexes, LDS increased significantly in number towards the periphery of individual home ranges. However, the distribution pattern of LDS, as revealed by a nearest-neighbour mapping technique (nearest distances between LDS), did not support the idea that LDS serve home range/territory-demarcation because LDS did not follow a pattern of minimal nearest-neighbour distances along the margins of home ranges. We found females to urinate more often in LDS than males. Notably, information transfer was most frequent between sending (urinating or defecating) females and receiving/responding males (urination or defecation at places where a female had previously signalled). Our results suggest that LDS mainly serve for inter- sexual communication in bushbuck Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.springerlink.com/content/517tm6115561t421/ U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-006-0174-4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike A1 - Kürschner, Harald A1 - Battarbee, Rick A1 - Holmes, Jonathan T1 - Desert plant pollen production and a 160-year record of vegetation and climate change on the Alashan Plateau, NW China N2 - Recent and subfossil pollen spectra from the Alashan Plateau are presented in order to provide information on desert plant representation and on recent changes in vegetation and climate in this remote area in northern China. The desert vegetation composition is faithfully represented by the surface pollen spectra. The comparison of the desert plant species to the related pollen taxa yielded the following sequence from over-representation to under- representation: Chenopodiaceae, Artemisia, Ephedra fragilis-type s.l., Reaumuria, Nitraria and Calligonum. A 72 cm long sediment record from a small hydrologically-closed inter-dune lake (SE Badan Jilin Sand Sea, southern Alashan Plateau) covering the past similar to 160 years (dated by(137)Cs) was analysed palynologically. Intervals of denser Artemisia coverage on the sand dunes around the lake, indicating wetter climate, occurred from the mid-1850s to the mid-1870s, during the first two decades of the 20th century and from the late 1930s to the beginning of the 1960s Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.springerlink.com/content/107470 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-005-0031-9 SN - 0939-6314 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dames, Petra A1 - Zimmermann, Bernhard A1 - Schmidt, Ruth A1 - Rein, Julia A1 - Voss, Martin A1 - Schewe, Bettina A1 - Walz, Bernd A1 - Baumann, Otto T1 - cAMP regulates plasma membrane vacuolar-type H+-ATPase assembly and activity in blowfly salivary glands N2 - Reversible assembly of the V0V1 holoenzyme from V-0 and V-1 subcomplexes is a widely used mechanism for regulation of vacuolar-type H+-ATPases (V-ATPases) in animal cells. in the blowfly (Calliphora vicina) salivary gland, V- ATPase is located in the apical membrane of the secretory cells and energizes the secretion of a KCl-rich saliva in response to the hormone serotonin. We have examined whether the CAMP pathway, known to be activated by serotonin, controls V-ATPase assembly and activity. Fluorescence measurements of pH changes at the luminal surface of isolated glands demonstrate that CAMP, Sp-adenosine-3',5'-cyclic monophosphorothioate, or forskolin, similar to serotonin, cause V-ATPase-dependent luminal acidification. In addition, V-ATPase-dependent ATP hydrolysis increases upon treatment with these agents. Immunofluorescence microscopy and pelleting assays have demonstrated further that V, components become translocated from the cytoplasm to the apical membrane and V-ATPase holoenzymes are assembled at the apical membrane during conditions that increase intracellular cAMP. Because these actions occur without a change in cytosolic Ca2+, our findings suggest that the cAMP pathway mediates the reversible assembly and activation of V-ATPase molecules at the apical membrane upon hormonal stimulus Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.pnas.org/ U6 - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0600011103 SN - 0027-8424 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Huber, Veronika A1 - Gaedke, Ursula T1 - The role of predation for seasonal variability patterns among phytoplankton and ciliates N2 - Investigating the mechanisms which underlie the biomass fluctuations of populations and communities is important to better understand the processes which buffer community biomass in a variable environment. Based on long- term data of plankton biomass in Lake Constance (Bodensee), this study aims at explaining the different degree of synchrony among populations observed within two freshwater plankton groups, phytoplankton and ciliates. Established measures of temporal variability such as the variance ratio and cross-correlation coefficients were combined with first- order autoregressive models that allow estimating species interactions from time-series data. We found that predation was an important driver of the observed seasonal variability patterns in phytoplankton and ciliates, and that competitive interactions only played a subordinate role. In Lake Constance copepods and cladocerans, two major invertebrate predator groups, focus their grazing pressure at different times of the season. Model results suggested that compensatory dynamics detected in phytoplankton originate from the differential vulnerability of species to either one of these two predator groups. For ciliates model results advocated that synchrony among species occurs because ciliates tend to be vulnerable to both predator groups. Our findings underline the necessity of extending studies of community variability to multiple trophic levels because accounting for predator-prey interactions may often be more important than accounting for competitive interactions at one trophic level Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/issn?DESCRIPTOR=PRINTISSN&VALUE=0030-1299 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2006.0030-1299.14753.x SN - 0030-1299 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wood, C. C. A1 - Poree, Fabien A1 - Dreyer, Ingo A1 - Koehler, G. J. A1 - Udvardi, M. K. T1 - Mechanisms of ammonium transport, accumulation, and retention in ooyctes and yeast cells expressing Arabidopsis AtAMT1; 1 N2 - Ammonium is a primary source of N for plants, so knowing how it is transported, stored, and assimilated in plant cells is important for rational approaches to optimise N-use in agriculture. Electrophysiological studies of Arabidopsis AtAMT1;1 expressed in oocytes revealed passive, Delta psi-driven transport of NH4+ through this protein. Expression of AtAMT1;1 in a novel yeast mutant defective in endogenous ammonium transport and vacuolar acidification supported the above mechanism for AtAMT1;1 and revealed a central role for acid vacuoles in storage and retention of ammonia in cells. These results highlight the mechanistic differences between plant AMT proteins and related transporters in bacteria and animal cells, and suggest novel strategies to enhance nitrogen use efficiency in agriculture. (c) 2006 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014579306007332 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.febslet.2006.06.026 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beissenhirtz, Moritz Karl A1 - Scheller, Frieder W. A1 - Viezzoli, Maria Silvia A1 - Lisdat, Fred T1 - Engineered superoxide dismutase monomers for superoxide biosensor applications N2 - Because of its high reaction rate and specificity, the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) offers great potential for the sensitive quantification of superoxide radicals in electrochemical biosensors. In this work, monomeric mutants of human Cu,Zn-SOD were engineered to contain one or two additional cysteine residues, which could be used to bind the protein to gold surfaces, thus making the use of promotor molecules unnecessary. Six mutants were successfully designed, expressed, and purified. All mutants bound directly to unmodified gold surfaces via the sulfur of the cysteine residues and showed a quasireversible, direct electron transfer to the electrode. Thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of the electron transfer were characterized and showed only slight variations between the individual mutants. For one of the mutants, the interaction with the superoxide radical was studied in more detail. For both partial reactions of the dismutation, an interaction between protein and radical could be shown. In an amperometric biosensorial approach, the SOD-mutant electrode was successfully applied for the detection of superoxide radicals. In the oxidation region, the electrode surpassed the sensitivity of the commonly used cytochrome c electrodes by similar to 1 order of magnitude while not being limited by interferences, but the electrode did not fully reach the sensitivity of dimeric Cu,Zn-SOD immobilized on MPA-modified gold Y1 - 2006 UR - http://pubs.acs.org/journal/ancham U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/Ac051465g SN - 0003-2700 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wronski, Torsten A1 - Wacher, Timothy A1 - Hammond, Robert L. A1 - Winney, Bruce A1 - Hundertmark, Kris J. A1 - Blacket, Mark J. A1 - Mohammed, Osama B. A1 - Flores, Benito A1 - Omer, Sawsan A. A1 - Macasero, William A1 - Plath, Martin A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph A1 - Bleidorn, Christoph T1 - Two reciprocally monophyletic mtDNA lineages elucidate the taxonomic status of Mountain gazelles (Gazella gazella) N2 - Mountain gazelles (Gazella gazella) rank among the most critically endangered mammals on the Arabian Peninsula. Past conservation efforts have been plagued by confusion about the phylogenetic relationship among various 'phenotypically discernable' populations, and even the question of species boundaries was far from being certain. This lack of knowledge has had a direct impact on conservation measures, especially ex situ breeding programmes, hampering the assignment of captive stocks to potential conservation units. Here, we provide a phylogenetic framework, based on the analysis of mtDNA sequences (360 bp cytochrome b and 213 bp Control Region) of 126 individuals collected from the wild throughout the Arabian Peninsula and from captive stocks. Our analyses revealed two reciprocally monophyletic genetic lineages within the presumed species Gazella gazella: one 'northern clade' on the Golan Heights (Israel/Syrian border) and one genetically diverse larger clade from the rest of the Arabian Peninsula including the Arava Valley (Negev, Israel). Applying the Strict Phylogenetic Species Concept (sensu Mishler & Theriot, 2000) allows assigning species status to these two major clades. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t913521959~db=all U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/14772001003613192 SN - 1477-2000 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Neumann, Meina A1 - Schulte, Marc A1 - Jünemann, Nora A1 - Stöcklein, Walter F. M. A1 - Leimkühler, Silke T1 - Rhodobacter capsulatus XdhC is involved in molybdenum cofactor binding and insertion into xanthine dehydrogenase N2 - Rhodobacter capsulatus xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH) is a cytoplasmic enzyme with an (alpha beta) 2 heterodimeric structure that is highly identical to homodimeric eukaryotic xanthine oxidoreductases. The crystal structure revealed that the molybdenum cofactor (Moco) is deeply buried within the protein. A protein involved in Moco insertion and XDH maturation has been identified, which was designated XdhC. XdhC was shown to be essential for the production of active XDH but is not a subunit of the purified enzyme. Here we describe the purification of XdhC and the detailed characterization of its role for XDH maturation. We could show that XdhC binds Moco in stoichiometric amounts, which subsequently can be inserted into Moco-free apo-XDH. A specific interaction between XdhC and XdhB was identified. We show that XdhC is required for the stabilization of the sulfurated form of Moco present in enzymes of the xanthine oxidase family. Our findings imply that enzyme-specific proteins exist for the biogenesis of molybdoenzymes, coordinating Moco binding and insertion into their respective target proteins. So far, the requirement of such proteins for molybdoenzyme maturation has been described only for prokaryotes Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.jbc.org/ U6 - https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M601617200 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Feng, Xiao-Li A1 - Ni, Wei-Min A1 - Elge, Stephan A1 - Müller-Röber, Bernd A1 - Xu, Zhi-Hong A1 - Xue, Hong-Wei T1 - Auxin flow in anther filaments is critical for pollen grain development through regulating pollen mitosis N2 - It was well known that auxin is critical for anther/pollen grain development, however, the clear distribution and detailed effects of auxin during floral development are still unclear. We have shown here that, through analyzing GUS activities of Arabidopsis lines harboring auxin response elements DR5-GUS, auxin was mainly accumulated in the anther during flower stages 10-12. Further studies employing the indoleacetic acid-lysine synthetase (iaaL) coding gene from Pseudomonas syringae subsp. savastanoi under control of the promoter region of Arabidopsis phosphatidylinositol monophosphate 5-kinase 1 gene, which conducts the anther filament-specific expression, showed that block of auxin flow of filaments resulted in shortened filaments and significantly defective pollen grains. Similar phenotype was observed in tobacco plants transformed with the same construct, confirming the effects of auxin flow in filaments on anther development. Detailed studies further revealed that the meiosis process of pollen grain was normal while the mitosis at later stage was significantly defected, indicating the effects of auxin flow in filaments on pollen grain mitosis process. Analysis employing [C-14]IAA, as well as the observation on the expression of AtPIN1, coding for auxin efflux carrier, demonstrated the presence of polar auxin transport in anther filaments and pollen grains Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.springerlink.com/content/100330 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-006-0005-z SN - 0167-4412 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mikhailyuk, Igor K. A1 - Knox, Peter P. A1 - Paschenko, Vladimir Z. A1 - Razjivin, Andrej P. A1 - Lokstein, Heiko T1 - Analysis of absorption spectra of purple bacterial reaction centers in the near infrared region by higher order derivative spectroscopy N2 - Reaction centers (RCs) of purple bacteria are uniquely suited objects to study the mechanisms of the photosynthetic conversion of light energy into chemical energy. A recently introduced method of higher order derivative spectroscopy [I.K. Mikhailyuk, H. Lokstein, A.P. Razjivin, A method of spectral subband decomposition by simultaneous fitting the initial spectrum and a set of its derivatives, J. Biochem. Biophys. Methods 63 (2005) 10-23] was used to analyze the NIR absorption spectra of RC preparations from Rhodobacter (R.) sphaeroides strain 2R and Blastochloris (B.) viridis strain KH, containing bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) a and b, respectively. Q(y) bands of individual RC porphyrin components (BChls and bacteriopheophytins, BPheo) were identified. The results indicate that the upper exciton level Py+ of the photo-active BChl dimer in RCs of R. sphaeroides has an absorption maximum of 810nm. The blue shift of a complex integral band at approximately 800nm upon oxidation of the RC is caused primarily by bleaching of Py+, rather than by an electrochromic shift of the absorption band(s) of the monomeric BChls. Likewise, the disappearance of a band peaking at 842 nm upon oxidation of RCs from B. viridis indicates that this band has to be assigned to Py+, A blue shift of an absorption band at approximately 830nm upon oxidation of RCs of B. viridis is also essentially caused by the disappearance of Py+, rather than by an electrochromic shift of the absorption bands of monomeric BChls. Absorption maxima of the monomeric BCHls, B-B and B-A are at 802 and 797nm, respectively, in RCs of R. sphaeroides at room temperature. BPheo co-factors H-B and HA peak at 748 and 758 nm, respectively, at room temperature. For B. viridis RCs the spectral positions of HB and HA were found to be 796 and 816nm, respectively, at room temperature. Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03014622 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpc.2006.02.002 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wronski, Torsten A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph A1 - Apio, Ann A1 - Plath, Martin T1 - Cover, food, competitors and individual densities within bushbuck Tragelaphus scriptus female clan home ranges N2 - We examined factors predicting female densities within the common home ranges of related females ("clans") in bushbuck Tragelaphus scriptus Pallas, 1776. In this species, each female forms an individual home range, but the home ranges of matrilineal clan members strongly overlap. We found female densities to increase in areas with high canopy cover. Moreover, individual home range sizes tended to decrease with increasing cover. Food plant availability and intruder pressure by two heterospecific competitors did not significantly affect female densities. Apparently, canopy cover is the major limited resource in this species. A possible explanation is that both adult bushbuck and - even more markedly - fawns hide from predators in dense vegetation, in particular in thicket clumps and coalescences. The study shows an effect of habitat properties (eg sufficient canopy cover) on a within-population level in bushbuck, where female densities differ even among proximate clan areas Y1 - 2006 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Morgenthal, Katja A1 - Weckwerth, Wolfram A1 - Steuer, Ralf T1 - Metabolomic networks in plants : transitions from pattern recognition to biological interpretation N2 - Nowadays techniques for non-targeted metabolite profiling allow for the generation of huge amounts of relevant data essential for the construction of dynamic metabolomic networks. Thus, metabolomics, besides transcriptomics or proteomics, provides a major tool for the characterization of postgenomic processes. In this work, we introduce comparative correlation analysis as a complementary approach to characterize the physiological states of various organs of diverse plant species with focus on specific participation of metabolites in different reaction networks. The correlations observed are induced by diminutive fluctuations in environmental conditions, which propagate through the system and induce specific patterns depending on the genomic background. In order to examine this hypothesis, numeric examples of such fluctuations are computed and compared with experimentally obtained metabolite data. Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03032647 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2005.05.017 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Plath, Martin A1 - Seggel, Uta A1 - Burmeister, Heike A1 - Heubel, Katja U. A1 - Schlupp, Ingo T1 - Choosy males from the underground : male mating preferences in surface- and cave-dwelling Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana) N2 - Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana) inhabit a variety of surface habitats, but they also occur in a sulfur cave in southern Mexico. We examined male mate choice relative to female body size in the cave population and in the most closely related surface-dwelling population from a nearby river. Males from both populations were either light- or dark-reared and could choose between two differently sized females either on the basis of visual cues in light or on the basis of solely nonvisual cues in darkness. Sexual preferences were estimated from the degree of association. Cave molly males always showed a preference for the larger female, both in light and in darkness. Among the surface males, only light-reared males showed a preference in the visual cues test, but not in darkness. In a control experiment, we demonstrated that male association preferences directly translate into actual mating preferences. Apparently, using visual cues for mate choice is the ancestral state in this system, and using nonvisual cues has evolved as a novel trait in the cave population. We discuss the evolution of nonvisual male mate choice in the context of changed environmental conditions, namely the absence of light, hypoxia, and toxic hydrogen sulfide in the cave Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.springerlink.com/content/100479 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-005-0072-z ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stalz, Holger A1 - Roth, Udo A1 - Schleuder, Detlev A1 - Macht, Marcus A1 - Haebel, Sophie A1 - Strupat, Kerstin A1 - Peter-Katalinic, Jasna A1 - Hanisch, Franz-Georg T1 - The Geodia cydonium galectin exhibits prototype and chimera-type characteristics and a unique sequence polymorphism within its carbohydrate recognition domain N2 - The ancestral galectin from the sponge Geodia cydonium (GCG) is classified on a structural basis to the prototype subfamily, whereas its carbohydrate-binding specificity is related to that of the mammalian chimera-type galectin-3. This dual coordination reveals GCG as a potential precursor of the later evolved galectin subfamilies, which is reflected in the primary structure of the protein. This study provides evidence that GCG is the LECT1 gene product, while neither a previously described LECT2 gene nor a functional LECT2 gene product was found in the specimen under investigation. The electrophoretically separated protein isomers with apparent molecular masses of 13, 15, and 16 kDa correspond to variants of the LECT1 protein-exhibiting peptide sequence polymorphisms that concern critical positions of the carbohydrate recognition domain (13 kDa: Leu51, Asn55, His130, Gly137; 15 kDa: Ser51, Asn55, Asn130, Gly137; 16 kDa: Ser51, Tyr55, Asn130, Glu137). Four residues, highly conserved in the galectin family, are substituted. None of the residues claimed to be involved in interactions with GalNAc alpha 1-3 moieties at an extended binding subsite of galectin-3 was identified in the corresponding positions of GCG. Apparently, the substitutions do not confer distinct binding characteristics to the GCG variants as evidenced by binding studies with a recombinantly expressed 15-kDa isoform. The natural isoforms as well as the recombinant 15-kDa isoform oligomerize by the formation of non-covalent heteromeric or homomeric complexes. A phosphorylation of the galectin was confirmed neither by mass spectrometry nor by alkaline phosphatase treatment combined with isoelectric focusing Y1 - 2006 UR - http://glycob.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/5/402.full U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/glycob/cwj086 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sato, A A1 - Gambale, Franco A1 - Dreyer, Ingo A1 - Uozumi, N T1 - Posttranslational inodification affects K+ current of plant K+ channel Y1 - 2006 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schulz, Tim Julius A1 - Thierbach, Renè A1 - Voigt, Anja A1 - Drewes, Gunnar A1 - Mietzner, Brun A1 - Steinberg, Pablo A1 - Pfeiffer, Andreas F. H. A1 - Ristow, Michael T1 - Induction of oxidative metabolism by mitochondrial frataxin inhibits cancer growth : Otto Warburg revisited N2 - More than 80 years ago Otto Warburg suggested that cancer might be caused by a decrease in mitochondrial energy metabolism paralleled by an increase in glycolytic flux. In later years, it was shown that cancer cells exhibit multiple alterations in mitochondrial content, structure, function, and activity. We have stably overexpressed the Friedreich ataxia-associated protein frataxin in several colon cancer cell lines. These cells have increased oxidative metabolism, as shown by concurrent increases in aconitase activity, mitochondrial membrane potential, cellular respiration, and ATP content. Consistent with Warburg's hypothesis, we found that frataxin-overexpressing cells also have decreased growth rates and increased population doubling times, show inhibited colony formation capacity in soft agar assays, and exhibit a reduced capacity for tumor formation when injected into nude mice. Furthermore, overexpression of frataxin leads to an increased phosphorylation of the tumor suppressor p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, as well as decreased phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase. Taken together, these results support the view that an increase in oxidative metabolism induced by mitochondrial frataxin may inhibit cancer growth in mammals Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.jbc.org/content/281/2/977.full.pdf+html U6 - https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M511064200 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wronski, Torsten A1 - Apio, Ann A1 - Wanker, R A1 - Plath, Martin T1 - Behavioural repertoire of the bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus): agonistic interactions, mating behaviour and parent-offspring relations N2 - A free-ranging bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) population was observed over a period of 3 years, thereby enabling a detailed description of the behavioural repertoire of this widespread but barely investigated solitary African antelope species. Agonistic and submissive behaviour patterns are described, among them several hitherto un- described behaviour patterns - such as "escorting", where territorial males guide intruders to the periphery of their territory - and "push-up position", an extreme form of submissive behaviour. Furthermore, we report on behaviour patterns of males and females during mating as well as on behaviour patterns of parents directed towards their offspring. Again, we describe a hitherto unknown behaviour: the protection of calves by adult males, which may be a socio-positive behaviour directed towards their offspring led by kin selection Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.springerlink.com/content/h4v41315l1717v87/ U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-005-0186-y ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yuryev, Ruslan A1 - Kasche, Volker A1 - Ignatova, Zoya A1 - Galunsky, Boris T1 - Improved A. faecalis penicillin amidase mutant retains the thermodynamic and pH stability of the wild type enzyme N2 - Penicillin amidase from Alacaligenes faecalis is an attractive biocatalyst for hydrolysis of penicillin G for production of 6-aminopenicillanic acid, which is used in the synthesis of semi-synthetic beta-lactam antibiotics. Recently a mutant of this enzyme with extended C-terminus of the A-chain comprising parts of the connecting linker peptide was constructed. Its turnover number for the hydrolysis of penicillin G was 140 s(-1), about twice of the value for the wild-type enzyme (80 s(-1)). At the same time the specificity constant was improved about three-fold. The wild- type and the mutant enzymes showed similar pH stability suggesting that the linker peptide fragment covalently attached to the A-chain does not alter the electrostatic interactions in the protein core. Although the global stability of A. faecalis wild-type enzyme and the T206GS213G variant does not differ, the presence of the linker fragment stabilizes the domains interface, as evidenced by the monophasic transition of the mutant enzyme from folded to unfolded state during urea-induced denaturation. The high stability and activity of the mutant enzyme provides a rationale to use it as a biocatalyst in the industrial processes, where the enzyme must be more robust to fluctuations in the operational conditions. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://springerlink.metapress.com/content/1573-4943/ U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10930-010-9238-4 SN - 1572-3887 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liu, Songqin A1 - Wollenberger, Ursula A1 - Katterle, Martin A1 - Scheller, Frieder W. T1 - Ferroceneboronic acid-based amperometric biosensor for glycated hemoglobin N2 - An amperometric biosensor for the determination of glycated hemoglobin in human whole blood is proposed. The principle is based on the electrochemical measurement of ferroceneboronic acid (FcBA) that has been specifically bound to the glycated N-terminus. Hemoglobin is immobilized on a zirconium dioxide nanoparticle modified pyrolytic graphite electrode (PGE) in the presence of didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB). The incubation of this sensor in FcBA solution leads to the formation of an FcBA-modified surface due to the affinity interaction between boronate and the glycated sites of the hemoglobin. The binding of FcBA results in well-defined redox peaks with an E-0' of 0.299 V versus Ag/AgCl (1 M KCl). The square wave voltammetric response of the bound FcBA reflects the amount of glycated hemoglobin at the surface. This signal increases linearily with the degree of glycated hemoglobin from 6.8 to 14.0% of total immobilized hemoglobin. The scheme was applied to the determination of the fraction of glycated hemoglobin in whole blood samples. Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09254005 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2005.07.011 SN - 0925-4005 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reineking, Björn A1 - Schröder-Esselbach, Boris T1 - Constrain to perform : regularization of habitat models N2 - Predictive habitat models are an important tool for ecological research and conservation. A major cause of unreliable models is excessive model complexity, and regularization methods aim to improve the predictive performance by adequately constraining model complexity. We compare three regularization methods for logistic regression: variable selection, lasso, and ridge. They differ in the way model complexity is measured: variable selection uses the number of estimated parameters, the lasso uses the sum of the absolute values of the parameter estimates, and the ridge uses the sum of the squared values of the parameter estimates. We performed a simulation study with environmental data of a real landscape and artificial species occupancy data. We investigated the effect of three factors on relative model performance: (1) the number of parameters (16, 10, 6, 2) in the 'true' model that determined the distribution of the artificial species, (2) the prevalence, i.e. the proportion of sites occupied by the species, and (3) the sample size (measured in events per variable, EPV). Regularization improved model discrimination and calibration. However, no regularization method performed best under all circumstances: the ridge generally performed best in the 16-parameter scenario. The lasso generally performed best in the 10-parameter scenario. Variable selection with AIC was best at large sample sizes (EPV >= 10) when less than half of the variables influenced the species distribution. However, at low sample sizes (EPV < 10), ridge and lasso always performed best, regardless of the parameter scenario or prevalence. Overall, calibration was best in ridge models. Other methods showed overconfidence, particularly at low sample sizes. The percentage of correctly identified models was low for both lasso and variable selection. Variable selection should be used with caution. Although it can produce the best performing models under certain conditions, these situations are difficult to infer from the data. Ridge and lasso are risk-averse model strategies that can be expected to perform well under a wide range of underlying species-habitat relationships, particularly at small sample sizes. Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03043800 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2005.10.003 SN - 0304-3800 ER -