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Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) is the key enzyme of the Calvin cycle, catalyzing the fixation of inorganic carbon dioxide to organic sugars. Unlike most enzymes, RuBisCO is extremely slow, substrate unspecific, and catalyzes undesired side-reactions, which are considered to be responsible for the slow deactivation observed in vitro, a phenomenon known as fallover. Despite the fact that amino acid sequences and the 3D structures of RuBisCO from a variety of species are known, the precise molecular mechanisms for the various side reactions are still unclear. In the present study, we investigate the kinetic properties of RuBisCO using mathematical models. Initially, we formulate a minimal model that quantitatively reflects the kinetic behavior of RuBisCOs from different organisms. By relating rate parameters for single molecular steps to experimentally determined K-m and V-max values, we can examine mechanistic differences among species. The minimal model further demonstrates that two inhibitor producing side reactions are sufficient to describe experimentally determined fallover kinetics. To explain the observed kinetics of the limited capacity of RuBisCO to accept xylulose 1,5-bisphosphate as substrate, the inclusion of other side reactions is necessary. Our model results suggest a yet undescribed alternative enolization mechanism that is supported by the molecular structure. Taken together, the presented models serve as a theoretical framework to explain a wide range of observed kinetic properties of RuBisCOs derived from a variety of species. Thus, we can support hypotheses about molecular mechanisms and can systematically compare enzymes from different origins.
Smart bioactive surfaces
(2010)
The purpose of this highlight is to define the emerging field of bioactive surfaces. In recent years, various types of synthetic materials capable of "communicating'' with biological objects such as nucleic acids, proteins, polysaccharides, viruses, bacteria or living cells have been described in the literature. This novel area of research certainly goes beyond the traditional field of smart materials and includes different types of sophisticated interactions with biological entities, such as reversible adhesion, conformational control, biologically-triggered release and selective permeation. These novel materials may be 2D planar surfaces as well as colloidal objects or 3D scaffolds. Overall, they show great promise for numerous applications in biosciences and biotechnology. For instance, practical applications of bioactive surfaces in the fields of bioseparation, cell engineering, biochips and stem-cell differentiation are briefly discussed herein.
4-Alkyl-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1,4,2,6-oxaazadisilinanes RN[CH2Si(Me)2]2O [R = Me (1), i-Pr (2)] were synthesized by two methods which provided good yields up to 84%. Low temperature NMR study of compounds (1) and (2) revealed a frozen ring inversion with the energy barriers of 8.5 and 7.7 kcal/mol at 163 and 143 K, respectively, which is substantially lower than that for their carbon analog, N-methylmorpholine. DFT calculations performed on the example of molecule (1) showed that N-Meax conformer to exist in the sofa conformation with the coplanar fragment C-Si-O-Si-C, and its N-Meeq conformer in a flattened chair conformation.
The first conformational analysis of 3-silathiane and its C-substituted derivatives, namely, 3,3-dimethyl-3- silathiane 1, 2,3,3-trimethyl-3-silathiane 2, and 2-trimethylsilyl-3,3-dimethyl-3-silathiane 3 was performed by using dynamic NMR spectroscopy and B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) quantum chemical calculations. From coalescence temperatures, ring inversion barriers ;G; for 1 and 2 were estimated to be 6.3 and 6.8;kcal/mol, respectively. These values are considerably lower than that of thiacyclohexane (9.4;kcal/mol) but slightly higher than the one of 1,1- dimethylsilacyclohexane (5.5;kcal/mol). The conformational free energy for the methyl group in 2 (;;G°;=;0.35;kcal/mol) derived from low-temperature 13C NMR data is fairly consistent with the calculated value. For compound 2, theoretical calculations give ;E value close to zero for the equilibrium between the 2-Meax and 2-Meeq conformers. The calculated equatorial preference of the trimethylsilyl group in 3 is much more pronounced (;;G°;=;1.8;kcal/mol) and the predominance of the 3-SiMe3 eq conformer at room temperature was confirmed by the simulated 1H NMR and 2D NOESY spectra. The effect of the 2-substituent on the structural parameters of 2 and 3 is discussed.
The push-pull characters of a large series of donor-acceptor substituted azo dyesù71 structures in allùhave been quantified by the NN double bond lengths, dNN, the 15N NMR chemical shift differences, ;;15N, of the two nitrogen atoms and the quotient, ;*/;, of the occupations of the antibonding ;*, and bonding ; orbitals of this partial NN double bond. The excellent correlation of the occupation quotients with the bond lengths strongly infers that both ;*/; and dNN are excellent parameters for quantifying charge alternation in the push-pull chromophore and the molecular hyperpolarizability, ;0, of these compounds. By this approach, selected compounds can be appropriately considered as viable candidates for nonlinear optical (NLO) applications.
Identification of benzenoid and quinonoid structures by through-space NMR shieldings (TSNMRS)
(2010)
A new approach to analyze multi-component Saturation Transfer Difference (STD) NMR spectra by combining the STD and the DOSY experiment is proposed. The resulting pulse sequence was successfully used to simplify an exemplary multi- component protein/substrate system by means of standard DOSY processing methods. Furthermore, the same experiment could be applied to calculate the ratio of saturated substrate molecules and its saturation rate in the case of competitive interactions. This ratio depends on the strength of this interaction between the substrates and the protein, so that this kind of information could be extracted from the results of our experiment.
The through space NMR shieldings (TSNMRS) of dodecahedrane C20H20, of the isomeric hydrocarbons C20H12, of the ions C20H122+ and C20H122- of the fluxional fullerene C20 and of its dication C202+ have been ab initio calculated employing the NICS concept on basis of MP2/6-31G* geometries and visualized as iso-chemical-shielding/deshielding surfaces (ICSSs). TSNMRS values were employed to study the exohedral magnetic properties of the compounds studied. Hereby, the curved It-conjugation in the compounds studied could be quantified.
The clerodane diterpenoids trans-kolavenolic acid, 18-oxocleroda-3,13(E)-dien-15-oic acid, ent-(18- hydroxycarbonyl)-cleroda- 3,13(E)-dien-15-oate, 2-oxo-ent-cleroda-3,13(Z)-dien-15-oic acid and trans-2-oxo-ent-cleroda- 13(Z)-en-15-oic acid, and the chlorobenzenoid O-(3-hydroxy-4-hydroxycarbonyl-5-pentylphenyl)-3-chloro-4-methoxy-6-pentyl- 2-oxybenzoic acid were isolated from Tessmannia martiniana var pauloi and T. martiniana var matiniana. Structures were established based on interpretation of spectroscopic data. Some of the compounds exhibited significant antimosquito, antifungal and antibacterial activities.