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This paper is focused on the temperature-dependent synthesis of gold nanotriangles in a vesicular template phase, containing phosphatidylcholine and AOT, by adding the strongly alternating polyampholyte PalPhBisCarb.
UV-vis absorption spectra in combination with TEM micrographs show that flat gold nanoplatelets are formed predominantly in the presence of the polyampholyte at 45°C. The formation of triangular and hexagonal nanoplatelets can be directly influenced by the kinetic approach, i.e., by varying the polyampholyte dosage rate at 45°C. Corresponding zeta potential measurements indicate that a temperature-dependent adsorption of the polyampholyte on the {111} faces will induce the symmetry breaking effect, which is responsible for the kinetically controlled hindered vertical and preferred lateral growth of the nanoplatelets.
Artificial light harvesting complexes find applications in artificial photosynthesis, photovoltaics and light harvesting chemical sensors. They are used to enhance the absorption of light of a reaction center which is often represented by a single acceptor. Here, we present different light harvesting systems on DNA origami structures and analyze systematically the light harvesting efficiency. By changing the number and arrangement of different fluorophores (FAM as donor, Cy3 as transmitter and Cy5 as acceptor molecules) the light harvesting efficiency is optimized to create a broadband absorption and to improve the antenna effect 1 (including two energy transfer steps) from 0.02 to 1.58, and the antenna effect 2 (including a single energy transfer step) from 0.04 to 8.7, i.e. the fluorescence emission of the acceptor is significantly higher when the light-harvesting antenna is excited at lower wavelength compared to direct excitation of the acceptor. The channeling of photo energy to the acceptor proceeds by Forster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) and we carefully analyze also the FRET efficiency of the different light harvesting systems. Accordingly, the antenna effect can be tuned by modifying the stoichiometry of donor, transmitter and acceptor dyes, whereas the FRET efficiency is mainly governed by the spectroscopic properties of dyes and their distances.
Photonic sensing in highly concentrated biotechnical processes by photon density wave spectroscopy
(2017)
Photon Density Wave (PDW) spectroscopy is introduced as a new approach for photonic sensing in highly concentrated biotechnical processes. It independently quantifies the absorption and reduced scattering coefficient calibration-free and as a function of time, thus describing the optical properties in the vis/NIR range of the biomaterial during their processing. As examples of industrial relevance, enzymatic milk coagulation, beer mashing, and algae cultivation in photo bioreactors are discussed.
In our search for new antiplasmodial agents, the CH2Cl2/CH3OH (1:1) extract of the roots of Tephrosia aequilata was investigated, and observed to cause 100% mortality of the chloroquine-sensitive (3D7) strain of Plasmodium falciparum at a 10 mg/mL concentration. From this extract three new chalconoids, E-2,6-dimethoxy-3,4-(2,2-dimethyl)pyranoretrochalcone (1, aequichalcone A), Z-2,6-dimethoxy-3,4-(2,2-dimethyl)pyranoretrochalcone (2, aequichalcone B), 4-ethoxy-3-hydroxypraecansone B (3, aequichalcone C) and a new pterocarpene, 3,4:8,9-dimethylenedioxy-6a,11a-pterocarpene (4), along with seven known compounds were isolated. The purified compounds were characterized by NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometric analyses. Compound 1 slowly converts into 2 in solution, and thus the latter may have been enriched, or formed, during the extraction and separation process. The isomeric compounds 1 and 2 were both observed in the crude extract. Some of the isolated constituents showed good to moderate antiplasmodial activity against the chloroquine-sensitive (3D7) strain of Plasmodium falciparum.
microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified as high-value drug targets. A widely applied strategy in miRNA inhibition is the use of antisense agents. However, it has been shown that oligonucleotides are poorly cell permeable because of their complex chemical structure and due to their negatively charged backbone. Consequently, the general application of oligonucleotides in therapy is limited. Since miRNAs’ functions are executed exclusively by the Argonaute 2 protein, we therefore describe a protocol for the design of a novel miRNA inhibitor class: antagonists of the miRNA-Argonaute 2 protein complex, so-called anti-miR-AGOs, that not only block the crucial binding site of the target miRNA but also bind to the protein’s active site. Due to their lower molecular weight and, thus, more drug-like chemical structure, the novel inhibitor class may show better pharmacokinetic properties than reported oligonucleotide inhibitors, enabling them for potential therapeutic use.
Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices are well-known for gravimetric sensor applications. In biosensing applications, chemical-and biochemically evoked adsorption processes at surfaces are detected in liquid environments using delay-line or resonator sensor configurations, preferably in combination with appropriate microfluidic devices. In this paper, a novel SAW-based impedance sensor type is introduced which uses only one interdigital electrode transducer (IDT) simultaneously as SAW generator and sensor element. It is shown that the amplitude of the reflected S-11 signal directly depends on the input impedance of the SAW device. The input impedance is strongly influenced by mass adsorption which causes a characteristic and measurable impedance mismatch.
N-terminal methacrylation of peptide MAXI, which is capable of conformational changes variation of the pH, results in a peptide, named VK20. Increasing the reactivity of this terminal group enables further coupling reactions or chemical modifications of the peptidc. However, this end group functionalization may influence the ability of confonnational changes of VK20; as well as its properties. In this paper; the influence of pH on the transition between random coil and beta-sheet conformation of VK20; including the transition kinetics, were investigated. At pH values of 9 and higher, the kinetics beta-sheet formation increased tor VK(2 0, compared to MAXI. The self-assembly into beta-sheets recognized by the formation of a physically crosslinked gel was furthermore indicated by a significant increase of G. An increase in pH (from 9 to 9.5) led to a faster gelation of the peptide VK20. Simultaneously, G was increased from 460 +/- 70 Pa (at pH 9) to 1520 +/- 180 Pa (at pH 9.5). At the nanoscale, the gel showed a highly interconnected fibrillar/network structure with uniform fibril widths of approximately 3.4 +/- 0.5 nm (N=30). The recovery of the peptide conformation back to random coil resulted in the dissolution of the gel; whereby the kinetics of the recovery depended on the pH. Conclusively, the ability of MAXI to undergo confommtional changes was not affected by N-terminal methacrylation whereas the kinetics of pH-sensitive beta-sheet formations has been increased.
Background: In Kenya, several species of the genus Maytenus are used in traditional medicine to treat many diseases including malaria. In this study, phytochemical constituents and extracts of Maytenus undata, M. putterlickioides, M. senegalensis and M. heterophylla were evaluated to determine compound/s responsible for antimalarial activity.
Objective: To isolate antiplasmodial compounds from these plant species which could be used as marker compounds in the standardization of their extracts as a phytomedicine for malaria.
Methods: Constituents were isolated through activity-guided fractionation of the MeOH/CHCl3 (1:1) extracts and in vitro inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum. Cytotoxicity was evaluated using Vero cells and the compounds were elucidated on the basis of NMR spectroscopy.
Results: Fractionation of the extracts resulted in the isolation of ten known compounds. Compound 1 showed promising antiplasmodial activity with IC50, 3.63 and 3.95 ng/ml against chloroquine sensitive (D6) and resistant (W2) P. falciparum, respectively and moderate cytotoxicity (CC50, 37.5 ng/ml) against Vero E6 cells. The other compounds showed weak antiplasmodial (IC50 > 1.93 mu g/ml) and cytotoxic (CC50 > 39.52 mu g/ml) activities against P. falciparum and Vero E6 cells, respectively.
Conclusion: (20 alpha)-3-hydroxy-2-oxo-24-nor-friedela-1(10),3,5,7-tetraen-carboxylic acid-(29)-methyl-ester (pristimerin) (1) was the most active marker and lead compound that warrants further investigation as a template for the development of new antimalarial drugs. Pristimerin is reported for the first time in M. putterlickioides. 3-Hydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid (oleanolic acid) (5), stigmast-5-en-3-ol (beta-sitosterol) (6), 3-oxo-28-friedelanoic acid (7), olean-12-en-3-ol (beta-amyrin) (8), lup-20(29)-en-3-ol (lupeol) (9) and lup-20(29)-en-3-one (lupenone) (10) are reported for the first time in M. undata.
In this study, a multiblock copolymer containing oligo(3-methyl-morpholine-2, 5-dione) (oMMD) and oligo(3-sec-butyl-morpholine-2, 5-dione) (oBMD) building blocks obtained by ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of the corresponding monomers, was synthesized in a polyaddition reaction using an aliphatic diisocyanate. The multiblock copolymer (pBMD-MMD) provided a molecular weight of 40, 000 g·mol−1, determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Incorporation of both oligodepsipeptide segments in multiblock copolymers was confirmed by 1H NMR and Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time Of Flight Mass Spectroscopy (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis. pBMD-MMD showed two separated glass transition temperatures (61 °C and 74 °C) indicating a microphase separation. Furthermore, a broad glass transition was observed by DMTA, which can be attributed to strong physical interaction i.e. by H-bonds formed between amide, ester, and urethane groups of the investigated copolymers. The obtained multiblock copolymer is supposed to own the capability to exhibit strong physical interactions.
Non-Born–Oppenheimer quantum dynamics of H+ 2 excited by shaped one-cycle laser pulses linearly polarised along the molecular axis have been studied by the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation within a three-dimensional model, including the internuclear separation, R, and the electron coordinates z and ρ. Laser carrier frequencies corresponding to the wavelengths λ l = 25 nm through λ l = 400 nm were used and the amplitudes of the pulses were chosen such that the energy of H+ 2 was close to its dissociation threshold at the end of any laser pulse applied. It is shown that there exists a characteristic oscillation frequency ωosc ≃ 0.2265 au (corresponding to the period of τosc ≃ 0.671 fs and the wavelength of λosc ≃ 201 nm) that manifests itself as a ‘carrier’ frequency of temporally shaped oscillations of the time-dependent expectation values ⟨z ⟩ and ⟨∂V/∂z ⟩ that emerge at the ends of the laser pulses and exist on a timescale of at least 50 fs. Time-dependent expectation values ⟨ρ⟩ and ⟨∂V /∂ρ⟩ of the optically passive degree of freedom, ρ, demonstrate post-laser-field oscillations at two basic frequencies ωρ 1 ≈ ωosc and ωρ 2 ≈ 2ωosc. Power spectra associated with the electronic motion show higher- and lower-order harmonics with respect to the driving field.
Contactless pressure monitoring based on Forster resonance energy transfer between donor/acceptor pairs immobilized within elastomers is demonstrated. The donor/acceptor energy transfer is employed by dispersing terbium(III) tris[(2-hydroxybenzoyl)-2-aminoethyl] amine complex (LLC, donor) and CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QD655, acceptor) in styrene-ethylene/buthylene-styrene (SEBS) and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). The continuous monitoring of QD luminescence showed a reversible intensity change as the pressure signal is alternated between two stable states indicating a pressure sensitivity of 6350 cps kPa(-1). Time-resolved measurements show the pressure impact on the FRET signal due to an increase of decay time (270 ms up to 420 ms) for the donor signal and parallel drop of decay time (170 mu s to 155 mu s) for the acceptor signal as the net pressure applied. The LLC/QD655 sensors enable a contactless readout as well as space resolved monitoring to enable miniaturization towards smaller integrated stretchable opto-electronics. Elastic FRET sensors can potentially lead to developing profitable analysis systems capable to outdo conventional wired electronic systems (inductive, capacitive, ultrasonic and photoelectric sensors) especially for point-of-care diagnostics, biological monitoring required for wearable electronics.
The molecular structure and conformational preferences of 1-phenyl-1-X-1-silacyclohexanes C5H10Si(Ph,X) (X = F (3), Cl (4)) were studied by gas-phase electron diffraction, low-temperature NMR spectroscopy, and high-level quantum chemical calculations. In the gas phase only three (3) and two (4) stable conformers differing in the axial or equatorial location of the phenyl group and the angle of rotation about the Si-C-ph bond (axi and axo denote the Ph group lying in or out of the X-Si-C-ph plane) contribute to the equilibrium. In 3 the ratio Ph-eq:Ph-axo:Ph-axi is 40(12):55(24):5 and 64:20:16 by experiment and theory, respectively. In 4 the ratio Ph-eq:Ph-axo is 79(15):21(15) and 71:29 by experiment and theory (M06-2X calculations), respectively. The gas-phase electron diffraction parameters are in good agreement with those obtained from theory at the M06-2X/aug-ccPVTZ and MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ levels. Unlike the case for M06-2X, MP2 calculations indicate that 3-Ph-eq conformer lies 0.5 kcal/mol higher than the 3-Ph-axo, conformer. As follows from QTAIM analysis, the phenyl group is more stable when it is located in the axial position but produces destabilization of the silacyclohexane ring: By low temperature NMR spectroscopy the six-membered ring interconversion could be frozen, at 103 K and the present conformational equilibria of 3 and 4 could be determined. The ratio of the conformers is 3-Ph-eq:3-Ph-ax = (75-77):(23-25) and 4-Ph-eq:4-Ph-ax = 82:18.
A series of new sulfobetaine methacrylates, including nitrogen-containing saturated heterocycles, was synthesised by systematically varying the substituents of the zwitterionic group. Radical polymerisation via the RAFT (reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer) method in trifluoroethanol proceeded smoothly and was well controlled, yielding polymers with predictable molar masses. Molar mass analysis and control of the end-group fidelity were facilitated by end-group labeling with a fluorescent dye. The polymers showed distinct thermo-responsive behaviour of the UCST (upper critical solution temperature) type in an aqueous solution, which could not be simply correlated to their molecular structure via an incremental analysis of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic elements incorporated within them. Increasing the spacer length separating the ammonium and the sulfonate groups of the zwitterion moiety from three to four carbons increased the phase transition temperatures markedly, whereas increasing the length of the spacer separating the ammonium group and the carboxylate ester group on the backbone from two to three carbons provoked the opposite effect. Moreover, the phase transition temperatures of the analogous polyzwitterions decreased in the order dimethylammonio > morpholinio > piperidinio alkanesulfonates. In addition to the basic effect of the polymers’ precise molecular structure, the concentration and the molar mass dependence of the phase transition temperatures were studied. Furthermore, we investigated the influence of added low molar mass salts on the aqueous-phase behaviour for sodium chloride and sodium bromide as well as sodium and ammonium sulfate. The strong effects evolved in a complex way with the salt concentration. The strength of these effects depended on the nature of the anion added, increasing in the order sulfate < chloride < bromide, thus following the empirical Hofmeister series. In contrast, no significant differences were observed when changing the cation, i.e. when adding sodium or ammonium sulfate.
The excitation of localized surface plasmons in noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) results in different nanoscale effects such as electric field enhancement, the generation of hot electrons and a temperature increase close to the NP surface. These effects are typically exploited in diverse fields such as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), NP catalysis and photothermal therapy (PTT). Halogenated nucleobases are applied as radiosensitizers in conventional radiation cancer therapy due to their high reactivity towards secondary electrons. Here, we use SERS to study the transformation of 8-bromoadenine ((8Br)A) into adenine on the surface of Au and AgNPs upon irradiation with a low-power continuous wave laser at 532, 633 and 785 nm, respectively. The dissociation of (8Br)A is ascribed to a hot-electron transfer reaction and the underlying kinetics are carefully explored. The reaction proceeds within seconds or even milliseconds. Similar dissociation reactions might also occur with other electrophilic molecules, which must be considered in the interpretation of respective SERS spectra. Furthermore, we suggest that hot-electron transfer induced dissociation of radiosensitizers such as (8Br)A can be applied in the future in PTT to enhance the damage of tumor tissue upon irradiation.
We present a rigorous method to set up a system-bath Hamiltonian for the coupling of adsorbate vibrations (the system) to surface phonons (the bath). The Hamiltonian is straightforward to derive and exact up to second order in the environment coordinates, thus capable of treating one- and two-phonon contributions to vibration-phonon coupling. The construction of the Hamiltonian uses orthogonal coordinates for system and bath modes, is based on an embedded cluster approach, and generalizes previous Hamiltonians of a similar type, but avoids several (additional) approximations. While the parametrization of the full Hamiltonian is in principle feasible by a first principles quantum mechanical treatment, here we adopt in the spirit of a QM/MM model a combination of density functional theory (“QM”, for the system) and a semiempirical forcefield (“MM”, for the bath). We apply the Hamiltonian to a fully H-covered Si(100)-(2 × 1) surface, using Fermi’s Golden Rule to obtain vibrational relaxation rates of various H–Si bending modes of this system. As in earlier work it is found that the relaxation is dominated by two-phonon contributions because of an energy gap between the Si–H bending modes and the Si phonon bands. We obtain vibrational lifetimes (of the first excited state) on the order of 2 ps at K. The lifetimes depend only little on the type of bending mode (symmetric vs. antisymmetric, parallel vs. perpendicular to the Si2H2 dimers). They decrease by a factor of about two when heating the surface to 300 K. We also study isotope effects by replacing adsorbed H atoms by deuterium, D. The Si–D bending modes are shifted into the Si phonon band of the solid, opening up one-phonon decay channels and reducing the lifetimes to few hundred fs.
Halloysites as tubular alumosilicates are introduced as inexpensive natural nanoparticles to form and stabilize oil-water emulsions. This stabilized emulsion is shown to enable efficient interfacial catalytic reactions. Yield, selectivity, and product separation can be tremendously enhanced, e.g., for the hydroformylation reaction of dodecene to tridecanal. In perspective, this type of formulation may be used for oil spill dispersions. The key elements of the described formulations are clay nanotubes (halloysites) which are highly anisometric, can be filled by helper molecules, and are abundantly available in thousands of tons, making this technology scalable for industrial applications.
A variety of azobenzenes were synthesized to study the behavior of their E and Z isomers upon electrochemical reduction. Our results show that the radical anion of the Z isomer is able to rapidly isomerize to the corresponding E configured counterpart with a dramatically enhanced rate as compared to the neutral species. Due to a subsequent electron transfer from the formed E radical anion to the neutral Z starting material the overall transformation is catalytic in electrons; i.e., a substoichiometric amount of reduced species can isomerize the entire mixture. This pathway greatly increases the efficiency of (photo)switching while also allowing one to reach photostationary state compositions that are not restricted to the spectral separation of the individual azobenzene isomers and their quantum yields. In addition, activating this radical isomerization pathway with photoelectron transfer agents allows us to override the intrinsic properties of an azobenzene species by triggering the reverse isomerization direction (Z -> E) by the same wavelength of light, which normally triggers E -> Z isomerization. The behavior we report appears to be general, implying that the metastable isomer of a photoswitch can be isomerized to the more stable one catalytically upon reduction, permitting the optimization of azobenzene switching in new as well as indirect ways.
Macrocycles based on L-cystine were synthesized by ring-closing metathesis (RCM) and subsequently polymerized by entropy-driven ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ED-ROMP). Monomer conversion reached similar to 80% in equilibrium and the produced poly (ester-amine-disulfide-alkene)s exhibited apparent molar masses (M-w(app)) of up to 80 kDa and dispersities (D) of similar to 2. The polymers can be further functionalized with acid anhydrides and degraded by reductive cleavage of the main-chain disulfide.
Near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) simulations based on the conventional configuration interaction singles (CIS) lead to excitation energies, which are systematically blue shifted. Using a (restricted) open shell core hole reference instead of the Hartree Fock (HF) ground state orbitals improves (Decleva et al., Chem. Phys., 1992, 168, 51) excitation energies and the shape of the spectra significantly. In this work, we systematically vary the underlying SCF approaches, that is, based on HF or density functional theory, to identify best suited reference orbitals using a series of small test molecules. We compare the energies of the K edges and NEXAFS spectra to experimental data. The main improvement compared to conventional CIS, that is, using HF ground state orbitals, is due to the electrostatic influence of the core hole. Different SCF approaches, density functionals, or the use of fractional occupations lead only to comparably small changes. Furthermore, to account for bigger systems, we adapt the core-valence separation for our approach. We demonstrate that the good quality of the spectrum is not influenced by this approximation when used together with the non-separated ground state wave function. Simultaneously, the computational demands are reduced remarkably. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Complexation with dissolved humic matter can be crucial in controlling the mobility of toxic or radioactive contaminant metals. For speciation and transport modelling, a dynamic equilibrium process is commonly assumed, where association and dissociation run permanently. This is, however, questionable in view of reported observations of a growing resistance to dissociation over time. In this study, the isotope exchange principle was employed to gain direct insight into the dynamics of the complexation equilibrium, including kinetic inertisation phenomena. Terbium(III), an analogue of trivalent actinides, was used as a representative of higher-valent metals. Isotherms of binding to (flocculated) humic acid, determined by means of Tb-160 as a radiotracer, were found to be identical regardless of whether the radioisotope was introduced together with the bulk of stable Tb-159 or subsequently after pre-equilibration for up to 3 months. Consequently, there is a permanent exchange of free and humic-bound Tb since all available binding sites are occupied in the plateau region of the isotherm. The existence of a dynamic equilibrium was thus evidenced. There was no indication of an inertisation under these experimental conditions. If the small amount of Tb-160 was introduced prior to saturation with Tb-159, the expected partial desorption of Tb-160 occurred at much lower rates than observed for the equilibration process in the reverse procedure. In addition, the rates decreased with time of pre-equilibration. Inertisation phenomena are thus confined to the stronger sites of humic molecules (occupied at low metal concentrations). Analysing the time-dependent course of isotope exchange according to first-order kinetics indicated that up to 3 years are needed to attain equilibrium. Since, however, metal-humic interaction remains reversible, exchange of metals between humic carriers and mineral surfaces cannot be neglected on the long time scale to be considered in predictive transport models.
In many laser based ionization techniques with a subsequent drift time separation, the laser pulse generating the ions is considered as the start time to. Therefore, an accurate temporal definition of this event is crucial for the resolution of the experiments. In this contribution, the laser induced plume dynamics of liquids evaporating into atmospheric pressure are visualized for two distinctively different laser pulse widths, Delta t = 6 nanoseconds and Delta tau = 280 microseconds. For ns-pulses the expansion of the generated vapour against atmospheric pressure is found to lead to turbulences inside the gas phase. This results in spatial and temporal broadening of the nascent clouds. A more equilibrated expansion, without artificial smearing of the temporal resolution can, in contrast, be observed to follow mu s-pulse excitation. This leads to the counterintuitive finding that longer laser pulses results in an increased temporal vapour formation definition. To examine if this fume expansion also eventually results in a better definition of ion formation, the nascent vapour plumes were expanded into a linear drift tube ion mobility spectrometer (IMS). This time resolved detection of ion formation corroborates the temporal broadening caused by collisional impeding of the supersonic expansion at atmospheric pressure and the overall better defined ion formation by evaporation with long laser pulses. A direct comparison of the observed results strongly suggests the coexistence of two individual ion formation mechanisms that can be specifically addressed by the use of appropriate laser sources.
Low-energy electrons (LEEs) play an important role in DNA radiation damage. Here we present a method to quantify LEE induced strand breakage in well-defined oligonucleotide single strands in terms of absolute cross sections. An LEE irradiation setup covering electron energies <500 eV is constructed and optimized to irradiate DNA origami triangles carrying well-defined oligonucleotide target strands. Measurements are presented for 10.0 and 5.5 eV for different oligonucleotide targets. The determination of absolute strand break cross sections is performed by atomic force microscopy analysis. An accurate fluence determination ensures small margins of error of the determined absolute single strand break cross sections sigma SSB. In this way, the influence of sequence modification with the radiosensitive 5-Fluorouracil (U-5F) is studied using an absolute and relative data analysis. We demonstrate an increase in the strand break yields of U-5F containing oligonucleotides by a factor of 1.5 to 1.6 compared with non-modified oligonucleotide sequences when irradiated with 10 eV electrons.
Fluorinating conjugated polymers is a proven strategy for creating high performance materials in polymer solar cells, yet few studies have investigated the importance of the fluorination method. We compare the performance of three fluorinated systems: a poly(benzodithieno-dithienyltriazole) (PBnDT-XTAZ) random copolymer where 50% of the acceptor units are difluorinated, PBnDT-mFTAZ where every acceptor unit is monofluorinated, and a 1:1 physical blend of the difluorinated and nonfluorinated polymer. All systems have the same degree of fluorination (50%) yet via different methods (chemically vs physically, random vs regular). We show that these three systems have equivalent photovoltaic behavior:,similar to 5.2% efficiency with a short-circuit current (J(sc)) at,similar to 11 mA cm(-2), an open-circuit voltage (v(oc)) at 0.77 V, and a fill factor (FF) of similar to 60%. Further investigation of these three systems demonstrates that the charge generation, charge extraction, and charge transfer state are essentially identical for the three studied systems. Transmission electron microscopy shows no significant differences in the morphologies. All these data illustrate that it is possible to improve performance not only via regular or random fluorination but also by physical addition via a ternary blend. Thus, our results demonstrate the versatility of incorporating fluorine in the active layer of polymer solar cells to enhance device performance.
Total syntheses of five naturally occurring polyacetylenes from three different plants are described. These natural products have in common an E,Z-configured conjugated diene linked to a di-or triyne chain. As the key method to stereoselectively establish the E,Z-diene part, an ester-tethered ring-closing metathesis/base-induced eliminative ring opening sequence was used. The results presented herein do not only showcase the utility of this tethered RCM variant but have also prompted us to suggest that the originally assigned absolute configurations of chiral polyacetylenes from Atractylodes macrocephala should be revised or at least reconsidered.
In order to modulate the emission of BODIPY fluorophores, they were connected to a diarylethene (DAE) photoswitch via phenylene-ethynylene linkers of different lengths and orientations. The latter allowed for modulation of the electronic coupling in the prepared four BODIPY-DAE dyads, which were compared also to appropriate BODIPY and DAE model compounds by steady state as well as time-resolved spectroscopies. In their open isomers, all dyads show comparable luminescence behavior indicative of an unperturbed BODIPY fluorophore. In strong contrast, in the closed isomers the BODIPY emission is efficiently quenched but the deactivation mechanism depends on the nature of the linker. The most promising dyad was rendered water-soluble by means of micellar encapsulation and aqueous suspensions were investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy. Our results (i) illustrate that the electronic communication between the BODIPY and DAE units can indeed be fine-tuned by the nature of the linker to achieve fluorescence modulation while maintaining photoswitchability and (ii) highlight potential applications to image and control biological processes with high spatio-temporal resolution.
Enzymes of the xanthine oxidase family are among the best characterized mononuclear molybdenum enzymes. Open questions about their mechanism of transfer of an oxygen atom to the substrate remain. The enzymes share a molybdenum cofactor (Moco) with the metal ion binding a molybdopterin (MPT) molecule via its dithiolene function and terminal sulfur and oxygen groups. For xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH) from the bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus, we used X-ray absorption spectroscopy to determine the Mo site structure, its changes in a pH range of 5-10, and the influence of amino acids (Glu730 and Gln179) close to Moco in wild-type (WT), Q179A, and E730A variants, complemented by enzyme kinetics and quantum chemical studies. Oxidized WT and Q179A revealed a similar Mo (VI) ion with each one MPT, Mo=O, Mo-O-, and Mo=S ligand, and a weak Mo-O(E730) bond at alkaline pH. Protonation of an oxo to a hydroxo (OH) ligand (pK similar to 6.8) causes inhibition of XDH at acidic pH, whereas deprotonated xanthine (pK similar to 8.8) is an inhibitor at alkaline pH. A similar acidic pK for the WT and Q179A. variants, as well as the metrical parameters of the Mo site and density functional theory calculations, suggested protonation at the equatorial oxo group. The sulfido was replaced with an oxo ligand in the inactive E730A variant, further showing another oxo and one Mo OH ligand at Mo, which are independent of pH. Our findings suggest a reaction mechanism for XDH in which an initial oxo rather than a hydroxo group and the sulfido ligand are essential for xanthine oxidation.
Effects of thermal fluctuations on the electronic excitation energies and intermonomeric Coulomb couplings are investigated for a perylene-tetracarboxylic-diimidecrystal. To this end, time dependent density functional theory based tight binding (TD-DFTB) in the linear response formulation is used in combination with electronic ground state classical molecular dynamics. As a result, a parametrized Frenkel exciton Hamiltonian is obtained, with the effect of exciton-vibrational coupling being described by spectral densities. Employing dynamically defined normal modes, these spectral densities are analyzed in great detail, thus providing insight into the effect of specific intramolecular motions on excitation energies and Coulomb couplings. This distinguishes the present method from approaches using fixed transition densities. The efficiency by which intramolecular contributions to the spectral density can be calculated is a clear advantage of this method as compared with standard TD-DFT. Published by AIP Publishing.
It is known that aqueous keratin hydrolysate solutions can be produced from feathers using superheated water as solvent. This method is optimized in this study by varying the time and temperature of the heat treatment in order to obtain a high solute content in the solution. With the dissolved polypeptides, films are produced using methyl cellulose as supporting material. Thereby, novel composite membranes are produced from bio-waste. It is expected that these materials exhibit both protein and polysaccharide properties. The influence of the embedded keratin hydrolysates on the methyl cellulose structure is investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). Adsorption peaks of both components are present in the spectra of the membranes, while the X-ray analysis shows that the polypeptides are incorporated into the semi-crystalline methyl cellulose structure. This behavior significantly influences the mechanical properties of the composite films as is shown by tensile tests. Since further processing steps, e.g., crosslinking, may involve a heat treatment, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is applied to obtain information on the thermal stability of the composite materials.
ortho-Aryl phenols, synthesized via protecting group free Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of ortho-halophenols and arene boronic acids, undergo a cyclization to dibenzofurans via oxidative C-H activation. The reaction proceeds under microwave irradiation in short reaction times using catalytic amounts of Pd(OAc)(2) without additional ligands.
Class IIa histone deacetylases (HDACs) show extremely low enzymatic activity and no commonly accepted endogenous substrate is known today. Increasing evidence suggests that these enzymes exert their effect rather through molecular recognition of acetylated proteins and recruiting other proteins like HDAC3 to the desired target location. Accordingly, class IIa HDACs like bromodomains have been suggested to act as “Readers” of acetyl marks, whereas enzymatically active HDACs of class I or IIb are called “Erasers” to highlight their capability to remove acetyl groups from acetylated histones or other proteins. Small-molecule ligands of class IIa histone deacetylases (HDACs) have gained tremendous attention during the last decade and have been suggested as pharmaceutical targets in several indication areas such as cancer, Huntington's disease and muscular atrophy. Up to now, only enzyme activity assays with artificial chemically activated trifluoroacetylated substrates are in use for the identification and characterization of new active compounds against class IIa HDACs. Here, we describe the first binding assay for this class of HDAC enzymes that involves a simple mix-and-measure procedure and an extraordinarily robust fluorescence lifetime readout based on [1,3]dioxolo[4,5-f]benzodioxole-based ligand probes. The principle of the assay is generic and can also be transferred to class I HDAC8.
We report on photoinduced remote control of work function and surface potential of a silicon surface modified with a photosensitive self-assembled monolayer consisting of chemisorbed azobenzene molecules (4-nitroazobenzene). Itwas found that the attachment of the organic monolayer increases the work function by hundreds of meV due to the increase in the electron affinity of silicon substrates. The change in the work function on UV light illumination is more pronounced for the azobenzene jacketed silicon substrate (ca. 250 meV) in comparison to 50 meV for the unmodified surface. Moreover, the photoisomerization of azobenzene results in complex kinetics of thework function change: immediate decrease due to light-driven processes in the silicon surface followed by slower recovery to the initial state due to azobenzene isomerization. This behavior could be of interest for electronic devices where the reaction on irradiation should be more pronounced at small time scales but the overall surface potential should stay constant over time independent of the irradiation conditions. Published by AIP Publishing.
Background: Malaria is an old life-threatening parasitic disease that is still affecting many people, mainly children living in sub-Saharan Africa. Availability of effective antimalarial drugs played a significant role in the treatment and control of malaria. However, recent information on the emergence of P. falciparum parasites resistant to one of the artemisinin-based combination therapies suggests the need for discovery of new drug molecules. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the antiplasmodial activity of extracts, fractions and isolated compound from medicinal plants traditionally used in the treatment of malaria in Tanzania. Methods: Dry powdered plant materials were extracted by cold macerations using different solvents. Norcaesalpin D was isolated by column chromatography from dichloromethane root extract of Caesalpinia bonducella and its structure was assigned based on the spectral data. Crude extracts, fractions and isolated compound were evaluated for antiplasmodial activity against chloroquine-sensitive P. falciparum (3D7), chloroquine-resistant P. falciparum (Dd2, K1) and artemisinin-resistant P. falciparum (IPC 5202 Battambang, IPC 4912 Mondolkiri) strains using the parasite lactate dehydrogenase assay. Results: The results indicated that extracts of Erythrina schliebenii, Holarrhena pubescens, Dissotis melleri and C. bonducella exhibited antiplasmodial activity against Dd2 parasites. Ethanolic root extract of E. schliebenii had an IC50 of 1.87 mu g/mL while methanolic and ethanolic root extracts of H. pubescens exhibited an IC50 = 2.05 mu g/mL and IC50 = 2.43 mu g/mL, respectively. Fractions from H. pubescens and C. bonducella roots were found to be highly active against K1, Dd2 and artemisinin-resistant parasites. Norcaesalpin D from C. bonducella root extract was active with IC50 of 0.98, 1.85 and 2.13 mu g/mL against 3D7, Dd2 and IPC 4912-Mondolkiri parasites, respectively. Conclusions: Antiplasmodial activity of norcaesalpin D and extracts of E. schliebenii, H. pubescens, D. melleri and C. bonducella reported in this study requires further attention for the discovery of antimalarial lead compounds for future drug development.
Two-Level Shape Changes of Polymeric Microcuboids Prepared from Crystallizable Copolymer Networks
(2017)
Polymeric microdevices bearing features like nonspherical shapes or spatially segregated surface properties are of increasing importance in biological and medical analysis, drug delivery, and bioimaging or microfluidic systems as well as in micromechanics, sensors, information storage, or data carrier devices. Here, a method to fabricate programmable microcuboids with shape-memory capability and the quantification of their recovery at different levels is reported. The method uses the soft lithographic technique to create microcuboids with well-defined sizes and surface properties. Microcuboids having an edge length of 25 mu m and a height of 10 mu m were prepared from cross-linked poly[ethylene-co-(vinyl acetate)] (cPEVA) with different vinyl acetate contents and were programmed by compression with various deformation degrees at elevated temperatures. The microlevel shape-recovery of the cuboidal geometry during heating was monitored by optical microscopy (OM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) studying the related changes in the projected area (PA) or height, while the nanolevel changes of the nanosurface roughness were investigated by in situ AFM. The shape-memory effect at the microlevel was quantified by the recovery ratio of cuboids (R-r,R-micro), while at the. nanolevel, the recovery ratio of the nanoroughness (R-r,R-nano) was measured. The values of R-r,R-micro,,micro could be tailored in a range from 42 +/- 1% to 102 +/- 1% and Rr,nano from 89 +/- 6% to 136 +/- 21% depending on the applied compression ratio and the amount of vinyl acetate content in the cPEVA microcuboids.
The article describes the synthesis and properties of alpha-((4-cyanobenzoyl)oxy)-omega-methyl poly(ethylene glycol), the first poly(ethylene glycol) stabilizer for metal nanoparticles that is based on a cyano rather than a thiol or thiolate anchor group. The silver particles used to evaluate the effectiveness of the new stabilizer typically have a bimodal size distribution with hydrodynamic diameters of ca. 13 and ca. 79 nm. Polymer stability was evaluated as a function of the pH value both for the free stabilizer and for the polymers bound to the surface of the silver nanoparticles using H-1 NMR spectroscopy and zeta potential measurements. The polymer shows a high stability between pH 3 and 9. At pH 12 and higher the polymer coating is degraded over time suggesting that alpha-((4-cyanobenzoyl) oxy)-omega-methyl poly(ethylene glycol) is a good stabilizer for metal nanoparticles in aqueous media unless very high pH conditions are present in the system. The study thus demonstrates that cyano groups can be viable alternatives to the more conventional thiol/thiolate anchors.
The article describes the synthesis and properties of new ionogels for ion transport. A new preparation process using an organic linker, bis(3-(trimethoxysilyl) propyl) amine (BTMSPA), yields stable organosilica matrix materials. The second ionogel component, the ionic liquid 1-methyl-3-(4-sulfobutyl) imidazolium 4-methylbenzenesulfonate, [BmimSO(3)H][PTS], can easily be prepared with near-quantitative yields. [BmimSO(3)H][PTS] is the proton conducting species in the ionogel. By combining the stable organosilica matrix with the sulfonated ionic liquid, mechanically stable, and highly conductive ionogels with application potential in sensors or fuel cells can be prepared.
Nanolenses are self-similar chains of metal nanoparticles, which can theoretically provide extremely high field enhancements. Yet, the complex structure renders their synthesis challenging and has hampered closer analyses so far. Here, DNA origami is used to self-assemble 10, 20, and 60 nm gold nanoparticles as plasmonic gold nanolenses (AuNLs) in solution and in billions of copies. Three different geometrical arrangements are assembled, and for each of the three designs, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) capabilities of single AuNLs are assessed. For the design which shows the best properties, SERS signals from the two different internal gaps are compared by selectively placing probe dyes. The highest Raman enhancement is found for the gap between the small and medium nanoparticle, which is indicative of a cascaded field enhancement.
Novel metal-doped bacteriostatic hybrid clay composites for point-of-use disinfection of water
(2017)
This study reports the facile microwave-assisted thermal preparation of novel metal-doped hybrid clay composite adsorbents consisting of Kaolinite clay, Carica papaya seeds and/or plantain peels (Musa paradisiaca) and ZnCl2. Fourier Transformed IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis are employed to characterize these composite adsorbents. The physicochemical analysis of these composites suggests that they act as bacteriostatic rather than bacteriacidal agents. This bacterostactic action is induced by the ZnO phase in the composites whose amount correlates with the efficacy of the composite. The composite prepared with papaya seeds (PS-HYCA) provides the best disinfection efficacy (when compared with composite prepared with Musa paradisiaca peels-PP-HYCA) against gram-negative enteric bacteria with a breakthrough time of 400 and 700 min for the removal of 1.5 x10(6) cfu/mL S. typhi and V. cholerae from water respectively. At 10(3) cfu/mL of each bacterium in solution, 2 g of both composite adsorbents kept the levels the bacteria in effluent solutions at zero for up to 24 h. Steam regeneration of 2 g of bacteria-loaded Carica papaya prepared composite adsorbent shows a loss of ca. 31% of its capacity even after the 3rd regeneration cycle of 25 h of service time. The composite adsorbent prepared with Carica papaya seeds will be useful for developing simple point-of-use water treatment systems for water disinfection application. This composite adsorbent is comparatively of good performance and shows relatively long hydraulic contact times and is expected to minimize energy intensive traditional treatment processes.
Molecules often fragment after photoionization in the gas phase. Usually, this process can only be investigated spectroscopically as long as there exists electron correlation between the photofragments. Important parameters, like their kinetic energy after separation, cannot be investigated. We are reporting on a femtosecond time-resolved Auger electron spectroscopy study concerning the photofragmentation dynamics of thymine. We observe the appearance of clearly distinguishable signatures from thymines neutral photofragment isocyanic acid. Furthermore, we observe a time-dependent shift of its spectrum, which we can attribute to the influence of the charged fragment on the Auger electron. This allows us to map our time-dependent dataset onto the fragmentation coordinate. The time dependence of the shift supports efficient transformation of the excess energy gained from photoionization into kinetic energy of the fragments. Our method is broadly applicable to the investigation of photofragmentation processes.
Surfactants are required for the formation and stabilization of hydrophobic polymeric particles in aqueous environment. In order to form submicron particles of varying sizes from oligo[3-(S)-sec-butylmorpholine-2,5-dione]diols ((OBMD)-diol), different surfactants were investigated. As new surfactants, four-armed star-shaped oligo(ethylene glycol)s of molecular weights of 5-20 kDa functionalized with desamino-tyrosine (sOEG-DAT) resulted in smaller particles with lower PDI than with desaminotyrosyl tyrosine (sOEG-DATT) in an emulsion/solvent evaporation method. In a second set of experiments, sOEG-DAT of M-n= 10 kDa was compared with the commonly employed emulsifiers polyvinylalcohol (PVA), polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monolaurate (Tween 20), and D-alpha-tocopherol polyethylene glycol succinate (VIT E-TPGS) for OBMD particle preparation. sOEG-DAT allowed to systematically change sizes in a range of 300 up to 900 nm with narrow polydispersity, while in the other cases, a lower size range (250-400 nm, PVA; 300 nm, Tween 20) or no effective particle formation was observed. The ability of tailoring particle size in a broad range makes sOEG-DAT of particular interest for the formation of oligodepsipeptide particles, which can further be investigated as drug carriers for controlled delivery. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Nanocarriers
(2017)
A new isoflavone, 8-prenylmilldrone (1), and four new rotenoids, oblarotenoids A-D (2-5), along with nine known compounds (6-14), were isolated from the CH2Cl2/CH3OH (1:1) extract of the leaves of Millettia oblata ssp. teitensis by chromatographic separation. The purified compounds were identified by NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometric analyses, whereas the absolute configurations of the rotenoids were established on the basis of chiroptical data and in some cases by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Maximaisoflavone J (11) and oblarotenoid C (4) showed weak activity against the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 with IC50 values of 33.3 and 93.8 mu M, respectively.
Quantum chemical approach to atomic manipulation of chlorobenzene on the Si(111)-7 x 7 surface
(2017)
We present a cluster model to describe the localization of hot charge carriers on the Si(111)-7 x 7 surface, which leads to (nonlocal) desorption of chlorobenzene molecules in scanning tunneling microscope (STM) manipulation experiments. The localized charge carriers are modeled by a small cluster. By means of quantum chemical calculations, this cluster model explains many experimental findings from STM manipulation. We show that the negative charge is mainly localized in the surface, while the positive one also resides on the molecule. Both resonances boost desorption: In the negative resonance the adatom is elevated; in the positive one the chemisorption bond between the silicon surface adatom and chlorobenzene is broken. We find normal modes promoting desorption matching experimental low-temperature activation energies for electron-and hole-induced desorption.
Quality attributes of fruit determine its acceptability by the retailer and consumer. The objective of this work was to investigate the potential of absorption (μa) and reduced scattering (μs’) coefficients of European pear to analyze its fruit flesh firmness and soluble solids content (SSC). The absolute reference values, μa* (cm−1) and μs’* (cm−1), of pear were invasively measured, employing multi-spectral photon density wave (PDW) spectroscopy at preselected wavelengths of 515, 690, and 940 nm considering two batches of unripe and overripe fruit. On eight measuring dates during fruit development, μa and μs’ were analyzed non-destructively by means of laser light backscattering imaging (LLBI) at similar wavelengths of 532, 660, and 830 nm by means of fitting according to Farrell’s diffusion theory, using fix reference values of either μa* or μs’*. Both, the μa* and the μa as well as μs’* and μs’ showed similar trends. Considering the non-destructively measured data during fruit development, μa at 660 nm decreased 91 till 141 days after full bloom (dafb) from 1.49 cm−1 to 0.74 cm−1 due to chlorophyll degradation. At 830 nm, μa only slightly decreased from 0.41 cm−1 to 0.35 cm−1. The μs’ at all wavelengths revealed a decreasing trend as the fruit developed. The difference measured at 532 nm was most pronounced decreasing from 24 cm−1 to 10 cm−1, while at 660 nm and 830 nm values decreased from 15 cm−1 to 13 cm−1 and from 10 cm−1 to 8 cm−1, respectively. When building calibration models with partial least-squares regression analysis on the optical properties for non-destructive analysis of the fruit SSC, μa at 532 nm and 830 nm resulted in a correlation coefficient of R = 0.66, however, showing high measuring uncertainty. The combination of all three wavelengths gave an enhanced, encouraging R = 0.89 for firmness analysis using μs’ in the freshly picked fruit.
Porous silicon single layer (PSM), bilayer (PSB) and pillar (PSP) structures have been evaluated as nucleation centers for vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) crystals. Deposition of vanadium precursor over different substrates (drop casting technique), followed by annealing treatment under Ar-H-2 (5% H-2) atmosphere, induced crystallization of vanadium oxide. With respect to c-Si/SiO2 substrate, V2O5 nanorods with relatively large aspect ratio were formed over and within PSP structures. On the other hand, pores in PSM and PSB were found to be filled with relatively smaller crystals. Additionally, PSB provided a nucleation substrate capable to align the nanocrystals in a preferential orientation, while V2O5 crystals grown on PSP were found to be randomly aligned around the nanoporous pillar microstructure. Nanorods and nanocrystals were identified as V2O5 by temperature-controlled XRD measurements and evidence of their crystalline nature was observed via transmission electron microscopy. A careful analysis of electronic microscopy images allows the identification of the facets composing the ends of the crystals and its corresponding surface free energy has been evaluated employing the Wulff theorem. Such high surface area composite structures have potential applications as cathode material in Lithium-ion batteries.
2-Deoxy-D-ribose-5-phosphate aldolase (DERA) is a biocatalyst that is capable of converting acetaldehyde and a second aldehyde as acceptor into enantiomerically pure mono- and diyhydroxyaldehydes, which are important structural motifs in a number of pharmaceutically active compounds. However, substrate as well as product inhibition requires a more-sophisticated process design for the synthesis of these motifs. One way to do so is to the couple aldehyde conversion with transport processes, which, in turn, would require an immobilization of the enzyme within a thin film that can be deposited on a membrane support. Consequently, we developed a fabrication process for such films that is based on the formation of DERA-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) conjugates that are subsequently allowed to self-assemble at an air-water interface to yield the respective film. In this contribution, we discuss the conjugation conditions, investigate the interfacial properties of the conjugates, and, finally, demonstrate a successful film formation under the preservation of enzymatic activity.
Polyplexes between a double-stranded Salmon DNA and hyperbranched poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) as well as a maltosylated PEI-Mal were incorporated into a gelatin/chitosan hydrogel scaffold. Calorimetric experiments of the polyplexes show a decrease of the melting temperature in presence of PEI and a peak splitting in presence of PEI-Mal, which can be interpreted to a partial compaction of the DNA strands in presence of PEI-Mal. When the polyplexes are incorporated into a gelatin/chitosan scaffold in the swollen state, the DNA melting peaks at 90 and 93 degrees C, respectively, indicate in both cases the release of the DNA at the surface of the hydrogel scaffold in a more compact form. Specific interactions between the PEI-Mal shell and gelatin are responsible for the tuning of the release properties in presence of the maltose units in the hyperbranched PEI.
Water deficit (drought stress) massively restricts plant growth and the yield of crops; reducing the deleterious effects of drought is therefore of high agricultural relevance. Drought triggers diverse cellular processes including the inhibition of photosynthesis, the accumulation of cell-damaging reactive oxygen species and gene expression reprogramming, besides others. Transcription factors (TF) are central regulators of transcriptional reprogramming and expression of many TF genes is affected by drought, including members of the NAC family. Here, we identify the NAC factor JUNGBRUNNEN1 (JUB1) as a regulator of drought tolerance in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Expression of tomato JUB1 (SlJUB1) is enhanced by various abiotic stresses, including drought. Inhibiting SlJUB1 by virus-induced gene silencing drastically lowers drought tolerance concomitant with an increase in ion leakage, an elevation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels and a decrease in the expression of various drought-responsive genes. In contrast, overexpression of AtJUB1 from Arabidopsis thaliana increases drought tolerance in tomato, alongside with a higher relative leaf water content during drought and reduced H2O2 levels. AtJUB1 was previously shown to stimulate expression of DREB2A, a TF involved in drought responses, and of the DELLA genes GAI and RGL1. We show here that SlJUB1 similarly controls the expression of the tomato orthologs SlDREB1, SlDREB2 and SlDELLA. Furthermore, AtJUB1 directly binds to the promoters of SlDREB1, SlDREB2 and SlDELLA in tomato. Our study highlights JUB1 as a transcriptional regulator of drought tolerance and suggests considerable conservation of the abiotic stress-related gene regulatory networks controlled by this NAC factor between Arabidopsis and tomato.
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most important food crops worldwide. Current potato varieties are highly susceptible to drought stress. In view of global climate change, selection of cultivars with improved drought tolerance and high yield potential is of paramount importance. Drought tolerance breeding of potato is currently based on direct selection according to yield and phenotypic traits and requires multiple trials under drought conditions. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) is cheaper, faster and reduces classification errors caused by noncontrolled environmental effects. We analysed 31 potato cultivars grown under optimal and reduced water supply in six independent field trials. Drought tolerance was determined as tuber starch yield. Leaf samples from young plants were screened for preselected transcript and nontargeted metabolite abundance using qRT-PCR and GC-MS profiling, respectively. Transcript marker candidates were selected from a published RNA-Seq data set. A Random Forest machine learning approach extracted metabolite and transcript markers for drought tolerance prediction with low error rates of 6% and 9%, respectively. Moreover, by combining transcript and metabolite markers, the prediction error was reduced to 4.3%. Feature selection from Random Forest models allowed model minimization, yielding a minimal combination of only 20 metabolite and transcript markers that were successfully tested for their reproducibility in 16 independent agronomic field trials. We demonstrate that a minimum combination of transcript and metabolite markers sampled at early cultivation stages predicts potato yield stability under drought largely independent of seasonal and regional agronomic conditions.
Noninvasive imaging in the root soil compartment is mandatory for improving knowledge about root soil interactions and uptake processes which eventually control crop growth and productivity. Here we propose a method of MRI T-1 relaxation mapping to investigate water uptake patterns, and as second example, in combination with neutron tomography (NT), property changes in the rhizosphere. The first part demonstrates quantification of solute enrichment by advective transport to the roots due to water uptake. This accumulation is counterbalanced by net downward flow and dispersive spreading. One can furthermore discriminate between zones of high accumulation patterns and zones with much less enrichment. This behavior persists over days. The second part presents the novel combination of MRI with neutron tomography to couple static, proton density information of roots and their interface to the surrounding soil with information about the local water dynamics, reflected by NMR relaxation times. The root soil interface of a broad bean plant is characterized by slightly increasing MRI and NT signal intensity but decreasing T-1 relaxation time indicating locally changed soil properties.