Protein structure validation and refinement using amide proton chemical shifts derived from quantum mechanics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Anders Steen; Linnet, Troels Emtekær; Borg, Mikael

2013-01-01

We present the ProCS method for the rapid and accurate prediction of protein backbone amide proton chemical shifts - sensitive probes of the geometry of key hydrogen bonds that determine protein structure. ProCS is parameterized against quantum mechanical (QM) calculations and reproduces high level...

¹H, ¹³C, and ¹⁵N backbone and side-chain chemical shift assignment of the toxin Doc in the unbound state.

Science.gov (United States)

De Gieter, Steven; Loris, Remy; van Nuland, Nico A J; Garcia-Pino, Abel

2014-04-01

Toxin-antitoxin (TA) modules in bacteria are involved in pathogenesis, antibiotic stress response, persister formation and programmed cell death. The toxin Doc, from the phd/doc module, blocks protein synthesis by targeting the translation machinery. Despite a large wealth of biophysical and biochemical data on the regulatory aspects of the operon transcription and role of Doc co-activator and co-repressor, little is still know on the molecular basis of Doc toxicity. Structural information about this toxin is only available for its inhibited state bound to the antitoxin Phd. Here we report the (1)H, (15)N and (13)C backbone and side chain chemical shift assignments of the toxin Doc from of bacteriophage P1 (the model protein from this family of TA modules) in its free state. The BMRB accession number is 18899.

Three-Dimensional Protein Fold Determination from Backbone Amide Pseudocontact Shifts Generated by Lanthanide Tags at Multiple Sites

KAUST Repository

Yagi, Hiromasa

2013-06-01

Site-specific attachment of paramagnetic lanthanide ions to a protein generates pseudocontact shifts (PCS) in the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of the protein that are easily measured as changes in chemical shifts. By labeling the protein with lanthanide tags at four different sites, PCSs are observed for most amide protons and accurate information is obtained about their coordinates in three-dimensional space. The approach is demonstrated with the chaperone ERp29, for which large differences have been reported between X-ray and NMR structures of the C-terminal domain, ERp29-C. The results unambiguously show that the structure of rat ERp29-C in solution is similar to the crystal structure of human ERp29-C. PCSs of backbone amides were the only structural restraints required. Because these can be measured for more dilute protein solutions than other NMR restraints, the approach greatly widens the range of proteins amenable to structural studies in solution. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cα and Cβ Carbon-13 Chemical Shifts in Proteins From an Empirical Database

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iwadate, Mitsuo; Asakura, Tetsuo; Williamson, Michael P.

1999-01-01

We have constructed an extensive database of 13C Cα and Cβ chemical shifts in proteins of solution, for proteins of which a high-resolution crystal structure exists, and for which the crystal structure has been shown to be essentially identical to the solution structure. There is no systematic effect of temperature, reference compound, or pH on reported shifts, but there appear to be differences in reported shifts arising from referencing differences of up to 4.2 ppm. The major factor affecting chemical shifts is the backbone geometry, which causes differences of ca. 4 ppm between typical α- helix and β-sheet geometries for Cα, and of ca. 2 ppm for Cβ. The side-chain dihedral angle χ1 has an effect of up to 0.5 ppm on the Cα shift, particularly for amino acids with branched side-chains at Cβ. Hydrogen bonding to main-chain atoms has an effect of up to 0.9 ppm, which depends on the main- chain conformation. The sequence of the protein and ring-current shifts from aromatic rings have an insignificant effect (except for residues following proline). There are significant differences between different amino acid types in the backbone geometry dependence; the amino acids can be grouped together into five different groups with different φ,ψ shielding surfaces. The overall fit of individual residues to a single non-residue-specific surface, incorporating the effects of hydrogen bonding and χ1 angle, is 0.96 ppm for both Cα and Cβ. The results from this study are broadly similar to those from ab initio studies, but there are some differences which could merit further attention

Toward structural dynamics: protein motions viewed by chemical shift modulations and direct detection of C'N multiple-quantum relaxation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mori, Mirko; Kateb, Fatiha; Bodenhausen, Geoffrey; Piccioli, Mario; Abergel, Daniel

2010-03-17

Multiple quantum relaxation in proteins reveals unexpected relationships between correlated or anti-correlated conformational backbone dynamics in alpha-helices or beta-sheets. The contributions of conformational exchange to the relaxation rates of C'N coherences (i.e., double- and zero-quantum coherences involving backbone carbonyl (13)C' and neighboring amide (15)N nuclei) depend on the kinetics of slow exchange processes, as well as on the populations of the conformations and chemical shift differences of (13)C' and (15)N nuclei. The relaxation rates of C'N coherences, which reflect concerted fluctuations due to slow chemical shift modulations (CSMs), were determined by direct (13)C detection in diamagnetic and paramagnetic proteins. In well-folded proteins such as lanthanide-substituted calbindin (CaLnCb), copper,zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn SOD), and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP12), slow conformational exchange occurs along the entire backbone. Our observations demonstrate that relaxation rates of C'N coherences arising from slow backbone dynamics have positive signs (characteristic of correlated fluctuations) in beta-sheets and negative signs (characteristic of anti-correlated fluctuations) in alpha-helices. This extends the prospects of structure-dynamics relationships to slow time scales that are relevant for protein function and enzymatic activity.

Identification of helix capping and {beta}-turn motifs from NMR chemical shifts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shen Yang; Bax, Ad, E-mail: bax@nih.gov [National Institutes of Health, Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (United States)

2012-03-15

We present an empirical method for identification of distinct structural motifs in proteins on the basis of experimentally determined backbone and {sup 13}C{sup {beta}} chemical shifts. Elements identified include the N-terminal and C-terminal helix capping motifs and five types of {beta}-turns: I, II, I Prime , II Prime and VIII. Using a database of proteins of known structure, the NMR chemical shifts, together with the PDB-extracted amino acid preference of the helix capping and {beta}-turn motifs are used as input data for training an artificial neural network algorithm, which outputs the statistical probability of finding each motif at any given position in the protein. The trained neural networks, contained in the MICS (motif identification from chemical shifts) program, also provide a confidence level for each of their predictions, and values ranging from ca 0.7-0.9 for the Matthews correlation coefficient of its predictions far exceed those attainable by sequence analysis. MICS is anticipated to be useful both in the conventional NMR structure determination process and for enhancing on-going efforts to determine protein structures solely on the basis of chemical shift information, where it can aid in identifying protein database fragments suitable for use in building such structures.

Identification of helix capping and β-turn motifs from NMR chemical shifts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen Yang; Bax, Ad

2012-01-01

We present an empirical method for identification of distinct structural motifs in proteins on the basis of experimentally determined backbone and 13 C β chemical shifts. Elements identified include the N-terminal and C-terminal helix capping motifs and five types of β-turns: I, II, I′, II′ and VIII. Using a database of proteins of known structure, the NMR chemical shifts, together with the PDB-extracted amino acid preference of the helix capping and β-turn motifs are used as input data for training an artificial neural network algorithm, which outputs the statistical probability of finding each motif at any given position in the protein. The trained neural networks, contained in the MICS (motif identification from chemical shifts) program, also provide a confidence level for each of their predictions, and values ranging from ca 0.7–0.9 for the Matthews correlation coefficient of its predictions far exceed those attainable by sequence analysis. MICS is anticipated to be useful both in the conventional NMR structure determination process and for enhancing on-going efforts to determine protein structures solely on the basis of chemical shift information, where it can aid in identifying protein database fragments suitable for use in building such structures.

Chemical characteristics and antithrombotic effect of chondroitin sulfates from sturgeon skull and sturgeon backbone.

Science.gov (United States)

Gui, Meng; Song, Juyi; Zhang, Lu; Wang, Shun; Wu, Ruiyun; Ma, Changwei; Li, Pinglan

2015-06-05

Chondroitin sulfates (CSs) were extracted from sturgeon skull and backbone, and their chemical composition, anticoagulant, anti-platelet and thrombolysis activities were evaluated. The average molecular weights of CS from sturgeon skull and backbone were 38.5kDa and 49.2kDa, respectively. Disaccharide analysis indicated that the sturgeon backbone CS was primarily composed of disaccharide monosulfated in position four of the GalNAc (37.8%) and disaccharide monosulfated in position six of the GalNAc (59.6%) while sturgeon skull CS was primarily composed of nonsulfated disaccharide (74.2%). Sturgeon backbone CS showed stronger antithrombotic effect than sturgeon skull CS. Sturgeon backbone CS could significantly prolong activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and thrombin time (TT), inhibited ADP-induced platelet aggregation and dissolved platelet plasma clots in vitro. The results suggested that sturgeon backbone CS can be explored as a functional food with antithrombotic function. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Backbone assignment of the little finger domain of a Y-family DNA polymerase.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Dejian; Fowler, Jason D; Suo, Zucai

2011-10-01

Sulfolobus solfataricus DNA polymerase IV (Dpo4), a prototype Y-family DNA polymerase, contains a unique little finger domain besides a catalytic core. Here, we report the chemical shift assignments for the backbone nitrogens, α and β carbons, and amide protons of the little finger domain of Dpo4. This work and our published backbone assignment for the catalytic core provide the basis for investigating the conformational dynamics of Dpo4 during catalysis using solution NMR spectroscopy.

Rapid protein fold determination using secondary chemical shifts and cross-hydrogen bond 15N-13C’ scalar couplings (3hbJNC’)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bonvin, A.M.J.J.; Houben, K.; Guenneugues, M.N.L.; Kaptein, R.; Boelens, R.

2001-01-01

The possibility of generating protein folds at the stage of backbone assignment using structural restraints derived from experimentally measured cross-hydrogen bond scalar couplings and secondary chemical shift information is investigated using as a test case the small alpha/beta protein

Sequential nearest-neighbor effects on computed {sup 13}C{sup {alpha}} chemical shifts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vila, Jorge A. [Cornell University, Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (United States); Serrano, Pedro; Wuethrich, Kurt [The Scripps Research Institute, Department of Molecular Biology (United States); Scheraga, Harold A., E-mail: has5@cornell.ed [Cornell University, Baker Laboratory of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (United States)

2010-09-15

To evaluate sequential nearest-neighbor effects on quantum-chemical calculations of {sup 13}C{sup {alpha}} chemical shifts, we selected the structure of the nucleic acid binding (NAB) protein from the SARS coronavirus determined by NMR in solution (PDB id 2K87). NAB is a 116-residue {alpha}/{beta} protein, which contains 9 prolines and has 50% of its residues located in loops and turns. Overall, the results presented here show that sizeable nearest-neighbor effects are seen only for residues preceding proline, where Pro introduces an overestimation, on average, of 1.73 ppm in the computed {sup 13}C{sup {alpha}} chemical shifts. A new ensemble of 20 conformers representing the NMR structure of the NAB, which was calculated with an input containing backbone torsion angle constraints derived from the theoretical {sup 13}C{sup {alpha}} chemical shifts as supplementary data to the NOE distance constraints, exhibits very similar topology and comparable agreement with the NOE constraints as the published NMR structure. However, the two structures differ in the patterns of differences between observed and computed {sup 13}C{sup {alpha}} chemical shifts, {Delta}{sub ca,i}, for the individual residues along the sequence. This indicates that the {Delta}{sub ca,i} -values for the NAB protein are primarily a consequence of the limited sampling by the bundles of 20 conformers used, as in common practice, to represent the two NMR structures, rather than of local flaws in the structures.

Chemical shift imaging: a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brateman, L.

1986-01-01

Chemical shift is the phenomenon that is seen when an isotope possessing a nuclear magnetic dipole moment resonates at a spectrum of resonance frequencies in a given magnetic field. These resonance frequencies, or chemical shifts, depend on the chemical environments of particular nuclei. Mapping the spatial distribution of nuclei associated with a particular chemical shift (e.g., hydrogen nuclei associated with water molecules or with lipid groups) is called chemical shift imaging. Several techniques of proton chemical shift imaging that have been applied in vivo are presented, and their clinical findings are reported and summarized. Acquiring high-resolution spectra for large numbers of volume elements in two or three dimensions may be prohibitive because of time constraints, but other methods of imaging lipid of water distributions (i.e., selective excitation, selective saturation, or variations in conventional magnetic resonance imaging pulse sequences) can provide chemical shift information. These techniques require less time, but they lack spectral information. Since fat deposition seen by chemical shift imaging may not be demonstrated by conventional magnetic resonance imaging, certain applications of chemical shift imaging, such as in the determination of fatty liver disease, have greater diagnostic utility than conventional magnetic resonance imaging. Furthermore, edge artifacts caused by chemical shift effects can be eliminated by certain selective methods of data acquisition employed in chemical shift imaging

Combined chemical shift changes and amino acid specific chemical shift mapping of protein-protein interactions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schumann, Frank H.; Riepl, Hubert [University of Regensburg, Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry (Germany); Maurer, Till [Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH and Co. KG, Analytical Sciences Department (Germany); Gronwald, Wolfram [University of Regensburg, Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry (Germany); Neidig, Klaus-Peter [Bruker BioSpin GmbH, Software Department (Germany); Kalbitzer, Hans Robert [University of Regensburg, Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry (Germany)], E-mail: hans-robert.kalbitzer@biologie.uni-regensburg.de

2007-12-15

Protein-protein interactions are often studied by chemical shift mapping using solution NMR spectroscopy. When heteronuclear data are available the interaction interface is usually predicted by combining the chemical shift changes of different nuclei to a single quantity, the combined chemical shift perturbation {delta}{delta}{sub comb}. In this paper different procedures (published and non-published) to calculate {delta}{delta}{sub comb} are examined that include a variety of different functional forms and weighting factors for each nucleus. The predictive power of all shift mapping methods depends on the magnitude of the overlap of the chemical shift distributions of interacting and non-interacting residues and the cut-off criterion used. In general, the quality of the prediction on the basis of chemical shift changes alone is rather unsatisfactory but the combination of chemical shift changes on the basis of the Hamming or the Euclidian distance can improve the result. The corrected standard deviation to zero of the combined chemical shift changes can provide a reasonable cut-off criterion. As we show combined chemical shifts can also be applied for a more reliable quantitative evaluation of titration data.

Chemical shift homology in proteins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Potts, Barbara C.M.; Chazin, Walter J.

1998-01-01

The degree of chemical shift similarity for homologous proteins has been determined from a chemical shift database of over 50 proteins representing a variety of families and folds, and spanning a wide range of sequence homologies. After sequence alignment, the similarity of the secondary chemical shifts of C α protons was examined as a function of amino acid sequence identity for 37 pairs of structurally homologous proteins. A correlation between sequence identity and secondary chemical shift rmsd was observed. Important insights are provided by examining the sequence identity of homologous proteins versus percentage of secondary chemical shifts that fall within 0.1 and 0.3 ppm thresholds. These results begin to establish practical guidelines for the extent of chemical shift similarity to expect among structurally homologous proteins

Quantification of protein backbone hydrogen-deuterium exchange rates by solid state NMR spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopez del Amo, Juan-Miguel; Fink, Uwe; Reif, Bernd

2010-01-01

We present the quantification of backbone amide hydrogen-deuterium exchange rates (HDX) for immobilized proteins. The experiments make use of the deuterium isotope effect on the amide nitrogen chemical shift, as well as on proton dilution by deuteration. We find that backbone amides in the microcrystalline α-spectrin SH3 domain exchange rather slowly with the solvent (with exchange rates negligible within the individual 15 N-T 1 timescales). We observed chemical exchange for 6 residues with HDX exchange rates in the range from 0.2 to 5 s -1 . Backbone amide 15 N longitudinal relaxation times that we determined previously are not significantly affected for most residues, yielding no systematic artifacts upon quantification of backbone dynamics (Chevelkov et al. 2008b). Significant exchange was observed for the backbone amides of R21, S36 and K60, as well as for the sidechain amides of N38, N35 and for W41ε. These residues could not be fit in our previous motional analysis, demonstrating that amide proton chemical exchange needs to be considered in the analysis of protein dynamics in the solid-state, in case D 2 O is employed as a solvent for sample preparation. Due to the intrinsically long 15 N relaxation times in the solid-state, the approach proposed here can expand the range of accessible HDX rates in the intermediate regime that is not accessible so far with exchange quench and MEXICO type experiments.

Combining NMR ensembles and molecular dynamics simulations provides more realistic models of protein structures in solution and leads to better chemical shift prediction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lehtivarjo, Juuso; Tuppurainen, Kari; Hassinen, Tommi; Laatikainen, Reino; Peräkylä, Mikael

2012-01-01

While chemical shifts are invaluable for obtaining structural information from proteins, they also offer one of the rare ways to obtain information about protein dynamics. A necessary tool in transforming chemical shifts into structural and dynamic information is chemical shift prediction. In our previous work we developed a method for 4D prediction of protein 1 H chemical shifts in which molecular motions, the 4th dimension, were modeled using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Although the approach clearly improved the prediction, the X-ray structures and single NMR conformers used in the model cannot be considered fully realistic models of protein in solution. In this work, NMR ensembles (NMRE) were used to expand the conformational space of proteins (e.g. side chains, flexible loops, termini), followed by MD simulations for each conformer to map the local fluctuations. Compared with the non-dynamic model, the NMRE+MD model gave 6–17% lower root-mean-square (RMS) errors for different backbone nuclei. The improved prediction indicates that NMR ensembles with MD simulations can be used to obtain a more realistic picture of protein structures in solutions and moreover underlines the importance of short and long time-scale dynamics for the prediction. The RMS errors of the NMRE+MD model were 0.24, 0.43, 0.98, 1.03, 1.16 and 2.39 ppm for 1 Hα, 1 HN, 13 Cα, 13 Cβ, 13 CO and backbone 15 N chemical shifts, respectively. The model is implemented in the prediction program 4DSPOT, available at http://www.uef.fi/4dspothttp://www.uef.fi/4dspot.

Combining NMR ensembles and molecular dynamics simulations provides more realistic models of protein structures in solution and leads to better chemical shift prediction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lehtivarjo, Juuso, E-mail: juuso.lehtivarjo@uef.fi; Tuppurainen, Kari; Hassinen, Tommi; Laatikainen, Reino [University of Eastern Finland, School of Pharmacy (Finland); Peraekylae, Mikael [University of Eastern Finland, Institute of Biomedicine (Finland)

2012-03-15

While chemical shifts are invaluable for obtaining structural information from proteins, they also offer one of the rare ways to obtain information about protein dynamics. A necessary tool in transforming chemical shifts into structural and dynamic information is chemical shift prediction. In our previous work we developed a method for 4D prediction of protein {sup 1}H chemical shifts in which molecular motions, the 4th dimension, were modeled using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Although the approach clearly improved the prediction, the X-ray structures and single NMR conformers used in the model cannot be considered fully realistic models of protein in solution. In this work, NMR ensembles (NMRE) were used to expand the conformational space of proteins (e.g. side chains, flexible loops, termini), followed by MD simulations for each conformer to map the local fluctuations. Compared with the non-dynamic model, the NMRE+MD model gave 6-17% lower root-mean-square (RMS) errors for different backbone nuclei. The improved prediction indicates that NMR ensembles with MD simulations can be used to obtain a more realistic picture of protein structures in solutions and moreover underlines the importance of short and long time-scale dynamics for the prediction. The RMS errors of the NMRE+MD model were 0.24, 0.43, 0.98, 1.03, 1.16 and 2.39 ppm for {sup 1}H{alpha}, {sup 1}HN, {sup 13}C{alpha}, {sup 13}C{beta}, {sup 13}CO and backbone {sup 15}N chemical shifts, respectively. The model is implemented in the prediction program 4DSPOT, available at http://www.uef.fi/4dspothttp://www.uef.fi/4dspot.

CheShift-2 resolves a local inconsistency between two X-ray crystal structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vila, Jorge A.; Sue, Shih-Che; Fraser, James S.; Scheraga, Harold A.; Dyson, H. Jane

2012-01-01

Since chemical shifts provide important and relatively accessible information about protein structure in solution, a Web server, CheShift-2, was developed for structure interrogation, based on a quantum mechanics database of 13 C α chemical shifts. We report the application of CheShift-2 to a local inconsistency between two X-ray crystal structures (PDB IDs 1IKN and 1NFI) of the complex between the p65/p50 heterodimer of NFκB and its inhibitor IκBα. The availability of NMR resonance assignments that included the region of the inconsistency provided an opportunity for independent validation of the CheShift-2 server. Application of the server showed that the 13 C α chemical shifts measured for the Gly270-Pro281 sequence close to the C-terminus of IκBα were unequivocally consistent with the backbone structure modeled in the 1IKN structure, and were inconsistent with the 1NFI structure. Previous NOE measurements had demonstrated that the position of a tryptophan ring in the region immediately N-terminal in this region was not consistent with either structure. Subsequent recalculation of the local structure in this region, based on the electron density of the deposited structure factors for 1IKN, confirmed that the local backbone structure was best modeled by 1IKN, but that the rotamer of Trp258 is consistent with the 1NFI structure, including the presence of a hydrogen bond between the ring NεH of Trp258 and the backbone carbonyl group of Gln278. The consensus between all of these measures suggests that the CheShift-2 server operates well under circumstances in which backbone chemical shifts are available but where local plasticity may render X-ray structural data ambiguous.

Rapid protein fold determination using secondary chemical shifts and cross-hydrogen bond 15N-13C' scalar couplings (3hbJNC')

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bonvin, Alexandre M.J.J.; Houben, Klaartje; Guenneugues, Marc; Kaptein, Robert; Boelens, Rolf [Utrecht University, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research, NMR Spectroscopy (Netherlands)

2001-11-15

The possibility of generating protein folds at the stage of backbone assignment using structural restraints derived from experimentally measured cross-hydrogen bond scalar couplings and secondary chemical shift information is investigated using as a test case the small {alpha}/{beta} protein chymotrypsin inhibitor 2. Dihedral angle restraints for the {phi} and {psi} angles of 32 out of 64 residues could be obtained from secondary chemical shift analysis with the TALOS program (Corneliscu et al., 1999a). This information was supplemented by 18 hydrogen-bond restraints derived from experimentally measured cross-hydrogen bond {sup 3hb}J{sub NC'} coupling constants. These experimental data were sufficient to generate structures that are as close as 1.0 A backbone rmsd from the crystal structure. The fold is, however, not uniquely defined and several solutions are generated that cannot be distinguished on the basis of violations or energetic considerations. Correct folds could be identified by combining clustering methods with knowledge-based potentials derived from structural databases.

Spectral fitting for signal assignment and structural analysis of uniformly {sup 13}C-labeled solid proteins by simulated annealing based on chemical shifts and spin dynamics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matsuki, Yoh; Akutsu, Hideo; Fujiwara, Toshimichi [Osaka University, Institute for Protein Research (Japan)], E-mail: tfjwr@protein.osaka-u.ac.jp

2007-08-15

We describe an approach for the signal assignment and structural analysis with a suite of two-dimensional {sup 13}C-{sup 13}C magic-angle-spinning solid-state NMR spectra of uniformly {sup 13}C-labeled peptides and proteins. We directly fit the calculated spectra to experimental ones by simulated annealing in restrained molecular dynamics program CNS as a function of atomic coordinates. The spectra are calculated from the conformation dependent chemical shift obtained with SHIFTX and the cross-peak intensities computed for recoupled dipolar interactions. This method was applied to a membrane-bound 14-residue peptide, mastoparan-X. The obtained C', C{sup {alpha}} and C{sup {beta}} chemical shifts agreed with those reported previously at the precisions of 0.2, 0.7 and 0.4 ppm, respectively. This spectral fitting program also provides backbone dihedral angles with a precision of about 50 deg. from the spectra even with resonance overlaps. The restraints on the angles were improved by applying protein database program TALOS to the obtained chemical shifts. The peptide structure provided by these restraints was consistent with the reported structure at the backbone RMSD of about 1 A.

Chemical shift-dependent apparent scalar couplings: An alternative concept of chemical shift monitoring in multi-dimensional NMR experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwiatkowski, Witek; Riek, Roland

2003-01-01

The paper presents an alternative technique for chemical shift monitoring in a multi-dimensional NMR experiment. The monitored chemical shift is coded in the line-shape of a cross-peak through an apparent residual scalar coupling active during an established evolution period or acquisition. The size of the apparent scalar coupling is manipulated with an off-resonance radio-frequency pulse in order to correlate the size of the coupling with the position of the additional chemical shift. The strength of this concept is that chemical shift information is added without an additional evolution period and accompanying polarization transfer periods. This concept was incorporated into the three-dimensional triple-resonance experiment HNCA, adding the information of 1 H α chemical shifts. The experiment is called HNCA coded HA, since the chemical shift of 1 H α is coded in the line-shape of the cross-peak along the 13 C α dimension

Random coil chemical shift for intrinsically disordered proteins

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærgaard, Magnus; Brander, Søren; Poulsen, Flemming Martin

2011-01-01

. Temperature has a non-negligible effect on the (13)C random coil chemical shifts, so temperature coefficients are reported for the random coil chemical shifts to allow extrapolation to other temperatures. The pH dependence of the histidine random coil chemical shifts is investigated in a titration series......, which allows the accurate random coil chemical shifts to be obtained at any pH. By correcting the random coil chemical shifts for the effects of temperature and pH, systematic biases of the secondary chemical shifts are minimized, which will improve the reliability of detection of transient secondary...

Empirical isotropic chemical shift surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Czinki, Eszter; Csaszar, Attila G.

2007-01-01

A list of proteins is given for which spatial structures, with a resolution better than 2.5 A, are known from entries in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and isotropic chemical shift (ICS) values are known from the RefDB database related to the Biological Magnetic Resonance Bank (BMRB) database. The structures chosen provide, with unknown uncertainties, dihedral angles φ and ψ characterizing the backbone structure of the residues. The joint use of experimental ICSs of the same residues within the proteins, again with mostly unknown uncertainties, and ab initio ICS(φ,ψ) surfaces obtained for the model peptides For-(l-Ala) n -NH 2 , with n = 1, 3, and 5, resulted in so-called empirical ICS(φ,ψ) surfaces for all major nuclei of the 20 naturally occurring α-amino acids. Out of the many empirical surfaces determined, it is the 13C α ICS(φ,ψ) surface which seems to be most promising for identifying major secondary structure types, α-helix, β-strand, left-handed helix (α D ), and polyproline-II. Detailed tests suggest that Ala is a good model for many naturally occurring α-amino acids. Two-dimensional empirical 13C α - 1 H α ICS(φ,ψ) correlation plots, obtained so far only from computations on small peptide models, suggest the utility of the experimental information contained therein and thus they should provide useful constraints for structure determinations of proteins

Chemical shift assignments of the partially deuterated Fyn SH2-SH3 domain.

Science.gov (United States)

Kieken, Fabien; Loth, Karine; van Nuland, Nico; Tompa, Peter; Lenaerts, Tom

2018-04-01

Src Homology 2 and 3 (SH2 and SH3) are two key protein interaction modules involved in regulating the activity of many proteins such as tyrosine kinases and phosphatases by respective recognition of phosphotyrosine and proline-rich regions. In the Src family kinases, the inactive state of the protein is the direct result of the interaction of the SH2 and the SH3 domain with intra-molecular regions, leading to a closed structure incompetent with substrate modification. Here, we report the 1 H, 15 N and 13 C backbone- and side-chain chemical shift assignments of the partially deuterated Fyn SH3-SH2 domain and structural differences between tandem and single domains. The BMRB accession number is 27165.

Using chemical shift perturbation to characterise ligand binding.

Science.gov (United States)

Williamson, Mike P

2013-08-01

Chemical shift perturbation (CSP, chemical shift mapping or complexation-induced changes in chemical shift, CIS) follows changes in the chemical shifts of a protein when a ligand is added, and uses these to determine the location of the binding site, the affinity of the ligand, and/or possibly the structure of the complex. A key factor in determining the appearance of spectra during a titration is the exchange rate between free and bound, or more specifically the off-rate koff. When koff is greater than the chemical shift difference between free and bound, which typically equates to an affinity Kd weaker than about 3μM, then exchange is fast on the chemical shift timescale. Under these circumstances, the observed shift is the population-weighted average of free and bound, which allows Kd to be determined from measurement of peak positions, provided the measurements are made appropriately. (1)H shifts are influenced to a large extent by through-space interactions, whereas (13)Cα and (13)Cβ shifts are influenced more by through-bond effects. (15)N and (13)C' shifts are influenced both by through-bond and by through-space (hydrogen bonding) interactions. For determining the location of a bound ligand on the basis of shift change, the most appropriate method is therefore usually to measure (15)N HSQC spectra, calculate the geometrical distance moved by the peak, weighting (15)N shifts by a factor of about 0.14 compared to (1)H shifts, and select those residues for which the weighted shift change is larger than the standard deviation of the shift for all residues. Other methods are discussed, in particular the measurement of (13)CH3 signals. Slow to intermediate exchange rates lead to line broadening, and make Kd values very difficult to obtain. There is no good way to distinguish changes in chemical shift due to direct binding of the ligand from changes in chemical shift due to allosteric change. Ligand binding at multiple sites can often be characterised, by

Automated backbone assignment of labeled proteins using the threshold accepting algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leutner, Michael; Gschwind, Ruth M.; Liermann, Jens; Schwarz, Christian; Gemmecker, Gerd; Kessler, Horst

1998-01-01

The sequential assignment of backbone resonances is the first step in the structure determination of proteins by heteronuclear NMR. For larger proteins, an assignment strategy based on proton side-chain information is no longer suitable for the use in an automated procedure. Our program PASTA (Protein ASsignment by Threshold Accepting) is therefore designed to partially or fully automate the sequential assignment of proteins, based on the analysis of NMR backbone resonances plus C β information. In order to overcome the problems caused by peak overlap and missing signals in an automated assignment process, PASTA uses threshold accepting, a combinatorial optimization strategy, which is superior to simulated annealing due to generally faster convergence and better solutions. The reliability of this algorithm is shown by reproducing the complete sequential backbone assignment of several proteins from published NMR data. The robustness of the algorithm against misassigned signals, noise, spectral overlap and missing peaks is shown by repeating the assignment with reduced sequential information and increased chemical shift tolerances. The performance of the program on real data is finally demonstrated with automatically picked peak lists of human nonpancreatic synovial phospholipase A 2 , a protein with 124 residues

Backbone dynamics of oxidized and reduced D. vulgaris flavodoxin in solution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hrovat, Andrea; Bluemel, Markus; Loehr, Frank; Mayhew, Stephen G.; Rueterjans, Heinz

1997-01-01

Recombinant Desulfovibrio vulgaris flavodoxin was produced in Escherichia coli. A complete backbone NMR assignment for the two-electron reduced protein revealed significant changes of chemical shift values compared to the oxidized protein, in particular for the flavine mononucleotide (FMN)-binding site. A comparison of homo- and heteronuclear NOESY spectra for the two redox states led to the assumption that reduction is not accompanied by significant changes of the global fold of the protein.The backbone dynamics of both the oxidized and reduced forms of D. vulgaris flavodoxin were investigated using two-dimensional 15 N- 1 H correlation NMR spectroscopy.T 1 , T 2 and NOE data are obtained for 95% of the backbone amide groups in both redox states. These values were analysed in terms of the 'model-free' approach introduced by Lipari and Szabo [(1982) J. Am. Chem. Soc., 104, 4546-;4559, 4559-;4570]. A comparison of the two redox states indicates that in the reduced species significantly more flexibility occurs in the two loop regions enclosing FMN.Also, a higher amplitude of local motion could be found for the N(3)H group of FMN bound to the reduced protein compared to the oxidized state

The calculation of proton chemical shifts in hydrocarbons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abraham, Raymond J [Liverpool Univ. (United Kingdom). Dept. of Chemistry

1994-12-31

Novel extension of the CHARGE3 semi-empirical calculation of the partial atomic charges in molecules are described which allow the accurate calculation of the proton chemical shifts of a variety of acyclic alkanes. This simple scheme predicts the proton chemical shifts of all the simple alkanes, cyclohexane and methyl cyclohexanes, norbornane, trans-decalin and trans perhydrophenanthrene, comprising a range of chemical shifts from 0.3 to 2.2 {delta} with the known substituent chemical shifts of other functional groups this could allow the general prediction of proton chemical shifts in a simple and useful format. (author) 13 refs., 2 figs.

Validation of archived chemical shifts through atomic coordinates

Science.gov (United States)

Rieping, Wolfgang; Vranken, Wim F

2010-01-01

The public archives containing protein information in the form of NMR chemical shift data at the BioMagResBank (BMRB) and of 3D structure coordinates at the Protein Data Bank are continuously expanding. The quality of the data contained in these archives, however, varies. The main issue for chemical shift values is that they are determined relative to a reference frequency. When this reference frequency is set incorrectly, all related chemical shift values are systematically offset. Such wrongly referenced chemical shift values, as well as other problems such as chemical shift values that are assigned to the wrong atom, are not easily distinguished from correct values and effectively reduce the usefulness of the archive. We describe a new method to correct and validate protein chemical shift values in relation to their 3D structure coordinates. This method classifies atoms using two parameters: the per-atom solvent accessible surface area (as calculated from the coordinates) and the secondary structure of the parent amino acid. Through the use of Gaussian statistics based on a large database of 3220 BMRB entries, we obtain per-entry chemical shift corrections as well as Z scores for the individual chemical shift values. In addition, information on the error of the correction value itself is available, and the method can retain only dependable correction values. We provide an online resource with chemical shift, atom exposure, and secondary structure information for all relevant BMRB entries (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/nmr/vasco) and hope this data will aid the development of new chemical shift-based methods in NMR. Proteins 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. PMID:20602353

Protein structure refinement using a quantum mechanics-based chemical shielding predictor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bratholm, Lars Andersen; Jensen, Jan Halborg

2017-01-01

The accurate prediction of protein chemical shifts using a quantum mechanics (QM)-based method has been the subject of intense research for more than 20 years but so far empirical methods for chemical shift prediction have proven more accurate. In this paper we show that a QM-based predictor...... of a protein backbone and CB chemical shifts (ProCS15, PeerJ, 2016, 3, e1344) is of comparable accuracy to empirical chemical shift predictors after chemical shift-based structural refinement that removes small structural errors. We present a method by which quantum chemistry based predictions of isotropic...

Quantitative assessments of the distinct contributions of polypeptide backbone amides versus sidechain groups to chain expansion via chemical denaturation

Science.gov (United States)

Holehouse, Alex S.; Garai, Kanchan; Lyle, Nicholas; Vitalis, Andreas; Pappu, Rohit V.

2015-01-01

In aqueous solutions with high concentrations of chemical denaturants such as urea and guanidinium chloride (GdmCl) proteins expand to populate heterogeneous conformational ensembles. These denaturing environments are thought to be good solvents for generic protein sequences because properties of conformational distributions align with those of canonical random coils. Previous studies showed that water is a poor solvent for polypeptide backbones and therefore backbones form collapsed globular structures in aqueous solvents. Here, we ask if polypeptide backbones can intrinsically undergo the requisite chain expansion in aqueous solutions with high concentrations of urea and GdmCl. We answer this question using a combination of molecular dynamics simulations and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. We find that the degree of backbone expansion is minimal in aqueous solutions with high concentrations denaturants. Instead, polypeptide backbones sample conformations that are denaturant-specific mixtures of coils and globules, with a persistent preference for globules. Therefore, typical denaturing environments cannot be classified as good solvents for polypeptide backbones. How then do generic protein sequences expand in denaturing environments? To answer this question, we investigated the effects of sidechains using simulations of two archetypal sequences with amino acid compositions that are mixtures of charged, hydrophobic, and polar groups. We find that sidechains lower the effective concentration of backbone amides in water leading to an intrinsic expansion of polypeptide backbones in the absence of denaturants. Additional dilution of the effective concentration of backbone amides is achieved through preferential interactions with denaturants. These effects lead to conformational statistics in denaturing environments that are congruent with those of canonical random coils. Our results highlight the role of sidechain-mediated interactions as determinants of the

Chemical synthesis of membrane proteins by the removable backbone modification method.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Shan; Zuo, Chao; Huang, Dong-Liang; Cai, Xiao-Ying; Zhang, Long-Hua; Tian, Chang-Lin; Zheng, Ji-Shen; Liu, Lei

2017-12-01

Chemical synthesis can produce membrane proteins bearing specifically designed modifications (e.g., phosphorylation, isotope labeling) that are difficult to obtain through recombinant protein expression approaches. The resulting homogeneously modified synthetic membrane proteins are valuable tools for many advanced biochemical and biophysical studies. This protocol describes the chemical synthesis of membrane proteins by condensation of transmembrane peptide segments through native chemical ligation. To avoid common problems encountered due to the poor solubility of transmembrane peptides in almost any solvent, we describe an effective procedure for the chemical synthesis of membrane proteins through the removable-backbone modification (RBM) strategy. Two key steps of this protocol are: (i) installation of solubilizing Arg4-tagged RBM groups into the transmembrane peptides at any primary amino acid through Fmoc (9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl) solid-phase peptide synthesis and (ii) native ligation of the full-length sequence, followed by removal of the RBM tags by TFA (trifluoroacetic acid) cocktails to afford the native protein. The installation of RBM groups is achieved by using 4-methoxy-5-nitrosalicyladehyde by reduction amination to incorporate an activated O-to-N acyl transfer auxiliary. The Arg4-tag-modified membrane-spanning peptide segments behave like water-soluble peptides to facilitate their purification, ligation and mass characterization.

De novo protein structure generation from incomplete chemical shift assignments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shen Yang [National Institutes of Health, Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (United States); Vernon, Robert; Baker, David [University of Washington, Department of Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (United States); Bax, Ad [National Institutes of Health, Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (United States)], E-mail: bax@nih.gov

2009-02-15

NMR chemical shifts provide important local structural information for proteins. Consistent structure generation from NMR chemical shift data has recently become feasible for proteins with sizes of up to 130 residues, and such structures are of a quality comparable to those obtained with the standard NMR protocol. This study investigates the influence of the completeness of chemical shift assignments on structures generated from chemical shifts. The Chemical-Shift-Rosetta (CS-Rosetta) protocol was used for de novo protein structure generation with various degrees of completeness of the chemical shift assignment, simulated by omission of entries in the experimental chemical shift data previously used for the initial demonstration of the CS-Rosetta approach. In addition, a new CS-Rosetta protocol is described that improves robustness of the method for proteins with missing or erroneous NMR chemical shift input data. This strategy, which uses traditional Rosetta for pre-filtering of the fragment selection process, is demonstrated for two paramagnetic proteins and also for two proteins with solid-state NMR chemical shift assignments.

Mars - robust automatic backbone assignment of proteins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jung, Young-Sang; Zweckstetter, Markus

2004-01-01

MARS a program for robust automatic backbone assignment of 13 C/ 15 N labeled proteins is presented. MARS does not require tight thresholds for establishing sequential connectivity or detailed adjustment of these thresholds and it can work with a wide variety of NMR experiments. Using only 13 C α / 13 C β connectivity information, MARS allows automatic, error-free assignment of 96% of the 370-residue maltose-binding protein. MARS can successfully be used when data are missing for a substantial portion of residues or for proteins with very high chemical shift degeneracy such as partially or fully unfolded proteins. Other sources of information, such as residue specific information or known assignments from a homologues protein, can be included into the assignment process. MARS exports its result in SPARKY format. This allows visual validation and integration of automated and manual assignment

MR chemical shift imaging of human atheroma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohiaddin, R.H.; Underwood, R.; Firmin, D.; Abdulla, A.K.; Rees, S.; Longmore, D.

1988-01-01

The lipid content of atheromatous plaques has been measured with chemical shift MR imaging by taking advantage of the different resonance frequencies of protons in lipid and water. Fifteen postmortem aortic specimens of the human descending aorta and the aortae of seven patients with documented peripheral vascular disease were studied at 0.5 T. Spin-echo images were used to localize the lesions before acquisition of the chemical shift images. The specimens were examined histologically, and the lipid distribution in the plaque showed good correlation with the chemical shift data. Validation in vivo and clinical applications remain to be established

Probabilistic validation of protein NMR chemical shift assignments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dashti, Hesam; Tonelli, Marco; Lee, Woonghee; Westler, William M.; Cornilescu, Gabriel; Ulrich, Eldon L.; Markley, John L.

2016-01-01

Data validation plays an important role in ensuring the reliability and reproducibility of studies. NMR investigations of the functional properties, dynamics, chemical kinetics, and structures of proteins depend critically on the correctness of chemical shift assignments. We present a novel probabilistic method named ARECA for validating chemical shift assignments that relies on the nuclear Overhauser effect data. ARECA has been evaluated through its application to 26 case studies and has been shown to be complementary to, and usually more reliable than, approaches based on chemical shift databases. ARECA is available online at http://areca.nmrfam.wisc.edu/ http://areca.nmrfam.wisc.edu/

Probabilistic validation of protein NMR chemical shift assignments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dashti, Hesam [University of Wisconsin-Madison, Graduate Program in Biophysics, Biochemistry Department (United States); Tonelli, Marco; Lee, Woonghee; Westler, William M.; Cornilescu, Gabriel [University of Wisconsin-Madison, Biochemistry Department, National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison (United States); Ulrich, Eldon L. [University of Wisconsin-Madison, BioMagResBank, Biochemistry Department (United States); Markley, John L., E-mail: markley@nmrfam.wisc.edu, E-mail: jmarkley@wisc.edu [University of Wisconsin-Madison, Biochemistry Department, National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison (United States)

2016-01-15

Data validation plays an important role in ensuring the reliability and reproducibility of studies. NMR investigations of the functional properties, dynamics, chemical kinetics, and structures of proteins depend critically on the correctness of chemical shift assignments. We present a novel probabilistic method named ARECA for validating chemical shift assignments that relies on the nuclear Overhauser effect data. ARECA has been evaluated through its application to 26 case studies and has been shown to be complementary to, and usually more reliable than, approaches based on chemical shift databases. ARECA is available online at http://areca.nmrfam.wisc.edu/ http://areca.nmrfam.wisc.edu/.

Counterion influence on chemical shifts in strychnine salts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Metaxas, Athena E.; Cort, John R.

2013-05-01

The highly toxic plant alkaloid strychnine is often isolated in the form of the anion salt of its protonated tertiary amine. Here we characterize the relative influence of different counterions on 1H and 13C chemical shifts in several strychnine salts in D2O, methanol-d4 (CD3OD) and chloroform-d (CDCl3) solvents. In organic solvents, but not in water, substantial variation in chemical shifts of protons near the tertiary amine was observed among different salts. These secondary shifts reveal differences in the way each anion influences electronic structure within the protonated amine. The distributions of secondary shifts allow salts to be easily distinguished from each other as well as from the free base form. The observed effects are much greater in organic solvents than in water. Slight concentration-dependence in chemical shifts of some protons near the amine was observed for two salts in CDCl3, but this effect is small compared to the influence of the counterion. Distinct chemical shifts in different salt forms of the same compound may be useful as chemical forensic signatures for source attribution and sample matching of alkaloids such as strychnine and possibly other organic acid and base salts.

A probabilistic approach for validating protein NMR chemical shift assignments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Bowei; Wang, Yunjun; Wishart, David S.

2010-01-01

It has been estimated that more than 20% of the proteins in the BMRB are improperly referenced and that about 1% of all chemical shift assignments are mis-assigned. These statistics also reflect the likelihood that any newly assigned protein will have shift assignment or shift referencing errors. The relatively high frequency of these errors continues to be a concern for the biomolecular NMR community. While several programs do exist to detect and/or correct chemical shift mis-referencing or chemical shift mis-assignments, most can only do one, or the other. The one program (SHIFTCOR) that is capable of handling both chemical shift mis-referencing and mis-assignments, requires the 3D structure coordinates of the target protein. Given that chemical shift mis-assignments and chemical shift re-referencing issues should ideally be addressed prior to 3D structure determination, there is a clear need to develop a structure-independent approach. Here, we present a new structure-independent protocol, which is based on using residue-specific and secondary structure-specific chemical shift distributions calculated over small (3-6 residue) fragments to identify mis-assigned resonances. The method is also able to identify and re-reference mis-referenced chemical shift assignments. Comparisons against existing re-referencing or mis-assignment detection programs show that the method is as good or superior to existing approaches. The protocol described here has been implemented into a freely available Java program called 'Probabilistic Approach for protein Nmr Assignment Validation (PANAV)' and as a web server (http://redpoll.pharmacy.ualberta.ca/PANAVhttp://redpoll.pharmacy.ualberta.ca/PANAV) which can be used to validate and/or correct as well as re-reference assigned protein chemical shifts.

Rapid and reliable protein structure determination via chemical shift threading.

Science.gov (United States)

Hafsa, Noor E; Berjanskii, Mark V; Arndt, David; Wishart, David S

2018-01-01

Protein structure determination using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy can be both time-consuming and labor intensive. Here we demonstrate how chemical shift threading can permit rapid, robust, and accurate protein structure determination using only chemical shift data. Threading is a relatively old bioinformatics technique that uses a combination of sequence information and predicted (or experimentally acquired) low-resolution structural data to generate high-resolution 3D protein structures. The key motivations behind using NMR chemical shifts for protein threading lie in the fact that they are easy to measure, they are available prior to 3D structure determination, and they contain vital structural information. The method we have developed uses not only sequence and chemical shift similarity but also chemical shift-derived secondary structure, shift-derived super-secondary structure, and shift-derived accessible surface area to generate a high quality protein structure regardless of the sequence similarity (or lack thereof) to a known structure already in the PDB. The method (called E-Thrifty) was found to be very fast (often chemical shift refinement, these results suggest that protein structure determination, using only NMR chemical shifts, is becoming increasingly practical and reliable. E-Thrifty is available as a web server at http://ethrifty.ca .

CSI 3.0: a web server for identifying secondary and super-secondary structure in proteins using NMR chemical shifts.

Science.gov (United States)

Hafsa, Noor E; Arndt, David; Wishart, David S

2015-07-01

The Chemical Shift Index or CSI 3.0 (http://csi3.wishartlab.com) is a web server designed to accurately identify the location of secondary and super-secondary structures in protein chains using only nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) backbone chemical shifts and their corresponding protein sequence data. Unlike earlier versions of CSI, which only identified three types of secondary structure (helix, β-strand and coil), CSI 3.0 now identifies total of 11 types of secondary and super-secondary structures, including helices, β-strands, coil regions, five common β-turns (type I, II, I', II' and VIII), β hairpins as well as interior and edge β-strands. CSI 3.0 accepts experimental NMR chemical shift data in multiple formats (NMR Star 2.1, NMR Star 3.1 and SHIFTY) and generates colorful CSI plots (bar graphs) and secondary/super-secondary structure assignments. The output can be readily used as constraints for structure determination and refinement or the images may be used for presentations and publications. CSI 3.0 uses a pipeline of several well-tested, previously published programs to identify the secondary and super-secondary structures in protein chains. Comparisons with secondary and super-secondary structure assignments made via standard coordinate analysis programs such as DSSP, STRIDE and VADAR on high-resolution protein structures solved by X-ray and NMR show >90% agreement between those made with CSI 3.0. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Practical use of chemical shift databases for protein solid-state NMR: 2D chemical shift maps and amino-acid assignment with secondary-structure information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fritzsching, K. J.; Yang, Y.; Schmidt-Rohr, K.; Hong Mei

2013-01-01

We introduce a Python-based program that utilizes the large database of 13 C and 15 N chemical shifts in the Biological Magnetic Resonance Bank to rapidly predict the amino acid type and secondary structure from correlated chemical shifts. The program, called PACSYlite Unified Query (PLUQ), is designed to help assign peaks obtained from 2D 13 C– 13 C, 15 N– 13 C, or 3D 15 N– 13 C– 13 C magic-angle-spinning correlation spectra. We show secondary-structure specific 2D 13 C– 13 C correlation maps of all twenty amino acids, constructed from a chemical shift database of 262,209 residues. The maps reveal interesting conformation-dependent chemical shift distributions and facilitate searching of correlation peaks during amino-acid type assignment. Based on these correlations, PLUQ outputs the most likely amino acid types and the associated secondary structures from inputs of experimental chemical shifts. We test the assignment accuracy using four high-quality protein structures. Based on only the Cα and Cβ chemical shifts, the highest-ranked PLUQ assignments were 40–60 % correct in both the amino-acid type and the secondary structure. For three input chemical shifts (CO–Cα–Cβ or N–Cα–Cβ), the first-ranked assignments were correct for 60 % of the residues, while within the top three predictions, the correct assignments were found for 80 % of the residues. PLUQ and the chemical shift maps are expected to be useful at the first stage of sequential assignment, for combination with automated sequential assignment programs, and for highly disordered proteins for which secondary structure analysis is the main goal of structure determination.

Practical use of chemical shift databases for protein solid-state NMR: 2D chemical shift maps and amino-acid assignment with secondary-structure information

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fritzsching, K. J.; Yang, Y.; Schmidt-Rohr, K.; Hong Mei, E-mail: mhong@iastate.edu [Iowa State University, Department of Chemistry (United States)

2013-06-15

We introduce a Python-based program that utilizes the large database of {sup 13}C and {sup 15}N chemical shifts in the Biological Magnetic Resonance Bank to rapidly predict the amino acid type and secondary structure from correlated chemical shifts. The program, called PACSYlite Unified Query (PLUQ), is designed to help assign peaks obtained from 2D {sup 13}C-{sup 13}C, {sup 15}N-{sup 13}C, or 3D {sup 15}N-{sup 13}C-{sup 13}C magic-angle-spinning correlation spectra. We show secondary-structure specific 2D {sup 13}C-{sup 13}C correlation maps of all twenty amino acids, constructed from a chemical shift database of 262,209 residues. The maps reveal interesting conformation-dependent chemical shift distributions and facilitate searching of correlation peaks during amino-acid type assignment. Based on these correlations, PLUQ outputs the most likely amino acid types and the associated secondary structures from inputs of experimental chemical shifts. We test the assignment accuracy using four high-quality protein structures. Based on only the C{alpha} and C{beta} chemical shifts, the highest-ranked PLUQ assignments were 40-60 % correct in both the amino-acid type and the secondary structure. For three input chemical shifts (CO-C{alpha}-C{beta} or N-C{alpha}-C{beta}), the first-ranked assignments were correct for 60 % of the residues, while within the top three predictions, the correct assignments were found for 80 % of the residues. PLUQ and the chemical shift maps are expected to be useful at the first stage of sequential assignment, for combination with automated sequential assignment programs, and for highly disordered proteins for which secondary structure analysis is the main goal of structure determination.

Unraveling the meaning of chemical shifts in protein NMR.

Science.gov (United States)

Berjanskii, Mark V; Wishart, David S

2017-11-01

Chemical shifts are among the most informative parameters in protein NMR. They provide wealth of information about protein secondary and tertiary structure, protein flexibility, and protein-ligand binding. In this report, we review the progress in interpreting and utilizing protein chemical shifts that has occurred over the past 25years, with a particular focus on the large body of work arising from our group and other Canadian NMR laboratories. More specifically, this review focuses on describing, assessing, and providing some historical context for various chemical shift-based methods to: (1) determine protein secondary and super-secondary structure; (2) derive protein torsion angles; (3) assess protein flexibility; (4) predict residue accessible surface area; (5) refine 3D protein structures; (6) determine 3D protein structures and (7) characterize intrinsically disordered proteins. This review also briefly covers some of the methods that we previously developed to predict chemical shifts from 3D protein structures and/or protein sequence data. It is hoped that this review will help to increase awareness of the considerable utility of NMR chemical shifts in structural biology and facilitate more widespread adoption of chemical-shift based methods by the NMR spectroscopists, structural biologists, protein biophysicists, and biochemists worldwide. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Biophysics in Canada, edited by Lewis Kay, John Baenziger, Albert Berghuis and Peter Tieleman. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluating amber force fields using computed NMR chemical shifts.

Science.gov (United States)

Koes, David R; Vries, John K

2017-10-01

NMR chemical shifts can be computed from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using a template matching approach and a library of conformers containing chemical shifts generated from ab initio quantum calculations. This approach has potential utility for evaluating the force fields that underlie these simulations. Imperfections in force fields generate flawed atomic coordinates. Chemical shifts obtained from flawed coordinates have errors that can be traced back to these imperfections. We use this approach to evaluate a series of AMBER force fields that have been refined over the course of two decades (ff94, ff96, ff99SB, ff14SB, ff14ipq, and ff15ipq). For each force field a series of MD simulations are carried out for eight model proteins. The calculated chemical shifts for the 1 H, 15 N, and 13 C a atoms are compared with experimental values. Initial evaluations are based on root mean squared (RMS) errors at the protein level. These results are further refined based on secondary structure and the types of atoms involved in nonbonded interactions. The best chemical shift for identifying force field differences is the shift associated with peptide protons. Examination of the model proteins on a residue by residue basis reveals that force field performance is highly dependent on residue position. Examination of the time course of nonbonded interactions at these sites provides explanations for chemical shift differences at the atomic coordinate level. Results show that the newer ff14ipq and ff15ipq force fields developed with the implicitly polarized charge method perform better than the older force fields. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

1H, 13C and 15N chemical shift assignments of the thioredoxin from the obligate anaerobe Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough.

Science.gov (United States)

Garcin, Edwige B; Bornet, Olivier; Pieulle, Laetitia; Guerlesquin, Françoise; Sebban-Kreuzer, Corinne

2011-10-01

Thioredoxins are ubiquitous key antioxidant enzymes which play an essential role in cell defense against oxidative stress. They maintain the redox homeostasis owing to the regulation of thiol-disulfide exchange. In the present paper, we report the full resonance assignments of (1)H, (13)C and (15)N atoms for the reduced and oxidized forms of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough thioredoxin 1 (Trx1). 2D and 3D heteronuclear NMR experiments were performed using uniformly (15)N-, (13)C-labelled Trx1. Chemical shifts of 97% of the backbone and 90% of the side chain atoms were obtained for the oxidized and reduced form (BMRB deposits with accession number 17299 and 17300, respectively).

Relative Configuration of Natural Products Using NMR Chemical Shifts

Science.gov (United States)

By comparing calculated with experimental NMR chemical shifts, we were able to determine the relative configurations of three monoterpene diastereomers produced by the walkingstick Anisomorpha buprestoides. The combined RMSDs of both 1H and 13C quantum chemically calculated shifts were able to predi...

SimShiftDB; local conformational restraints derived from chemical shift similarity searches on a large synthetic database

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ginzinger, Simon W. [Center of Applied Molecular Engineering, University of Salzburg, Department of Molecular Biology, Division of Bioinformatics (Austria)], E-mail: simon@came.sbg.ac.at; Coles, Murray [Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology, Department of Protein Evolution (Germany)], E-mail: Murray.Coles@tuebingen.mpg.de

2009-03-15

We present SimShiftDB, a new program to extract conformational data from protein chemical shifts using structural alignments. The alignments are obtained in searches of a large database containing 13,000 structures and corresponding back-calculated chemical shifts. SimShiftDB makes use of chemical shift data to provide accurate results even in the case of low sequence similarity, and with even coverage of the conformational search space. We compare SimShiftDB to HHSearch, a state-of-the-art sequence-based search tool, and to TALOS, the current standard tool for the task. We show that for a significant fraction of the predicted similarities, SimShiftDB outperforms the other two methods. Particularly, the high coverage afforded by the larger database often allows predictions to be made for residues not involved in canonical secondary structure, where TALOS predictions are both less frequent and more error prone. Thus SimShiftDB can be seen as a complement to currently available methods.

SimShiftDB; local conformational restraints derived from chemical shift similarity searches on a large synthetic database

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ginzinger, Simon W.; Coles, Murray

2009-01-01

We present SimShiftDB, a new program to extract conformational data from protein chemical shifts using structural alignments. The alignments are obtained in searches of a large database containing 13,000 structures and corresponding back-calculated chemical shifts. SimShiftDB makes use of chemical shift data to provide accurate results even in the case of low sequence similarity, and with even coverage of the conformational search space. We compare SimShiftDB to HHSearch, a state-of-the-art sequence-based search tool, and to TALOS, the current standard tool for the task. We show that for a significant fraction of the predicted similarities, SimShiftDB outperforms the other two methods. Particularly, the high coverage afforded by the larger database often allows predictions to be made for residues not involved in canonical secondary structure, where TALOS predictions are both less frequent and more error prone. Thus SimShiftDB can be seen as a complement to currently available methods

Role of quantitative chemical shift magnetic resonance imaging and chemical shift subtraction technique in discriminating adenomatous from non adenomatous adrenal solid lesions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmed H. Afifi

2017-03-01

Conclusion: The signal intensity index and adrenal to spleen ratio are the most reliable quantitative chemical shift MRI methods in differentiation of adrenal adenomas from other non-adenomatous adrenal solid lesions. Chemical shift subtraction MRI is a recent technique that gives highly confident discrimination between two categories of pathology without using of any reference organ.

A robust algorithm for optimizing protein structures with NMR chemical shifts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berjanskii, Mark; Arndt, David; Liang, Yongjie; Wishart, David S., E-mail: david.wishart@ualberta.ca [University of Alberta, Department of Computing Science (Canada)

2015-11-15

Over the past decade, a number of methods have been developed to determine the approximate structure of proteins using minimal NMR experimental information such as chemical shifts alone, sparse NOEs alone or a combination of comparative modeling data and chemical shifts. However, there have been relatively few methods that allow these approximate models to be substantively refined or improved using the available NMR chemical shift data. Here, we present a novel method, called Chemical Shift driven Genetic Algorithm for biased Molecular Dynamics (CS-GAMDy), for the robust optimization of protein structures using experimental NMR chemical shifts. The method incorporates knowledge-based scoring functions and structural information derived from NMR chemical shifts via a unique combination of multi-objective MD biasing, a genetic algorithm, and the widely used XPLOR molecular modelling language. Using this approach, we demonstrate that CS-GAMDy is able to refine and/or fold models that are as much as 10 Å (RMSD) away from the correct structure using only NMR chemical shift data. CS-GAMDy is also able to refine of a wide range of approximate or mildly erroneous protein structures to more closely match the known/correct structure and the known/correct chemical shifts. We believe CS-GAMDy will allow protein models generated by sparse restraint or chemical-shift-only methods to achieve sufficiently high quality to be considered fully refined and “PDB worthy”. The CS-GAMDy algorithm is explained in detail and its performance is compared over a range of refinement scenarios with several commonly used protein structure refinement protocols. The program has been designed to be easily installed and easily used and is available at http://www.gamdy.ca http://www.gamdy.ca.

The PROSECCO server for chemical shift predictions in ordered and disordered proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanz-Hernández, Máximo; De Simone, Alfonso

2017-11-01

The chemical shifts measured in solution-state and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are powerful probes of the structure and dynamics of protein molecules. The exploitation of chemical shifts requires methods to correlate these data with the protein structures and sequences. We present here an approach to calculate accurate chemical shifts in both ordered and disordered proteins using exclusively the information contained in their sequences. Our sequence-based approach, protein sequences and chemical shift correlations (PROSECCO), achieves the accuracy of the most advanced structure-based methods in the characterization of chemical shifts of folded proteins and improves the state of the art in the study of disordered proteins. Our analyses revealed fundamental insights on the structural information carried by NMR chemical shifts of structured and unstructured protein states.

Chemical Shift Imaging (CSI) by precise object displacement

OpenAIRE

Leclerc, Sebastien; Trausch, Gregory; Cordier, Benoit; Grandclaude, Denis; Retournard, Alain; Fraissard, Jacques; Canet, Daniel

2006-01-01

International audience; A mechanical device (NMR lift) has been built for displacing vertically an object (typically a NMR sample tube) inside the NMR probe with an accuracy of 1 Μm. A series of single pulse experiments are performed for incremented vertical positions of the sample. With a sufficiently spatially selective rf field, one obtains chemical shift information along the displacement direction (one dimensional Chemical Shift Imaging – CSI). Knowing the vertical radio-frequency (rf) f...

PASA - A Program for Automated Protein NMR Backbone Signal Assignment by Pattern-Filtering Approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Yizhuang; Wang Xiaoxia; Yang Jun; Vaynberg, Julia; Qin Jun

2006-01-01

We present a new program, PASA (Program for Automated Sequential Assignment), for assigning protein backbone resonances based on multidimensional heteronuclear NMR data. Distinct from existing programs, PASA emphasizes a per-residue-based pattern-filtering approach during the initial stage of the automated 13 C α and/or 13 C β chemical shift matching. The pattern filter employs one or multiple constraints such as 13 C α /C β chemical shift ranges for different amino acid types and side-chain spin systems, which helps to rule out, in a stepwise fashion, improbable assignments as resulted from resonance degeneracy or missing signals. Such stepwise filtering approach substantially minimizes early false linkage problems that often propagate, amplify, and ultimately cause complication or combinatorial explosion of the automation process. Our program (http://www.lerner.ccf.org/moleccard/qin/) was tested on four representative small-large sized proteins with various degrees of resonance degeneracy and missing signals, and we show that PASA achieved the assignments efficiently and rapidly that are fully consistent with those obtained by laborious manual protocols. The results demonstrate that PASA may be a valuable tool for NMR-based structural analyses, genomics, and proteomics

Chemical shifts of oxygen-17 NMR in polyoxotungstates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kazanskij, L.P.; Fedotov, M.A.; Spitsyn, V.I.

1977-01-01

17 O NMR spectra of aqueous solutions containing paratungstate BH 2 W 12 O 42 10- and metatungstate H 2 W 12 O 40 6- anions have been measured. On the basis of the obtained data a scale of chemical shifts for oxygen atoms connected by various bonds with tungsten atoms is suggested. The obtained data are compared with the Raman spectra of crystalline salts and their aqueous solutions. Chemical shifts of 17 O NMR spectra have been also measured in other heteropolyanions

Correlation of chemical shifts predicted by molecular dynamics simulations for partially disordered proteins

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karp, Jerome M.; Erylimaz, Ertan; Cowburn, David, E-mail: cowburn@cowburnlab.org, E-mail: David.cowburn@einstein.yu.edu [Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Department of Biochemistry (United States)

2015-01-15

There has been a longstanding interest in being able to accurately predict NMR chemical shifts from structural data. Recent studies have focused on using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation data as input for improved prediction. Here we examine the accuracy of chemical shift prediction for intein systems, which have regions of intrinsic disorder. We find that using MD simulation data as input for chemical shift prediction does not consistently improve prediction accuracy over use of a static X-ray crystal structure. This appears to result from the complex conformational ensemble of the disordered protein segments. We show that using accelerated molecular dynamics (aMD) simulations improves chemical shift prediction, suggesting that methods which better sample the conformational ensemble like aMD are more appropriate tools for use in chemical shift prediction for proteins with disordered regions. Moreover, our study suggests that data accurately reflecting protein dynamics must be used as input for chemical shift prediction in order to correctly predict chemical shifts in systems with disorder.

Some fractal properties of the percolating backbone in two dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laidlaw, D.; MacKay, G.; Jan, N.

1987-01-01

A new algorithm is presented, based on elements of artificial intelligence theory, to determine the fractal properties of the backbone of the incipient infinite cluster. It is found that fractal dimensionality of the backbone is d/sub f//sup BB/ = 1.61 +/- 0.01, the chemical dimensionality is d/sub t/ = 1.40 +/- 0.01, and the fractal dimension of the minimum path d/sub min/ = 1.15 +/- 0.02 for the two-dimensional triangular lattice

Nucleic acid helix structure determination from NMR proton chemical shifts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Werf, Ramon M. van der; Tessari, Marco; Wijmenga, Sybren S., E-mail: S.Wijmenga@science.ru.nl [Radboud University Nijmegen, Department of Biophysical Chemistry, Institute of Molecules and Materials (Netherlands)

2013-06-15

We present a method for de novo derivation of the three-dimensional helix structure of nucleic acids using non-exchangeable proton chemical shifts as sole source of experimental restraints. The method is called chemical shift de novo structure derivation protocol employing singular value decomposition (CHEOPS) and uses iterative singular value decomposition to optimize the structure in helix parameter space. The correct performance of CHEOPS and its range of application are established via an extensive set of structure derivations using either simulated or experimental chemical shifts as input. The simulated input data are used to assess in a defined manner the effect of errors or limitations in the input data on the derived structures. We find that the RNA helix parameters can be determined with high accuracy. We finally demonstrate via three deposited RNA structures that experimental proton chemical shifts suffice to derive RNA helix structures with high precision and accuracy. CHEOPS provides, subject to further development, new directions for high-resolution NMR structure determination of nucleic acids.

Accessible surface area from NMR chemical shifts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hafsa, Noor E.; Arndt, David; Wishart, David S., E-mail: david.wishart@ualberta.ca [University of Alberta, Department of Computing Science (Canada)

2015-07-15

Accessible surface area (ASA) is the surface area of an atom, amino acid or biomolecule that is exposed to solvent. The calculation of a molecule’s ASA requires three-dimensional coordinate data and the use of a “rolling ball” algorithm to both define and calculate the ASA. For polymers such as proteins, the ASA for individual amino acids is closely related to the hydrophobicity of the amino acid as well as its local secondary and tertiary structure. For proteins, ASA is a structural descriptor that can often be as informative as secondary structure. Consequently there has been considerable effort over the past two decades to try to predict ASA from protein sequence data and to use ASA information (derived from chemical modification studies) as a structure constraint. Recently it has become evident that protein chemical shifts are also sensitive to ASA. Given the potential utility of ASA estimates as structural constraints for NMR we decided to explore this relationship further. Using machine learning techniques (specifically a boosted tree regression model) we developed an algorithm called “ShiftASA” that combines chemical-shift and sequence derived features to accurately estimate per-residue fractional ASA values of water-soluble proteins. This method showed a correlation coefficient between predicted and experimental values of 0.79 when evaluated on a set of 65 independent test proteins, which was an 8.2 % improvement over the next best performing (sequence-only) method. On a separate test set of 92 proteins, ShiftASA reported a mean correlation coefficient of 0.82, which was 12.3 % better than the next best performing method. ShiftASA is available as a web server ( http://shiftasa.wishartlab.com http://shiftasa.wishartlab.com ) for submitting input queries for fractional ASA calculation.

Direct observation of backbone planarization via side-chain alignment in single bulky-substituted polythiophenes

Science.gov (United States)

Raithel, Dominic; Simine, Lena; Pickel, Sebastian; Schötz, Konstantin; Panzer, Fabian; Baderschneider, Sebastian; Schiefer, Daniel; Lohwasser, Ruth; Köhler, Jürgen; Thelakkat, Mukundan; Sommer, Michael; Köhler, Anna; Rossky, Peter J.; Hildner, Richard

2018-03-01

The backbone conformation of conjugated polymers affects, to a large extent, their optical and electronic properties. The usually flexible substituents provide solubility and influence the packing behavior of conjugated polymers in films or in bad solvents. However, the role of the side chains in determining and potentially controlling the backbone conformation, and thus the optical and electronic properties on the single polymer level, is currently under debate. Here, we investigate directly the impact of the side chains by studying the bulky-substituted poly(3-(2,5-dioctylphenyl)thiophene) (PDOPT) and the common poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), both with a defined molecular weight and high regioregularity, using low-temperature single-chain photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and quantum-classical simulations. Surprisingly, the optical transition energy of PDOPT is significantly (˜2,000 cm‑1 or 0.25 eV) red-shifted relative to P3HT despite a higher static and dynamic disorder in the former. We ascribe this red shift to a side-chain induced backbone planarization in PDOPT, supported by temperature-dependent ensemble PL spectroscopy. Our atomistic simulations reveal that the bulkier 2,5-dioctylphenyl side chains of PDOPT adopt a clear secondary helical structural motif and thus protect conjugation, i.e., enforce backbone planarity, whereas, for P3HT, this is not the case. These different degrees of planarity in both thiophenes do not result in different conjugation lengths, which we found to be similar. It is rather the stronger electronic coupling between the repeating units in the more planar PDOPT which gives rise to the observed spectral red shift as well as to a reduced calculated electron‑hole polarization.

Protein Structure Determination Using Chemical Shifts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Anders Steen

is determined using only chemical shifts recorded and assigned through automated processes. The CARMSD to the experimental X-ray for this structure is 1.1. Å. Additionally, the method is combined with very sparse NOE-restraints and evolutionary distance restraints and tested on several protein structures >100...

Deuterium isotope shifts for backbone {sup 1}H, {sup 15}N and {sup 13}C nuclei in intrinsically disordered protein {alpha}-synuclein

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maltsev, Alexander S.; Ying Jinfa; Bax, Ad, E-mail: bax@nih.gov [National Institutes of Health, Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (United States)

2012-10-15

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are abundant in nature and characterization of their potential structural propensities remains a widely pursued but challenging task. Analysis of NMR secondary chemical shifts plays an important role in such studies, but the output of such analyses depends on the accuracy of reference random coil chemical shifts. Although uniform perdeuteration of IDPs can dramatically increase spectral resolution, a feature particularly important for the poorly dispersed IDP spectra, the impact of deuterium isotope shifts on random coil values has not yet been fully characterized. Very precise {sup 2}H isotope shift measurements for {sup 13}C{sup {alpha}}, {sup 13}C{sup {beta}}, {sup 13}C Prime , {sup 15}N, and {sup 1}H{sup N} have been obtained by using a mixed sample of protonated and uniformly perdeuterated {alpha}-synuclein, a protein with chemical shifts exceptionally close to random coil values. Decomposition of these isotope shifts into one-bond, two-bond and three-bond effects as well as intra- and sequential residue contributions shows that such an analysis, which ignores conformational dependence, is meaningful but does not fully describe the total isotope shift to within the precision of the measurements. Random coil {sup 2}H isotope shifts provide an important starting point for analysis of such shifts in structural terms in folded proteins, where they are known to depend strongly on local geometry.

Further conventions for NMR shielding and chemical shifts (IUPAC Recommendations 2008)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harris, R.K. [University of Durham, Durham (United Kingdom). Dept. of Chemistry; Becker, E.D. [National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (United States); Menezes, S.M. Cabral de [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Centro de Pesquisas (CENPES); Granger, P. [University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg (France). Inst. of Chemistry; Hoffman, R.E. [The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Safra Campus, Jerusalem (Israel). Dept. of Organic Chemistry; Zilm, K.W., E-mail: r.k.harris@durham.ac.uk [Yale University, New Haven, CT (United States). Dept. of Chemistry

2008-07-01

IUPAC has published a number of recommendations regarding the reporting of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data, especially chemical shifts. The most recent publication [Pure Appl. Chem. 73, 1795 (2001)] recommended that tetramethylsilane (TMS) serve as a universal reference for reporting the shifts of all nuclides, but it deferred recommendations for several aspects of this subject. This document first examines the extent to which the {sup 1}H shielding in TMS itself is subject to change by variation in temperature, concentration, and solvent. On the basis of recently published results, it has been established that the shielding of TMS in solution [along with that of sodium-3- (trimethylsilyl)propanesulfonate, DSS, often used as a reference for aqueous solutions] varies only slightly with temperature but is subject to solvent perturbations of a few tenths of a part per million (ppm). Recommendations are given for reporting chemical shifts under most routine experimental conditions and for quantifying effects of temperature and solvent variation, including the use of magnetic susceptibility corrections and of magic-angle spinning (MAS). This document provides the first IUPAC recommendations for referencing and reporting chemical shifts in solids, based on high-resolution MAS studies. Procedures are given for relating {sup 13}C NMR chemical shifts in solids to the scales used for high resolution studies in the liquid phase. The notation and terminology used for describing chemical shift and shielding tensors in solids are reviewed in some detail, and recommendations are given for best practice. (author)

Further conventions for NMR shielding and chemical shifts (IUPAC Recommendations 2008)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harris, R.K.; Menezes, S.M. Cabral de; Granger, P.; Hoffman, R.E.; Zilm, K.W.

2008-01-01

IUPAC has published a number of recommendations regarding the reporting of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data, especially chemical shifts. The most recent publication [Pure Appl. Chem. 73, 1795 (2001)] recommended that tetramethylsilane (TMS) serve as a universal reference for reporting the shifts of all nuclides, but it deferred recommendations for several aspects of this subject. This document first examines the extent to which the 1 H shielding in TMS itself is subject to change by variation in temperature, concentration, and solvent. On the basis of recently published results, it has been established that the shielding of TMS in solution [along with that of sodium-3- (trimethylsilyl)propanesulfonate, DSS, often used as a reference for aqueous solutions] varies only slightly with temperature but is subject to solvent perturbations of a few tenths of a part per million (ppm). Recommendations are given for reporting chemical shifts under most routine experimental conditions and for quantifying effects of temperature and solvent variation, including the use of magnetic susceptibility corrections and of magic-angle spinning (MAS). This document provides the first IUPAC recommendations for referencing and reporting chemical shifts in solids, based on high-resolution MAS studies. Procedures are given for relating 13 C NMR chemical shifts in solids to the scales used for high resolution studies in the liquid phase. The notation and terminology used for describing chemical shift and shielding tensors in solids are reviewed in some detail, and recommendations are given for best practice. (author)

The direct measurement of the heteronuclear chemical shifts relative to tetramethylsilane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moritz, A.G.

1988-12-01

The measurement of heteronuclear chemical shifts using absolute frequencies of the heteronucleus and the 1 H resonance of tetramethylsilane has been examined. This method avoids the problems associated with external standards and gives results which can be obtained quickly and with high precision. The method has a number of advantages in the accurate measurement of chemical shifts, as for example 31 P in chemical warfare agents and related chemicals and allows multinuclear data to be obtained without dynamic range or potential interference problems. 15 refs., 4 tabs

NMR chemical shifts in amino acids: Effects of environments, electric field, and amine group rotation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoon, Young-Gui; Pfrommer, Bernd G.; Louie, Steven G.; Canning, Andrew

2002-01-01

The authors present calculations of NMR chemical shifts in crystalline phases of some representative amino acids such as glycine, alanine, and alanyl-alanine. To get an insight on how different environments affect the chemical shifts, they study the transition from the crystalline phase to completely isolated molecules of glycine. In the crystalline limit, the shifts are dominated by intermolecular hydrogen-bonds. In the molecular limit, however, dipole electric field effects dominate the behavior of the chemical shifts. They show that it is necessary to average the chemical shifts in glycine over geometries. Tensor components are analyzed to get the angle dependent proton chemical shifts, which is a more refined characterization method

Orientation-dependent backbone-only residue pair scoring functions for fixed backbone protein design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bordner Andrew J

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Empirical scoring functions have proven useful in protein structure modeling. Most such scoring functions depend on protein side chain conformations. However, backbone-only scoring functions do not require computationally intensive structure optimization and so are well suited to protein design, which requires fast score evaluation. Furthermore, scoring functions that account for the distinctive relative position and orientation preferences of residue pairs are expected to be more accurate than those that depend only on the separation distance. Results Residue pair scoring functions for fixed backbone protein design were derived using only backbone geometry. Unlike previous studies that used spherical harmonics to fit 2D angular distributions, Gaussian Mixture Models were used to fit the full 3D (position only and 6D (position and orientation distributions of residue pairs. The performance of the 1D (residue separation only, 3D, and 6D scoring functions were compared by their ability to identify correct threading solutions for a non-redundant benchmark set of protein backbone structures. The threading accuracy was found to steadily increase with increasing dimension, with the 6D scoring function achieving the highest accuracy. Furthermore, the 3D and 6D scoring functions were shown to outperform side chain-dependent empirical potentials from three other studies. Next, two computational methods that take advantage of the speed and pairwise form of these new backbone-only scoring functions were investigated. The first is a procedure that exploits available sequence data by averaging scores over threading solutions for homologs. This was evaluated by applying it to the challenging problem of identifying interacting transmembrane alpha-helices and found to further improve prediction accuracy. The second is a protein design method for determining the optimal sequence for a backbone structure by applying Belief Propagation

Temperature dependence of 1H NMR chemical shifts and its influence on estimated metabolite concentrations.

Science.gov (United States)

Wermter, Felizitas C; Mitschke, Nico; Bock, Christian; Dreher, Wolfgang

2017-12-01

Temperature dependent chemical shifts of important brain metabolites measured by localised 1 H MRS were investigated to test how the use of incorrect prior knowledge on chemical shifts impairs the quantification of metabolite concentrations. Phantom measurements on solutions containing 11 metabolites were performed on a 7 T scanner between 1 and 43 °C. The temperature dependence of the chemical shift differences was fitted by a linear model. Spectra were simulated for different temperatures and analysed by the AQSES program (jMRUI 5.2) using model functions with chemical shift values for 37 °C. Large differences in the temperature dependence of the chemical shift differences were determined with a maximum slope of about ±7.5 × 10 -4  ppm/K. For 32-40 °C, only minor quantification errors resulted from using incorrect chemical shifts, with the exception of Cr and PCr. For 1-10 °C considerable quantification errors occurred if the temperature dependence of the chemical shifts was neglected. If 1 H MRS measurements are not performed at 37 °C, for which the published chemical shift values have been determined, the temperature dependence of chemical shifts should be considered to avoid systematic quantification errors, particularly for measurements on animal models at lower temperatures.

Theoretical Study of the NMR Chemical Shift of Xe in Supercritical Condition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lacerda Junior, Evanildo Gomes; Sauer, Stephan P. A.; Mikkelsen, Kurt Valentin

2018-01-01

In this work we investigate the level of theory necessary for reproducing the non-linear variation of the 129Xe nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shift with the density of Xe in supercritical conditions. In detail we study how the 129Xe chemical shift depends under these conditions...... on electron correlation, relativistic and many-body effects. The latter are included using a sequential-QM/MM methodology, in which a classical MD simulation is performed first and the chemical shift is then obtained as an average of quantum calculations of 250 MD snapshots conformations carried out for Xen...... this approach we obtain very good agreement with the experimental data, showing that the chemical shift of 129Xe in supercritical conditions is very well described by cluster calculations at the HF level, with small contributions from relativistic and electron correlation effects....

29Si NMR Chemical Shift Calculation for Silicate Species by Gaussian Software

Science.gov (United States)

Azizi, S. N.; Rostami, A. A.; Godarzian, A.

2005-05-01

Hartree-Fock self-consistent-field (HF-SCF) theory and the Gauge-including atomic orbital (GIAO) methods are used in the calculation of 29Si NMR chemical shifts for ABOUT 90 units of 19 compounds of various silicate species of precursors for zeolites. Calculations have been performed at geometries optimized at the AM1 semi-empirical method. The GIAO-HF-SCF calculations were carried out with using three different basis sets: 6-31G*, 6-31+G** and 6-311+G(2d,p). To demonstrate the quality of the calculations the calculated chemical shifts, δ, were compared with the corresponding experimental values for the compounds in study. The results, especially with 6-31+g** are in excellent agreement with experimental values. The calculated chemical shifts, in practical point of view, appear to be accurate enough to aid in experimental peak assignments. The difference between the experimental and calculated 29Si chemical shift values not only depends on the Qn units but also it seems that basis set effects and the level of theory is more important. For the series of molecules studied here, the standard deviations and mean absolute errors for 29Si chemical shifts relative to TMS determined using Hartree--Fock 6-31+G** basis is nearly in all cases smaller than the errors for shifts determined using HF/6-311+G(2d,p).

Proton chemical shift tensors determined by 3D ultrafast MAS double-quantum NMR spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Rongchun; Mroue, Kamal H.; Ramamoorthy, Ayyalusamy

2015-01-01

Proton NMR spectroscopy in the solid state has recently attracted much attention owing to the significant enhancement in spectral resolution afforded by the remarkable advances in ultrafast magic angle spinning (MAS) capabilities. In particular, proton chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) has become an important tool for obtaining specific insights into inter/intra-molecular hydrogen bonding. However, even at the highest currently feasible spinning frequencies (110–120 kHz), 1 H MAS NMR spectra of rigid solids still suffer from poor resolution and severe peak overlap caused by the strong 1 H– 1 H homonuclear dipolar couplings and narrow 1 H chemical shift (CS) ranges, which render it difficult to determine the CSA of specific proton sites in the standard CSA/single-quantum (SQ) chemical shift correlation experiment. Herein, we propose a three-dimensional (3D) 1 H double-quantum (DQ) chemical shift/CSA/SQ chemical shift correlation experiment to extract the CS tensors of proton sites whose signals are not well resolved along the single-quantum chemical shift dimension. As extracted from the 3D spectrum, the F1/F3 (DQ/SQ) projection provides valuable information about 1 H– 1 H proximities, which might also reveal the hydrogen-bonding connectivities. In addition, the F2/F3 (CSA/SQ) correlation spectrum, which is similar to the regular 2D CSA/SQ correlation experiment, yields chemical shift anisotropic line shapes at different isotropic chemical shifts. More importantly, since the F2/F1 (CSA/DQ) spectrum correlates the CSA with the DQ signal induced by two neighboring proton sites, the CSA spectrum sliced at a specific DQ chemical shift position contains the CSA information of two neighboring spins indicated by the DQ chemical shift. If these two spins have different CS tensors, both tensors can be extracted by numerical fitting. We believe that this robust and elegant single-channel proton-based 3D experiment provides useful atomistic-level structural and dynamical

Testing Backbone.js

CERN Document Server

Roemer, Ryan

2013-01-01

This book is packed with the step by step tutorial and instructions in recipe format helping you setup test infrastructure and gradually advance your skills to plan, develop, and test your backbone applications.If you are a JavaScript developer looking for recipes to create and implement test support for your backbone application, then this book is ideal for you.

Resolution of NMR chemical shift images into real and imaginary components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamamoto, E.; Kohno, H.

1986-01-01

Fast chemical shift imaging of two-line materials is described using a modified spin-echo sequence. The method resolves the two chemical shift images into real and imaginary components representing the reconstructed image. The measuring time is reduced to half of that for the conventional method proposed by Dixon et al, and quantitative evaluation of the images becomes possible. Reference material with a single resonant line is used to eliminate the phase error caused by static field inhomogeneity and the inherent apparatus offset phase. Experiments are conducted using acetone and benzene with a medium-bore superconductive magnet operating at 0.5T. From these experiments, two chemical shift images are obtained. These images are then superimposed to produce a conventional density image. (author)

Random coil chemical shifts in acidic 8 M urea: Implementation of random coil shift data in NMRView

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schwarzinger, Stephan; Kroon, Gerard J.A.; Foss, Ted R.; Wright, Peter E.; Dyson, H. Jane

2000-01-01

Studies of proteins unfolded in acid or chemical denaturant can help in unraveling events during the earliest phases of protein folding. In order for meaningful comparisons to be made of residual structure in unfolded states, it is necessary to use random coil chemical shifts that are valid for the experimental system under study. We present a set of random coil chemical shifts obtained for model peptides under experimental conditions used in studies of denatured proteins. This new set, together with previously published data sets, has been incorporated into a software interface for NMRView, allowing selection of the random coil data set that fits the experimental conditions best

1990s: High Capacity Backbones

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

First page Back Continue Last page Overview Graphics. 1990s: High Capacity Backbones. Backbone capacities increased from 2.5 Gb/s to 100s of Gb/s during the 1990's. Wavelength division multiplexing with 160 waves of 10 Gb/s was commercially available. Several high-capacity backbones built in the US and Europe.

Prediction of proton chemical shifts in RNA - Their use in structure refinement and validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cromsigt, Jenny A.M.T.C.; Hilbers, Cees W.; Wijmenga, Sybren S.

2001-01-01

An analysis is presented of experimental versus calculated chemical shifts of the non-exchangeable protons for 28 RNA structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank, covering a wide range of structural building blocks. We have used existing models for ring-current and magnetic-anisotropy contributions to calculate the proton chemical shifts from the structures. Two different parameter sets were tried: (i) parameters derived by Ribas-Prado and Giessner-Prettre (GP set) [(1981) J. Mol. Struct.,76, 81-92.]; (ii) parameters derived by Case [(1995) J. Biomol. NMR, 6, 341-346]. Both sets lead to similar results. The detailed analysis was carried using the GP set. The root-mean-square-deviation between the predicted and observed chemical shifts of the complete database is 0.16 ppm with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.79. For protons in the usually well-defined A-helix environment these numbers are, 0.08 ppm and 0.96, respectively. As a result of this good correspondence, a reliable analysis could be made of the structural dependencies of the 1 H chemical shifts revealing their physical origin. For example, a down-field shift of either H2' or H3' or both indicates a high-syn/syn χ-angle. In an A-helix it is essentially the 5'-neighbor that affects the chemical shifts of H5, H6 and H8 protons. The H5, H6 and H8 resonances can therefore be assigned in an A-helix on the basis of their observed chemical shifts. In general, the chemical shifts were found to be quite sensitive to structural changes. We therefore propose that a comparison between calculated and observed 1 H chemical shifts is a good tool for validation and refinement of structures derived from NOEs and J-couplings

A procedure to validate and correct the {sup 13}C chemical shift calibration of RNA datasets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aeschbacher, Thomas; Schubert, Mario, E-mail: schubert@mol.biol.ethz.ch; Allain, Frederic H.-T., E-mail: allain@mol.biol.ethz.ch [ETH Zuerich, Institute for Molecular Biology and Biophysics (Switzerland)

2012-02-15

Chemical shifts reflect the structural environment of a certain nucleus and can be used to extract structural and dynamic information. Proper calibration is indispensable to extract such information from chemical shifts. Whereas a variety of procedures exist to verify the chemical shift calibration for proteins, no such procedure is available for RNAs to date. We present here a procedure to analyze and correct the calibration of {sup 13}C NMR data of RNAs. Our procedure uses five {sup 13}C chemical shifts as a reference, each of them found in a narrow shift range in most datasets deposited in the Biological Magnetic Resonance Bank. In 49 datasets we could evaluate the {sup 13}C calibration and detect errors or inconsistencies in RNA {sup 13}C chemical shifts based on these chemical shift reference values. More than half of the datasets (27 out of those 49) were found to be improperly referenced or contained inconsistencies. This large inconsistency rate possibly explains that no clear structure-{sup 13}C chemical shift relationship has emerged for RNA so far. We were able to recalibrate or correct 17 datasets resulting in 39 usable {sup 13}C datasets. 6 new datasets from our lab were used to verify our method increasing the database to 45 usable datasets. We can now search for structure-chemical shift relationships with this improved list of {sup 13}C chemical shift data. This is demonstrated by a clear relationship between ribose {sup 13}C shifts and the sugar pucker, which can be used to predict a C2 Prime - or C3 Prime -endo conformation of the ribose with high accuracy. The improved quality of the chemical shift data allows statistical analysis with the potential to facilitate assignment procedures, and the extraction of restraints for structure calculations of RNA.

Benchmarking quantum mechanical calculations with experimental NMR chemical shifts of 2-HADNT

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yuemin; Junk, Thomas; Liu, Yucheng; Tzeng, Nianfeng; Perkins, Richard

2015-04-01

In this study, both GIAO-DFT and GIAO-MP2 calculations of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra were benchmarked with experimental chemical shifts. The experimental chemical shifts were determined experimentally for carbon-13 (C-13) of seven carbon atoms for the TNT degradation product 2-hydroxylamino-4,6-dinitrotoluene (2-HADNT). Quantum mechanics GIAO calculations were implemented using Becke-3-Lee-Yang-Parr (B3LYP) and other six hybrid DFT methods (Becke-1-Lee-Yang-Parr (B1LYP), Becke-half-and-half-Lee-Yang-Parr (BH and HLYP), Cohen-Handy-3-Lee-Yang-Parr (O3LYP), Coulomb-attenuating-B3LYP (CAM-B3LYP), modified-Perdew-Wang-91-Lee-Yang-Parr (mPW1LYP), and Xu-3-Lee-Yang-Parr (X3LYP)) which use the same correlation functional LYP. Calculation results showed that the GIAO-MP2 method gives the most accurate chemical shift values, and O3LYP method provides the best prediction of chemical shifts among the B3LYP and other five DFT methods. Three types of atomic partial charges, Mulliken (MK), electrostatic potential (ESP), and natural bond orbital (NBO), were also calculated using MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ method. A reasonable correlation was discovered between NBO partial charges and experimental chemical shifts of carbon-13 (C-13).

Relation between chemical shift artifact and infiltration on MR imaging of renal cell carcinoma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshigoe, Fukuo; Makino, Hideki; Yanada, Syuichi; Ohishi, Yukihiko; Mashima, Yasuoki; Yamada, Hideo.

1994-01-01

Retrospective study on the relation between existence of the interruption and disturbance of chemical shift artifact and tumor infiltration at the periphery of the kidney on MR imaging was evaluated in 28 cases with renal cell carcinoma. Judgement was possible in 9 out of the 11 cases with pathological stage below pT2 and 14 cases out of 17 pT3 cases. Judgement was impracticable in 5 cases because the peripheral fat tissue of the kidney was too less to observe chemical shift artifact and the tumor was spreading at the side opposite to the chemical shift artifact. Chemical shift artifact on MRI in this study correlated well with renal tumor infiltration. (author)

Backbone amide linker strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shelton, Anne Pernille Tofteng; Jensen, Knud Jørgen

2013-01-01

In the backbone amide linker (BAL) strategy, the peptide is anchored not at the C-terminus but through a backbone amide, which leaves the C-terminal available for various modifications. This is thus a very general strategy for the introduction of C-terminal modifications. The BAL strategy...

Database proton NMR chemical shifts for RNA signal assignment and validation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barton, Shawn; Heng Xiao [University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (United States); Johnson, Bruce A., E-mail: bruce@onemoonscientific.com [University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (United States); Summers, Michael F., E-mail: summers@hhmi.umbc.edu [University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (United States)

2013-01-15

The Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank contains NMR chemical shift depositions for 132 RNAs and RNA-containing complexes. We have analyzed the {sup 1}H NMR chemical shifts reported for non-exchangeable protons of residues that reside within A-form helical regions of these RNAs. The analysis focused on the central base pair within a stretch of three adjacent base pairs (BP triplets), and included both Watson-Crick (WC; G:C, A:U) and G:U wobble pairs. Chemical shift values were included for all 4{sup 3} possible WC-BP triplets, as well as 137 additional triplets that contain one or more G:U wobbles. Sequence-dependent chemical shift correlations were identified, including correlations involving terminating base pairs within the triplets and canonical and non-canonical structures adjacent to the BP triplets (i.e. bulges, loops, WC and non-WC BPs), despite the fact that the NMR data were obtained under different conditions of pH, buffer, ionic strength, and temperature. A computer program (RNAShifts) was developed that enables convenient comparison of RNA {sup 1}H NMR assignments with database predictions, which should facilitate future signal assignment/validation efforts and enable rapid identification of non-canonical RNA structures and RNA-ligand/protein interaction sites.

/sup 1/H-NMR chemical shift imaging suitable for low field systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamamoto, Etsuji; Onodera, Takashi; Shiono, Hidemi; Kohno, Hideki

1986-12-01

An echo-time encoding proton NMR chemical shift imaging proposed by Dixon is extended to be applicable to low filed systems. The method utilizes the small phase angle between magnetic vectors of water and lipid protons to decrease the signal decays with spin-spin relaxation. The inevitable phase error caused by the static field inhomogeneity is corrected by using phase images of phantom measured under the same conditions as the actual measurements. The experiments were carried out using CuSO/sub 4/ doped water and vegetable oil at 0.5 T. Two chemical shift images could be clearly resolved with only one scan when the field inhomogeneity was larger than the chemical shift difference.

Equilibrium simulations of proteins using molecular fragment replacement and NMR chemical shifts.

Science.gov (United States)

Boomsma, Wouter; Tian, Pengfei; Frellsen, Jes; Ferkinghoff-Borg, Jesper; Hamelryck, Thomas; Lindorff-Larsen, Kresten; Vendruscolo, Michele

2014-09-23

Methods of protein structure determination based on NMR chemical shifts are becoming increasingly common. The most widely used approaches adopt the molecular fragment replacement strategy, in which structural fragments are repeatedly reassembled into different complete conformations in molecular simulations. Although these approaches are effective in generating individual structures consistent with the chemical shift data, they do not enable the sampling of the conformational space of proteins with correct statistical weights. Here, we present a method of molecular fragment replacement that makes it possible to perform equilibrium simulations of proteins, and hence to determine their free energy landscapes. This strategy is based on the encoding of the chemical shift information in a probabilistic model in Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations. First, we demonstrate that with this approach it is possible to fold proteins to their native states starting from extended structures. Second, we show that the method satisfies the detailed balance condition and hence it can be used to carry out an equilibrium sampling from the Boltzmann distribution corresponding to the force field used in the simulations. Third, by comparing the results of simulations carried out with and without chemical shift restraints we describe quantitatively the effects that these restraints have on the free energy landscapes of proteins. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the molecular fragment replacement strategy can be used in combination with chemical shift information to characterize not only the native structures of proteins but also their conformational fluctuations.

Protein Structure Validation and Refinement Using Chemical Shifts Derived from Quantum Mechanics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bratholm, Lars Andersen

to within 3 A. Furthermore, a fast quantum mechanics based chemical shift predictor was developed together with methodology for using chemical shifts in structure simulations. The developed predictor was used for renement of several protein structures and for reducing the computational cost of quantum...... mechanics / molecular mechanics (QM/MM) computations of chemical shieldings. Several improvements to the predictor is ongoing, where among other things, kernel based machine learning techniques have successfully been used to improve the quantum mechanical level of theory used in the predictions....

Effect of backbone structure on charge transport along isolated conjugated polymer chains

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siebbeles, Laurens D.A.; Grozema, Ferdinand C.; Haas, Matthijs P. de; Warman, John M.

2005-01-01

Fast charge transport in conjugated polymers is essential for their application in opto-electronic devices. In the present paper, measurements and theoretical modeling of the mobility of excess charges along isolated chains of conjugated polymers in dilute solution are presented. Charge carriers were produced by irradiation of the polymer solution with 3-MeV electrons from a Van de Graaff accelerator. The mobilities of the charges along the polymer chains were obtained from time-resolved microwave conductivity measurements. The mobilities are strongly dependent on the chemical nature of the polymer backbone. Comparison of the experimental data with results from ab initio quantum mechanical calculations shows that the measured mobilities are strongly limited by torsional disorder, chemical defects and chain ends. Improvement of the structure of polymer backbones is therefore expected to significantly enhance the performance of these materials in 'plastic electronics'

Improving 3D structure prediction from chemical shift data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schot, Gijs van der [Utrecht University, Computational Structural Biology, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research, Faculty of Science-Chemistry (Netherlands); Zhang, Zaiyong [Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Biomolecular NMR and Munich Center for Integrated Protein Science, Department Chemie (Germany); Vernon, Robert [University of Washington, Department of Biochemistry (United States); Shen, Yang [National Institutes of Health, Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (United States); Vranken, Wim F. [VIB, Department of Structural Biology (Belgium); Baker, David [University of Washington, Department of Biochemistry (United States); Bonvin, Alexandre M. J. J., E-mail: a.m.j.j.bonvin@uu.nl [Utrecht University, Computational Structural Biology, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research, Faculty of Science-Chemistry (Netherlands); Lange, Oliver F., E-mail: oliver.lange@tum.de [Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Biomolecular NMR and Munich Center for Integrated Protein Science, Department Chemie (Germany)

2013-09-15

We report advances in the calculation of protein structures from chemical shift nuclear magnetic resonance data alone. Our previously developed method, CS-Rosetta, assembles structures from a library of short protein fragments picked from a large library of protein structures using chemical shifts and sequence information. Here we demonstrate that combination of a new and improved fragment picker and the iterative sampling algorithm RASREC yield significant improvements in convergence and accuracy. Moreover, we introduce improved criteria for assessing the accuracy of the models produced by the method. The method was tested on 39 proteins in the 50-100 residue size range and yields reliable structures in 70 % of the cases. All structures that passed the reliability filter were accurate (<2 A RMSD from the reference)

Chemical Mass Shifts in a Digital Linear Ion Trap as Analytical Identity of o-, m-, and p-Xylene

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Lulu; Xue, Bing; Huang, Zhengxu; Cheng, Ping; Ma, Li; Ding, Li; Zhou, Zhen

2018-04-01

Chemical mass shifts between isomeric ions of o-, m-, and p-xylene were measured using a digital linear ion trap, and the directions and values of the shifts were found to be correlated to the collision cross sections of the isomers. Both forward and reverse scans were used and the chemical shifts for each pair of isomers in scans of opposite directions were in opposite signs. Using different voltage settings (namely the voltage dividing ratio-VDR) of the ion trap allows adding high order field components in the quadrupole field and results in larger chemical mass shifts. The differential chemical mass shift which combined the shifts from forward and reverse scans doubled the amount of chemical shift, e.g., 0.077 Th between o- and p-xylene, enough for identification of the type of isomer without using an additional ion mobility spectrometer. The feature of equal and opposite chemical mass shifts also allowed to null out the chemical mass shift by calculating the mean m/z value between the two opposite scans and remove or reduce the mass error caused by chemical mass shift. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Chemical Mass Shifts in a Digital Linear Ion Trap as Analytical Identity of o-, m-, and p-Xylene.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Lulu; Xue, Bing; Huang, Zhengxu; Cheng, Ping; Ma, Li; Ding, Li; Zhou, Zhen

2018-07-01

Chemical mass shifts between isomeric ions of o-, m-, and p-xylene were measured using a digital linear ion trap, and the directions and values of the shifts were found to be correlated to the collision cross sections of the isomers. Both forward and reverse scans were used and the chemical shifts for each pair of isomers in scans of opposite directions were in opposite signs. Using different voltage settings (namely the voltage dividing ratio-VDR) of the ion trap allows adding high order field components in the quadrupole field and results in larger chemical mass shifts. The differential chemical mass shift which combined the shifts from forward and reverse scans doubled the amount of chemical shift, e.g., 0.077 Th between o- and p-xylene, enough for identification of the type of isomer without using an additional ion mobility spectrometer. The feature of equal and opposite chemical mass shifts also allowed to null out the chemical mass shift by calculating the mean m/z value between the two opposite scans and remove or reduce the mass error caused by chemical mass shift. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

Effects of Protein-pheromone Complexation on Correlated Chemical Shift Modulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perazzolo, Chiara; Wist, Julien; Loth, Karine; Poggi, Luisa; Homans, Steve; Bodenhausen, Geoffrey

2005-01-01

Major urinary protein (MUP) is a pheromone-carrying protein of the lipocalin family. Previous studies by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) show that the affinity of MUP for the pheromone 2-methoxy-3-isobutylpyrazine (IBMP) is mainly driven by enthalpy, with a small unfavourable entropic contribution. Entropic terms can be attributed in part to changes in internal motions of the protein upon binding. Slow internal motions can lead to correlated or anti-correlated modulations of the isotropic chemical shifts of carbonyl C' and amide N nuclei. Correlated chemical shift modulations (CSM/CSM) in MUP have been determined by measuring differences of the transverse relaxation rates of zero- and double-quantum coherences ZQC{C'N} and DQC{C'N}, and by accounting for the effects of correlated fluctuations of dipole-dipole couplings (DD/DD) and chemical shift anisotropies (CSA/CSA). The latter can be predicted from tensor parameters of C' and N nuclei that have been determined in earlier work. The effects of complexation on slow time-scale protein dynamics can be determined by comparing the temperature dependence of the relaxation rates of APO-MUP (i.e., without ligand) and HOLO-MUP (i.e., with IBMP as a ligand)

Stereospecific assignment of the asparagine and glutamine sidechain amide protons in proteins from chemical shift analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harsch, Tobias; Schneider, Philipp; Kieninger, Bärbel; Donaubauer, Harald; Kalbitzer, Hans Robert, E-mail: hans-robert.kalbitzer@biologie.uni-regensburg.de [University of Regensburg, Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry and Centre of Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry and Biomedicine (Germany)

2017-02-15

Side chain amide protons of asparagine and glutamine residues in random-coil peptides are characterized by large chemical shift differences and can be stereospecifically assigned on the basis of their chemical shift values only. The bimodal chemical shift distributions stored in the biological magnetic resonance data bank (BMRB) do not allow such an assignment. However, an analysis of the BMRB shows, that a substantial part of all stored stereospecific assignments is not correct. We show here that in most cases stereospecific assignment can also be done for folded proteins using an unbiased artificial chemical shift data base (UACSB). For a separation of the chemical shifts of the two amide resonance lines with differences ≥0.40 ppm for asparagine and differences ≥0.42 ppm for glutamine, the downfield shifted resonance lines can be assigned to H{sup δ21} and H{sup ε21}, respectively, at a confidence level >95%. A classifier derived from UASCB can also be used to correct the BMRB data. The program tool AssignmentChecker implemented in AUREMOL calculates the Bayesian probability for a given stereospecific assignment and automatically corrects the assignments for a given list of chemical shifts.

Deuterium isotope effects on 13C chemical shifts of 10-Hydroxybenzo[h]quinolines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Poul Erik; Kamounah, Fadhil S.; Gryko, Daniel T.

2013-01-01

Deuterium isotope effects on 13C-NMR chemical shifts are investigated in a series of 10-hydroxybenzo[h]quinolines (HBQ’s) The OH proton is deuteriated. The isotope effects on 13C chemical shifts in these hydrogen bonded systems are rather unusual. The formal four-bond effects are found to be nega...

Solvent Effects on Oxygen-17 Chemical Shifts in Amides. Quantitative Linear Solvation Shift Relationships

Science.gov (United States)

Díez, Ernesto; Fabián, Jesús San; Gerothanassis, Ioannis P.; Esteban, Angel L.; Abboud, José-Luis M.; Contreras, Ruben H.; de Kowalewski, Dora G.

1997-01-01

A multiple-linear-regression analysis (MLRA) has been carried out using the Kamlet-Abboud-Taft (KAT) solvatochromic parameters in order to elucidate and quantify the solvent effects on the17O chemical shifts ofN-methylformamide (NMF),N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF),N-methylacetamide (NMA), andN,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA). The chemical shifts of the four molecules show the same dependence (in ppm) on the solvent polarity-polarizability, i.e., -22π*. The influence of the solvent hydrogen-bond-donor (HBD) acidities is slightly larger for the acetamides NMA and DMA, i.e., -48α, than for the formamides NMF and DMF, i.e., -42α. The influence of the solvent hydrogen-bond-acceptor (HBA) basicities is negligible for the nonprotic molecules DMF and DMA but significant for the protic molecules NMF and NMA, i.e., -9β. The effect of substituting the N-H hydrogen by a methyl group amounts to -5.9 ppm in NMF and 5.4 ppm in NMA. The effect of substituting the O=C-H hydrogen amounts to 5.5 ppm in NMF and 16.8 ppm in DMF. The model of specific hydration sites of amides by I. P. Gerothanassis and C. Vakka [J. Org. Chem.59,2341 (1994)] is settled in a more quantitative basis and the model by M. I. Burgar, T. E. St. Amour, and D. Fiat [J. Phys. Chem.85,502 (1981)] is critically evaluated.17O hydration shifts have been calculated for formamide (FOR) by the ab initio LORG method at the 6-31G* level. For a formamide surrounded by the four in-plane molecules of water in the first hydration shell, the calculated17O shift change due to the four hydrogen bonds, -83.2 ppm, is smaller than the empirical hydration shift, -100 ppm. The17O shift change from each out-of-plane water molecule hydrogen-bonded to the amide oxygen is -18.0 ppm. These LORG results support the conclusion that no more than four water molecules are hydrogen-bonded to the amide oxygen in formamide.

Identify Beta-Hairpin Motifs with Quadratic Discriminant Algorithm Based on the Chemical Shifts.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Feng YongE

Full Text Available Successful prediction of the beta-hairpin motif will be helpful for understanding the of the fold recognition. Some algorithms have been proposed for the prediction of beta-hairpin motifs. However, the parameters used by these methods were primarily based on the amino acid sequences. Here, we proposed a novel model for predicting beta-hairpin structure based on the chemical shift. Firstly, we analyzed the statistical distribution of chemical shifts of six nuclei in not beta-hairpin and beta-hairpin motifs. Secondly, we used these chemical shifts as features combined with three algorithms to predict beta-hairpin structure. Finally, we achieved the best prediction, namely sensitivity of 92%, the specificity of 94% with 0.85 of Mathew's correlation coefficient using quadratic discriminant analysis algorithm, which is clearly superior to the same method for the prediction of beta-hairpin structure from 20 amino acid compositions in the three-fold cross-validation. Our finding showed that the chemical shift is an effective parameter for beta-hairpin prediction, suggesting the quadratic discriminant analysis is a powerful algorithm for the prediction of beta-hairpin.

Quantum Chemical Benchmark Study on 46 RNA Backbone Families Using a Dinucleotide Unit

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kruse, H.; Mládek, Arnošt; Gkionis, Konstantinos; Hansen, A.; Grimme, S.; Šponer, Jiří

2015-01-01

Roč. 11, č. 10 (2015), s. 4972-4991 ISSN 1549-9618 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GBP305/12/G034 Institutional support: RVO:68081707 Keywords : MOLECULAR-DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS * DENSITY-FUNCTIONAL THEORY * SUGAR-PHOSPHATE BACKBONE Subject RIV: BO - Biophysics Impact factor: 5.301, year: 2015

Chemical shift MRI can aid in the diagnosis of indeterminate skeletal lesions of the spine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Douis, H. [University Hospital Birmingham, Department of Radiology, Birmingham (United Kingdom); Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Department of Radiology, Birmingham (United Kingdom); Davies, A.M. [Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Department of Radiology, Birmingham (United Kingdom); Jeys, L. [Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Department of Orthopaedic Oncology, Birmingham (United Kingdom); Sian, P. [Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Department of Spinal Surgery and Spinal Oncology, Birmingham (United Kingdom)

2016-04-15

To evaluate the role of chemical shift MRI in the characterisation of indeterminate skeletal lesions of the spine as benign or malignant. Fifty-five patients (mean age 54.7 years) with 57 indeterminate skeletal lesions of the spine were included in this retrospective study. In addition to conventional MRI at 3 T which included at least sagittal T1WI and T2WI/STIR sequences, patients underwent chemical shift MRI. A cut-off value with a signal drop-out of 20 % was used to differentiate benign lesions from malignant lesions (signal drop-out <20 % being malignant). There were 45 benign lesions and 12 malignant lesions. Chemical shift imaging correctly diagnosed 33 of 45 lesions as benign and 11 of 12 lesions as malignant. In contrast, there were 12 false positive cases and 1 false negative case based on chemical shift MRI. This yielded a sensitivity of 91.7 %, a specificity of 73.3 %, a negative predictive value of 97.1 %, a positive predictive value of 47.8 % and a diagnostic accuracy of 82.5 %. Chemical shift MRI can aid in the characterisation of indeterminate skeletal lesions of the spine in view of its high sensitivity in diagnosing malignant lesions. Chemical shift MRI can potentially avoid biopsy in a considerable percentage of patients with benign skeletal lesions of the spine. (orig.)

Sequence correction of random coil chemical shifts: correlation between neighbor correction factors and changes in the Ramachandran distribution

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærgaard, Magnus; Poulsen, Flemming Martin

2011-01-01

Random coil chemical shifts are necessary for secondary chemical shift analysis, which is the main NMR method for identification of secondary structure in proteins. One of the largest challenges in the determination of random coil chemical shifts is accounting for the effect of neighboring residues....... The contributions from the neighboring residues are typically removed by using neighbor correction factors determined based on each residue's effect on glycine chemical shifts. Due to its unusual conformational freedom, glycine may be particularly unrepresentative for the remaining residue types. In this study, we...... in the conformational ensemble are an important source of neighbor effects in disordered proteins. Glutamine derived random coil chemical shifts and correction factors modestly improve our ability to predict (13)C chemical shifts of intrinsically disordered proteins compared to existing datasets, and may thus improve...

Effects of Protein-pheromone Complexation on Correlated Chemical Shift Modulations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Perazzolo, Chiara; Wist, Julien [Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Institut des Sciences et Ingenierie Chimiques (Switzerland); Loth, Karine; Poggi, Luisa [Ecole Normale Superieure, Departement de chimie, associe au CNRS (France); Homans, Steve [University of Leeds, School of Biochemistry and Microbiology (United Kingdom); Bodenhausen, Geoffrey [Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Institut des Sciences et Ingenierie Chimiques (Switzerland)], E-mail: Geoffrey.Bodenhausen@ens.fr

2005-12-15

Major urinary protein (MUP) is a pheromone-carrying protein of the lipocalin family. Previous studies by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) show that the affinity of MUP for the pheromone 2-methoxy-3-isobutylpyrazine (IBMP) is mainly driven by enthalpy, with a small unfavourable entropic contribution. Entropic terms can be attributed in part to changes in internal motions of the protein upon binding. Slow internal motions can lead to correlated or anti-correlated modulations of the isotropic chemical shifts of carbonyl C' and amide N nuclei. Correlated chemical shift modulations (CSM/CSM) in MUP have been determined by measuring differences of the transverse relaxation rates of zero- and double-quantum coherences ZQC{l_brace}C'N{r_brace} and DQC{l_brace}C'N{r_brace}, and by accounting for the effects of correlated fluctuations of dipole-dipole couplings (DD/DD) and chemical shift anisotropies (CSA/CSA). The latter can be predicted from tensor parameters of C' and N nuclei that have been determined in earlier work. The effects of complexation on slow time-scale protein dynamics can be determined by comparing the temperature dependence of the relaxation rates of APO-MUP (i.e., without ligand) and HOLO-MUP (i.e., with IBMP as a ligand)

Conformationally selective multidimensional chemical shift ranges in proteins from a PACSY database purged using intrinsic quality criteria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fritzsching, Keith J.; Hong, Mei; Schmidt-Rohr, Klaus

2016-01-01

We have determined refined multidimensional chemical shift ranges for intra-residue correlations ( 13 C– 13 C, 15 N– 13 C, etc.) in proteins, which can be used to gain type-assignment and/or secondary-structure information from experimental NMR spectra. The chemical-shift ranges are the result of a statistical analysis of the PACSY database of >3000 proteins with 3D structures (1,200,207 13 C chemical shifts and >3 million chemical shifts in total); these data were originally derived from the Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank. Using relatively simple non-parametric statistics to find peak maxima in the distributions of helix, sheet, coil and turn chemical shifts, and without the use of limited “hand-picked” data sets, we show that ∼94 % of the 13 C NMR data and almost all 15 N data are quite accurately referenced and assigned, with smaller standard deviations (0.2 and 0.8 ppm, respectively) than recognized previously. On the other hand, approximately 6 % of the 13 C chemical shift data in the PACSY database are shown to be clearly misreferenced, mostly by ca. −2.4 ppm. The removal of the misreferenced data and other outliers by this purging by intrinsic quality criteria (PIQC) allows for reliable identification of secondary maxima in the two-dimensional chemical-shift distributions already pre-separated by secondary structure. We demonstrate that some of these correspond to specific regions in the Ramachandran plot, including left-handed helix dihedral angles, reflect unusual hydrogen bonding, or are due to the influence of a following proline residue. With appropriate smoothing, significantly more tightly defined chemical shift ranges are obtained for each amino acid type in the different secondary structures. These chemical shift ranges, which may be defined at any statistical threshold, can be used for amino-acid type assignment and secondary-structure analysis of chemical shifts from intra-residue cross peaks by inspection or by using a

Conformationally selective multidimensional chemical shift ranges in proteins from a PACSY database purged using intrinsic quality criteria

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fritzsching, Keith J., E-mail: kfritzsc@brandeis.edu [Brandeis University, Department of Chemistry (United States); Hong, Mei [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry (United States); Schmidt-Rohr, Klaus, E-mail: srohr@brandeis.edu [Brandeis University, Department of Chemistry (United States)

2016-02-15

We have determined refined multidimensional chemical shift ranges for intra-residue correlations ({sup 13}C–{sup 13}C, {sup 15}N–{sup 13}C, etc.) in proteins, which can be used to gain type-assignment and/or secondary-structure information from experimental NMR spectra. The chemical-shift ranges are the result of a statistical analysis of the PACSY database of >3000 proteins with 3D structures (1,200,207 {sup 13}C chemical shifts and >3 million chemical shifts in total); these data were originally derived from the Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank. Using relatively simple non-parametric statistics to find peak maxima in the distributions of helix, sheet, coil and turn chemical shifts, and without the use of limited “hand-picked” data sets, we show that ∼94 % of the {sup 13}C NMR data and almost all {sup 15}N data are quite accurately referenced and assigned, with smaller standard deviations (0.2 and 0.8 ppm, respectively) than recognized previously. On the other hand, approximately 6 % of the {sup 13}C chemical shift data in the PACSY database are shown to be clearly misreferenced, mostly by ca. −2.4 ppm. The removal of the misreferenced data and other outliers by this purging by intrinsic quality criteria (PIQC) allows for reliable identification of secondary maxima in the two-dimensional chemical-shift distributions already pre-separated by secondary structure. We demonstrate that some of these correspond to specific regions in the Ramachandran plot, including left-handed helix dihedral angles, reflect unusual hydrogen bonding, or are due to the influence of a following proline residue. With appropriate smoothing, significantly more tightly defined chemical shift ranges are obtained for each amino acid type in the different secondary structures. These chemical shift ranges, which may be defined at any statistical threshold, can be used for amino-acid type assignment and secondary-structure analysis of chemical shifts from intra

DFT/GIAO calculations of the relative contributions of hyperconjugation to the chemical shifts of ethanol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carneiro, J. Walkimar de M.; Dias, Jacques F.; Seidl, Peter R.; Tostes, J. Glauco R.

2002-01-01

Our previous DFT/GIAO calculations on different types of alcohols reveal that the rotation of the hydroxyl group can affect the chemical shift of carbons and hydrogens close to the substituent in different ways. Besides the steric and electrostatic effects that have been widely studied, hyperconjugation with the lone pairs on oxygen of the hydroxyl group leads to changes in bond lengths and angles as well as to different charge distributions. As all three of these factors also affect chemical shifts, we undertook a systematic investigation of their relative contributions to the chemical shifts of ethanol, a molecule in which there is minimum interference among these factors. Calculations by the B3LYP method at the 6-31G(d) level for ethanol conformers corresponding to a rotation around the carbon-oxygen bond at 30 dec increments are used to show how relative contributions vary with the dihedral angle formed between the carbon-carbon and oxygen-hydrogen bonds (C-C-O-H). Largest contributions to carbon chemical shifts can be attributed to changes in bond lengths while for hydrogen chemical shifts also contribute significantly differences in charge distribution. (author)

Anisotropy of the fluorine chemical shift tensor in UF6

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rigny, P.

1965-04-01

An 19 F magnetic resonance study of polycrystalline UF 6 is presented. The low temperature complex line can be analyzed as the superposition of two distinct lines, which is attributed to a distortion of the UF 6 octahedron in the solid. The shape of the two components is studied. Their width is much larger than the theoretical dipolar width, and must be explained by large anisotropies of the fluorine chemical shift tensors. The resulting shape functions of the powder spectra are determined. The values of the parameters of the chemical shift tensors yield estimates of the characters of the U-F bonds, and this gives some information on the ground state electronic wave function of the UF 6 molecule in the solid. (author) [fr

Prediction of hydrogen and carbon chemical shifts from RNA using database mining and support vector regression

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brown, Joshua D.; Summers, Michael F. [University of Maryland Baltimore County, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (United States); Johnson, Bruce A., E-mail: bruce.johnson@asrc.cuny.edu [University of Maryland Baltimore County, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (United States)

2015-09-15

The Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank (BMRB) contains NMR chemical shift depositions for over 200 RNAs and RNA-containing complexes. We have analyzed the {sup 1}H NMR and {sup 13}C chemical shifts reported for non-exchangeable protons of 187 of these RNAs. Software was developed that downloads BMRB datasets and corresponding PDB structure files, and then generates residue-specific attributes based on the calculated secondary structure. Attributes represent properties present in each sequential stretch of five adjacent residues and include variables such as nucleotide type, base-pair presence and type, and tetraloop types. Attributes and {sup 1}H and {sup 13}C NMR chemical shifts of the central nucleotide are then used as input to train a predictive model using support vector regression. These models can then be used to predict shifts for new sequences. The new software tools, available as stand-alone scripts or integrated into the NMR visualization and analysis program NMRViewJ, should facilitate NMR assignment and/or validation of RNA {sup 1}H and {sup 13}C chemical shifts. In addition, our findings enabled the re-calibration a ring-current shift model using published NMR chemical shifts and high-resolution X-ray structural data as guides.

Sequential backbone assignment based on dipolar amide-to-amide correlation experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xiang, ShengQi; Grohe, Kristof; Rovó, Petra; Vasa, Suresh Kumar; Giller, Karin; Becker, Stefan; Linser, Rasmus, E-mail: rali@nmr.mpibpc.mpg.de [Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Department for NMR-Based Structural Biology (Germany)

2015-07-15

Proton detection in solid-state NMR has seen a tremendous increase in popularity in the last years. New experimental techniques allow to exploit protons as an additional source of information on structure, dynamics, and protein interactions with their surroundings. In addition, sensitivity is mostly improved and ambiguity in assignment experiments reduced. We show here that, in the solid state, sequential amide-to-amide correlations turn out to be an excellent, complementary way to exploit amide shifts for unambiguous backbone assignment. For a general assessment, we compare amide-to-amide experiments with the more common {sup 13}C-shift-based methods. Exploiting efficient CP magnetization transfers rather than less efficient INEPT periods, our results suggest that the approach is very feasible for solid-state NMR.

Sequential backbone assignment based on dipolar amide-to-amide correlation experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiang, ShengQi; Grohe, Kristof; Rovó, Petra; Vasa, Suresh Kumar; Giller, Karin; Becker, Stefan; Linser, Rasmus

2015-01-01

Proton detection in solid-state NMR has seen a tremendous increase in popularity in the last years. New experimental techniques allow to exploit protons as an additional source of information on structure, dynamics, and protein interactions with their surroundings. In addition, sensitivity is mostly improved and ambiguity in assignment experiments reduced. We show here that, in the solid state, sequential amide-to-amide correlations turn out to be an excellent, complementary way to exploit amide shifts for unambiguous backbone assignment. For a general assessment, we compare amide-to-amide experiments with the more common 13 C-shift-based methods. Exploiting efficient CP magnetization transfers rather than less efficient INEPT periods, our results suggest that the approach is very feasible for solid-state NMR

Skeletal and chlorine effects on 13C-NMR chemical shifts of chlorinated polycyclic systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Costa V.E.U.

1999-01-01

Full Text Available In order to establish a comparative analysis of chemical shifts caused by ring compression effects or by the presence of a chlorine atom on strained chlorinated carbons, a series of the chlorinated and dechlorinated polycyclic structures derived from "aldrin" (5 and "isodrin" (14 was studied. Compounds were classified in four different groups, according to their conformation and number of ring such as: endo-exo and endo-endo tetracyclics, pentacyclics and hexacyclics. The 13C chemical shift comparison between the chlorinated and dechlorinated compounds showed that when C-9 and C-10 are olefinic carbons, it occurs a shielding of 0.5-2.4 ppm for endo-endo tetracyclics and of 4.7-7.6 ppm for endo-exo tetracyclic. The chemical shift variation for C-11 reaches 49-53 ppm for endo-exo and endo-endo tetracyclics, 54 ppm for pentacyclic and 56-59 ppm for hexacyclic compounds. From these data, it was possible to observe the influence of ring compression on the chemical shifts.

Cyclohexanecarbonitriles: Assigning Configurations at Quaternary Centers From 13C NMR CN Chemical Shifts.1

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Guoqing

2009-01-01

13C NMR chemical shifts of the nitrile carbon in cyclohexanecarbonitriles directly correlate with the configuration of the quaternary, nitrile-bearing stereocenter. Comparing 13C NMR chemical shifts for over 200 cyclohexanecarbonitriles reveals that equatorially oriented nitriles resonate 3.3 ppm downfield, on average, from their axial counterparts. Pairs of axial/equatorial diastereomers varying only at the nitrile-bearing carbon consistently exhibit downfield shifts of δ 0.4–7.2 for the equatorial nitrile carbon, even in angularly substituted decalins and hydrindanes. PMID:19348434

Mechanism of interaction of the antileukemic drug cytosine arabinoside with aromatic peptides: role of sugar conformation and peptide backbone.

Science.gov (United States)

Datta, G; Hosur, R V; Verma, N C; Khetrapal, C L; Gurnani, S

1989-01-01

Interaction of the antileukemic drugs, cytosine-arabinoside (Ara-C) and adenosine-arabinoside (Ara-A) and a structural analogue, cytidine, with aromatic dipeptides has been studied by fluorescence and NMR spectroscopy. Ara-C and cytidine bind tryptophanyl and histidyl dipeptides but not tyrosyl dipeptides, while Ara-A does not bind to any of them. Both studies indicate association involving stacking of aromatic moieties. NMR spectra also indicate a protonation of the histidine moiety by Ara-C. In case of cytidine, the chemical shifts observed on binding to His-Phe imply that the backbone protons of the dipeptide participate in the binding. The conformation of the sugar and the base seem to play a very important role in the binding phenomenon as three similar molecules, Ara-C, Ara-A and cytidine bind in totally different ways.

A new strategy for backbone resonance assignment in large proteins using a MQ-HACACO experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pervushin, Konstantin; Eletsky, Alexander

2003-01-01

A new strategy of backbone resonance assignment is proposed based on a combination of the most sensitive TROSY-type triple resonance experiments such as TROSY-HNCA and TROSY-HNCO with a new 3D multiple-quantum HACACO experiment. The favourable relaxation properties of the multiple-quantum coherences and signal detection using the 13 C' antiphase coherences optimize the performance of the proposed experiment for application to larger proteins. In addition to the 1 H N , 15 N, 13 C α and 13 C' chemical shifts the 3D multiple-quantum HACACO experiment provides assignment for the 1 H α resonances in contrast to previously proposed experiments for large proteins. The strategy is demonstrated with the 44 kDa uniformly 15 N, 13 C-labeled and fractionally 35% deuterated trimeric B. subtilis Chorismate Mutase measured at 20 deg. C and 9 deg. C. Measurements at the lower temperature indicate that the new strategy can be applied to even larger proteins with molecular weights up to 80 kDa

1H NMR spectra part 31: 1H chemical shifts of amides in DMSO solvent.

Science.gov (United States)

Abraham, Raymond J; Griffiths, Lee; Perez, Manuel

2014-07-01

The (1)H chemical shifts of 48 amides in DMSO solvent are assigned and presented. The solvent shifts Δδ (DMSO-CDCl3 ) are large (1-2 ppm) for the NH protons but smaller and negative (-0.1 to -0.2 ppm) for close range protons. A selection of the observed solvent shifts is compared with calculated shifts from the present model and from GIAO calculations. Those for the NH protons agree with both calculations, but other solvent shifts such as Δδ(CHO) are not well reproduced by the GIAO calculations. The (1)H chemical shifts of the amides in DMSO were analysed using a functional approach for near ( ≤ 3 bonds removed) protons and the electric field, magnetic anisotropy and steric effect of the amide group for more distant protons. The chemical shifts of the NH protons of acetanilide and benzamide vary linearly with the π density on the αN and βC atoms, respectively. The C=O anisotropy and steric effect are in general little changed from the values in CDCl3. The effects of substituents F, Cl, Me on the NH proton shifts are reproduced. The electric field coefficient for the protons in DMSO is 90% of that in CDCl3. There is no steric effect of the C=O oxygen on the NH proton in an NH…O=C hydrogen bond. The observed deshielding is due to the electric field effect. The calculated chemical shifts agree well with the observed shifts (RMS error of 0.106 ppm for the data set of 257 entries). Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Characterization of the conformational equilibrium between the two major substates of RNase A using NMR chemical shifts.

Science.gov (United States)

Camilloni, Carlo; Robustelli, Paul; De Simone, Alfonso; Cavalli, Andrea; Vendruscolo, Michele

2012-03-07

Following the recognition that NMR chemical shifts can be used for protein structure determination, rapid advances have recently been made in methods for extending this strategy for proteins and protein complexes of increasing size and complexity. A remaining major challenge is to develop approaches to exploit the information contained in the chemical shifts about conformational fluctuations in native states of proteins. In this work we show that it is possible to determine an ensemble of conformations representing the free energy surface of RNase A using chemical shifts as replica-averaged restraints in molecular dynamics simulations. Analysis of this surface indicates that chemical shifts can be used to characterize the conformational equilibrium between the two major substates of this protein. © 2012 American Chemical Society

Backbone upgrades and DEC equipment replacement

Science.gov (United States)

Vancamp, Warren

1991-01-01

The NASA Science Internet (NSI) dual protocol backbone is outlined. It includes DECnet link upgrades to match TCP/IP link performance. It also includes the integration of backbone resources and central management. The phase 1 transition process is outlined.

Isotope effects on chemical shifts in tautomeric systems with double proton transfer. Citronin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hansen, P.E.; Langgard, M.; Bolvig, S.

1998-01-01

Primary and secondary deuterium isotope effects on 1 H and 13 C chemical shifts are measured in citrinin, a tautomeric compound with an unusual doubly intramolecularly hydrogen bonded structure. The isotope effects are to a large extent dominated by equilibrium contributions and deuteration leads to more of the deuterated enol forms rather than the deuterated acid form. 1 H 13 C and 17 O nuclear shieldings are calculated using density functional ab initio methods. A very good correlation between calculated nuclear shieldings and experimental 1 H and 13 C chemical shifts is obtained. The tautomeric equilibrium can be analyzed based on the isotope effects on B-6 and C-8 carbons and shows an increase in the o-quinone form on lowering the temperature. Furthermore, upon deuteration the largest equilibrium shift is found for deuteration at OH-8 and the shift in the tautomeric equilibrium upon deuteration at OH-8 and the shift in the tautomeric equilibrium upon deuteration is increasing at lower temperature. (author)

The interplay between transient a-helix formation and side chain rotamer distributions in disordered proteins probed by methyl chemical shifts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærgaard, Magnus; Iesmantavicius, Vytautas; Poulsen, Flemming M

2011-01-01

and retinoid receptors (ACTR). We find that small differences in the methyl carbon chemical shifts due to the ¿-gauche effect may provide information about the side chain rotamer distributions. However, the effects of neighboring residues on the methyl group chemical shifts obscure the direct observation...... of ¿-gauche effect. To overcome this, we reference the chemical shifts to those in a more disordered state resulting in residue specific random coil chemical shifts. The (13)C secondary chemical shifts of the methyl groups of valine, leucine, and isoleucine show sequence specific effects, which allow...

What can we learn by computing 13Cα chemical shifts for X-ray protein models?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arnautova, Yelena A.; Vila, Jorge A.; Martin, Osvaldo A.; Scheraga, Harold A.

2009-01-01

The room-temperature X-ray structures of two proteins, solved at 1.8 and 1.9 Å resolution, are used to investigate whether a set of conformations, rather than a single X-ray structure, provides better agreement with both the X-ray data and the observed 13 C α chemical shifts in solution. The room-temperature X-ray structures of ubiquitin and of the RNA-binding domain of nonstructural protein 1 of influenza A virus solved at 1.8 and 1.9 Å resolution, respectively, were used to investigate whether a set of conformations rather than a single X-ray structure provides better agreement with both the X-ray data and the observed 13 C α chemical shifts in solution. For this purpose, a set of new conformations for each of these proteins was generated by fitting them to the experimental X-ray data deposited in the PDB. For each of the generated structures, which show R and R free factors similar to those of the deposited X-ray structure, the 13 C α chemical shifts of all residues in the sequence were computed at the DFT level of theory. The sets of conformations were then evaluated by their ability to reproduce the observed 13 C α chemical shifts by using the conformational average root-mean-square-deviation (ca-r.m.s.d.). For ubiquitin, the computed set of conformations is a better representation of the observed 13 C α chemical shifts in terms of the ca-r.m.s.d. than a single X-ray-derived structure. However, for the RNA-binding domain of nonstructural protein 1 of influenza A virus, consideration of an ensemble of conformations does not improve the agreement with the observed 13 C α chemical shifts. Whether an ensemble of conformations rather than any single structure is a more accurate representation of a protein structure in the crystal as well as of the observed 13 C α chemical shifts is determined by the dispersion of coordinates, in terms of the all-atom r.m.s.d. among the generated models; these generated models satisfy the experimental X-ray data with

Conformational analysis of the chemical shifts for molecules containing diastereotopic methylene protons

Science.gov (United States)

Borowski, Piotr

2012-01-01

Quantum chemistry SCF/GIAO calculations were carried out on a set of compounds containing diastereotopic protons. Five molecules, including recently synthesized 1,3-di(2,3-epoxypropoxy)benzene, containing the chiral or pro-chiral center and the neighboring methylene group, were chosen. The rotational averages (i.e. normalized averages with respect to the rotation about the torsional angle τ with the exponential energy weight at temperature T) calculated individually for each of the methylene protons in 1,3-di(2,3-epoxypropoxy)benzene differ by ca. 0.6 ppm, which is significantly less than the value calculated for the lowest energy conformer. This value turned out to be low enough to guarantee the proper ordering of theoretical chemical shifts, supporting the interpretation of the 1H NMR spectrum of this important compound. The rotational averages of chemical shifts for methylene protons for a given type of conformer are shown to be essentially equal to the Boltzmann averages (here, the population-weighted averages for the individual conformers representing minima on the E( τ) cross-section). The calculated Boltzmann averages in the representative conformational space may exhibit completely different ordering as compared to the chemical shifts calculated for the lowest-energy conformer. This is especially true in the case of molecules, for which no significant steric effects are present. In this case, only Boltzmann averages account for the experimental pattern of proton signals. In addition, better overall agreement with experiment (lower value of the root-mean-square deviation between calculated and measured chemical shifts) is typically obtained when Boltzmann averages are used.

Impact of Backbone Fluorination on π-Conjugated Polymers in Organic Photovoltaic Devices: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicolas Leclerc

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Solution-processed bulk heterojunction solar cells have experienced a remarkable acceleration in performances in the last two decades, reaching power conversion efficiencies above 10%. This impressive progress is the outcome of a simultaneous development of more advanced device architectures and of optimized semiconducting polymers. Several chemical approaches have been developed to fine-tune the optoelectronics and structural polymer parameters required to reach high efficiencies. Fluorination of the conjugated polymer backbone has appeared recently to be an especially promising approach for the development of efficient semiconducting polymers. As a matter of fact, most currently best-performing semiconducting polymers are using fluorine atoms in their conjugated backbone. In this review, we attempt to give an up-to-date overview of the latest results achieved on fluorinated polymers for solar cells and to highlight general polymer properties’ evolution trends related to the fluorination of their conjugated backbone.

High Performance Infiltrated Backbones for Cathode-Supported SOFC's

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gil, Vanesa; Kammer Hansen, Kent

2014-01-01

The concept of using highly ionic conducting backbones with subsequent infiltration of electronically conducting particles has widely been used to develop alternative anode-supported SOFC's. In this work, the idea was to develop infiltrated backbones as an alternative design based on cathode......, microstructural characterization and electrochemical testing are discussed. Data on polarization resistance, Rp, are obtained from impedance spectra recorded on quasi-symmetrical cells (YSZ backbones/YSZ/LSM-YSZ (screen printed)). The backbones are infiltrated with LSM and compared to a standard LSM-YSZ screen...

Protein structure refinement using a quantum mechanics-based chemical shielding predictor.

Science.gov (United States)

Bratholm, Lars A; Jensen, Jan H

2017-03-01

The accurate prediction of protein chemical shifts using a quantum mechanics (QM)-based method has been the subject of intense research for more than 20 years but so far empirical methods for chemical shift prediction have proven more accurate. In this paper we show that a QM-based predictor of a protein backbone and CB chemical shifts (ProCS15, PeerJ , 2016, 3, e1344) is of comparable accuracy to empirical chemical shift predictors after chemical shift-based structural refinement that removes small structural errors. We present a method by which quantum chemistry based predictions of isotropic chemical shielding values (ProCS15) can be used to refine protein structures using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations, relating the chemical shielding values to the experimental chemical shifts probabilistically. Two kinds of MCMC structural refinement simulations were performed using force field geometry optimized X-ray structures as starting points: simulated annealing of the starting structure and constant temperature MCMC simulation followed by simulated annealing of a representative ensemble structure. Annealing of the CHARMM structure changes the CA-RMSD by an average of 0.4 Å but lowers the chemical shift RMSD by 1.0 and 0.7 ppm for CA and N. Conformational averaging has a relatively small effect (0.1-0.2 ppm) on the overall agreement with carbon chemical shifts but lowers the error for nitrogen chemical shifts by 0.4 ppm. If an amino acid specific offset is included the ProCS15 predicted chemical shifts have RMSD values relative to experiments that are comparable to popular empirical chemical shift predictors. The annealed representative ensemble structures differ in CA-RMSD relative to the initial structures by an average of 2.0 Å, with >2.0 Å difference for six proteins. In four of the cases, the largest structural differences arise in structurally flexible regions of the protein as determined by NMR, and in the remaining two cases, the large structural

Implementation of the NMR CHEmical Shift Covariance Analysis (CHESCA): A Chemical Biologist's Approach to Allostery.

Science.gov (United States)

Boulton, Stephen; Selvaratnam, Rajeevan; Ahmed, Rashik; Melacini, Giuseppe

2018-01-01

Mapping allosteric sites is emerging as one of the central challenges in physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is ideally suited to map allosteric sites, given its ability to sense at atomic resolution the dynamics underlying allostery. Here, we focus specifically on the NMR CHEmical Shift Covariance Analysis (CHESCA), in which allosteric systems are interrogated through a targeted library of perturbations (e.g., mutations and/or analogs of the allosteric effector ligand). The atomic resolution readout for the response to such perturbation library is provided by NMR chemical shifts. These are then subject to statistical correlation and covariance analyses resulting in clusters of allosterically coupled residues that exhibit concerted responses to the common set of perturbations. This chapter provides a description of how each step in the CHESCA is implemented, starting from the selection of the perturbation library and ending with an overview of different clustering options.

Proton chemical shift imaging after myocardial infarction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bouchard, A.; Doyle, M.; Pohost, G.M.

1989-01-01

The present study was undertaken to test whether chemical shift imaging could detect spatially the lipids known to accumulate in myocardium after an ischemic insult. Seven dogs underwent a 24-hour coronary artery occlusion. Hearts were removed and imaged ex vivo by the Dixon method (1.5 T), and myocardial samples were obtained for high-resolution H-1 spectroscopy. Lipid images revealed regions of increased signal intensity in the periphery f the myocardial infarction. The zones of high lipid signal corresponded to zones with elevated mobile lipids as detected by H-1 spectroscopy

4D experiments measured with APSY for automated backbone resonance assignments of large proteins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krähenbühl, Barbara; Boudet, Julien; Wider, Gerhard

2013-01-01

Detailed structural and functional characterization of proteins by solution NMR requires sequence-specific resonance assignment. We present a set of transverse relaxation optimization (TROSY) based four-dimensional automated projection spectroscopy (APSY) experiments which are designed for resonance assignments of proteins with a size up to 40 kDa, namely HNCACO, HNCOCA, HNCACB and HN(CO)CACB. These higher-dimensional experiments include several sensitivity-optimizing features such as multiple quantum parallel evolution in a ‘just-in-time’ manner, aliased off-resonance evolution, evolution-time optimized APSY acquisition, selective water-handling and TROSY. The experiments were acquired within the concept of APSY, but they can also be used within the framework of sparsely sampled experiments. The multidimensional peak lists derived with APSY provided chemical shifts with an approximately 20 times higher precision than conventional methods usually do, and allowed the assignment of 90 % of the backbone resonances of the perdeuterated primase-polymerase ORF904, which contains 331 amino acid residues and has a molecular weight of 38.4 kDa.

Accuracy and precision of protein–ligand interaction kinetics determined from chemical shift titrations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markin, Craig J.; Spyracopoulos, Leo

2012-01-01

NMR-monitored chemical shift titrations for the study of weak protein–ligand interactions represent a rich source of information regarding thermodynamic parameters such as dissociation constants (K D ) in the micro- to millimolar range, populations for the free and ligand-bound states, and the kinetics of interconversion between states, which are typically within the fast exchange regime on the NMR timescale. We recently developed two chemical shift titration methods wherein co-variation of the total protein and ligand concentrations gives increased precision for the K D value of a 1:1 protein–ligand interaction (Markin and Spyracopoulos in J Biomol NMR 53: 125–138, 2012). In this study, we demonstrate that classical line shape analysis applied to a single set of 1 H– 15 N 2D HSQC NMR spectra acquired using precise protein–ligand chemical shift titration methods we developed, produces accurate and precise kinetic parameters such as the off-rate (k off ). For experimentally determined kinetics in the fast exchange regime on the NMR timescale, k off ∼ 3,000 s −1 in this work, the accuracy of classical line shape analysis was determined to be better than 5 % by conducting quantum mechanical NMR simulations of the chemical shift titration methods with the magnetic resonance toolkit GAMMA. Using Monte Carlo simulations, the experimental precision for k off from line shape analysis of NMR spectra was determined to be 13 %, in agreement with the theoretical precision of 12 % from line shape analysis of the GAMMA simulations in the presence of noise and protein concentration errors. In addition, GAMMA simulations were employed to demonstrate that line shape analysis has the potential to provide reasonably accurate and precise k off values over a wide range, from 100 to 15,000 s −1 . The validity of line shape analysis for k off values approaching intermediate exchange (∼100 s −1 ), may be facilitated by more accurate K D measurements from NMR

Accuracy and precision of protein-ligand interaction kinetics determined from chemical shift titrations.

Science.gov (United States)

Markin, Craig J; Spyracopoulos, Leo

2012-12-01

NMR-monitored chemical shift titrations for the study of weak protein-ligand interactions represent a rich source of information regarding thermodynamic parameters such as dissociation constants (K ( D )) in the micro- to millimolar range, populations for the free and ligand-bound states, and the kinetics of interconversion between states, which are typically within the fast exchange regime on the NMR timescale. We recently developed two chemical shift titration methods wherein co-variation of the total protein and ligand concentrations gives increased precision for the K ( D ) value of a 1:1 protein-ligand interaction (Markin and Spyracopoulos in J Biomol NMR 53: 125-138, 2012). In this study, we demonstrate that classical line shape analysis applied to a single set of (1)H-(15)N 2D HSQC NMR spectra acquired using precise protein-ligand chemical shift titration methods we developed, produces accurate and precise kinetic parameters such as the off-rate (k ( off )). For experimentally determined kinetics in the fast exchange regime on the NMR timescale, k ( off ) ~ 3,000 s(-1) in this work, the accuracy of classical line shape analysis was determined to be better than 5 % by conducting quantum mechanical NMR simulations of the chemical shift titration methods with the magnetic resonance toolkit GAMMA. Using Monte Carlo simulations, the experimental precision for k ( off ) from line shape analysis of NMR spectra was determined to be 13 %, in agreement with the theoretical precision of 12 % from line shape analysis of the GAMMA simulations in the presence of noise and protein concentration errors. In addition, GAMMA simulations were employed to demonstrate that line shape analysis has the potential to provide reasonably accurate and precise k ( off ) values over a wide range, from 100 to 15,000 s(-1). The validity of line shape analysis for k ( off ) values approaching intermediate exchange (~100 s(-1)), may be facilitated by more accurate K ( D ) measurements

13C NMR Chemical Shifts of the Triclinic and Monoclinic Crystal forms of Valinomycin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kameda, Tsunenori; McGeorge, Gary; Orendt, Anita M.; Grant, David M.

2004-01-01

Two different crystalline polymorphs of valinomycin, the triclinic and monoclinic forms, have been studied by high resolution, solid state 13 C CP-MAS NMR spectroscopy. Although the two polymorphs of the crystal are remarkably similar, there are distinct differences in the isotropic chemical shifts between the two spectra. For the triclinic form, the carbon chemical shift tensor components for the alpha carbons adjacent to oxygen in the lactic acid and hydroxyisovaleric acid residues and the ester carbonyls of the valine residue were obtained using the FIREMAT experiment. From the measured components, it was found that the behavior of the isotropic chemical shift, δ iso , for valine residue ester carbonyl carbons is predominately influenced by the intermediate component, δ 22 . Additionally it was found that the smallest shift component, δ 33 , for the L-lactic acid (L-Lac) and D-α-hydroxyisovaleric acid (D-Hyi) C α -O carbon was significantly displaced depending upon the nature of individual amino acid residues, and it is the δ 33 component that governs the behavior of δ iso in these alpha carbons

Porous solid backbone impregnation for electrochemical energy conversion systems

KAUST Repository

Boulfrad, Samir; Jabbour, Ghassan

2013-01-01

An apparatus and method for impregnating a porous solid backbone. The apparatus may include a platform for holding a porous solid backbone, an ink jet nozzle configured to dispense a liquid solution onto the porous solid backbone, a positioning mechanism configured to position the ink jet nozzle proximate to a plurality of locations of the porous solid backbone, and a control unit configured to control the positioning mechanism to position the ink jet nozzle proximate to the plurality of locations and cause the ink jet nozzle to dispense the liquid solution onto the porous solid backbone.

Porous solid backbone impregnation for electrochemical energy conversion systems

KAUST Repository

Boulfrad, Samir

2013-09-19

An apparatus and method for impregnating a porous solid backbone. The apparatus may include a platform for holding a porous solid backbone, an ink jet nozzle configured to dispense a liquid solution onto the porous solid backbone, a positioning mechanism configured to position the ink jet nozzle proximate to a plurality of locations of the porous solid backbone, and a control unit configured to control the positioning mechanism to position the ink jet nozzle proximate to the plurality of locations and cause the ink jet nozzle to dispense the liquid solution onto the porous solid backbone.

Chemical shift-based identification of monosaccharide spin-systems with NMR spectroscopy to complement untargeted glycomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Klukowski, Piotr; Schubert, Mario

2018-06-15

A better understanding of oligosaccharides and their wide-ranging functions in almost every aspect of biology and medicine promises to uncover hidden layers of biology and will support the development of better therapies. Elucidating the chemical structure of an unknown oligosaccharide is still a challenge. Efficient tools are required for non-targeted glycomics. Chemical shifts are a rich source of information about the topology and configuration of biomolecules, whose potential is however not fully explored for oligosaccharides. We hypothesize that the chemical shifts of each monosaccharide are unique for each saccharide type with a certain linkage pattern, so that correlated data measured by NMR spectroscopy can be used to identify the chemical nature of a carbohydrate. We present here an efficient search algorithm, GlycoNMRSearch, that matches either a subset or the entire set of chemical shifts of an unidentified monosaccharide spin system to all spin systems in an NMR database. The search output is much more precise than earlier search functions and highly similar matches suggest the chemical structure of the spin system within the oligosaccharide. Thus searching for connected chemical shift correlations within all electronically available NMR data of oligosaccharides is a very efficient way of identifying the chemical structure of unknown oligosaccharides. With an improved database in the future, GlycoNMRSearch will be even more efficient deducing chemical structures of oligosaccharides and there is a high chance that it becomes an indispensable technique for glycomics. The search algorithm presented here, together with a graphical user interface, is available at http://glyconmrsearch.santos.pwr.edu.pl. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Elucidation of the substitution pattern of 9,10-anthraquinones through the chemical shifts of peri-hydroxyl protons

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schripsema, Jan; Danigno, Denise

1996-01-01

In 9,10-anthraquinones the chemical shift of a peri-hydroxyl proton is affected by the substituents in the other benzenoid ring. These effects are additive. They are useful for the determination of substitution patterns and have been used to revise the structures of six previously reported...... anthraquinones containing methoxyl, hydroxyl, methylenedioxy and beta-methyl substituents. Because the chemical shifts of the other protons are hardly affected by substitutions in the other ring, the characteristic chemical shifts for a wide variety of substitution patterns could be derived....

Vanadium NMR Chemical Shifts of (Imido)vanadium(V) Dichloride Complexes with Imidazolin-2-iminato and Imidazolidin-2-iminato Ligands: Cooperation with Quantum-Chemical Calculations and Multiple Linear Regression Analyses.

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Jun; Yang, Wenhong; Sun, Wen-Hua; Nomura, Kotohiro; Hada, Masahiko

2017-11-30

The NMR chemical shifts of vanadium ( 51 V) in (imido)vanadium(V) dichloride complexes with imidazolin-2-iminato and imidazolidin-2-iminato ligands were calculated by the density functional theory (DFT) method with GIAO. The calculated 51 V NMR chemical shifts were analyzed by the multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis (MLRA) method with a series of calculated molecular properties. Some of calculated NMR chemical shifts were incorrect using the optimized molecular geometries of the X-ray structures. After the global minimum geometries of all of the molecules were determined, the trend of the observed chemical shifts was well reproduced by the present DFT method. The MLRA method was performed to investigate the correlation between the 51 V NMR chemical shift and the natural charge, band energy gap, and Wiberg bond index of the V═N bond. The 51 V NMR chemical shifts obtained with the present MLR model were well reproduced with a correlation coefficient of 0.97.

Backbone resonance assignments for G protein α(i3) subunit in the GDP-bound state.

Science.gov (United States)

Mase, Yoko; Yokogawa, Mariko; Osawa, Masanori; Shimada, Ichio

2014-10-01

Guanine-nucleotide binding proteins (G proteins) serve as molecular switches in signaling pathways, by coupling the activation of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) at the cell surface to intracellular responses. In the resting state, G protein forms a heterotrimer, consisting of the G protein α subunit with GDP (Gα·GDP) and the G protein βγ subunit (Gβγ). Ligand binding to GPCRs promotes the GDP-GTP exchange on Gα, leading to the dissociation of the GTP-bound form of Gα (Gα·GTP) and Gβγ. Then, Gα·GTP and Gβγ bind to their downstream effector enzymes or ion channels and regulate their activities, leading to a variety of cellular responses. Finally, Gα hydrolyzes the bound GTP to GDP and returns to the resting state by re-associating with Gβγ. The G proteins are classified with four major families based on the amino acid sequences of Gα: i/o, s, q/11, and 12/13. Here, we established the backbone resonance assignments of human Gαi3, a member of the i/o family with a molecular weight of 41 K, in complex with GDP. The chemical shifts were compared with those of Gα(i3) in complex with a GTP-analogue, GTPγS, which we recently reported, indicating that the residues with significant chemical shift differences are mostly consistent with the regions with the structural differences between the GDP- and GTPγS-bound states, as indicated in the crystal structures. The assignments of Gα(i3)·GDP would be useful for the analyses of the dynamics of Gα(i3) and its interactions with various target molecules.

High-resolution protein design with backbone freedom.

Science.gov (United States)

Harbury, P B; Plecs, J J; Tidor, B; Alber, T; Kim, P S

1998-11-20

Recent advances in computational techniques have allowed the design of precise side-chain packing in proteins with predetermined, naturally occurring backbone structures. Because these methods do not model protein main-chain flexibility, they lack the breadth to explore novel backbone conformations. Here the de novo design of a family of alpha-helical bundle proteins with a right-handed superhelical twist is described. In the design, the overall protein fold was specified by hydrophobic-polar residue patterning, whereas the bundle oligomerization state, detailed main-chain conformation, and interior side-chain rotamers were engineered by computational enumerations of packing in alternate backbone structures. Main-chain flexibility was incorporated through an algebraic parameterization of the backbone. The designed peptides form alpha-helical dimers, trimers, and tetramers in accord with the design goals. The crystal structure of the tetramer matches the designed structure in atomic detail.

Evaluation of the application of chemical shift for the detection of lipid in brain lesion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lim, C.J. [Department of Biomedical Imaging, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); Ng, K.H., E-mail: ngkh@um.edu.m [Department of Biomedical Imaging, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); Ramli, N.; Azman, R.R. [Department of Biomedical Imaging, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

2011-02-15

Non-invasive detection of the presence of lipids is particularly important in staging of intracranial tumours. Presence of lipid peak in aggressive intracranial tumours has been reported widely using MR spectroscopy. However this method has limitation due to long imaging time and artefacts formed by adjacent bones. Chemical shift MR imaging (with has shorter imaging time) is an alternative method that had been used to detect presence of lipid in vivo by means of signal intensity loss. The purpose of this study was to evaluate gradient echo in- and opposed-phase chemical shift pulse sequences for detection of lipid elements in brain lesion. Ten cylindered phantoms measuring 3 x 3 cm were filled with various mixtures of lipid and water: 0-90% lipid, in 10% step by weight. The gradient echo in- and opposed-phase chemical shift sequences were performed using a 1.5 T MRI (Magnetom Vision, Siemens) with a head coil. In addition, we performed MRI and chemical shift studies on 32 patients with brain lesion. We then analysed the association between out of phase intensity value and classification of the lesions. For phantom containing 50% lipid, maximum signal loss on opposed-phase images was observed. There were significant differences between in- and opposed-phase lipid-water phantom images (P = 0.0054). Most of the benign lesions fall into the positive out of phase intensity value, and malignant lesions fall into negative out of phase intensity value. We conclude that chemical shift artefact can be applied in detecting and characterising lipid elements in brain lesion.

Evaluation of the application of chemical shift for the detection of lipid in brain lesion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lim, C.J.; Ng, K.H.; Ramli, N.; Azman, R.R.

2011-01-01

Non-invasive detection of the presence of lipids is particularly important in staging of intracranial tumours. Presence of lipid peak in aggressive intracranial tumours has been reported widely using MR spectroscopy. However this method has limitation due to long imaging time and artefacts formed by adjacent bones. Chemical shift MR imaging (with has shorter imaging time) is an alternative method that had been used to detect presence of lipid in vivo by means of signal intensity loss. The purpose of this study was to evaluate gradient echo in- and opposed-phase chemical shift pulse sequences for detection of lipid elements in brain lesion. Ten cylindered phantoms measuring 3 x 3 cm were filled with various mixtures of lipid and water: 0-90% lipid, in 10% step by weight. The gradient echo in- and opposed-phase chemical shift sequences were performed using a 1.5 T MRI (Magnetom Vision, Siemens) with a head coil. In addition, we performed MRI and chemical shift studies on 32 patients with brain lesion. We then analysed the association between out of phase intensity value and classification of the lesions. For phantom containing 50% lipid, maximum signal loss on opposed-phase images was observed. There were significant differences between in- and opposed-phase lipid-water phantom images (P = 0.0054). Most of the benign lesions fall into the positive out of phase intensity value, and malignant lesions fall into negative out of phase intensity value. We conclude that chemical shift artefact can be applied in detecting and characterising lipid elements in brain lesion.

Optical burst switching based satellite backbone network

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Tingting; Guo, Hongxiang; Wang, Cen; Wu, Jian

2018-02-01

We propose a novel time slot based optical burst switching (OBS) architecture for GEO/LEO based satellite backbone network. This architecture can provide high speed data transmission rate and high switching capacity . Furthermore, we design the control plane of this optical satellite backbone network. The software defined network (SDN) and network slice (NS) technologies are introduced. Under the properly designed control mechanism, this backbone network is flexible to support various services with diverse transmission requirements. Additionally, the LEO access and handoff management in this network is also discussed.

Accuracy and precision of protein-ligand interaction kinetics determined from chemical shift titrations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Markin, Craig J.; Spyracopoulos, Leo, E-mail: leo.spyracopoulos@ualberta.ca [University of Alberta, Department of Biochemistry (Canada)

2012-12-15

NMR-monitored chemical shift titrations for the study of weak protein-ligand interactions represent a rich source of information regarding thermodynamic parameters such as dissociation constants (K{sub D}) in the micro- to millimolar range, populations for the free and ligand-bound states, and the kinetics of interconversion between states, which are typically within the fast exchange regime on the NMR timescale. We recently developed two chemical shift titration methods wherein co-variation of the total protein and ligand concentrations gives increased precision for the K{sub D} value of a 1:1 protein-ligand interaction (Markin and Spyracopoulos in J Biomol NMR 53: 125-138, 2012). In this study, we demonstrate that classical line shape analysis applied to a single set of {sup 1}H-{sup 15}N 2D HSQC NMR spectra acquired using precise protein-ligand chemical shift titration methods we developed, produces accurate and precise kinetic parameters such as the off-rate (k{sub off}). For experimentally determined kinetics in the fast exchange regime on the NMR timescale, k{sub off} {approx} 3,000 s{sup -1} in this work, the accuracy of classical line shape analysis was determined to be better than 5 % by conducting quantum mechanical NMR simulations of the chemical shift titration methods with the magnetic resonance toolkit GAMMA. Using Monte Carlo simulations, the experimental precision for k{sub off} from line shape analysis of NMR spectra was determined to be 13 %, in agreement with the theoretical precision of 12 % from line shape analysis of the GAMMA simulations in the presence of noise and protein concentration errors. In addition, GAMMA simulations were employed to demonstrate that line shape analysis has the potential to provide reasonably accurate and precise k{sub off} values over a wide range, from 100 to 15,000 s{sup -1}. The validity of line shape analysis for k{sub off} values approaching intermediate exchange ({approx}100 s{sup -1}), may be facilitated by

Density functional calculations of backbone 15N shielding tensors in beta-sheet and turn residues of protein G

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai Ling; Kosov, Daniel S.; Fushman, David

2011-01-01

We performed density functional calculations of backbone 15 N shielding tensors in the regions of beta-sheet and turns of protein G. The calculations were carried out for all twenty-four beta-sheet residues and eight beta-turn residues in the protein GB3 and the results were compared with the available experimental data from solid-state and solution NMR measurements. Together with the alpha-helix data, our calculations cover 39 out of the 55 residues (or 71%) in GB3. The applicability of several computational models developed previously (Cai et al. in J Biomol NMR 45:245–253, 2009) to compute 15 N shielding tensors of alpha-helical residues is assessed. We show that the proposed quantum chemical computational model is capable of predicting isotropic 15 N chemical shifts for an entire protein that are in good correlation with experimental data. However, the individual components of the predicted 15 N shielding tensor agree with experiment less well: the computed values show much larger spread than the experimental data, and there is a profound difference in the behavior of the tensor components for alpha-helix/turns and beta-sheet residues. We discuss possible reasons for this.

An extrapolation scheme for solid-state NMR chemical shift calculations

Science.gov (United States)

Nakajima, Takahito

2017-06-01

Conventional quantum chemical and solid-state physical approaches include several problems to accurately calculate solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) properties. We propose a reliable computational scheme for solid-state NMR chemical shifts using an extrapolation scheme that retains the advantages of these approaches but reduces their disadvantages. Our scheme can satisfactorily yield solid-state NMR magnetic shielding constants. The estimated values have only a small dependence on the low-level density functional theory calculation with the extrapolation scheme. Thus, our approach is efficient because the rough calculation can be performed in the extrapolation scheme.

Effect of backbone chemistry on hybridization thermodynamics of oligonucleic acids: a coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghobadi, Ahmadreza F; Jayaraman, Arthi

2016-02-28

In this paper we study how varying oligonucleic acid backbone chemistry affects the hybridization/melting thermodynamics of oligonucleic acids. We first describe the coarse-grained (CG) model with tunable parameters that we developed to enable the study of both naturally occurring oligonucleic acids, such as DNA, and their chemically-modified analogues, such as peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) and locked nucleic acids (LNAs). The DNA melting curves obtained using such a CG model and molecular dynamics simulations in an implicit solvent and with explicit ions match with the melting curves obtained using the empirical nearest-neighbor models. We use these CG simulations to then elucidate the effect of backbone flexibility, charge, and nucleobase spacing along the backbone on the melting curves, potential energy and conformational entropy change upon hybridization and base-pair hydrogen bond residence time. We find that increasing backbone flexibility decreases duplex thermal stability and melting temperature mainly due to increased conformational entropy loss upon hybridization. Removing charges from the backbone enhances duplex thermal stability due to the elimination of electrostatic repulsion and as a result a larger energetic gain upon hybridization. Lastly, increasing nucleobase spacing decreases duplex thermal stability due to decreasing stacking interactions that are important for duplex stability.

Experimental and DFT evaluation of the 1H and 13C NMR chemical shifts for calix[4]arenes

Science.gov (United States)

Guzzo, Rodrigo N.; Rezende, Michelle Jakeline Cunha; Kartnaller, Vinicius; Carneiro, José Walkimar de M.; Stoyanov, Stanislav R.; Costa, Leonardo Moreira da

2018-04-01

The density functional theory is employed to determine the efficiency of 11 exchange-correlation (XC) functionals to compute the 1H and 13C NMR chemical shifts of p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene (ptcx4, R1 = C(CH3)3) and congeners using the 6-31G(d,p) basis set. The statistical analysis shows that B3LYP, B3PW91 and PBE1PBE are the best XC functionals for the calculation of 1H chemical shifts. Moreover, the best results for the 13C chemical shifts are obtained using the LC-WPBE, M06-2X and wB97X-D functionals. The performance of these XC functionals is tested for three other calix[4]arenes: p-sulfonic acid calix[4]arene (sfxcx4 - R1 = SO3H), p-nitro-calix[4]arene (ncx4, R1 = NO2) and calix[4]arene (cx4 - R1 = H). For 1H chemical shifts B3LYP, B3PW91 and PBE1PBE yield similar results, although B3PW91 shows more consistency in the calculated error for the different structures. For 13C NMR chemical shifts, the XC functional that stood out as best is LC-WPBE. Indeed, the three functionals selected for each of 1H and 13C show good accuracy and can be used in future studies involving the prediction of 1H and 13C chemical shifts for this type of compounds.

Investigation of DOTA-Metal Chelation Effects on the Chemical Shift of ¹²⁹ Xe

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeong, K; Slack, CC; Vassiliou, CC; Dao, P; Gomes, MD; Kennedy, DJ; Truxal, AE; Sperling, LJ; Francis, MB; Wemmer, DE; Pines, A

2015-09-17

Recent work has shown that xenon chemical shifts in cryptophane-cage sensors are affected when tethered chelators bind to metals. Here in this paper, we explore the xenon shifts in response to a wide range of metal ions binding to diastereomeric forms of 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid (DOTA) linked to cryptophane-A. The shifts induced by the binding of Ca²⁺, Cu²⁺, Ce³⁺, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, Ni²⁺, Co²⁺, Cr²⁺, Fe³⁺, and Hg²⁺ are distinct. In addition, the different responses of the diastereomers for the same metal ion indicate that shifts are affected by partial folding with a correlation between the expected coordination number of the metal in the DOTA complex and the chemical shift of ¹²⁹Xe. Lastly, these sensors may be used to detect and quantify many important metal ions, and a better understanding of the basis for the induced shifts could enhance future designs.

Pressure-dependent {sup 13}C chemical shifts in proteins: origins and applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wilton, David J. [University of Sheffield, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (United Kingdom); Kitahara, Ryo [Ritsumeikan University, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Japan); Akasaka, Kazuyuki [Kinki University, Department of Biotechnological Science, School of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology (Japan); Williamson, Mike P. [University of Sheffield, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (United Kingdom)], E-mail: m.williamson@sheffield.ac.uk

2009-05-15

Pressure-dependent {sup 13}C chemical shifts have been measured for aliphatic carbons in barnase and Protein G. Up to 200 MPa (2 kbar), most shift changes are linear, demonstrating pressure-independent compressibilities. CH{sub 3}, CH{sub 2} and CH carbon shifts change on average by +0.23, -0.09 and -0.18 ppm, respectively, due to a combination of bond shortening and changes in bond angles, the latter matching one explanation for the {gamma}-gauche effect. In addition, there is a residue-specific component, arising from both local compression and conformational change. To assess the relative magnitudes of these effects, residue-specific shift changes for protein G were converted into structural restraints and used to calculate the change in structure with pressure, using a genetic algorithm to convert shift changes into dihedral angle restraints. The results demonstrate that residual {sup 13}C{alpha} shifts are dominated by dihedral angle changes and can be used to calculate structural change, whereas {sup 13}C{beta} shifts retain significant dependence on local compression, making them less useful as structural restraints.

Transforming plastic surfaces with electrophilic backbones from hydrophobic to hydrophilic.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Samuel; Bowen, Raffick A R; Zare, Richard N

2015-01-28

We demonstrate a simple nonaqueous reaction scheme for transforming the surface of plastics from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. The chemical modification is achieved by base-catalyzed trans-esterification with polyols. It is permanent, does not release contaminants, and causes no optical or mechanical distortion of the plastic. We present contact angle measurements to show successful modification of several types of plastics including poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and polycarbonate (PC). Its applicability to blood analysis is explored using chemically modified PET blood collection tubes and found to be quite satisfactory. We expect this approach will reduce the cost of manufacturing plastic devices with optimized wettability and can be generalized to other types of plastic materials having an electrophilic linkage as its backbone.

Spin-echo based diagonal peak suppression in solid-state MAS NMR homonuclear chemical shift correlation spectra

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Kaiyu; Zhang, Zhiyong; Ding, Xiaoyan; Tian, Fang; Huang, Yuqing; Chen, Zhong; Fu, Riqiang

2018-02-01

The feasibility of using the spin-echo based diagonal peak suppression method in solid-state MAS NMR homonuclear chemical shift correlation experiments is demonstrated. A complete phase cycling is designed in such a way that in the indirect dimension only the spin diffused signals are evolved, while all signals not involved in polarization transfer are refocused for cancellation. A data processing procedure is further introduced to reconstruct this acquired spectrum into a conventional two-dimensional homonuclear chemical shift correlation spectrum. A uniformly 13C, 15N labeled Fmoc-valine sample and the transmembrane domain of a human protein, LR11 (sorLA), in native Escherichia coli membranes have been used to illustrate the capability of the proposed method in comparison with standard 13C-13C chemical shift correlation experiments.

Physical basis of the effect of hemoglobin on the 31P NMR chemical shifts of various phosphoryl compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kirk, K.; Kuchel, P.W.

1988-01-01

The marked difference between the intra- and extracellular 31 P NMR chemical shifts of various phosphoryl compounds when added to a red cell suspension may be largely understood in terms of the effects of hemoglobin on the 31 P NMR chemical shifts. The presence of [oxy- or (carbonmonoxy)-] hemoglobin inside the red cell causes the bulk magnetic susceptibility of the cell cytoplasm to be significantly less than that of the external solution. This difference is sufficient to account for the difference in the intra- and extracellular chemical shifts of the two phosphate esters trimethyl phosphate and triethyl phosphate. However, in the case of the compounds dimethyl methylphosphonate, diethyl methylphosphonate, and trimethylphosphine oxide as well as the hypophosphite, phenylphosphinate, and diphenylphosphinate ions, hemoglobin exerts an additional, much larger, effect, causing the 31 P NMR resonances to shift to lower frequency in a manner that cannot be accounted for in terms of magnetic susceptibility. Lysozyme is a protein structurally unrelated to hemoglobin and was shown to cause similar shifts to lower frequency of the resonances of these six compounds; this suggests that the mechanism may involve a property of proteins in general and not a specific property of hemoglobin. The effect of different solvents on the chemical shifts of the eight phosphoryl compounds provided an insight into the possible physical basis of the effect. It is proposed that, in addition to magnetic susceptibility effects, hemoglobin exerts its influence on phosphoryl chemical shifts by disrupting the hydrogen bonding of the phosphoryl group to solvent water

High Performance Infiltrated Backbones for Cathode-Supported SOFC's

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gil, Vanesa; Kammer Hansen, Kent

2014-01-01

A four-step infiltration method has been developed to infiltrate La0.75Sr0.25MnO3+δ (LSM25) nanoparticles into porous structures (YSZ or LSM-YSZ backbones). The pore size distribution in the backbones is obtained either by using PMMA and/or graphites as pore formers or by leaching treatment of sa...... of samples with Ni remained in the YSZ structure at high temperatures. All impregnated backbones, presented Rs comparable to a standard screen printed cathode, which proves that LSM nanoparticles forms a pathway for electron conduction....

Radiation safety system (RSS) backbones: Design, engineering, fabrication and installation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilmarth, J.E.; Sturrock, J.C.; Gallegos, F.R.

1998-01-01

The Radiation Safety System (RSS) Backbones are part of an electrical/electronic/mechanical system insuring safe access and exclusion of personnel to areas at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) accelerator. The RSS Backbones control the safety fusible beam plugs which terminate transmission of accelerated ion beams in response to predefined conditions. Any beam or access fault of the backbone inputs will cause insertion of the beam plugs in the low energy beam transport. The Backbones serve the function of tying the beam plugs to the access control systems, beam spill monitoring systems and current-level limiting systems. In some ways the Backbones may be thought of as a spinal column with beam plugs at the head and nerve centers along the spinal column. The two Linac Backbone segments and experimental area segments form a continuous cable plant over 3,500 feet from beam plugs to the tip on the longest tail. The Backbones were installed in compliance with current safety standards, such as installation of the two segments in separate conduits or tray. Monitoring for ground-faults and input wiring verification was an added enhancement to the system. The system has the capability to be tested remotely

Controlled Conjugated Backbone Twisting for an Increased Open-Circuit Voltage while Having a High Short-Circuit Current in Poly(hexylthiophene) Derivatives

KAUST Repository

Ko, Sangwon

2012-03-21

Conjugated polymers with nearly planar backbones have been the most commonly investigated materials for organic-based electronic devices. More twisted polymer backbones have been shown to achieve larger open-circuit voltages in solar cells, though with decreased short-circuit current densities. We systematically impose twists within a family of poly(hexylthiophene)s and examine their influence on the performance of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. A simple chemical modification concerning the number and placement of alkyl side chains along the conjugated backbone is used to control the degree of backbone twisting. Density functional theory calculations were carried out on a series of oligothiophene structures to provide insights on how the sterically induced twisting influences the geometric, electronic, and optical properties. Grazing incidence X-ray scattering measurements were performed to investigate how the thin-film packing structure was affected. The open-circuit voltage and charge-transfer state energy of the polymer:fullerene BHJ solar cells increased substantially with the degree of twist induced within the conjugated backbone-due to an increase in the polymer ionization potential-while the short-circuit current decreased as a result of a larger optical gap and lower hole mobility. A controlled, moderate degree of twist along the poly(3,4-dihexyl-2,2′:5′,2′′- terthiophene) (PDHTT) conjugated backbone led to a 19% enhancement in the open-circuit voltage (0.735 V) vs poly(3-hexylthiophene)-based devices, while similar short-circuit current densities, fill factors, and hole-carrier mobilities were maintained. These factors resulted in a power conversion efficiency of 4.2% for a PDHTT:[6,6]-phenyl-C 71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC 71BM) blend solar cell without thermal annealing. This simple approach reveals a molecular design avenue to increase open-circuit voltage while retaining the short-circuit current. © 2012 American

Binding energies and chemical shifts of least bound core electron excitations in cubic Asub(N)Bsub(8-N) semiconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bechstedt, F.; Enderlein, R.; Wischnewski, R.

1981-01-01

Core electron binding energies Esup(B) with respect to the vacuum level and their chemical shifts are calculated for the least bound core levels of cations and anions of cubic Asub(N)Bsub(8-N) semiconductors. Starting from the HF-binding energy of the free atom absolute values of Esup(B) are obtained by adding core level shifts and relaxation energies. Core level shifts are calculated by means of an electrostatic model with ionic and bond charges according to Phillips' bond charge model. For the calculation of relaxation energies the linear dielectric theory of electronic polarization is applied. Valence and core electrons, and diagonal and non-diagonal screening are taken into account. The theoretical results for chemical shifts of binding energies are compared with experimental values from XPS-measurements corrected by work function data. Good agreement is obtained in all cases within the error limit of about one eV. Chemical and atomic trends of core level shifts, relaxation energies, and binding energies are discussed in terms of changes of atomic and solid state parameters. Chemical shifts and relaxation energies are predicted for various ternary Asub(N)Bsub(8-N) compounds. (author)

Influence of Backbone Fluorination in Regioregular Poly(3-alkyl-4-fluoro)thiophenes

KAUST Repository

Fei, Zhuping

2015-06-03

© 2015 American Chemical Society. We report two strategies toward the synthesis of 3-alkyl-4-fluorothiophenes containing straight (hexyl and octyl) and branched (2-ethylhexyl) alkyl groups. We demonstrate that treatment of the dibrominated monomer with 1 equiv of alkyl Grignard reagent leads to the formation of a single regioisomer as a result of the pronounced directing effect of the fluorine group. Polymerization of the resulting species affords highly regioregular poly(3-alkyl-4-fluoro)thiophenes. Comparison of their properties to those of the analogous non-fluorinated polymers shows that backbone fluorination leads to an increase in the polymer ionization potential without a significant change in optical band gap. Fluorination also results in an enhanced tendency to aggregate in solution, which is ascribed to a more co-planar backbone on the basis of Raman and DFT calculations. Average charge carrier mobilities in field-effect transistors are found to increase by up to a factor of 5 for the fluorinated polymers.

Fragment-based {sup 13}C nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shift predictions in molecular crystals: An alternative to planewave methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hartman, Joshua D.; Beran, Gregory J. O., E-mail: gregory.beran@ucr.edu [Department of Chemistry, University of California, Riverside, California 92521 (United States); Monaco, Stephen; Schatschneider, Bohdan [The Pennsylvania State University, The Eberly Campus, 2201 University Dr, Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania 15456 (United States)

2015-09-14

We assess the quality of fragment-based ab initio isotropic {sup 13}C chemical shift predictions for a collection of 25 molecular crystals with eight different density functionals. We explore the relative performance of cluster, two-body fragment, combined cluster/fragment, and the planewave gauge-including projector augmented wave (GIPAW) models relative to experiment. When electrostatic embedding is employed to capture many-body polarization effects, the simple and computationally inexpensive two-body fragment model predicts both isotropic {sup 13}C chemical shifts and the chemical shielding tensors as well as both cluster models and the GIPAW approach. Unlike the GIPAW approach, hybrid density functionals can be used readily in a fragment model, and all four hybrid functionals tested here (PBE0, B3LYP, B3PW91, and B97-2) predict chemical shifts in noticeably better agreement with experiment than the four generalized gradient approximation (GGA) functionals considered (PBE, OPBE, BLYP, and BP86). A set of recommended linear regression parameters for mapping between calculated chemical shieldings and observed chemical shifts are provided based on these benchmark calculations. Statistical cross-validation procedures are used to demonstrate the robustness of these fits.

Carbon 13 nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shifts empiric calculations of polymers by multi linear regression and molecular modeling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Da Silva Pinto, P.S.; Eustache, R.P.; Audenaert, M.; Bernassau, J.M.

1996-01-01

This work deals with carbon 13 nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shifts empiric calculations by multi linear regression and molecular modeling. The multi linear regression is indeed one way to obtain an equation able to describe the behaviour of the chemical shift for some molecules which are in the data base (rigid molecules with carbons). The methodology consists of structures describer parameters definition which can be bound to carbon 13 chemical shift known for these molecules. Then, the linear regression is used to determine the equation significant parameters. This one can be extrapolated to molecules which presents some resemblances with those of the data base. (O.L.). 20 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab

Cost-effectiveness analysis of dolutegravir plus backbone compared with raltegravir plus backbone, darunavir+ritonavir plus backbone and efavirenz/tenofovir/emtricitabine in treatment naïve and experienced HIV-positive patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Restelli U

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Umberto Restelli,1,2 Giuliano Rizzardini,3,4 Andrea Antinori,5 Adriano Lazzarin,6 Marzia Bonfanti,1 Paolo Bonfanti,7 Davide Croce1,2 1Centre for Research on Health Economics, Social and Health Care Management, LIUC – Università Cattaneo, Castellanza, Varese, Italy; 2School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; 3First and Second Divisions of Infectious Diseases, “Luigi Sacco” Hospital, Milan, Italy; 4School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; 5National Institute for Infectious Diseases “L Spallanzani”, Rome, 6Department of Infectious Diseases, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, 7Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, A Manzoni Hospital, Lecco, Italy Background: In January 2014, the European Medicines Agency issued a marketing authorization for dolutegravir (DTG, a second-generation integrase strand transfer inhibitor for HIV treatment. The study aimed at determining the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER of the use of DTG+backbone compared with raltegravir (RAL+backbone, darunavir (DRV+ritonavir(r+backbone and efavirenz/tenofovir/emtricitabine (EFV/TDF/FTC in HIV-positive treatment-naïve patients and compared with RAL+backbone in treatment-experienced patients, from the Italian National Health Service’s point of view.Materials and methods: A published Monte Carlo Individual Simulation Model (ARAMIS-DTG model was used to perform the analysis. Patients pass through mutually exclusive health states (defined in terms of diagnosis of HIV with or without opportunistic infections [OIs] and cardiovascular disease [CVD] and successive lines of therapy. The model considers costs (2014 and quality of life per monthly cycle in a lifetime horizon. Costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs are dependent on OI, CVD, AIDS events, adverse events and antiretroviral therapies.Results: In

The 40th anniversary of the discovery of NMR-chemical shift and nuclear spin-spin coupling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu Zhenghe; Gou Qingquan

1989-01-01

After the discovery of NMR Phenomenon in the physics laboratories of E.M.Purcell at Harvard and F.Bloch at Stanford in 1946, W.G.Proctor and F.C.Yu made the successful discovery of NMR-chemical shift and nuclear spin-spin coupling at Stanford in 1950, Which brought NMR spectroscopy from the physics laboratory to the laboratories of many different fields. This is worth memorizing. Retrospecting the past 40 years, it is sure that chemical shift theory will be much more prosperous prospects

Chemical Shifts of the Carbohydrate Binding Domain of Galectin-3 from Magic Angle Spinning NMR and Hybrid Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics Calculations.

Science.gov (United States)

Kraus, Jodi; Gupta, Rupal; Yehl, Jenna; Lu, Manman; Case, David A; Gronenborn, Angela M; Akke, Mikael; Polenova, Tatyana

2018-03-22

Magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopy is uniquely suited to probe the structure and dynamics of insoluble proteins and protein assemblies at atomic resolution, with NMR chemical shifts containing rich information about biomolecular structure. Access to this information, however, is problematic, since accurate quantum mechanical calculation of chemical shifts in proteins remains challenging, particularly for 15 N H . Here we report on isotropic chemical shift predictions for the carbohydrate recognition domain of microcrystalline galectin-3, obtained from using hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculations, implemented using an automated fragmentation approach, and using very high resolution (0.86 Å lactose-bound and 1.25 Å apo form) X-ray crystal structures. The resolution of the X-ray crystal structure used as an input into the AF-NMR program did not affect the accuracy of the chemical shift calculations to any significant extent. Excellent agreement between experimental and computed shifts is obtained for 13 C α , while larger scatter is observed for 15 N H chemical shifts, which are influenced to a greater extent by electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, and solvation.

H-1 chemical shift imaging characterization of human brain tumor and edema

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sijens, PE; Oudkerk, M

Longitudinal (T1) and transverse (T2) relaxation times of metabolites in human brain tumor, peritumoral edema, and unaffected brain tissue were assessed from point resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) H-1 chemical shift imaging results at different repetition times (TR = 1500 and 5000 ms; T1: n = 19) and

PACSY, a relational database management system for protein structure and chemical shift analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Woonghee; Yu, Wookyung; Kim, Suhkmann; Chang, Iksoo; Lee, Weontae; Markley, John L

2012-10-01

PACSY (Protein structure And Chemical Shift NMR spectroscopY) is a relational database management system that integrates information from the Protein Data Bank, the Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank, and the Structural Classification of Proteins database. PACSY provides three-dimensional coordinates and chemical shifts of atoms along with derived information such as torsion angles, solvent accessible surface areas, and hydrophobicity scales. PACSY consists of six relational table types linked to one another for coherence by key identification numbers. Database queries are enabled by advanced search functions supported by an RDBMS server such as MySQL or PostgreSQL. PACSY enables users to search for combinations of information from different database sources in support of their research. Two software packages, PACSY Maker for database creation and PACSY Analyzer for database analysis, are available from http://pacsy.nmrfam.wisc.edu.

PACSY, a relational database management system for protein structure and chemical shift analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Woonghee, E-mail: whlee@nmrfam.wisc.edu [University of Wisconsin-Madison, National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison, and Biochemistry Department (United States); Yu, Wookyung [Center for Proteome Biophysics, Pusan National University, Department of Physics (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Suhkmann [Pusan National University, Department of Chemistry and Chemistry Institute for Functional Materials (Korea, Republic of); Chang, Iksoo [Center for Proteome Biophysics, Pusan National University, Department of Physics (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Weontae, E-mail: wlee@spin.yonsei.ac.kr [Yonsei University, Structural Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry (Korea, Republic of); Markley, John L., E-mail: markley@nmrfam.wisc.edu [University of Wisconsin-Madison, National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison, and Biochemistry Department (United States)

2012-10-15

PACSY (Protein structure And Chemical Shift NMR spectroscopY) is a relational database management system that integrates information from the Protein Data Bank, the Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank, and the Structural Classification of Proteins database. PACSY provides three-dimensional coordinates and chemical shifts of atoms along with derived information such as torsion angles, solvent accessible surface areas, and hydrophobicity scales. PACSY consists of six relational table types linked to one another for coherence by key identification numbers. Database queries are enabled by advanced search functions supported by an RDBMS server such as MySQL or PostgreSQL. PACSY enables users to search for combinations of information from different database sources in support of their research. Two software packages, PACSY Maker for database creation and PACSY Analyzer for database analysis, are available from http://pacsy.nmrfam.wisc.eduhttp://pacsy.nmrfam.wisc.edu.

PACSY, a relational database management system for protein structure and chemical shift analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Woonghee; Yu, Wookyung; Kim, Suhkmann; Chang, Iksoo

2012-01-01

PACSY (Protein structure And Chemical Shift NMR spectroscopY) is a relational database management system that integrates information from the Protein Data Bank, the Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank, and the Structural Classification of Proteins database. PACSY provides three-dimensional coordinates and chemical shifts of atoms along with derived information such as torsion angles, solvent accessible surface areas, and hydrophobicity scales. PACSY consists of six relational table types linked to one another for coherence by key identification numbers. Database queries are enabled by advanced search functions supported by an RDBMS server such as MySQL or PostgreSQL. PACSY enables users to search for combinations of information from different database sources in support of their research. Two software packages, PACSY Maker for database creation and PACSY Analyzer for database analysis, are available from http://pacsy.nmrfam.wisc.edu. PMID:22903636

PACSY, a relational database management system for protein structure and chemical shift analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Woonghee; Yu, Wookyung; Kim, Suhkmann; Chang, Iksoo; Lee, Weontae; Markley, John L.

2012-01-01

PACSY (Protein structure And Chemical Shift NMR spectroscopY) is a relational database management system that integrates information from the Protein Data Bank, the Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank, and the Structural Classification of Proteins database. PACSY provides three-dimensional coordinates and chemical shifts of atoms along with derived information such as torsion angles, solvent accessible surface areas, and hydrophobicity scales. PACSY consists of six relational table types linked to one another for coherence by key identification numbers. Database queries are enabled by advanced search functions supported by an RDBMS server such as MySQL or PostgreSQL. PACSY enables users to search for combinations of information from different database sources in support of their research. Two software packages, PACSY Maker for database creation and PACSY Analyzer for database analysis, are available from http://pacsy.nmrfam.wisc.eduhttp://pacsy.nmrfam.wisc.edu.

Polystyrene Backbone Polymers Consisting of Alkyl-Substituted Triazine Side Groups for Phosphorescent OLEDs

OpenAIRE

Salert, Beatrice Ch. D.; Wedel, Armin; Grubert, Lutz; Eberle, Thomas; Anémian, Rémi; Krueger, Hartmut

2012-01-01

This paper describes the synthesis of new electron-transporting styrene monomers and their corresponding polystyrenes all with a 2,4,6-triphenyl-1,3,5-triazine basic structure in the side group. The monomers differ in the alkyl substitution and in the meta-/paralinkage of the triazine to the polymer backbone. The thermal and spectroscopic properties of the new electron-transporting polymers are discussed in regard to their chemical structures. Phosphorescent OLEDs were prepared using the obta...

Histidine side-chain dynamics and protonation monitored by C-13 CPMG NMR relaxation dispersion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hass, M. A. S.; Yilmaz, A.; Christensen, Hans Erik Mølager

2009-01-01

the chemical shift titration experiments, and the CPMG derived exchange rates agree with those obtained previously from N-15 backbone relaxation measurements. Compared to measurements of backbone nuclei, C-13(epsilon 1) dispersion provides a more direct method to monitor interchanging protonation states...... or other kinds of conformational changes of histidine side chains or their environment. Advantages and shortcomings of using the C-13(epsilon 1) dispersion experiments in combination with chemical shift titration experiments to obtain information on exchange dynamics of the histidine side chains...

Sensitivity of ab Initio vs Empirical Methods in Computing Structural Effects on NMR Chemical Shifts for the Example of Peptides.

Science.gov (United States)

Sumowski, Chris Vanessa; Hanni, Matti; Schweizer, Sabine; Ochsenfeld, Christian

2014-01-14

The structural sensitivity of NMR chemical shifts as computed by quantum chemical methods is compared to a variety of empirical approaches for the example of a prototypical peptide, the 38-residue kaliotoxin KTX comprising 573 atoms. Despite the simplicity of empirical chemical shift prediction programs, the agreement with experimental results is rather good, underlining their usefulness. However, we show in our present work that they are highly insensitive to structural changes, which renders their use for validating predicted structures questionable. In contrast, quantum chemical methods show the expected high sensitivity to structural and electronic changes. This appears to be independent of the quantum chemical approach or the inclusion of solvent effects. For the latter, explicit solvent simulations with increasing number of snapshots were performed for two conformers of an eight amino acid sequence. In conclusion, the empirical approaches neither provide the expected magnitude nor the patterns of NMR chemical shifts determined by the clearly more costly ab initio methods upon structural changes. This restricts the use of empirical prediction programs in studies where peptide and protein structures are utilized for the NMR chemical shift evaluation such as in NMR refinement processes, structural model verifications, or calculations of NMR nuclear spin relaxation rates.

Modelling the acid/base 1H NMR chemical shift limits of metabolites in human urine.

Science.gov (United States)

Tredwell, Gregory D; Bundy, Jacob G; De Iorio, Maria; Ebbels, Timothy M D

2016-01-01

Despite the use of buffering agents the 1 H NMR spectra of biofluid samples in metabolic profiling investigations typically suffer from extensive peak frequency shifting between spectra. These chemical shift changes are mainly due to differences in pH and divalent metal ion concentrations between the samples. This frequency shifting results in a correspondence problem: it can be hard to register the same peak as belonging to the same molecule across multiple samples. The problem is especially acute for urine, which can have a wide range of ionic concentrations between different samples. To investigate the acid, base and metal ion dependent 1 H NMR chemical shift variations and limits of the main metabolites in a complex biological mixture. Urine samples from five different individuals were collected and pooled, and pre-treated with Chelex-100 ion exchange resin. Urine samples were either treated with either HCl or NaOH, or were supplemented with various concentrations of CaCl 2 , MgCl 2 , NaCl or KCl, and their 1 H NMR spectra were acquired. Nonlinear fitting was used to derive acid dissociation constants and acid and base chemical shift limits for peaks from 33 identified metabolites. Peak pH titration curves for a further 65 unidentified peaks were also obtained for future reference. Furthermore, the peak variations induced by the main metal ions present in urine, Na + , K + , Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ , were also measured. These data will be a valuable resource for 1 H NMR metabolite profiling experiments and for the development of automated metabolite alignment and identification algorithms for 1 H NMR spectra.

Quantum-Chemical Approach to NMR Chemical Shifts in Paramagnetic Solids Applied to LiFePO4 and LiCoPO4.

Science.gov (United States)

Mondal, Arobendo; Kaupp, Martin

2018-04-05

A novel protocol to compute and analyze NMR chemical shifts for extended paramagnetic solids, accounting comprehensively for Fermi-contact (FC), pseudocontact (PC), and orbital shifts, is reported and applied to the important lithium ion battery cathode materials LiFePO 4 and LiCoPO 4 . Using an EPR-parameter-based ansatz, the approach combines periodic (hybrid) DFT computation of hyperfine and orbital-shielding tensors with an incremental cluster model for g- and zero-field-splitting (ZFS) D-tensors. The cluster model allows the use of advanced multireference wave function methods (such as CASSCF or NEVPT2). Application of this protocol shows that the 7 Li shifts in the high-voltage cathode material LiCoPO 4 are dominated by spin-orbit-induced PC contributions, in contrast with previous assumptions, fundamentally changing interpretations of the shifts in terms of covalency. PC contributions are smaller for the 7 Li shifts of the related LiFePO 4 , where FC and orbital shifts dominate. The 31 P shifts of both materials finally are almost pure FC shifts. Nevertheless, large ZFS contributions can give rise to non-Curie temperature dependences for both 7 Li and 31 P shifts.

Relativistic Spin-Orbit Heavy Atom on the Light Atom NMR Chemical Shifts: General Trends Across the Periodic Table Explained.

Science.gov (United States)

Vícha, Jan; Komorovsky, Stanislav; Repisky, Michal; Marek, Radek; Straka, Michal

2018-05-10

The importance of relativistic effects on the NMR parameters in heavy-atom (HA) compounds, particularly the SO-HALA (Spin-Orbit Heavy Atom on the Light Atom) effect on NMR chemical shifts, has been known for about 40 years. Yet, a general correlation between the electronic structure and SO-HALA effect has been missing. By analyzing 1 H NMR chemical shifts of the sixth-period hydrides (Cs-At), we discovered general electronic-structure principles and mechanisms that dictate the size and sign of the SO-HALA NMR chemical shifts. In brief, partially occupied HA valence shells induce relativistic shielding at the light atom (LA) nuclei, while empty HA valence shells induce relativistic deshielding. In particular, the LA nucleus is relativistically shielded in 5d 2 -5d 8 and 6p 4 HA hydrides and deshielded in 4f 0 , 5d 0 , 6s 0 , and 6p 0 HA hydrides. This general and intuitive concept explains periodic trends in the 1 H NMR chemical shifts along the sixth-period hydrides (Cs-At) studied in this work. We present substantial evidence that the introduced principles have a general validity across the periodic table and can be extended to nonhydride LAs. The decades-old question of why compounds with occupied frontier π molecular orbitals (MOs) cause SO-HALA shielding at the LA nuclei, while the frontier σ MOs cause deshielding is answered. We further derive connection between the SO-HALA NMR chemical shifts and Spin-Orbit-induced Electron Deformation Density (SO-EDD), a property that can be obtained easily from differential electron densities and can be represented graphically. SO-EDD provides an intuitive understanding of the SO-HALA effect in terms of the depletion/concentration of the electron density at LA nuclei caused by spin-orbit coupling due to HA in the presence of a magnetic field. Using an analogy between the SO-EDD concept and arguments from classic NMR theory, the complex question of the SO-HALA NMR chemical shifts becomes easily understandable for a wide

APPECT: An Approximate Backbone-Based Clustering Algorithm for Tags

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zong, Yu; Xu, Guandong; Jin, Pin

2011-01-01

algorithm for Tags (APPECT). The main steps of APPECT are: (1) we execute the K-means algorithm on a tag similarity matrix for M times and collect a set of tag clustering results Z={C1,C2,…,Cm}; (2) we form the approximate backbone of Z by executing a greedy search; (3) we fix the approximate backbone...... as the initial tag clustering result and then assign the rest tags into the corresponding clusters based on the similarity. Experimental results on three real world datasets namely MedWorm, MovieLens and Dmoz demonstrate the effectiveness and the superiority of the proposed method against the traditional...... Agglomerative Clustering on tagging data, which possess the inherent drawbacks, such as the sensitivity of initialization. In this paper, we instead make use of the approximate backbone of tag clustering results to find out better tag clusters. In particular, we propose an APProximate backbonE-based Clustering...

A comparison of chemical shift sensitivity of trifluoromethyl tags: optimizing resolution in {sup 19}F NMR studies of proteins

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ye, Libin; Larda, Sacha Thierry; Frank Li, Yi Feng [University of Toronto, UTM, Department of Chemistry (Canada); Manglik, Aashish [Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology (United States); Prosser, R. Scott, E-mail: scott.prosser@utoronto.ca [University of Toronto, UTM, Department of Chemistry (Canada)

2015-05-15

The elucidation of distinct protein conformers or states by fluorine ({sup 19}F) NMR requires fluorinated moieties whose chemical shifts are most sensitive to subtle changes in the local dielectric and magnetic shielding environment. In this study we evaluate the effective chemical shift dispersion of a number of thiol-reactive trifluoromethyl probes [i.e. 2-bromo-N-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)acetamide (BTFMA), N-(4-bromo-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)acetamide (3-BTFMA), 3-bromo-1,1,1-trifluoropropan-2-ol (BTFP), 1-bromo-3,3,4,4,4-pentafluorobutan-2-one (BPFB), 3-bromo-1,1,1-trifluoropropan-2-one (BTFA), and 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl-1-thiol (TFET)] under conditions of varying polarity. In considering the sensitivity of the {sup 19}F NMR chemical shift to the local environment, a series of methanol/water mixtures were prepared, ranging from relatively non-polar (MeOH:H{sub 2}O = 4) to polar (MeOH:H{sub 2}O = 0.25). {sup 19}F NMR spectra of the tripeptide, glutathione ((2S)-2-amino-4-{[(1R)-1-[(carboxymethyl)carbamoyl] -2-sulfanylethyl]carbamoyl}butanoic acid), conjugated to each of the above trifluoromethyl probes, revealed that the BTFMA tag exhibited a significantly greater range of chemical shift as a function of solvent polarity than did either BTFA or TFET. DFT calculations using the B3LYP hybrid functional and the 6-31G(d,p) basis set, confirmed the observed trend in chemical shift dispersion with solvent polarity.

Quantitative chemical shift-encoded MRI is an accurate method to quantify hepatic steatosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kühn, Jens-Peter; Hernando, Diego; Mensel, Birger; Krüger, Paul C; Ittermann, Till; Mayerle, Julia; Hosten, Norbert; Reeder, Scott B

2014-06-01

To compare the accuracy of liver fat quantification using a three-echo chemical shift-encoded magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique without and with correction for confounders with spectroscopy (MRS) as the reference standard. Fifty patients (23 women, mean age 56.6 ± 13.2 years) with fatty liver disease were enrolled. Patients underwent T2-corrected single-voxel MRS and a three-echo chemical shift-encoded gradient echo (GRE) sequence at 3.0T. MRI fat fraction (FF) was calculated without and with T2* and T1 correction and multispectral modeling of fat and compared with MRS-FF using linear regression. The spectroscopic range of liver fat was 0.11%-38.7%. Excellent correlation between MRS-FF and MRI-FF was observed when using T2* correction (R(2)  = 0.96). With use of T2* correction alone, the slope was significantly different from 1 (1.16 ± 0.03, P fat were addressed, the results showed equivalence between fat quantification using MRI and MRS (slope: 1.02 ± 0.03, P = 0.528; intercept: 0.26% ± 0.46%, P = 0.572). Complex three-echo chemical shift-encoded MRI is equivalent to MRS for quantifying liver fat, but only with correction for T2* decay and T1 recovery and use of spectral modeling of fat. This is necessary because T2* decay, T1 recovery, and multispectral complexity of fat are processes which may otherwise bias the measurements. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Chemical shift of Mn and Cr K-edges in X-ray absorption

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

... Lecture Workshops · Refresher Courses · Symposia · Live Streaming. Home; Journals; Bulletin of Materials Science; Volume 36; Issue 6. Chemical shift of Mn and Cr K-edges in X-ray absorption spectroscopy with synchrotron radiation. D Joseph A K Yadav S N Jha D Bhattacharyya. Volume 36 Issue 6 November 2013 pp ...

Adding diverse noncanonical backbones to rosetta: enabling peptidomimetic design.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin Drew

Full Text Available Peptidomimetics are classes of molecules that mimic structural and functional attributes of polypeptides. Peptidomimetic oligomers can frequently be synthesized using efficient solid phase synthesis procedures similar to peptide synthesis. Conformationally ordered peptidomimetic oligomers are finding broad applications for molecular recognition and for inhibiting protein-protein interactions. One critical limitation is the limited set of design tools for identifying oligomer sequences that can adopt desired conformations. Here, we present expansions to the ROSETTA platform that enable structure prediction and design of five non-peptidic oligomer scaffolds (noncanonical backbones, oligooxopiperazines, oligo-peptoids, [Formula: see text]-peptides, hydrogen bond surrogate helices and oligosaccharides. This work is complementary to prior additions to model noncanonical protein side chains in ROSETTA. The main purpose of our manuscript is to give a detailed description to current and future developers of how each of these noncanonical backbones was implemented. Furthermore, we provide a general outline for implementation of new backbone types not discussed here. To illustrate the utility of this approach, we describe the first tests of the ROSETTA molecular mechanics energy function in the context of oligooxopiperazines, using quantum mechanical calculations as comparison points, scanning through backbone and side chain torsion angles for a model peptidomimetic. Finally, as an example of a novel design application, we describe the automated design of an oligooxopiperazine that inhibits the p53-MDM2 protein-protein interaction. For the general biological and bioengineering community, several noncanonical backbones have been incorporated into web applications that allow users to freely and rapidly test the presented protocols (http://rosie.rosettacommons.org. This work helps address the peptidomimetic community's need for an automated and expandable

Green Network Planning Model for Optical Backbones

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gutierrez Lopez, Jose Manuel; Riaz, M. Tahir; Jensen, Michael

2010-01-01

on the environment in general. In network planning there are existing planning models focused on QoS provisioning, investment minimization or combinations of both and other parameters. But there is a lack of a model for designing green optical backbones. This paper presents novel ideas to be able to define......Communication networks are becoming more essential for our daily lives and critically important for industry and governments. The intense growth in the backbone traffic implies an increment of the power demands of the transmission systems. This power usage might have a significant negative effect...

Stereoelectronic effects on 1H nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shifts in methoxybenzenes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lambert, Maja; Olsen, Lars; Jaroszewski, Jerzy W

2006-01-01

the Ar-OCH3 torsion out of the ring plane, resulting in large stereoelectronic effects on the chemical shift of Hpara. Conformational searches and geometry optimizations for 3-16 at the B3LYP/6-31G** level, followed by B3LYP/6-311++G(2d,2p) calculations for all low-energy conformers, gave excellent...

Effect of oligonucleic acid (ONA) backbone features on assembly of ONA-star polymer conjugates: a coarse-grained molecular simulation study.

Science.gov (United States)

Condon, Joshua E; Jayaraman, Arthi

2017-10-04

Understanding the impact of incorporating new physical and chemical features in oligomeric DNA mimics, termed generally as "oligonucleic acids" (ONAs), on their structure and thermodynamics will be beneficial in designing novel materials for a variety of applications. In this work, we conduct coarse-grained molecular simulations of ONA-star polymer conjugates with varying ONA backbone flexibility, ONA backbone charge, and number of arms in the star polymer at a constant ONA strand volume fraction to elucidate the effect of these design parameters on the thermodynamics and assembly of multi-arm ONA-star polymer conjugates. We quantify the thermo-reversible behavior of the ONA-star polymer conjugates by quantifying the hybridization of the ONA strands in the system as a function of temperature (i.e. melting curve). Additionally, we characterize the assembly of the ONA-star polymer conjugates by tracking cluster formation and percolation as a function of temperature, as well as cluster size distribution at temperatures near the assembly transition region. The key results are as follows. The melting temperature (T m ) of the ONA strands decreases upon going from a neutral to a charged ONA backbone and upon increasing flexibility of the ONA backbone. Similar behavior is seen for the assembly transition temperature (T a ) with varying ONA backbone charge and flexibility. While the number of arms in the ONA-star polymer conjugate has a negligible effect on the ONA T m in these systems, as the number of ONA-star polymer arms increase, the assembly temperature T a increases and local ordering in the assembled state improves. By understanding how factors like ONA backbone charge, backbone flexibility, and ONA-star polymer conjugate architecture impact the behavior of ONA-star polymer conjugate systems, we can better inform how the selection of ONA chemistry will influence resulting ONA-star polymer assembly.

Chemical shift-selective snapshot FLASH MR imaging in combination with inversion-recovery T1 contrast at different field strengths

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matthaei, D.; Haase, A.; Henrich, D.; Duhmke, E.

1991-01-01

With fast MR imaging, chemical shift contract becomes available to the clinician in seconds. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the combination of chemical shift selective (CHESS) MR imaging using the snapshot FLASH MR method with the inversion-recovery technique and to obtain information concerning the signal-to-noise and chemical shift with the presaturation method at different field strengths. Investigations with volunteers and experimental animals were done at 2 and 3 T (whole body) and in a 4.7-T animal image. For the inversion-recovery experiments, saturation was done before every snapshot FLASH image. With increasing field strength due to signal-to-noise and chemical shift advantages, the method performs better. Increasing T1 values are also important at high field strengths. The combined technique is useful only for T1 water images with fat saturation. It also allows fast quantification of T1 in water-containing organs and pathologic processes. At high field strengths, fast CHESS and T1 imaging promise fast quantitative information. This is a possible argument for clinical high-field-strength MR imagining along with MR spectroscopy

Calculation of NMR chemical shifts. 7. Gauge-invariant INDO method

Science.gov (United States)

Fukui, H.; Miura, K.; Hirai, A.

A gauge-invariant INDO method based on the coupled Hartree-Fuck perturbation theory is presented and applied to the calculation of 1H and 13C chemical shifts of hydrocarbons including ring compounds. Invariance of the diamagnetic and paramagnetic shieldings with respect to displacement of the coordinate origin is discussed. Comparison between calculated and experimental results exhibits fairly good agreement, provided that the INDO parameters of Ellis et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc.94, 4069 (1972)) are used with the inclusion of all multicenter one-electron integrals.

Determination of the bonding of alkyl monolayers to the Si(111) surface using chemical-shift, scanned-energy photoelectron diffraction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Terry, J.; Linford, M.R.; Wigren, C.; Cao, R.; Pianetta, P.; Chidsey, C.E. [Stanford University, Stanford, California 94309 (United States)

1997-08-01

The bonding of alkyl monolayers to Si(111) surfaces has been studied by conventional x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and chemical-shift, scanned-energy photoelectron diffraction (PED) using synchrotron radiation. Two very different wet-chemical methods have been used to prepare the alkyl monolayers: (i) olefin insertion into the H{endash}Si bond on the H{endash}Si(111) surface, and (ii) replacement of Cl on the Cl{endash}Si(111) surface by an alkyl group from an alkyllithium reagent. In both cases, XPS has revealed a C 1s signal chemically shifted to lower binding energy, which we have assigned to carbon bonded to silicon. PED has shown that both preparative methods result in carbon bonded in an atop site with the expected C{endash}Si bond length of 1.85{plus_minus}0.05{Angstrom}. Chemical-shift, scanned-energy photoelectron diffraction is a particularly valuable probe of local structure at surfaces that contain the same element in multiple, chemically distinct environments. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}

Determination of the bonding of alkyl monolayers to the Si(111) surface using chemical-shift, scanned-energy photoelectron diffraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terry, J.; Linford, M.R.; Wigren, C.; Cao, R.; Pianetta, P.; Chidsey, C.E.

1997-01-01

The bonding of alkyl monolayers to Si(111) surfaces has been studied by conventional x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and chemical-shift, scanned-energy photoelectron diffraction (PED) using synchrotron radiation. Two very different wet-chemical methods have been used to prepare the alkyl monolayers: (i) olefin insertion into the H endash Si bond on the H endash Si(111) surface, and (ii) replacement of Cl on the Cl endash Si(111) surface by an alkyl group from an alkyllithium reagent. In both cases, XPS has revealed a C 1s signal chemically shifted to lower binding energy, which we have assigned to carbon bonded to silicon. PED has shown that both preparative methods result in carbon bonded in an atop site with the expected C endash Si bond length of 1.85±0.05 Angstrom. Chemical-shift, scanned-energy photoelectron diffraction is a particularly valuable probe of local structure at surfaces that contain the same element in multiple, chemically distinct environments. copyright 1997 American Institute of Physics

Solvation effects on chemical shifts by embedded cluster integral equation theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Frach, Roland; Kast, Stefan M

2014-12-11

The accurate computational prediction of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) parameters like chemical shifts represents a challenge if the species studied is immersed in strongly polarizing environments such as water. Common approaches to treating a solvent in the form of, e.g., the polarizable continuum model (PCM) ignore strong directional interactions such as H-bonds to the solvent which can have substantial impact on magnetic shieldings. We here present a computational methodology that accounts for atomic-level solvent effects on NMR parameters by extending the embedded cluster reference interaction site model (EC-RISM) integral equation theory to the prediction of chemical shifts of N-methylacetamide (NMA) in aqueous solution. We examine the influence of various so-called closure approximations of the underlying three-dimensional RISM theory as well as the impact of basis set size and different treatment of electrostatic solute-solvent interactions. We find considerable and systematic improvement over reference PCM and gas phase calculations. A smaller basis set in combination with a simple point charge model already yields good performance which can be further improved by employing exact electrostatic quantum-mechanical solute-solvent interaction energies. A larger basis set benefits more significantly from exact over point charge electrostatics, which can be related to differences of the solvent's charge distribution.

Determination of backbone chain direction of PDA using FFM

Science.gov (United States)

Jo, Sadaharu; Okamoto, Kentaro; Takenaga, Mitsuru

2010-01-01

The effect of backbone chains on friction force was investigated on both Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films of 10,12-heptacosadiynoic acid and the (0 1 0) surfaces of single crystals of 2,4-hexadiene-1,6-diol using friction force microscopy (FFM). It was observed that friction force decreased when the scanning direction was parallel to the [0 0 1] direction in both samples. Moreover, friction force decreased when the scanning direction was parallel to the crystallographic [1 0 2], [1 0 1], [1 0 0] and [1 0 1¯] directions in only the single crystals. For the LB films, the [0 0 1] direction corresponds to the backbone chain direction of 10,12-heptacosadiynoic acid. For the single crystals, both the [0 0 1] and [1 0 1] directions correspond to the backbone chain direction, and the [1 0 2], [1 0 0] and [1 0 1¯] directions correspond to the low-index crystallographic direction. In both the LB films and single crystals, the friction force was minimized when the directions of scanning and the backbone chain were parallel.

Benchmark fragment-based 1H, 13C, 15N and 17O chemical shift predictions in molecular crystals†

Science.gov (United States)

Hartman, Joshua D.; Kudla, Ryan A.; Day, Graeme M.; Mueller, Leonard J.; Beran, Gregory J. O.

2016-01-01

The performance of fragment-based ab initio 1H, 13C, 15N and 17O chemical shift predictions is assessed against experimental NMR chemical shift data in four benchmark sets of molecular crystals. Employing a variety of commonly used density functionals (PBE0, B3LYP, TPSSh, OPBE, PBE, TPSS), we explore the relative performance of cluster, two-body fragment, and combined cluster/fragment models. The hybrid density functionals (PBE0, B3LYP and TPSSh) generally out-perform their generalized gradient approximation (GGA)-based counterparts. 1H, 13C, 15N, and 17O isotropic chemical shifts can be predicted with root-mean-square errors of 0.3, 1.5, 4.2, and 9.8 ppm, respectively, using a computationally inexpensive electrostatically embedded two-body PBE0 fragment model. Oxygen chemical shieldings prove particularly sensitive to local many-body effects, and using a combined cluster/fragment model instead of the simple two-body fragment model decreases the root-mean-square errors to 7.6 ppm. These fragment-based model errors compare favorably with GIPAW PBE ones of 0.4, 2.2, 5.4, and 7.2 ppm for the same 1H, 13C, 15N, and 17O test sets. Using these benchmark calculations, a set of recommended linear regression parameters for mapping between calculated chemical shieldings and observed chemical shifts are provided and their robustness assessed using statistical cross-validation. We demonstrate the utility of these approaches and the reported scaling parameters on applications to 9-tertbutyl anthracene, several histidine co-crystals, benzoic acid and the C-nitrosoarene SnCl2(CH3)2(NODMA)2. PMID:27431490

Benchmark fragment-based (1)H, (13)C, (15)N and (17)O chemical shift predictions in molecular crystals.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartman, Joshua D; Kudla, Ryan A; Day, Graeme M; Mueller, Leonard J; Beran, Gregory J O

2016-08-21

The performance of fragment-based ab initio(1)H, (13)C, (15)N and (17)O chemical shift predictions is assessed against experimental NMR chemical shift data in four benchmark sets of molecular crystals. Employing a variety of commonly used density functionals (PBE0, B3LYP, TPSSh, OPBE, PBE, TPSS), we explore the relative performance of cluster, two-body fragment, and combined cluster/fragment models. The hybrid density functionals (PBE0, B3LYP and TPSSh) generally out-perform their generalized gradient approximation (GGA)-based counterparts. (1)H, (13)C, (15)N, and (17)O isotropic chemical shifts can be predicted with root-mean-square errors of 0.3, 1.5, 4.2, and 9.8 ppm, respectively, using a computationally inexpensive electrostatically embedded two-body PBE0 fragment model. Oxygen chemical shieldings prove particularly sensitive to local many-body effects, and using a combined cluster/fragment model instead of the simple two-body fragment model decreases the root-mean-square errors to 7.6 ppm. These fragment-based model errors compare favorably with GIPAW PBE ones of 0.4, 2.2, 5.4, and 7.2 ppm for the same (1)H, (13)C, (15)N, and (17)O test sets. Using these benchmark calculations, a set of recommended linear regression parameters for mapping between calculated chemical shieldings and observed chemical shifts are provided and their robustness assessed using statistical cross-validation. We demonstrate the utility of these approaches and the reported scaling parameters on applications to 9-tert-butyl anthracene, several histidine co-crystals, benzoic acid and the C-nitrosoarene SnCl2(CH3)2(NODMA)2.

Orientation-dependent surface core-level shifts and chemical shifts on clean and H 2S-covered GaAs

Science.gov (United States)

Ranke, W.; Finster, J.; Kuhr, H. J.

1987-08-01

Photoelectron spectra of the As 3d and Ga 3d core levels were studied in situ on a cylindrically shaped GaAs single crystal for the six inequivalent orientations (001), (113), (111), (110), (11¯1) and (11¯3). On the clean surface, prepared by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), surface core levels are shifted by 0.25 to 0.55 eV towards smaller binding energy (BE) for As 3d and -0.25 to -0.35 eV towards higher BE for Ga, depending on orientation. Additional As causes As 3d contributions shifted between -0.45 and -0.7 eV towards higher BE. The position and intensity of them is influenced by H 2S adsorption. At 150 K, H 2S adsorbs preferentially on As sites. As chemical shifts appear at -0.6 to -0.9 eV towards higher BE. Simultaneously, As accumulation occurs on all orientations with the exception of (110). High temperature adsorption (550 K, 720 K) influences mainly the Ga 3d peaks. Two peaks shifted by about -0.45 and -0.8 eV towards higher Be were found which are attributed to Ga atoms with one or two sulfur ligands, respectively. At 720 K, also As depletion is observed. The compatibility of surface core-level positions and intensities with recent structural models for the (111) and (11¯1) surfaces is discussed.

On Backbone Structure for a Future Multipurpose Network

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gutierrez Lopez, Jose Manuel; Cuevas, Ruben; Riaz, M. Tahir

2008-01-01

Telecommunications are evolving towards the unification of services and infrastructures. This unification must be achieved at the highest hierarchical level for a complete synergy of services. Therefore, one of the requirements is a multipurpose backbone network capable of supporting all the curr......Telecommunications are evolving towards the unification of services and infrastructures. This unification must be achieved at the highest hierarchical level for a complete synergy of services. Therefore, one of the requirements is a multipurpose backbone network capable of supporting all...

Criteria to average out the chemical shift anisotropy in solid-state NMR when irradiated with BABA I, BABA II, and C7 radiofrequency pulse sequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Stephane Mananga, Eugene

2013-01-01

Floquet-Magnus expansion is used to study the effect of chemical shift anisotropy in solid-state NMR of rotating solids. The chemical shift interaction is irradiated with two types of radiofrequency pulse sequences: BABA and C7. The criteria for the chemical shift anisotropy to be averaged out in each rotor period are obtained. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of the backbone dynamics of interleukin-1β using two-dimensional inverse detected heteronuclear 15N-1H NMR spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clore, G.M.; Driscoll, P.C.; Wingfield, P.T.; Gronenborn, A.M.

1990-01-01

The backbone dynamics of uniformly 15 N-labeled interleukin-1β are investigated by using two-dimensional inverse detected heteronuclear 15 N- 1 H NMR spectroscopy. 15 N T 1 , T 2 , and NOE data at a spectrometer frequency of 600 MHz are obtained for 90% of the backbone amide groups. The data provide evidence for motions on three time scales. All the residues exhibit very fast motions on a time scale of approx-lt 20-50 ps that can be characterized by a single-order parameter with an average value of 0.82 ± 0.05. Thirty-two residues also display motions on a time scale of 0.5-4 ns, slightly less than the overall rotational correlation time of the protein (8.3 ns). While the simple formulation can account for the 15 N T 1 and T 2 data, it fails to account for the 15 N- 1 H NOE data and yields calculated values for the NOEs that are either too small or negative, whereas the observed NOEs are positive. Another 42 residues are characterized by some sort of motion on the 30-ns-10-ms time scale, which results in 15 N line broadening due to chemical exchange between different conformational substates with distinct 15 N chemical shifts. In general, the motions on both the 0.5-4-ns and 30-ns-10-ms time scales are localized in surface-accessible loops and turns connecting the β-strands, as well as at the beginning and end of strands. Finally, the kinetic and equilibrium properties of a slow conformational equilibrium between a major and a minor species, involving at least 19 residues and located on one contiguous face of the molecule, are characterized by using 1 H- 15 N correlation spectroscopy, 1 H- 15 N heteronuclear multiple quantum coherence-nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy, and 1 H- 1 H nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy

Concurrent Increases and Decreases in Local Stability and Conformational Heterogeneity in Cu, Zn Superoxide Dismutase Variants Revealed by Temperature-Dependence of Amide Chemical Shifts.

Science.gov (United States)

Doyle, Colleen M; Rumfeldt, Jessica A; Broom, Helen R; Sekhar, Ashok; Kay, Lewis E; Meiering, Elizabeth M

2016-03-08

The chemical shifts of backbone amide protons in proteins are sensitive reporters of local structural stability and conformational heterogeneity, which can be determined from their readily measured linear and nonlinear temperature-dependences, respectively. Here we report analyses of amide proton temperature-dependences for native dimeric Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase (holo pWT SOD1) and structurally diverse mutant SOD1s associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Holo pWT SOD1 loses structure with temperature first at its periphery and, while having extremely high global stability, nevertheless exhibits extensive conformational heterogeneity, with ∼1 in 5 residues showing evidence for population of low energy alternative states. The holo G93A and E100G ALS mutants have moderately decreased global stability, whereas V148I is slightly stabilized. Comparison of the holo mutants as well as the marginally stable immature monomeric unmetalated and disulfide-reduced (apo(2SH)) pWT with holo pWT shows that changes in the local structural stability of individual amides vary greatly, with average changes corresponding to differences in global protein stability measured by differential scanning calorimetry. Mutants also exhibit altered conformational heterogeneity compared to pWT. Strikingly, substantial increases as well as decreases in local stability and conformational heterogeneity occur, in particular upon maturation and for G93A. Thus, the temperature-dependence of amide shifts for SOD1 variants is a rich source of information on the location and extent of perturbation of structure upon covalent changes and ligand binding. The implications for potential mechanisms of toxic misfolding of SOD1 in disease and for general aspects of protein energetics, including entropy-enthalpy compensation, are discussed.

Solution, solid phase and computational structures of apicidin and its backbone-reduced analogs.

Science.gov (United States)

Kranz, Michael; Murray, Peter John; Taylor, Stephen; Upton, Richard J; Clegg, William; Elsegood, Mark R J

2006-06-01

The recently isolated broad-spectrum antiparasitic apicidin (1) is one of the few naturally occurring cyclic tetrapeptides (CTP). Depending on the solvent, the backbone of 1 exhibits two gamma-turns (in CH(2)Cl(2)) or a beta-turn (in DMSO), differing solely in the rotation of the plane of one of the amide bonds. In the X-ray crystal structure, the peptidic C==Os and NHs are on opposite sides of the backbone plane, giving rise to infinite stacks of cyclotetrapeptides connected by three intermolecular hydrogen bonds between the backbones. Conformational searches (Amber force field) on a truncated model system of 1 confirm all three backbone conformations to be low-energy states. The previously synthesized analogs of 1 containing a reduced amide bond exhibit the same backbone conformation as 1 in DMSO, which is confirmed further by the X-ray crystal structure of a model system of the desoxy analogs of 1. This similarity helps in explaining why the desoxy analogs retain some of the antiprotozoal activities of apicidin. The backbone-reduction approach designed to facilitate the cyclization step of the acyclic precursors of the CTPs seems to retain the conformational preferences of the parent peptide backbone.

Differentiation of osteoporotic and neoplastic vertebral fractures by chemical shift {in-phase and out-of phase} MR imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ragab, Yasser; Emad, Yasser; Gheita, Tamer; Mansour, Maged; Abou-Zeid, A.; Ferrari, Serge; Rasker, Johannes J.

2009-01-01

Objective: The objective of this study was to establish the cut-off value of the signal intensity drop on chemical shift magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with appropriate sensitivity and specificity to differentiate osteoporotic from neoplastic wedging of the spine. Patients and methods: All patients with wedging of vertebral bodies were included consecutively between February 2006 and January 2007. A chemical shift MRI was performed and signal intensity after (in-phase and out-phase) images were obtained. A DXA was performed in all. Results: A total of 40 patients were included, 20 with osteoporotic wedging (group 1) and 20 neoplastic (group 2). They were 21 males and 19 females. Acute vertebral collapse was observed in 15 patients in group 1 and subacute collapse in another 5 patients, while in group 2, 11 patients showed acute collapse and 9 patients (45%) showed subacute vertebral collapse. On the chemical shift MRI a substantial reduction in signal intensity was found in all lesions in both groups. The proportional changes observed in signal intensity of bone marrow lesions on in-phase compared with out-of-phase images showed significant differences in both groups (P < 0.05). At a cut-off value of 35%, the observed sensitivity of out-of-phase images was 95%, specificity was 100%, positive predictive value was 100% and negative predictive value was 95.2%. Conclusion: A chemical shift MRI is useful in order to differentiate patients with vertebral collapse due to underlying osteoporosis or neoplastic process.

Measuring 13Cβ chemical shifts of invisible excited states in proteins by relaxation dispersion NMR spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lundstroem, Patrik; Lin Hong; Kay, Lewis E.

2009-01-01

A labeling scheme is introduced that facilitates the measurement of accurate 13 C β chemical shifts of invisible, excited states of proteins by relaxation dispersion NMR spectroscopy. The approach makes use of protein over-expression in a strain of E. coli in which the TCA cycle enzyme succinate dehydrogenase is knocked out, leading to the production of samples with high levels of 13 C enrichment (30-40%) at C β side-chain carbon positions for 15 of the amino acids with little 13 C label at positions one bond removed (∼5%). A pair of samples are produced using [1- 13 C]-glucose/NaH 12 CO 3 or [2- 13 C]-glucose as carbon sources with isolated and enriched (>30%) 13 C β positions for 11 and 4 residues, respectively. The efficacy of the labeling procedure is established by NMR spectroscopy. The utility of such samples for measurement of 13 C β chemical shifts of invisible, excited states in exchange with visible, ground conformations is confirmed by relaxation dispersion studies of a protein-ligand binding exchange reaction in which the extracted chemical shift differences from dispersion profiles compare favorably with those obtained directly from measurements on ligand free and fully bound protein samples

Lanthanide shift reagents, binding, shift mechanisms and exchange

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boer, J.W.M. de

1977-01-01

Paramagnetic lanthanide shift reagents, when added to a solution of a substrate, induce shifts in the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum of the substrate molecules. The induced shifts contain information about the structure of the shift reagent substrate complex. The structural information, however, may be difficult to extract because of the following effects: (1) different complexes between shift reagent and substrate may be present in solution, e.g. 1:1 and 1:2 complexes, and the shift observed is a weighed average of the shifts of the substrate nuclei in the different complexes; (2) the Fermi contact interaction, arising from the spin density at the nucleus, contributes to the induced shift; (3) chemical exchange effects may complicate the NMR spectrum. In this thesis, the results of an investigation into the influence of these effects on the NMR spectra of solutions containing a substrate and LSR are presented. The equations describing the pseudo contact and the Fermi contact shift are derived. In addition, it is shown how the modified Bloch equations describing the effect of the chemical exchange processes occurring in the systems studied can be reduced to the familiar equations for a two-site exchange case. The binding of mono- and bifunctional ethers to the shift reagent are reported. An analysis of the induced shifts is given. Finally, the results of the experiments performed to study the exchange behavior of dimethoxyethane and heptafluorodimethyloctanedionato ligands are presented

Polystyrene Backbone Polymers Consisting of Alkyl-Substituted Triazine Side Groups for Phosphorescent OLEDs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beatrice Ch. D. Salert

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the synthesis of new electron-transporting styrene monomers and their corresponding polystyrenes all with a 2,4,6-triphenyl-1,3,5-triazine basic structure in the side group. The monomers differ in the alkyl substitution and in the meta-/paralinkage of the triazine to the polymer backbone. The thermal and spectroscopic properties of the new electron-transporting polymers are discussed in regard to their chemical structures. Phosphorescent OLEDs were prepared using the obtained electron-transporting polymers as the emissive layer material in blend systems together with a green iridium-based emitter 13 and a small molecule as an additional cohost with wideband gap characteristics (CoH-001. The performance of the OLEDs was characterized and discussed in regard to the chemical structure of the new electron-transporting polymers.

Pressure dependence of side chain 13C chemical shifts in model peptides Ac-Gly-Gly-Xxx-Ala-NH2.

Science.gov (United States)

Beck Erlach, Markus; Koehler, Joerg; Crusca, Edson; Munte, Claudia E; Kainosho, Masatsune; Kremer, Werner; Kalbitzer, Hans Robert

2017-10-01

For evaluating the pressure responses of folded as well as intrinsically unfolded proteins detectable by NMR spectroscopy the availability of data from well-defined model systems is indispensable. In this work we report the pressure dependence of 13 C chemical shifts of the side chain atoms in the protected tetrapeptides Ac-Gly-Gly-Xxx-Ala-NH 2 (Xxx, one of the 20 canonical amino acids). Contrary to expectation the chemical shifts of a number of nuclei have a nonlinear dependence on pressure in the range from 0.1 to 200 MPa. The size of the polynomial pressure coefficients B 1 and B 2 is dependent on the type of atom and amino acid studied. For H N , N and C α the first order pressure coefficient B 1 is also correlated to the chemical shift at atmospheric pressure. The first and second order pressure coefficients of a given type of carbon atom show significant linear correlations suggesting that the NMR observable pressure effects in the different amino acids have at least partly the same physical cause. In line with this observation the magnitude of the second order coefficients of nuclei being direct neighbors in the chemical structure also are weakly correlated. The downfield shifts of the methyl resonances suggest that gauche conformers of the side chains are not preferred with pressure. The valine and leucine methyl groups in the model peptides were assigned using stereospecifically 13 C enriched amino acids with the pro-R carbons downfield shifted relative to the pro-S carbons.

ExScal Backbone Network Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

2005-01-01

802.11 battery powered nodes was laid over the sensor network. We adopted the Stargate platform for the backbone tier to serve as the basis for...its head. XSS Hardware and Network: XSS stands for eXtreme Scaling Stargate . A stargate is a linux-based single board computer. It has a 400 MHz

Reassigning the Structures of Natural Products Using NMR Chemical Shifts Computed with Quantum Mechanics: A Laboratory Exercise

Science.gov (United States)

Palazzo, Teresa A.; Truong, Tiana T.; Wong, Shirley M. T.; Mack, Emma T.; Lodewyk, Michael W.; Harrison, Jason G.; Gamage, R. Alan; Siegel, Justin B.; Kurth, Mark J.; Tantillo, Dean J.

2015-01-01

An applied computational chemistry laboratory exercise is described in which students use modern quantum chemical calculations of chemical shifts to assign the structure of a recently isolated natural product. A pre/post assessment was used to measure student learning gains and verify that students demonstrated proficiency of key learning…

New theories for smectic and nematic liquid-crystal polymers: Backbone LCPs [liquid crystalline polymers] and their mixtures and side-chain LCPs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dowell, F.

1987-01-01

A summary of predictions and explanations from statistical-physics theories for both backbone and side-chain liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs) and for mixtures with backbone LCPs are presented. Trends in the thermodynamic and molecular ordering properties have been calculated as a function of pressure, density, temperature, and molecule chemical structures (including degree of polymerization and the following properties of the chemical structures of the repeat units: lengths and shapes, intra-chain rotation energies, dipole moments, site-site polarizabilities and Lennard-Jones potentials, etc.) in nematic and multiple smectic-A LC phases and in the isotropic liquid phase. The theoretical results are found to be in good agreement with existing experimental data. These theories can also be applied to combined LCPs. Since these theories have no ad hoc or arbitrarily adjustable parameters, these theories can be used to design new LCPs and new solvents as well as to predict and explain properties. 27 refs., 4 tabs

Identifying Stereoisomers by ab-initio Calculation of Secondary Isotope Shifts on NMR Chemical Shieldings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karl-Heinz Böhm

2014-04-01

Full Text Available We present ab-initio calculations of secondary isotope effects on NMR chemical shieldings. The change of the NMR chemical shift of a certain nucleus that is observed if another nucleus is replaced by a different isotope can be calculated by computing vibrational corrections on the NMR parameters using electronic structure methods. We demonstrate that the accuracy of the computational results is sufficient to even distinguish different conformers. For this purpose, benchmark calculations for fluoro(2-2Hethane in gauche and antiperiplanar conformation are carried out at the HF, MP2 and CCSD(T level of theory using basis sets ranging from double- to quadruple-zeta quality. The methodology is applied to the secondary isotope shifts for 2-fluoronorbornane in order to resolve an ambiguity in the literature on the assignment of endo- and exo-2-fluoronorbornanes with deuterium substituents in endo-3 and exo-3 positions, also yielding insight into mechanistic details of the corresponding synthesis.

Identifying stereoisomers by ab-initio calculation of secondary isotope shifts on NMR chemical shieldings.

Science.gov (United States)

Böhm, Karl-Heinz; Banert, Klaus; Auer, Alexander A

2014-04-23

We present ab-initio calculations of secondary isotope effects on NMR chemical shieldings. The change of the NMR chemical shift of a certain nucleus that is observed if another nucleus is replaced by a different isotope can be calculated by computing vibrational corrections on the NMR parameters using electronic structure methods. We demonstrate that the accuracy of the computational results is sufficient to even distinguish different conformers. For this purpose, benchmark calculations for fluoro(2-2H)ethane in gauche and antiperiplanar conformation are carried out at the HF, MP2 and CCSD(T) level of theory using basis sets ranging from double- to quadruple-zeta quality. The methodology is applied to the secondary isotope shifts for 2-fluoronorbornane in order to resolve an ambiguity in the literature on the assignment of endo- and exo-2-fluoronorbornanes with deuterium substituents in endo-3 and exo-3 positions, also yielding insight into mechanistic details of the corresponding synthesis.

Underestimated Halogen Bonds Forming with Protein Backbone in Protein Data Bank.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qian; Xu, Zhijian; Shi, Jiye; Zhu, Weiliang

2017-07-24

Halogen bonds (XBs) are attracting increasing attention in biological systems. Protein Data Bank (PDB) archives experimentally determined XBs in biological macromolecules. However, no software for structure refinement in X-ray crystallography takes into account XBs, which might result in the weakening or even vanishing of experimentally determined XBs in PDB. In our previous study, we showed that side-chain XBs forming with protein side chains are underestimated in PDB on the basis of the phenomenon that the proportion of side-chain XBs to overall XBs decreases as structural resolution becomes lower and lower. However, whether the dominant backbone XBs forming with protein backbone are overlooked is still a mystery. Here, with the help of the ratio (R F ) of the observed XBs' frequency of occurrence to their frequency expected at random, we demonstrated that backbone XBs are largely overlooked in PDB, too. Furthermore, three cases were discovered possessing backbone XBs in high resolution structures while losing the XBs in low resolution structures. In the last two cases, even at 1.80 Å resolution, the backbone XBs were lost, manifesting the urgent need to consider XBs in the refinement process during X-ray crystallography study.

Combining automated peak tracking in SAR by NMR with structure-based backbone assignment from 15N-NOESY

KAUST Repository

Jang, Richard; Gao, Xin; Li, Ming

2012-01-01

Background: Chemical shift mapping is an important technique in NMR-based drug screening for identifying the atoms of a target protein that potentially bind to a drug molecule upon the molecule's introduction in increasing concentrations. The goal is to obtain a mapping of peaks with known residue assignment from the reference spectrum of the unbound protein to peaks with unknown assignment in the target spectrum of the bound protein. Although a series of perturbed spectra help to trace a path from reference peaks to target peaks, a one-to-one mapping generally is not possible, especially for large proteins, due to errors, such as noise peaks, missing peaks, missing but then reappearing, overlapped, and new peaks not associated with any peaks in the reference. Due to these difficulties, the mapping is typically done manually or semi-automatically, which is not efficient for high-throughput drug screening.Results: We present PeakWalker, a novel peak walking algorithm for fast-exchange systems that models the errors explicitly and performs many-to-one mapping. On the proteins: hBclXL, UbcH5B, and histone H1, it achieves an average accuracy of over 95% with less than 1.5 residues predicted per target peak. Given these mappings as input, we present PeakAssigner, a novel combined structure-based backbone resonance and NOE assignment algorithm that uses just 15N-NOESY, while avoiding TOCSY experiments and 13C-labeling, to resolve the ambiguities for a one-to-one mapping. On the three proteins, it achieves an average accuracy of 94% or better.Conclusions: Our mathematical programming approach for modeling chemical shift mapping as a graph problem, while modeling the errors directly, is potentially a time- and cost-effective first step for high-throughput drug screening based on limited NMR data and homologous 3D structures. 2012 Jang et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Combining automated peak tracking in SAR by NMR with structure-based backbone assignment from 15N-NOESY

KAUST Repository

Jang, Richard

2012-03-21

Background: Chemical shift mapping is an important technique in NMR-based drug screening for identifying the atoms of a target protein that potentially bind to a drug molecule upon the molecule\\'s introduction in increasing concentrations. The goal is to obtain a mapping of peaks with known residue assignment from the reference spectrum of the unbound protein to peaks with unknown assignment in the target spectrum of the bound protein. Although a series of perturbed spectra help to trace a path from reference peaks to target peaks, a one-to-one mapping generally is not possible, especially for large proteins, due to errors, such as noise peaks, missing peaks, missing but then reappearing, overlapped, and new peaks not associated with any peaks in the reference. Due to these difficulties, the mapping is typically done manually or semi-automatically, which is not efficient for high-throughput drug screening.Results: We present PeakWalker, a novel peak walking algorithm for fast-exchange systems that models the errors explicitly and performs many-to-one mapping. On the proteins: hBclXL, UbcH5B, and histone H1, it achieves an average accuracy of over 95% with less than 1.5 residues predicted per target peak. Given these mappings as input, we present PeakAssigner, a novel combined structure-based backbone resonance and NOE assignment algorithm that uses just 15N-NOESY, while avoiding TOCSY experiments and 13C-labeling, to resolve the ambiguities for a one-to-one mapping. On the three proteins, it achieves an average accuracy of 94% or better.Conclusions: Our mathematical programming approach for modeling chemical shift mapping as a graph problem, while modeling the errors directly, is potentially a time- and cost-effective first step for high-throughput drug screening based on limited NMR data and homologous 3D structures. 2012 Jang et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

The Graphical Representation of the Digital Astronaut Physiology Backbone

Science.gov (United States)

Briers, Demarcus

2010-01-01

This report summarizes my internship project with the NASA Digital Astronaut Project to analyze the Digital Astronaut (DA) physiology backbone model. The Digital Astronaut Project (DAP) applies integrated physiology models to support space biomedical operations, and to assist NASA researchers in closing knowledge gaps related to human physiologic responses to space flight. The DA physiology backbone is a set of integrated physiological equations and functions that model the interacting systems of the human body. The current release of the model is HumMod (Human Model) version 1.5 and was developed over forty years at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). The physiology equations and functions are scripted in an XML schema specifically designed for physiology modeling by Dr. Thomas G. Coleman at UMMC. Currently it is difficult to examine the physiology backbone without being knowledgeable of the XML schema. While investigating and documenting the tags and algorithms used in the XML schema, I proposed a standard methodology for a graphical representation. This standard methodology may be used to transcribe graphical representations from the DA physiology backbone. In turn, the graphical representations can allow examination of the physiological functions and equations without the need to be familiar with the computer programming languages or markup languages used by DA modeling software.

Calculation of the NMR chemical shift for a 4d1 system in a strong crystal field environment of trigonal symmetry with a threefold axis of quantization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahn, Sang Woon; Oh, Se Woung; Ro, Seung Woo

1986-01-01

The NMR chemical shift arising from 4d electron angular momentum and 4d electron angular momentum and 4d electron spin dipolar-nuclear spin angular momentum interactions for a 4d 1 system in a strong crystal field environment of trigonal symmetry, where the threefold axis is chosen to be the axis of quantization axis, has been examined. A general expression using the nonmultipole expansion method (exact method) is derived for the NMR chemical shift. From this expression all the multipolar terms are determined. we observe that along the (100), (010), (110), and (111) axes the NMR chemical shifts are positive while along the (001) axis, it is negative. We observe that the dipolar term (1/R 3 ) is the dominant contribution to the NMR chemical shift except for along the (111) axis. A comparison of the multipolar terms with the exact values shows also that the multipolar results are exactly in agreement with the exact values around R≥0.2 nm. The temperature dependence analysis on the NMR chemical shifts may imply that along the (111) axis the contribution to the NMR chemical shift is dominantly pseudo contact interaction. Separation of the contributions of the Fermi and the pseudo contact interactions would correctly imply that the dipolar interaction is the dominant contribution to the NMR chemical shifts along the (100), (010), (001), and (110) axes, but along the (111) axis the Fermi contact interaction is incorrectly the dominant contribution to the NMR chemical shift. (Author)

Backbone Diversity Analysis in Catalyst Design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maldonado, A.G.; Hageman, J.A.; Mastroianni, S.; Rothenberg, G.

2009-01-01

We present a computer-based heuristic framework for designing libraries of homogeneous catalysts. In this approach, a set of given bidentate ligand-metal complexes is disassembled into key substructures (building blocks). These include metal atoms, ligating groups, backbone groups, and residue

Exact Solutions for Internuclear Vectors and Backbone Dihedral Angles from NH Residual Dipolar Couplings in Two Media, and their Application in a Systematic Search Algorithm for Determining Protein Backbone Structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Lincong; Donald, Bruce Randall

2004-01-01

We have derived a quartic equation for computing the direction of an internuclear vector from residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) measured in two aligning media, and two simple trigonometric equations for computing the backbone (φ,ψ) angles from two backbone vectors in consecutive peptide planes. These equations make it possible to compute, exactly and in constant time, the backbone (φ,ψ) angles for a residue from RDCs in two media on any single backbone vector type. Building upon these exact solutions we have designed a novel algorithm for determining a protein backbone substructure consisting of α-helices and β-sheets. Our algorithm employs a systematic search technique to refine the conformation of both α-helices and β-sheets and to determine their orientations using exclusively the angular restraints from RDCs. The algorithm computes the backbone substructure employing very sparse distance restraints between pairs of α-helices and β-sheets refined by the systematic search. The algorithm has been demonstrated on the protein human ubiquitin using only backbone NH RDCs, plus twelve hydrogen bonds and four NOE distance restraints. Further, our results show that both the global orientations and the conformations of α-helices and β-strands can be determined with high accuracy using only two RDCs per residue. The algorithm requires, as its input, backbone resonance assignments, the identification of α-helices and β-sheets as well as sparse NOE distance and hydrogen bond restraints.Abbreviations: NMR - nuclear magnetic resonance; RDC - residual dipolar coupling; NOE - nuclear Overhauser effect; SVD - singular value decomposition; DFS - depth-first search; RMSD - root mean square deviation; POF - principal order frame; PDB - protein data bank; SA - simulated annealing; MD - molecular dynamics

Thin Films Formed from Conjugated Polymers with Ionic, Water-Soluble Backbones

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Voortman, Thomas P; Chiechi, Ryan C

2015-01-01

This paper compares the morphologies of films of conjugated polymers in which the backbone (main chain) and pendant groups are varied between ionic/hydrophilic and aliphatic/hydrophobic. We observe that conjugated polymers in which the pendant groups and backbone are matched, either ionic-ionic or

Accuracy of chemical shift MR imaging in diagnosing indeterminate bone marrow lesions in the pelvis: review of a single institution's experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kohl, Chad A.; Chivers, F.S.; Lorans, Roxanne; Roberts, Catherine C.; Kransdorf, Mark J.

2014-01-01

To re-assess the accuracy of chemical shift imaging in diagnosing indeterminate bone marrow lesions as benign or malignant. We retrospectively reviewed our experience with MR imaging of the pelvis to assess the accuracy of chemical shift imaging in distinguishing benign from malignant bone lesions. Two musculoskeletal radiologists retrospectively reviewed all osseous lesions biopsied since 2006, when chemical shift imaging was added to our routine pelvic imaging protocol. Study inclusion criteria required (1) MR imaging of an indeterminate bone marrow lesion about the pelvis and (2) subsequent histologic confirmation. The study group included 50 patients (29 male, 21 female) with an average age of 67 years (range, 41-89 years). MR imaging results were evaluated using biopsy results as the ''gold standard.'' There were 27 malignant and 23 benign lesions. Chemical shift imaging using an opposed-phase signal loss criteria of less than 20 % to indicate a malignant lesion, correctly diagnosed 27/27 malignant lesions and 14/23 benign lesions, yielding a 100 % sensitivity, 61 % specificity, 75 % PPV, 100 % NPV, and 82 % accuracy. The area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.88. The inter-rater and intra-rater agreement K values were both 1.0. Chemical shift imaging is a useful adjunct MR technique to characterize focal and diffuse marrow abnormalities on routine non-contrast pelvic imaging. It is highly sensitive in identifying malignant disease. Despite its lower specificity, the need for biopsy could be eliminated in more than 60 % of patients with benign disease. (orig.)

Nonribosomal biosynthesis of backbone-modified peptides

Science.gov (United States)

Niquille, David L.; Hansen, Douglas A.; Mori, Takahiro; Fercher, David; Kries, Hajo; Hilvert, Donald

2018-03-01

Biosynthetic modification of nonribosomal peptide backbones represents a potentially powerful strategy to modulate the structure and properties of an important class of therapeutics. Using a high-throughput assay for catalytic activity, we show here that an L-Phe-specific module of an archetypal nonribosomal peptide synthetase can be reprogrammed to accept and process the backbone-modified amino acid (S)-β-Phe with near-native specificity and efficiency. A co-crystal structure with a non-hydrolysable aminoacyl-AMP analogue reveals the origins of the 40,000-fold α/β-specificity switch, illuminating subtle but precise remodelling of the active site. When the engineered catalyst was paired with downstream module(s), (S)-β-Phe-containing peptides were produced at preparative scale in vitro (~1 mmol) and high titres in vivo (~100 mg l-1), highlighting the potential of biosynthetic pathway engineering for the construction of novel nonribosomal β-frameworks.

Gender features of functional condition of backbone of teenagers with scoliotic posture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergiy Afanasiev

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose: to study mobility of backbone, endurance of muscles of a trunk and to define gender features of functional condition of backbone at children of the middle school age with scoliotic posture depending on the direction of the top of arch of curvature of spine. Material & Methods: 40 girls and 40 boys, including 18 girls and 18 boys with the right-side deformation of backbone in the thoracic department, the left-side – 22 girls and 22 boys are examined. Results: features of changes of indicators, depending on sex of children and frontage of the top of arch of curvature of spine column, are revealed when studying the level of flexibility of backbone and endurance of muscles of a trunk at children of the middle school age with scoliotic posture. Conclusions: it is established that the level of decrease in flexibility of backbone is higher at boys, than at girls, whereas indicators of contractile ability and tone of muscles of "muscular corset" are higher at boys.

Comparison of experimental and DFT-calculated NMR chemical shifts of 2-amino and 2-hydroxyl substituted phenyl benzimidazoles, benzoxazoles and benzothiazoles in four solvents using the IEF-PCM solvation model.

Science.gov (United States)

Pierens, Gregory K; Venkatachalam, T K; Reutens, David C

2016-04-01

A comparative study of experimental and calculated NMR chemical shifts of six compounds comprising 2-amino and 2-hydroxy phenyl benzoxazoles/benzothiazoles/benzimidazoles in four solvents is reported. The benzimidazoles showed interesting spectral characteristics, which are discussed. The proton and carbon chemical shifts were similar for all solvents. The largest chemical shift deviations were observed in benzene. The chemical shifts were calculated with density functional theory using a suite of four functionals and basis set combinations. The calculated chemical shifts revealed a good match to the experimentally observed values in most of the solvents. The mean absolute error was used as the primary metric. The use of an additional metric is suggested, which is based on the order of chemical shifts. The DP4 probability measures were also used to compare the experimental and calculated chemical shifts for each compound in the four solvents. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Controlled conjugated backbone twisting for an increased open-circuit voltage while having a high short-circuit current in poly(hexylthiophene) derivatives.

Science.gov (United States)

Ko, Sangwon; Hoke, Eric T; Pandey, Laxman; Hong, Sanghyun; Mondal, Rajib; Risko, Chad; Yi, Yuanping; Noriega, Rodrigo; McGehee, Michael D; Brédas, Jean-Luc; Salleo, Alberto; Bao, Zhenan

2012-03-21

Conjugated polymers with nearly planar backbones have been the most commonly investigated materials for organic-based electronic devices. More twisted polymer backbones have been shown to achieve larger open-circuit voltages in solar cells, though with decreased short-circuit current densities. We systematically impose twists within a family of poly(hexylthiophene)s and examine their influence on the performance of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. A simple chemical modification concerning the number and placement of alkyl side chains along the conjugated backbone is used to control the degree of backbone twisting. Density functional theory calculations were carried out on a series of oligothiophene structures to provide insights on how the sterically induced twisting influences the geometric, electronic, and optical properties. Grazing incidence X-ray scattering measurements were performed to investigate how the thin-film packing structure was affected. The open-circuit voltage and charge-transfer state energy of the polymer:fullerene BHJ solar cells increased substantially with the degree of twist induced within the conjugated backbone--due to an increase in the polymer ionization potential--while the short-circuit current decreased as a result of a larger optical gap and lower hole mobility. A controlled, moderate degree of twist along the poly(3,4-dihexyl-2,2':5',2''-terthiophene) (PDHTT) conjugated backbone led to a 19% enhancement in the open-circuit voltage (0.735 V) vs poly(3-hexylthiophene)-based devices, while similar short-circuit current densities, fill factors, and hole-carrier mobilities were maintained. These factors resulted in a power conversion efficiency of 4.2% for a PDHTT:[6,6]-phenyl-C(71)-butyric acid methyl ester (PC(71)BM) blend solar cell without thermal annealing. This simple approach reveals a molecular design avenue to increase open-circuit voltage while retaining the short-circuit current.

Protein energetic conformational analysis from NMR chemical shifts (PECAN) and its use in determining secondary structural elements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eghbalnia, Hamid R.; Wang Liya; Bahrami, Arash [National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison, Biochemistry Department (United States); Assadi, Amir [University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mathematics Department (United States); Markley, John L. [National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison, Biochemistry Department (United States)], E-mail: eghbalni@nmrfam.wisc.edu

2005-05-15

We present an energy model that combines information from the amino acid sequence of a protein and available NMR chemical shifts for the purposes of identifying low energy conformations and determining elements of secondary structure. The model ('PECAN', Protein Energetic Conformational Analysis from NMR chemical shifts) optimizes a combination of sequence information and residue-specific statistical energy function to yield energetic descriptions most favorable to predicting secondary structure. Compared to prior methods for secondary structure determination, PECAN provides increased accuracy and range, particularly in regions of extended structure. Moreover, PECAN uses the energetics to identify residues located at the boundaries between regions of predicted secondary structure that may not fit the stringent secondary structure class definitions. The energy model offers insights into the local energetic patterns that underlie conformational preferences. For example, it shows that the information content for defining secondary structure is localized about a residue and reaches a maximum when two residues on either side are considered. The current release of the PECAN software determines the well-defined regions of secondary structure in novel proteins with assigned chemical shifts with an overall accuracy of 90%, which is close to the practical limit of achievable accuracy in classifying the states.

Protein energetic conformational analysis from NMR chemical shifts (PECAN) and its use in determining secondary structural elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eghbalnia, Hamid R.; Wang Liya; Bahrami, Arash; Assadi, Amir; Markley, John L.

2005-01-01

We present an energy model that combines information from the amino acid sequence of a protein and available NMR chemical shifts for the purposes of identifying low energy conformations and determining elements of secondary structure. The model ('PECAN', Protein Energetic Conformational Analysis from NMR chemical shifts) optimizes a combination of sequence information and residue-specific statistical energy function to yield energetic descriptions most favorable to predicting secondary structure. Compared to prior methods for secondary structure determination, PECAN provides increased accuracy and range, particularly in regions of extended structure. Moreover, PECAN uses the energetics to identify residues located at the boundaries between regions of predicted secondary structure that may not fit the stringent secondary structure class definitions. The energy model offers insights into the local energetic patterns that underlie conformational preferences. For example, it shows that the information content for defining secondary structure is localized about a residue and reaches a maximum when two residues on either side are considered. The current release of the PECAN software determines the well-defined regions of secondary structure in novel proteins with assigned chemical shifts with an overall accuracy of 90%, which is close to the practical limit of achievable accuracy in classifying the states

pH-Dependent spin state population and 19F NMR chemical shift via remote ligand protonation in an iron(ii) complex.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaudette, Alexandra I; Thorarinsdottir, Agnes E; Harris, T David

2017-11-30

An Fe II complex that features a pH-dependent spin state population, by virtue of a variable ligand protonation state, is described. This behavior leads to a highly pH-dependent 19 F NMR chemical shift with a sensitivity of 13.9(5) ppm per pH unit at 37 °C, thereby demonstrating the potential utility of the complex as a 19 F chemical shift-based pH sensor.

Highly red-shifted NIR emission from a novel anthracene conjugated polymer backbone containing Pt( ii ) porphyrins

KAUST Repository

Freeman, D. M. E.

2015-11-30

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016. We present the synthesis of a novel diphenylanthracene (DPA) based semiconducting polymer. The polymer is solubilised by alkoxy groups attached directly to a DPA monomer, meaning the choice of co-monomer is not limited to exclusively highly solubilising moieties. Interestingly, the polymer shows a red-shifted elecroluminescence maximum (510 nm) when compared to its photoluminescence maximum (450 nm) which we attribute to excimer formation. The novel polymer was utilised as a host for a covalently-linked platinum(ii) complexed porphyrin dopant. Emission from these polymers was observed in the NIR and again showed almost a 100 nm red shift from photoluminescence to electroluminescence. This work demonstrates that utilising highly aggregating host materials is an effective tool for inducing red-shifted emission in OLEDs.

Protonation–deprotonation of the glycine backbone as followed by Raman scattering and multiconformational analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hernández, Belén; Pflüger, Fernando [Groupe de Biophysique Moléculaire, UFR Santé-Médecine-Biologie Humaine, Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 74 rue Marcel Cachin, 93017 Bobigny cedex (France); Kruglik, Sergei G. [Laboratoire Jean Perrin, FRE 3231, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6), Case courrier 138, 75252 Paris Cedex 05 (France); Ghomi, Mahmoud, E-mail: mahmoud.ghomi@univ-paris13.fr [Groupe de Biophysique Moléculaire, UFR Santé-Médecine-Biologie Humaine, Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 74 rue Marcel Cachin, 93017 Bobigny cedex (France)

2013-11-08

Highlights: • New pH-dependent Raman spectra in the middle wavenumber region (1800-300 cm{sup −1}). • New quantum mechanical calculations for exploring the Gly conformational landscape. • Construction of muticonformation based theoretical Raman spectra. - Abstract: Because of the absence of the side chain in its chemical structure and its well defined Raman spectra, glycine was selected here to follow its backbone protonation–deprotonation. The scan of the recorded spectra in the 1800–300 cm{sup −1} region led us to assign those obtained at pH 1, 6 and 12 to the cationic, zwitterionic and anionic species, respectively. These data complete well those previously published by Bykov et al. (2008) [16] devoted to the high wavenumber Raman spectra (>2500 cm{sup −1}). To reinforce our discussion, DFT calculations were carried out on the clusters of glycine + 5H{sub 2}O, mimicking reasonably the first hydration shell of the amino acid. Geometry optimization of 141 initial clusters, reflecting plausible combinations of the backbone torsion angles, allowed exploration of the conformational features, as well as construction of the theoretical Raman spectra by considering the most stable clusters containing each glycine species.

NMR chemical shift and J coupling parameterization and quantum mechanical reference spectrum simulation for selected nerve agent degradation products in aqueous conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Koskela, Harri; Anđelković, Boban

2017-10-01

The spectral parameters of selected nerve agent degradation products relevant to the Chemical Weapons Convention, namely, ethyl methylphosphonate, isopropyl methylphosphonate, pinacolyl methylphosphonate and methylphosphonic acid, were studied in wide range of pH conditions and selected temperatures. The pH and temperature dependence of chemical shifts and J couplings was parameterized using Henderson-Hasselbalch-based functions. The obtained parameters allowed calculation of precise chemical shifts and J coupling constants in arbitrary pH conditions and typical measurement temperatures, thus facilitating quantum mechanical simulation of reference spectra in the chosen magnetic field strength for chemical verification. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Uganda's National Transmission Backbone Infrastructure Project: Technical Challenges and the Way Forward

Science.gov (United States)

Bulega, T.; Kyeyune, A.; Onek, P.; Sseguya, R.; Mbabazi, D.; Katwiremu, E.

2011-10-01

Several publications have identified technical challenges facing Uganda's National Transmission Backbone Infrastructure project. This research addresses the technical limitations of the National Transmission Backbone Infrastructure project, evaluates the goals of the project, and compares the results against the technical capability of the backbone. The findings of the study indicate a bandwidth deficit, which will be addressed by using dense wave division multiplexing repeaters, leasing bandwidth from private companies. Microwave links for redundancy, a Network Operation Center for operation and maintenance, and deployment of wireless interoperability for microwave access as a last-mile solution are also suggested.

Lactobacillus plantarum possesses the capability for wall teichoic acid backbone alditol switching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bron Peter A

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Specific strains of Lactobacillus plantarum are marketed as health-promoting probiotics. The role and interplay of cell-wall compounds like wall- and lipo-teichoic acids (WTA and LTA in bacterial physiology and probiotic-host interactions remain obscure. L. plantarum WCFS1 harbors the genetic potential to switch WTA backbone alditol, providing an opportunity to study the impact of WTA backbone modifications in an isogenic background. Results Through genome mining and mutagenesis we constructed derivatives that synthesize alternative WTA variants. The mutants were shown to completely lack WTA, or produce WTA and LTA that lack D-Ala substitution, or ribitol-backbone WTA instead of the wild-type glycerol-containing backbone. DNA micro-array experiments established that the tarIJKL gene cluster is required for the biosynthesis of this alternative WTA backbone, and suggest ribose and arabinose are precursors thereof. Increased tarIJKL expression was not observed in any of our previously performed DNA microarray experiments, nor in qRT-PCR analyses of L. plantarum grown on various carbon sources, leaving the natural conditions leading to WTA backbone alditol switching, if any, to be identified. Human embryonic kidney NF-κB reporter cells expressing Toll like receptor (TLR-2/6 were exposed to purified WTAs and/or the TA mutants, indicating that WTA is not directly involved in TLR-2/6 signaling, but attenuates this signaling in a backbone independent manner, likely by affecting the release and exposure of immunomodulatory compounds such as LTA. Moreover, human dendritic cells did not secrete any cytokines when purified WTAs were applied, whereas they secreted drastically decreased levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-12p70 and TNF-α after stimulation with the WTA mutants as compared to the wild-type. Conclusions The study presented here correlates structural differences in WTA to their functional characteristics, thereby

MERA: a webserver for evaluating backbone torsion angle distributions in dynamic and disordered proteins from NMR data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mantsyzov, Alexey B. [M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Fundamental Medicine (Russian Federation); Shen, Yang; Lee, Jung Ho [National Institutes of Health, Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (United States); Hummer, Gerhard [Max Planck Institute of Biophysics (Germany); Bax, Ad, E-mail: bax@nih.gov [National Institutes of Health, Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (United States)

2015-09-15

MERA (Maximum Entropy Ramachandran map Analysis from NMR data) is a new webserver that generates residue-by-residue Ramachandran map distributions for disordered proteins or disordered regions in proteins on the basis of experimental NMR parameters. As input data, the program currently utilizes up to 12 different parameters. These include three different types of short-range NOEs, three types of backbone chemical shifts ({sup 15}N, {sup 13}C{sup α}, and {sup 13}C′), six types of J couplings ({sup 3}J{sub HNHα}, {sup 3}J{sub C′C′}, {sup 3}J{sub C′Hα}, {sup 1}J{sub HαCα}, {sup 2}J{sub CαN} and {sup 1}J{sub CαN}), as well as the {sup 15}N-relaxation derived J(0) spectral density. The Ramachandran map distributions are reported in terms of populations of their 15° × 15° voxels, and an adjustable maximum entropy weight factor is available to ensure that the obtained distributions will not deviate more from a newly derived coil library distribution than required to account for the experimental data. MERA output includes the agreement between each input parameter and its distribution-derived value. As an application, we demonstrate performance of the program for several residues in the intrinsically disordered protein α-synuclein, as well as for several static and dynamic residues in the folded protein GB3.

Redox-controlled backbone dynamics of human cytochrome c revealed by 15N NMR relaxation measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakamoto, Koichi; Kamiya, Masakatsu; Uchida, Takeshi; Kawano, Keiichi; Ishimori, Koichiro

2010-01-01

Research highlights: → The dynamic parameters for the backbone dynamics in Cyt c were determined. → The backbone mobility of Cyt c is highly restricted due to the covalently bound heme. → The backbone mobility of Cyt c is more restricted upon the oxidation of the heme. → The redox-dependent dynamics are shown in the backbone of Cyt c. → The backbone dynamics of Cyt c would regulate the electron transfer from Cyt c. -- Abstract: Redox-controlled backbone dynamics in cytochrome c (Cyt c) were revealed by 2D 15 N NMR relaxation experiments. 15 N T 1 and T 2 values and 1 H- 15 N NOEs of uniformly 15 N-labeled reduced and oxidized Cyt c were measured, and the generalized order parameters (S 2 ), the effective correlation time for internal motion (τ e ), the 15 N exchange broadening contributions (R ex ) for each residue, and the overall correlation time (τ m ) were estimated by model-free dynamics formalism. These dynamic parameters clearly showed that the backbone dynamics of Cyt c are highly restricted due to the covalently bound heme that functions as the stable hydrophobic core. Upon oxidation of the heme iron in Cyt c, the average S 2 value was increased from 0.88 ± 0.01 to 0.92 ± 0.01, demonstrating that the mobility of the backbone is further restricted in the oxidized form. Such increases in the S 2 values were more prominent in the loop regions, including amino acid residues near the thioether bonds to the heme moiety and positively charged region around Lys87. Both of the regions are supposed to form the interaction site for cytochrome c oxidase (CcO) and the electron pathway from Cyt c to CcO. The redox-dependent mobility of the backbone in the interaction site for the electron transfer to CcO suggests an electron transfer mechanism regulated by the backbone dynamics in the Cyt c-CcO system.

Determination of protein global folds using backbone residual dipolar coupling and long-range NOE restraints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giesen, Alexander W.; Homans, Steve W.; Brown, Jonathan Miles

2003-01-01

We report the determination of the global fold of human ubiquitin using protein backbone NMR residual dipolar coupling and long-range nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) data as conformational restraints. Specifically, by use of a maximum of three backbone residual dipolar couplings per residue (N i -H N i , N i -C' i-1 , H N i - C' i-1 ) in two tensor frames and only backbone H N -H N NOEs, a global fold of ubiquitin can be derived with a backbone root-mean-square deviation of 1.4 A with respect to the crystal structure. This degree of accuracy is more than adequate for use in databases of structural motifs, and suggests a general approach for the determination of protein global folds using conformational restraints derived only from backbone atoms

Benchmarking Hydrogen and Carbon NMR Chemical Shifts at HF, DFT, and MP2 Levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Flaig, Denis; Maurer, Marina; Hanni, Matti; Braunger, Katharina; Kick, Leonhard; Thubauville, Matthias; Ochsenfeld, Christian

2014-02-11

An extensive study of error distributions for calculating hydrogen and carbon NMR chemical shifts at Hartree-Fock (HF), density functional theory (DFT), and Møller-Plesset second-order perturbation theory (MP2) levels is presented. Our investigation employs accurate CCSD(T)/cc-pVQZ calculations for providing reference data for 48 hydrogen and 40 carbon nuclei within an extended set of chemical compounds covering a broad range of the NMR scale with high relevance to chemical applications, especially in organic chemistry. Besides the approximations of HF, a variety of DFT functionals, and conventional MP2, we also present results with respect to a spin component-scaled MP2 (GIAO-SCS-MP2) approach. For each method, the accuracy is analyzed in detail for various basis sets, allowing identification of efficient combinations of method and basis set approximations.

MCBT: Multi-Hop Cluster Based Stable Backbone Trees for Data Collection and Dissemination in WSNs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tae-Jin Lee

2009-07-01

Full Text Available We propose a stable backbone tree construction algorithm using multi-hop clusters for wireless sensor networks (WSNs. The hierarchical cluster structure has advantages in data fusion and aggregation. Energy consumption can be decreased by managing nodes with cluster heads. Backbone nodes, which are responsible for performing and managing multi-hop communication, can reduce the communication overhead such as control traffic and minimize the number of active nodes. Previous backbone construction algorithms, such as Hierarchical Cluster-based Data Dissemination (HCDD and Multicluster, Mobile, Multimedia radio network (MMM, consume energy quickly. They are designed without regard to appropriate factors such as residual energy and degree (the number of connections or edges to other nodes of a node for WSNs. Thus, the network is quickly disconnected or has to reconstruct a backbone. We propose a distributed algorithm to create a stable backbone by selecting the nodes with higher energy or degree as the cluster heads. This increases the overall network lifetime. Moreover, the proposed method balances energy consumption by distributing the traffic load among nodes around the cluster head. In the simulation, the proposed scheme outperforms previous clustering schemes in terms of the average and the standard deviation of residual energy or degree of backbone nodes, the average residual energy of backbone nodes after disseminating the sensed data, and the network lifetime.

Optimal voxel size for measuring global gray and white matter proton metabolite concentrations using chemical shift imaging

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hanson, Lars Peter Grüner; Adalsteinsson, E; Pfefferbaum, A

2000-01-01

Quantification of gray and white matter levels of spectroscopically visible metabolites can provide important insights into brain development and pathological conditions. Chemical shift imaging offers a gain in efficiency for estimation of global gray and white matter metabolite concentrations co...

Study of chemical shifts of the chloroform complexes with cyclic donors of electrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blaszkiewicz, B.; Pajak, Z.

1973-01-01

Chemical shifts of chloroform complexes with the heterocyclic electron donors: pyridine, piperidine, alpha-picoline and gamma-picoline have been studied using the high resolution (5.10 -9 ) spectrometer operating at 80 MHz. An attempt has also been made to study the three - component solutions of : chloroform, a heterocyclic donor of electrons and carbon tetrachloride. The results, which have been obtained, indicate that the complex-forming power of pyridine and other electron donors is greater in carbon tetrachloride than in other solvents. (S.B.)

Coronary artery atherosclerosis associated with shift work in chemical plant workers by using coronary CT angiography.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, WonYang; Park, Won-Ju; Jang, Keun-Ho; Kim, Soo-Hyeon; Gwon, Do-Hyeong; Lim, Hyeong-Min; Ahn, Ji-Sung; Moon, Jai-Dong

2016-08-01

The aim of this study was to investigate whether shift work is related to elevated risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) by determining the coronary artery calcium (CAC) score and the presence of coronary artery stenosis by using coronary artery CT angiography (CCTA). In this study, 110 male workers participated and underwent a CCTA examination for CAC scoring, which represents coronary artery plaque, and were evaluated for luminal stenosis. All of the participants were working in the same chemical plant, of whom 70 worked day shifts and 40 worked rotating shifts. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, including age, smoking status, alcohol consumption, regular exercise and waist circumference, shift work was associated with a 2.89-fold increase in the odds of developing coronary plaque compared with day work (OR, 2.89; 95% CI 1.07 to 7.82). The association between shift work and coronary plaque was strong after adjustment for age, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes mellitus (OR, 2.92; 95% CI 1.02 to 8.33). In addition, the number of years of shift work employment was associated with coronary plaque. However, no association was found between shift work and coronary artery stenosis. Shift work could induce CAD onset via the atherosclerotic process, and shift work employment duration was associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis in male workers. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Versatile phosphite ligands based on silsesquioxane backbones

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Vlugt, JI; Ackerstaff, J; Dijkstra, TW; Mills, AM; Kooijman, H; Spek, AL; Meetsma, A; Abbenhuis, HCL; Vogt, D

Silsesquioxanes are employed as ligand backbones for the synthesis of novel phosphite compounds with 3,3'-5,5'-tetrakis(tert-butyl)-2,2'-di-oxa-1,1'-biphenyl substituents. Both mono- and bidentate phosphites are prepared in good yields. Two types of silsesquioxanes are employed as starting

Using 1H and 13C NMR chemical shifts to determine cyclic peptide conformations: a combined molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Q Nhu N; Schwochert, Joshua; Tantillo, Dean J; Lokey, R Scott

2018-05-10

Solving conformations of cyclic peptides can provide insight into structure-activity and structure-property relationships, which can help in the design of compounds with improved bioactivity and/or ADME characteristics. The most common approaches for determining the structures of cyclic peptides are based on NMR-derived distance restraints obtained from NOESY or ROESY cross-peak intensities, and 3J-based dihedral restraints using the Karplus relationship. Unfortunately, these observables are often too weak, sparse, or degenerate to provide unequivocal, high-confidence solution structures, prompting us to investigate an alternative approach that relies only on 1H and 13C chemical shifts as experimental observables. This method, which we call conformational analysis from NMR and density-functional prediction of low-energy ensembles (CANDLE), uses molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to generate conformer families and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to predict their 1H and 13C chemical shifts. Iterative conformer searches and DFT energy calculations on a cyclic peptide-peptoid hybrid yielded Boltzmann ensembles whose predicted chemical shifts matched the experimental values better than any single conformer. For these compounds, CANDLE outperformed the classic NOE- and 3J-coupling-based approach by disambiguating similar β-turn types and also enabled the structural elucidation of the minor conformer. Through the use of chemical shifts, in conjunction with DFT and MD calculations, CANDLE can help illuminate conformational ensembles of cyclic peptides in solution.

Is the Lamb shift chemically significant?

Science.gov (United States)

Dyall, Kenneth G.; Bauschlicher, Charles W., Jr.; Schwenke, David W.; Pyykko, Pekka; Arnold, James (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The contribution of the Lamb shift to the atomization energies of some prototype molecules, BF3, AlF3, and GaF3, is estimated by a perturbation procedure. It is found to be in the range of 3-5% of the one-electron scalar relativistic contribution to the atomization energy. The maximum absolute value is 0.2 kcal/mol for GaF3. These sample calculations indicate that the Lamb shift is probably small enough to be neglected for energetics of molecules containing light atoms if the target accuracy is 1 kcal/mol, but for higher accuracy calculations and for molecules containing heavy elements it must be considered.

Diffusion-weighted imaging of the liver at 3 T using section-selection gradient reversal: emphasis on chemical shift artefacts and lesion conspicuity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, J.S.; Kim, Y.K.; Jeong, W.K.; Choi, D.; Lee, W.J.

2015-01-01

Aim: To assess the value of section-selection gradient reversal (SSGR) in liver diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) by comparing it to conventional DWI with an emphasis on chemical shift artefacts and lesion conspicuity. Materials and methods: Forty-eight patients (29 men and 19 women; age range 33–80 years) with 48 liver lesions underwent two DWI examinations using spectral presaturation with inversion recovery fat suppression with and without SSGR at 3 T. Two reviewers evaluated each DWI (b = 100 and b = 800 image) with respect to chemical shift artefacts and liver lesion conspicuity using five-point scales and performed pairwise comparisons between the two DWIs. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the liver and the lesion and the lesion–liver contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were also calculated. Results: SSGR-DWI was significantly better than conventional DWI with respect to chemical shift artefacts and lesion conspicuity in both separate reviews and pairwise comparisons (p < 0.05). There were significant differences in the SNR of the liver (b = 100 and b = 800 images) and lesion (b = 800) between SSGR-DWI and conventional DWI (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Applying the SSGR method to DWI using SPIR fat suppression at 3 T could significantly reduce chemical shift artefacts without incurring additional acquisition time or SNR penalties, which leads to increased conspicuity of focal liver lesions. - Highlights: • Chemical shift artefact in liver DWI is markedly decreased by applying SSGR. • Liver lesion conspicuity is improved by applying SSGR to DWI. • In SNR of the liver, SSGR-DWI is better than conventional DWI

Integrative technology of massage manipulations in physical rehabilitation of students with backbone pathology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V.I. Kotelevskiy

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose:to analyze effectiveness of massage manipulations’ integrative technology in physical rehabilitation of higher educational establishments’ students with backbone pathology. Material: in the research 195 students of 19-20 years’ age participated. All students had periodical initial neurological symptoms of functional pathology and first stage osteochondrosis in different parts of backbone. We conducted a course of 10 sessions of therapeutic massage. Results: the sense of massage integrative technology is that every specialist shall have certain optimal set of skills and knowledge in technique of manipulation sessions of massage. Integrative technology of massage manipulations consists of psycho-corrective and manipulation parts. It considers psycho-somatic, mechanical and reflex rehabilitation aspects of patho-genesis of backbone functional disorders and vertebral osteochondrosis. Conclusions: depending on pathological process or backbone functional state of every person (peculiarities of his (her psycho-somatic status or, even, his (her bents. Individual approach in choice of strategy, tactic and methodological provisioning of massage session shall be used.

Chemical shift of U L3 edges in different uranium compounds obtained by X-ray absorption spectroscopy with synchrotron radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joseph, D.; Jha, S.N.; Nayak, C.; Bhattacharyya, D.; Babu, P. Venu

2014-01-01

Uranium L 3 X-ray absorption edge was measured in various compounds containing uranium in U 4+ , U 5+ and U 5+ oxidation states. The measurements have been carried out at the Energy Dispersive EXAFS beamline (BL-08) at INDUS-2 synchrotron radiation source at RRCAT, Indore. Energy shifts of ∼ 2-3 eV were observed for U L 3 edge in the U-compounds compared to their value in elemental U. The different chemical shifts observed for the compounds having the same oxidation state of the cation but different anions or ligands show the effect of different chemical environments surrounding the cations in determining their X-ray absorption edges in the above compounds. The above chemical effect has been quantitatively described by determining the effective charges on U cation in the above compounds. (author)

Application of the Fenske-Hall molecular orbital method to the calculation of 11B NMR chemical shifts. Antipodal substituent effects in deltahedral clusters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fehlner, T.P.; Czech, P.T.; Fenske, R.F.

1990-01-01

Utilizing Fenske-Hall wave functions and eigenvalues combined with the Ramsey sum over states (SOS) approximation, it is demonstrated that the sign and magnitude of the paramagnetic contribution to the shielding correlates well with the observed 11 B chemical shifts of a substantial variety of boron- and metal-containing compounds. Analysis of the molecular orbital (MO) contributions in the SOS approximation leads to an explanation of the large downfield shifts associated with metal-rich metallaboranes. A similar analysis demonstrates the importance of selected cluster occupied and unoccupied MO's in explaining both exo-cage substituent effects in which the antipodal boron resonance is shifted upfield and endo-cage substituent effects (interchange of isolobal fragments within the cage framework) in which the antipodal boron resonance is shifted downfield. Exo- and endo-cage substitution perturbs these MO's in an understandable fashion, leading to an internally consistent explanation of the observed chemical shift changes. 36 refs., 8 figs., 4 tabs

Unusually large chemical potential shift in a degenerate semiconductor: Angle-resolved photoemission study of SnSe and Na-doped SnSe

Science.gov (United States)

Maeda, M.; Yamamoto, K.; Mizokawa, T.; Saini, N. L.; Arita, M.; Namatame, H.; Taniguchi, M.; Tan, G.; Zhao, L. D.; Kanatzidis, M. G.

2018-03-01

We have studied the electronic structure of SnSe and Na-doped SnSe by means of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The valence-band top reaches the Fermi level by the Na doping, indicating that Na-doped SnSe can be viewed as a degenerate semiconductor. However, in the Na-doped system, the chemical potential shift with temperature is unexpectedly large and is apparently inconsistent with the degenerate semiconductor picture. The large chemical potential shift and anomalous spectral shape are key ingredients for an understanding of the novel metallic state with the large thermoelectric performance in Na-doped SnSe.

Selective backbone labelling of ILV methyl labelled proteins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sibille, Nathalie; Hanoulle, Xavier; Bonachera, Fanny; Verdegem, Dries; Landrieu, Isabelle; Wieruszeski, Jean-Michel; Lippens, Guy

2009-01-01

Adding the 13 C labelled 2-keto-isovalerate and 2-oxobutanoate precursors to a minimal medium composed of 12 C labelled glucose instead of the commonly used ( 2 D, 13 C) glucose leads not only to the 13 C labelling of (I, L, V) methyls but also to the selective 13 C labelling of the backbone C α and CO carbons of the Ile and Val residues. As a result, the backbone ( 1 H, 15 N) correlations of the Ile and Val residues and their next neighbours in the (i + 1) position can be selectively identified in HN(CA) and HN(CO) planes. The availability of a selective HSQC spectrum corresponding to the sole amide resonances of the Ile and Val residues allows connecting them to their corresponding methyls by the intra-residue NOE effect, and should therefore be applicable to larger systems

Differentiation of osteoporotic and neoplastic vertebral fractures by chemical shift {l_brace}in-phase and out-of phase{r_brace} MR imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ragab, Yasser [Radiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University (Egypt); Radiology Department, Dr Erfan and Bagedo General Hospital (Saudi Arabia)], E-mail: yragab61@hotmail.com; Emad, Yasser [Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University (Egypt); Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Department, Dr Erfan and Bagedo General Hospital (Saudi Arabia)], E-mail: yasseremad68@yahoo.com; Gheita, Tamer [Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University (Egypt)], E-mail: gheitamer@yahoo.com; Mansour, Maged [Oncology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University (Egypt); Oncology Department, Dr Erfan and Bagedo General Hospital (Saudi Arabia)], E-mail: magedmansour@yahoo.com; Abou-Zeid, A. [Public Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo (Egypt)], E-mail: alaabouzeid@yahoo.com; Ferrari, Serge [Division of Bone Diseases, Department of Rehabilitation and Geriatrics, and WHO, Collaborating Center for Osteoporosis Prevention, Geneva University Hospital (Switzerland)], E-mail: serge.ferrari@medecine.unige.ch; Rasker, Johannes J. [Rheumatologist University of Twente, Enschede (Netherlands)], E-mail: j.j.rasker@utwente.nl

2009-10-15

Objective: The objective of this study was to establish the cut-off value of the signal intensity drop on chemical shift magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with appropriate sensitivity and specificity to differentiate osteoporotic from neoplastic wedging of the spine. Patients and methods: All patients with wedging of vertebral bodies were included consecutively between February 2006 and January 2007. A chemical shift MRI was performed and signal intensity after (in-phase and out-phase) images were obtained. A DXA was performed in all. Results: A total of 40 patients were included, 20 with osteoporotic wedging (group 1) and 20 neoplastic (group 2). They were 21 males and 19 females. Acute vertebral collapse was observed in 15 patients in group 1 and subacute collapse in another 5 patients, while in group 2, 11 patients showed acute collapse and 9 patients (45%) showed subacute vertebral collapse. On the chemical shift MRI a substantial reduction in signal intensity was found in all lesions in both groups. The proportional changes observed in signal intensity of bone marrow lesions on in-phase compared with out-of-phase images showed significant differences in both groups (P < 0.05). At a cut-off value of 35%, the observed sensitivity of out-of-phase images was 95%, specificity was 100%, positive predictive value was 100% and negative predictive value was 95.2%. Conclusion: A chemical shift MRI is useful in order to differentiate patients with vertebral collapse due to underlying osteoporosis or neoplastic process.

Correlations of the chemical shift on fasly rotating biological solids by means of NMR spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herbst, Christian

2010-01-01

The basic aim of the thesis was the development and improvement of homo- and heteronuclear feedback sequences for the generation of correlation spectra of the chemical shift. In a first step the possibility of the acquisition of 13 C- 13 correlation spectra of the chemical shift by means of inversion pulses with low RF power factor was studied. Furthermore it was shown that broad-band phase-modulated inversion and universal rotational pulses can be constructed by means of global optimization procedures like the genetic algorithms under regardment of the available RF field strength. By inversion, universal rotational, and 360 pulses as starting values of the optimization efficient homonuclear CN n ν and RN n ν mixing sequences as well as heteronuclear RN n ν s ,ν k feedback sequences were generated. The satisfactory power of the numerically optimized sequences was shown by means of the simulation as well by means of correlation experiments of the chemical shift of L-histidine, L-arginine, and the (CUG) 97 -RNA. This thesis deals furthermore with the possibility to acquire simultaneously different signals with several receivers. By means of numerically optimized RN n ν s ,ν k pulse sequences both 15 N- 13 C and 13 C- 15 N correlation spectra were simultaneously generated. Furthermore it could be shown that the simultaneous acquisition of 3D- 15 N- 13 C- 13 C and 13 C- 15 N-( 1 H)- 1 H correlation spectra is possible. By this in only one measurement process resonance assignments can be met and studies of the global folding performed. A further application of several receivers is the simultaneous acquisition of CHHC, NHHN, NHHC, as well as CHHN spectra. By such experiments it is possible to characterize the hydrogen-bonding pattern and the glycosidic torsion angle χ in RNA. This was demonstrated by means of the (CUG) 97 -RNA. The simultaneous acquisition of all relevant crossing signals of the correlation spectra leads not only to an essential time saving, but

Determination of hydration numbers of electrolytes from temperature dependence of PMR chemical shifts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Subramanian, N.

1979-01-01

The method proposed by Malinowski et al. for the determination of effective hydration numbers (h) of electrolytes leads to a consistent incrrease in the observed values of 'h' with increase in solution concentration. An attempt is made to rationalize the experimental results by cosidering the simultaneous effects of temperature and concentration on the proton chemical shift. It is suggested that Malinowski's technique might yeld 'h' values very close to the true value for those ions for which there is a fortuitous cancellation of structure-making and structure-breaking properties. (Author) [pt

Peptoid-Peptide hybrid backbone architectures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Christian Adam

2010-01-01

Peptidomimetic oligomers and foldamers have received considerable attention for over a decade, with beta-peptides and the so-called peptoids (N-alkylglycine oligomers) representing prominent examples of such architectures. Lately, hybrid or mixed backbones consisting of both alpha- and beta......-amino acids (alpha/beta-peptides) have been investigated in some detail as well. The present Minireview is a survey of the literature concerning hybrid structures of alpha-amino acids and peptoids, including beta-peptoids (N-alkyl-beta-alanine oligomers), and is intended to give an overview of this area...

Analisa Perbandingan Quality Of Service (QoS) pada Jaringan Backbone Non-MPLS dengan Jaringan Backbone MPLS Menggunakan Routing Protocol OSPF di PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Tbk. Witel Ridar Riau

OpenAIRE

Silaban, Nestor Hasudungan; Sari, Linna Oktaviana; Anhar, Anhar

2015-01-01

The development of telecommunications technology based on Internet Protocol (IP) is now growing with the competitiveness of the telecommunications company to improve the quality of service to consumers. It can be obtained by increasing the quality backbone network using Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). MPLS is a new technology to forward the packet to the backbone network without changing the existing network structure. The main idea is to construct a replacement MPLS paths using label ...

Five Principles of Industrialized Transformation for Successfully Building an Operational Backbone

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Winkler, Till J.; Kettunen, Petteri

2018-01-01

approach that is underpinned by five principles—template-based, business-driven, matrix-organized, tight supplier steering and cascaded planning. The UPM case provides important lessons for transformation leaders seeking to build, expand or develop a value-adding operational backbone.......To move into the digital age, a globally operating company needs to have in place an operational backbone, but many struggle with achieving this and the associated transformation program. Based on the experience of UPM, a Finnish forest industry company, we describe an industrialized transformation...

AbDesign: An algorithm for combinatorial backbone design guided by natural conformations and sequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Lapidoth, Gideon D; Baran, Dror; Pszolla, Gabriele M; Norn, Christoffer; Alon, Assaf; Tyka, Michael D; Fleishman, Sarel J

2015-08-01

Computational design of protein function has made substantial progress, generating new enzymes, binders, inhibitors, and nanomaterials not previously seen in nature. However, the ability to design new protein backbones for function--essential to exert control over all polypeptide degrees of freedom--remains a critical challenge. Most previous attempts to design new backbones computed the mainchain from scratch. Here, instead, we describe a combinatorial backbone and sequence optimization algorithm called AbDesign, which leverages the large number of sequences and experimentally determined molecular structures of antibodies to construct new antibody models, dock them against target surfaces and optimize their sequence and backbone conformation for high stability and binding affinity. We used the algorithm to produce antibody designs that target the same molecular surfaces as nine natural, high-affinity antibodies; in five cases interface sequence identity is above 30%, and in four of those the backbone conformation at the core of the antibody binding surface is within 1 Å root-mean square deviation from the natural antibodies. Designs recapitulate polar interaction networks observed in natural complexes, and amino acid sidechain rigidity at the designed binding surface, which is likely important for affinity and specificity, is high compared to previous design studies. In designed anti-lysozyme antibodies, complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) at the periphery of the interface, such as L1 and H2, show greater backbone conformation diversity than the CDRs at the core of the interface, and increase the binding surface area compared to the natural antibody, potentially enhancing affinity and specificity. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Structural test of the parameterized-backbone method for protein design.

Science.gov (United States)

Plecs, Joseph J; Harbury, Pehr B; Kim, Peter S; Alber, Tom

2004-09-03

Designing new protein folds requires a method for simultaneously optimizing the conformation of the backbone and the side-chains. One approach to this problem is the use of a parameterized backbone, which allows the systematic exploration of families of structures. We report the crystal structure of RH3, a right-handed, three-helix coiled coil that was designed using a parameterized backbone and detailed modeling of core packing. This crystal structure was determined using another rationally designed feature, a metal-binding site that permitted experimental phasing of the X-ray data. RH3 adopted the intended fold, which has not been observed previously in biological proteins. Unanticipated structural asymmetry in the trimer was a principal source of variation within the RH3 structure. The sequence of RH3 differs from that of a previously characterized right-handed tetramer, RH4, at only one position in each 11 amino acid sequence repeat. This close similarity indicates that the design method is sensitive to the core packing interactions that specify the protein structure. Comparison of the structures of RH3 and RH4 indicates that both steric overlap and cavity formation provide strong driving forces for oligomer specificity.

Directional virtual backbone based data aggregation scheme for Wireless Visual Sensor Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jing; Liu, Shi-Jian; Tsai, Pei-Wei; Zou, Fu-Min; Ji, Xiao-Rong

2018-01-01

Data gathering is a fundamental task in Wireless Visual Sensor Networks (WVSNs). Features of directional antennas and the visual data make WVSNs more complex than the conventional Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). The virtual backbone is a technique, which is capable of constructing clusters. The version associating with the aggregation operation is also referred to as the virtual backbone tree. In most of the existing literature, the main focus is on the efficiency brought by the construction of clusters that the existing methods neglect local-balance problems in general. To fill up this gap, Directional Virtual Backbone based Data Aggregation Scheme (DVBDAS) for the WVSNs is proposed in this paper. In addition, a measurement called the energy consumption density is proposed for evaluating the adequacy of results in the cluster-based construction problems. Moreover, the directional virtual backbone construction scheme is proposed by considering the local-balanced factor. Furthermore, the associated network coding mechanism is utilized to construct DVBDAS. Finally, both the theoretical analysis of the proposed DVBDAS and the simulations are given for evaluating the performance. The experimental results prove that the proposed DVBDAS achieves higher performance in terms of both the energy preservation and the network lifetime extension than the existing methods.

Highly red-shifted NIR emission from a novel anthracene conjugated polymer backbone containing Pt( ii ) porphyrins

KAUST Repository

Freeman, D. M. E.; Minotto, A.; Duffy, Warren; Fallon, K. J.; McCulloch, Iain; Cacialli, F.; Bronstein, H.

2015-01-01

-monomer is not limited to exclusively highly solubilising moieties. Interestingly, the polymer shows a red-shifted elecroluminescence maximum (510 nm) when compared to its photoluminescence maximum (450 nm) which we attribute to excimer formation. The novel polymer

Chemical constituents of Ottonia corcovadensis Miq. from Amazon forest: 1H and 13C chemical shift assignments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Facundo, Valdir A.; Morais, Selene M.; Braz Filho, Raimundo

2004-01-01

In an ethanolic extract of leaves of Ottonia corcovadensis (Piperaceae) were identified sixteen terpenoids of essential oil and the three flavonoids 3',4',5,5',7-penta methoxyflavone (1), 3',4',5,7-tetra methoxyflavone (2) and 5-hydroxy-3',4',5',7-tetra methoxyflavone (3) and cafeic acid (4). Two amides (5 and 6) were isolated from an ethanolic extract of the roots. The structures were established by spectral analysis, meanly NMR (1D and 2D) and mass spectra. Extensive NMR analysis was also used to complete 1 H and 13 C chemical shift assignments of the flavonoids and amides. The components of the essential oil were identified by computer library search, retention indices and visual interpretation of mass spectra. (author)

Thalassiosira spp. community composition shifts in response to chemical and physical forcing in the northeast Pacific Ocean.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Phoebe Dreux Chappell

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Diatoms are genetically diverse unicellular photosynthetic eukaryotes that are key primary producers in the ocean. Many of the over 100 extant diatom species in the cosmopolitan genus Thalassiosira are difficult to distinguish in mixed populations using light microscopy. Here we examine shifts in Thalassiosira spp. composition along a coastal to open ocean transect that encountered a three-month-old Haida eddy in the northeast Pacific Ocean. To quantify shifts in Thalassiosira species composition, we developed a targeted automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA method to identify Thalassiosira spp. in environmental samples. As many specific fragment lengths are indicative of individual Thalassiosira spp., the ARISA method is a useful screening tool to identify changes in the relative abundance and distribution of specific species. The method also enabled us to assess changes in Thalassiosira community composition in response to chemical and physical forcing. Thalassiosira spp. community composition in the core of a three-month-old Haida eddy remained largely (>80% similar over a two-week period, despite moving 24 km southwestward. Shifts in Thalassiosira species correlated with changes in dissolved iron (Fe and temperature throughout the sampling period. Simultaneously tracking community composition and relative abundance of Thalassiosira species within the physical and chemical context they occurred allowed us to identify quantitative linkages between environmental conditions and community response.

Structural consequences of the natural substitution, E9K, on reactive-site-hydrolyzed squash (Cucurbita maxima) trypsin inhibitor (CMTI), as studied by two-dimensional NMR.

Science.gov (United States)

Krishnamoorthi, R; Lin, C L; VanderVelde, D

1992-06-02

Sequence-specific hydrogen-1 NMR assignments were made to all of the 29 amino acid residues of reactive-site-hydrolyzed Cucurbita maxima trypsin inhibitor I (CMTI-I*) by the application of two-dimensional NMR (2D NMR) techniques, and its secondary structural elements (two tight turns, a 3(10)-helix, and a triple-stranded beta-sheet) were identified on the basis of short-range NOESY cross peaks and deuterium-exchange kinetics. These secondary structural elements are present in the intact inhibitor [Holak, T. A., Gondol, D., Otlewski, J., & Wilusz, T. (1989) J. Mol. Biol. 210, 635-648] and are unaffected by the hydrolysis of the reactive-site peptide bond between Arg5 and Ile6, in accordance with the earlier conclusion reached for CMTI-III* [Krishnamoorthi, R., Gong, Y.-X., Lin, C. S., & VanderVelde, D. (1992) Biochemistry 31, 898-904]. Chemical shifts of backbone hydrogen atoms, peptide NH's, and C alpha H's, of CMTI-I* were compared with those of the intact inhibitor, CMTI-I, and of the reactive-site-hydrolyzed, natural, E9K variant, CMTI-III*. Cleavage of the Arg5-Ile6 peptide bond resulted in changes of chemical shifts of most of the backbone atoms of CMTI-I, in agreement with the earlier results obtained for CMTI-III. Comparison of chemical shifts of backbone hydrogen atoms of CMTI-I* and CMTI-III* revealed no changes, except for residues Glu9 and His25. However, the intact forms of the same two proteins, CMTI-I and CMTI-III, showed small but significant perturbations of chemical shifts of residues that made up the secondary structural elements of the inhibitors.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Energies and 2 '-Hydroxyl Group Orientations of RNA Backbone Conformations. Benchmark CCSD(T)/CBS Database, Electronic Analysis, and Assessment of DFT Methods and MD Simulations

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Mládek, Arnošt; Banáš, P.; Jurečka, P.; Otyepka, M.; Zgarbová, M.; Šponer, Jiří

2014-01-01

Roč. 10, č. 1 (2014), s. 463-480 ISSN 1549-9618 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP208/12/1878; GA MŠk(CZ) ED1.1.00/02.0068 Institutional support: RVO:68081707 Keywords : DENSITY-FUNCTIONAL THEORY * SUGAR-PHOSPHATE BACKBONE * QUANTUM-CHEMICAL CALCULATIONS Subject RIV: BO - Biophysics Impact factor: 5.498, year: 2014

Applications of Chemical Shift Imaging to Marine Sciences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haakil Lee

2010-08-01

Full Text Available The successful applications of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI in medicine are mostly due to the non-invasive and non-destructive nature of MRI techniques. Longitudinal studies of humans and animals are easily accomplished, taking advantage of the fact that MRI does not use harmful radiation that would be needed for plain film radiographic, computerized tomography (CT or positron emission (PET scans. Routine anatomic and functional studies using the strong signal from the most abundant magnetic nucleus, the proton, can also provide metabolic information when combined with in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS. MRS can be performed using either protons or hetero-nuclei (meaning any magnetic nuclei other than protons or 1H including carbon (13C or phosphorus (31P. In vivo MR spectra can be obtained from single region ofinterest (ROI or voxel or multiple ROIs simultaneously using the technique typically called chemical shift imaging (CSI. Here we report applications of CSI to marine samples and describe a technique to study in vivo glycine metabolism in oysters using 13C MRS 12 h after immersion in a sea water chamber dosed with [2-13C]-glycine. This is the first report of 13C CSI in a marine organism.

Induced helical backbone conformations of self-organizable dendronized polymers.

Science.gov (United States)

Rudick, Jonathan G; Percec, Virgil

2008-12-01

Control of function through the primary structure of a molecule presents a significant challenge with valuable rewards for nanoscience. Dendritic building blocks encoded with information that defines their three-dimensional shape (e.g., flat-tapered or conical) and how they associate with each other are referred to as self-assembling dendrons. Self-organizable dendronized polymers possess a flat-tapered or conical self-assembling dendritic side chain on each repeat unit of a linear polymer backbone. When appended to a covalent polymer, the self-assembling dendrons direct a folding process (i.e., intramolecular self-assembly). Alternatively, intermolecular self-assembly of dendrons mediated by noncovalent interactions between apex groups can generate a supramolecular polymer backbone. Self-organization, as we refer to it, is the spontaneous formation of periodic and quasiperiodic arrays from supramolecular elements. Covalent and supramolecular polymers jacketed with self-assembling dendrons self-organize. The arrays are most often comprised of cylindrical or spherical objects. The shape of the object is determined by the primary structure of the dendronized polymer: the structure of the self-assembling dendron and the length of the polymer backbone. It is therefore possible to predictably generate building blocks for single-molecule nanotechnologies or arrays of supramolecules for bottom-up self-assembly. We exploit the self-organization of polymers jacketed with self-assembling dendrons to elucidate how primary structure determines the adopted conformation and fold (i.e., secondary and tertiary structure), how the supramolecules associate (i.e., quaternary structure), and their resulting functions. A combination of experimental techniques is employed to interrogate the primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structure of the self-organizable dendronized polymers. We refer to the process by which we interpolate between the various levels of structural

Improvement of chemical shift selective saturation (CHESS) pulse for MR angiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishimori, Yoshiyuki; Sashie, Hiroyuki; Hiraga, Akira; Matsuda, Tsuyoshi

2000-01-01

We improved the fat suppression technique based on chemical shift selective saturation (CHESS). To do this, we shortened the duration of the CHESS pulse to achieve a short repetition time (TR) for MR angiography (MRA). A short-duration CHESS pulse causes broad frequency band saturation, creating extensive offset from the resonance frequency of water. In our phantom experiment, the best parameters of the short-duration CHESS pulse were 3.84 ms in duration, -650 Hz in offset frequency from water resonance, and had a 130-degree flip angle. With this technique, MRA will be able to be carried out without a significant increase in TR. Thus, better vessel contrast will be maintained in time-of-flight (TOF) MRA or contrast-enhanced MRA when using the maximum intensity projection (MIP) method. (author)

Isomer shifts and chemical bonding in crystalline Sn(II) and Sn(IV) compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terra, J.; Guenzburger, D.

1991-01-01

First-principles self-consistent Local Density calculations of the electronic structure of clusters representing Sn(II) (SnO, SnF 2 , SnS, SnSe) and Sn(IV) (SnO 2 , SnF 4 ) crystalline compounds were performed. Values of the electron density at the Sn nucleus were obtained and related to measured values of the Moessbauer Isomer Shifts reported in the literature. The nuclear parameter of 119 Sn derived was ΔR/R=(1.58±0.14)x10 -4 . The chemical bonding in the solids was analysed and related to the electron densities obtained. (author)

Instant Backbone.js application development

CERN Document Server

Hunter, Thomas

2013-01-01

Get to grips with a new technology, understand what it is and what it can do for you, and then get to work with the most important features and tasks. This book is a practical, step-by-step tutorial that will teach you to build Backbone.js applications quickly and efficiently.This book is targeted towards developers. It is assumed that you have at least a basic understanding of JavaScript and jQuery selectors. If you are interested in building dynamic Single Page Applications that interact heavily with a backend server, then this is the book for you.

Backbone conformation affects duplex initiation and duplex propagation in hybridisation of synthetic H-bonding oligomers.

Science.gov (United States)

Iadevaia, Giulia; Núñez-Villanueva, Diego; Stross, Alexander E; Hunter, Christopher A

2018-06-06

Synthetic oligomers equipped with complementary H-bond donor and acceptor side chains form multiply H-bonded duplexes in organic solvents. Comparison of the duplex forming properties of four families of oligomers with different backbones shows that formation of an extended duplex with three or four inter-strand H-bonds is more challenging than formation of complexes that make only two H-bonds. The stabilities of 1 : 1 complexes formed between length complementary homo-oligomers equipped with either phosphine oxide or phenol recognition modules were measured in toluene. When the backbone is very flexible (pentane-1,5-diyl thioether), the stability increases uniformly by an order of magnitude for each additional base-pair added to the duplex: the effective molarities for formation of the first intramolecular H-bond (duplex initiation) and subsequent intramolecular H-bonds (duplex propagation) are similar. This flexible system is compared with three more rigid backbones that are isomeric combinations of an aromatic ring and methylene groups. One of the rigid systems behaves in exactly the same way as the flexible backbone, but the other two do not. For these systems, the effective molarity for formation of the first intramolecular H-bond is the same as that found for the other two backbones, but additional H-bonds are not formed between the longer oligomers. The effective molarities are too low for duplex propagation in these systems, because the oligomer backbones cannot adopt conformations compatible with formation of an extended duplex.

Predicting Heats of Explosion of Nitroaromatic Compounds through NBO Charges and 15N NMR Chemical Shifts of Nitro Groups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ricardo Infante-Castillo

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This work presents a new quantitative model to predict the heat of explosion of nitroaromatic compounds using the natural bond orbital (NBO charge and 15N NMR chemical shifts of the nitro groups (15NNitro as structural parameters. The values of the heat of explosion predicted for 21 nitroaromatic compounds using the model described here were compared with experimental data. The prediction ability of the model was assessed by the leave-one-out cross-validation method. The cross-validation results show that the model is significant and stable and that the predicted accuracy is within 0.146 MJ kg−1, with an overall root mean squared error of prediction (RMSEP below 0.183 MJ kg−1. Strong correlations were observed between the heat of explosion and the charges (R2 = 0.9533 and 15N NMR chemical shifts (R2 = 0.9531 of the studied compounds. In addition, the dependence of the heat of explosion on the presence of activating or deactivating groups of nitroaromatic explosives was analyzed. All calculations, including optimizations, NBO charges, and 15NNitro NMR chemical shifts analyses, were performed using density functional theory (DFT and a 6-311+G(2d,p basis set. Based on these results, this practical quantitative model can be used as a tool in the design and development of highly energetic materials (HEM based on nitroaromatic compounds.

Study of muscular skeletal apparatus’s functional state of junior sportsmen-power lifters, who have backbone verterbral abnormalities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V.R. Ilmatov

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose: determination of abnormalities and disorders of muscular skeletal apparatuses’ status of power lifters, who have vertebral abnormalities of backbone. Material: 58 junior sportsmen participated in the research. 36 sportsmen were the main group of the research and had vertebral disorders in backbone. For posture testing visual examination was used. Backbone mobility was tested with goniometry method. Flat feet were registered with plantography method. Results: we determined posture abnormalities in sagittal and frontal planes; feet flat, limited maximal movements in thoracic and lumbar spines. It was determined that the most limited were rotational movements and backbone unbending. The next were side bents. These limitations were accompanied by pain syndrome. These observations indirectly confirmed theory of direct interaction of backbone structures with nervous structures. It is also a confirmation of vertebral abnormalities’ presence in junior sportsmen. Conclusions: it was found that in junior sportsmen - power lifters with backbone pathologies in 100% of cases symptoms are determined by local limitations of backbone mobility with pain syndrome. In 35% of cases they are accompanied by posture’s disorders and feet flat. Orientation and methodic of rehabilitation of such sportsmen have been determined.

Parameter-free calculation of K alpha chemical shifts for Al, Si, and Ge oxides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lægsgaard, Jesper

2001-01-01

The chemical shifts of the K alpha radiation line from Al, Si, and Ge ions between their elemental and oxide forms are calculated within the framework of density functional theory using ultrasoft pseudopotentials. It is demonstrated that this theoretical approach yields quantitatively accurate...... results fur the systems investigated, provided that relaxations of the valence electrons upon the core-hole transition are properly accounted for. Therefore, such calculations provide a powerful tool for identification of impurity states based on x-ray fluorescence data. Results for an Al impurity...

An Unusual Conformational Isomer of Verrucosidin Backbone from a Hydrothermal Vent Fungus, Penicillium sp. Y-50-10.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Chengqian; Shi, Yutong; Auckloo, Bibi Nazia; Chen, Xuegang; Chen, Chen-Tung Arthur; Tao, Xinyi; Wu, Bin

2016-08-18

A new verrucosidin derivative, methyl isoverrucosidinol (1), was isolated from the marine fungus Penicillium sp. Y-50-10, dwelling in sulfur rich sediment in the Kueishantao hydrothermal vents off Taiwan. The structure was established by spectroscopic means including HRMS and 2D-NMR spectroscopic analysis. The absolute configuration was defined mainly by comparison of quantum chemical TDDFT calculated and experimental ECD spectra. Among hitherto known compounds with a verrucosidine backbone isolated from natural resource, compound 1 represents the first example of a new conformational isomer of its skeleton, exhibiting antibiotic activity against Bacillus subtilis with MIC value 32 μg/mL.

Performance of Flow-Aware Networking in LTE backbone

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sniady, Aleksander; Soler, José

2012-01-01

technologies, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE). This paper proposes usage of a modified Flow Aware Networking (FAN) technique for enhancing Quality of Service (QoS) in the all-IP transport networks underlying LTE backbone. The results obtained with OPNET Modeler show that FAN, in spite of being relatively...

TRX-LOGOS - a graphical tool to demonstrate DNA information content dependent upon backbone dynamics in addition to base sequence.

Science.gov (United States)

Fortin, Connor H; Schulze, Katharina V; Babbitt, Gregory A

2015-01-01

It is now widely-accepted that DNA sequences defining DNA-protein interactions functionally depend upon local biophysical features of DNA backbone that are important in defining sites of binding interaction in the genome (e.g. DNA shape, charge and intrinsic dynamics). However, these physical features of DNA polymer are not directly apparent when analyzing and viewing Shannon information content calculated at single nucleobases in a traditional sequence logo plot. Thus, sequence logos plots are severely limited in that they convey no explicit information regarding the structural dynamics of DNA backbone, a feature often critical to binding specificity. We present TRX-LOGOS, an R software package and Perl wrapper code that interfaces the JASPAR database for computational regulatory genomics. TRX-LOGOS extends the traditional sequence logo plot to include Shannon information content calculated with regard to the dinucleotide-based BI-BII conformation shifts in phosphate linkages on the DNA backbone, thereby adding a visual measure of intrinsic DNA flexibility that can be critical for many DNA-protein interactions. TRX-LOGOS is available as an R graphics module offered at both SourceForge and as a download supplement at this journal. To demonstrate the general utility of TRX logo plots, we first calculated the information content for 416 Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcription factor binding sites functionally confirmed in the Yeastract database and matched to previously published yeast genomic alignments. We discovered that flanking regions contain significantly elevated information content at phosphate linkages than can be observed at nucleobases. We also examined broader transcription factor classifications defined by the JASPAR database, and discovered that many general signatures of transcription factor binding are locally more information rich at the level of DNA backbone dynamics than nucleobase sequence. We used TRX-logos in combination with MEGA 6.0 software

Towards a natural classification and backbone tree for Sordariomycete

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Maharachchikumbura, S.S.N.; Hyde, K.D.; Jones, E.B.G.; McKenzie, E.H.C.; Huang, S.-K.; Abdel-Wahab, M.A.; Daranagama, D.A.; Dayarathne, M.; D'souza, M.J.; Goonasekara, I.D.; Hongsanan, S.; Jayawardena, R.S.; Kirk, P.M.; Konta, S.; Liu, J.-K.; Liu, Z.-Y.; Norphanphoun, C.; Pang, K.-L.; Perera, R.H.; Senanayake, I.C.; Shang, Q.; Shenoy, B.D.; Xiao, Y.; Bahkali, A.H.; Kang, J.; Somrothipol, S.; Suetrong, S.; Wen, T.; Xu, J.

, lichenized or lichenicolous taxa The class includes freshwater, marine and terrestrial taxa and has a worldwide distribution This paper provides an updated outline of the Sordariomycetes and a backbone tree incorporating asexual and sexual genera in the class...

On the relationship between NMR-derived amide order parameters and protein backbone entropy changes.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharp, Kim A; O'Brien, Evan; Kasinath, Vignesh; Wand, A Joshua

2015-05-01

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to analyze the relationship between NMR-derived squared generalized order parameters of amide NH groups and backbone entropy. Amide order parameters (O(2) NH ) are largely determined by the secondary structure and average values appear unrelated to the overall flexibility of the protein. However, analysis of the more flexible subset (O(2) NH  entropy than that reported by the side chain methyl axis order parameters, O(2) axis . A calibration curve for backbone entropy vs. O(2) NH is developed, which accounts for both correlations between amide group motions of different residues, and correlations between backbone and side chain motions. This calibration curve can be used with experimental values of O(2) NH changes obtained by NMR relaxation measurements to extract backbone entropy changes, for example, upon ligand binding. In conjunction with our previous calibration for side chain entropy derived from measured O(2) axis values this provides a prescription for determination of the total protein conformational entropy changes from NMR relaxation measurements. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Optical alignment control of polyimide molecules containing azobenzene in the backbone structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakamoto, Kenji; Usami, Kiyoaki; Sasaki, Toru; Kanayama, Takashi; Ushioda, Sukekatsu

2004-01-01

Using polarized infrared absorption spectroscopy, we have determined the orientation of the polyimide backbone structure in photo-alignment films for liquid crystals (LC). The polyimide used in this study contains azobenzene in the backbone structure. Photo-alignment treatment was performed on the corresponding polyamic acid film, using a light source of wavelength 340-500 nm. The polyamic acid film (∼16 nm thick) was first irradiated at normal incidence with linearly polarized light (LP-light) of 156 J/cm 2 , and then oblique angle irradiation of unpolarized light (UP-light) was performed in the plane of incidence perpendicular to the polarization direction of the LP-light. The UP-light exposure was varied up to 882 J/cm 2 . We found that the average inclination angle of the polyimide backbone structure, measured from the surface plane, increases almost linearly with UP-light exposure. On the other hand, the in-plane anisotropy induced by the first irradiation with LP-light decreases with the increase of UP-light exposure

Analysis of stationary availability factor of two-level backbone computer networks with arbitrary topology

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, P. A.

2018-05-01

This scientific paper deals with the two-level backbone computer networks with arbitrary topology. A specialized method, offered by the author for calculation of the stationary availability factor of the two-level backbone computer networks, based on the Markov reliability models for the set of the independent repairable elements with the given failure and repair rates and the methods of the discrete mathematics, is also discussed. A specialized algorithm, offered by the author for analysis of the network connectivity, taking into account different kinds of the network equipment failures, is also observed. Finally, this paper presents an example of calculation of the stationary availability factor for the backbone computer network with the given topology.

Nonsuppressing normal thymus on chemical-shift MR imaging and anterior mediastinal lymphoma. Differentiation with diffusion-weighted MR imaging by using the apparent diffusion coefficient

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Priola, Adriano Massimiliano; Priola, Sandro Massimo; Gned, Dario; Veltri, Andrea; Giraudo, Maria Teresa

2018-01-01

To prospectively evaluate usefulness of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in differentiating anterior mediastinal lymphoma from nonsuppressing normal thymus on chemical-shift MR, and to look at the relationship between patient age and ADC. Seventy-three young subjects (25 men, 48 women; age range, 9-29 years), who underwent chemical-shift MR and diffusion-weighted MR were divided into a normal thymus group (group A, 40 subjects), and a lymphoma group (group B, 33 patients). For group A, all subjects had normal thymus with no suppression on opposed-phase chemical-shift MR. Two readers measured the signal intensity index (SII) and ADC. Differences in SII and ADC between groups were tested using t-test. ADC was correlated with age using Pearson correlation coefficient. Mean SII±standard deviation was 2.7±1.8% for group A and 2.2±2.4% for group B, with no significant difference between groups (P=.270). Mean ADC was 2.48±0.38 x 10 -3 mm 2 /s for group A and 1.24±0.23 x 10 -3 mm 2 /s for group B. A significant difference between groups was found (P<.001), with no overlap in range. Lastly, significant correlation was found between age and ADC (r=0.935, P<.001) in group A. ADC of diffusion-weighted MR is a noninvasive and accurate parameter for differentiating lymphoma from nonsuppressing thymus on chemical-shift MR in young subjects. (orig.)

Control of polymer-packing orientation in thin films through synthetic tailoring of backbone coplanarity

KAUST Repository

Chen, Mark S.

2013-10-22

Controlling solid-state order of π-conjugated polymers through macromolecular design is essential for achieving high electronic device performance; yet, it remains a challenge, especially with respect to polymer-packing orientation. Our work investigates the influence of backbone coplanarity on a polymer\\'s preference to pack face-on or edge-on relative to the substrate. Isoindigo-based polymers were synthesized with increasing planarity by systematically substituting thiophenes for phenyl rings in the acceptor comonomer. This increasing backbone coplanarity, supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations of representative trimers, leads to the narrowing of polymer band gaps as characterized by ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV-vis-NIR) spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. Among the polymers studied, regiosymmetric II and TII polymers exhibited the highest hole mobilities in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), while in organic photovoltaics (OPVs), TBII polymers that display intermediate levels of planarity provided the highest power conversion efficiencies. Upon thin-film analysis by atomic force microscropy (AFM) and grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD), we discovered that polymer-packing orientation could be controlled by tuning polymer planarity and solubility. Highly soluble, planar polymers favor face-on orientation in thin films while the less soluble, nonplanar polymers favor an edge-on orientation. This study advances our fundamental understanding of how polymer structure influences nanostructural order and reveals a new synthetic strategy for the design of semiconducting materials with rationally engineered solid-state properties. © 2013 American Chemical Society.

An improved algorithm for MFR fragment assembly

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kontaxis, Georg

2012-01-01

A method for generating protein backbone models from backbone only NMR data is presented, which is based on molecular fragment replacement (MFR). In a first step, the PDB database is mined for homologous peptide fragments using experimental backbone-only data i.e. backbone chemical shifts (CS) and residual dipolar couplings (RDC). Second, this fragment library is refined against the experimental restraints. Finally, the fragments are assembled into a protein backbone fold using a rigid body docking algorithm using the RDCs as restraints. For improved performance, backbone nuclear Overhauser effects (NOEs) may be included at that stage. Compared to previous implementations of MFR-derived structure determination protocols this model-building algorithm offers improved stability and reliability. Furthermore, relative to CS-ROSETTA based methods, it provides faster performance and straightforward implementation with the option to easily include further types of restraints and additional energy terms.

MR chemical shift imaging and spectroscopy of atherosclerotic plaque

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vinitski, S.; Consigny, P.M.; Shapiro, M.J.; Janes, N.; Smullens, S.N.; Rifkin, M.D.

1989-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a technique for in vivo imaging and characterization of atherosclerotic plaque. The authors used a spin-echo technique with a short echo time (TE) of 11 msec. Lipid/water suppression was achieved by means of hybrid chemical shift imaging. Lesions were induced in three rabbits by a combination of balloon denudation of the abdominal aorta and a high-cholesterol diet. Following in vivo imaging of these rabbit aortas and human carotid arteries (1.5 T), the animals were killed or carotid endarterectomy was performed so that the plaques could be excised. The plaques were then analyzed in vitro both histologically and with high-resolution spectroscopy (8.5 T). Use of the short TE improved lesion visualization. The fat/water suppression showed only a small amount of mobile lipids in plaque. Both MR spectroscopic and histologic analysis corroborated these images. The composition of atherosclerotic plaques in both humans and rabbits was demonstrated to be heterogeneous, with predominantly nonmobile lipids. These results suggest that the combination of short TE MR imaging and fat/water suppression can identify plaque and delineate areas containing mobile lipids

Complete resonance assignment for the polypeptide backbone of interleukin 1β using three-dimensional heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Driscoll, P.C.; Clore, G.M.; Marion, D.; Gronenborn, A.M.; Wingfield, P.T.

1990-01-01

The complete sequence-specific assignment of the 15 N and 1 H backbone resonances of the NMR spectrum of recombinant human interleukin 1β has been obtained by using primarily 15 N- 1 H heteronuclear three-dimensional (3D) NMR techniques in combination with 15 N- 1 H heteronuclear and 1 H homonuclear two-dimensional NMR. The fingerprint region of the spectrum was analyzed by using a combination of 3D heteronuclear 1 H Hartmann-Hahn 15 N- 1 H multiple quantum coherence (3D HOHAHA-HMQC) and 3D heteronuclear 1 H nuclear Overhauser 15 N- 1 H multiple quantum coherence (3D NOESY-HMQC) spectroscopies. The authors show that the problems of amide NH and C α H chemical shift degeneracy that are prevalent for proteins of the size are readily overcome by using the 3D heteronuclear NMR technique. A doubling of some peaks in the spectrum was found to be due to N-terminal heterogeneity of the 15 N-labeled protein, corresponding to a mixture of wild-type and des-Ala-1-interleukin 1β. The complete list of 15 N and 1 H assignments is given for all the amide NH and C α H resonances of all non-proline residues, as well as the 1 H assignments for some of the amino acid side chains. This first example of the sequence-specific assignment of a protein using heteronuclear 3D NMR provides a basis for further conformational and dynamic studies of interleukin 1β

Solid state NMR of proteins at high MAS frequencies: symmetry-based mixing and simultaneous acquisition of chemical shift correlation spectra

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bellstedt, Peter; Herbst, Christian; Häfner, Sabine; Leppert, Jörg; Görlach, Matthias; Ramachandran, Ramadurai

2012-01-01

We have carried out chemical shift correlation experiments with symmetry-based mixing sequences at high MAS frequencies and examined different strategies to simultaneously acquire 3D correlation spectra that are commonly required in the structural studies of proteins. The potential of numerically optimised symmetry-based mixing sequences and the simultaneous recording of chemical shift correlation spectra such as: 3D NCAC and 3D NHH with dual receivers, 3D NC′C and 3D C′NCA with sequential 13 C acquisitions, 3D NHH and 3D NC′H with sequential 1 H acquisitions and 3D CANH and 3D C’NH with broadband 13 C– 15 N mixing are demonstrated using microcrystalline samples of the β1 immunoglobulin binding domain of protein G (GB1) and the chicken α-spectrin SH3 domain.

Calculation of 125Te NMR Chemical Shifts at the Full Four-Component Relativistic Level with Taking into Account Solvent and Vibrational Corrections: A Gateway to Better Agreement with Experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Rusakova, Irina L; Rusakov, Yuriy Yu; Krivdin, Leonid B

2017-06-29

Four-component relativistic calculations of 125 Te NMR chemical shifts were performed in the series of 13 organotellurium compounds, potential precursors of the biologically active species, at the density functional theory level under the nonrelativistic and four-component fully relativistic conditions using locally dense basis set scheme derived from relativistic Dyall's basis sets. The relativistic effects in tellurium chemical shifts were found to be of as much as 20-25% of the total calculated values. The vibrational and solvent corrections to 125 Te NMR chemical shifts are about, accordingly, 6 and 8% of their total values. The PBE0 exchange-correlation functional turned out to give the best agreement of calculated tellurium shifts with their experimental values giving the mean absolute percentage error of 4% in the range of ∼1000 ppm, provided all corrections are taken into account.

An Unusual Conformational Isomer of Verrucosidin Backbone from a Hydrothermal Vent Fungus, Penicillium sp. Y-50-10

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chengqian Pan

2016-08-01

Full Text Available A new verrucosidin derivative, methyl isoverrucosidinol (1, was isolated from the marine fungus Penicillium sp. Y-50-10, dwelling in sulfur rich sediment in the Kueishantao hydrothermal vents off Taiwan. The structure was established by spectroscopic means including HRMS and 2D-NMR spectroscopic analysis. The absolute configuration was defined mainly by comparison of quantum chemical TDDFT calculated and experimental ECD spectra. Among hitherto known compounds with a verrucosidine backbone isolated from natural resource, compound 1 represents the first example of a new conformational isomer of its skeleton, exhibiting antibiotic activity against Bacillus subtilis with MIC value 32 μg/mL.

A New Paradigm for Chemical Engineering?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gani, Rafiqul

evidence of this change comes from the jobs taken by graduating chemical engineering professionals in North America, Europe, and some of the Asian countries. In terms of where the graduating chemical engineers are going to work, a clear shift from the commodity chemical industry to the product oriented...... businesses has been observed. There is an increasing trend within the chemical industry to focus on products and the sustainable processes that can make them. Do these changes point to a paradigm shift in chemical engineering as a discipline? Historically, two previous paradigm shifts in chemical engineering...... corresponded to major shifts in chemical engineering as a discipline, which affected not only the education of chemical engineers, but also the development of chemical engineering as a discipline. Has the time come for a new paradigm shift that will prepare the current and future chemical engineering graduates...

Chemical composition effects of methylene containing polymers on gas emission under γ-irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferry, M., E-mail: muriel.ferry@cea.fr [CEA, DEN, DPC, SECR, LRMO, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Dannoux-Papin, A. [CEA, DEN, DPC, SECR, LRMO, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Dély, N. [CEA, DSM, IRAMIS, LIDYL, PCR, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Legand, S.; Durand, D.; Roujou, J.L.; Lamouroux, C.; Dauvois, V. [CEA, DEN, DPC, SECR, LRMO, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Coignet, P.; Cochin, F. [AREVA NC DOR/RDP, 1 place Jean Millier, 92084 La Défense (France); Esnouf, S. [CEA, DEN, DPC, SECR, LRMO, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); CEA, DSM, IRAMIS, LIDYL, PCR, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)

2014-09-01

The presence of different chemical groups in methylene containing polymers can lead to very different behaviors under ionizing radiation. To better understand the effect of these groups on gas production under γ-irradiation, especially on hydrogen formation, and to study the efficiency of energy transfer between chemical groups, several methylene containing polymers with different controlled group concentrations were studied in inert atmosphere. We analyzed the influence of the nature and position of the chemical group using methylene containing copolymers with aliphatic side-chains (different lengths), ester groups in the side-chains (different concentrations) and ester groups in the polymer backbone (different concentrations). Radiation chemical yields of H{sub 2}, CO, CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} were determined at room temperature by high resolution mass spectrometry. On the basis of these results, we attempt to obtain a better understanding of the mechanisms involved. It can be observed that crystallinity and aliphatic side-chain have no effect on hydrogen formation. On contrary, esters on side-chain and in the backbone have an important influence on hydrogen formation, with the most important effect when esters groups are in the backbone. In these two kind of materials, energy fraction transferred from methylene to ester groups has been quantified and only 10 wt% (or less) of ester groups are sufficient to protect effectively the aliphatic moiety.

Hydrogen exchange rate of tyrosine hydroxyl groups in proteins as studied by the deuterium isotope effect on C(zeta) chemical shifts.

Science.gov (United States)

Takeda, Mitsuhiro; Jee, Jungoo; Ono, Akira Mei; Terauchi, Tsutomu; Kainosho, Masatsune

2009-12-30

We describe a new NMR method for monitoring the individual hydrogen exchange rates of the hydroxyl groups of tyrosine (Tyr) residues in proteins. The method utilizes (2S,3R)-[beta(2),epsilon(1,2)-(2)H(3);0,alpha,beta,zeta-(13)C(4);(15)N]-Tyr, zeta-SAIL Tyr, to detect and assign the (13)C(zeta) signals of Tyr rings efficiently, either by indirect (1)H-detection through 7-8 Hz (1)H(delta)-(13)C(zeta) spin couplings or by direct (13)C(zeta) observation. A comparison of the (13)C(zeta) chemical shifts of three Tyr residues of an 18.2 kDa protein, EPPIb, dissolved in H(2)O and D(2)O, revealed that all three (13)C(zeta) signals in D(2)O appeared at approximately 0.13 ppm ( approximately 20 Hz at 150.9 MHz) higher than those in H(2)O. In a H(2)O/D(2)O (1:1) mixture, however, one of the three signals for (13)C(zeta) appeared as a single peak at the averaged chemical shifts, and the other two appeared as double peaks at exactly the same chemical shifts in H(2)O and D(2)O, in 50 mM phosphate buffer (pH 6.6) at 40 degrees C. These three peaks were assigned to Tyr-36, Tyr-120, and Tyr-30, from the lower to higher chemical shifts, respectively. The results indicate that the hydroxyl proton of Tyr-120 exchanges faster than a few milliseconds, whereas those of Tyr-30 and Tyr-36 exchange more slowly. The exchange rate of the Tyr-30 hydroxyl proton, k(ex), under these conditions was determined by (13)C NMR exchange spectroscopy (EXSY) to be 9.2 +/- 1.1 s(-1). The Tyr-36 hydroxyl proton, however, exchanges too slowly to be determined by EXSY. These profound differences among the hydroxyl proton exchange rates are closely related to their relative solvent accessibility and the hydrogen bonds associated with the Tyr hydroxyl groups in proteins.

Performance test of multicomponent quantum mechanical calculation with polarizable continuum model for proton chemical shift.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanematsu, Yusuke; Tachikawa, Masanori

2015-05-21

Multicomponent quantum mechanical (MC_QM) calculations with polarizable continuum model (PCM) have been tested against liquid (1)H NMR chemical shifts for a test set of 80 molecules. Improvement from conventional quantum mechanical calculations was achieved for MC_QM calculations. The advantage of the multicomponent scheme could be attributed to the geometrical change from the equilibrium geometry by the incorporation of the hydrogen nuclear quantum effect, while that of PCM can be attributed to the change of the electronic structure according to the polarization by solvent effects.

Clinical application of 1H-chemical-shift imaging (CSI) to brain diseases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naruse, Shoji; Furuya, Seiichi; Ide, Mariko

1992-01-01

An H-1 chemical shift imaging (CSI) was developed as part of the clinical MRI system, by which magnetic resonance spectra (MRS) can be obtained from multiple small voxels and metabolite distribution in the brain can be visualized. The present study was to determine the feasibility and clinical potential of using an H-1 CSI. The device used was a Magnetom H 15 apparatus. The study population was comprised of 25 healthy subjects, 20 patients with brain tumor, 4 with ischemic disease, and 6 with miscellaneous degenerative disease. The H-1 CSI was obtained by the 3-dimensional Fourier transformation. After suppressing the lipid signal by the inversion-recovery method and the water signal by the chemical-shift selective pulse with a following dephasing gradient, 2-directional 16 x 16 phase encodings were applied to the 16 x 16∼18 x 18 cm field of view, in which a 8 x 8 x 2∼10 x 10 x 2 cm area was selected by the stimulated echo or spin-echo method. The metabolite mapping and its contour mapping were created by using the curve-fitted area, with interpolation to the 256 x 256 matrix. In the healthy group, high resolution spectra for N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), creatine, choline (Cho), and glutamine/glutamate were obtained from each voxel; and metabolite mapping and contour mapping also clearly showed metabolite distribution in the brain. In the group of brain tumor, an increased Cho and lactate and loss of NAA were observed, along with heterogeneity within the tumor and changes in the surrounding tissue; and there was a good correlation between lactate peak and tumor malignancy. The group of ischemic and degenerative disease had a decreased NAA and increased lactate on both spectra and metabolite mapping, depending on disease stage. These findings indicated that H-1 CSI is helpful for detecting spectra over the whole brain, as well as for determining metabolite distribution. (N.K.)

Triple-resonance multidimensional NMR study of calmodulin complexed with the binding domain of skeletal muscle myosin light-chain kinase: Indication of a conformational change in the central helix

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ikura, Mitsuhiko; Kay, L.E.; Bax, A.; Krinks, M.

1991-01-01

Heteronuclear 3D and 4D NMR experiments have been used to obtain 1 H, 13 C, and 15 N backbone chemical shift assignments in Ca 2+ -loaded clamodulin complexed with a 26-residue synthetic peptide (M13) corresponding to the calmodulin-bionding domain (residues 577-602) of rabbit skeletal muscle muosin light-chain kinase. Comparison of the chemical shift values with those observed in peptide-free calmodulin shows that binding of M13 peptide induces substantial chemical shift changes that are not localized in one particular region of the protein. The largest changes are found in the first helix of the Ca 2+ -binding site 1 (E11-E14), the N-terminal portion of the central helix (M72-D78), and the second helix of the Ca 2+ -binding site 4 (F141-M145). Analysis of backbone NOE connectivities indicates a change from α-helical to an extended conformation for residues 75-77 upon complexation with M13. Upon complexation with M13, a significant decrease in the amide exchange rate is observed for residues T110, L112, G113, and E114 at the end of the second helix of site 3

Structural insights into the backbone-circularized granulocyte colony-stimulating factor containing a short connector.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyafusa, Takamitsu; Shibuya, Risa; Honda, Shinya

2018-06-02

Backbone circularization is a powerful approach for enhancing the structural stability of polypeptides. Herein, we present the crystal structure of the circularized variant of the granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) in which the terminal helical region was circularized using a short, two-amino acid connector. The structure revealed that the N- and C-termini were indeed connected by a peptide bond. The local structure of the C-terminal region transited from an α helix to 3 10 helix with a bend close to the N-terminal region, indicating that the structural change offset the insufficient length of the connector. This is the first-ever report of a crystal structure of the backbone of a circularized protein. It will facilitate the development of backbone circularization methodology. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Wetting of nonconserved residue-backbones: A feature indicative of aggregation associated regions of proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Pradhan, Mohan R; Pal, Arumay; Hu, Zhongqiao; Kannan, Srinivasaraghavan; Chee Keong, Kwoh; Lane, David P; Verma, Chandra S

2016-02-01

Aggregation is an irreversible form of protein complexation and often toxic to cells. The process entails partial or major unfolding that is largely driven by hydration. We model the role of hydration in aggregation using "Dehydrons." "Dehydrons" are unsatisfied backbone hydrogen bonds in proteins that seek shielding from water molecules by associating with ligands or proteins. We find that the residues at aggregation interfaces have hydrated backbones, and in contrast to other forms of protein-protein interactions, are under less evolutionary pressure to be conserved. Combining evolutionary conservation of residues and extent of backbone hydration allows us to distinguish regions on proteins associated with aggregation (non-conserved dehydron-residues) from other interaction interfaces (conserved dehydron-residues). This novel feature can complement the existing strategies used to investigate protein aggregation/complexation. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Constructing Battery-Aware Virtual Backbones in Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yang Yuanyuan

2007-01-01

Full Text Available A critical issue in battery-powered sensor networks is to construct energy efficient virtual backbones for network routing. Recent study in battery technology reveals that batteries tend to discharge more power than needed and reimburse the over-discharged power if they are recovered. In this paper we first provide a mathematical battery model suitable for implementation in sensor networks. We then introduce the concept of battery-aware connected dominating set (BACDS and show that in general the minimum BACDS (MBACDS can achieve longer lifetime than the previous backbone structures. Then we show that finding a MBACDS is NP-hard and give a distributed approximation algorithm to construct the BACDS. The resulting BACDS constructed by our algorithm is at most opt size, where is the maximum node degree and opt is the size of an optimal BACDS. Simulation results show that the BACDS can save a significant amount of energy and achieve up to longer network lifetime than previous schemes.

On the Confounding Effect of Temperature on Chemical Shift-Encoded Fat Quantification

Science.gov (United States)

Hernando, Diego; Sharma, Samir D.; Kramer, Harald; Reeder, Scott B.

2014-01-01

Purpose To characterize the confounding effect of temperature on chemical shift-encoded (CSE) fat quantification. Methods The proton resonance frequency of water, unlike triglycerides, depends on temperature. This leads to a temperature dependence of the spectral models of fat (relative to water) that are commonly used by CSE-MRI methods. Simulation analysis was performed for 1.5 Tesla CSE fat–water signals at various temperatures and echo time combinations. Oil–water phantoms were constructed and scanned at temperatures between 0 and 40°C using spectroscopy and CSE imaging at three echo time combinations. An explanted human liver, rejected for transplantation due to steatosis, was scanned using spectroscopy and CSE imaging. Fat–water reconstructions were performed using four different techniques: magnitude and complex fitting, with standard or temperature-corrected signal modeling. Results In all experiments, magnitude fitting with standard signal modeling resulted in large fat quantification errors. Errors were largest for echo time combinations near TEinit ≈ 1.3 ms, ΔTE ≈ 2.2 ms. Errors in fat quantification caused by temperature-related frequency shifts were smaller with complex fitting, and were avoided using a temperature-corrected signal model. Conclusion Temperature is a confounding factor for fat quantification. If not accounted for, it can result in large errors in fat quantifications in phantom and ex vivo acquisitions. PMID:24123362

Polyolefin backbone substitution in binders for low temperature powder injection moulding feedstocks.

Science.gov (United States)

Hausnerova, Berenika; Kuritka, Ivo; Bleyan, Davit

2014-02-27

This paper reports the substitution of polyolefin backbone binder components with low melting temperature carnauba wax for powder injection moulding applications. The effect of various binder compositions of Al₂O₃ feedstock on thermal degradation parameters is investigated by thermogravimetric analysis. Within the experimental framework 29 original feedstock compositions were prepared and the superiority of carnauba wax over the polyethylene binder backbone was demonstrated in compositions containing polyethylene glycol as the initial opening agent and governing the proper mechanism of the degradation process. Moreover, the replacement of synthetic polymer by the natural wax contributes to an increase of environmental sustainability of modern industrial technologies.

Solid state NMR of proteins at high MAS frequencies: symmetry-based mixing and simultaneous acquisition of chemical shift correlation spectra

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bellstedt, Peter [Fritz Lipmann Institute, Biomolecular NMR spectroscopy, Leibniz Institute for Age Research (Germany); Herbst, Christian [Ubon Ratchathani University, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science (Thailand); Haefner, Sabine; Leppert, Joerg; Goerlach, Matthias; Ramachandran, Ramadurai, E-mail: raman@fli-leibniz.de [Fritz Lipmann Institute, Biomolecular NMR spectroscopy, Leibniz Institute for Age Research (Germany)

2012-12-15

We have carried out chemical shift correlation experiments with symmetry-based mixing sequences at high MAS frequencies and examined different strategies to simultaneously acquire 3D correlation spectra that are commonly required in the structural studies of proteins. The potential of numerically optimised symmetry-based mixing sequences and the simultaneous recording of chemical shift correlation spectra such as: 3D NCAC and 3D NHH with dual receivers, 3D NC Prime C and 3D C Prime NCA with sequential {sup 13}C acquisitions, 3D NHH and 3D NC Prime H with sequential {sup 1}H acquisitions and 3D CANH and 3D C'NH with broadband {sup 13}C-{sup 15}N mixing are demonstrated using microcrystalline samples of the {beta}1 immunoglobulin binding domain of protein G (GB1) and the chicken {alpha}-spectrin SH3 domain.

Internet Backbone in the Democratic Republic of Congo : Feasibility ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Internet Backbone in the Democratic Republic of Congo : Feasibility Study and Advocacy. During 7-10 February 2005, representatives of five francophone African countries (Cameroon, Morocco, Niger, Sénégal, and the Democratic Republic of Congo - DRC) met to consider ways and means of galvanizing the appropriation ...

Characterization of mu s-ms dynamics of proteins using a combined analysis of N-15 NMR relaxation and chemical shift: Conformational exchange in plastocyanin induced by histidine protonations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hass, M. A. S.; Thuesen, Marianne Hallberg; Christensen, Hans Erik Mølager

2004-01-01

of the exchanging species can be determined independently of the relaxation rates. The applicability of the approach is demonstrated by a detailed analysis of the conformational exchange processes previously observed in the reduced form of the blue copper protein, plastocyanin from the cyanobacteria Anabaena......An approach is presented that allows a detailed, quantitative characterization of conformational exchange processes in proteins on the mus-ms time scale. The approach relies on a combined analysis of NMR relaxation rates and chemical shift changes and requires that the chemical shift...... quantitatively by the correlation between the R-ex terms and the corresponding chemical shift differences of the exchanging species. By this approach, the R-ex terms of N-15 nuclei belonging to contiguous regions in the protein could be assigned to the same exchange process. Furthermore, the analysis...

Oxidation Responsive Polymers with a Triggered Degradation via Arylboronate Self-Immolative Motifs on a Polyphosphazene Backbone.

Science.gov (United States)

Iturmendi, Aitziber; Monkowius, Uwe; Teasdale, Ian

2017-02-21

Oxidation responsive polymers with triggered degradation pathways have been prepared via attachment of self-immolative moieties onto a hydrolytically unstable polyphosphazene backbone. After controlled main-chain growth, postpolymerization functionalization allows the preparation of hydrolytically stable poly(organo)phosphazenes decorated with a phenylboronic ester caging group. In oxidative environments, triggered cleavage of the caging group is followed by self-immolation, exposing the unstable glycine-substituted polyphosphazene which subsequently undergoes to backbone degradation to low-molecular weight molecules. As well as giving mechanistic insights, detailed GPC and 1 H and 31 P NMR analysis reveal the polymers to be stable in aqueous solutions, but show a selective, fast degradation upon exposure to hydrogen peroxide containing solutions. Since the post-polymerization functionalization route allows simple access to polymer backbones with a broad range of molecular weights, the approach of using the inorganic backbone as a platform significantly expands the toolbox of polymers capable of stimuli-responsive degradation.

Dynamic power control for wireless backbone mesh networks: a survey

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Olwal, TO

2010-01-01

Full Text Available points of failures, and robust against RF interference, obstacles or power outage. This is because WMRs forming wireless backbone mesh networks (WBMNs) are built on advanced physical technologies. Such nodes perform both accessing and forwarding...

Development of 19F-NMR chemical shift detection of DNA B-Z equilibrium using 19F-NMR.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamura, S; Yang, H; Hirata, C; Kersaudy, F; Fujimoto, K

2017-06-28

Various DNA conformational changes are in correlation with biological events. In particular, DNA B-Z equilibrium showed a high correlation with translation and transcription. In this study, we developed a DNA probe containing 5-trifluoromethylcytidine or 5-trifluoromethylthymidine to detect DNA B-Z equilibrium using 19 F-NMR. Its probe enabled the quantitative detection of B-, Z-, and ss-DNA based on 19 F-NMR chemical shift change.

Green IGP Link Weights for Energy-efficiency and Load-balancing in IP Backbone Networks

OpenAIRE

Francois, Frederic; Wang, Ning; Moessner, Klaus; Georgoulas, Stylianos; Xu, Ke

2013-01-01

The energy consumption of backbone networks has become a primary concern for network operators and regulators due to the pervasive deployment of wired backbone networks to meet the requirements of bandwidth-hungry applications. While traditional optimization of IGP link weights has been used in IP based load-balancing operations, in this paper we introduce a novel link weight setting algorithm, the Green Load-balancing Algorithm (GLA), which is able to jointly optimize both energy efficiency ...

Spin-orbit ZORA and four-component Dirac-Coulomb estimation of relativistic corrections to isotropic nuclear shieldings and chemical shifts of noble gas dimers.

Science.gov (United States)

Jankowska, Marzena; Kupka, Teobald; Stobiński, Leszek; Faber, Rasmus; Lacerda, Evanildo G; Sauer, Stephan P A

2016-02-05

Hartree-Fock and density functional theory with the hybrid B3LYP and general gradient KT2 exchange-correlation functionals were used for nonrelativistic and relativistic nuclear magnetic shielding calculations of helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon dimers and free atoms. Relativistic corrections were calculated with the scalar and spin-orbit zeroth-order regular approximation Hamiltonian in combination with the large Slater-type basis set QZ4P as well as with the four-component Dirac-Coulomb Hamiltonian using Dyall's acv4z basis sets. The relativistic corrections to the nuclear magnetic shieldings and chemical shifts are combined with nonrelativistic coupled cluster singles and doubles with noniterative triple excitations [CCSD(T)] calculations using the very large polarization-consistent basis sets aug-pcSseg-4 for He, Ne and Ar, aug-pcSseg-3 for Kr, and the AQZP basis set for Xe. For the dimers also, zero-point vibrational (ZPV) corrections are obtained at the CCSD(T) level with the same basis sets were added. Best estimates of the dimer chemical shifts are generated from these nuclear magnetic shieldings and the relative importance of electron correlation, ZPV, and relativistic corrections for the shieldings and chemical shifts is analyzed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Solid-state NMR chemical-shift perturbations indicate domain reorientation of the DnaG primase in the primosome of Helicobacter pylori

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gardiennet, Carole [Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRM2, UMR 7036 (France); Wiegand, Thomas [ETH Zurich, Physical Chemistry (Switzerland); Bazin, Alexandre [Université de Lyon 1, Molecular Microbiology and Structural Biochemistry, Labex Ecofect, UMR 5086 CNRS (France); Cadalbert, Riccardo [ETH Zurich, Physical Chemistry (Switzerland); Kunert, Britta; Lacabanne, Denis [Université de Lyon 1, Molecular Microbiology and Structural Biochemistry, Labex Ecofect, UMR 5086 CNRS (France); Gutsche, Irina [Université Grenoble Alpes, Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS), CNRS, IBS, CEA, IBS (France); Terradot, Laurent, E-mail: l.terradot@ibcp.fr [Université de Lyon 1, Molecular Microbiology and Structural Biochemistry, Labex Ecofect, UMR 5086 CNRS (France); Meier, Beat H., E-mail: beme@ethz.ch [ETH Zurich, Physical Chemistry (Switzerland); Böckmann, Anja, E-mail: a.bockmann@ibcp.fr [Université de Lyon 1, Molecular Microbiology and Structural Biochemistry, Labex Ecofect, UMR 5086 CNRS (France)

2016-03-15

We here investigate the interactions between the DnaB helicase and the C-terminal domain of the corresponding DnaG primase of Helicobacter pylori using solid-state NMR. The difficult crystallization of this 387 kDa complex, where the two proteins interact in a six to three ratio, is circumvented by simple co-sedimentation of the two proteins directly into the MAS-NMR rotor. While the amount of information that can be extracted from such a large protein is still limited, we can assign a number of amino-acid residues experiencing significant chemical-shift perturbations upon helicase-primase complex formation. The location of these residues is used as a guide to model the interaction interface between the two proteins in the complex. Chemical-shift perturbations also reveal changes at the interaction interfaces of the hexameric HpDnaB assembly on HpDnaG binding. A structural model of the complex that explains the experimental findings is obtained.

Polyolefin Backbone Substitution in Binders for Low Temperature Powder Injection Moulding Feedstocks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Berenika Hausnerova

2014-02-01

Full Text Available This paper reports the substitution of polyolefin backbone binder components with low melting temperature carnauba wax for powder injection moulding applications. The effect of various binder compositions of Al2O3 feedstock on thermal degradation parameters is investigated by thermogravimetric analysis. Within the experimental framework 29 original feedstock compositions were prepared and the superiority of carnauba wax over the polyethylene binder backbone was demonstrated in compositions containing polyethylene glycol as the initial opening agent and governing the proper mechanism of the degradation process. Moreover, the replacement of synthetic polymer by the natural wax contributes to an increase of environmental sustainability of modern industrial technologies.

SHIFTING WEED COMPOSITIONS AND BIOMASS PRODUCTION IN SWEET CORN FIELD TREATED WITH ORGANIC COMPOSTS AND CHEMICAL WEED CONTROLS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marulak Simarmata

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The objectives of the research were to study the shift of weed compositions in sweet corn field treated with organic compost and chemical weed controls and to compare the effect of treatment combinations on weed growth, weed biomass and sweet corn biomass. The research was conducted in Bengkulu, Indonesia, from April to July 2014. Results showed that the number of weed species decreased after the trials from 14 to 13. There was a shift in weed compositions because 5 species of weeds did not emerge after the trials, but 4 new species were found. Chemical weed control used a herbiside mixture of atrazine and mesotrione applied during postemergence was the most effective method to control weeds, which was observed on decreased weed emergence and weed biomass down to 22.33 and 25.00 percent of control, respectively. Subsequently, biomass production of sweet corn increased up to 195.64 percent at the same trials. Biomass of weeds and sweet corn were also affected by the organic composts. Weed biomass was inhibited by treatment of composted empty fruith bunches of oil palm, whereas significantly increased of sweet corn biomass were observed in the plots of organic manure.

“Pinning strategy”: a novel approach for predicting the backbone ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Prakash

To assess the quality of the strategy, we define two measures. The first one ...... modular framework of the protein backbone; Protein Eng. 12. 1063–1073 .... Richardson J S, Getzoff E D and Richardson D C 1978 The beta bulge: a common ...

Bidirectional shifts of TRPM8 channel gating by temperature and chemical agents modulate the cold sensitivity of mammalian thermoreceptors.

Science.gov (United States)

Mälkiä, Annika; Madrid, Rodolfo; Meseguer, Victor; de la Peña, Elvira; Valero, María; Belmonte, Carlos; Viana, Félix

2007-05-15

TRPM8, a member of the melastatin subfamily of transient receptor potential (TRP) cation channels, is activated by voltage, low temperatures and cooling compounds. These properties and its restricted expression to small sensory neurons have made it the ion channel with the most advocated role in cold transduction. Recent work suggests that activation of TRPM8 by cold and menthol takes place through shifts in its voltage-activation curve, which cause the channel to open at physiological membrane potentials. By contrast, little is known about the actions of inhibitors on the function of TRPM8. We investigated the chemical and thermal modulation of TRPM8 in transfected HEK293 cells and in cold-sensitive primary sensory neurons. We show that cold-evoked TRPM8 responses are effectively suppressed by inhibitor compounds SKF96365, 4-(3-chloro-pyridin-2-yl)-piperazine-1-carboxylic acid (4-tert-butyl-phenyl)-amide (BCTC) and 1,10-phenanthroline. These antagonists exert their effect by shifting the voltage dependence of TRPM8 activation towards more positive potentials. An opposite shift towards more negative potentials is achieved by the agonist menthol. Functionally, the bidirectional shift in channel gating translates into a change in the apparent temperature threshold of TRPM8-expressing cells. Accordingly, in the presence of the antagonist compounds, the apparent response-threshold temperature of TRPM8 is displaced towards colder temperatures, whereas menthol sensitizes the response, shifting the threshold in the opposite direction. Co-application of agonists and antagonists produces predictable cancellation of these effects, suggesting the convergence on a common molecular process. The potential for half maximal activation of TRPM8 activation by cold was approximately 140 mV more negative in native channels compared to recombinant channels, with a much higher open probability at negative membrane potentials in the former. In functional terms, this difference translates

The contribution of chemical shift imaging with digital subtracting images to the diagnosis of steatohepatitis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Xinghua; Wang Juanping; Zhang Chongjie; Zheng Guofang; Fan Ruiqiang; Zhu Sumei; Liu Qiwang

2006-01-01

Objective: To investigate the diagnosis value of chemical shift imaging with digital subtracting in steatohepatitis. Methods: The in-phase images were subtracted by the out-phase ones in 34 cases of steatohepatitis, and the CNR were measured on these subtracted images to estimate the steatosis of the liver. The relationship of CT grade of steatohepatitis and CNR from the subtracted images was analyzed to evaluate the relationship between CNR and the degree of hepatic steatosis. The sensitivity and specificity of the subtracting and eyeballing methods were compared with chi-square test. Results: On the subtracted images, the liver and spleen were seen nearly the same aspects as low signals, CNR=0.98±0.06, meanwhile the spongy vertebra and the subcutaneous or abdominal lipid were seen as obvious higher signals in 52 normal cases. On the 34 steatohepatitis, scattered high signals were seen in the liver, which made the signal of liver higher than that of spleen, CNR=3.25±0.91--14.35±6.10. There was positive correlation between CNR and CT grade in the 34 cases of steatohepatitis, r=0.893, P<0.01. The sensitivity and specificity of the subtracting method were 88.24% and 94. 23%, significantly higher than that of the eyeballing results, 32.35% and 80.77%, P<0.01 and P<0.05. Conclusion: Chemical shift imaging with digital subtracting is a sensitive, specific, objective method to diagnose steatohepatitis and it is of potential ability for quantitative diagnosis. (authors)

Constructing Battery-Aware Virtual Backbones in Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chi Ma

2007-05-01

Full Text Available A critical issue in battery-powered sensor networks is to construct energy efficient virtual backbones for network routing. Recent study in battery technology reveals that batteries tend to discharge more power than needed and reimburse the over-discharged power if they are recovered. In this paper we first provide a mathematical battery model suitable for implementation in sensor networks. We then introduce the concept of battery-aware connected dominating set (BACDS and show that in general the minimum BACDS (MBACDS can achieve longer lifetime than the previous backbone structures. Then we show that finding a MBACDS is NP-hard and give a distributed approximation algorithm to construct the BACDS. The resulting BACDS constructed by our algorithm is at most (8+Δopt size, where Δ is the maximum node degree and opt is the size of an optimal BACDS. Simulation results show that the BACDS can save a significant amount of energy and achieve up to 30% longer network lifetime than previous schemes.

Combined echo offset (Dixon) and line volume chemical shift imaging as a clinical imaging protocol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Listerud, J.; Chan, T.; Lenkinski, R.E.; Kressel, H.Y.; Chao, P.W.

1989-01-01

The authors have studied the sensitivity and specificity of the line-volume chemical-shift imaging (CSI) method as compared with the Dixon method they have recently implemented on a Signa, which supports a variety of options. Potential sources or error for the Dixon method include line broadening due to susceptibility, field inhomogeneity, and errors form olefinic resonances associated with fat, which behave like water in the Dixon regime. The authors investigate whether a combined Dixon/line-volume CSI method could be used to improve the placement of the line volume and to provide higher sensitivity and specificity than does the Dixon method alone

Studies of radiation and chemical toxicity. Progress report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1986-01-01

Annual report for the Studies of Radiation and Chemical Toxicity Program at the University of Rochester is presented. Progress is reported on four projects: Neurobehavorial Toxicity of Organometallic Fuel Additives, Mechanisms of Permanent and Delayed Pathologic Effects of Ionizing Radiation, Solid State Radiation Chemistry of the DNA Backbone, and Pulmonary Biochemistry

Increased precision for analysis of protein-ligand dissociation constants determined from chemical shift titrations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Markin, Craig J.; Spyracopoulos, Leo, E-mail: leo.spyracopoulos@ualberta.ca [University of Alberta, Department of Biochemistry (Canada)

2012-06-15

NMR is ideally suited for the analysis of protein-protein and protein ligand interactions with dissociation constants ranging from {approx}2 {mu}M to {approx}1 mM, and with kinetics in the fast exchange regime on the NMR timescale. For the determination of dissociation constants (K{sub D}) of 1:1 protein-protein or protein-ligand interactions using NMR, the protein and ligand concentrations must necessarily be similar in magnitude to the K{sub D}, and nonlinear least squares analysis of chemical shift changes as a function of ligand concentration is employed to determine estimates for the parameters K{sub D} and the maximum chemical shift change ({Delta}{delta}{sub max}). During a typical NMR titration, the initial protein concentration, [P{sub 0}], is held nearly constant. For this condition, to determine the most accurate parameters for K{sub D} and {Delta}{delta}{sub max} from nonlinear least squares analyses requires initial protein concentrations that are {approx}0.5 Multiplication-Sign K{sub D}, and a maximum concentration for the ligand, or titrant, of {approx}10 Multiplication-Sign [P{sub 0}]. From a practical standpoint, these requirements are often difficult to achieve. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we demonstrate that co-variation of the ligand and protein concentrations during a titration leads to an increase in the precision of the fitted K{sub D} and {Delta}{delta}{sub max} values when [P{sub 0}] > K{sub D}. Importantly, judicious choice of protein and ligand concentrations for a given NMR titration, combined with nonlinear least squares analyses using two independent variables (ligand and protein concentrations) and two parameters (K{sub D} and {Delta}{delta}{sub max}) is a straightforward approach to increasing the accuracy of measured dissociation constants for 1:1 protein-ligand interactions.

Future High Capacity Backbone Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Jiayuan

are proposed. The work focuses on energy efficient routing algorithms in a dynamic optical core network environment, with Generalized MultiProtocol Label Switching (GMPLS) as the control plane. Energy ef- ficient routing algorithms for energy savings and CO2 savings are proposed, and their performance...... aiming for reducing the dynamic part of the energy consumption of the network may increase the fixed part of the energy consumption meanwhile. In the second half of the thesis, the conflict between energy efficiency and Quality of Service (QoS) is addressed by introducing a novel software defined......This thesis - Future High Capacity Backbone Networks - deals with the energy efficiency problems associated with the development of future optical networks. In the first half of the thesis, novel approaches for using multiple/single alternative energy sources for improving energy efficiency...

Quantum Dots Embedded in Graphene Nanoribbons by Chemical Substitution

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Carbonell-Sanroma, Eduard; Brandimarte, Pedro; Balog, Richard

2017-01-01

Bottom-up chemical reactions of selected molecular precursors on a gold surface can produce high quality graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). Here, we report on the formation of quantum dots embedded in an armchair GNR by substitutional inclusion of pairs of boron atoms into the GNR backbone. The boron...

Effects of Tryptophan Content and Backbone Spacing on the Uptake Efficiency of Cell-Penetrating Peptides

KAUST Repository

Rydberg, Hanna A.; Matson, Maria; Å mand, Helene L.; Esbjö rner, Elin K.; Nordé n, Bengt

2012-01-01

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are able to traverse cellular membranes and deliver macromolecular cargo. Uptake occurs through both endocytotic and nonendocytotic pathways, but the molecular requirements for efficient internalization are not fully understood. Here we investigate how the presence of tryptophans and their position within an oligoarginine influence uptake mechanism and efficiency. Flow cytometry and confocal fluorescence imaging are used to estimate uptake efficiency, intracellular distribution and toxicity in Chinese hamster ovarian cells. Further, membrane leakage and lipid membrane affinity are investigated. The peptides contain eight arginine residues and one to four tryptophans, the tryptophans positioned either at the N-terminus, in the middle, or evenly distributed along the amino acid sequence. Our data show that the intracellular distribution varies among peptides with different tryptophan content and backbone spacing. Uptake efficiency is higher for the peptides with four tryptophans in the middle, or evenly distributed along the peptide sequence, than for the peptide with four tryptophans at the N-terminus. All peptides display low cytotoxicity except for the one with four tryptophans at the N-terminus, which was moderately toxic. This finding is consistent with their inability to induce efficient leakage of dye from lipid vesicles. All peptides have comparable affinities for lipid vesicles, showing that lipid binding is not a decisive parameter for uptake. Our results indicate that tryptophan content and backbone spacing can affect both the CPP uptake efficiency and the CPP uptake mechanism. The low cytotoxicity of these peptides and the possibilities of tuning their uptake mechanism are interesting from a therapeutic point of view. © 2012 American Chemical Society.

Effects of Tryptophan Content and Backbone Spacing on the Uptake Efficiency of Cell-Penetrating Peptides

KAUST Repository

Rydberg, Hanna A.

2012-07-10

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are able to traverse cellular membranes and deliver macromolecular cargo. Uptake occurs through both endocytotic and nonendocytotic pathways, but the molecular requirements for efficient internalization are not fully understood. Here we investigate how the presence of tryptophans and their position within an oligoarginine influence uptake mechanism and efficiency. Flow cytometry and confocal fluorescence imaging are used to estimate uptake efficiency, intracellular distribution and toxicity in Chinese hamster ovarian cells. Further, membrane leakage and lipid membrane affinity are investigated. The peptides contain eight arginine residues and one to four tryptophans, the tryptophans positioned either at the N-terminus, in the middle, or evenly distributed along the amino acid sequence. Our data show that the intracellular distribution varies among peptides with different tryptophan content and backbone spacing. Uptake efficiency is higher for the peptides with four tryptophans in the middle, or evenly distributed along the peptide sequence, than for the peptide with four tryptophans at the N-terminus. All peptides display low cytotoxicity except for the one with four tryptophans at the N-terminus, which was moderately toxic. This finding is consistent with their inability to induce efficient leakage of dye from lipid vesicles. All peptides have comparable affinities for lipid vesicles, showing that lipid binding is not a decisive parameter for uptake. Our results indicate that tryptophan content and backbone spacing can affect both the CPP uptake efficiency and the CPP uptake mechanism. The low cytotoxicity of these peptides and the possibilities of tuning their uptake mechanism are interesting from a therapeutic point of view. © 2012 American Chemical Society.

MR imaging of osteonecrosis using frequency selective chemical shift sequences; Neue Aspekte in der MR-Diagnostik der Osteonekrose: Selektive Fett/Wasser-Bildgebung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Duda, S H [Abt. fuer Radiologische Diagnostik, Tuebingen Univ. (Germany); Laniado, M [Abt. fuer Radiologische Diagnostik, Tuebingen Univ. (Germany); Schick, F [Inst. fuer Physik, Tuebingen Univ. (Germany)

1994-12-31

The MR appearance of osteonecrosis was assessed on selective fat- and water images to further evaluate the nature of double-line sign. Conventional T1- and T2-weighted SE and frequency selective chemical shift images of eight patients with avascular necrosis of the femoral head and three patients with bone infarcts were retrospectively reviewed. Eight of 11 patients showed a double-line sign on T2-weighted SE images. In these cases, correlation with selective water images revealed that a chemical shift artifact contributed to appearance and location of the hyperintense line. The authors conclude that chemical shift imaging improves our understanding of the nature of the double-line sign. (orig.) [Deutsch] Das MR-tomographische Erscheinungsbild der Osteonekrose auf selektiven Fett- und Wasserbildern wurde analysiert, um das in der Literatur beschriebene Doppellinienzeichen naeher zu untersuchen. Hierfuer wurden sowohl die herkoemmlichen T1- und T2-gewichteten Spin-Echo-Sequenzen herangezogen, als auch frequenzselektive Bilder, die aufgrund chemischer Verschiebung gewonnen wurden (1,5 T). Es wurden die Untersuchungen von acht Patienten mit avaskulaerer Hueftkopfnekrose und von drei Patienten mit Knocheninfarkten retrospektiv ausgewertet. Acht von 11 Patienten zeigten ein Doppellinienzeichen auf den T2-gewichteten Bildern. Die Korrelation mit den selektiven Wasserbildern ergab, dass durch chemische Verschiebung bedingte Artefakte das Erscheinungsbild und den Ort der hyperintensen Linie beeinflussten. Die Bildgebung mit Hilfe der chemischen Verschiebung verbessert unser Verstaendnis der MRT-Charakteristika der Osteonekrose. (orig.)

Smectic order and backbone anisotropy of a side-chain liquid crystalline polymer by Small-Angle Neutron Scattering

Science.gov (United States)

Noirez, L.; Pépy, G.; Keller, P.; Benguigui, L.

1991-07-01

We have simultaneously measured, for the first time, the extension of the polymer backbone of a side-chain liquid crystalline polymer and the intensity of the 001 Bragg reflection, which gives the smectic order parameter Psi as a function of temperature in the smectic phase. We have qualitatively demonstrated that the more the smectic phase is ordered, the more the polymer backbone is localized between the mesogenic layers. It is shown that the Landau theory allows us to relate the radius of gyration parallel to the magnetic field of the polymer backbone to the smectic order parameter. We also show that the Renz-Warner theory is suitable at low temperatures.

The DNA and RNA sugar-phosphate backbone emerges as the key player. An overview of quantum-chemical, structural biology and simulation studies

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Šponer, Jiří; Mládek, Arnošt; Šponer, Judit E.; Svozil, Daniel; Zgarbová, M.; Banáš, Pavel; Jurečka, P.; Otyepka, M.

2012-01-01

Roč. 14, č. 44 (2012), s. 15257-15277 ISSN 1463-9076 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GD203/09/H046; GA ČR(CZ) GAP208/10/2302; GA ČR(CZ) GAP208/11/1822; GA ČR(CZ) GAP208/12/1878; GA ČR(CZ) GA203/09/1476; GA ČR(CZ) GBP305/12/G034 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50040702 Keywords : DNA * RNA * sugar-phosphate backbone Subject RIV: BO - Biophysics Impact factor: 3.829, year: 2012

Self-assembly of diphenylalanine backbone homologues and their combination with functionalized carbon nanotubes.

Science.gov (United States)

Dinesh, Bhimareddy; Squillaci, Marco A; Ménard-Moyon, Cécilia; Samorì, Paolo; Bianco, Alberto

2015-10-14

The integration of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into organized nanostructures is of great interest for applications in materials science and biomedicine. In this work we studied the self-assembly of β and γ homologues of diphenylalanine peptides under different solvent and pH conditions. We aimed to investigate the role of peptide backbone in tuning the formation of different types of nanostructures alone or in combination with carbon nanotubes. In spite of having the same side chain, β and γ peptides formed distinctively different nanofibers, a clear indication of the role played by the backbone homologation on the self-assembly. The variation of the pH allowed to transform the nanofibers into spherical structures. Moreover, the co-assembly of β and γ peptides with carbon nanotubes covalently functionalized with the same peptide generated unique dendritic assemblies. This comparative study on self-assembly using diphenylalanine backbone homologues and of the co-assembly with CNT covalent conjugates is the first example exploring the capacity of β and γ peptides to adopt precise nanostructures, particularly in combination with carbon nanotubes. The dendritic organization obtained by mixing carbon nanotubes and peptides might find interesting applications in tissue engineering and neuronal interfacing.

Performance Analysis of Space Information Networks with Backbone Satellite Relaying for Vehicular Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Jiao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Space Information Network (SIN with backbone satellites relaying for vehicular network (VN communications is regarded as an effective strategy to provide diverse vehicular services in a seamless, efficient, and cost-effective manner in rural areas and highways. In this paper, we investigate the performance of SIN return channel cooperative communications via an amplify-and-forward (AF backbone satellite relaying for VN communications, where we assume that both of the source-destination and relay-destination links undergo Shadowed-Rician fading and the source-relay link follows Rician fading, respectively. In this SIN-assisted VN communication scenario, we first obtain the approximate statistical distributions of the equivalent end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR of the system. Then, we derive the closed-form expressions to efficiently evaluate the average symbol error rate (ASER of the system. Furthermore, the ASER expressions are taking into account the effect of satellite perturbation of the backbone relaying satellite, which reveal the accumulated error of the antenna pointing error. Finally, simulation results are provided to verify the accuracy of our theoretical analysis and show the impact of various parameters on the system performance.

Prediction of backbone dihedral angles and protein secondary structure using support vector machines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hirst Jonathan D

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The prediction of the secondary structure of a protein is a critical step in the prediction of its tertiary structure and, potentially, its function. Moreover, the backbone dihedral angles, highly correlated with secondary structures, provide crucial information about the local three-dimensional structure. Results We predict independently both the secondary structure and the backbone dihedral angles and combine the results in a loop to enhance each prediction reciprocally. Support vector machines, a state-of-the-art supervised classification technique, achieve secondary structure predictive accuracy of 80% on a non-redundant set of 513 proteins, significantly higher than other methods on the same dataset. The dihedral angle space is divided into a number of regions using two unsupervised clustering techniques in order to predict the region in which a new residue belongs. The performance of our method is comparable to, and in some cases more accurate than, other multi-class dihedral prediction methods. Conclusions We have created an accurate predictor of backbone dihedral angles and secondary structure. Our method, called DISSPred, is available online at http://comp.chem.nottingham.ac.uk/disspred/.

Multiparametric fat-water separation method for fast chemical-shift imaging guidance of thermal therapies.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Jonathan S; Hwang, Ken-Pin; Jackson, Edward F; Hazle, John D; Stafford, R Jason; Taylor, Brian A

2013-10-01

A k-means-based classification algorithm is investigated to assess suitability for rapidly separating and classifying fat/water spectral peaks from a fast chemical shift imaging technique for magnetic resonance temperature imaging. Algorithm testing is performed in simulated mathematical phantoms and agar gel phantoms containing mixed fat/water regions. Proton resonance frequencies (PRFs), apparent spin-spin relaxation (T2*) times, and T1-weighted (T1-W) amplitude values were calculated for each voxel using a single-peak autoregressive moving average (ARMA) signal model. These parameters were then used as criteria for k-means sorting, with the results used to determine PRF ranges of each chemical species cluster for further classification. To detect the presence of secondary chemical species, spectral parameters were recalculated when needed using a two-peak ARMA signal model during the subsequent classification steps. Mathematical phantom simulations involved the modulation of signal-to-noise ratios (SNR), maximum PRF shift (MPS) values, analysis window sizes, and frequency expansion factor sizes in order to characterize the algorithm performance across a variety of conditions. In agar, images were collected on a 1.5T clinical MR scanner using acquisition parameters close to simulation, and algorithm performance was assessed by comparing classification results to manually segmented maps of the fat/water regions. Performance was characterized quantitatively using the Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC), sensitivity, and specificity. The simulated mathematical phantom experiments demonstrated good fat/water separation depending on conditions, specifically high SNR, moderate MPS value, small analysis window size, and low but nonzero frequency expansion factor size. Physical phantom results demonstrated good identification for both water (0.997 ± 0.001, 0.999 ± 0.001, and 0.986 ± 0.001 for DSC, sensitivity, and specificity, respectively) and fat (0.763 ± 0.006, 0

Accurate protein structure modeling using sparse NMR data and homologous structure information.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, James M; Sgourakis, Nikolaos G; Liu, Gaohua; Rossi, Paolo; Tang, Yuefeng; Mills, Jeffrey L; Szyperski, Thomas; Montelione, Gaetano T; Baker, David

2012-06-19

While information from homologous structures plays a central role in X-ray structure determination by molecular replacement, such information is rarely used in NMR structure determination because it can be incorrect, both locally and globally, when evolutionary relationships are inferred incorrectly or there has been considerable evolutionary structural divergence. Here we describe a method that allows robust modeling of protein structures of up to 225 residues by combining (1)H(N), (13)C, and (15)N backbone and (13)Cβ chemical shift data, distance restraints derived from homologous structures, and a physically realistic all-atom energy function. Accurate models are distinguished from inaccurate models generated using incorrect sequence alignments by requiring that (i) the all-atom energies of models generated using the restraints are lower than models generated in unrestrained calculations and (ii) the low-energy structures converge to within 2.0 Å backbone rmsd over 75% of the protein. Benchmark calculations on known structures and blind targets show that the method can accurately model protein structures, even with very remote homology information, to a backbone rmsd of 1.2-1.9 Å relative to the conventional determined NMR ensembles and of 0.9-1.6 Å relative to X-ray structures for well-defined regions of the protein structures. This approach facilitates the accurate modeling of protein structures using backbone chemical shift data without need for side-chain resonance assignments and extensive analysis of NOESY cross-peak assignments.

Diagnostic value of chemical shift artifact in distinguishing benign lymphadenopathy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farshchian, Nazanin, E-mail: farshchian.n@gmail.com [Department of Radiology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Tamari, Saghar; Farshchian, Negin [Department of Radiology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Madani, Hamid [Department of Pathology, Imam-Reza Hospital, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Rezaie, Mansour [Department of Biostatistics, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Mohammadi-Motlagh, Hamid-Reza, E-mail: mohammadimotlagh@gmail.com [Medical Biology Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2011-11-15

Purpose: Today, distinguishing metastatic lymph nodes from secondary benign inflammatory ones via using non-invasive methods is increasingly favorable. In this study, the diagnostic value of chemical shift artifact (CSA) in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was evaluated to distinguish benign lymphadenopathy. Subjects and methods: A prospective intraindividual internal review board-approved study was carried out on 15 men and 15 women having lymphadenopathic lesions in different locations of the body who underwent contrast-enhanced dynamic MR imaging at 1.5 T. Then, the imaging findings were compared with pathology reports, using the statistics analyses. Results: Due to the findings of the CSA existence in MRI, a total of 56.7% of the studied lesions (17 of 30) were identified as benign lesions and the rest were malignant, whereas the pathology reports distinguished twelve malignant and eighteen benign cases. Furthermore, the CSA findings comparing the pathology reports indicated that CSA, with confidence of 79.5%, has a significant diagnostic value to differentiate benign lesions from malignant ones. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that CSA in MR imaging has a suitable diagnostic potential nearing readiness for clinical trials. Furthermore, CSA seems to be a feasible tool to differentiate benign lymph nodes from malignant ones; however, further studies including larger numbers of patients are required to confirm our results.

Acid-functionalized polyolefin materials and their use in acid-promoted chemical reactions

Science.gov (United States)

Oyola, Yatsandra; Tian, Chengcheng; Bauer, John Christopher; Dai, Sheng

2016-06-07

An acid-functionalized polyolefin material that can be used as an acid catalyst in a wide range of acid-promoted chemical reactions, wherein the acid-functionalized polyolefin material includes a polyolefin backbone on which acid groups are appended. Also described is a method for the preparation of the acid catalyst in which a precursor polyolefin is subjected to ionizing radiation (e.g., electron beam irradiation) of sufficient power and the irradiated precursor polyolefin reacted with at least one vinyl monomer having an acid group thereon. Further described is a method for conducting an acid-promoted chemical reaction, wherein an acid-reactive organic precursor is contacted in liquid form with a solid heterogeneous acid catalyst comprising a polyolefin backbone of at least 1 micron in one dimension and having carboxylic acid groups and either sulfonic acid or phosphoric acid groups appended thereto.

Evidence of chemical-potential shift with hole doping in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen, Z.; Dessau, D.S.; Wells, B.O.; Olson, C.G.; Mitzi, D.B.; Lombado, L.; List, R.S.; Arko, A.J.

1991-01-01

We have performed photoemission studies on high-quality Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+δ samples with various δ. Our results show a clear chemical-potential shift (0.15--0.2 eV) as a function of doping. This result and the existing angle-resolved-photoemission data give a rather standard doping behavior of this compound in its highly doped regime

{sup 31}P-MR spectroscopy of all regions of the human heart at 1.5 T with acquisition-weighted chemical shift imaging; P-MR-Spektroskopie aller Wandabschnitte des menschlichen Herzens bei 1,5 T mit akquisitionsgewichteter Chemical-shift-Bildgebung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koestler, H.; Beer, M.; Buchner, S.; Sandstede, J.; Pabst, T.; Kenn, W.; Hahn, D. [Wuerzburg Univ. (Germany). Abt. fuer Roentgendiagnostik; Landschuetz, W.; Kienlin, M. von [Wuerzburg Univ. (Germany). Physikalisches Inst.; Neubauer, S. [Dept. of Cardiovascular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford (United Kingdom)

2001-12-01

Aim: Aim of this study was to show whether or not acquisition-weighted chemical shift imaging (AW-CSI) allows the determination of PCr and ATP in the lateral and posterior wall of the human heart at 1.5 T. Methods: 12 healthy volunteers were examined using a conventional chemical shift imaging (CSI) and an AW-CSI. The sequences differed only in the number of repetitions for each point in k space. A hanning function was used as filter function leading to 7 repetitions in the center of the k space and 0 in the corners. Thus, AW-CSI had the same resolution as the CSI sequence. The results for both sequences were analyzed using identically positioned voxels in the septal, anterior, lateral and posterior wall. Results: The determined averaged AW-CSI signal to noise ratios were higher for PCr by a factor of 1.3 and for ATP by 1.4 than those of CSI. The PCr/ATP ratios were higher by a factor of 1.2 - 1.3 and showed a smaller standard deviation in all locations for AW-CSI. The mean PCr/ATP ratios determined by AW-CSI of septal, lateral and posterior wall were almost identical (1.72 - 1.76), while it was higher in the anterior wall (1.9). Conclusions: The reduced contamination in AW-CSI improves the signal to noise ratio and the determination of the PCr/ATP ratio in cardiac {sup 31}P spectroscopy compared to CSI with the same resolution. The results in volunteers indicate that AW-CSI renders {sup 31}P spectroscopy of the lateral and posterior wall of the human heart feasible for patient studies at 1.5 T. (orig.) [German] Ziel: Ziel der Arbeit war es zu untersuchen, ob die akquisitionsgewichtete Chemical-shift-Bildgebung (AW-CSI) die Bestimmung von PCr und ATP in der Seiten- und Hinterwand des menschlichen Herzens an einem klinischen 1,5 T MR-Tomographen erlaubt. Methoden: 12 gesunde Probanden wurden jeweils mit einer chemical shift imaging (CSI) und einer AW-CSI-Sequenz untersucht. Die Sequenzen unterschieden sich lediglich in der Anzahl der Wiederholungen der einzelnen

Electrostatic Origin of the Red Solvatochromic Shift of DFHBDI in RNA Spinach.

Science.gov (United States)

Bose, Samik; Chakrabarty, Suman; Ghosh, Debashree

2017-05-11

Interactions with the environment tune the spectral properties of biological chromophores, e.g., fluorescent proteins. Understanding the relative contribution of the various types of noncovalent interactions in the spectral shifts can provide rational design principles toward developing new fluorescent probes. In this work, we investigate the origin of the red shift in the absorption spectra of the difluoro hydroxybenzylidene dimethyl imidazolinone (DFHBDI) chromophore in RNA spinach as compared to the aqueous solution. We systematically decompose the effects of various components of interactions, namely, stacking, hydrogen bonding, and long-range electrostatics, in order to elucidate the relative role of these interactions in the observed spectral behavior. We find that the absorption peak of DFHBDI is red-shifted by ∼0.35 eV in RNA relative to the aqueous solution. Earlier proposals from Huang and co-workers have implicated the stacking interactions between DFHBDI and nucleic acid bases to be the driving force behind the observed red shift. In contrast, our findings reveal that the long-range electrostatic interactions between DFHBDI and negatively charged RNA make the most significant contribution. Moreover, we notice that the opposing electrostatic fields due to the RNA backbone and the polarized water molecules around the RNA give rise to the resultant red shift. Our results emphasize the effect of strong heterogeneity in the various environmental factors that might be competing with each other.

H-1 chemical shift imaging of the brain in guanidino methyltransferase deficiency, a creatine deficiency syndrome; guanidinoacetate accumulation in the gray matter

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sijens, PE; Verbruggen, KT; Meiners, LC; Soorani-Lunsing, RJ; Rake, JP; Oudkerk, M

MR spectroscopy results in a mild case of guanidinoacetate methyltransferase (GAMT) deficiency are presented. The approach differs from previous MRS studies in the acquisition of a chemical shift imaging spectral map showing gray and white matter with the corresponding spectra in one overview. MR

Saturated amine oxides: Part 8. Hydroacridines: Part 27. Effects of N-oxidation and of N-quaternization on the 15N NMR chemical shifts of N-methylpiperidine-derived mono-, bi-, and tricycloaliphatic tertiary amines.

Science.gov (United States)

Potmischil, Francisc; Duddeck, Helmut; Nicolescu, Alina; Deleanu, Calin

2007-03-01

The (15)N chemical shifts of 13 N-methylpiperidine-derived mono-, bi- and tricycloaliphatic tertiary amines, their methiodides and their N-epimeric pairs of N-oxides were measured, and the contributions of specific structural parameters to the chemical shifts were determined by multilinear regression analysis. Within the examined compounds, the effects of N-oxidation upon the (15)N chemical shifts of the amines vary from +56 ppm to +90 ppm (deshielding), of which approx. +67.7 ppm is due to the inductive effect of the incoming N(+)--O(-) oxygen atom, whereas the rest is due to the additive shift effects of the various C-alkyl substituents of the piperidine ring. The effects of quaternization vary from -3.1 ppm to +29.3 ppm, of which approx. +8.9 ppm is due to the inductive effect of the incoming N(+)--CH(3) methyl group, and the rest is due to the additive shift effects of the various C-alkyl substituents of the piperidine ring. The shift effects of the C-alkyl substituents in the amines, the N-oxides and the methiodides are discussed. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Smart-Grid Backbone Network Real-Time Delay Reduction via Integer Programming.

Science.gov (United States)

Pagadrai, Sasikanth; Yilmaz, Muhittin; Valluri, Pratyush

2016-08-01

This research investigates an optimal delay-based virtual topology design using integer linear programming (ILP), which is applied to the current backbone networks such as smart-grid real-time communication systems. A network traffic matrix is applied and the corresponding virtual topology problem is solved using the ILP formulations that include a network delay-dependent objective function and lightpath routing, wavelength assignment, wavelength continuity, flow routing, and traffic loss constraints. The proposed optimization approach provides an efficient deterministic integration of intelligent sensing and decision making, and network learning features for superior smart grid operations by adaptively responding the time-varying network traffic data as well as operational constraints to maintain optimal virtual topologies. A representative optical backbone network has been utilized to demonstrate the proposed optimization framework whose simulation results indicate that superior smart-grid network performance can be achieved using commercial networks and integer programming.

Correlates to sleepiness on night shift among male workers engaged in three-shift work in a chemical plant: its association with sleep practice and job stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Kageyama, Takayuki; Kobayashi, Toshio; Abe-Gotoh, Ayano

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation of sleepiness during night shift (SNS) in male shiftworkers with nonpharmacological self-management (nPSM) practices to facilitate good day sleep, and also with job stress. Sleepiness on the job and possible correlates to SNS among 157 male shiftworkers in a rotating three-shift schedule at a chemical plant were cross-sectionally investigated using a self-administered questionnaire. Multivariate analyses revealed that SNS was positively associated with drinking alcoholic beverages before day sleep, but inversely associated with subjective health status, being of the evening type, abstaining from caffeine before day sleep, having a bath before day sleep, job control, reward from work, feeling suited to the job, and support from colleagues. SNS correlated with certain nPSM practices and also with possible modifiers of job stress. These findings provide clues to developing countermeasures against SNS among shiftworkers. The effects of nPSM practices and job stress management on their day sleep and SNS should be examined in detail.

NAA-modified DNA oligonucleotides with zwitterionic backbones: stereoselective synthesis of A-T phosphoramidite building blocks.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidtgall, Boris; Höbartner, Claudia; Ducho, Christian

2015-01-01

Modifications of the nucleic acid backbone are essential for the development of oligonucleotide-derived bioactive agents. The NAA-modification represents a novel artificial internucleotide linkage which enables the site-specific introduction of positive charges into the otherwise polyanionic backbone of DNA oligonucleotides. Following initial studies with the introduction of the NAA-linkage at T-T sites, it is now envisioned to prepare NAA-modified oligonucleotides bearing the modification at X-T motifs (X = A, C, G). We have therefore developed the efficient and stereoselective synthesis of NAA-linked 'dimeric' A-T phosphoramidite building blocks for automated DNA synthesis. Both the (S)- and the (R)-configured NAA-motifs were constructed with high diastereoselectivities to furnish two different phosphoramidite reagents, which were employed for the solid phase-supported automated synthesis of two NAA-modified DNA oligonucleotides. This represents a significant step to further establish the NAA-linkage as a useful addition to the existing 'toolbox' of backbone modifications for the design of bioactive oligonucleotide analogues.

Backbone dynamics of the EIAV-Tat protein from 15N relaxation studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ejchart, A.; Herrmann, F.; Roesch, P.; Sticht, H.; Willbold, D.

1994-01-01

The work investigates the mobility of EIAV-Tat protein backbone by measuring the relaxation parameters of the 15 N nitrogens. High degree of the flexibility, non-typical of rigid, well structured proteins was shown

Heat Integration of the Water-Gas Shift Reaction System for Carbon Sequestration Ready IGCC Process with Chemical Looping

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Juan M. Salazara; Stephen E. Zitney; Urmila M. Diwekara

2010-01-01

Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology has been considered as an important alternative for efficient power systems that can reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. One of the technological schemes combines water-gas shift reaction and chemical-looping combustion as post gasification techniques in order to produce sequestration-ready CO2 and potentially reduce the size of the gas turbine. However, these schemes have not been energetically integrated and process synthesis techniques can be applied to obtain an optimal flowsheet. This work studies the heat exchange network synthesis (HENS) for the water-gas shift reaction train employing a set of alternative designs provided by Aspen energy analyzer (AEA) and combined in a process superstructure that was simulated in Aspen Plus (AP). This approach allows a rigorous evaluation of the alternative designs and their combinations avoiding all the AEA simplifications (linearized models of heat exchangers). A CAPE-OPEN compliant capability which makes use of a MINLP algorithm for sequential modular simulators was employed to obtain a heat exchange network that provided a cost of energy that was 27% lower than the base case. Highly influential parameters for the pos gasification technologies (i.e. CO/steam ratio, gasifier temperature and pressure) were calculated to obtain the minimum cost of energy while chemical looping parameters (oxidation and reduction temperature) were ensured to be satisfied.

Nuclear spin relaxation due to chemical shift anisotropy of gas-phase 129Xe.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanni, Matti; Lantto, Perttu; Vaara, Juha

2011-08-14

Nuclear spin relaxation provides detailed dynamical information on molecular systems and materials. Here, first-principles modeling of the chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) relaxation time for the prototypic monoatomic (129)Xe gas is carried out, both complementing and predicting the results of NMR measurements. Our approach is based on molecular dynamics simulations combined with pre-parametrized ab initio binary nuclear shielding tensors, an "NMR force field". By using the Redfield relaxation formalism, the simulated CSA time correlation functions lead to spectral density functions that, for the first time, quantitatively determine the experimental spin-lattice relaxation times T(1). The quality requirements on both the Xe-Xe interaction potential and binary shielding tensor are investigated in the context of CSA T(1). Persistent dimers Xe(2) are found to be responsible for the CSA relaxation mechanism in the low-density limit of the gas, completely in line with the earlier experimental findings.

Ring current shifts in {sup 19}F-NMR of membrane proteins

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Dongsheng, E-mail: liudsh@shanghaitech.edu.cn; Wüthrich, Kurt, E-mail: kwuthrich@shanghaitech.edu.cn [ShanghaiTech University, iHuman Institute (China)

2016-05-15

Fluorine-19 NMR markers are attractive reporter groups for use in studies of complex biomacromolecular systems, in particular also for studies of function-related conformational equilibria and rate processes in membrane proteins. Advantages of {sup 19}F-NMR probes include high sensitivity of the {sup 19}F chemical shifts to variations in the non-covalent environment. Nonetheless, in studies of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) we encountered situations where {sup 19}F chemical shifts were not responsive to conformational changes that had been implicated by other methods. This prompted us to examine possible effects of aromatic ring current fields on the chemical shifts of {sup 19}F-NMR probes used in GPCRs. Analysis of previously reported {sup 19}F-NMR data on the β{sub 2}-adrenergic receptor and mammalian rhodopsin showed that all {sup 19}F-labeling sites which manifested conformational changes are located near aromatic residues. Although ring current effects are small when compared to other known non-covalent effects on {sup 19}F chemical shifts, there is thus an indication that their contributions are significant when studying activation processes in GPCRs, since the observed activation-related {sup 19}F-NMR chemical shifts are comparable in size to the calculated ring current shifts. Considering the impact of ring current shifts may thus be helpful in identifying promising indigenous or engineered labeling sites for future {sup 19}F-NMR studies of GPCR activation, and novel information may be obtained on the nature of conformational rearrangements near the {sup 19}F-labels. It will then also be interesting to see if the presently indicated role of ring current shifts in membrane protein studies with {sup 19}F-NMR markers can be substantiated by a more extensive data base resulting from future studies.

NMR spectroscopic studies of a TAT-derived model peptide in imidazolium-based ILs: influence on chemical shifts and the cis/trans equilibrium state.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiedemann, Christoph; Ohlenschläger, Oliver; Mrestani-Klaus, Carmen; Bordusa, Frank

2017-09-13

NMR spectroscopy was used to study systematically the impact of imidazolium-based ionic liquid (IL) solutions on a TAT-derived model peptide containing Xaa-Pro peptide bonds. The selected IL anions cover a wide range of the Hofmeister series of ions. Based on highly resolved one- and two-dimensional NMR spectra individual 1 H and 13 C peptide chemical shift differences were analysed and a classification of IL anions according to the Hofmeister series was derived. The observed chemical shift changes indicate significant interactions between the peptide and the ILs. In addition, we examined the impact of different ILs towards the cis/trans equilibrium state of the Xaa-Pro peptide bonds. In this context, the IL cations appear to be of exceptional importance for inducing an alteration of the native cis/trans equilibrium state of Xaa-Pro bonds in favour of the trans-isomers.

NMR spectroscopy of organic compounds of selenium and tellurium. Communication 9. Chemical shifts of /sup 13/C in isological series of unsaturated ethers, sulfides, selenides and tellurides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kalabin, G.A.; Bzhezovskii, V.M.; Kushnarev, D.F.; Proidakov, A.G. (Irkutskii Gosudarstvennyj Univ. (USSR))

1981-06-01

The effects of heteroatoms Eh(Eh=O, S, Se, Te) on /sup 13/C chemical shifts in eleven isological series of R/sup 1/-Eh-R/sup 2/ unsaturated compounds are compared. A linear relation between /sup 13/C nuclei screening and tEh electronegativity is observed. An assumption is suggested that both likeness of the effects of 6A and 7A group elements on /sup 13/C chemical shifts of R/sup 1/ and R/sup 2/ substituents and their difference for elements of the 4A group are caused by unbonded interactions of the substituents with unshared electron pairs of heteroatoms.

Probing the role of backbone hydrogen bonds in protein-peptide interactions by amide-to-ester mutations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eildal, Jonas N N; Hultqvist, Greta; Balle, Thomas

2013-01-01

-protein interactions, those of the PDZ domain family involve formation of intermolecular hydrogen bonds: C-termini or internal linear motifs of proteins bind as β-strands to form an extended antiparallel β-sheet with the PDZ domain. Whereas extensive work has focused on the importance of the amino acid side chains...... of the protein ligand, the role of the backbone hydrogen bonds in the binding reaction is not known. Using amide-to-ester substitutions to perturb the backbone hydrogen-bonding pattern, we have systematically probed putative backbone hydrogen bonds between four different PDZ domains and peptides corresponding...... to natural protein ligands. Amide-to-ester mutations of the three C-terminal amides of the peptide ligand severely affected the affinity with the PDZ domain, demonstrating that hydrogen bonds contribute significantly to ligand binding (apparent changes in binding energy, ΔΔG = 1.3 to >3.8 kcal mol(-1...

Structure, solvent, and relativistic effects on the NMR chemical shifts in square-planar transition-metal complexes: assessment of DFT approaches

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Vícha, J.; Novotný, J.; Straka, Michal; Repisky, M.; Ruud, K.; Komorovsky, S.; Marek, R.

2015-01-01

Roč. 17, č. 38 (2015), s. 24944-24955 ISSN 1463-9076 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-03564S Institutional support: RVO:61388963 Keywords : NMR chemical shifts * transition metal complexes * relativistic effects * method calibration Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 4.449, year: 2015 http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2015/cp/c5cp04214c

Combining ambiguous chemical shift mapping with structure-based backbone and NOE assignment from 15N-NOESY

KAUST Repository

Jang, Richard; Gao, Xin; Li, Ming

2011-01-01

to these difficulties, the mapping is typically done manually or semi-automatically. However, automated methods are necessary for high-throughput drug screening. We present PeakWalker, a novel peak walking algorithm for fast-exchange systems that models the errors

High-Frequency H-1 NMR Chemical Shifts of Sn-II and Pb-II Hydrides Induced by Relativistic Effects: Quest for Pb-II Hydrides

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Vícha, J.; Marek, R.; Straka, Michal

2016-01-01

Roč. 55, č. 20 (2016), s. 10302-10309 ISSN 0020-1669 Institutional support: RVO:61388963 Keywords : hydrides of TlI and PbII * high-frequency 1H chemical shifts * relativistic effects Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 4.857, year: 2016

Versatile Chemical Derivatizations to Design Glycol Chitosan-Based Drug Carriers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sung Eun Kim

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Glycol chitosan (GC and its derivatives have been extensively investigated as safe and effective drug delivery carriers because of their unique physiochemical and biological properties. The reactive functional groups such as the amine and hydroxyl groups on the GC backbone allow for easy chemical modification with various chemical compounds (e.g., hydrophobic molecules, crosslinkers, and acid-sensitive and labile molecules, and the versatility in chemical modifications enables production of a wide range of GC-based drug carriers. This review summarizes the versatile chemical modification methods that can be used to design GC-based drug carriers and describes their recent applications in disease therapy.

In Situ Solid-State Reactions Monitored by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy: Temperature-Induced Proton Transfer Leads to Chemical Shifts.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Joanna S; Walczak, Monika; Jaye, Cherno; Fischer, Daniel A

2016-10-24

The dramatic colour and phase alteration with the solid-state, temperature-dependent reaction between squaric acid and 4,4'-bipyridine has been probed in situ with X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The electronic and chemical sensitivity to the local atomic environment through chemical shifts in the near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) revealed proton transfer from the acid to the bipyridine base through the change in nitrogen protonation state in the high-temperature form. Direct detection of proton transfer coupled with structural analysis elucidates the nature of the solid-state process, with intermolecular proton transfer occurring along an acid-base chain followed by a domino effect to the subsequent acid-base chains, leading to the rapid migration along the length of the crystal. NEXAFS thereby conveys the ability to monitor the nature of solid-state chemical reactions in situ, without the need for a priori information or long-range order. © 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Application of the random coil index to studying protein flexibility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berjanskii, Mark V.; Wishart, David S. [University of Alberta, Department of Computing Science (Canada)], E-mail: david.wishart@ualberta.ca

2008-01-15

Protein flexibility lies at the heart of many protein-ligand binding events and enzymatic activities. However, the experimental measurement of protein motions is often difficult, tedious and error-prone. As a result, there is a considerable interest in developing simpler and faster ways of quantifying protein flexibility. Recently, we described a method, called Random Coil Index (RCI), which appears to be able to quantitatively estimate model-free order parameters and flexibility in protein structural ensembles using only backbone chemical shifts. Because of its potential utility, we have undertaken a more detailed investigation of the RCI method in an attempt to ascertain its underlying principles, its general utility, its sensitivity to chemical shift errors, its sensitivity to data completeness, its applicability to other proteins, and its general strengths and weaknesses. Overall, we find that the RCI method is very robust and that it represents a useful addition to traditional methods of studying protein flexibility. We have implemented many of the findings and refinements reported here into a web server that allows facile, automated predictions of model-free order parameters, MD RMSF and NMR RMSD values directly from backbone {sup 1}H, {sup 13}C and {sup 15}N chemical shift assignments. The server is available at http: //wishart.biology.ualberta.ca/rcihttp://wishart.biology.ualberta.ca/rci.

Marburg virus VP35 can both fully coat the backbone and cap the ends of dsRNA for interferon antagonism.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shridhar Bale

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Filoviruses, including Marburg virus (MARV and Ebola virus (EBOV, cause fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans and non-human primates. All filoviruses encode a unique multi-functional protein termed VP35. The C-terminal double-stranded (dsRNA-binding domain (RBD of VP35 has been implicated in interferon antagonism and immune evasion. Crystal structures of the VP35 RBD from two ebolaviruses have previously demonstrated that the viral protein caps the ends of dsRNA. However, it is not yet understood how the expanses of dsRNA backbone, between the ends, are masked from immune surveillance during filovirus infection. Here, we report the crystal structure of MARV VP35 RBD bound to dsRNA. In the crystal structure, molecules of dsRNA stack end-to-end to form a pseudo-continuous oligonucleotide. This oligonucleotide is continuously and completely coated along its sugar-phosphate backbone by the MARV VP35 RBD. Analysis of dsRNA binding by dot-blot and isothermal titration calorimetry reveals that multiple copies of MARV VP35 RBD can indeed bind the dsRNA sugar-phosphate backbone in a cooperative manner in solution. Further, MARV VP35 RBD can also cap the ends of the dsRNA in solution, although this arrangement was not captured in crystals. Together, these studies suggest that MARV VP35 can both coat the backbone and cap the ends, and that for MARV, coating of the dsRNA backbone may be an essential mechanism by which dsRNA is masked from backbone-sensing immune surveillance molecules.

Generation of marker- and/or backbone-free transgenic wheat plants via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Genping

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes to animals and vertical transfer of herbicide resistance genes to the weedy relatives are perceived as major biosafety concerns in genetically modified (GM crops. In this study, five novel vectors which used gusA and bar as a reporter gene and a selection marker gene, respectively, were constructed based on the pCLEAN dual binary vector system. Among these vectors, 1G7B and 5G7B carried two T-DNAs located on two respective plasmids with 5G7B possessing an additional virGwt gene. 5LBTG154 and 5TGTB154 carried two T-DNAs in the target plasmid with either one or double right borders, and 5BTG154 carried the selectable marker gene on the backbone outside of the T-DNA left border in the target plasmid. In addition, 5BTG154, 5LBTG154 and 5TGTB154 used pAL154 as a helper plasmid which contains Komari fragment to facilitate transformation. These five dual binary vector combinations were transformed into Agrobacterium strain AGL1 and used to transform durum wheat cv Stewart 63. Evaluation of the co-transformation efficiencies, the frequencies of marker-free transgenic plants and integration of backbone sequences in the obtained transgenic lines indicated that two vectors (5G7B and 5TGTB154 were more efficient in generating marker-free transgenic wheat plants with no or minimal integration of backbone sequences in the wheat genome. The vector series developed in this study for generation of marker- and/or backbone-free transgenic wheat plants via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation will be useful to facilitate the creation of ‘clean’ GM wheat containing only the foreign genes of agronomic importance.

Generation of Marker- and/or Backbone-Free Transgenic Wheat Plants via Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Gen-Ping; Yu, Xiu-Dao; Sun, Yong-Wei; Jones, Huw D; Xia, Lan-Qin

2016-01-01

Horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes to animals and vertical transfer of herbicide resistance genes to the weedy relatives are perceived as major biosafety concerns in genetically modified (GM) crops. In this study, five novel vectors which used gusA and bar as a reporter gene and a selection marker gene, respectively, were constructed based on the pCLEAN dual binary vector system. Among these vectors, 1G7B and 5G7B carried two T-DNAs located on two respective plasmids with 5G7B possessing an additional virGwt gene. 5LBTG154 and 5TGTB154 carried two T-DNAs in the target plasmid with either one or double right borders, and 5BTG154 carried the selectable marker gene on the backbone outside of the T-DNA left border in the target plasmid. In addition, 5BTG154, 5LBTG154, and 5TGTB154 used pAL154 as a helper plasmid which contains Komari fragment to facilitate transformation. These five dual binary vector combinations were transformed into Agrobacterium strain AGL1 and used to transform durum wheat cv Stewart 63. Evaluation of the co-transformation efficiencies, the frequencies of marker-free transgenic plants, and integration of backbone sequences in the obtained transgenic lines indicated that two vectors (5G7B and 5TGTB154) were more efficient in generating marker-free transgenic wheat plants with no or minimal integration of backbone sequences in the wheat genome. The vector series developed in this study for generation of marker- and/or backbone-free transgenic wheat plants via Agrobacterium -mediated transformation will be useful to facilitate the creation of "clean" GM wheat containing only the foreign genes of agronomic importance.

Aromatic Copolyamides with Anthrazoline Units in the Backbone: Synthesis, Characterization, Pervaporation Application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Galina A. Polotskaya

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Copolyamides with anthrazoline units in the backbone (coPA were synthesized and dense nonporous films were prepared by solvent evaporation. Glass transition temperature, density, and fractional free volume were determined for the dense nonporous films composed of polyamide and two of its copolymers containing 20 and 30 mol % anthrazoline units in the backbone. Transport properties of the polymer films were estimated by sorption and pervaporation tests toward methanol, toluene, and their mixtures. An increase in anthrazoline fragments content leads to an increasing degree of methanol sorption but to a decreasing degree of toluene sorption. Pervaporation of a methanol–toluene mixture was studied over a wide range of feed concentration (10–90 wt % methanol. Maximal separation factor was observed for coPA-20 containing 20 mol % fragments with anthrazoline units; maximal total flux was observed for coPA-30 with the highest fractional free volume.

Creatinine and creatininium cation in water solution. Tautomerism and quantitative interpretation of the solution acidity effect on 1H, 13C and 1:4N NMR chemical shifts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kotsyubynskyy, D.; Molchanov, S.; Gryff-Keller, A.

2004-01-01

1 H, 13 C and 1 :4N NMR chemical shifts for creatinine in water solution of various acidity have been measured. Analysis of these data enabled determination of the acidity constant of creatininium cation and the chemical shifts of the neutral and protonated forms of creatinine. Molecular energies and carbon and nitrogen magnetic shielding constants for various tautomeric structures of the investigated species have been calculated using the quantum chemistry method GIAO DFT B3LYP/6-311++G(2d,p). Compilation of the available experimental and theoretical results has provided additional information on the problem of tautomerism of this important biological molecule. (author)

CORBA and MPI-based 'backbone' for coupling advanced simulation tools

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seydaliev, M.; Caswell, D.

2014-01-01

There is a growing international interest in using coupled, multidisciplinary computer simulations for a variety of purposes, including nuclear reactor safety analysis. Reactor behaviour can be modeled using a suite of computer programs simulating phenomena or predicting parameters that can be categorized into disciplines such as Thermalhydraulics, Neutronics, Fuel, Fuel Channels, Fission Product Release and Transport, Containment and Atmospheric Dispersion, and Severe Accident Analysis. Traditionally, simulations used for safety analysis individually addressed only the behaviour within a single discipline, based upon static input data from other simulation programs. The limitation of using a suite of stand-alone simulations is that phenomenological interdependencies or temporal feedback between the parameters calculated within individual simulations cannot be adequately captured. To remove this shortcoming, multiple computer simulations for different disciplines must exchange data during runtime to address these interdependencies. This article describes the concept of a new framework, which we refer to as the 'Backbone', to provide the necessary runtime exchange of data. The Backbone, currently under development at AECL for a preliminary feasibility study, is a hybrid design using features taken from the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), a standard defined by the Object Management Group, and the Message Passing Interface (MPI), a standard developed by a group of researchers from academia and industry. Both have well-tested and efficient implementations, including some that are freely available under the GNU public licenses. The CORBA component enables individual programs written in different languages and running on different platforms within a network to exchange data with each other, thus behaving like a single application. MPI provides the process-to-process intercommunication between these programs. This paper outlines the different CORBA and

Volumetric spiral chemical shift imaging of hyperpolarized [2-(13) c]pyruvate in a rat c6 glioma model.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Jae Mo; Josan, Sonal; Jang, Taichang; Merchant, Milton; Watkins, Ron; Hurd, Ralph E; Recht, Lawrence D; Mayer, Dirk; Spielman, Daniel M

2016-03-01

MRS of hyperpolarized [2-(13)C]pyruvate can be used to assess multiple metabolic pathways within mitochondria as the (13)C label is not lost with the conversion of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA. This study presents the first MR spectroscopic imaging of hyperpolarized [2-(13)C]pyruvate in glioma-bearing brain. Spiral chemical shift imaging with spectrally undersampling scheme (1042 Hz) and a hard-pulse excitation was exploited to simultaneously image [2-(13)C]pyruvate, [2-(13)C]lactate, and [5-(13)C]glutamate, the metabolites known to be produced in brain after an injection of hyperpolarized [2-(13)C]pyruvate, without chemical shift displacement artifacts. A separate undersampling scheme (890 Hz) was also used to image [1-(13)C]acetyl-carnitine. Healthy and C6 glioma-implanted rat brains were imaged at baseline and after dichloroacetate administration, a drug that modulates pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase activity. The baseline metabolite maps showed higher lactate and lower glutamate in tumor as compared to normal-appearing brain. Dichloroacetate led to an increase in glutamate in both tumor and normal-appearing brain. Dichloroacetate-induced %-decrease of lactate/glutamate was comparable to the lactate/bicarbonate decrease from hyperpolarized [1-(13)C]pyruvate studies. Acetyl-carnitine was observed in the muscle/fat tissue surrounding the brain. Robust volumetric imaging with hyperpolarized [2-(13)C]pyruvate and downstream products was performed in glioma-bearing rat brains, demonstrating changes in mitochondrial metabolism with dichloroacetate. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Ca-C backbone fragmentation dominates in electron detachment dissociation of gas-phase polypeptide polyanions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjeldsen, Frank; Silivra, Oleg A; Ivonin, Igor A

2005-01-01

the dissociation of oxidized radical anions [M-nH]((n-1)-*. We demonstrate that C(alpha)-C cleavages, which are otherwise rarely observed in tandem mass spectrometry, can account for most of the backbone fragmentation, with even-electron x fragments dominating over radical a* ions. Ab initio calculations at the B3...... LYP level of theory with the 6-311+G(2 p,2 d)//6-31+G(d,p) basis set suggested a unidirectional mechanism for EDD (cleavage always N-terminal to the radical site), with a*, x formation being favored over a, x* fragmentation by 74.2 kJ mol(-1). Thus, backbone C(alpha)-C bonds N-terminal to proline...

Comparison of the solution and crystal structures of staphylococcal nuclease with 13C and 15N chemical shifts used as structural fingerprints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cole, H.B.R.; Sparks, S.W.; Torchia, D.A.

1988-01-01

The authors report high-resolution 13 C and 15 N NMR spectra of crystalline staphylococcal nuclease (Nase) complexed to thymidine 3',5'-diphosphate and Ca 2+ . High sensitivity and resolution are obtained by applying solid-state NMR techniques-high power proton decoupling and cross-polarization magic angle sample spinning (CPMASS)-to protein samples that have been efficiently synthesized and labeled by an overproducing strain of Escherichia coli. A comparison of CPMASS and solution spectra of Nase labeled with either [methyl- 13 C]methionine or [ 15 ]valine shows that the chemical shifts in the crystalline and solution states are virtually identical. This result is strong evidence that the protein conformations in the solution and crystalline states are nearly the same. Because of the close correspondence of the crystal and solution chemical shifts, sequential assignments obtained in solution apply to the crystal spectra. It should therefore be possible to study the molecular structure and dynamics of many sequentially assigned atomic sites in Nase crystals. Similar experiments are applicable to the growing number of proteins that can be obtained from efficient expression systems

Molecular and Silica-Supported Molybdenum Alkyne Metathesis Catalysts: Influence of Electronics and Dynamics on Activity Revealed by Kinetics, Solid-State NMR, and Chemical Shift Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Estes, Deven P; Gordon, Christopher P; Fedorov, Alexey; Liao, Wei-Chih; Ehrhorn, Henrike; Bittner, Celine; Zier, Manuel Luca; Bockfeld, Dirk; Chan, Ka Wing; Eisenstein, Odile; Raynaud, Christophe; Tamm, Matthias; Copéret, Christophe

2017-12-06

Molybdenum-based molecular alkylidyne complexes of the type [MesC≡Mo{OC(CH 3 ) 3-x (CF 3 ) x } 3 ] (MoF 0 , x = 0; MoF 3 , x = 1; MoF 6 , x = 2; MoF 9 , x = 3; Mes = 2,4,6-trimethylphenyl) and their silica-supported analogues are prepared and characterized at the molecular level, in particular by solid-state NMR, and their alkyne metathesis catalytic activity is evaluated. The 13 C NMR chemical shift of the alkylidyne carbon increases with increasing number of fluorine atoms on the alkoxide ligands for both molecular and supported catalysts but with more shielded values for the supported complexes. The activity of these catalysts increases in the order MoF 0 molecular and supported species. Detailed solid-state NMR analysis of molecular and silica-supported metal alkylidyne catalysts coupled with DFT/ZORA calculations rationalize the NMR spectroscopic signatures and discernible activity trends at the frontier orbital level: (1) increasing the number of fluorine atoms lowers the energy of the π*(M≡C) orbital, explaining the more deshielded chemical shift values; it also leads to an increased electrophilicity and higher reactivity for catalysts up to MoF 6 , prior to a sharp decrease in reactivity for MoF 9 due to the formation of stable metallacyclobutadiene intermediates; (2) the silica-supported catalysts are less active than their molecular analogues because they are less electrophilic and dynamic, as revealed by their 13 C NMR chemical shift tensors.

Effects of backbone conformation and surface texture of polyimide alignment film on the pretilt angle of liquid crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Chi-Jung; Chou, Ray-Lin; Lin, Yu-Chi; Liang, Bau-Jy; Chen, Jyun-Ji

2011-01-01

Polyimides (PIs) with different inclination angle of polymer backbones, together with polar hydroxyl group and/or nonpolar trifluoromethyl group at various sites of the backbone were synthesized and used as liquid crystal alignment layers. The molecular conformation, surface chemistry, surface energy, surface morphology, and pretilt angle of the PI film were investigated. The distributions of fluorinated group and hydroxyl group at different depths of the PI surfaces were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Effects of the conformation of the PI molecular backbone on the surface morphology of the rubbed PI layer, the pretilt angle and surface energy of the alignment film were studied. The PI which contains both nonpolar fluorinated groups sticking out of the surface and the polar hydroxyl groups on the surface exhibits high pretilt angle.

Electric field induced localization phenomena in a ladder network with superlattice configuration: Effect of backbone environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dutta, Paramita; Karmakar, S. N. [Condensed Matter Physics Division, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Sector-I, Block-AF, Bidhannagar, Kolkata-700 064 (India); Maiti, Santanu K., E-mail: santanu.maiti@isical.ac.in [Physics and Applied Mathematics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, 203 Barrackpore Trunk Road, Kolkata-700 108 (India)

2014-09-15

Electric field induced localization properties of a tight-binding ladder network in presence of backbone sites are investigated. Based on Green's function formalism we numerically calculate two-terminal transport together with density of states for different arrangements of atomic sites in the ladder and its backbone. Our results lead to a possibility of getting multiple mobility edges which essentially plays a switching action between a completely opaque to fully or partly conducting region upon the variation of system Fermi energy, and thus, support in fabricating mesoscopic or DNA-based switching devices.

Detection of fat in focal liver lesions using chemical-shift MR imaging: its significance in patients with and without hepatic cirrhosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, J.

1999-01-01

To determine the utility of the chemical shift technique in MRI for the detection of fact in focal hepatic lesions and to see its significance in patients with and without hepatic cirrhosis. 159 patients with 207 hepatic lesions were studied using MRI (IT). Two groups were established: a) patients with hepatic cirrhosis (n=63 with 69 lesions) and b) patients without cirrhosis (n=96 with 138 lesions). Images were obtained in phase (P) and in opposite phase (OP) with gradient echo sequences (RG). The parameter used to differentiate the lesions with fat from those without fat was the variation percentage of the intensity of the signal (VIS) between the images in P and in OP. The statistical valuation was carried out using Student's t tests and the area under the ROC curve. The chemical shift technique detected fat in 25 lesions (12%), 10 hepatocarcinomas in the patients with cirrhosis and two angiomyolipomas and 13 nodular fat infiltrations in the patients who did not have cirrhosis. The average VIS percentage in the 10 hepatocarcinomas was 174.77% (ranging from 88.64% to 369.33%) while in the remaining 59 hepatocarcinomas it was -4.03% (ranging from 12.79% to -19.10%) (p=0.003). In the patients who did not have cirrhosis the average VIS percentage of the lesions with fat was 161.23 (ranging from 19.82 to 605.78) while in the lesions without fat it was -0.41 (ranging from -18.96 to 19.52) (p=0.003). The area under the ROC curve was 1 for the VIS parameter. The chemical shift technique allowed for fat to be detected within hepatic lesions. Based on our study, a nodule with fat in a patient with hepatic cirrhosis is suspected to have hepatocarcinomas while in patients who do not suffer from cirrhosis the existence of fat in a nodule favours its bening nature. (Author) 39 refs

Data Acquisition Backbone Core DABC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adamczewski, J; Essel, H G; Kurz, N; Linev, S

2008-01-01

For the new experiments at FAIR new concepts of data acquisition systems have to be developed like the distribution of self-triggered, time stamped data streams over high performance networks for event building. The Data Acquisition Backbone Core (DABC) is a software package currently under development for FAIR detector tests, readout components test, and data flow investigations. All kinds of data channels (front-end systems) are connected by program plug-ins into functional components of DABC like data input, combiner, scheduler, event builder, analysis and storage components. After detailed simulations real tests of event building over a switched network (InfiniBand clusters with up to 110 nodes) have been performed. With the DABC software more than 900 MByte/s input and output per node can be achieved meeting the most demanding requirements. The software is ready for the implementation of various test beds needed for the final design of data acquisition systems at FAIR. The development of key components is supported by the FutureDAQ project of the European Union (FP6 I3HP JRA1)

Measuring proton shift tensors with ultrafast MAS NMR.

Science.gov (United States)

Miah, Habeeba K; Bennett, David A; Iuga, Dinu; Titman, Jeremy J

2013-10-01

A new proton anisotropic-isotropic shift correlation experiment is described which operates with ultrafast MAS, resulting in good resolution of isotropic proton shifts in the detection dimension. The new experiment makes use of a recoupling sequence designed using symmetry principles which reintroduces the proton chemical shift anisotropy in the indirect dimension. The experiment has been used to measure the proton shift tensor parameters for the OH hydrogen-bonded protons in tyrosine·HCl and citric acid at Larmor frequencies of up to 850 MHz. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Inferential backbone assignment for sparse data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vitek, Olga; Bailey-Kellogg, Chris; Craig, Bruce; Vitek, Jan

2006-01-01

This paper develops an approach to protein backbone NMR assignment that effectively assigns large proteins while using limited sets of triple-resonance experiments. Our approach handles proteins with large fractions of missing data and many ambiguous pairs of pseudoresidues, and provides a statistical assessment of confidence in global and position-specific assignments. The approach is tested on an extensive set of experimental and synthetic data of up to 723 residues, with match tolerances of up to 0.5 ppm for C α and C β resonance types. The tests show that the approach is particularly helpful when data contain experimental noise and require large match tolerances. The keys to the approach are an empirical Bayesian probability model that rigorously accounts for uncertainty in the data at all stages in the analysis, and a hybrid stochastic tree-based search algorithm that effectively explores the large space of possible assignments

SEVA Linkers: A Versatile and Automatable DNA Backbone Exchange Standard for Synthetic Biology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kim, Se Hyeuk; Cavaleiro, Mafalda; Rennig, Maja

2016-01-01

flexibility, and different researchers prefer and master different molecular technologies. Here, we describe a new, highly versatile and automatable standard “SEVA linkers” for vector exchange. SEVA linkers enable backbone swapping with 20 combinations of classical enzymatic restriction/ligation, Gibson...

Backbone dynamics of the human CC-chemokine eotaxin

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ye Jiqing; Mayer, Kristen L.; Stone, Martin J. [Indiana University, Department of Chemistry (United States)

1999-10-15

Eotaxin is a CC chemokine with potent chemoattractant activity towards eosinophils. {sup 15}N NMR relaxation data have been used to characterize the backbone dynamics of recombinant human eotaxin. {sup 15}N longitudinal (R{sub 1}) and transverse (R{sub 2}) auto relaxation rates, heteronuclear {sup 1}H-{sup 15}N steady-state NOEs, and transverse cross-relaxation rates ({eta}{sub xy}) were obtained at 30 deg. C for all resolved backbone secondary amide groups using {sup 1} H-detected two-dimensional NMR experiments. Ratios of transverse auto and cross relaxation rates were used to identify NH groups influenced by slow conformational rearrangement. Relaxation data were fit to the extended model free dynamics formalism, yielding parameters describing axially symmetric molecular rotational diffusion and the internal dynamics of each NH group. The molecular rotational correlation time ({tau}{sub m}) is 5.09{+-}0.02 ns, indicating that eotaxin exists predominantly as a monomer under the conditions of the NMR study. The ratio of diffusion rates about unique and perpendicular axes (D{sub parallel}/D{sub perpendicular}) is 0.81{+-}0.02. Residues with large amplitudes of subnanosecond motion are clustered in the N-terminal region (residues 1-19), the C-terminus (residues 68-73) and the loop connecting the first two {beta}-strands (residues 30-37). N-terminal flexibility appears to be conserved throughout the chemokine family and may have implications for the mechanism of chemokine receptor activation. Residues exhibiting significant dynamics on the microsecond-millisecond time scale are located close to the two conserved disulfide bonds, suggesting that these motions may be coupled to disulfide bond isomerization.

Prediction of microvascular invasion of hepatocellular carcinomas with gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR imaging: Impact of intra-tumoral fat detected on chemical-shift images

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Min, Ji Hye [Department of Radiology and Center for Imaging Science, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Young Kon, E-mail: jmyr@dreamwiz.com [Department of Radiology and Center for Imaging Science, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Lim, Sanghyeok [Department of Radiology, Guri Hospital, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Guri (Korea, Republic of); Jeong, Woo Kyoung; Choi, Dongil; Lee, Won Jae [Department of Radiology and Center for Imaging Science, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2015-06-15

Highlights: • Intra-tumoral fat detected with MR imaging may suggest lower risk for MVI of HCC. • Alfa-fetoprotein, tumor size, and fat component were associated with MVI of HCC. • Chemical shift MRI should be considered for the evaluation of HCC. - Abstract: Purpose: To investigate the impact of intra-tumoral fat detected by chemical-shift MR imaging in predicting the MVI of HCC. Materials and methods: Gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR imaging of 365 surgically proven HCCs from 365 patients (306 men, 59 women; mean age, 55.6 years) were evaluated. HCCs were classified into two groups, fat-containing and non-fat-containing, based on the presence of fat on chemical-shift images. Fat-containing HCCs were subdivided into diffuse or focal fatty change groups. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify clinical and MR findings associated with MVI. Results: Based on MR imaging, 66 tumors were classified as fat-containing HCCs and 299 as non-fat-containing HCCs. Among the 66 fat-containing HCCs, 38 (57.6%) showed diffuse fatty changes and 28 (42.4%) showed focal fatty changes. MVI was present in 18 (27.3%) fat-containing HCCs and in 117 (39.1%) non-fat-containing HCCs (P = 0.07). Univariate analysis revealed that serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and tumor size were significantly associated with MVI (P < 0.001). A multiple logistic regression analysis showed that log AFP (odds ratio 1.178, P = 0.0016), tumor size (odds ratio 1.809, P < 0.001), and intra-tumoral fat (odds ratio 0.515, P = 0.0387) were independent variables associated with MVI. Conclusion: Intra-tumoral fat detected with MR imaging may suggest lower risk for MVI of HCC and, therefore, a possibly more favorable prognosis, but the clinical value of this finding is uncertain.

Prediction of microvascular invasion of hepatocellular carcinomas with gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR imaging: Impact of intra-tumoral fat detected on chemical-shift images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Min, Ji Hye; Kim, Young Kon; Lim, Sanghyeok; Jeong, Woo Kyoung; Choi, Dongil; Lee, Won Jae

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Intra-tumoral fat detected with MR imaging may suggest lower risk for MVI of HCC. • Alfa-fetoprotein, tumor size, and fat component were associated with MVI of HCC. • Chemical shift MRI should be considered for the evaluation of HCC. - Abstract: Purpose: To investigate the impact of intra-tumoral fat detected by chemical-shift MR imaging in predicting the MVI of HCC. Materials and methods: Gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR imaging of 365 surgically proven HCCs from 365 patients (306 men, 59 women; mean age, 55.6 years) were evaluated. HCCs were classified into two groups, fat-containing and non-fat-containing, based on the presence of fat on chemical-shift images. Fat-containing HCCs were subdivided into diffuse or focal fatty change groups. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify clinical and MR findings associated with MVI. Results: Based on MR imaging, 66 tumors were classified as fat-containing HCCs and 299 as non-fat-containing HCCs. Among the 66 fat-containing HCCs, 38 (57.6%) showed diffuse fatty changes and 28 (42.4%) showed focal fatty changes. MVI was present in 18 (27.3%) fat-containing HCCs and in 117 (39.1%) non-fat-containing HCCs (P = 0.07). Univariate analysis revealed that serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and tumor size were significantly associated with MVI (P < 0.001). A multiple logistic regression analysis showed that log AFP (odds ratio 1.178, P = 0.0016), tumor size (odds ratio 1.809, P < 0.001), and intra-tumoral fat (odds ratio 0.515, P = 0.0387) were independent variables associated with MVI. Conclusion: Intra-tumoral fat detected with MR imaging may suggest lower risk for MVI of HCC and, therefore, a possibly more favorable prognosis, but the clinical value of this finding is uncertain

Ab initio/GIAO-CCSD(T) study of structures, energies, and 13C NMR chemical shifts of C4H7(+) and C5H9(+) ions: relative stability and dynamic aspects of the cyclopropylcarbinyl vs bicyclobutonium ions.

Science.gov (United States)

Olah, George A; Surya Prakash, G K; Rasul, Golam

2008-07-16

The structures and energies of the carbocations C 4H 7 (+) and C 5H 9 (+) were calculated using the ab initio method. The (13)C NMR chemical shifts of the carbocations were calculated using the GIAO-CCSD(T) method. The pisigma-delocalized bisected cyclopropylcarbinyl cation, 1 and nonclassical bicyclobutonium ion, 2 were found to be the minima for C 4H 7 (+) at the MP2/cc-pVTZ level. At the MP4(SDTQ)/cc-pVTZ//MP2/cc-pVTZ + ZPE level the structure 2 is 0.4 kcal/mol more stable than the structure 1. The (13)C NMR chemical shifts of 1 and 2 were calculated by the GIAO-CCSD(T) method. Based on relative energies and (13)C NMR chemical shift calculations, an equilibrium involving the 1 and 2 in superacid solutions is most likely responsible for the experimentally observed (13)C NMR chemical shifts, with the latter as the predominant equilibrating species. The alpha-methylcyclopropylcarbinyl cation, 4, and nonclassical bicyclobutonium ion, 5, were found to be the minima for C 5H 9 (+) at the MP2/cc-pVTZ level. At the MP4(SDTQ)/cc-pVTZ//MP2/cc-pVTZ + ZPE level ion 5 is 5.9 kcal/mol more stable than the structure 4. The calculated (13)C NMR chemical shifts of 5 agree rather well with the experimental values of C 5H 9 (+).

Chemical shifts as a novel measure of interactions between two binding sites of symmetric dialkyldimethylammonium bromides to α-cyclodextrin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Funasaki, Noriaki; Ishikawa, Seiji; Hirota, Shun

2006-01-01

Complex formation of α-cyclodextrin (α-CD) with decyltrimethylammonium (DeTAB), N,N-dioctyldimethylammonium (DOAB), and N,N-didecyldimethylammonium bromides (DDeAB) was investigated by proton NMR spectroscopy. Analysis of chemical shifts yielded macroscopic 1:1 and 1:2 binding constants (K 1 and K 2 ) and chemical shift differences (Δδ SD and Δδ SD2 ) for the 1:1 and 1:2 complexes of DeTAB, DOAB, and DDeAB with α-CD. The K 1 and K 2 values of DDeAB were quantitatively explained on the basis of the assumption that the microscopic 1:1 binding constant of DDeAB is identical to the observed K 1 value of DeTAB. The K 2 value of DDeAB was also explained in terms of its observed K 1 value and the independent binding of two alkyl chains. Furthermore, the Δδ SD and Δδ SD2 values for protons of DDeAB and α-CD were quantitatively explained on the basis of the assumption that the geometry of the decyl group of DDeAB in an α-CD cavity is identical to that of DeTAB. The Δδ SD value was also explicable on the basis of the same geometric assumption and the observed Δδ SD2 value for this system. Similar results were obtained for the 1:1 and 1:2 DOAB-α-CD complexes

An automated system designed for large scale NMR data deposition and annotation: application to over 600 assigned chemical shift data entries to the BioMagResBank from the Riken Structural Genomics/Proteomics Initiative internal database

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kobayashi, Naohiro; Harano, Yoko; Tochio, Naoya; Nakatani, Eiichi; Kigawa, Takanori; Yokoyama, Shigeyuki; Mading, Steve; Ulrich, Eldon L.; Markley, John L.; Akutsu, Hideo; Fujiwara, Toshimichi

2012-01-01

Biomolecular NMR chemical shift data are key information for the functional analysis of biomolecules and the development of new techniques for NMR studies utilizing chemical shift statistical information. Structural genomics projects are major contributors to the accumulation of protein chemical shift information. The management of the large quantities of NMR data generated by each project in a local database and the transfer of the data to the public databases are still formidable tasks because of the complicated nature of NMR data. Here we report an automated and efficient system developed for the deposition and annotation of a large number of data sets including 1 H, 13 C and 15 N resonance assignments used for the structure determination of proteins. We have demonstrated the feasibility of our system by applying it to over 600 entries from the internal database generated by the RIKEN Structural Genomics/Proteomics Initiative (RSGI) to the public database, BioMagResBank (BMRB). We have assessed the quality of the deposited chemical shifts by comparing them with those predicted from the PDB coordinate entry for the corresponding protein. The same comparison for other matched BMRB/PDB entries deposited from 2001–2011 has been carried out and the results suggest that the RSGI entries greatly improved the quality of the BMRB database. Since the entries include chemical shifts acquired under strikingly similar experimental conditions, these NMR data can be expected to be a promising resource to improve current technologies as well as to develop new NMR methods for protein studies.

NMR Chemical Shift of a Helium Atom as a Probe for Electronic Structure of FH, F-, (FHF)-, and FH2.

Science.gov (United States)

Tupikina, E Yu; Efimova, A A; Denisov, G S; Tolstoy, P M

2017-12-21

In this work, we present the first results of outer electronic shell visualization by using a 3 He atom as a probe particle. As model objects we have chosen F - , FH, and FH 2 + species, as well as the hydrogen-bonded complex FH···F - at various H···F - distances (3.0, 2.5, 2.0, and 1.5 Å and equilibrium at ca. 1.14 Å). The interaction energy of investigated objects with helium atom (CCSD/aug-cc-pVTZ) and helium atom chemical shift (B3LYP/pcS-2) surfaces were calculated, and their topological analysis was performed. For comparison, the results of standard quantum mechanical approaches to electronic shell visualization were presented (ESP, ELF, ED, ∇ 2 ED). We show that the Laplacian of helium chemical shift, ∇ 2 δ He , is sensitive to fluorine atom lone pair localization regions, and it can be used for the visualization of the outer electronic shell, which could be used to evaluate the proton accepting ability. The sensitivity of ∇ 2 δ He to lone pairs is preserved at distances as large as 2.0-2.5 Å from the fluorine nucleus (in comparison with the distance to ESP minima, located at 1.0-1.5 Å or maxima of ELF, which are as close as 0.6 Å to the fluorine nucleus).

Systematic determination of the mosaic structure of bacterial genomes: species backbone versus strain-specific loops

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gendrault-Jacquemard A

2005-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Public databases now contain multitude of complete bacterial genomes, including several genomes of the same species. The available data offers new opportunities to address questions about bacterial genome evolution, a task that requires reliable fine comparison data of closely related genomes. Recent analyses have shown, using pairwise whole genome alignments, that it is possible to segment bacterial genomes into a common conserved backbone and strain-specific sequences called loops. Results Here, we generalize this approach and propose a strategy that allows systematic and non-biased genome segmentation based on multiple genome alignments. Segmentation analyses, as applied to 13 different bacterial species, confirmed the feasibility of our approach to discern the 'mosaic' organization of bacterial genomes. Segmentation results are available through a Web interface permitting functional analysis, extraction and visualization of the backbone/loops structure of documented genomes. To illustrate the potential of this approach, we performed a precise analysis of the mosaic organization of three E. coli strains and functional characterization of the loops. Conclusion The segmentation results including the backbone/loops structure of 13 bacterial species genomes are new and available for use by the scientific community at the URL: http://genome.jouy.inra.fr/mosaic.

Treatment Results of Injuries of Thoracic and Lumbar Backbone Departments at Osteoporosis Patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D.Y. Sumin

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Information relates to radiologic (computer tomography manifestations providing the visualization of thoracic and lumbar backbone department injuries at osteoporotic patients. Contemporary methods of transcutaneous and trans-pedicle vertebroplasty with bone cement allows to obtain a stable positive healing effect against such pathologies.

Sulfation and cation effects on the conformational properties of the glycan backbone of chondroitin sulfate disaccharides.

Science.gov (United States)

Faller, Christina E; Guvench, Olgun

2015-05-21

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) is one of several glycosaminoglycans that are major components of proteoglycans. A linear polymer consisting of repeats of the disaccharide -4GlcAβ1-3GalNAcβ1-, CS undergoes differential sulfation resulting in five unique sulfation patterns. Because of the dimer repeat, the CS glycosidic "backbone" has two distinct sets of conformational degrees of freedom defined by pairs of dihedral angles: (ϕ1, ψ1) about the β1-3 glycosidic linkage and (ϕ2, ψ2) about the β1-4 glycosidic linkage. Differential sulfation and the possibility of cation binding, combined with the conformational flexibility and biological diversity of CS, complicate experimental efforts to understand CS three-dimensional structures at atomic resolution. Therefore, all-atom explicit-solvent molecular dynamics simulations with Adaptive Biasing Force sampling of the CS backbone were applied to obtain high-resolution, high-precision free energies of CS disaccharides as a function of all possible backbone geometries. All 10 disaccharides (β1-3 vs β1-4 linkage × five different sulfation patterns) were studied; additionally, ion effects were investigated by considering each disaccharide in the presence of either neutralizing sodium or calcium cations. GlcAβ1-3GalNAc disaccharides have a single, broad, thermodynamically important free-energy minimum, whereas GalNAcβ1-4GlcA disaccharides have two such minima. Calcium cations but not sodium cations bind to the disaccharides, and binding is primarily to the GlcA -COO(-) moiety as opposed to sulfate groups. This binding alters the glycan backbone thermodynamics in instances where a calcium cation bound to -COO(-) can act to bridge and stabilize an interaction with an adjacent sulfate group, whereas, in the absence of this cation, the proximity of a sulfate group to -COO(-) results in two like charges being both desolvated and placed adjacent to each other and is found to be destabilizing. In addition to providing information

Automated Fragmentation Polarizable Embedding Density Functional Theory (PE-DFT) Calculations of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Shielding Constants of Proteins with Application to Chemical Shift Predictions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Casper Steinmann; Bratholm, L.A.; Olsen, Jógvan Magnus Haugaard

2017-01-01

that are comparable with experiment. The introduction of a probabilistic linear regression model allows us to substantially reduce the number of snapshots that are needed to make comparisons with experiment. This approach is further improved by augmenting snapshot selection with chemical shift predictions by which we...

Change from an 8-hour shift to a 12-hour shift, attitudes, sleep, sleepiness and performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Lowden, A; Kecklund, G; Axelsson, J; Akerstedt, T

1998-01-01

The present study sought to evaluate the effect of a change from a rotating 3-shift (8-hour) to a 2-shift shift (12 hour) schedule on sleep, sleepiness, performance, perceived health, and well-being. Thirty-two shift workers at a chemical plant (control room operators) responded to a questionnaire a few months before a change was made in their shift schedule and 10 months after the change. Fourteen workers also filled out a diary, carried activity loggers, and carried out reaction-time tests (beginning and end of shift). Fourteen day workers served as a reference group for the questionnaires and 9 were intensively studied during a week with workdays and a free weekend. The questionnaire data showed that the shift change increased satisfaction with workhours, sleep, and time for social activities. Health, perceived accident risk, and reaction-time performance were not negatively affected. Alertness improved and subjective recovery time after night work decreased. The quick changes in the 8-hour schedule greatly increased sleep problems and fatigue. Sleepiness integrated across the entire shift cycle showed that the shift workers were less alert than the day workers, across workdays and days off (although alertness increased with the 12-hour shift). The change from 8-hour to 12-hour shifts was positive in most respects, possibly due to the shorter sequences of the workdays, the longer sequences of consecutive days off, the fewer types of shifts (easier planning), and the elimination of quick changes. The results may differ in groups with a higher work load.

A complete set of NMR chemical shifts and spin-spin coupling constants for L-Alanyl-L-Alanine zwitterion and analysis of its conformational behavior

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Bouř, Petr; Buděšínský, Miloš; Špirko, Vladimír; Kapitán, Josef; Šebestík, Jaroslav; Sychrovský, Vladimír

2005-01-01

Roč. 127, - (2005), 17079-17089 ISSN 0002-7863 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR(CZ) IAA4055104; GA ČR(CZ) GA203/05/0388 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z40550506 Keywords : NMR * chemical shifts * coupling constants Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 7.419, year: 2005

A chemical perspective on transcriptional fidelity dominant contributions of sugar integrity revealed by unlocked nucleic acids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xu, Liang; Plouffe, Steven W; Chong, Jenny

2013-01-01

Transcription unlocked: A synthetic chemical biology approach involving unlocked nucleic acids was used to dissect the contribution of sugar backbone integrity to the RNA Polymerase II (Pol II) transcription process. An unexpected dominant role for sugar-ring integrity in Pol II transcriptional...

Life estimation and analysis of dielectric strength, hydrocarbon backbone and oxidation of high voltage multi stressed EPDM composites

Science.gov (United States)

Khattak, Abraiz; Amin, Muhammad; Iqbal, Muhammad; Abbas, Naveed

2018-02-01

Micro and nanocomposites of ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) are recently studied for different characteristics. Study on life estimation and effects of multiple stresses on its dielectric strength and backbone scission and oxidation is also vital for endorsement of these composites for high voltage insulation and other outdoor applications. In order to achieve these goals, unfilled EPDM and its micro and nanocomposites are prepared at 23 phr micro silica and 6 phr nanosilica loadings respectively. Prepared samples are energized at 2.5 kV AC voltage and subjected for a long time to heat, ultraviolet radiation, acid rain, humidity and salt fog in accelerated manner in laboratory. Dielectric strength, leakage current and intensity of saturated backbone and carbonyl group are periodically measured. Loss in dielectric strength, increase in leakage current and backbone degradation and oxidation were observed in all samples. These effects were least in the case of EPDM nanocomposite. The nanocomposite sample also demonstrated longest shelf life.

First-line HIV treatment: evaluation of backbone choice and its budget impact

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Orietta Zaniolo

2013-06-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The gradual increase of persons living with HIV, mainly due to the reduced mortality achieved with effective antiretroviral therapies, calls for increased rationality and awareness in health resources consumption also during the early illness phases. Aim of this work is the estimation of the budget impact related to the variation in backbone prescribing trends in naïve patients.METHODS: Target population is the number of patients starting antiretroviral therapy each year, according to the Italian HIV surveillance registry, excluding patients receiving non-authorized or non-recommended regimens. We modeled 3-year mortality and durability rates on a dynamic cohort, basing on international literature. A prevalent patients analysis has also been conducted, for which the model is fed by a closed cohort consisting of all the patients without experience of virologic failure. The aim of this collateral analysis is to estimate the difference in current annual expenditures if the past prescription trends for patients starting therapy would have led to the evaluated hypothetical scenarios. Current Italian market shares of triple regimens containing first-choice or alternative backbones (tenofovir/emtricitabine, abacavir/lamivudine, tenofovir/lamivudine and zidovudine/lamivudine are compared to three hypothetical scenarios (base-case, minimum and maximum in which increasing shares of patients eligible to abacavir/lamivudine start first line treatment with this backbone. Annual cost for each regimen comprises drugs acquisition under hospital pricing rules, monitoring exams and preventive tests, valued basing on regional reimbursement tariffs.RESULTS: According to current prescribing trends, in the next three years about 13,000 patients starting HIV therapy will receive tenofovir/emtricitabine (83% of the target population, and minor portions other regimens (9% abacavir/lamivudine, 8% zidovudine/lamivudine. Patients that would be eligible to

Measurement of the signs of methyl {sup 13}C chemical shift differences between interconverting ground and excited protein states by R{sub 1{rho}}: an application to {alpha}B-crystallin

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baldwin, Andrew J.; Kay, Lewis E., E-mail: kay@pound.med.utoronto.ca [University of Toronto, Departments of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Chemistry (Canada)

2012-05-15

Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill relaxation dispersion (CPMG RD) NMR spectroscopy has emerged as a powerful tool for quantifying the kinetics and thermodynamics of millisecond time-scale exchange processes involving the interconversion between a visible ground state and one or more minor, sparsely populated invisible 'excited' conformational states. Recently it has also become possible to determine atomic resolution structural models of excited states using a wide array of CPMG RD approaches. Analysis of CPMG RD datasets provides the magnitudes of the chemical shift differences between the ground and excited states, {Delta}{omega}, but not the sign. In order to obtain detailed structural insights from, for example, excited state chemical shifts and residual dipolar coupling measurements, these signs are required. Here we present an NMR experiment for obtaining signs of {sup 13}C chemical shift differences of {sup 13}CH{sub 3} methyl groups using weak field off-resonance R{sub 1{rho}} relaxation measurements. The accuracy of the method is established by using an exchanging system where the invisible, excited state can be converted to the visible, ground state by altering sample conditions so that the signs of {Delta}{omega} values obtained from the spin-lock approach can be validated against those measured directly. Further, the spin-lock experiments are compared with the established H(S/M)QC approach for measuring signs of chemical shift differences and the relative strengths of each method are discussed. In the case of the 650 kDa human {alpha}B-crystallin complex where there are large transverse relaxation differences between ground and excited state spins the R{sub 1{rho}} method is shown to be superior to more 'traditional' experiments for sign determination.

Management of Adolescent Low-Risk Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma: Which Chemotherapy Backbone Gives the Best Chance of Omitting Radiotherapy Safely.

Science.gov (United States)

Algiraigri, Ali H; Essa, Mohammed F

2016-03-01

Even though more than 90% of adolescents with low-risk classical Hodgkin lymphoma (LRcHL) will be cured with first-line therapy, many will suffer serious late toxic effects from radiotherapy (RT). The goals for care have shifted toward minimizing late toxic effects without compromising the outstanding cure rates by adapting a risk and response-based therapy. Recent published and ongoing randomized clinical trials, using functional imaging, may allow for better identification of those patients for whom RT may be safely omitted while maintaining excellent cure rates. To evaluate the best chemotherapy regimens with a reasonable toxicity profile and that are expected to have a high chance of omitting RT based on a response-directed therapy while maintaining high cure rates, a mini review was conducted of the recent clinical trials in pediatric and adult LRcHL. The UK RAPID trial chemotherapy backbone (3 × ABVD) followed by a response-based positron emission tomography scan offers up to a 75% chance of safely omitting RT without compromising the cure rate, which remained well above 90%.

Shifts in Plant Chemical Defenses of Chile Pepper (Capsicum annuum L. Due to Domestication in Mesoamerica

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Jose de Jesus Luna-Ruiz

2018-04-01

Full Text Available We propose that comparisons of wild and domesticated Capsicum species can serve as a model system for elucidating how crop domestication influences biotic and abiotic interactions mediated by plant chemical defenses. Perhaps no set of secondary metabolites (SMs used for plant defenses and human health have been better studied in the wild and in milpa agro-habitats than those found in Capsicum species. However, very few scientific studies on SM variation have been conducted in both the domesticated landraces of chile peppers and in their wild relatives in the Neotropics. In particular, capsaicinoids in Capsicum fruits and on their seeds differ in the specificity of their ecological effects from broad-spectrum toxins in other members of the Solanaceae. They do so in a manner that mediates specific ecological interactions with a variety of sympatric Neotropical vertebrates, invertebrates, nurse plants and microbes. Specifically, capsaicin is a secondary metabolite (SM in the placental tissues of the chile fruit that mediates interactions with seed dispersers such as birds, and with seed predators, ranging from fungi to insects and rodents. As with other Solanaceae, a wide range of SMs in Capsicum spp. function to ecologically mediate the effects of a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses on wild chile peppers in certain tropical and subtropical habitats. However, species in the genus Capsicum are the only ones found within any solanaceous genus that utilize capsaicinoids as their primary means of chemical defense. We demonstrate how exploring in tandem the evolutionary ecology and the ethnobotany of human-chile interactions can generate and test novel hypotheses with regard to how the domestication process shifts plant chemical defense strategies in a variety of tropical crops. To do so, we draw upon recent advances regarding the chemical ecology of a number of wild Capsicum species found in the Neotropics. We articulate three hypotheses regarding

Beta-scission of alkoxyl radicals on peptides and proteins can give rise to backbone cleavage and loss of side-chains

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Headlam, H.A.; Davies, M.J.; Mortimer, A.; Easton, C.J.

2000-01-01

Full text: Exposure of proteins to radicals in the presence of O 2 brings about multiple changes including side-chain oxidation, backbone fragmentation, cross-linking, unfolding, changes in hydrophobicity and conformation, altered susceptibility to proteolytic enzymes and formation of new reactive groups (e.g. hydroperoxides and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine). All of these processes can result in loss of structural or enzymatic activity. The mechanisms that give rise to backbone cleavage are only partly understood. Whilst it is known that direct hydrogen atom abstraction at a-carbon sites gives backbone cleavages it has also been proposed that initial attack at side-chain sites might also give rise to backbone cleavage. In this study we have examined whether initial attack at the β- (C-3) position can give rise to α-carbon radicals (and hence backbone cleavage) via the formation, and subsequent β- scission, of C-3 alkoxyl radicals. This process has been observed previously with protected amino acids in organic solvents (J. Chem. Soc. Perkin Trans. 2, 1997, 503-507) but the occurrence of such reactions with proteins in aqueous solution has not been explored. Alkoxyl radicals were generated at the C-3 position of a variety of protected amino acids and small peptides by two methods: metal-ion catalysed decomposition of hydroperoxides formed as a result of γ-radiolysis in the presence of O 2 , and UV photolysis of nitrate esters. In most cases radicals have been detected by EPR spectroscopy using nitroso and nitrone spin traps, which can be assigned by comparison with literature data to α-carbon radicals; in some case assignments were confirmed by the generation of the putative species by other routes. With Ala peptide hydroperoxides and nitrate esters, and MNP as the spin trap, the major radical detected in each case has been assigned to the adduct of an α-carbon radical with partial structure - NH- . CH-C(O) - consistent with the rapid occurrence of the above

High-Frequency C-13 and Si-29 NMR Chemical Shifts in Diamagnetic Low-Valence Compounds of TII and Pb-II: Decisive Role of Relativistic Effects

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Vícha, J.; Marek, R.; Straka, Michal

2016-01-01

Roč. 55, č. 4 (2016), s. 1770-1781 ISSN 0020-1669 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-03564S Institutional support: RVO:61388963 Keywords : high-frequency NMR chemical shifts * HALA effect * relativistic DFT calculations Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 4.857, year: 2016

Backbone Brackets and Arginine Tweezers delineate Class I and Class II aminoacyl tRNA synthetases

Science.gov (United States)

Haupt, V. Joachim; Schroeder, Michael; Labudde, Dirk

2018-01-01

The origin of the machinery that realizes protein biosynthesis in all organisms is still unclear. One key component of this machinery are aminoacyl tRNA synthetases (aaRS), which ligate tRNAs to amino acids while consuming ATP. Sequence analyses revealed that these enzymes can be divided into two complementary classes. Both classes differ significantly on a sequence and structural level, feature different reaction mechanisms, and occur in diverse oligomerization states. The one unifying aspect of both classes is their function of binding ATP. We identified Backbone Brackets and Arginine Tweezers as most compact ATP binding motifs characteristic for each Class. Geometric analysis shows a structural rearrangement of the Backbone Brackets upon ATP binding, indicating a general mechanism of all Class I structures. Regarding the origin of aaRS, the Rodin-Ohno hypothesis states that the peculiar nature of the two aaRS classes is the result of their primordial forms, called Protozymes, being encoded on opposite strands of the same gene. Backbone Brackets and Arginine Tweezers were traced back to the proposed Protozymes and their more efficient successors, the Urzymes. Both structural motifs can be observed as pairs of residues in contemporary structures and it seems that the time of their addition, indicated by their placement in the ancient aaRS, coincides with the evolutionary trace of Proto- and Urzymes. PMID:29659563

Improving VANETs Connectivity with a Totally Ad Hoc Living Mobile Backbone

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Joilson Alves Junior

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The vehicular ad hoc network (VANET for intelligent transportation systems is an emerging concept to improve transportation security, reliability, and management. The network behavior can be totally different in topological aspects because of the mobility of vehicular nodes. The topology can be fully connected when the flow of vehicles is high and may have low connectivity or be invalid when the flow of vehicles is low or unbalanced. In big cities, the metropolitan buses that travel on exclusive lanes may be used to set up a metropolitan vehicular data network (backbone, raising the connectivity among the vehicles. Therefore, this paper proposes the implementation of a living mobile backbone, totally ad hoc (MOB-NET, which will provide infrastructure and raise the network connectivity. In order to show the viability of MOB-NET, statistical analyses were made with real data of express buses that travel through exclusive lanes, besides evaluations through simulations and analytic models. The statistic, analytic, and simulation results prove that the buses that travel through exclusive lanes can be used to build a communication network totally ad hoc and provide connectivity in more than 99% of the time, besides raising the delivery rate up to 95%.

Comparing the Reliability of Regular Topologies on a Backbone Network. A Case Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cecilio, Sergio Labeage; Gutierrez Lopez, Jose Manuel; Riaz, M. Tahir

2009-01-01

The aim of this paper is to compare the reliability of regular topologies on a backbone network. The study is focused on a large-scale fiberoptic network. Different regular topological solutions as single ring, double ring or 4-Regular grid are applied to the case study, and compared in terms...

The extension of a DNA double helix by an additional Watson-Crick base pair on the same backbone

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kumar, P.; Sharma, P. K.; Madsen, Charlotte S.

2013-01-01

Additional base pair: The DNA duplex can be extended with an additional Watson-Crick base pair on the same backbone by the use of double-headed nucleotides. These also work as compressed dinucleotides and form two base pairs with cognate nucleobases on the opposite strand.......Additional base pair: The DNA duplex can be extended with an additional Watson-Crick base pair on the same backbone by the use of double-headed nucleotides. These also work as compressed dinucleotides and form two base pairs with cognate nucleobases on the opposite strand....

Rapid Hydrogen Shift Reactions in Acyl Peroxy Radicals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knap, Hasse Christian; Jørgensen, Solvejg

2017-01-01

-shift with X = 6, 7, 8, or 9) in the hydroperoxy acyl peroxy radicals, this H-shift is a reversible reaction and it scrambles between two peroxides, hydroperoxy acyl peroxy and peroxy peroxoic acid radicals. The forward reaction rate constants of the 1,X-OOH H-shift reactions are estimated to be above 103 s–1...... with transition state theory corrected with Eckart quantum tunnelling correction. The ratio between the forward and reverse reaction rate constant of the 1,X-OOH H-shift reactions is around ∼105. Therefore, the equilibrium is pushed toward the production of peroxy peroxoic acid radicals. These very fast 1,X-OOH H......We have used quantum mechanical chemical calculations (CCSD(T)-F12a/cc-pVDZ-F12//M06-2X/aug-cc-pVTZ) to investigate the hydrogen shift (H-shift) reactions in acyl peroxy and hydroperoxy acyl peroxy radicals. We have focused on the H-shift reactions from a hydroperoxy group (OOH) (1,X-OOH H...

Atmospheric Peroxy Radical Measurements by Chemical Amplification - Cavity Attenuated Phase Shift Spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, E. C.; Charest, J. R.

2013-12-01

We present a new chemical amplifier for the detection of peroxy radicals using Cavity Attenuated Phase Shift spectroscopy (CAPS) detection of NO2. The amplification scheme is similar to other chemical amplifiers and involves addition of CO (8%) and NO (3 ppm) to air sampled in a PFA tube. The chain length is quantified by amplification of a known concentration of methyl peroxy radicals (CH3O2) and peroxyacetyl radicals (CH3COO2) sampled by the instrument's reactor. The CH3O2 and CH3COO2 radicals are produced by photolysis of acetone at 254 nm and quantified by conversion to NO2 by reaction with excess NO. The chain length (CL) in dry air is over 200 and constant at RO2 concentrations under 500 ppt. The CL decreases by 55% at a relative humidity of 50%. A 0.95 cm (3/8') ID PFA tube, a 0.32 cm (1/8' ID) PFA tube, and a 0.48 cm ID quartz reactor give near-identical chain lengths and RH dependence, demonstrating the small importance of wall reactions (for clean tubing) as radical termination steps. The instrument comprises two independent inlets and CAPS detectors, allowing for simultaneous measurements in ROx mode (= NO2 + O3 + RO2 + HO2) and Ox mode (= NO2 + O3) thereby greatly reducing the effect of variations in background [Ox]. The 1σ precision of the instrument at constant background [Ox] and 0% relative humidity is 0.2 ppt ROx with 100 second averaging and increases to 0.3 ppt at an RH of 50%. The absolute uncertainty of the measurements is estimated as 20% and is affected by the accuracy of the NO2 calibration, the precision of the CAPS when calibrating at low RO2 concentrations, and the uncertainty in the photolysis quantum yield for the CH3CO + CH3 channel of acetone photolysis.

Design of an IPTV Multicast System for Internet Backbone Networks

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T. H. Szymanski

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The design of an IPTV multicast system for the Internet backbone network is presented and explored through extensive simulations. In the proposed system, a resource reservation algorithm such as RSVP, IntServ, or DiffServ is used to reserve resources (i.e., bandwidth and buffer space in each router in an IP multicast tree. Each router uses an Input-Queued, Output-Queued, or Crosspoint-Queued switch architecture with unity speedup. A recently proposed Recursive Fair Stochastic Matrix Decomposition algorithm used to compute near-perfect transmission schedules for each IP router. The IPTV traffic is shaped at the sources using Application-Specific Token Bucker Traffic Shapers, to limit the burstiness of incoming network traffic. The IPTV traffic is shaped at the destinations using Application-Specific Playback Queues, to remove residual network jitter and reconstruct the original bursty IPTV video streams at each destination. All IPTV traffic flows are regenerated at the destinations with essentially zero delay jitter and essentially-perfect QoS. The destination nodes deliver the IPTV streams to the ultimate end users using the same IPTV multicast system over a regional Metropolitan Area Network. It is shown that all IPTV traffic is delivered with essentially-perfect end-to-end QoS, with deterministic bounds on the maximum delay and jitter on each video frame. Detailed simulations of an IPTV distribution system, multicasting several hundred high-definition IPTV video streams over several essentially saturated IP backbone networks are presented.

The Role of Backbone Hydrogen Bonds in the Transition State for Protein Folding of a PDZ Domain.

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Søren W. Pedersen

Full Text Available Backbone hydrogen bonds are important for the structure and stability of proteins. However, since conventional site-directed mutagenesis cannot be applied to perturb the backbone, the contribution of these hydrogen bonds in protein folding and stability has been assessed only for a very limited set of small proteins. We have here investigated effects of five amide-to-ester mutations in the backbone of a PDZ domain, a 90-residue globular protein domain, to probe the influence of hydrogen bonds in a β-sheet for folding and stability. The amide-to-ester mutation removes NH-mediated hydrogen bonds and destabilizes hydrogen bonds formed by the carbonyl oxygen. The overall stability of the PDZ domain generally decreased for all amide-to-ester mutants due to an increase in the unfolding rate constant. For this particular region of the PDZ domain, it is therefore clear that native hydrogen bonds are formed after crossing of the rate-limiting barrier for folding. Moreover, three of the five amide-to-ester mutants displayed an increase in the folding rate constant suggesting that the hydrogen bonds are involved in non-native interactions in the transition state for folding.

Quantitative evaluation of vertebral marrow adipose tissue in postmenopausal female using MRI chemical shift-based water–fat separation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, G.-W.; Xu, Z.; Chen, Q.-W.; Tian, Y.-N.; Wang, X.-Y.; Zhou, L.; Chang, S.-X.

2014-01-01

Aim: To investigate the feasibility of assessing vertebral marrow adipose tissue using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) chemical shift-based water–fat separation technique at 3 T. Material and methods: A modified Dixon technique was performed to obtain the vertebral marrow fat fraction (FF) in a study of 58 postmenopausal females (age range 49.2–77.4 years), including 24 normal bone density, 19 osteopaenia, and 15 osteoporosis as documented with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. The reliability of FF measurements performed by two radiologists independently was evaluated with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Ten participants were scanned twice to assess the reproducibility of FF measurements. FF values were compared between each vertebral level and between groups. Results: The mean coefficient of variation of FF measurements was 2.1%. According to the ICC, the measurements were reliable (ICC = 0.900 for normal bone density, ICC = 0.937 for osteopaenia and ICC = 0.909 for osteoporosis, p < 0.001 for all). There was an inverse association between mean FF at L1–L4 vertebrae and lumbar spine BMD (r = −0.459, p = 0.006), which remained significant even after controlling for confounders (age, height, and body weight). FF values at different vertebral levels were significantly correlated to each other (r = 0.703–0.921, p < 0.05 for all). There was a general trend toward increased marrow adiposity for more inferior vertebral bodies. Patients with osteopaenia and osteoporosis had a higher marrow fat content compared with normal bone mass after adjusting for confounders, although no significant differences in each vertebral level and average marrow fat content were found between the osteopaenia and osteoporosis groups. Conclusion: Chemical shift-based water–fat separation enables the quantitation of vertebral marrow adiposity with excellent reproducibility, which appears to be a useful method to provide complementary information to osteoporosis

Encoded libraries of chemically modified peptides.

Science.gov (United States)

Heinis, Christian; Winter, Greg

2015-06-01

The use of powerful technologies for generating and screening DNA-encoded protein libraries has helped drive the development of proteins as pharmaceutical ligands. However the development of peptides as pharmaceutical ligands has been more limited. Although encoded peptide libraries are typically several orders of magnitude larger than classical chemical libraries, can be more readily screened, and can give rise to higher affinity ligands, their use as pharmaceutical ligands is limited by their intrinsic properties. Two of the intrinsic limitations include the rotational flexibility of the peptide backbone and the limited number (20) of natural amino acids. However these limitations can be overcome by use of chemical modification. For example, the libraries can be modified to introduce topological constraints such as cyclization linkers, or to introduce new chemical entities such as small molecule ligands, fluorophores and photo-switchable compounds. This article reviews the chemistry involved, the properties of the peptide ligands, and the new opportunities offered by chemical modification of DNA-encoded peptide libraries. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Natural abundance 15N NMR assignments delineate structural differences between intact and reactive-site hydrolyzed Cucurbita maxima trypsin inhibitor III.

Science.gov (United States)

Krishnamoorthi, R; Nemmers, S; Tobias, B

1992-06-15

15N NMR assignments were made to the backbone amide nitrogen atoms at natural isotopic abundance of intact and reactive-site (Arg5-Ile6) hydrolyzed Cucurbita maxima trypsin inhibitor III (CMTI-III and CMTI-III*, respectively) by means of 2D proton-detected heteronuclear single bond chemical shift correlation (HSBC) spectroscopy, utilizing the previously made sequence-specific 1H NMR assignments (Krishnamoorthi et al. (1992) Biochemistry 31, 898-904). Comparison of the 15N chemical shifts of the two forms of the inhibitor molecule revealed significant changes not only for residues located near the reactive-site region, but also for those distantly located. Residues Cys3, Arg5, Leu7, Met8, Cys10, Cys16, Glu19, His25, Tyr27, Cys28 and Gly29 showed significant chemical shift changes ranging from 0.3 to 6.1 ppm, thus indicating structural perturbations that were transmitted throughout the molecule. These findings confirm the earlier conclusions based on 1H NMR investigations.

Effects of chemical modifications on photophysics and exciton dynamics on {pi}-conjugation attenuated and metal-chelated photoconducting polymers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, L. X.; Jager, W. J. H.; Gosztola, D. J.; Niemczyk, M. P.; Wasielewski, M. R.

2000-03-11

Effects of two types of chemical modifications on photoconducting polymers consisting of polyphenylenevinylene (PPV) derivatives are studied by static and ultrafast transient optical spectroscopy as well as semi-empirical ZINDO calculations. The first type of modification inserts 2,2{prime}-bipyridyl-5-vinylene units (bpy V) in the PPV backbone, and the second type involves metal-chelation with the bpy sites. Photoluminescence and exciton dynamics of polymers 1 and 2 with PV:bpyV ratios of 1 and 3 were examined in solution, and compared to those of the homopolymer, poly(2,5-bis(2{prime}-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (BEH-PPV). Similar studies were carried out for several metal-chelated polymers. These results can be explained by changes in {pi}-conjugation throughout the polymer backbone. The attenuation in {pi}-conjugation by the chemical modifications transforms a conducting polymer from one-dimensional semiconductor to molecular aggregates.

Detection of innersphere interactions between magnesium hydrate and the phosphate backbone of the HDV ribozyme using Raman crystallography.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Bo; Chen, Yuanyuan; Christian, Eric L; Chen, Jui-Hui; Chase, Elaine; Chadalavada, Durga M; Yajima, Rieko; Golden, Barbara L; Bevilacqua, Philip C; Carey, Paul R

2008-07-30

A Raman microscope and Raman difference spectroscopy are used to detect the vibrational signature of RNA-bound magnesium hydrate in crystals of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) ribozyme and to follow the effects of magnesium hydrate binding to the nonbridging phosphate oxygens in the phosphodiester backbone. There is a correlation between the Raman intensity of the innersphere magnesium hydrate signature peak, near 322 cm-1, and the intensity of the PO2- symmetric stretch, near 1100 cm-1, perturbed by magnesium binding, demonstrating direct observation of -PO2-...Mg2+(H2O)x innersphere complexes. The complexes may be pentahydrates (x = 5) and tetrahydrates (x = 4). The assignment of the Raman feature near 322 cm-1 to a magnesium hydrate species is confirmed by isotope shifts observed in D2O and H218O that are semiquantitatively reproduced by calculations. The standardized intensity changes in the 1100 cm-1 PO2- feature seen upon magnesium hydrate binding indicates that there are approximately 5 innersphere Mg2+...-O2P contacts per HDV molecule when the crystal is exposed to a solution containing 20 mM magnesium.

Probing the Relation Between Charge Transport and Supramolecular Organization Down to Ångström Resolution in a Benzothiadiazole‐Cyclopentadithiophene Copolymer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niedzialek, Dorota; Lemaur, Vincent; Dudenko, Dmytro

2013-01-01

Molecular modeling shows that longitudinal displacement of the backbones by a couple of ångströms has a profound impact on the electronic coupling mediating charge transport in a conjugated copolymer. These changes can be probed by monitoring the calculated X-ray scattering patterns and NMR chemi...... chemical shifts as a function of sliding of the polymer chains and comparing them to experiment....

Tritium containing polymers having a polymer backbone substantially void of tritium

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, G.A.; Nelson, D.A.; Molton, P.M.

1992-03-31

A radioluminescent light source comprises a solid mixture of a phosphorescent substance and a tritiated polymer. The solid mixture forms a solid mass having length, width, and thickness dimensions, and is capable of self-support. In one aspect of the invention, the phosphorescent substance comprises solid phosphor particles supported or surrounded within a solid matrix by a tritium containing polymer. The tritium containing polymer comprises a polymer backbone which is essentially void of tritium. 2 figs.

Structural analysis of flavonoids in solution through DFT 1H NMR chemical shift calculations: Epigallocatechin, Kaempferol and Quercetin

Science.gov (United States)

De Souza, Leonardo A.; Tavares, Wagner M. G.; Lopes, Ana Paula M.; Soeiro, Malucia M.; De Almeida, Wagner B.

2017-05-01

In this work, we showed that comparison between experimental and theoretical 1H NMR chemical shift patterns, calculated using Density Functional Theory (DFT), can be used for the prediction of molecular structure of flavonoids in solution, what is experimentally accessible for gas phase (electron diffraction methods) and solid samples (X-ray diffraction). The best match between B3LYP/6-31G(d,p)-PCM 1H NMR calculations for B ring rotated structures and experimental spectra can provide information on the conformation adopted by polyphenols in solution (usually DMSO-d6, acetone-d6 as solvents), which may differ from solid state and gas phase observed structures, and also DFT optimized geometry in the vacuum.

Phylogenomics resolves a spider backbone phylogeny and rejects a prevailing paradigm for orb web evolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Bond, Jason E; Garrison, Nicole L; Hamilton, Chris A; Godwin, Rebecca L; Hedin, Marshal; Agnarsson, Ingi

2014-08-04

Spiders represent an ancient predatory lineage known for their extraordinary biomaterials, including venoms and silks. These adaptations make spiders key arthropod predators in most terrestrial ecosystems. Despite ecological, biomedical, and biomaterial importance, relationships among major spider lineages remain unresolved or poorly supported. Current working hypotheses for a spider "backbone" phylogeny are largely based on morphological evidence, as most molecular markers currently employed are generally inadequate for resolving deeper-level relationships. We present here a phylogenomic analysis of spiders including taxa representing all major spider lineages. Our robust phylogenetic hypothesis recovers some fundamental and uncontroversial spider clades, but rejects the prevailing paradigm of a monophyletic Orbiculariae, the most diverse lineage, containing orb-weaving spiders. Based on our results, the orb web either evolved much earlier than previously hypothesized and is ancestral for a majority of spiders or else it has multiple independent origins, as hypothesized by precladistic authors. Cribellate deinopoid orb weavers that use mechanically adhesive silk are more closely related to a diverse clade of mostly webless spiders than to the araneoid orb-weaving spiders that use adhesive droplet silks. The fundamental shift in our understanding of spider phylogeny proposed here has broad implications for interpreting the evolution of spiders, their remarkable biomaterials, and a key extended phenotype--the spider web. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exact solutions for chemical bond orientations from residual dipolar couplings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wedemeyer, William J.; Rohl, Carol A.; Scheraga, Harold A.

2002-01-01

New methods for determining chemical structures from residual dipolar couplings are presented. The fundamental dipolar coupling equation is converted to an elliptical equation in the principal alignment frame. This elliptical equation is then combined with other angular or dipolar coupling constraints to form simple polynomial equations that define discrete solutions for the unit vector(s). The methods are illustrated with residual dipolar coupling data on ubiquitin taken in a single anisotropic medium. The protein backbone is divided into its rigid groups (namely, its peptide planes and C α frames), which may be solved for independently. A simple procedure for recombining these independent solutions results in backbone dihedral angles φ and ψ that resemble those of the known native structure. Subsequent refinement of these φ-ψ angles by the ROSETTA program produces a structure of ubiquitin that agrees with the known native structure to 1.1 A C α rmsd

Determination of the Tautomeric Equilibria of Pyridoyl Benzoyl -Diketones in the Liquid and Solid State through the use of Deuterium Isotope Effects on 1H and 13C NMR Chemical Shifts and Spin Coupling Constants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Poul Erik; Borisov, Eugeny V.; Lindon, John C.

2015-01-01

The tautomeric equilibria for 2-pyridoyl-, 3-pyridoyl-, and 4-pyridoyl-benzoyl methane have been investigated using deuterium isotope effects on 1H and 13C chemical shifts both in the liquid and the solid state. Equilibria are established both in the liquid and the solid state. In addition......, in the solution state the 2-bond and 3-bond J(1H–13C) coupling constants have been used to confirm the equilibrium positions. The isotope effects due to deuteriation at the OH position are shown to be superior to chemical shift in determination of equilibrium positions of these almost symmetrical -pyridoyl......-benzoyl methanes. The assignments of the NMR spectra are supported by calculations of the chemical shifts at the DFT level. The equilibrium positions are shown to be different in the liquid and the solid state. In the liquid state the 4-pyridoyl derivative is at the B-form (C-1 is OH), whereas the 2-and 3-pyridoyl...

Optimized set of two-dimensional experiments for fast sequential assignment, secondary structure determination, and backbone fold validation of 13C/15N-labelled proteins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bersch, Beate; Rossy, Emmanuel; Coves, Jacques; Brutscher, Bernhard

2003-01-01

NMR experiments are presented which allow backbone resonance assignment, secondary structure identification, and in favorable cases also molecular fold topology determination from a series of two-dimensional 1 H- 15 N HSQC-like spectra. The 1 H- 15 N correlation peaks are frequency shifted by an amount ± ω X along the 15 N dimension, where ω X is the C α , C β , or H α frequency of the same or the preceding residue. Because of the low dimensionality (2D) of the experiments, high-resolution spectra are obtained in a short overall experimental time. The whole series of seven experiments can be performed in typically less than one day. This approach significantly reduces experimental time when compared to the standard 3D-based methods. The here presented methodology is thus especially appealing in the context of high-throughput NMR studies of protein structure, dynamics or molecular interfaces

The determinants of bond angle variability in protein/peptide backbones: A comprehensive statistical/quantum mechanics analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Improta, Roberto; Vitagliano, Luigi; Esposito, Luciana

2015-11-01

The elucidation of the mutual influence between peptide bond geometry and local conformation has important implications for protein structure refinement, validation, and prediction. To gain insights into the structural determinants and the energetic contributions associated with protein/peptide backbone plasticity, we here report an extensive analysis of the variability of the peptide bond angles by combining statistical analyses of protein structures and quantum mechanics calculations on small model peptide systems. Our analyses demonstrate that all the backbone bond angles strongly depend on the peptide conformation and unveil the existence of regular trends as function of ψ and/or φ. The excellent agreement of the quantum mechanics calculations with the statistical surveys of protein structures validates the computational scheme here employed and demonstrates that the valence geometry of protein/peptide backbone is primarily dictated by local interactions. Notably, for the first time we show that the position of the H(α) hydrogen atom, which is an important parameter in NMR structural studies, is also dependent on the local conformation. Most of the trends observed may be satisfactorily explained by invoking steric repulsive interactions; in some specific cases the valence bond variability is also influenced by hydrogen-bond like interactions. Moreover, we can provide a reliable estimate of the energies involved in the interplay between geometry and conformations. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Finite Element Analysis Modeling of Chemical Vapor Deposition of Silicon Carbide

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-19

concentrations. This is the method by which species adsorb to the surface of the substrate. The movement resulting from diffusion is governed by...itself. This can be treacherous, however. The mesh is what the entire finite element method is built upon. If the movement of the backbone has... Brownian Motion Algorithm for Tow Scale Modeling of Chemical Vapor Infiltration. Computational Materials Science, 1871-1878. !178 23. Wang, C. & D

Extracting the information backbone in online system.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qian-Ming Zhang

Full Text Available Information overload is a serious problem in modern society and many solutions such as recommender system have been proposed to filter out irrelevant information. In the literature, researchers have been mainly dedicated to improving the recommendation performance (accuracy and diversity of the algorithms while they have overlooked the influence of topology of the online user-object bipartite networks. In this paper, we find that some information provided by the bipartite networks is not only redundant but also misleading. With such "less can be more" feature, we design some algorithms to improve the recommendation performance by eliminating some links from the original networks. Moreover, we propose a hybrid method combining the time-aware and topology-aware link removal algorithms to extract the backbone which contains the essential information for the recommender systems. From the practical point of view, our method can improve the performance and reduce the computational time of the recommendation system, thus improving both of their effectiveness and efficiency.

Extracting the information backbone in online system.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qian-Ming; Zeng, An; Shang, Ming-Sheng

2013-01-01

Information overload is a serious problem in modern society and many solutions such as recommender system have been proposed to filter out irrelevant information. In the literature, researchers have been mainly dedicated to improving the recommendation performance (accuracy and diversity) of the algorithms while they have overlooked the influence of topology of the online user-object bipartite networks. In this paper, we find that some information provided by the bipartite networks is not only redundant but also misleading. With such "less can be more" feature, we design some algorithms to improve the recommendation performance by eliminating some links from the original networks. Moreover, we propose a hybrid method combining the time-aware and topology-aware link removal algorithms to extract the backbone which contains the essential information for the recommender systems. From the practical point of view, our method can improve the performance and reduce the computational time of the recommendation system, thus improving both of their effectiveness and efficiency.

Extracting the Information Backbone in Online System

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qian-Ming; Zeng, An; Shang, Ming-Sheng

2013-01-01

Information overload is a serious problem in modern society and many solutions such as recommender system have been proposed to filter out irrelevant information. In the literature, researchers have been mainly dedicated to improving the recommendation performance (accuracy and diversity) of the algorithms while they have overlooked the influence of topology of the online user-object bipartite networks. In this paper, we find that some information provided by the bipartite networks is not only redundant but also misleading. With such “less can be more” feature, we design some algorithms to improve the recommendation performance by eliminating some links from the original networks. Moreover, we propose a hybrid method combining the time-aware and topology-aware link removal algorithms to extract the backbone which contains the essential information for the recommender systems. From the practical point of view, our method can improve the performance and reduce the computational time of the recommendation system, thus improving both of their effectiveness and efficiency. PMID:23690946

Backbone resonance assignments of the outer membrane lipoprotein FrpD from Neisseria meningitidis

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Bumba, Ladislav; Sviridova, E.; Kutá-Smatanová, Ivana; Řezáčová, Pavlína; Veverka, Václav

2014-01-01

Roč. 8, č. 1 (2014), s. 53-55 ISSN 1874-2718 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP207/11/0717; GA MŠk(CZ) LK11205 Institutional support: RVO:61388963 ; RVO:61388971 ; RVO:67179843 Keywords : Neisseria meningitidis * FrpC * FrpD * backbone assignments * NMR * iron-regulated protein Subject RIV: CE - Biochemistry Impact factor: 0.760, year: 2014

Hepatic fat quantification using automated six-point Dixon: Comparison with conventional chemical shift based sequences and computed tomography.

Science.gov (United States)

Shimizu, Kie; Namimoto, Tomohiro; Nakagawa, Masataka; Morita, Kosuke; Oda, Seitaro; Nakaura, Takeshi; Utsunomiya, Daisuke; Yamashita, Yasuyuki

To compare automated six-point Dixon (6-p-Dixon) MRI comparing with dual-echo chemical-shift-imaging (CSI) and CT for hepatic fat fraction in phantoms and clinical study. Phantoms and fifty-nine patients were examined both MRI and CT for quantitative fat measurements. In phantom study, linear regression between fat concentration and 6-p-Dixon showed good agreement. In clinical study, linear regression between 6-p-Dixon and dual-echo CSI showed good agreement. CT attenuation value was strongly correlated with 6-p-Dixon (R 2 =0.852; PDixon and dual-echo CSI were accurate correlation with CT attenuation value of liver parenchyma. 6-p-Dixon has the potential for automated hepatic fat quantification. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A ‘just-in-time’ HN(CA)CO experiment for the backbone assignment of large proteins with high sensitivity

Science.gov (United States)

Werner-Allen, Jon W.; Jiang, Ling; Zhou, Pei

2006-07-01

Among the suite of commonly used backbone experiments, HNCACO presents an unresolved sensitivity limitation due to fast 13CO transverse relaxation and passive 13Cα-13Cβ coupling. Here, we present a high-sensitivity 'just-in-time' (JIT) HN(CA)CO pulse sequence that uniformly refocuses 13Cα-13Cβ coupling while collecting 13CO shifts in real time. Sensitivity comparisons of the 3-D JIT HN(CA)CO, a CT-HMQC-based control, and a HSQC-based control with selective 13Cα inversion pulses were performed using a 2H/13C/15N labeled sample of the 29 kDa HCA II protein at 15 °C. The JIT experiment shows a 42% signal enhancement over the CT-HMQC-based experiment. Compared to the HSQC-based experiment, the JIT experiment is 16% less sensitive for residues experiencing proper 13Cα refocusing and 13Cα-13Cβ decoupling. However, for the remaining residues, the JIT spectrum shows a 106% average sensitivity gain over the HSQC-based experiment. The high-sensitivity JIT HNCACO experiment should be particularly beneficial for studies of large proteins to provide 13CO resonance information regardless of residue type.

Comparison of CT and chemical-shift MRI for differentiating thymoma from non-thymomatous conditions in myasthenia gravis: value of qualitative and quantitative assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Priola, A.M.; Priola, S.M.; Gned, D.; Giraudo, M.T.; Fornari, A.; Veltri, A.

2016-01-01

Aim: To evaluate the usefulness of computed tomography (CT) and chemical-shift magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) for differentiating thymoma (THY) from thymic lymphoid hyperplasia (TLH) and normal thymus (NT), and to determine which technique is more accurate. Materials and methods: Eighty-three patients with generalised MG who underwent surgery were divided into the TLH/NT group (A; 65 patients) and THY group (B; 24 patients). Differences in qualitative characteristics and quantitative data (CT: radiodensity in Hounsfield units; MRI: signal intensity index [SII]) between groups were tested using Fisher's exact test and Student's t-test. Logistic regression models were estimated for both qualitative and quantitative analyses. At quantitative analysis, discrimination abilities were determined according to the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUROC) with computation of optimal cut-off points. The diagnostic accuracies of CT and MRI were compared using McNemar's test. Results: At qualitative assessment, MRI had higher accuracy than CT (96.4%, 80/83 and 86.7%, 72/83, respectively). At quantitative analysis, both the radiodensity and SII were significantly different between groups (p<0.0001). For CT, at quantitative assessment, the AUROC of the radiodensity in discriminating between groups was 0.904 (optimal cut-off point, 20 HU) with an accuracy of 77.1% (64/83). For MRI, the AUROC of the SII was 0.989 (optimal cut-off point, 7.766%) with an accuracy of 96.4% (80/83), which was significantly higher than CT (p<0.0001). By using optimal cut-off points for cases with an erroneous diagnosis at qualitative assessment, accuracy improved both for CT (89.2%, 74/83) and MRI (97.6%, 81/83). Conclusion: Quantitative analysis is useful in evaluating patients with MG and improves the diagnostic accuracy of CT and MRI based on qualitative assessment. Chemical-shift MRI is more reliable than CT in differentiating

Routing protocol for wireless quantum multi-hop mesh backbone network based on partially entangled GHZ state

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, Pei-Ying; Yu, Xu-Tao; Zhang, Zai-Chen; Zhan, Hai-Tao; Hua, Jing-Yu

2017-08-01

Quantum multi-hop teleportation is important in the field of quantum communication. In this study, we propose a quantum multi-hop communication model and a quantum routing protocol with multihop teleportation for wireless mesh backbone networks. Based on an analysis of quantum multi-hop protocols, a partially entangled Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state is selected as the quantum channel for the proposed protocol. Both quantum and classical wireless channels exist between two neighboring nodes along the route. With the proposed routing protocol, quantum information can be transmitted hop by hop from the source node to the destination node. Based on multi-hop teleportation based on the partially entangled GHZ state, a quantum route established with the minimum number of hops. The difference between our routing protocol and the classical one is that in the former, the processes used to find a quantum route and establish quantum channel entanglement occur simultaneously. The Bell state measurement results of each hop are piggybacked to quantum route finding information. This method reduces the total number of packets and the magnitude of air interface delay. The deduction of the establishment of a quantum channel between source and destination is also presented here. The final success probability of quantum multi-hop teleportation in wireless mesh backbone networks was simulated and analyzed. Our research shows that quantum multi-hop teleportation in wireless mesh backbone networks through a partially entangled GHZ state is feasible.

Understanding and controlling chromaticity shift in LED devices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Davis, Lynn; Mills, Karmann; Lamvik, Michael; Perkins, Curtis; Bobashev, Georgiy; Young, Joseph; Yaga, Robert; Johnson, Cortina

2017-05-30

Chromaticity shift in light-emitting diode (LED) devices arises from multiple mechanisms, and at least five different chromaticity shift modes (CSMs) have been identified to date. This paper focuses on the impacts of irreversible phosphor degradation as a cause of chromaticity shifts in LED devices. The nitride phosphors used to produce warm white LEDs are especially vulnerable to degradation due to thermal and chemical effects such as reactions with oxygen and water. As a result, LED devices utilizing these phosphors were found to undergo either a green shift or, less commonly, a red shift depending on the phosphor mix in the LED devices. These types of chromaticity shifts are classified as CSM-2 (green shift) and CSM-5 (red shift). This paper provides an overview of the kinetic processes responsible for green and red chromaticity shifts along with examples from accelerated stress testing of 6” downlights. Both CSMs appear to proceed through analogous mechanisms that are initiated at the surface of the phosphor. A green shift is produced by the surface oxidation of the nitride phosphor that changes the emission profile to lower wavelengths. As the surface oxidation reaction proceeds, reactant limitations slow the rate and bulk oxidation processes become more prevalent. We found that a red chromaticity shift arises from quenching of the green phosphor, also possibly due to surface reactions of oxygen, which shift the emission chromaticity in the red direction. In conclusion, we discuss the implications of these findings on projecting chromaticity.

Influence of structures of polymer backbones on cooperative photoreorientation behavior of p-cyanoazobenzene side chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Han, Mina; Kidowaki, Masatoshi; Ichimura, Kunihiro

2001-01-01

Photoinduced orientational behavior of a polymethacrylate (CN6) and a polyester (p6a12) with p-cyanoazobenzene side chains was studied to reveal the structural effect of the liquid crystalline polymer backbones. Irradiation with linearly polarized W light resulted in the reorientation of the azob...

1H NMR spectra. Part 30(+): 1H chemical shifts in amides and the magnetic anisotropy, electric field and steric effects of the amide group.

Science.gov (United States)

Abraham, Raymond J; Griffiths, Lee; Perez, Manuel

2013-03-01

The (1)H spectra of 37 amides in CDCl(3) solvent were analysed and the chemical shifts obtained. The molecular geometries and conformational analysis of these amides were considered in detail. The NMR spectral assignments are of interest, e.g. the assignments of the formamide NH(2) protons reverse in going from CDCl(3) to more polar solvents. The substituent chemical shifts of the amide group in both aliphatic and aromatic amides were analysed using an approach based on neural network data for near (≤3 bonds removed) protons and the electric field, magnetic anisotropy, steric and for aromatic systems π effects of the amide group for more distant protons. The electric field is calculated from the partial atomic charges on the N.C═O atoms of the amide group. The magnetic anisotropy of the carbonyl group was reproduced with the asymmetric magnetic anisotropy acting at the midpoint of the carbonyl bond. The values of the anisotropies Δχ(parl) and Δχ(perp) were for the aliphatic amides 10.53 and -23.67 (×10(-6) Å(3)/molecule) and for the aromatic amides 2.12 and -10.43 (×10(-6) Å(3)/molecule). The nitrogen anisotropy was 7.62 (×10(-6) Å(3)/molecule). These values are compared with previous literature values. The (1)H chemical shifts were calculated from the semi-empirical approach and also by gauge-independent atomic orbital calculations with the density functional theory method and B3LYP/6-31G(++) (d,p) basis set. The semi-empirical approach gave good agreement with root mean square error of 0.081 ppm for the data set of 280 entries. The gauge-independent atomic orbital approach was generally acceptable, but significant errors (ca. 1 ppm) were found for the NH and CHO protons and also for some other protons. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.