Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Chemistry

City University of New York (CUNY)

2009

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Correlating Molecular Phylogeny With Venom Apparatus Occurrence In Panamic Auger Snails (Terebridae), Mandë Holford, Nicolas Puillandre, Maria Vittoria Modica, Maren Watkins, Rachel Collin, Eldredge Bermingham, Baldomero M. Olivera Nov 2009

Correlating Molecular Phylogeny With Venom Apparatus Occurrence In Panamic Auger Snails (Terebridae), Mandë Holford, Nicolas Puillandre, Maria Vittoria Modica, Maren Watkins, Rachel Collin, Eldredge Bermingham, Baldomero M. Olivera

Publications and Research

Central to the discovery of neuroactive compounds produced by predatory marine snails of the superfamily Conoidea (cone snails, terebrids, and turrids) is identifying those species with a venom apparatus. Previous analyses of western Pacific terebrid specimens has shown that some Terebridae groups have secondarily lost their venom apparatus. In order to efficiently characterize terebrid toxins, it is essential to devise a key for identifying which species have a venom apparatus. The findings presented here integrate molecular phylogeny and the evolution of character traits to infer the presence or absence of the venom apparatus in the Terebridae. Using a combined dataset …


Phenyl-Substituted Siloxane Hybrid Gels That Soften Below 140[Degrees]C, Andrei Jitianu, Glenn Amatucci, Lisa C. Klein Jan 2009

Phenyl-Substituted Siloxane Hybrid Gels That Soften Below 140[Degrees]C, Andrei Jitianu, Glenn Amatucci, Lisa C. Klein

Publications and Research

A characteristic of so-called melting gels is that the gels, which are rigid at room temperature, are able to soften and resoften at temperatures around 110 [degrees]C. However, after consolidation at temperatures higher than 150 [degrees]C, the gels no longer resoften. Two systems of melting gels were investigated: phenyltrimethoxysilane (PhTMS)–diphenyldimethoxysilane (DPhDMS) and phenyltriethoxysilane (PhTES)–diphenyldiethoxysilane (DPhDES). The influence of disubstituted versus monosubstituted alkoxide on the softening behavior and the temperature of decomposition was studied. The consolidation temperature increased as the amount of disubstituted alkoxide increased, while the decomposition temperature increased only slightly. In general, the ethoxy-containing gels (maximum at 150[degrees]C) consolidated …


Structural Studies Of Biopolymers Using Computer Simulations, Optical And Magnetic Spectroscopy, Subhasish Chatterjee Jan 2009

Structural Studies Of Biopolymers Using Computer Simulations, Optical And Magnetic Spectroscopy, Subhasish Chatterjee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Biopolymers are essential components of numerous natural and synthetic macromolecular assemblies. In the present study, the structural properties of biopolymers ranging from fungal melanins to synthetic nucleic acids were investigated using spectroscopic methods and theoretical modeling. (1) Computational modeling and molecular dynamics simulations were used to study the structural properties of a short single-stranded (ss) DNA. The dependence of the conformational stability and flexibility of the ssDNA on the thermodynamic conditions of the system was demonstrated. (2) Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy involving an organic donor-quencher pair was utilized to study the conformational properties of Y-shaped DNA. Results highlighted the different distances …