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Full-Text Articles in Chemistry

Data In Support Of Ubsrd: The Ubiquitin Structural Relational Database, Joseph S. Harrison, Tim M. Jacobs, Kevin Houlihan, Koenraad Van Doorslaer, Brian Kuhlman Dec 2015

Data In Support Of Ubsrd: The Ubiquitin Structural Relational Database, Joseph S. Harrison, Tim M. Jacobs, Kevin Houlihan, Koenraad Van Doorslaer, Brian Kuhlman

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

This article provides information to support the database article titled "UbSRD: The Ubiquitin Structural Relational Database" (Harrison et al., 2015) [1] . The ubiquitin-like homology fold (UBL) represents a large family that encompasses both post-translational modifications, like ubiquitin (UBQ) and SUMO, and functional domains on many biologically important proteins like Parkin, UHRF1 (ubiquitin-like with PDB and RING finger domains-1), and Usp7 (ubiquitin-specific protease-7) (Zhang et al., 2015; Rothbart et al., 2013; Burroughs et al., 2012; Wauer et al., 2015) [2], [3], [4], [5]. The UBL domain can participate in several unique protein-protein interactions (PPI) since protein adducts can be attached …


Production And Harvest Of Microalgae In Wastewater Raceways With Resource Recycling, Alexander Colin Roberts Dec 2015

Production And Harvest Of Microalgae In Wastewater Raceways With Resource Recycling, Alexander Colin Roberts

Master's Theses

Microalgae can be grown on municipal wastewater media to both treat the wastewater and produce feedstock for algae biofuel production. However the reliability of treatment must be demonstrated, as well as high areal algae productivity on recycled wastewater media and efficient sedimentation harvesting. This processes was studied at pilot scale in the present research.

A pilot facility was operated with nine CO2-supplemented raceway ponds, each with a 33-m2 surface area and a 0.3-m depth, continuously from March 6, 2013 through September 24, 2014. The ponds were operated as three sets of triplicates with two sets continuously fed …


Ion Trap Mass Analyzer Apparatus, Methods, And Systems Utilizing One Or More Multiple Potential Ion Guide (Mpig) Electrodes, Curtiss Dwight Hanson Nov 2015

Ion Trap Mass Analyzer Apparatus, Methods, And Systems Utilizing One Or More Multiple Potential Ion Guide (Mpig) Electrodes, Curtiss Dwight Hanson

Patents (University of Northern Iowa)

In one aspect of the invention, an ion trap mass analyzer includes a variable- or multi-potential type ion guide (MPIG) assembly which has been pre-configured to produce a parabolic-type potential field. Each MPIG electrode has a resistive coating of designed characteristics. In one example the coating varies in thickness along the length of an underlying uniform substrate. The MPIG assembly can be a single MPIG electrode or an array of a plurality of MPIG electrodes. An array can facilitate delocalization for improved performance. This chemical modification of a uniform underlying substrate promotes cheaper and flexible instruments. The modified MPIG electrodes …


Novel Enzyme Perspectives: Arylalkylamine N-Acyltransferases From Bombyx Mori & 1-Deoxy- D-Xylulose-5-Phosphate Synthase From Plasmodium Falciparum And Plasmodium Vivax, Matthew R. Battistini Nov 2015

Novel Enzyme Perspectives: Arylalkylamine N-Acyltransferases From Bombyx Mori & 1-Deoxy- D-Xylulose-5-Phosphate Synthase From Plasmodium Falciparum And Plasmodium Vivax, Matthew R. Battistini

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is dedicated to the research and investigation of novel enzymes and the methods used to study them, with physiological roles ranging from isoprenoid biosynthesis to neurotransmitter production. Using a combination of bioinformatics, recombinant cloning, enzymology, and proteomics, we have contributed to the understanding and exploration of several human illnesses, including malaria, cancer, and endocrine dysfunction.

Our first project involved studying the enzymes responsible for N-acylarylalkylamide biosynthesis in Bombyx mori. Very little is known how these potent signaling molecules are produced in vivo, however, one possible pathway is the direct conjugation of an acyl-CoA to a corresponding …


In Situ Measurements And Modeling Of Reactive Trace Gases In A Small Biomass Burning Plume, M. Muller, B. Anderson, A. Beyersdorf, J. H. Crawford, G. Diskin, P. Eichler, A. Fried, F. N. Keutsch, T. Mikoviny, K. L. Thornhill, J. G. Walega, A. J. Weinheimer, M. Yang, Robert Yokelson, A. Wisthaler Nov 2015

In Situ Measurements And Modeling Of Reactive Trace Gases In A Small Biomass Burning Plume, M. Muller, B. Anderson, A. Beyersdorf, J. H. Crawford, G. Diskin, P. Eichler, A. Fried, F. N. Keutsch, T. Mikoviny, K. L. Thornhill, J. G. Walega, A. J. Weinheimer, M. Yang, Robert Yokelson, A. Wisthaler

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

An instrumented NASA P-3B aircraft was used for airborne sampling of trace gases in a plume that had emanated from a small forest understory fire in Georgia, USA. The plume was sampled at its origin for deriving emission factors and followed ~ 13.6 km downwind for observing chemical changes during the first hour of atmospheric aging. The P-3B payload included a proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (PTR-ToF-MS), which measured non-methane organic gases (NMOGs) at unprecidented spatio-temporal resolution (10m/0.1 s). Quantitative emission data are reported for CO2, CO, NO, NO2, HONO, NH3 and 16 NMOGs (formaldehyde, methanol, …


Two-Ply Channels For Faster Wicking In Paper-Based Microfluidic Devices, Conor K. Camplisson, Kevin M. Schilling, William L. Pedrotti, Howard A. Stone, Andres W. Martinez Oct 2015

Two-Ply Channels For Faster Wicking In Paper-Based Microfluidic Devices, Conor K. Camplisson, Kevin M. Schilling, William L. Pedrotti, Howard A. Stone, Andres W. Martinez

Chemistry and Biochemistry

This article describes the development of porous two-ply channels for paper-based microfluidic devices that wick fluids significantly faster than conventional, porous, single-ply channels. The two-ply channels were made by stacking two single-ply channels on top of each other and were fabricated entirely out of paper, wax and toner using two commercially available printers, a convection oven and a thermal laminator. The wicking in paper-based channels was studied and modeled using a modified Lucas–Washburn equation to account for the effect of evaporation, and a paper-based titration device incorporating two-ply channels was demonstrated.


Cobalt-Centred Boron Molecular Drums With The Highest Coordination Number In The Cob16− Cluster, Ivan A. Popov, Tian Jian, Gary V. Lopez, Alexander I. Boldyrev, Lai-Sheng Wang Oct 2015

Cobalt-Centred Boron Molecular Drums With The Highest Coordination Number In The Cob16− Cluster, Ivan A. Popov, Tian Jian, Gary V. Lopez, Alexander I. Boldyrev, Lai-Sheng Wang

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The electron deficiency and strong bonding capacity of boron have led to a vast variety of molecular structures in chemistry and materials science. Here we report the observation of highly symmetric cobalt-centered boron drum-like structures of CoB16−, characterized by photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations. The photoelectron spectra display a relatively simple spectral pattern, suggesting a high symmetry structure. Two nearly degenerate isomers with D8d(I) and C4v (II) symmetries are found computationally to compete for the global minimum. These drum-like structures consist of two B8 rings sandwiching a cobalt atom, which has the highest …


Cladribine Analogues Via O6-(Benzotriazolyl) Derivatives Of Guanine Nucleosides, Sakilam Satishkumar, Prasanna K. Vuram, Siva Subrahmanyam Relangi, Venkateshwarlu Gurram, Hong Zhou, Robert J. Kreitman, Michelle M. Martínez Montemayor, Lijia Yang, Muralidharan Kaliyaperumal, Somesh Sharma, Narender Pottabathini, Mahesh K. Lakshman Oct 2015

Cladribine Analogues Via O6-(Benzotriazolyl) Derivatives Of Guanine Nucleosides, Sakilam Satishkumar, Prasanna K. Vuram, Siva Subrahmanyam Relangi, Venkateshwarlu Gurram, Hong Zhou, Robert J. Kreitman, Michelle M. Martínez Montemayor, Lijia Yang, Muralidharan Kaliyaperumal, Somesh Sharma, Narender Pottabathini, Mahesh K. Lakshman

Publications and Research

Cladribine, 2-chloro-2′-deoxyadenosine, is a highly efficacious, clinically used nucleoside for the treatment of hairy cell leukemia. It is also being evaluated against other lymphoid malignancies and has been a molecule of interest for well over half a century. In continuation of our interest in the amide bond-activation in purine nucleosides via the use of (benzotriazol-1yl-oxy)tris(dimethylamino)phosphonium hexafluorophosphate, we have evaluated the use of O6-(benzotriazol-1-yl)-2′-deoxyguanosine as a potential precursor to cladribine and its analogues. These compounds, after appropriate deprotection, were assessed for their biological activities, and the data are presented herein. Against hairy cell leukemia (HCL), T-cell lymphoma (TCL) and chronic lymphocytic …


Two Distinct Modes Of Metal Ion Binding In The Nuclease Active Site Of A Viral Dna-Packaging Terminase: Insight Into The Two-Metal-Ion Catalytic Mechanism, Haiyan Zhao, Zihan Lin, Anna Y. Lynn, Brittany Varnado, John A. Beutler, Ryan P. Murelli, Stuart F.J. Le Grice, Liang Tang Oct 2015

Two Distinct Modes Of Metal Ion Binding In The Nuclease Active Site Of A Viral Dna-Packaging Terminase: Insight Into The Two-Metal-Ion Catalytic Mechanism, Haiyan Zhao, Zihan Lin, Anna Y. Lynn, Brittany Varnado, John A. Beutler, Ryan P. Murelli, Stuart F.J. Le Grice, Liang Tang

Publications and Research

Many dsDNA viruses encode DNA-packaging terminases, each containing a nuclease domain that resolves concatemeric DNA into genome-length units. Terminase nucleases resemble the RNase H-superfamily nucleotidyltransferases in folds, and share a two-metal-ion catalytic mechanism. Here we show that residue K428 of a bacteriophage terminase gp2 nuclease domain mediates binding of the metal cofactor Mg2+. A K428A mutation allows visualization, at high resolution, of a metal ion binding mode with a coupled-octahedral configuration at the active site, exhibiting an unusually short metal-metal distance of 2.42 A° . Such proximity of the two metal ions may play an essential role in catalysis by …


Temporal Variation In Optical Properties Of Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter (Cdom) In Southern California Coastal Waters With Nearshore Kelp And Seagrass, Catherine D. Clark, Warren J. De Bruyn, Paige Aiona Oct 2015

Temporal Variation In Optical Properties Of Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter (Cdom) In Southern California Coastal Waters With Nearshore Kelp And Seagrass, Catherine D. Clark, Warren J. De Bruyn, Paige Aiona

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Optical properties of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) were measured in surf zone waters in diurnal field studies at a Southern California beach with nearshore kelp and seagrass beds and intertidal plant wrack. Absorption coefficients (aCDOM(300 nm)) ranged from 0.35 m21 to 3.7 m21 with short-term variability<1 h, increases at ebb and flood tides and higher values (6 m21) during an offshore storm event. Spectral slopes (S) ranged from 0.0028 nm21 to 0.017 nm21, with higher values after the storm; S was generally inversely correlated with aCDOM(300 nm). 3-D excitation–emission matrix spectra (EEMs) for samples with lower S values had humic-type peaks associated with terrestrial material (A, C), marine microbial material (M) and protein peaks, characteristic of freshly produced organic material. Samples with high S values had no or reduced protein peaks, consistent with aged material. Fluorescent indexes (f450/f500 >2.5, BIX>1.1) were consistent with microbial aquatic sources. Leachates of senescent kelp and seagrass had protein and humic-type EEM peaks. After solar simulator irradiation (4 h), protein peaks rapidly photochemically degraded, humic-type peak C increased in intensity and peak M disappeared. Optical characteristics of kelp leachates were most similar to field samples, …


Expression And Purification Of Unlabelled And Isotopically Labelled Human Fibroblast Growth Factor-1 And Its Receptor Relevance In Cancer Research, Oluwadamilola Filani Oct 2015

Expression And Purification Of Unlabelled And Isotopically Labelled Human Fibroblast Growth Factor-1 And Its Receptor Relevance In Cancer Research, Oluwadamilola Filani

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Studies show that fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) control variety of cellular activities such as mitosis, cell differentiation, survival and angiogenesis. The FGF family consists of 23 different heparin-binding proteins. One of the most intensively studied members is human FGF-1 (hFGF-1) because of its critical role in the formation of blood vessels and cell proliferation in some types of cancer. The biological activities of FGFs are primarily mediated via interactions with fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFR) and are a potent target in cancer. In this study, we report an efficient affinity column purification of hFGF-1 and the D2 domain of FGFR-2 …


Multi-Dimensional Glycan Microarrays With Glyco-Macroligands, Satya Nandana Narla, Huan Nie, Yu Li, Xue-Long Sun Oct 2015

Multi-Dimensional Glycan Microarrays With Glyco-Macroligands, Satya Nandana Narla, Huan Nie, Yu Li, Xue-Long Sun

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Glycan microarray has become a powerful high-throughput tool for examining binding interactions of carbohydrates with the carbohydrate binding biomolecules like proteins, enzymes, antibodies etc. It has shown great potential for biomedical research and applications, such as antibody detection and profiling, vaccine development, biomarker discovery, and drug screening. Most glycan microarrays were made with monovalent glycans immobilized directly onto the array surface via either covalent or non-covalent bond, which afford a multivalent glycans in two dimensional (2D) displaying. A variety of glyco-macroligands have been developed to mimic multivalent carbohydrate-protein interactions for studying carbohydrate-protein interactions and biomedical research and applications. Recently, a …


Image-Charge Detection €“ Novel Instrumentation And Applications, Brandon Lee Barney Oct 2015

Image-Charge Detection €“ Novel Instrumentation And Applications, Brandon Lee Barney

Theses and Dissertations

Image-charge detection is an analytical technique in which a highly-charged particle is detected by the magnitude of the image current that it generates in a detecting electrode. This current is represented as a voltage between the charged particle and the sensing electrode. It is a single particle detection method, ideal for the analysis of large, variable mass particles such as biological cells. Some of the physical properties of Bacillus subtilis spores were explored using different applications of image-charge detection. B. subtilis is a gram-negative spore-forming bacteria that has been shown to exhibit extremophile behavior. The particular extremophile behavior that was …


Ligand Frameworks For Transition-Metal Complexes That Model Metalloenzyme Active, Denan Wang Oct 2015

Ligand Frameworks For Transition-Metal Complexes That Model Metalloenzyme Active, Denan Wang

Dissertations (1934 -)

Advances in the field of biomimetic inorganic chemistry require the design of sophisticated ligand frameworks that reflect the amazing complexity of metalloenzyme active sites. For instance, most active sites feature extensive hydrogen-bonding interactions between ligands bound to the metal center (the “first” coordination sphere) and nearby units in the outer (or “second”) sphere. Since these interactions modify the structural and electronic properties of the active sites, a number of inorganic chemists have sought to design ligands that permit outer-sphere functional groups to interact with first-sphere donors. This dissertation describes our contribution to these broader efforts to model the second coordination …


Heterogeneous Oxidation Of Catechol, Elizabeth A. Pillar, Ruixin Zhou, Marcelo I. Guzman Sep 2015

Heterogeneous Oxidation Of Catechol, Elizabeth A. Pillar, Ruixin Zhou, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Natural and anthropogenic emissions of aromatic hydrocarbons from biomass burning, agro-industrial settings, and fossil fuel combustion contribute precursors to secondary aerosol formation (SOA). How these compounds are processed under humid tropospheric conditions is the focus of current attention to understand their environmental fate. This work shows how catechol thin films, a model for oxygenated aromatic hydrocarbons present in biomass burning and combustion aerosols, undergo heterogeneous oxidation at the air–solid interface under variable relative humidity (RH = 0–90%). The maximum reactive uptake coefficient of O3(g) by catechol γO3 = (7.49 ± 0.35) × 10–6 occurs for …


Photoacoustic Calorimetry Studies Of The Earliest Events In Horse Heart Cytochrome-C Folding, Tarah A. Word Sep 2015

Photoacoustic Calorimetry Studies Of The Earliest Events In Horse Heart Cytochrome-C Folding, Tarah A. Word

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The protein folding problem involves understanding how the tertiary structure of a protein is related to its primary structure. Hence, understanding the thermodynamics associated with the rate-limiting steps for the formation of the earliest events in folding is most crucial to understanding how proteins adopt native secondary and tertiary structures. In order to elucidate the mechanism and pattern of protein folding, an extensively studied protein, Cytochrome-c (Cc), was chosen as a folding system to obtain detailed time-resolved thermodynamic profiles for the earliest events in the protein folding process. Cytochrome-c is an ideal system for understanding the folding process for several …


An Allosteric Interaction Links Usp7 To Deubiquitination And Chromatin Targeting Of Uhrf1, Zhi-Min Zhang, Scott B. Rothbart, David F. Allison, Qian Cai, Joseph S. Harrison, Lin Li, Yinsheng Wang, Brian D. Strahl, Gang Greg Wang, Jikui Song Sep 2015

An Allosteric Interaction Links Usp7 To Deubiquitination And Chromatin Targeting Of Uhrf1, Zhi-Min Zhang, Scott B. Rothbart, David F. Allison, Qian Cai, Joseph S. Harrison, Lin Li, Yinsheng Wang, Brian D. Strahl, Gang Greg Wang, Jikui Song

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

The protein stability and chromatin functions of UHRF1 (ubiquitin-like, containing PHD and RING finger domains, 1) are regulated in a cell-cycle-dependent manner. We report a structural characterization of the complex between UHRF1 and the deubiquitinase USP7. The first two UBL domains of USP7 bind to the polybasic region (PBR) of UHRF1, and this interaction is required for the USP7-mediated deubiquitination of UHRF1. Importantly, we find that the USP7-binding site of the UHRF1 PBR overlaps with the region engaging in an intramolecular interaction with the N-terminal tandem Tudor domain (TTD). We show that the USP7-UHRF1 interaction perturbs the TTD-PBR interaction of …


An Analytical Method For Detecting Toxic Metal Cations Using Cyclotriveratrylene Derivative Capped Gold Nanoparticles, Zachary R. Osner, Richard C. Holz, Daniel P. Becker Ph.D. Sep 2015

An Analytical Method For Detecting Toxic Metal Cations Using Cyclotriveratrylene Derivative Capped Gold Nanoparticles, Zachary R. Osner, Richard C. Holz, Daniel P. Becker Ph.D.

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Cyclotriveratrylene-oxime (CTV-oxime) derivatives that terminate with a dithiolate linker were synthesized enabling the supramolecular scaffold to adhere to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with the bowl-shaped cavity of the CTV scaffold exposed for utilization in host–guest chemistry. Exposure of these CTV functionalized AuNPs to varying concentrations of di- and trivalent metal cations resulted in the formation of large CTV-AuNP polymeric clusters and an accompanying a shift in the plasmon resonance. These interactions between the CTV-AuNPs and the metal cations in solution provides proof-of-concept that supramolecular functionalized AuNPs can be used as a simple and straightforward, on-site detection system for toxic metal cations …


Biomass Burning Emissions And Potential Air Quality Impacts Of Volatile Organic Compounds And Other Trace Gases From Temperate Fuels Common In The United States, J. B. Gilman, B. M. Lerner, W. C. Kuster, P. D. Goldan, C. Warneke, P. R. Veres, J. M. Roberts, J. A. De Gouw, I. R. Burling, Robert Yokelson Aug 2015

Biomass Burning Emissions And Potential Air Quality Impacts Of Volatile Organic Compounds And Other Trace Gases From Temperate Fuels Common In The United States, J. B. Gilman, B. M. Lerner, W. C. Kuster, P. D. Goldan, C. Warneke, P. R. Veres, J. M. Roberts, J. A. De Gouw, I. R. Burling, Robert Yokelson

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

A comprehensive suite of instruments was used to quantify the emissions of over 200 organic gases, including methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and 9 inorganic gases from 56 laboratory burns of 18 different biomass fuel types common in the southeastern, southwestern, or northern United States. A gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) provided extensive chemical detail of discrete air samples collected during a laboratory burn and was complemented by real-time measurements of organic and inorganic species via an open-path Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (OP-FTIR) and 3 different chemical ionization-mass spectrometers. These measurements were conducted in February 2009 at the U.S. Department …


Deconstructing Cation-Pi Interactions: Understanding The Binding Energies Involved With Metal And Aromatic Amino Acid Residues, Jen E. Werner, Lyudmila V. Slipchenko, Yen Bui Aug 2015

Deconstructing Cation-Pi Interactions: Understanding The Binding Energies Involved With Metal And Aromatic Amino Acid Residues, Jen E. Werner, Lyudmila V. Slipchenko, Yen Bui

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The Effective Fragment Potential (EFP) method is a computationally efficient technique for describing non-covalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces. Cation-pi interactions are a type of non-covalent interactions and are thought to be important in biological processes, such as permittivity of ion channels. The goal of our work is to establish that the EFP method reliably describes the strength, directionality, and composition of cation-pi interactions. Optimal geometries were found for a series of biologically relevant cations (K+, Li+, Na+, Ca2+, and Mg2+) and aryl moieties appearing …


Weak Interactions Between Salmonella Enterica Flhb And Other Flagellar Export Apparatus Proteins Govern Type Iii Secretion Dynamics, Jonathan L. Mcmurry, Tohru Minamino, Yukio Furukawa, Joshua W. Francis Aug 2015

Weak Interactions Between Salmonella Enterica Flhb And Other Flagellar Export Apparatus Proteins Govern Type Iii Secretion Dynamics, Jonathan L. Mcmurry, Tohru Minamino, Yukio Furukawa, Joshua W. Francis

Faculty Articles

The bacterial flagellum contains its own type III secretion apparatus that coordinates protein export with assembly at the distal end. While many interactions among export apparatus proteins have been reported, few have been examined with respect to the differential affinities and dynamic relationships that must govern the mechanism of export. FlhB, an integral membrane protein, plays critical roles in both export and the substrate specificity switching that occurs upon hook completion. Reported herein is the quantitative characterization of interactions between the cytoplasmic domain of FlhB (FlhBC) and other export apparatus proteins including FliK, FlhAC and FliI. FliK and FlhAC bound …


Metal-Free Tandem Beckmann–Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution Cascade Affording Diaryl Imines, Ketones, Amines, And Quinazolines, Samuel Sarsah, Marlon R. Lutz Jr., Kailyn Chichi Bobb, Daniel Becker Aug 2015

Metal-Free Tandem Beckmann–Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution Cascade Affording Diaryl Imines, Ketones, Amines, And Quinazolines, Samuel Sarsah, Marlon R. Lutz Jr., Kailyn Chichi Bobb, Daniel Becker

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

A cascade reaction sequence involving a Beckmann rearrangement on benzophenone oxime followed by an electrophilic aromatic substitution (EAS) on the intermediate nitrilium ion affords N-phenyl diaryl imines that may then be hydrolyzed to ketones, or reduced to the corresponding amines. Reaction with benzonitrile afforded 2,4-diphenylquinazoline through a Beckmann–Ritter–EAS cascade.


Nmr-Based Structural Analysis Of Threonylcarbamoyl-Amp Synthase And Its Substrate Interactions, Kimberly A. Harris, Benjamin G. Bobay, Kathryn L. Sarachan, Alexis F. Sims, Yann Bilbille, Christopher Deutsch, Dirk Iwata-Reuyl, Paul F. Agris Aug 2015

Nmr-Based Structural Analysis Of Threonylcarbamoyl-Amp Synthase And Its Substrate Interactions, Kimberly A. Harris, Benjamin G. Bobay, Kathryn L. Sarachan, Alexis F. Sims, Yann Bilbille, Christopher Deutsch, Dirk Iwata-Reuyl, Paul F. Agris

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

The hypermodified nucleoside N(6)-threonylcarbamoyladenosine (t(6)A37) is present in many distinct tRNA species and has been found in organisms in all domains of life. This post-transcriptional modification enhances translation fidelity by stabilizing the anticodon/codon interaction in the ribosomal decoding site. The biosynthetic pathway of t(6)A37 is complex and not well understood. In bacteria, the following four proteins have been discovered to be both required and sufficient for t(6)A37 modification: TsaC, TsaD, TsaB, and TsaE. Of these, TsaC and TsaD are members of universally conserved protein families. Although TsaC has been shown to catalyze the formation of L-threonylcarbamoyl-AMP, a key intermediate in …


Computational Modeling Of Rna-Small Molecule And Rna-Protein Interactions, Lu Chen Aug 2015

Computational Modeling Of Rna-Small Molecule And Rna-Protein Interactions, Lu Chen

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The past decade has witnessed an era of RNA biology; despite the considerable discoveries nowadays, challenges still remain when one aims to screen RNA-interacting small molecule or RNA-interacting protein. These challenges imply an immediate need for cost-efficient while predictive computational tools capable of generating insightful hypotheses to discover novel RNA-interacting small molecule or RNA-interacting protein. Thus, we implemented novel computational models in this dissertation to predict RNA-ligand interactions (Chapter 1) and RNA-protein interactions (Chapter 2).

Targeting RNA has not garnered comparable interest as protein, and is restricted by lack of computational tools for structure-based drug design. To test the potential …


Poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) Hydrogels For Storage And Delivery Of Reagents To Paper-Based Analytical Devices, Haydn T. Mitchell, Spencer Schultz, Philip Costanzo, Andres W. Martinez Jul 2015

Poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) Hydrogels For Storage And Delivery Of Reagents To Paper-Based Analytical Devices, Haydn T. Mitchell, Spencer Schultz, Philip Costanzo, Andres W. Martinez

Chemistry and Biochemistry

The thermally responsive hydrogel N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide-cross-linked poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) was developed and evaluated as a reagent storage and delivery system for microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (microPADs). PNIPAM was shown to successfully deliver multiple solutions to microPADs in specific sequences or simultaneously in laminar-flow configuration and was found to be suitable for delivering four classes of reagents to the devices: Small molecules, enzymes, antibodies and DNA. PNIPAM was also able to successfully deliver a series of standard glucose solutions to microPADs equipped to perform a colorimetric glucose assay. The results of these tests were used to produce an external calibration …


Analytical Approaches In Investigating The Kinetics Of Water-Molecule Complexes In Tropospheric Reactions, William J. Keeton Jul 2015

Analytical Approaches In Investigating The Kinetics Of Water-Molecule Complexes In Tropospheric Reactions, William J. Keeton

Theses and Dissertations

Ozone is a heavily monitored pollutant. Ozone is not directly emitted into the atmosphere, but rather the product of chemical reactions. Ground level ozone occurs when nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) react with each other in the presence of sunlight. The primary precursors of ozone are anthropogenically emitted, and as a result, tropospheric ozone has cost millions of dollars in damages and has hurt the health of countless people. This dissertation is a collection of work that aims to provide insight into atmospheric reactions that result in tropospheric ozone and the instrumentation to study such reactions. While …


Histone Deacetylase 6 (Hdac6) Is Critical For Tumor Cell Survival And Promotes The Pro-Survival Activity Of 14-3-3Ζ Viadeacetylation Of Lysines Within The14-3-3Ζ Binding Pocket, Jeffrey Benjamin Mortenson Jul 2015

Histone Deacetylase 6 (Hdac6) Is Critical For Tumor Cell Survival And Promotes The Pro-Survival Activity Of 14-3-3Ζ Viadeacetylation Of Lysines Within The14-3-3Ζ Binding Pocket, Jeffrey Benjamin Mortenson

Theses and Dissertations

Our understanding of non-histone acetylation as a means of cellular regulation is in its infancy. Using a mass spectrometry approach we identified acetylated lysine residues and monitored acetylation changes across the proteome as a consequence of metabolic stress (hypoxia). We observed changes in acetylation status of non-histone lysines in tumor cells. Through the use of small molecule inhibitors of histone deacetylase enzymes (HDACs) and siRNA screening identified HDAC6 as a pro-survival regulator of lysine acetylation during hypoxia. The phospho-binding protein 14-3-3ζ acts as a signaling hub controlling a network of interacting partners and oncogenic pathways. We show here that lysines …


Hydrophobic Surfactant Proteins Strongly Induce Negative Curvature, Mariya Chavarha, Ryan W. Loney, Shankar B. Rananavare, Stephen B. Hall Jul 2015

Hydrophobic Surfactant Proteins Strongly Induce Negative Curvature, Mariya Chavarha, Ryan W. Loney, Shankar B. Rananavare, Stephen B. Hall

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

The hydrophobic surfactant proteins SP-B and SP-C greatly accelerate the adsorption of vesicles containing the surfactant lipids to form a film that lowers the surface tension of the air/water interface in the lungs. Pulmonary surfactant enters the interface by a process analogous to the fusion of two vesicles. As with fusion, several factors affect adsorption according to how they alter the curvature of lipid leaflets, suggesting that adsorption proceeds via a rate-limiting structure with negative curvature, in which the hydrophilic face of the phospholipid leaflets is concave. In the studies reported here, we tested whether the surfactant proteins might promote …


Designing Fret Assays To Study Electrostatic Interactions Pertaining To The Binding Of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins, Ashley Ann Howard Jul 2015

Designing Fret Assays To Study Electrostatic Interactions Pertaining To The Binding Of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins, Ashley Ann Howard

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fibroblast growth factor receptor plays a major role in several biological processes. Without FGFR, a human cannot live. FGFR is involved in cell differentiation and wound healing. Of course, if FGFR signaling becomes unregulated, it causes severe distress in the body. Several cancers are contributed to high signaling levels, as well as developmental conditions like rickets and Kallmann’s syndrome. FGFR is thought to undergo an auto-inhibition (or self-regulatory) process in order to try to facilitate regulation. The exact method of this inhibition is currently unknown, but is proposed to involve the unstructured acid box region of FGFR. We developed a …


Investigating The Links Between Ozone And Organic Aerosol Chemistry In A Biomass Burning Plume From A Prescribed Fire In California Chaparral, M. J. Alvarado, C. R. Lonsdale, Robert Yokelson, Sheryl Kashi Akagi, H. Coe, J. S. Craven, E. V. Fischer, G. R. Mcmeeking, J. H. Seinfeld, T. Soni, J. W. Taylor, D. R. Weise, C. E. Wold Jun 2015

Investigating The Links Between Ozone And Organic Aerosol Chemistry In A Biomass Burning Plume From A Prescribed Fire In California Chaparral, M. J. Alvarado, C. R. Lonsdale, Robert Yokelson, Sheryl Kashi Akagi, H. Coe, J. S. Craven, E. V. Fischer, G. R. Mcmeeking, J. H. Seinfeld, T. Soni, J. W. Taylor, D. R. Weise, C. E. Wold

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Within minutes after emission, complex photochemistry in biomass burning smoke plumes can cause large changes in the concentrations of ozone (O3) and organic aerosol (OA). Being able to understand and simulate this rapid chemical evolution under a wide variety of conditions is a critical part of forecasting the impact of these fires on air quality, atmospheric composition, and climate. Here we use version 2.1 of the Aerosol Simulation Program (ASP) to simulate the evolution of O3 and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) within a young biomass burning smoke plume from the Williams prescribed fire in chaparral, which was sampled over …