Direct visualization of phase-separated domains in lipid membranes

Author(s):  
S. W. Hui ◽  
T. P. Stewart

Direct electron microscopic study of biological molecules has been hampered by such factors as radiation damage, lack of contrast and vacuum drying. In certain cases, however, the difficulties may be overcome by using redundent structural information from repeating units and by various specimen preservation methods. With bilayers of phospholipids in which both the solid and fluid phases co-exist, the ordering of the hydrocarbon chains may be utilized to form diffraction contrast images. Domains of different molecular packings may be recgnizable by placing properly chosen filters in the diffraction plane. These domains would correspond to those observed by freeze fracture, if certain distinctive undulating patterns are associated with certain molecular packing, as suggested by X-ray diffraction studies. By using an environmental stage, we were able to directly observe these domains in bilayers of mixed phospholipids at various temperatures at which their phases change from misible to inmissible states.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan Chen ◽  
Tianyu Ren ◽  
Sarah Bramlitt ◽  
William Rudolf Seitz

Abstract This paper describes a facile way to prepare a photophysically inert sensor substrate. Stannic oxide encapsulated silica nanoparticles with average diameters between 30 and 70 nm have been prepared by one-pot reverse-phase emulsion methodology. The constituents and core/shell morphology of the nanoparticles were demonstrated by electron microscopic technology, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). X-ray diffraction (XRD) was employed to provide additional constitutional and structural information. It has been shown that nanoparticles prepared by this method are optically clear in suspension. After anchoring optical indicators, this nanoparticle can be utilized as a sensor module both in biology and other analytical areas.


Author(s):  
Thomas S. Leeson ◽  
C. Roland Leeson

Numerous previous studies of outer segments of retinal receptors have demonstrated a complex internal structure of a series of transversely orientated membranous lamellae, discs, or saccules. In cones, these lamellae probably are invaginations of the covering plasma membrane. In rods, however, they appear to be isolated and separate discs although some authors report interconnections and some continuities with the surface near the base of the outer segment, i.e. toward the inner segment. In some species, variations have been reported, such as longitudinally orientated lamellae and lamellar whorls. In cross section, the discs or saccules show one or more incisures. The saccules probably contain photolabile pigment, with resulting potentials after dipole formation during bleaching of pigment. Continuity between the lamina of rod saccules and extracellular space may be necessary for the detection of dipoles, although such continuity usually is not found by electron microscopy. Particles on the membranes have been found by low angle X-ray diffraction, by low temperature electron microscopy and by freeze-etching techniques.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (4A) ◽  
pp. 491-500
Author(s):  
Abeer F. Al-Attar ◽  
Saad B. H. Farid ◽  
Fadhil A. Hashim

In this work, Yttria (Y2O3) was successfully doped into tetragonal 3mol% yttria stabilized Zirconia (3YSZ) by high energy-mechanical milling to synthesize 8mol% yttria stabilized Zirconia (8YSZ) used as an electrolyte for high temperature solid oxide fuel cells (HT-SOFC). This work aims to evaluate the densification and ionic conductivity of the sintered electrolytes at 1650°C. The bulk density was measured according to ASTM C373-17. The powder morphology and the microstructure of the sintered electrolytes were analyzed via Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). The chemical analysis was obtained with Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Also, X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to obtain structural information of the starting materials and the sintered electrolytes. The ionic conductivity was obtained through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in the air as a function of temperatures at a frequency range of 100(mHz)-100(kHz). It is found that the 3YSZ has a higher density than the 8YSZ. The impedance analysis showed that the ionic conductivity of the prepared 8YSZ at 800°C is0.906 (S.cm) and it was 0.214(S.cm) of the 3YSZ. Besides, 8YSZ has a lower activation energy 0.774(eV) than that of the 3YSZ 0.901(eV). Thus, the prepared 8YSZ can be nominated as an electrolyte for the HT-SOFC.


Author(s):  
Morgan E. Milton ◽  
Jun-yong Choe ◽  
Richard B. Honzatko ◽  
Scott W. Nelson

Infection by the parasitePlasmodium falciparumis the leading cause of malaria in humans. The parasite has a unique and essential plastid-like organelle called the apicoplast. The apicoplast contains a genome that undergoes replication and repair through the action of a replicative polymerase (apPOL). apPOL has no direct orthologs in mammalian polymerases and is therefore an attractive antimalarial drug target. No structural information exists for apPOL, and the Klenow fragment ofEscherichia coliDNA polymerase I, which is its closest structural homolog, shares only 28% sequence identity. Here, conditions for the crystallization of and preliminary X-ray diffraction data from crystals ofP. falciparumapPOL are reported. Data complete to 3.5 Å resolution were collected from a single crystal (2 × 2 × 5 µm) using a 5 µm beam. The space groupP6522 (unit-cell parametersa=b= 141.8,c= 149.7 Å, α = β = 90, γ = 120°) was confirmed by molecular replacement. Refinement is in progress.


2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 983-990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Elschner ◽  
Alexandr A. Levin ◽  
Lutz Wilde ◽  
Jörg Grenzer ◽  
Christian Schroer ◽  
...  

The electrical and optical properties of molecular thin films are widely used, for instance in organic electronics, and depend strongly on the molecular arrangement of the organic layers. It is shown here how atomic structural information can be obtained from molecular films without further knowledge of the single-crystal structure. C60 fullerene was chosen as a representative test material. A 250 nm C60 film was investigated by grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction and the data compared with a Bragg–Brentano X-ray diffraction measurement of the corresponding C60 powder. The diffraction patterns of both powder and film were used to calculate the pair distribution function (PDF), which allowed an investigation of the short-range order of the structures. With the help of the PDF, a structure model for the C60 molecular arrangement was determined for both C60 powder and thin film. The results agree very well with a classical whole-pattern fitting approach for the C60 diffraction patterns.


2012 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 413a
Author(s):  
Walter E. Teague ◽  
Olivier Soubias ◽  
Nola L. Fuller ◽  
R. Peter Rand ◽  
Klaus Gawrisch

1997 ◽  
Vol 496 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Benedek ◽  
M. M. Thackeray ◽  
L. H. Yang

ABSTRACTThe structure and electrochemical potential of monoclinic Li1+xV3O8 were calculated within the local-density-functional-theory framework by use of plane-wave-pseudopotential methods. Special attention was given to the compositions 1+x=1.2 and 1+x=4, for which x-ray diffraction structure refinements are available. The calculated low-energy configuration for 1+x=4 is consistent with the three Li sites identified in x-ray diffraction measurements and predicts the position of the unobserved Li. The location of the tetrahedrally coordinated Li in the calculated low-energy configuration for 1+x=1.5 is consistent with the structure measured by x-ray diffraction for Li1.2V3O8. Calculations were also performed for the two monoclinic phases at intermediate Li compositions, for which no structural information is available. Calculations at these compositions are based on hypothetical Li configurations suggested by the ordering of vacancy energies for Li4V3O8 and tetrahedral site energies in Li1.5V3O8. The internal energy curves for the two phases- cross near 1+x=3. Predicted electrochemical potential curves agree well with experiment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 132
Author(s):  
Shuaibu Musa ◽  
S O. Idris ◽  
A D. Onu

The resulted complexes produced between Fe (III) and Co (II) with biological molecules like amino acids play an important role in human life. They can be used as bioactive compounds as well as in industries. Fe (III) and Co (II) complexes are synthesized with Alanine amino acid. The complexes were characterized by X-ray diffraction, magnetic suscetivility, elemental analysis (AAS), molar conductance, melting point, infrared and uv-visible spectrophotometry analyses. The elemental analyses were used to determine the chelation ratio, 1:3(metal: ligands) for iron (III) Alanine and 1:2 ratio for cobalt (II) Alanine. The molar conductivity of the complexes show that the complexes are not electrolytic in nature. The x-ray data suggest monoclinic crystal system for all the complexes with the exception of Co-alanine, which is hexagonal. The magnetic susceptivility and electronic spectra suggest the complexes are high spin with octahedral geometry.The complexes show enhance activity in comparable to the amino acid.  


Author(s):  
А.Я. Пак ◽  
Г.Я. Мамонтов

AbstractWe describe a method of obtaining ultrafine boron carbide (B_13C_2) powder using the effect of a dc electric arc on a mixture of initial reactants containing carbon and boron. A peculiarity of the proposed method is that it can be implemented using arc discharge operating in open air without any vacuum equipment and protective inert gas atmosphere. X-ray diffraction data showed that the synthesized product in the general case contained three crystalline phases: boron carbide (B_13C_2), graphite (C), and boron oxide (B_2O_3). Electron-microscopic examination showed that the average size of boron carbide particles ranged from ~50 nm to ~2 μm.


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