scholarly journals Impact of Internal RNA on Aggregation and Electrokinetics of Viruses: Comparison between MS2 Phage and Corresponding Virus-Like Particles

2011 ◽  
Vol 77 (14) ◽  
pp. 4939-4948 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Dika ◽  
J. F. L. Duval ◽  
H. M. Ly-Chatain ◽  
C. Merlin ◽  
C. Gantzer

ABSTRACTWe compare for the first time the electrokinetic and aggregation properties of MS2 phage (pH 2.5 to 7, 1 to 100 mM NaNO3electrolyte concentration) with those of the corresponding virus-like particles (VLPs), which lack entirely the inner viral RNA component. In line with our previous work (J. Langlet, F. Gaboriaud, C. Gantzer, and J. F. L. Duval, Biophys. J. 94:3293-3312, 2008), it is found that modifying the content of RNA within the virus leads to very distinct electrohydrodynamic and aggregation profiles for MS2 and MS2 VLPs. Under the given pH and concentration conditions, MS2 VLPs exhibit electrophoretic mobility larger in magnitude than that of MS2, and both have similar isoelectric point (IEP) values (∼4). The electrokinetic results reflect a greater permeability of MS2 VLPs to electroosmotic flow, developed within/around these soft particles during their migration under the action of the applied electrical field. Results also support the presence of some remaining negatively charged component within the VLPs. In addition, MS2 phage systematically forms aggregates at pH values below the IEP, regardless of the magnitude of the solution ionic strength, whereas MS2 VLPs aggregate under the strict condition where the pH is relatively equal to the IEP at sufficiently low salt concentrations (<10 mM). It is argued that the stability of VLPs against aggregation and the differences between electrokinetics of MS2 and corresponding VLPs conform to recently developed formalisms for the stability and electrohydrodynamics of soft multilayered particles. The differences between the surface properties of these two kinds of particles reported here suggest that VLPs may not be appropriate for predicting the behavior of pathogenic viruses in aqueous media.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Sévery ◽  
Jacek Szczerbiński ◽  
Mert Taskin ◽  
Isik Tuncay ◽  
Fernanda Brandalise Nunes ◽  
...  

The strategy of anchoring molecular catalysts on electrode surfaces combines the high selectivity and activity of molecular systems with the practicality of heterogeneous systems. The stability of molecular catalysts is, however, far less than that of traditional heterogeneous electrocatalysts, and therefore a method to easily replace anchored molecular catalysts that have degraded could make such electrosynthetic systems more attractive. Here, we apply a non-covalent “click” chemistry approach to reversibly bind molecular electrocatalysts to electrode surfaces via host-guest complexation with surface-anchored cyclodextrins. The host-guest interaction is remarkably strong and allows the flow of electrons between the electrode and the guest catalyst. Electrosynthesis in both organic and aqueous media was demonstrated on metal oxide electrodes, with stability on the order of hours. The catalytic surfaces can be recycled by controlled release of the guest from the host cavities and readsorption of fresh guest. This strategy represents a new approach to practical molecular-based catalytic systems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. 90-96
Author(s):  
E. V. Arutiunova ◽  
E. V. Beshenkova ◽  
O. E. Ivanova

The study investigates the rule of spelling the root -ravn-/-rovn- and is considered to be a fragment of the academic description of Russian spelling, which is currently being under investigation at the Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The authors clarify the meanings that determine the spelling of the unstressed root, supplement the lists of exceptions, denote words with meanings not corresponding to the given values-criteria, and, for the first time in linguistics, investigate the words that can be correlated with different values-criteria, that is, they have double motivation. The rule codifies the spelling of words that have double motivation and fluctuate in usus, dictionaries, study guides and reference books. Spelling recommendations for these words correspond to the current linguistic norm and were approved by the Spelling Commission of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2019. The linguistic commentary to the rule contains the most significant etymological facts concerning the root -ravn-/-rovn- and summarises the scientific and methodological attempts to figure out the distribution of vocabulary with root -ravn-/-rovn- based on the meanings selected in the spelling rules. In the paper it is shown that the instability in spelling of various verbs with the root -ravn-/-rovn- in modern writing and dictionaries is determined by the double motivation of words, as well as contradictory recommendations and gaps in the rules.


Author(s):  
Olga Mashukova ◽  
Olga Mashukova ◽  
Yuriy Tokarev ◽  
Yuriy Tokarev ◽  
Nadejda Kopytina ◽  
...  

We studied for the first time luminescence characteristics of the some micromycetes, isolated from the bottom sediments of the Black sea from the 27 m depth. Luminescence parameters were registered at laboratory complex “Svet” using mechanical and chemical stimulations. Fungi cultures of genera Acremonium, Aspergillus, Penicillium were isolated on ChDA medium which served as control. Culture of Penicillium commune gave no light emission with any kind of stimulation. Culture of Acremonium sp. has shown luminescence in the blue – green field of spectrum. Using chemical stimulation by fresh water we registered signals with luminescence energy (to 3.24 ± 0.11)•108 quantum•cm2 and duration up to 4.42 s, which 3 times exceeded analogous magnitudes in a group, stimulated by sea water (p < 0.05). Under chemical stimulation by ethyl alcohol fungi culture luminescence was not observed. Culture of Aspergillus fumigatus possessed the most expressed properties of luminescence. Stimulation by fresh water culture emission with energy of (3.35 ± 0.11)•108 quantum•cm2 and duration up to 4.96 s. Action of ethyl alcohol to culture also stimulated signals, but intensity of light emission was 3–4 times lower than under mechanical stimulation. For sure the given studies will permit not only to evaluate contribution of marine fungi into general bioluminescence of the sea, but as well to determine places of accumulation of opportunistic species in the sea.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shubhangi J. Mane-Gavade ◽  
Sandip R. Sabale ◽  
Xiao-Ying Yu ◽  
Gurunath H. Nikam ◽  
Bhaskar V. Tamhankar

Introduction: Herein we report the green synthesis and characterization of silverreduced graphene oxide nanocomposites (Ag-rGO) using Acacia nilotica gum for the first time. Experimental: We demonstrate the Hg2+ ions sensing ability of the Ag-rGO nanocomposites form aqueous medium. The developed colorimetric sensor method is simple, fast and selective for the detection of Hg2+ ions in aqueous media in presence of other associated ions. A significant color change was noticed with naked eye upon Hg2+ addition. The color change was not observed for cations including Sr2+, Ni2+, Cd2+, Pb2+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Fe2+, Ba2+ and Mn2+indicating that only Hg2+ shows a strong interaction with Ag-rGO nanocomposites. Under the most suitable condition, the calibration plot (A0-A) against concentration of Hg2+ was linear in the range of 0.1-1.0 ppm with a correlation coefficient (R2) value 0.9998. Results & Conclusion The concentration of Hg2+ was quantitatively determined with the Limit of Detection (LOD) of 0.85 ppm. Also, this method shows excellent selectivity towards Hg2+ over nine other cations tested. Moreover, the method offers a new cost effective, rapid and simple approach for the detection of Hg2+ in water samples.


Filomat ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (15) ◽  
pp. 4933-4944
Author(s):  
Dongseung Kang ◽  
Heejeong Koh

We obtain a general solution of the sextic functional equation f (ax+by)+ f (ax-by)+ f (bx+ay)+ f (bx-ay) = (ab)2(a2 + b2)[f(x+y)+f(x-y)] + 2(a2-b2)(a4-b4)[f(x)+f(y)] and investigate the stability of sextic Lie *-derivations associated with the given functional equation via fixed point method. Also, we present a counterexample for a single case.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Azam Marjani ◽  
Reza Khan Mohammadi

AbstractHg(II) has been identified to be one of the extremely toxic heavy metals because of its hazardous effects and this fact that it is even more hazardous to animals than other pollutants such as Ag, Au, Cd, Ni, Pb, Co, Cu, and Zn. Accordingly, for the first time, tetrasulfide-functionalized fibrous silica KCC-1 (TS-KCC-1) spheres were synthesized by a facile, conventional ultrasonic-assisted, sol–gel-hydrothermal preparation approach to adsorb Hg(II) from aqueous solution. Tetrasulfide groups (–S–S–S–S–) were chosen as binding sites due to the strong and effective interaction of mercury ions (Hg(II)) with sulfur atoms. Hg(II) uptake onto TS-KCC-1 in a batch system has been carried out. Isotherm and kinetic results showed a very agreed agreement with Langmuir and pseudo-first-order models, respectively, with a Langmuir maximum uptake capacity of 132.55 mg g–1 (volume of the solution = 20.0 mL; adsorbent dose = 5.0 mg; pH = 5.0; temperature: 198 K; contact time = 40 min; shaking speed = 180 rpm). TS-KCC-1was shown to be a promising functional nanoporous material for the uptake of Hg(II) cations from aqueous media. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no report on the uptake of toxic Hg(II) cations by tetrasulfide-functionalized KCC-1 prepared by a conventional ultrasonic-assisted sol–gel-hydrothermal synthesis method.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramanshu P. Singh ◽  
Shakti Yadav ◽  
Giridhar Mishra ◽  
Devraj Singh

Abstract The elastic and ultrasonic properties have been evaluated at room temperature between the pressure 0.6 and 10.4 GPa for hexagonal closed packed (hcp) hafnium (Hf) metal. The Lennard-Jones potential model has been used to compute the second and third order elastic constants for Hf. The elastic constants have been utilized to calculate the mechanical constants such as Young’s modulus, bulk modulus, shear modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and Zener anisotropy factor for finding the stability and durability of hcp hafnium metal within the chosen pressure range. The second order elastic constants were also used to compute the ultrasonic velocities along unique axis at different angles for the given pressure range. Further thermophysical properties such as specific heat per unit volume and energy density have been estimated at different pressures. Additionally, ultrasonic Grüneisen parameters and acoustic coupling constants have been found out at room temperature. Finally, the ultrasonic attenuation due to phonon–phonon interaction and thermoelastic mechanisms has been investigated for the chosen hafnium metal. The obtained results have been discussed in correlation with available findings for similar types of hcp metals.


Author(s):  
Carlos R Argüelles ◽  
Manuel I Díaz ◽  
Andreas Krut ◽  
Rafael Yunis

Abstract The formation and stability of collisionless self-gravitating systems is a long standing problem, which dates back to the work of D. Lynden-Bell on violent relaxation, and extends to the issue of virialization of dark matter (DM) halos. An important prediction of such a relaxation process is that spherical equilibrium states can be described by a Fermi-Dirac phase-space distribution, when the extremization of a coarse-grained entropy is reached. In the case of DM fermions, the most general solution develops a degenerate compact core surrounded by a diluted halo. As shown recently, the latter is able to explain the galaxy rotation curves while the DM core can mimic the central black hole. A yet open problem is whether this kind of astrophysical core-halo configurations can form at all, and if they remain stable within cosmological timescales. We assess these issues by performing a thermodynamic stability analysis in the microcanonical ensemble for solutions with given particle number at halo virialization in a cosmological framework. For the first time we demonstrate that the above core-halo DM profiles are stable (i.e. maxima of entropy) and extremely long lived. We find the existence of a critical point at the onset of instability of the core-halo solutions, where the fermion-core collapses towards a supermassive black hole. For particle masses in the keV range, the core-collapse can only occur for Mvir ≳ E9M⊙ starting at zvir ≈ 10 in the given cosmological framework. Our results prove that DM halos with a core-halo morphology are a very plausible outcome within nonlinear stages of structure formation.


Author(s):  
Harald Fripertinger ◽  
Jens Schwaiger

AbstractIt was proved in Forti and Schwaiger (C R Math Acad Sci Soc R Can 11(6):215–220, 1989), Schwaiger (Aequ Math 35:120–121, 1988) and with different methods in Schwaiger (Developments in functional equations and related topics. Selected papers based on the presentations at the 16th international conference on functional equations and inequalities, ICFEI, Bȩdlewo, Poland, May 17–23, 2015, Springer, Cham, pp 275–295, 2017) that under the assumption that every function defined on suitable abelian semigroups with values in a normed space such that the norm of its Cauchy difference is bounded by a constant (function) is close to some additive function, i.e., the norm of the difference between the given function and that additive function is also bounded by a constant, the normed space must necessarily be complete. By Schwaiger (Ann Math Sil 34:151–163, 2020) this is also true in the non-archimedean case. Here we discuss the situation when the bound is a suitable non-constant function.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Yu Zheng ◽  
Xudong Luo ◽  
Jinlong Yang ◽  
Wenlong Huo ◽  
Chi Kang

A novel approach is used for fabricating steel slag foam ceramics based on the particle-stabilized foaming method. In this work, steel slag was used as the raw material and propyl gallate (PG) was used as the surface modifier. For the first time, steel slag ceramic foams were successfully fabricated based on particle-stabilized foams. The results show that the stability of the ceramic foams was closely related to the pH value and PG concentration. The porosity and compressive strength could be controlled by changing the solid loading of steel slag and sintering temperature. The porosity of steel slag foam ceramics ranged from 85.6% to 62.53%, and the compressive strength was from 1.74 MPa to 10.42 MPa. The thermal conductivity of steel slag foam ceramics was only 0.067 W (m·K)−1, which shows that it could be used as a thermal insulation material.


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