Publications by authors named "Belzen R"

In steam cracking, upstream pyrolysis oil hydroprocessing, and in many downstream processes, olefinic content is key to assess process performance and process safety risk associated with highly exothermic reactions. When looking to plastic pyrolysis oils as a potential feedstock, as well as downstream products such as pyrolysis gasoline (pygas), these materials contain unsaturated hydrocarbons which are not present in fossil feedstocks. Pygas is a product of pyrolysis and exhibits a large number of chemical structural similarities with plastic pyrolysis oils, especially in terms of olefins structure.

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NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductases (Complex I) contain a subunit, TYKY in the bovine enzyme and NuoI in the enzyme from Rhodobacter capsulatus, which is assumed to bind two [4Fe-4S] clusters because it contains two sets of conserved cysteine motifs similar to those found in the 2[4Fe-4S] ferredoxins. It was recently shown that the TYKY subunit is not an ordinary 2[4Fe-4S] ferredoxin, but has a unique amino acid sequence, which is only found in NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductases and certain membrane-bound [NiFe]-hydrogenases expected to be involved in redox-linked proton translocation [FEBS Lett. 485 (2000) 1].

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Seven out of the 13 proteins encoded by the mitochondrial genome of mammals (peptides ND1 to ND6 plus ND4L) are subunits of the respiratory NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I). The function of these ND subunits is still poorly understood. We have used the NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase of Rhodobacter capsulatus as a model for the study of the function of these proteins.

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The nuoI gene that encodes a ferredoxin-like subunit of the Rhodobacter capsulatus Complex I (a subunit equivalent to the bovine TYKY subunit) was mutated by homologous recombination. Both a nuoI-deleted mutant (delta nuoI mutant) and a point mutant in which Cys74 was replaced by a serine (C74S mutant) proved to be completely deficient in Complex I activity. These strains were unable to grow under anaerobic photosynthetic conditions.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examined the behavior of ubisemiquinone radicals and iron-sulfur clusters in NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (Complex I) during coupled and uncoupled conditions.
  • Multifrequency EPR spectra indicated that specific g2 lines observed during coupled electron transfer are linked to a spin-spin interaction of 2.8 mT.
  • Over 90% of the radicals detected were identified as two types of semiquinones bound to Complex I or Complex III, with the presence of Complex III radicals being sensitive to uncoupling.
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In this paper we report EPR studies on the effects of meta-Iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG), a structural analogue of norepinephrine capable of inhibiting complex I and III of the respiratory chain, on the reduction state of the various complexes of the respiratory chain in beef heart submitochondrial particles. The EPR spectrum of SMPs incubated with MIBG showed completely reduced prosthetic groups of complex I, but oxidised prosthetic groups of complex IV. This indicates that complex I is inhibited by MIBG at the end of the complex (i.

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The Na+-activated NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase of Vibrio alginolyticus was extracted from the membranes with lauryldimethylamine-N-oxide and purified by two successive anion exchange columns. This preparation, yielding four major and several minor stained bands after SDS-PAGE, retained the NADH-dehydrogenase activity (with menadione as an artificial electron acceptor) and ubiquinone-1 (Q) reductase activity. On further fractionation of the enzyme, the Q-reductase activity essentially disappeared.

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The concentration of the iron-sulphur (Fe-S) cluster 1b, present in complex I or soluble high-molecular-mass NADH dehydrogenase, was determined using different methods. It was found that direct double integration of the EPR signal at temperatures higher than 40 K, as is commonly used in this field of research, results in a considerable overestimation of the concentration of cluster 1b. It is demonstrated that this is caused by contributions from the relaxation-broadened signals of the Fe-S clusters 2-4 in the enzyme.

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The initial velocity of NADH oxidation by bovine-heart submitochondrial particles was measured at pH 8.0 after pretreatment of these particles with different amounts of the inhibitor piericidine A together with 0.035 mM NADH.

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The pre-steady-state reduction by NADPH of NADH:Q oxidoreductase, as present in submitochondrial particles, has been further investigated with the rapid-mixing, rapid-freezing technique. It was found that trypsin treatment, that had previously been used to inactivate the transhydrogenase activity (Bakker, P.T.

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High density lipoprotein (HDL) from human serum was subfractionated into HDL2 and HDL3 by rate-zonal density gradient ultracentrifugation. The orientation of apoproteins (apo) A-I and A-II in these subfractions was investigated by use of the photosensitive glycolipid probes, 2-(4-azido-2-nitrophenoxy)-palmitoyl[1-14C]glucosamine (compound A) and 12-(4-azido-2-nitrophenoxy)-stearoyl[1-14C]glucosamine (compound B). Both probes were added to the HDL-structures in a ratio of two or three probe molecules per particle and were photoactivated by irradiation at a wavelength above 340 nm.

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