Dynamic properties of isotropic DMPC/DHPC bicelles: Insights from solution NMR and MD simulations.

Bicelles, an artificial disk-shaped lipid bilayer, are commonly used for the structural and functional characterization of membrane-bound proteins in an environment similar to that in intracellular membranes. Because the dynamics of the lipids that constitute bicelles exert a significant impact on the structure and function of the inserted proteins, we investigated the mobility of lipid molecules in bicelles composed of DMPC (14:0 PC) and DHPC (06:0 PC) using solution NMR and MD calculations. C R relaxation experiments for the acyl groups demonstrated that increasing bicelle sizes limit the rotational diffusion of acyl chain H-C bonds in DMPC.

A dye-decolorizing peroxidase from Vibrio cholerae can demetallate heme.

Iron is an essential element for bacterial survival. Bacterial pathogens have therefore developed methods to obtain iron. Vibrio cholerae, the intestinal pathogen that causes cholera, utilizes heme as an iron source.

Near-infrared focused heating method for the rotational diamond anvil cell.

We developed a near-infrared focused heating system (IRrDAC) for deformation experiments using a rotational diamond anvil cell. This study reports the results of annealing tests on silver and antigorite conducted at SPring-8 (BL47XU) using the IRrDAC system. The experimental results demonstrated the melting of silver and the dehydration of antigorite, confirming the capability of this system.

Development of an in vitro human alveolar epithelial air-liquid interface model using a small molecule inhibitor cocktail.

Background: The alveolar epithelium is exposed to numerous stimuli, such as chemicals, viruses, and bacteria that cause a variety of pulmonary diseases through inhalation. Alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) cultured in vitro are a valuable tool for studying the impacts of these stimuli and developing therapies for associated diseases. However, maintaining the proliferative capacity of AECs in vitro is challenging.

Conformational Distribution of a Multidomain Protein Measured by Single-Pair Small-Angle X-ray Scattering.

The difficulty in evaluating the conformational distribution of proteins in solution often hinders mechanistic insights. One possible strategy for visualizing conformational distribution is distance distribution measurement by single-pair small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), in which the scattering interference from only a specific pair of atoms in the target molecule is extracted. Despite this promising concept, with few applications in synthetic small molecules and DNA, technical difficulties have prevented its application in protein conformational studies.