A bacteriorhodopsin multisensor system for qualitative and quantitative monitoring of methanol, ethanol, propanol, and butanol under extreme conditions.

One of the most serious problems in waste biodegradation and biofuel production is the lack of adequate systems for monitoring reaction media. It has been demonstrated that the bacteriorhodopsin of is capable of generating photoelectric signals that can be modulated as a function of a chemical environment containing ethanol, methanol, propanol or butanol. The chemical modification of retinal (proton substitution with a fluorine atom at the 10, 12, or 14 position) and genetic modification of protein (aspartic acid 96 substituted with asparagine) may enhance the responses of bacteriorhodopsin systems.

Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) as a Spectroscopic Ruler for the Investigation of Protein Induced Lipid Membrane Curvature: Bacteriorhodopsin and Bacteriorhodopsin Analogs in Model Lipid Membranes.

Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is a light-driven proton pump existing in the purple membranes (PM) of . The effects associated with changes in proton distribution (proton gradient, membrane electric potential) play a key role in ATPase stimulation. However, how the bioenergetic modulus (bR-PM-ATPase) functions remains unclear.

Molecular Docking Reveals Binding Features of Estrogen Receptor Beta Selective Ligands.

Estrogen receptors exist as two subtypes ERα and ERβ, which are characterized by various distributions in human tissues and diverse transcription regulation. Ligands capable of selective ERβ activation show positive effects in treatment of such diseases as certain cancers, endometriosis, inflammatory diseases, and assist in maintaining cardiovascular and nervous system health. Thus far, there are no pharmaceutical drugs available acting on this target.

Variation of the cholesterol content in breast milk during 10 days collection at early stages of lactation.

More and more research is done concerning nutritional programming. Human milk nutrients which are consumed by infants can influence their health in later life. High level of cholesterol in human milk paradoxically lowers the cholesterol concentration in blood in adults.

Molecular dynamics simulations reveal fundamental role of water as factor determining affinity of binding of beta-blocker nebivolol to beta(2)-adrenergic receptor.

The beta-adrenergic antagonists (beta-blockers) constitute a class of drugs that have well-established roles in treatments of various cardiovascular diseases. Despite a 50 year history, there are two clinically important subtypes of beta-adrenergic receptors (betaARs) called beta(1)AR and beta(2)AR that still are promising drug targets. Our study maps the interactions between nebivolol-one of the most efficient beta-blocking agents-and the beta(2)-adrenergic receptor by simulating two optical isomers of nebivolol: ssss-nebivolol and srrr-nebivolol.

Visual and archaeal rhodopsins: similarities, differences and controversy.

Rhodopsins are currently known to belong to two distinct protein families. The visual rhodopsins, found in eyes throughout the animal kingdom, are photosensory pigments. Archaeal rhodopsins, found in extreme halophiles, function as light-driven proton pumps (bacteriorhodopsins), chloride ion pumps (halorhodopsins), or photosensory receptors (sensory rhodopsins).

Two processes lead to a stable all-trans and 13-cis isomer equilibrium in dark-adapted bacteriorhodopsin; effect of high pressure on bacteriorhodopsin, bacteriorhodopsin mutant D96N and fluoro-bacteriorhodopsin analogues.

The combination of absorption spectroscopy and extraction techniques was applied to study the effect of high pressure on the dark-adapted state of bacteriorhodopsin, 14-(12-,10-)fluoro-bacteriorhodopsin, a D96N bacteriorhodopsin mutant, and 14-(12-,10-)fluoro-D96N. Evidence is presented that, at high pressure, the isomers' equilibrium is shifted from all- trans isomers towards the 13-cis isomers. Two groups of values for calculated molar volume changes indicate that there are at least two different processes leading to a stable all-trans and 13-cis isomers' equilibrium called the dark-adapted bacteriorhodopsin.

Programmable chronopotentiometry as a tool for the study of electroporation and resealing of pores in bilayer lipid membranes.

This paper presents the application of chronopotentiometry in the study of membrane electroporation. Chronopotentiometry with a programmable current intensity was used. The experiments were performed on planar bilayer phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol membranes formed by the Mueller-Rudin method.