Hydrogel-based transparent soils for root phenotyping in vivo.

Root phenotypes are increasingly explored as predictors of crop performance but are still challenging to characterize. Media that mimic field conditions (e.g.

Active Site Breathing of Human Alkbh5 Revealed by Solution NMR and Accelerated Molecular Dynamics.

AlkB homolog 5 (Alkbh5) is one of nine members of the AlkB family, which are nonheme Fe/α-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases that catalyze the oxidative demethylation of modified nucleotides and amino acids. Alkbh5 is highly selective for the N-methyladenosine modification, an epigenetic mark that has spawned significant biological and pharmacological interest because of its involvement in important physiological processes, such as carcinogenesis and stem cell differentiation. Herein, we investigate the structure and dynamics of human Alkbh5 in solution.

Porcine signal regulatory protein alpha binds to human CD47 to inhibit phagocytosis: Implications for human hematopoietic stem cell transplantation into severe combined immunodeficient pigs.

Background: Severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) pigs are an emerging animal model being developed for biomedical and regenerative medicine research. SCID pigs can successfully engraft human-induced pluripotent stem cells and cancer cell lines. The development of a humanized SCID pig through xenotransplantation of human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) would be a further demonstration of the value of such a large animal SCID model.

Sustainable scalable synthesis of sulfide nanocrystals at low cost with an ionic liquid sulfur precursor.

Increasing the sustainability of nanocrystals is crucial to their application and the protection of the environment. Sulfur precursors for their synthesis are commonly obtained through multiple steps from HS, only to be converted back to HS during the synthesis of the nanocrystals. This convoluted process requires energy, reduces yields, increases waste and auxiliaries, and complicates recycling.

Mechanistic Insight into Nanoparticle Surface Adsorption by Solution NMR Spectroscopy in an Aqueous Gel.

Engineering nanoparticle (NP) functions at the molecular level requires a detailed understanding of the dynamic processes occurring at the NP surface. Herein we show that a combination of dark-state exchange saturation transfer (DEST) and relaxation dispersion (RD) NMR experiments on gel-stabilized NP samples enables the accurate determination of the kinetics and thermodynamics of adsorption. We used the former approach to describe the interaction of cholic acid (CA) and phenol (PhOH) with ceria NPs with a diameter of approximately 200 nm.

Hybrid Approaches to Structural Characterization of Conformational Ensembles of Complex Macromolecular Systems Combining NMR Residual Dipolar Couplings and Solution X-ray Scattering.

Solving structures or structural ensembles of large macromolecular systems in solution poses a challenging problem. While NMR provides structural information at atomic resolution, increased spectral complexity, chemical shift overlap, and short transverse relaxation times (associated with slow tumbling) render application of the usual techniques that have been so successful for medium sized systems (<50 kDa) difficult. Solution X-ray scattering, on the other hand, is not limited by molecular weight but only provides low resolution structural information related to the overall shape and size of the system under investigation.