Mapping the role of aromatic amino acids within a blue-light sensing LOV domain.

Photosensing LOV (Light, Oxygen, Voltage) domains detect and respond to UVA/Blue (BL) light by forming a covalent adduct between the flavin chromophore and a nearby cysteine, via the decay of the flavin triplet excited state. LOV domains where the reactive cysteine has been mutated are valuable fluorescent tools for microscopy and as genetically encoded photosensitisers for reactive oxygen species. Besides being convenient tools for applications, LOV domains without the reactive cysteine (naturally occurring or engineered) can still be functionally photoactivated via formation of a neutral flavin radical.

In-Line Analysis of Organ-on-Chip Systems with Sensors: Integration, Fabrication, Challenges, and Potential.

Organ-on-chip systems are promising new research tools in medical, pharmaceutical, and biological research. Their main benefit, compared to standard cell culture platforms, lies in the improved resemblance of the cell culture environment. A critical aspect of these systems is the ability to monitor both the cell culture conditions and biological responses of the cultured cells, such as proliferation and differentiation rates, release of signaling molecules, and metabolic activity.

Ozonation products from trace organic chemicals in municipal wastewater and from metformin: peering through the keyhole with supercritical fluid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Ozonation is an important process to further reduce the trace organic chemicals (TrOCs) in treated municipal wastewater before discharge into surface waters, and is expected to form products that are more oxidized and more polar than their parent compounds. Many of these ozonation products (OPs) are biodegradable and thus removed by post-treatment (e.g.

Mechanism of mediated alkali peroxide oxidation and triplet versus singlet oxygen formation.

Aprotic alkali metal-O batteries face two major obstacles to their chemistry occurring efficiently, the insulating nature of the formed alkali superoxides/peroxides and parasitic reactions that are caused by the highly reactive singlet oxygen (O). Redox mediators are recognized to be key for improving rechargeability. However, it is unclear how they affect O formation, which hinders strategies for their improvement.

A light life together: photosensing in the plant microbiota.

Bacteria and fungi of the plant microbiota can be phytopathogens, parasites or symbionts that establish mutually advantageous relationships with plants. They are often rich in photoreceptors for UVA-Visible light, and in many cases, they exhibit light regulation of growth patterns, infectivity or virulence, reproductive traits, and production of pigments and of metabolites. In addition to the light-driven effects, often demonstrated via the generation of photoreceptor gene knock-outs, microbial photoreceptors can exert effects also in the dark.

Microfluidic-enabled magnetic labelling of nanovesicles for bioanalytical applications.

Bearing multiple functionalities dramatically increases nanomaterial capabilities to enhance analytical assays by improving sensitivity, selectivity, sample preparation, or signal read-out strategies. Magnetic properties are especially desirable for nanoparticles and nanovesicles as they assist in negating diffusion limitations and improving separation capabilities. Here, we propose a microfluidic method that reliably labels functional nanovesicles while avoiding the risk of crosslinking that would lead to large conglomerates as typically observed in bulk reactions.

Suitability of Biodegradable Materials in Comparison with Conventional Packaging Materials for the Storage of Fresh Pork Products over Extended Shelf-Life Periods.

The packaging of fresh meat has been studied for decades, leading to improved packaging types and conditions such as modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). While commonly used meat packaging uses fossil fuel-based materials, the use of biodegradable packaging materials for this application has not been studied widely. This study aimed at evaluating the sustainability of biodegradable packaging materials compared to established conventional packaging materials through analyses of the quality of freshly packaged pork.

Small and Bright Water-Protected Upconversion Nanoparticles with Long-Time Stability in Complex, Aqueous Media by Phospholipid Membrane Coating.

Chemical and colloidal stability in complex aqueous media are among the main challenges preventing nanoparticles from successfully entering into the biomedical field. Small core-shell upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) NaYF:Yb,Er@NaYF of 12 nm in diameter with a high surface-to-volume ratio are utilized to demonstrate that self-assembling phospholipid bilayers (PLMs) have several benefits compared to common ligand-exchange and ligand-addition particle coatings such as poly(acrylic acid) and amphiphilic polymers. An efficient hydrophobic barrier against water quenching and toward particle disintegration is formed by PLM.

Cell-specific expression of determines the outcome of serovar Typhimurium infection in mice.

Mutations in HFE cause hereditary hemochromatosis type I hallmarked by increased iron absorption, iron accumulation in hepatocytes and iron deficiency in myeloid cells. HFE encodes an MHC-I like molecule, but its function in immune responses to infection remains incompletely understood. Here, we investigated putative roles of Hfe in myeloid cells and hepatocytes, separately, upon infection with Salmonella Typhimurium, an intracellular bacterium with iron-dependent virulence.

Comparative toxicometabolomics of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and next-generation perfluoroalkyl substances.

Owing to environmental health concerns, a number of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been phased-out, and increasingly replaced by various chemical analogs. Most prominent among these replacements are numerous perfluoroether carboxylic acids (PFECA). Toxicity, and environmental health concerns associated with these next-generation PFAS, however, remains largely unstudied.

Unequal twins: Unraveling the reaction mechanism of dimeric histidine kinases.

Histidine kinases (HKs), together with their partner proteins, the response regulators (RRs), form the ubiquitous two-component systems that are global players in control and adjustment of microbial lifestyle. Although their basic function ( the transfer of a phosphate group from the HK to its RR partner) is simple to articulate, deciphering the molecular details of this process has proven anything but simple, especially when quantitative aspects come into play. Bouillet report a series of elegant and sophisticated experiments to quantitatively understand HK functions, clearing up several open questions and providing a new strategy for future work in the field.

The first molecular characterisation of blue- and red-light photoreceptors from Methylobacterium radiotolerans.

Methylobacteria are facultative methylotrophic phytosymbionts of great industrial and agronomical interest, and they are considered as opportunistic pathogens posing a health threat to humans. So far only a few reports mention photoreceptor coding sequences in Methylobacteria genomes, but no investigation at the molecular level has been performed yet. We here present comprehensive in silico research into potential photoreceptors in this bacterial phylum and report the photophysical and photochemical characterisation of two representatives of the most widespread photoreceptor classes, a blue-light sensing LOV (light, oxygen, voltage) protein and a red/far red light sensing BphP (biliverdin-binding bacterial phytochrome) from M.

Tongue Refolding in the Knotless Cyanobacterial Phytochrome All2699.

Phytochromes regulate central responses of plants and microorganisms such as shade avoidance and photosystem synthesis. Canonical phytochromes comprise a photosensory module of three domains. The C-terminal phytochrome-specific (PHY) domain interacts via a tongue element with the bilin chromophore in the central GAF (cGMP phosphodiesterase/adenylate cyclase/FhlA) domain.

Source-related smart suspect screening in the aqueous environment: search for tire-derived persistent and mobile trace organic contaminants in surface waters.

A variant of suspect screening by liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) is proposed in this study: Samples of a potential source of contamination and of an environmental sample close to this source are first analyzed in a non-targeted manner to select source-related suspects and to identify them. The suspect list compiled from such an exercise is then applied to LC-HRMS data of environmental samples to ascribe and to identify persistent and mobile contaminants in the water cycle that may originate from the source under study. This approach was applied to tire crumb rubber (source) and road dust (close to source); by comparison of the two data sets, 88% of the features detected in tire leachate could be excluded.

Cardiac iron concentration in relation to systemic iron status and disease severity in non-ischaemic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

Aims: Low cardiac iron levels promote heart failure in experimental models. While cardiac iron concentration (CI) is decreased in patients with advanced heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), CI has never been measured in non-advanced HFrEF. We measured CI in left ventricular (LV) endomyocardial biopsies (EMB) from patients with non-advanced HFrEF and explored CI association with systemic iron status and disease severity.

Collision cross sections obtained with ion mobility mass spectrometry as new descriptor to predict blood-brain barrier permeation by drugs.

Evaluating the ability of a drug to permeate the blood-brain barrier is not a trivial task due to the structural complexity of the central nervous system. Nevertheless, it is of immense importance to identify related properties of the drugs either to be able to produce a desired effect in the brain or to avoid unwanted side effects there. In the past, multiple methods have been used for that purpose.

Sated by a Zero-Calorie Sweetener: Wastewater Bacteria Can Feed on Acesulfame.

The widely used artificial sweetener acesulfame K has long been considered recalcitrant in biological wastewater treatment. Due to its persistence and mobility in the aquatic environment, acesulfame has been used as marker substance for wastewater input in surface water and groundwater. However, recent studies indicated that the potential to remove this xenobiotic compound is emerging in wastewater treatment plants worldwide, leading to decreasing mass loads in receiving waters despite unchanged human consumption patterns.