Catalytically active peptide–gold nanoparticle conjugates: Prospecting for artificial enzymes

The self‐assembly of peptides onto the surface of gold nanoparticles has emerged as a promising strategy towards the creation of artificial enzymes. The resulting high local peptide density surrounding the nanoparticle leads to cooperative and synergistic effects, which result in rate accelerations and distinct catalytic properties compared to the unconjugated peptide. This Minireview summarizes contributions to and progress made in the field of catalytically active peptide–gold nanoparticle conjugates. The origin of distinct properties, as well as potential applications, are also discussed

Der Beitrag der österreichischen Biobauern zur Erhaltung der alten, seltenen Nutztierrassen

The Austrian gene conservation programme for rare breeds from 2001 to 2006 re-sulted in increasing numbers of participating farms as well as increasing numbers of animals. On the whole the programme was readily accepted and successfully realized by the farmers. The percentage of participating organic farms lies with 41% signifi-cantly above the average as only 10% of all farms are organic farms. Further the number of breeding animals in the gene conservation programme proves the en-gagement of the farmers. On organic farms 11,804 animals (44%) are in use against 15,126 animals (56%) on conventional farms in 2006. However with 6.4 animals/farm the average number of animals per organic farm is a little higher than on commercial farms (5.6 animals/farm). 9% of Austrian livestock against 44% of the rare breeds are kept on organic farms. From 2001 to 2006 there was an increase of rare breed ani-mals inorganic far ms from 28 to 44%

Coassembly Generates Peptide Hydrogel with Wound Dressing Material Properties

Multicomponent self-assembly of peptides is a powerful strategy to fabricate novel functional materials with synergetic properties that can be used for several nanobiotechnological applications. In the present study, we used a coassembly strategy to generate an injectable ultrashort bioactive peptide hydrogel formed by mixing a dipeptide hydrogelator with a macrophage attracting short chemotactic peptide ligand. Coassembly does not impede hydrogelation as shown by cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), scanning electron microscopy, and rheology. Biocompatibility was shown by cytotoxicity assays and confocal microscopy. The hydrogels release the entrapped skin antibiotic ciprofloxacin, among others, in a slow and continuous manner. Such bioinspired advanced functional materials can find applications as wound dressing materials to treat chronic wound conditions like diabetic foot ulcer

A Four-step Approach for Selecting a Genetically Diverse Group of Animals from Pedigree Data using the Example of Endangered Austrian Goat Breeds

A four-step approach using pedigree data to create genetically diverse groups of animals for genotyping from a limited pool of available samples was developed and applied to a data set comprising five endangered Austrian goat breeds. Animals were selected according to their raw gene contribution, number of offspring, average relatedness to the living population and relatedness to other selected animals. Not all criteria could be applied to the same degree to all breeds due to small number of available samples. Methods to cope with this circumstance are presented in the paper. Inbreeding coefficient was lower in the selection groups than in the total populations in all breeds. Genotype data derived from the selected animals will be used to analyse diversity parameters and compare with available data from other Alpine goat breeds

Aryl-Aryl Interactions in (aryl-perhalogenated) 1,2-Diaryldisilanes.

Mitzel NW, Linnemannstöns M, Schwabedissen J, Neumann B, Stammler H-G, Berger R. Aryl-Aryl Interactions in (aryl-perhalogenated) 1,2-Diaryldisilanes. Chemistry. 2020;26(10):2169-2173.Three 1,2-diaryltetramethyldisilanes X5C6-(SiMe2)2-C6X5 with two C6H5, C6F5 or C6Cl5 groups were studied concerning the im-por-tan-ce of London dispersion driven interactions between their aryl groups. They were prepared from 1,2-di-chlo-rotetra-methyl-disi-la-ne by salt elimination. Their structures were determi-ned in the solid state by X-ray diffraction and for free molecules by gas elec-tron-diffraction. The solid-state struc-tures of the fluori-nated and chlo-rinated derivatives are domi-na-ted by aryl-aryl inter-actions. Unex-pectedly, Cl5C6-(SiMe2)2-C6Cl5 exists exclusive-ly as eclipsed syn-conformer in the gas phase with strongly distor-ted Si-C6Cl5 units due to strong intramo-le-cular interactions. In contrast, F5C6-(SiMe2)2-C6F5 reveals wea-ker inter-actions. The contributions to the total interaction energy was analyzed by SAPT calculations. © 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

High prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies in two metropolitan emergency departments in Germany : a prospective screening analysis of 28,809 patients

Background and Aims: The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies in Germany has been estimated to be in the range of 0.4–0.63%. Screening for HCV is recommended in patients with elevated ALT levels or significant risk factors for HCV transmission only. However, 15–30% of patients report no risk factors and ALT levels can be normal in up to 20–30% of patients with chronic HCV infection. The aim of this study was to assess the HCV seroprevalence in patients visiting two tertiary care emergency departments in Berlin and Frankfurt, respectively. Methods: Between May 2008 and March 2010, a total of 28,809 consecutive patients were screened for the presence of anti-HCV antibodies. Anti-HCV positive sera were subsequently tested for HCV-RNA. Results: The overall HCV seroprevalence was 2.6% (95% CI: 2.4–2.8; 2.4% in Berlin and 3.5% in Frankfurt). HCV-RNA was detectable in 68% of anti-HCV positive cases. Thus, the prevalence of chronic HCV infection in the overall study population was 1.6% (95% CI 1.5–1.8). The most commonly reported risk factor was former/current injection drug use (IDU; 31.2%) and those with IDU as the main risk factor were significantly younger than patients without IDU (p<0.001) and the male-to-female ratio was 72% (121 vs. 46 patients; p<0.001). Finally, 18.8% of contacted HCV-RNA positive patients had not been diagnosed previously. Conclusions: The HCV seroprevalence was more than four times higher compared to current estimates and almost one fifth of contacted HCV-RNA positive patients had not been diagnosed previously

Deciphering the Fluorine Code—The Many Hats Fluorine Wears in a Protein Environment

Deciphering the fluorine code is how we describe not only the focus of this Account, but also the systematic approach to studying the impact of fluorine's incorporation on the properties of peptides and proteins used by our groups and others. The introduction of fluorine has been shown to impart favorable, but seldom predictable, properties to peptides and proteins, but up until about two decades ago the outcomes of fluorine modification of peptides and proteins were largely left to chance. Driven by the motivation to extend the application of the unique properties of the element fluorine from medicinal and agro chemistry to peptide and protein engineering we have established extensive research programs that enable the systematic investigation of effects that accompany the introduction of fluorine into this class of biopolymers. The introduction of fluorine into amino acids offers a universe of options for modifications with regard to number and position of fluorine substituents in the amino acid side chain. Moreover, it is important to emphasize that the consequences of incorporating the C-F bond into a biopolymer can be attributed to two distinct yet related phenomena: (i) the fluorine substituent can directly engage in intermolecular interactions with its environment and/or (ii) the other functional groups present in the molecule can be influenced by the electron withdrawing nature of this element (intramolecular) and in turn interact differently with their immediate environment (intermolecular). Based on our studies, we have shown that a change in number and/or position of as subtle as one single fluorine substituent has the power to considerably modify key properties of amino acids such as hydrophobicity, polarity, and secondary structure propensity. These properties are crucial factors in peptide and protein engineering, and thus, fluorinated amino acids can be applied to fine-tune properties such as protein folding, proteolytic stability, and protein-protein interactions provided we understand and become able to predict the outcome of a fluorine substitution in this context. With this Account, we attempt to analyze information we gained from our recent projects on how the nature of the fluorine atom and C-F bond influence four key properties of peptides and proteins: peptide folding, protein protein interactions, ribosomal translation, and protease stability. These results impressively show why the introduction of fluorine creates a new class of amino acids with a repertoire of functionalities that is unique to the world of proteins and in some cases orthogonal to the set of canonical and natural amino acids. Our concluding statements aim to offer a few conserved design principles that have emerged from systematic studies over the last two decades; in this way, we hope to advance the field of peptide and protein engineering based on the judicious introduction of fluorinated building blocks.DFG, 99919608, GRK 1582: Fluor als Schlüsselelement: Durch neue Synthesekonzepte zu Verbindungen mit einzigartigen Eigenschafte