2,428 research outputs found
Studies on a-amylase inhibitors from seeds of sorghum bicolor
Six inhibitors (Slal, SIa2, SIa3, SIa4, SIa5 and SIa6) of a-amylase from mammalian, insect, bacterial and fungal sources were purified from seeds of Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench by saline extraction, precipitation with ammonium sulphate, affinity chromatography on Red Sepharose, preparative and analytical reverse phase HPLC on Vydac C(_18) columns. The complete primary structures of five of these inhibitors (Slal-5) were determined by automatic degradation of the intact, reduced and S-alkylated proteins and by manual DABITC/PITC microsequencing of peptides obtained from enzyme digests. The first three inhibitors consist of 47 (Slal) and 48 (SIa2, SIa3) amino acids with respective molecular weights of 5,396, 5,310. and 5384. These basic proteins (pi predictions above 8) were found to be highly homologous between themselves and with the recently isolated γ-hordothionin. γ(_1)-and γ(_2)-purothionins (Colilla et al., 1990; Mendez et al., 1990) and are, therefore, considered to be thionin-like inhibitors. Four disulphide bonds were identified and their positions determined in the sequence of Slal. It has been reported that the a-amylase inhibitory activity of thionins is due to competition for calcium ions which is the most important co-factor for this enzyme activity (Matsuura et al., 1984; Buisson et al., 1987). Calcium binding motifs have been located in the sequences of Slal, Sla2 and Sla3 and their structural significance has been investigated by molecular modelling.SIa4 and SIa5 which consist of 118 (MW 12,485) and 116 (MW 12,761) amino acids respectively are also basic polypeptides (pI predictions above 8). These proteins were found to be 35% homologous between themselves and showed significant homology (range 21-42%) with the members of the cereal superfamily. Hydrophobicity plots and secondary structure prediction results also revealed common features between these proteins and those of the cereal superfamily. Only a preliminary N-terminal sequence was obtained for Sla6 which was found to inhibit human salivary a-amylase and locust gut a-amylase
Dynamics of the symmetric eigenvalue problem with shift strategies
A common algorithm for the computation of eigenvalues of real symmetric
tridiagonal matrices is the iteration of certain special maps called
shifted steps. Such maps preserve spectrum and a natural common domain is
, the manifold of real symmetric tridiagonal matrices
conjugate to the diagonal matrix . More precisely, a (generic) shift
s \in \RR defines a map . A
strategy \sigma: {\cal T}_\Lambda \to \RR specifies the shift to be applied
at so that . Good shift strategies should
lead to fast deflation: some off-diagonal coordinate tends to zero, allowing
for reducing of the problem to submatrices. For topological reasons, continuous
shift strategies do not obtain fast deflation; many standard strategies are
indeed discontinuous. Practical implementation only gives rise systematically
to bottom deflation, convergence to zero of the lowest off-diagonal entry
. For most shift strategies, convergence to zero of is cubic,
for . The existence of arithmetic
progressions in the spectrum of sometimes implies instead quadratic
convergence, . The complete integrability of the Toda lattice and the
dynamics at non-smooth points are central to our discussion. The text does not
assume knowledge of numerical linear algebra.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures. This preprint borrows heavily from the
unpublished preprint arXiv:0912.3376 but is adapted for a different audienc
An atlas for tridiagonal isospectral manifolds
Let be the compact manifold of real symmetric tridiagonal
matrices conjugate to a given diagonal matrix with simple spectrum.
We introduce {\it bidiagonal coordinates}, charts defined on open dense domains
forming an explicit atlas for . In contrast to the standard
inverse variables, consisting of eigenvalues and norming constants, every
matrix in now lies in the interior of some chart domain. We
provide examples of the convenience of these new coordinates for the study of
asymptotics of isospectral dynamics, both for continuous and discrete time.Comment: Fixed typos; 16 pages, 3 figure
Probing protein sequences as sources for encrypted antimicrobial peptides
Starting from the premise that a wealth of potentially biologically active peptides may lurk within proteins, we describe here a methodology to identify putative antimicrobial peptides encrypted in protein sequences. Candidate peptides were identified using a new screening procedure based on physicochemical criteria to reveal matching peptides within protein databases. Fifteen such peptides, along with a range of natural antimicrobial peptides, were examined using DSC and CD to characterize their interaction with phospholipid membranes. Principal component analysis of DSC data shows that the investigated peptides group according to their effects on the main phase transition of phospholipid vesicles, and that these effects correlate both to antimicrobial activity and to the changes in peptide secondary structure. Consequently, we have been able to identify novel antimicrobial peptides from larger proteins not hitherto associated with such activity, mimicking endogenous and/or exogenous microorganism enzymatic processing of parent proteins to smaller bioactive molecules. A biotechnological application for this methodology is explored. Soybean (Glycine max) plants, transformed to include a putative antimicrobial protein fragment encoded in its own genome were tested for tolerance against Phakopsora pachyrhizi, the causative agent of the Asian soybean rust. This procedure may represent an inventive alternative to the transgenic technology, since the genetic material to be used belongs to the host organism and not to exogenous sources
Equivalent bosonic theory for the massive Thirring model with non-local interaction
We study, through path-integral methods, an extension of the massive Thirring
model in which the interaction between currents is non-local. By examining the
mass-expansion of the partition function we show that this non-local massive
Thirring model is equivalent to a certain non-local extension of the
sine-Gordon theory. Thus, we establish a non-local generalization of the famous
Coleman's equivalence. We also discuss some possible applications of this
result in the context of one-dimensional strongly correlated systems and
finite-size Quantum Field Theories.Comment: 15 pages, latex, no figure
Mapping the depleted area of silicon diodes using a micro-focused X-ray beam
For the Phase-II Upgrade of the ATLAS detector at CERN, the current ATLAS
Inner Detector will be replaced with the ATLAS Inner Tracker. The ATLAS Inner
Tracker will be an all-silicon detector, consisting of a pixel tracker and a
strip tracker. Sensors for the ITk strip tracker are required to have a low
leakage current up to bias voltages of -700 V to maintain a low noise and power
dissipation. In order to minimise sensor leakage currents, particularly in the
high-radiation environment inside the ATLAS detector, sensors are foreseen to
be operated at low temperatures and to be manufactured from wafers with a high
bulk resistivity of several k{\Omega} cm. Simulations showed the electric field
inside sensors with high bulk resistivity to extend towards the sensor edge,
which could lead to increased surface currents for narrow dicing edges. In
order to map the electric field inside biased silicon sensors with high bulk
resistivity, three diodes from ATLAS silicon strip sensor prototype wafers were
studied with a monochromatic, micro-focused X-ray beam at the Diamond Light
Source. For all devices under investigation, the electric field inside the
diode was mapped and its dependence on the applied bias voltage was studied.
The findings showed that the electric field in each diode under investigation
extended beyond its bias ring and reached the dicing edge
Reflexiones acerca de las cambiantes narrativas sobre las vacunas contra la COVID-19
Nos propusimos discernir en qué medida las estrategias
mediáticas adoptadas en torno a las vacunas contra la covid-19,
a lo largo de los primeros 15 meses desde el comienzo
de su aplicación, pueden considerarse aportes legítimos y
coherentes para comprender mejor su desempeño, y en qué
grado las narrativas elaboradas pudieran responder a intereses
económicos de las élites corporativas. Una vez recopilados
los elementos más relevantes con que se configuran las
narrativas predominantes desde el momento en que se
concibieron las vacunas, se identificaron diversas anomalías
que resultaron, en mayor o menor medida, invisibilizadas
en el proceso de su aprobación y de los resultados de su
aplicación. Las más significativas conciernen al manejo de
las definiciones, los incumplimientos de compromisos y los
conflictos de interés que comprometen la actuación de las
empresas comercializadoras y los entes reguladores de las
vacunas. Numerosos elementos relacionados con los intereses
corporativos han gravitado en la elaboración del relato sobre
las vacunas. Entre los que reclaman resignificación se hallan:
su capacidad preventiva real de contagios, evoluciones graves
y muertes, su eficacia ante nuevas variantes, la duración de
la inmunidad que confieren, sus efectos adversos, el papel
sinérgico de la inmunidad adquirida y los recursos empleados
por las empresas para conseguir un predominio virtualmente
monopólico en el mercado
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