28 research outputs found
Structure of the Fundamental Lipopeptide Surfactin at the Air/Water Interface Investigated by Sum Frequency Generation Spectroscopy
The
lipopeptide surfactin produced by certain strains of <i>Bacillus
subtilis</i> is a powerful biosurfactant possessing
potentially useful antimicrobial properties. In order to better understand
its surface behavior, we have used surface sensitive sum frequency
generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy in the Cî—¸H and Cî—»O
stretching regions to determine its structure at the air/water interface.
Using surfactin with the leucine groups of the peptide ring perdeuterated,
we have shown that a majority of the SFG signals arise from the 4
leucine residues. We find that surfactin forms a robust film, and
that its structure is not affected by the number density at the interface
or by pH variation of the subphase. The spectra show that the ring
of the molecule lies in the plane of the surface rather than perpendicular
to it, with the tail lying above this, also in the plane of the interface
Mediterranean climate variability during the Holocene
We present a study on four high sedimentation-rate marine cores with suppressed bioturbation effects, recovered along the northern margin of the eastern Mediterranean. We demonstrate that this region, central to the development of modern civilisation, was substantially affected throughout the Holocene by a distinct cycle of cooling events on the order of 2o C. In the best-preserved cases the onset of these events appears particularly abrupt, within less than a century. The cooling events typically lasted several centuries, and there are compelling indications that they were associated with increased aridity in the Levantine/NE African sector (Rossignol-Strick, 1995; 1998; Alley et al., 1997; Hassan, 1986; 1996; 1997a,b; McKim Malville et al., 1998). Several of these episodes appear coincident with cultural reorganisations, with indigenous developments (eg. cattle domestication, new technologies) and population migrations and fusion of peoples and ideas (Hassan, 1986; 1996; 1997a,b; McKim Malville, 1998). We infer that climatic events of a likely high-latitude origin (O’Brien et al., 1995; Bond et al., 1997; Mayewski et al., 1997; Alley et al., 1997) caused cooling and aridity in and around the eastern Mediterranean via a direct atmospheric link, and therefore played an important role in the development of modern civilisation