Knockdown of Type 3 Iodothyronine Deiodinase Severely Perturbs Both Embryonic and Early Larval Development in Zebrafish

Exposure to appropriate levels of thyroid hormones (THs) at the right time is of key importance for normal development in all vertebrates. Type 3 iodothyronine deiodinase (D3) is the prime TH-inactivating enzyme, and its expression is highest in the early stages of vertebrate development, implying that it may be necessary to shield developing tissues from overexposure to THs. We used antisense morpholino knockdown to examine the role of D3 during early development in zebrafish. Zebrafish possess 2 D3 genes, dio3a and dio3b. Here, we show that both genes are expressed during development and both contribute to in vivo D3 activity. However, dio3b mRNA levels inembryosare higher, and the effects of dio3b knockdown on D3 activity and on the resulting phenotype are more severe. D3 knockdown induced an overall delay in development, as determined by measurements of otic vesicle length, eye and ear size, and body length. The time of hatching was also severely delayed in D3-knockdown embryos. Importantly, we also observed a severe disturbance of several aspects of development. Swim bladder development and inflation was aberrant as was the development of liver and intestine. Furthermore, D3-knockdown larvae spent significantly less time moving, and both embryos and larvae exhibited perturbed escape responses, suggesting that D3 knockdown affects muscle development and/or functioning. These data indicate that D3 is essential for normal zebrafish embryonic and early larval development and show the value of morpholino knockdown in this model to further elucidate the specific role of D3 in some aspects of vertebrate development

Organometallic complexes for nonlinear optics. Part 27. Syntheses and optical properties of some iron, ruthenium and osmium alkynyl complexes

The syntheses of the alkynyl complexes M(4-C≡CC6H4NO2)(dppe)(η-C 5H5) [M=Fe (1), Ru (2), Os (3)], Os(4-C≡CC6H4NO2)(PPh3) 2(η-C5H5) (4) and Ru(4-C≡CC6H4NO2)(CO)2 (η-C5H5) (5) are reported. Structural studies reveal a decrease in Ru-C(1) distance on proceeding from 5 to 2, consistent with greater back-donation of electron density to the alkynyl ligand from the more electron-rich metal center in 2. Electrochemical data show that the MII/III couple for the dicarbonyl complex 5 is at a significantly more positive potential than that of the related diphosphine complex 2, consistent with ligand variation modifying the electron richness and hence donor strength of the metal center. Time-dependent density functional calculations on model complexes M(4-C≡CC6H4NO2)(PH3) 2(η-C5H5) (M=Fe, Ru, Os) have been employed to assign the intense low-energy optical transition in these complexes as MLCT in character, the higher energy band being phenyl-phenyl* in nature. Molecular quadratic optical nonlinearities have been measured using the hyper-Rayleigh scattering procedure at 1064 nm. β values vary as Fe≤Ru≤Os for metal variation and CO<phosphines for co-ligand variation, the latter consistent with the variation in donor strength of the metal center inferred from electrochemical and crystallographic data. The observed trend in β on metal variation follows the trend in backbonding energies calculated by DFT. © 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Electrochemical, spectroelectrochemical, and molecular quadratic and cubic nonlinear optical properties of alkynylruthenium dendrimers

A combination of cyclic voltammetry (CV), UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy and spectroelectrochemistry, hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS) [including depolarization studies], Z-scan and degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) [including studies employing an optically transparent thin-layer electrochemical (OTTLE) cell to effect electrochemical switching of nonlinearity], pump-probe, and electroabsorption (EA) measurements have been used to comprehensively investigate the electronic, linear optical, and nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of nanoscopic π-delocalizable electron-rich alkynylruthenium dendrimers, their precursor dendrons, and their linear analogues. CV, UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy, and UV-vis-NIR spectroelectrochemistry reveal that the reversible metal-centered oxidation processes in these complexes are accompanied by strong linear optical changes, "switching on" low-energy absorption bands, the frequency of which is tunable by ligand replacement. HRS studies at 1064 nm employing nanosecond pulses reveal large nonlinearities for these formally octupolar dendrimers; depolarization measurements are consistent with lack of coplanarity upon π-framework extension through the metal. EA studies at 350-800 nm in a poly(methyl methacrylate) matrix are consistent with the important transitions having a charge-transfer exciton character that increases markedly on introduction of peripheral polarizing substituent. Time-resolved pump-probe studies employing 55 ps, 527 nm pulses reveal absorption saturation, the longest excited-state lifetime being observed for the dendrimer. Z-scan studies at 800 nm employing femtosecond pulses reveal strong two-photon absorption that increases significantly on progression from linear complex to zero- and then first-generation dendrimer with no loss of optical transparency. Both refractive and absorptive nonlinearity for selected alkynylruthenium dendrimers have been reversibly "switched" by employing the Z-scan technique at 800 and 1180 nm and 100-150 fs pulses, together with a specially modified OTTLE cell, complementary femtosecond time-resolved DFWM and transient absorption studies at 800 nm suggesting that the NLO effects originate in picosecond time scale processes. © 2006 American Chemical Society

The Evolution of the Seine Basin Water Bodies Through Historical Maps

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Octarellin VI: using rosetta to design a putative artificial (beta/alpha)8 protein.

The computational protein design protocol Rosetta has been applied successfully to a wide variety of protein engineering problems. Here the aim was to test its ability to design de novo a protein adopting the TIM-barrel fold, whose formation requires about twice as many residues as in the largest proteins successfully designed de novo to date. The designed protein, Octarellin VI, contains 216 residues. Its amino acid composition is similar to that of natural TIM-barrel proteins. When produced and purified, it showed a far-UV circular dichroism spectrum characteristic of folded proteins, with alpha-helical and beta-sheet secondary structure. Its stable tertiary structure was confirmed by both tryptophan fluorescence and circular dichroism in the near UV. It proved heat stable up to 70 degrees C. Dynamic light scattering experiments revealed a unique population of particles averaging 4 nm in diameter, in good agreement with our model. Although these data suggest the successful creation of an artificial alpha/beta protein of more than 200 amino acids, Octarellin VI shows an apparent noncooperative chemical unfolding and low solubility