Continual reproduction of self-assembling oligotriazole peptide nanomaterials.

Autocatalytic chemical reactions, whereby a molecule is able to catalyze its own formation from a set of precursors, mimic nature's ability to generate identical copies of relevant biomolecules, and are thought to have been crucial for the origin of life. While several molecular autocatalysts have been previously reported, coupling autocatalytic behavior to macromolecular self-assembly has been challenging. Here, we report a non-enzymatic and chemoselective methodology capable of autocatalytically producing triskelion peptides that self-associate into spherical bioinspired nanostructures. Serial transfer experiments demonstrate that oligotriazole autocatalysis successfully leads to continual self-assembly of three-dimensional nanospheres. Triskelion-based spherical architectures offer an opportunity to organize biomolecules and chemical reactions in unique, nanoscale compartments. The use of peptide-based autocatalysts that are capable of self-assembly represents a promising method for the development of self-synthesizing biomaterials, and may shed light on understanding life's chemical origins.Molecules that act as both autocatalysts and material precursors offer exciting prospects for self-synthesizing materials. Here, the authors design a triazole peptide that self-replicates and then self-assembles into nanostructures, coupling autocatalytic and assembly pathways to realize a reproducing supramolecular system

De novo vesicle formation and growth: an integrative approach to artificial cells.

The assembly of artificial cells provides a novel strategy to reconstruct life's functions and shed light on how life emerged on Earth and possibly elsewhere. A major challenge to the development of artificial cells is the establishment of simple methodologies to mimic native membrane generation. An ambitious strategy is the bottom-up approach, which aims to systematically control the assembly of highly ordered membrane architectures with defined functionality. This perspective will cover recent advances and the current state-of-the-art of minimal lipid architectures that can faithfully reconstruct the structure and function of living cells. Specifically, we will overview work related to the de novo formation and growth of biomimetic membranes. These studies give us a deeper understanding of the nature of living systems and bring new insights into the origin of cellular life

A minimal biochemical route towards de novo formation of synthetic phospholipid membranes.

All living cells consist of membrane compartments, which are mainly composed of phospholipids. Phospholipid synthesis is catalyzed by membrane-bound enzymes, which themselves require pre-existing membranes for function. Thus, the principle of membrane continuity creates a paradox when considering how the first biochemical membrane-synthesis machinery arose and has hampered efforts to develop simplified pathways for membrane generation in synthetic cells. Here, we develop a high-yielding strategy for de novo formation and growth of phospholipid membranes by repurposing a soluble enzyme FadD10 to form fatty acyl adenylates that react with amine-functionalized lysolipids to form phospholipids. Continuous supply of fresh precursors needed for lipid synthesis enables the growth of vesicles encapsulating FadD10. Using a minimal transcription/translation system, phospholipid vesicles are generated de novo in the presence of DNA encoding FadD10. Our findings suggest that alternate chemistries can produce and maintain synthetic phospholipid membranes and provides a strategy for generating membrane-based materials

CMOS-3D smart imager architectures for feature detection

This paper reports a multi-layered smart image sensor architecture for feature extraction based on detection of interest points. The architecture is conceived for 3-D integrated circuit technologies consisting of two layers (tiers) plus memory. The top tier includes sensing and processing circuitry aimed to perform Gaussian filtering and generate Gaussian pyramids in fully concurrent way. The circuitry in this tier operates in mixed-signal domain. It embeds in-pixel correlated double sampling, a switched-capacitor network for Gaussian pyramid generation, analog memories and a comparator for in-pixel analog-to-digital conversion. This tier can be further split into two for improved resolution; one containing the sensors and another containing a capacitor per sensor plus the mixed-signal processing circuitry. Regarding the bottom tier, it embeds digital circuitry entitled for the calculation of Harris, Hessian, and difference-of-Gaussian detectors. The overall system can hence be configured by the user to detect interest points by using the algorithm out of these three better suited to practical applications. The paper describes the different kind of algorithms featured and the circuitry employed at top and bottom tiers. The Gaussian pyramid is implemented with a switched-capacitor network in less than 50 μs, outperforming more conventional solutions.Xunta de Galicia 10PXIB206037PRMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación TEC2009-12686, IPT-2011-1625-430000Office of Naval Research N00014111031

In Situ Synthesis of Artificial Lipids

This review comes from a themed issue on Synthetic Biomolecules (2022); Edited by Neal K. Devaraj and Shinya TsukijiFinanciado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG[Abstract] Lipids constitute one of the most enigmatic family of biological molecules. Although the importance of lipids as basic units of compartmental structure and energy storage is well-acknowledged, deciphering the biosynthesis and precise roles of specific lipid species has been challenging. To better understand the structure and function of these biomolecules, there is a burgeoning interest in developing strategies to produce noncanonical lipids in a controlled manner. This review covers recent advances in the area of in situ generation of synthetic lipids. Specifically, we report several approaches that constitute a powerful toolbox for achieving noncanonical lipid synthesis. We describe how these methodologies enable the direct construction of synthetic lipids, helping to address fundamental questions related to the cell biology of lipid biosynthesis, trafficking, and signaling. We envision that highlighting the current advances in artificial lipid synthesis will pave the way for broader interest into this emerging class of biomimetic molecules.Roberto J. Brea acknowledges support from Xunta de Galicia through the “Atracción de talento investigador” programme (ED431H2020/19). Roberto J. Brea also thanks the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) for his Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC2020-030065-I). The authors acknowledge funding for open access charge from Universidade da Coruña/Consorcio Interuniversitario de Galicia (CISUG)Xunta de Galicia; ED431H2020/1

Sector-based Fresnel zone plate with extended depth of focus

A Sector-based Fresnel zone plate consists of a binary diffractive lens composed of a mosaic of sectors of Fresnel zone plates with different focal distances. When these focal distances are linearly distributed within the sectors, dual focus is obtained. Besides, we explore the possibility to generate an extended depth-of-focus lens by using a cubic distribution of the focal distances assigned to the sectors and optimizing the weight factors given to the terms of the cubic polynomial. Finally, numerical simulations based on the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld approach are carried out and experimental verifications by using a Spatial Light Modulator are performed, showing high agreement. The proposed kind of zone plate has potential applications in different research fields such as microscopy, lithography, data storage, or imaging

Alternative translation initiation augments the human mitochondrial proteome

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License.-- et al.Alternative translation initiation (ATI) is a mechanism of producing multiple proteins from a single transcript, which in some cases regulates trafficking of proteins to different cellular compartments, including mitochondria. Application of a genome-wide computational screen predicts a cryptic mitochondrial targeting signal for 126 proteins in mouse and man that is revealed when an AUG codon located downstream from the canonical initiator methionine codon is used as a translation start site, which we term downstream ATI (dATI). Experimental evidence in support of dATI is provided by immunoblotting of endogenous truncated proteins enriched in mitochondrial cell fractions or of co-localization with mitochondria using immunocytochemistry. More detailed cellular localization studies establish mitochondrial targeting of a member of the cytosolic poly(A) binding protein family, PABPC5, and of the RNA/DNA helicase PIF1α. The mitochondrial isoform of PABPC5 co-immunoprecipitates with the mitochondrial poly(A) polymerase, and is markedly reduced in abundance when mitochondrial DNA and RNA are depleted, suggesting it plays a role in RNA metabolism in the organelle. Like PABPC5 and PIF1α, most of the candidates identified by the screen are not currently annotated as mitochondrial proteins, and so dATI expands the human mitochondrial proteome.Cambridge University Commonwealth Trust, Fellowship (to L.K.); UK Medical Research Council. Funding for open access charge: UK Medical Research Council.Peer reviewe

Under the influence of genetics: how transdisciplinarity leads us to rethink social pathways to illness

This article describes both sociological and genetic theories of illness causation and derives propositions expected under each and under a transdisciplinary theoretical frame. The authors draw propositions from three theories -- fundamental causes, social stress processes, and social safety net theories -- and tailor hypotheses to the case of alcohol dependence. Analyses of a later wave of the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism reveal a complex interplay of the GABRA2 gene with social structural factors to produce cases meeting DSM/ICD diagnoses. Only modest evidence suggests that genetic influence works through social conditions and experiences. Further, women are largely unaffected in their risk for alcohol dependence by allele status at this candidate gene; family support attenuates genetic influence; and childhood deprivation exacerbates genetic predispositions. These findings highlight the essential intradisciplinary tension in the role of proximal and distal influences in social processes and point to the promise of focusing directly on dynamic, networked sequences that produce different pathways to health and illness

Chapter 2. The Baix Llobregat (BALL) Demographic Database, between Historical Demography and Computer Vision (nineteenth–twentieth centuries)

The main aims with this book are to compare source materials, databases and research results, as well as creating new opportunities for collaboration in the field of social and population history in the East and the West. All the contributions are based on nominative source material, mainly censuses and vital records, which have been preserved, scanned, transcribed into databases in order to be used for cross-sectional and longitudinal research. The chapters in the first part of this book mostly focus on the construction of nominative databases in Germany, Spain and Romania. The chapters in the second and third part are case studies on the relationship between marriage and fertility; mortality and fertility; marriage behavior and religion; urban mortality; migration, etc. made on the Russian, Austrian, Estonian, Hungarian and Norwegian databases

Contenção farmacológica de jacares com Triiodoetilato de Galamina.

Para atender aos trabalhos que exigem a manipulação de jacares, como obtenção de dados biometricos, coleta de amostra de conteudo estomacal,procurou-se verificar o efeito do triiodoetilato de galamina(flaxedil) como agente contensor, para a espécie caima crocodilus yacare