Biochemical, biophysical, and structural studies of seed proteins from Moringa oleifera and implications for traditional water purification

Moringa oleifera is a tropical plant that belongs to the Moringaceae family and is native to northern India. Moringa oleifera is called The Miracle Tree because many of its parts have valuable applications. In particular, seed extracts from the plant have been used in traditional water treatment throughout Africa. The application of this extract to untreated water causes a 95% reduction of turbidity, and a decrease in particle and bacterial content. Numerous laboratories have demonstrated these effects but the precise nature and properties of the active components in the extract has been unclear. A purified fraction of cationic coagulant proteins from seed extract has been characterised at a molecular level using biochemical and biophysical methods including chromatography, mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry. These studies have allowed the identification of two main isoforms (Mo-CBP3-3 and Mo-CBP3-4) of the Moringa oleifera chitin binding protein Mo-CBP3, (a 2S albumin protein) present in this fraction of interest. The X-ray crystallographic structure of one isoform, Mo-CBP3-4, was determined to a resolution of 1.68 Å. This structure provides detailed information relating to this diverse family of albumins as well as insights for the observed flocculating properties of the protein. Neutron reflection studies of the structure and composition of interfacial layers at the solid/solution interface show that the crude seed extract behaves differently from the purified fraction. These results have been related to the anti-microbial, coagulation and flocculation properties of both the seed extract and the purified fraction and are placed in the context of water purification. Future directions could include the development of a recombinant expression system for large scale production of perdeuterated protein allowing contrast matching studies by neutron reflection and a neutron crystallographic structure to understand the nature of hydration interactions

Vibrational dynamics changes of protein hydration water across the dynamic transition

The vibrational dynamics of protein hydration water has been studied by incoherent neutron scattering. Experiments on a sample of fully deuterated maltose binding protein allowed us to single out the hydration water susceptibility. The main inelastic features, corresponding to hydrogen-bond bending, hydrogen-bond stretching and librational excitations, have been followed over a temperature range extending from 50 to 300 K. It turns out that the temperature dependence of the hydrogen-bond stretching contribution is quite similar to that of the mean square displacements deduced by the quasielastic signal, thus suggesting a close relationship between the anharmonicity of longitudinal phonon-like motions and the onset of diffusive molecular dynamics. On the other hand, both hydrogen-bond bending and librational excitations show a temperature dependence consistent with a harmonic character over the whole temperature range

Elongation rate and average length of amyloid fibrils in solution using isotope-labelled small-angle neutron scattering.

Funder: Boehringer Ingelheim FondsFunder: University of BathWe demonstrate a solution method that allows both elongation rate and average fibril length of assembling amyloid fibrils to be estimated. The approach involves acquisition of real-time neutron scattering data during the initial stages of seeded growth, using contrast matched buffer to make the seeds effectively invisible to neutrons. As deuterated monomers add on to the seeds, the labelled growing ends give rise to scattering patterns that we model as cylinders whose increase in length with time gives an elongation rate. In addition, the absolute intensity of the signal can be used to determine the number of growing ends per unit volume, which in turn provides an estimate of seed length. The number of ends did not change significantly during elongation, demonstrating that any spontaneous or secondary nucleation was not significant compared with growth on the ends of pre-existing fibrils, and in addition providing a method of internal validation for the technique. Our experiments on initial growth of alpha synuclein fibrils using 1.2 mg ml-1 seeds in 2.5 mg ml-1 deuterated monomer at room temperature gave an elongation rate of 6.3 ± 0.5 Å min-1, and an average seed length estimate of 4.2 ± 1.3 μm

Perdeuteration of cholesterol for neutron scattering applications using recombinant Pichia pastoris

Deuteration of biomolecules has a great impact on both quality and scope of neutron scattering experiments. Cholesterol is a major component of mammalian cells, where it plays a critical role in membrane permeability, rigidity and dynamics, and contributes to specific membrane structures such as lipid rafts. Cholesterol is the main cargo in low and high-density lipoprotein complexes (i.e. LDL, HDL) and is directly implicated in several pathogenic conditions such as coronary artery disease which leads to 17 million deaths annually. Neutron scattering studies on membranes or lipid-protein complexes exploiting contrast variation have been limited by the lack of availability of fully deuterated biomolecules and especially perdeuterated cholesterol. The availability of perdeuterated cholesterol provides a unique way of probing the structural and dynamical properties of the lipoprotein complexes that underly many of these disease conditions. Here we describe a procedure for in vivo production of perdeuterated recombinant cholesterol in lipid-engineered Pichia pastoris. Using flask and fed-batch fermenter cultures in deuterated minimal medium perdeuteration of the purified cholesterol was verified by mass spectrometry and its use in a neutron scattering study was demonstrated using neutron reflectometry

Patent Foramen Ovale Closure or Anticoagulation vs. Antiplatelets after Stroke

BACKGROUND Trials of patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure to prevent recurrent stroke have been inconclusive. We investigated whether patients with cryptogenic stroke and echocardiographic features representing risk of stroke would benefit from PFO closure or anticoagulation, as compared with antiplatelet therapy. METHODS In a multicenter, randomized, open-label trial, we assigned, in a 1:1:1 ratio, patients 16 to 60 years of age who had had a recent stroke attributed to PFO, with an associated atrial septal aneurysm or large interatrial shunt, to transcatheter PFO closure plus long-term antiplatelet therapy (PFO closure group), antiplatelet therapy alone (antiplatelet-only group), or oral anticoagulation (anticoagulation group) (randomization group 1). Patients with contraindications to anticoagulants or to PFO closure were randomly assigned to the alternative noncontraindicated treatment or to antiplatelet therapy (randomization groups 2 and 3). The primary outcome was occurrence of stroke. The comparison of PFO closure plus antiplatelet therapy with antiplatelet therapy alone was performed with combined data from randomization groups 1 and 2, and the comparison of oral anticoagulation with antiplatelet therapy alone was performed with combined data from randomization groups 1 and 3. RESULTS A total of 663 patients underwent randomization and were followed for a mean (+/- SD) of 5.3 +/- 2.0 years. In the analysis of randomization groups 1 and 2, no stroke occurred among the 238 patients in the PFO closure group, whereas stroke occurred in 14 of the 235 patients in the antiplatelet-only group (hazard ratio, 0.03; 95% confidence interval, 0 to 0.26; P<0.001). Procedural complications from PFO closure occurred in 14 patients (5.9%). The rate of atrial fibrillation was higher in the PFO closure group than in the antiplatelet-only group (4.6% vs. 0.9%, P = 0.02). The number of serious adverse events did not differ significantly between the treatment groups (P = 0.56). In the analysis of randomization groups 1 and 3, stroke occurred in 3 of 187 patients assigned to oral anticoagulants and in 7 of 174 patients assigned to antiplatelet therapy alone. CONCLUSIONS Among patients who had had a recent cryptogenic stroke attributed to PFO with an associated atrial septal aneurysm or large interatrial shunt, the rate of stroke recurrence was lower among those assigned to PFO closure combined with antiplatelet therapy than among those assigned to antiplatelet therapy alone. PFO closure was associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation

Impacts of model parameter uncertainties on crop reflectance estimates: a regional case study on wheat

International audienc

Conception de systèmes d’élevage, fonctionnement du troupeau et élaboration des performances : intégration de l’aléa climatique dans des choix d’organisation

National audienc

Assimilation de données de télédétection pour la mise à jour de modèles de culture

National audienc