928 research outputs found
Structural, mechanistic and functional insight into gliotoxin bis-thiomethylation in Aspergillus fumigatus.
Gliotoxin is an epipolythiodioxopiperazine (ETP) class toxin, contains a disulfide bridge that mediates its toxic effects via redox cycling and is produced by the opportunistic fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus Self-resistance against gliotoxin is effected by the gliotoxin oxidase GliT, and attenuation of gliotoxin biosynthesis is catalysed by gliotoxin S-methyltransferase GtmA. Here we describe the X-ray crystal structures of GtmA-apo (1.66 Å), GtmA complexed to S-adenosylhomocysteine (1.33 Å) and GtmA complexed to S-adenosylmethionine (2.28 Å), providing mechanistic insights into this important biotransformation. We further reveal that simultaneous elimination of the ability of A. fumigatus to dissipate highly reactive dithiol gliotoxin, via deletion of GliT and GtmA, results in the most significant hypersensitivity to exogenous gliotoxin observed to date. Indeed, quantitative proteomic analysis of ΔgliT::ΔgtmA reveals an uncontrolled over-activation of the gli-cluster upon gliotoxin exposure. The data presented herein reveal, for the first time, the extreme risk associated with intracellular dithiol gliotoxin biosynthesis-in the absence of an efficient dismutation capacity. Significantly, a previously concealed protective role for GtmA and functionality of ETP bis-thiomethylation as an ancestral protection strategy against dithiol compounds is now evident
Major components of atmospheric organic aerosol in southern California as determined by hourly measurements of source marker compounds
We report the first hourly in-situ measurements of speciated organic aerosol
(OA) composition in an urban environment. Field measurements were made in
southern California at the University of California–Riverside during the
2005 Study of Organic Aerosol at Riverside (SOAR), which included two
separate measurement periods: a summer study (15 July–15 August) and a
fall study (31 October–28 November). Hourly measurements of over 300
semivolatile and nonvolatile organic compounds were made using the thermal
desorption aerosol gas chromatograph (TAG). Positive matrix factorization
(PMF) was performed on a subset of these compounds to identify major
components contributing to submicron (i.e., PM<sub>1</sub>) OA at the site, as
measured by an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS). PMF analysis was performed
on an 11-day focus period in each season, representing average seasonal
conditions during the summer and a period of urban influence during the
fall. As a result of this analysis, we identify multiple types of primary
and secondary OA (POA and SOA). Secondary sources contribute substantially
to fine OA mass at Riverside, which commonly receives regional air masses
that pass through metropolitan Los Angeles during the summer. Four
individual summertime SOA components are defined, and when combined, they
are estimated to contribute an average 88% of the total fine OA mass
during summer afternoons according to PMF results. These sources appear to
be mostly from the oxidation of anthropogenic precursor gases, with one SOA
component having contributions from oxygenated biogenics. During the fall,
three out of four aerosol components that contain SOA are inseparable from
covarying primary emissions, and therefore we cannot estimate the fraction
of total OA that is secondary in nature during the fall study. Identified
primary OA components are attributed to vehicle emissions, food cooking,
primary biogenics, and biomass burning aerosol. While a distinction between
local and regional vehicle emissions is made, a combination of these two
factors accounted for approximately 11% of observed submicron OA during
both sampling periods. Food cooking operations contributed ~10% of
submicron OA mass during the summer, but was not separable from SOA during
the fall due to high covariance of sources. Biomass burning aerosol
contributed a larger fraction of fine OA mass during the fall (~11%) than compared to summer (~7%). Primary biogenic aerosol
was also identified during the summer, contributing ~1% of the OA,
but not during the fall. While the contribution of both local and regional
primary vehicle OA accounts for only ~11% of total OA during both
seasons, gas-phase vehicle emissions likely create a substantial fraction of
the observed SOA as a result of atmospheric processing
Origins and composition of fine atmospheric carbonaceous aerosol in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California
In this paper we report chemically resolved measurements
of organic aerosol (OA) and related tracers during the Biosphere Effects on Aerosols and Photochemistry Experiment (BEARPEX) at the Blodgett Forest Research Station, California from 15 August–10 October 2007. OA contributed the majority of the mass to the fine atmospheric particles and was predominately oxygenated (OOA). The highest concentrations of OA were during sporadic wildfire influence when aged plumes were impacting the site. In
situ measurements of particle phase molecular markers were dominated by secondary compounds and along with gas phase compounds could be categorized into six factors or sources: (1) aged biomass burning emissions and oxidized urban emissions, (2) oxidized urban emissions (3) oxidation products of monoterpene emissions, (4) monoterpene emissions, (5) anthropogenic emissions and (6) local
methyl chavicol emissions and oxidation products. There were multiple biogenic components that contributed to OA at this site whose contributions varied diurnally, seasonally and in response to changing meteorological conditions, e.g. temperature and precipitation events. Concentrations of isoprene oxidation products were larger when temperatures were higher during the first half of the campaign (15 August–12 September) due to more substantial emissions of isoprene and enhanced photochemistry. The oxidation of methyl chavicol, an oxygenated terpene emitted by
ponderosa pine trees, contributed similarly to OA throughout the campaign. In contrast, the abundances of monoterpene oxidation products in the particle phase were greater during the cooler conditions in the latter half of the campaign (13 September–10 October), even though emissions of the precursors were lower, although the mechanism is not known. OA was correlated with the anthropogenic tracers 2-propyl nitrate and carbon monoxide (CO), consistent with previous observations, while being comprised of mostly non-fossil carbon (>75%). The correlation between OA and an anthropogenic tracer does not necessarily identify the source of the carbon as being anthropogenic but instead suggests a coupling between the anthropogenic and biogenic components in the air mass that might be related to the source of the oxidant and/or the aerosol sulfate. Observations of organosulfates of isoprene and α-pinene provided evidence for the likely importance of aerosol sulfate in spite of neutralized aerosol although acidic plumes might have played a role upwind of the site. This is in contrast to laboratory studies where strongly acidic seed aerosols were needed in order to form these compounds. These compounds together represented only a minor fraction (<1%) of the total OA mass, which may be the result of the neutralized aerosol at the site or because only a small number of organosulfates were quantified. The low contribution of organosulfates to total OA suggests that other mechanisms, e.g. NO_x enhancement of oxidant levels, are likely responsible for the majority of the anthropogenic enhancement of biogenic secondary organic aerosol observed at this site
Recommended from our members
Correction: Contribution of the Cpx envelope stress system to metabolism and virulence regulation in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211584.]
Azimuthal dependence of pion source radii in Pb+Au collisions at 158 A GeV
We present results of a two-pion correlation analysis performed with the
Au+Pb collision data collected by the upgraded CERES experiment in the fall of
2000. The analysis was done in bins of the reaction centrality and the pion
azimuthal emission angle with respect to the reaction plane. The pion source,
deduced from the data, is slightly elongated in the direction perpendicular to
the reaction plane, similarly as was observed at the AGS and at RHIC.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Elliptic flow of charged pions, protons and strange particles emitted in Pb+Au collisions at top SPS energy
Differential elliptic flow spectra v2(pT) of \pi-, K0short, p, \Lambda have
been measured at \sqrt(s NN)= 17.3 GeV around midrapidity by the
CERN-CERES/NA45 experiment in mid-central Pb+Au collisions (10% of
\sigma(geo)). The pT range extends from about 0.1 GeV/c (0.55 GeV/c for
\Lambda) to more than 2 GeV/c. Protons below 0.4 GeV/c are directly identified
by dE/dx. At higher pT, proton elliptic flow v2(pT) is derived as a
constituent, besides \pi+ and K+, of the elliptic flow of positive pion
candidates. The retrieval requires additional inputs: (i) of the particle
composition, and (ii) of v2(pT) of positive pions. For (i), particle ratios
obtained by NA49 were adapted to CERES conditions; for (ii), the measured
v2(pT) of negative pions is substituted, assuming \pi+ and \pi- elliptic flow
magnitudes to be sufficiently close. The v2(pT) spectra are compared to
ideal-hydrodynamics calculations. In synopsis of the series \pi- - K0short - p
- \Lambda, flow magnitudes are seen to fall with decreasing pT progressively
even below hydro calculations with early kinetic freeze-out (Tf= 160 MeV)
leaving not much time for hadronic evolution. The proton v2(pT) data show a
downward swing towards low pT with excursions into negative v2 values. The
pion-flow isospin asymmetry observed recently by STAR at RHIC, invalidating in
principle our working assumption, is found in its impact on proton flow
bracketed from above by the direct proton flow data, and not to alter any of
our conclusions. Results are discussed in perspective of recent viscous
dynamics studies which focus on late hadronic stages.Comment: 38 pages, 27 figures, 2 tables. Abstract and parts of introduction
made more comprehensible; corrected typos; acknowledgement added. To appear
in Nucl.Phys.
Leptonic and charged kaon decay modes of the meson measured in heavy-ion collisions at the CERN SPS
We report a measurement of meson production in central Pb+Au
collisions at E/A=158 GeV. For the first time in heavy-ion collisions,
mesons were reconstructed in the same experiment both in the KK
and the dilepton decay channel. Near mid-rapidity, this yields rapidity
densities, corrected for production at the same rapidity value, of 2.05 +-
0.14(stat) +- 0.25(syst) and 2.04 +- 0.49(stat)+-{0.32}(syst), respectively.
The shape of the measured transverse momentum spectra is also in close
agreement in both decay channels. The data rule out a possible enhancement of
the yield in the leptonic over the hadronic channel by a factor larger
than 1.6 at 95% CL.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures,submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Lambda production in 40 A GeV/c Pb-Au collisions
During the 1999 lead run, CERES has measured hadron and electron-pair
production at 40 A GeV/c beam momentum with the spectrometer upgraded by the
addition of a radial TPC. Here the analysis of lambda and antilambda will be
presented.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. 6th International Conference on Strange Quarks in
Matter, Frankfurt 200
Event-by-event fluctuations at SPS
Results on event-by-event fluctuations of the mean transverse momentum and
net charge in Pb-Au collisions, measured by the CERES Collaboration at
CERN-SPS, are presented. We discuss the centrality and beam energy dependence
and compare our data to cascade calculations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceedings to INPC2004 Goteborg, Swede
- …