Structural basis for the mechanism of ABC transporters.

The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are primary transporters that couple the energy stored in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to the movement of molecules across the membrane. ABC transporters can be divided into exporters and importers; importers mediate the uptake of essential nutrients into cells and are found predominantly in prokaryotes whereas exporters transport molecules out of cells or into organelles and are found in all organisms. ABC exporters have been linked with multi-drug resistance in both bacterial and eukaryotic cells. ABC transporters are powered by the hydrolysis of ATP and transport their substrate via the alternating access mechanism, whereby the protein alternates between a conformation in which the substrate-binding site is accessible from the outside of the membrane, outward-facing and one in which it is inward-facing. In this mini-review, the structures of different ABC transporter types in different conformations are presented within the context of the alternating access mechanism and how they have shaped our current understanding of the mechanism of ABC transporters.</jats:p

Dicionario dos apelidos galegos

Póster presentado no congreso Gallaecia – III Congresso Internacional de Linguística Histórica. Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 27-30 xullo 201

Crystallization and initial X-ray diffraction analysis of the tellurite-resistance S-adenosyl-l-methionine transferase protein TehB from Escherichia coli

TehB is an S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) dependent methyltransferase that detoxifies tellurite in bacteria. The Escherichia coli TehB protein was purified and crystallized in the presence of both SAM and sinefungin. The TehB-SAM and TehB-sinefungin crystals both diffracted X-rays to 1.9 Å resolution. The TehB-SAM crystals belonged to space group C2, with unit-cell parameters a = 60.0, b = 56.1, c = 130.6 Å, β = 97.9°. The TehB-sinefungin crystals belonged to space group P21, with unit-cell parameters a = 59.1, b = 55.5, c = 129.7 Å, β = 95.9°

Developmental temperature has persistent, sexually dimorphic effects on zebrafish cardiac anatomy

Over the next century, climate change of anthropogenic origin is a major threat to global biodiversity. We show here that developmental temperature can have significant effects on zebrafish cardiac anatomy and swimming performance. Zebrafish embryos were subjected to three developmental temperature treatments (T-D = 24, 28 or 32 degrees C) up to metamorphosis and then all maintained under common conditions (28 degrees C) to adulthood. We found that developmental temperature affected cardiac anatomy of juveniles and adults even eight months after the different thermal treatments had been applied. The elevation of T-D induced a significant increase of the ventricle roundness in juvenile (10% increase) and male (22% increase), but not in female zebrafish. The aerobic exercise performance of adult zebrafish was significantly decreased as T-D elevated from 24 to 32 degrees C. Gene expression analysis that was performed at the end of the temperature treatments revealed significant up-regulation of nppa, myh7 and mybpc3 genes at the colder temperature. Our work provides the first evidence for a direct link between developmental temperature and cardiac form at later life-stages. Our results also add to the emerging rationale for understanding the potential effects of global warming on how fish will perform in their natural environment

Effects of glycerol and creatine hyperhydration on doping-relevant blood parameters

Glycerol is prohibited as an ergogenic aid by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) due to the potential for its plasma expansion properties to have masking effects. However, the scientific basis of the inclusion of Gly as a “masking agent” remains inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a hyperhydrating supplement containing Gly on doping-relevant blood parameters. Nine trained males ingested a hyperhydrating mixture twice per day for 7 days containing 1.0 g•kg&lt;sup&gt;−1&lt;/sup&gt; body mass (BM) of Gly, 10.0 g of creatine and 75.0 g of glucose. Blood samples were collected and total hemoglobin (Hb) mass determined using the optimized carbon monoxide (CO) rebreathing method pre- and post-supplementation. BM and total body water (TBW) increased significantly following supplementation by 1.1 ± 1.2 and 1.0 ± 1.2 L (BM, P &lt; 0.01; TBW, P &lt; 0.01), respectively. This hyperhydration did not significantly alter plasma volume or any of the doping-relevant blood parameters (e.g., hematocrit, Hb, reticulocytes and total Hb-mass) even when Gly was clearly detectable in urine samples. In conclusion, this study shows that supplementation with hyperhydrating solution containing Gly for 7 days does not significantly alter doping-relevant blood parameters

Structure determination of an integral membrane protein at room temperature from crystals in situ

The structure determination of an integral membrane protein using synchrotron X-ray diffraction data collected at room temperature directly in vapour-diffusion crystallization plates (in situ) is demonstrated. Exposing the crystals in situ eliminates manual sample handling and, since it is performed at room temperature, removes the complication of cryoprotection and potential structural anomalies induced by sample cryocooling. Essential to the method is the ability to limit radiation damage by recording a small amount of data per sample from many samples and subsequently assembling the resulting data sets using specialized software. The validity of this procedure is established by the structure determination of Haemophilus influenza TehA at 2.3 Å resolution. The method presented offers an effective protocol for the fast and efficient determination of membrane-protein structures at room temperature using third-generation synchrotron beamlines

Free Workshop Series July 20-22: Summer of Social Demographics

Librarians have created a three-session workshop series highlighting demographic data resources, subscription databases and data visualization tools

Time-of-use and time-of-export tariffs for home batteries: Effects on low voltage distribution networks

Time-of-use electricity tariffs are gradually being introduced around the world to expose consumers to the time-dependency of demand, however their effects on peak flows in distribution networks, particularly in areas with domestic energy storage, are little understood. This paper presents investigations into the impact of time-of-use and time-of-export tariffs in residential areas with various penetrations of battery storage, rooftop solar PV, and heat pumps. By simulating battery operation in response to high resolution household-level electrical and thermal demand data, it is found that home batteries operating to maximise cost savings in houses signed up to time-dependent tariffs cause little reduction in import and export peaks at the low voltage level, largely because domestic import and export peaks are spread out over time. When operating to maximise savings from the first three-tier time-of-use tariff introduced in the UK, batteries could even cause increases in peak demand at low voltage substations, if many batteries in the area commence charging at the start of the overnight off-peak price band. Home batteries operating according to time-dependent electricity tariffs significantly miss out on the potential peak shaving that could otherwise be achieved through dedicated peak shaving incentives schemes and smarter storage control strategies

Flipster: A New Way to Access Digital Magazines

University of Dayton students, faculty and staff can now access a variety of popular magazines digitally using the Libraries\u27 subscription to Flipster, a next-generation magazine service

Stream and Scream for Free on Kanopy

The University Libraries\u27 on-demand streaming service is crawling with vampires, zombies, suspense and supernatural surprises. Throw open the graveyard gates with your UD login and password, cozy up with a pumpkin spice latte and prepare for a scare