Many neurodegenerative diseases are associated with the self-assembly of peptides and proteins into fibrillar aggregates. Soluble misfolded oligomers formed during aggregation process, or released by mature fibrils, play a relevant role in processes through their interactions neuronal membranes. However, determinants cytotoxicity these still unclear. Here we used liposomes toxic nontoxic same p...

We used a Couette cell placed within an NMR microscopy apparatus to examine molecular alignment in polydimethylsiloxane melts under shear. 1H dipolar interactions are used to examine main chain ordering while 2H NMR quadrupole splittings are measured in a deuterated oligomer probe, in each case selectively observing different alignment orientations with respect to the flow field. While the main...

Oligonucleotides containing a primary amino group at their 5'-termini have been prepared and further derivatised with amino specific probes. The sequence required is prepared using standard solid phase phosphoramidite techniques and an extra round of synthesis is then performed with N-monomethoxytrityl-0-methoxydiisopropylaminophosphinyl 3-aminopropan(1)ol. After cleavage from the resin, remova...

The lithiation of ferrocenylphosphane Fc-PH(2) (Fc = -C(5)H(4)FeC(5)H(5)) has been reinvestigated and both Fc-PHLi and Fc-PLi(2) have been identified by NMR-spectroscopy. The lithiated phosphanides have been converted to the corresponding mono and bis(silylated) species the latter of which gave synthetic access to an oligomer in which three ferrocene units are symmetrically connected by phospha...

The N-myc gene is transiently expressed during normal embryonic development and abnormally expressed in several tumors of neuroendocrine origin. Little is known of the function of the N-myc gene product in either normal or neoplastic tissue. We utilized synthetic antisense oligodeoxynucleotides to specifically inhibit N-myc gene expression in the neuroepithelioma cell line CHP100. These cells c...

A foldamer has been designed with a conformationally stiff backbone that is facially amphiphilic. The oligomer has excellent antimicrobial activity and was found to be 18 times more active toward bacterial cells than human red blood cells. The oligomer is built from arylamide bonds around a central 4,6-dicarboxy pyrimidine ring. The conformation was studied by X-ray crystallography and solution...

The transcriptional regulator TyrR is known to undergo a dimer-to-hexamer conformational change in response to aromatic amino acids, through which it controls gene expression. In this study, we identified N316D as the second-site suppressor of Escherichia coli TyrR(E274Q), a mutant protein deficient in hexamer formation. N316 variants exhibited altered in vivo regulatory properties, and the mos...

We demonstrate that the gap states at the interface of Ca and a phenylene vinylene oligomer thin film are responsible for the dramatic quenching of its photoluminescence (PL). Upon oxidation of the Ca layer, the midgap states are removed, and the PL intensity recovers. From the cumulative Ca deposition and oxidation study, a 30 Å Ca oxide layer between the oligomer and the Ca metal prevents PL ...

MOTIVATION We needed an efficient way to explore the binding reactions leading to protein complexes of known composition and structure. RESULTS A new program is described that allows the user to define a set of protein elements and to link these elements into an oligomeric 'ball-and-stick' assembly in a graphical interface. Once the structure of the oligomer has been defined, the program then...