Clupeomorphs are found in many assemblages of the northeastern Brazil, whose ages range from the Neocomian to Paleogene. Ten species were described. Among them †Scutatuspinosus itapagipensis, a torpedo-like fish found in shales of the Marfim Formation from Bahia, remains poorly known. At first it was positioned within †Scutatuspinosinae and indicated as closely related to †Diplomystus. Diagnose...

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is one of nature's fastest enzymes, despite the fact that its three-dimensional structure reveals its active site to be deeply sequestered within the molecule. This raises questions with respect to traffic of substrate to, and products from, the active site, which may be investigated by time-resolved crystallography. In order to address one aspect of the feasibility ...

We recorded single channel currents activated by agonist binding to purified acetylcholine receptors from the electric organ of Torpedo californica reconstituted in planar lipid bilayers. Analysis of single channel records indicate that the acetylcholine receptor channel displays two kinetically distinct open states which differ in their mean open times but have similar channel conductances. Th...

In the scope of the COMPASS experiment a multi-purpose, high rate capable TDC with digitisation width of 60 ps has been developed. The integration into the readout system and the flexible input of the CATCH readout driver is presented.

Buried water molecules and the water molecules in the active-site gorge are analyzed for five crystal structures of acetylcholinesterase from Torpedo californica in the resolution range 2.2-2.5 A (native enzyme, and four inhibitor complexes). A total of 45 buried hydration sites are identified, which are populated with between 36 and 41 water molecules. About half of the buried water is located...