Thylakoid membranes, the universal structure where photosynthesis takes place in all oxygenic photosynthetic organisms from cyanobacteria to higher plants, have a unique lipid composition. They contain a high fraction of 2 uncharged glycolipids, the galactoglycerolipids mono- and digalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG and DGDG, respectively), and an anionic sulfolipid, sulfoquinovosediacylglycerol (S...

It is known that water molecules play an important role in the biological functioning of proteins. The members of the ribonuclease A (RNase A) family of proteins, which are sequentially and structurally similar, are known to carry out the obligatory function of cleaving RNA and individually perform other diverse biological functions. Our focus is on elucidating whether the sequence and structur...

The hydration structure of NaCl aqueous solution was elucidated in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the basis of canonical ensemble Monte Carlo simulations. Hydration shells were preferentially formed even in narrow CNTs to gain stabilization energy, whereas hydrogen bonding between water molecules in such CNTs was sacrificed. Nanoscale-confined aqueous electrolyte solutions therefore prioritize hydr...

We develop a phenomenological vector model of polar liquids capable to describe aqueous interactions of macroscopic bodies. It is shown that a strong, long-range and orientationally dependent interaction between macroscopic objects appears as a result of competition between short-range (hydrogen bonding) and the long-range dipole-dipole interactions of the solvent molecules. Spontaneous polariz...

Electrostatics of polar solvation is typically described by harmonic free energy functionals. Polarizability contributes a negative polarization term that can make the harmonic free energy negative. The harmonic truncation fails in this regime. Simulations of polarizable ideal dipoles in water show that water's susceptibility passes through a maximum in the range of polarizabilities zeroing the...

The crystal structure of [d(CGCAAATTTGCG)]2 has been determined to 1.5 A resolution, representing the first high-resolution structure of this DNA fragment. The ion interactions are novel. A spermine molecule replaces a Mg2+ observed in analogous structures. Unlike lower-resolution structures, the minor groove is narrow and the major groove lacks extra Watson-Crick hydrogen bonds. In addition, a...

Three salts, namely 2-amino-4,6-dimethylpyrimidin-1-ium thiobarbiturate trihydrate (I), 2-amino-4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-1-ium thiobarbiturate dihydrate (II) and 2,4-diamino-5-(3',4',5'-trimethoxybenzyl)pyrimidin-1-ium thiobarbiturate (III), were synthesized and characterized by IR and X-ray diffraction techniques. The primary interaction between the acid and base happens via N-H...O hydrogen bon...

background: pancreatitis is a serious complication of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ercp) and may cause significant morbidity and even death. there is no effective prophylactic intervention for patients with average risk yet. this study aims to investigate preventive effect of aggressive hydration for post-ercp pancreatitis. materials and methods: in a double-blind controlled ...

The crystal structure of the title compound, [C(NH(2))(3)](6)[Mo(7)O(24)]·H(2)O, previously determined at room temperature in the monoclinic space group C2/c from Weissenberg techniques [Don & Weakley (1981 ▶). Acta Cryst. B37, 451-453], has been redetermined from low-temperature single-crystal data in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/c. The asymmetric unit contains one hepta-molybdate anion, s...

We have performed Molecular Dynamics simulations of ectoine, hydroxyectoine and urea in explicit solvent. Special attention has been spent on the local surrounding structure of water molecules. Our results indicate that ectoine and hydroxyectoine are able to accumulate more water molecules than urea by a pronounced ordering due to hydrogen bonds. We have validated that the charging of the molec...