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Amyloid fibrils and amorphous aggregates are two types of aberrant aggregates associated with protein misfolding diseases. Although they differ in morphology, the two forms are often treated indiscriminately. β ₂-microglobulin (β2m), a protein responsible for dialysis-related amyloidosis, forms amyloid fibrils or amorphous aggregates depending on the NaCl concentration at pH 2.5. We compared the kinetics of their formation, which was monitored by measuring thioflavin T fluorescence, light scattering, and 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonate fluorescence. Thioflavin T fluorescence specifically monitors amyloid fibrillation, whereas light scattering and 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonate fluorescence monitor both amyloid fibrillation and amorphous aggregation. The amyloid fibrils formed via a nucleation-dependent mechanism in a supersaturated solution, analogous to crystallization. The lag phase of fibrillation was reduced upon agitation with stirring or ultrasonic irradiation, and disappeared by seeding with preformed fibrils. In contrast, the glass-like amorphous aggregates formed rapidly without a lag phase. Neither agitation nor seeding accelerated the amorphous aggregation. Thus, by monitoring the kinetics, we can distinguish between crystal-like amyloid fibrils and glass-like amorphous aggregates. Solubility and supersaturation will be key factors for further understanding the aberrant aggregation of proteins.

A procedure is presented for the substantial simplification of 2D constant-time 13C−1H heteronuclear single-quantum correlation (HSQC) spectra of 13C-enriched proteins. In this approach, a single pulse sequence simultaneously records eight sub-spectra wherein the phases of the NMR signals depend on spin topology. Signals from different chemical groups are then stratified into different sub-spectra through linear combination based on Hadamard encoding of 13CHn multiplicity (n = 1, 2, and 3) and the chemical nature of neighboring 13C nuclei (aliphatic, carbonyl/carboxyl, aromatic). This results in five sets of 2D NMR spectra containing mutually exclusive signals from: (i) 13Cβ−1Hβ correlations of asparagine and aspartic acid, 13Cγ−1Hγ correlations of glutamine and glutamic acid, and 13Cα−1Hα correlations of glycine, (ii) 13Cα−1Hα correlations of all residues but glycine, and (iii) 13Cβ−1Hβ correlations of phenylalanine, tyrosine, histidine, and tryptophan, and the remaining (iv) aliphatic 13CH2 and (v) aliphatic 13CH/13CH3 resonances. As HSQC is a common element of many NMR experiments, the spectral simplification proposed in this article can be straightforwardly implemented in experiments for resonance assignment and structure determination and should be of widespread utility.

Although many proteins possess a distinct folded structure lying at a minimum in a funneled free energy landscape, thermal energy causes any protein to continuously access lowly populated excited states. The existence of excited states is an integral part of biological function. Although transitions into the excited states may lead to protein misfolding and aggregation, little structural information is currently available for them. Here, we show how NMR spectroscopy, coupled with pressure perturbation, brings these elusive species to light. As pressure acts to favor states with lower partial molar volume, NMR follows the ensuing change in the equilibrium spectroscopically, with residue-specific resolution. For T4 lysozyme L99A, relaxation dispersion NMR was used to follow the increase in population of a previously identified “invisible” folded state with pressure, as this is driven by the reduction in cavity volume by the flipping-in of a surface aromatic group. Furthermore, multiple partly disordered excited states were detected at equilibrium using pressure-dependent H/D exchange NMR spectroscopy. Here, unfolding reduced partial molar volume by the removal of empty internal cavities and packing imperfections through subglobal and global unfolding. A close correspondence was found for the distinct pressure sensitivities of various parts of the protein and the amount of internal cavity volume that was lost in each unfolding event. The free energies and populations of excited states allowed us to determine the energetic penalty of empty internal protein cavities to be 36 cal·Å−3.

Because of the insolubility and polymeric properties of amyloid fibrils, techniques used conventionally to analyze protein structure and dynamics have often been hampered. Ultrasonication can induce the monomeric solution of amyloidogenic proteins to form amyloid fibrils. However, ultrasonication can break down preformed fibrils into shorter fibrils. Here, combining these 2 opposing effects on β₂-microglobulin (β2-m), a protein responsible for dialysis-related amyloidosis, we present that ultrasonication pulses are useful for preparing monodispersed amyloid fibrils of minimal size with an average molecular weight of [almost equal to]1,660,000 (140-mer). The production of minimal and monodispersed fibrils is achieved by the free energy minimum under competition between fibril production and breakdown. The small homogeneous fibrils will be of use for characterizing the structure and dynamics of amyloid fibrils, advancing molecular understanding of amyloidosis.

Deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) is the archetypal iminosugar, in which the configuration of the hydroxyl groups in the piperidine ring truly mimic those of d-glucopyranose; DNJ and derivatives have beneficial effects as therapeutic agents, such as anti-diabetic and antiviral agents, and pharmacological chaperones for genetic disorders, because they have been shown to inhibit α-glucosidases from various sources. However, attempts to design a better molecule based solely on structural similarity cannot produce selectivity between α-glucosidases that are localized in multiple organs and tissues, because the differences of each sugar-recognition site are very subtle. In this study, we provide the first example of a design strategy for selective lysosomal acid α-glucosidase (GAA) inhibitors focusing on the alkyl chain storage site. Our design of α-1-C-heptyl-1,4-dideoxy-1,4-imino-l-arabinitol (LAB) produced a potent inhibitor of the GAA, with an IC50 value of 0.44 µM. It displayed a remarkable selectivity toward GAA (selectivity index value of 168.2). A molecular dynamic simulation study revealed that the ligand-binding conformation stability gradually improved with increasing length of the α-1-C-alkyl chain. It is noteworthy that α-1-C-heptyl-LAB formed clearly different interactions from DNJ and had favored hydrophobic interactions with Trp481, Phe525, and Met519 at the alkyl chain storage pocket of GAA. Moreover, a molecular docking study revealed that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) α-glucosidase II does not have enough space to accommodate these alkyl chains. Therefore, the design strategy focusing on the shape and acceptability of long alkyl chain at each α-glucosidase may lead to the creation of more selective and practically useful inhibitors.

To synthesize nucleoside and oligosaccharide derivatives, we often use a glycosylation reaction to form a glycoside bond. Coupling reactions between a nucleobase and a sugar donor in the former case, and the reaction between an acceptor and a sugar donor of in the latter are carried out in the presence of an appropriate activator. As an activator of the glycosylation, a combination of a Lewis acid catalyst and a hypervalent iodine was developed for synthesizing 4’-thionucleosides, which could be applied for the synthesis of 4’-selenonucleosides as well. The extension of hypervalent iodine-mediated glycosylation allowed us to couple a nucleobase with cyclic allylsilanes and glycal derivatives to yield carbocyclic nucleosides and 2’,3’-unsaturated nucleosides, respectively. In addition, the combination of hypervalent iodine and Lewis acid could be used for the glycosylation of glycals and thioglycosides to produce disaccharides. In this paper, we review the use of hypervalent iodine-mediated glycosylation reactions for the synthesis of nucleosides and oligosaccharide derivatives.

Internal cavities are important elements in protein structure, dynamics, stability and function. Here we use NMR spectroscopy to investigate the binding of molecular oxygen (O 2 ) to cavities in a well-studied model for ligand binding, the L99A mutant of T4 lysozyme. On increasing the O 2 concentration to 8.9 mM, changes in 1 H, 15 N and 13 C chemical shifts and signal broadening were observed specifically for backbone amide and side chain methyl groups located around the two hydrophobic cavities of the protein. O 2 -induced longitudinal relaxation enhancements for amide and methyl protons could be adequately accounted for by paramagnetic dipolar relaxation. These data provide the first experimental demonstration that O 2 binds specifically to the hydrophobic and not the hydrophilic cavities, in a protein. Molecular dynamics simulations visualized the rotational and translational motions of O 2 in the cavities, as well as the binding and egress of O 2 , suggesting that the channel consisting of helices D, E, G, H and J could be the potential gateway for ligand binding to the protein. Due to strong paramagnetic relaxation effects, O 2 gas-pressure NMR measurements can detect hydrophobic cavities when populated to as little as 1% and thereby provide a general and highly sensitive method for detecting oxygen binding in proteins.

To meet strong demand for realizing an effective tool to diagnose salt distribution in concrete infrastructures, we have started a development of a new technique using a prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) at the RIKEN accelerator-driven compact neutron source (RANS). So far, by applying PGNAA we have experimentally confirmed that neutrons from RANS can detect small enough amounts of chlorine within the marginal concentration of around 1.2 kg/m 3 to involve steel corrosion. In this study, we have proposed two methods to derive the salt depth profile which is critical information of steel corrosion start. The first one utilizes a difference in the intensity ratio of two different γ-ray energies of interest, which is depending on the depth where the neutron capture reaction arises inside the concrete. The second is called the collimator method that measure γ-rays coming through a collimator around detector. Detection of γ-ray associated with 35 Cl coming from the assembly of concrete has been also simulated with conditions of neutrons from RANS and a collimator. The feasibility of the method was discussed.

Synthesis of beneficial protected meso-DAP 9 by cross metathesis of the Garner aldehyde-derived vinyl glycine 1b with protected allyl glycine 2 in the presence of Grubbs second-generation catalyst was performed. Preparation of lipophilic N-acyl iE-DAP as potent agonists of NOD 1-mediated immune response from 9 is described.

We have built a new isonucleoside derivative on a 2,6-dioxobicyclo[3.2.0]heptane skeleton as a potential anti-HIV agent. To synthesize the target compound, an acetal-protected dihydroxyacetone was first converted to a 2,3-epoxy-tetrahydrofuran derivative. Introduction of an azide group, followed by the formation of an oxetane ring, gave a pseudosugar derivative with a 2,6-dioxobicyclo[3.2.0]heptane skeleton. The desired isonucleoside was obtained by constructing a purine base moiety on the scaffold, followed by amination.