Sonochemical Activation of Al/Ni Hydrogenation Catalyst

This paper proposes a sonochemical approach to the nanostructuring of Al/Ni catalyst with high content of accessible Ni centers and a high reusability. The surface and bulk composition as well as pore size distribution of this catalyst are controlled synergistically by adjusting the ultrasound intensity in aqueous solution. Sonochemical activation of Al/Ni alloy leads to formation of mesoporous Al/Ni metallic based frameworks with surface area up to 125 m² g^?1, and regular distribution of nickel active center in the porous matrix. One of the opportunities of porous Al/Ni catalyst is that due to a time‐resolved controllable formation of protective oxide layer it can be stored and handled under air in comparison to traditional Raney catalysts which need inert conditions. The Al/Ni catalyst is characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron diffraction spectroscopy (EDS), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), confocal scanning fluorescence microscopy (CSFM), solid‐state NMR experiments, and powder X‐ray diffraction analysis (PXRD). The catalytic activity was investigated for the hydrogenation of acetophenone.     

Transduction of Brain Neurons in Juvenile Chum Salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) with Recombinant Adeno-Associated Hippocampal Virus Injected into the Cerebellum during Long-Term Monitoring

Corpus cerebelli in juvenile chum salmon is a multiprojective region of the brain connected via afferent and efferent projections with the higher regions of the brainstem and synencephalon, as well as with multiprojection regions of the medulla oblongata and spinal cord. During the postembryonic development of the cerebellum in chum salmon, Oncorhynchus keta, the lateral part of the juvenile cerebellum gives rise to the caudomedial part of the definitive cerebellum, which is consistent with the data reported for zebrafish and mouse cerebellum. Thus, the topographic organization of the cerebellum and its efferents are similar between fish (chum salmon and zebrafish) and mammals, including mice and humans. The distributions of recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors (rAAVs) after an injection of the base vector into the cerebellum have shown highly specific patterns of transgene expression in bipolar neurons in the latero-caudal lobe of the juvenile chum tectum opticum. The distribution of rAAVs in the dorsal thalamus, epithalamus, nucleus rotundus, and pretectal complex indicates the targeted distribution of the transgene via the thalamo-cerebellar projections. The detection of GFP expression in the cells of the epiphysis and posterior tubercle of juvenile chum salmon is associated with the transgene’s distribution and with the cerebrospinal fluid flow, the brain ventricles and its outer surface. The direct delivery of the rAAV into the central nervous system by intracerebroventricular administration allows it to spread widely in the brain. Thus, the presence of special projection areas in the juvenile chum salmon cerebellum, as well as outside it, and the identification of the transgene’s expression in them confirm the potential ability of rAAVs to distribute in both intracerebellar and afferent and efferent extracerebellar projections of the cerebellum.     

Yolk–Shell Hybrid Materials with a Periodic Mesoporous Organosilica Shell: Ideal Nanoreactors for Selective Alcohol Oxidation

This contribution describes the preparation of multifunctional yolk–shell nanoparticles (YSNs) consisting of a core of silica spheres and an outer shell based on periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO) with perpendicularly aligned mesoporous channels. The new yolk–shell hybrid materials were synthesised through a dual mesophase and vesicle soft templating method. The mesostructure of the shell, the dimension of the hollow space (4～52 nm), and the shell thickness (16～34 nm) could be adjusted by precise tuning of the synthesis parameters, as evidenced by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nitrogen sorption investigations. Various metal nanoparticles (e.g., Au, Pt, and Pd) were encapsulated and confined in the void space between the core and the shell using impregnation and reduction of adequate metal precursors. The selective oxidation of various alcohol substrates was then carried out to illustrate the benefits of such an architecture in catalysis. High conversion (～100%) and excellent selectivity (～99%) were obtained over Pd nanoparticles encapsulated in the hybrid PMO yolk–shell structures.     

Role of acidic sphingomyelinase in thymol‐mediated dendritic cell death

Scope : Thymol is a component of several plants with antimicrobial activity. Little is known about the effects of thymol on immune cells of the host. This study addressed the effects of thymol on dendritic cells (DCs), regulators of innate and adaptive immunity. Methods and results : Immunohistochemistry, Western blotting and fluorescence‐activated cell sorting analysis were performed in bone marrow‐derived DCs either from wild‐type mice or from mice lacking acid sphingomyelinase (ASM^?/?) treated and untreated for 24 h with thymol (2–100 μg/mL). Thymol treatment resulted in activation of ASM, stimulation of ceramide formation, downregulation of anti‐apoptotic Bcl‐2 and Bcl‐xL proteins, activation of caspase 3 and caspase 8, DNA fragmentation as well as cell membrane scrambling. The effects were dependent on the presence of ASM and were lacking in ASM^?/? mice or in wild‐type DCs treated with sphingomyelinase inhibitor amitriptyline. Conclusion : Thymol triggers suicidal DC death, an effect mediated by and requiring activation of ASM.     

The effect of red pigment on the amyloidization of yeast proteins

The intensity of amyloid-bound thioflavine T fluorescence was studied in crude lysates of yeast strains carrying mutations in the ADE1 or ADE2 genes and accumulating the red pigment (a result of polymerization of aminoimidazoleribotide), and in white isogenic strains--either adenine prototrophs or carrying mutations at the first stages of purine biosynthesis. We found that the red pigment leads to a drop of amyloid content. This result, along with the data on separation of protein polymers of white and red strains in PAGE, suggests that the red pigment inhibits amyloid fibril formation. The differences in transmission of the thioflavine T fluorescence pattern by cytoduction and in blot-hybridization of pellet proteins of red and white [PSI(+) ] strains with Sup35p antibodies confirmed this conclusion. Purified red pigment treatment also led to a decrease of fluorescence intensity of thioflavine T bound to insulin fibrils and to yeast pellet protein aggregates from [PSI(+) ] strains. This suggests red pigment interaction with amyloid fibrils. Comparison of pellet proteins from red and white isogenic strains separated by 2D-electrophoresis followed by MALDI analysis has allowed us to identify 48 pigment-dependent proteins. These proteins mostly belong to functional classes of chaperones and proteins involved in glucose metabolism, closely corresponding to prion-dependent proteins that we characterized previously. Also present were some proteins involved in stress response and proteolysis. We suppose that the red pigment acts by blocking certain sites on amyloid fibrils that, in some cases, can lead in vivo to interfere with their contacts with chaperones and the generation of prion seeds.     

Experimental Crossing Confirms Reproductive Isolation between Cryptic Species within Eulimnogammarus verrucosus (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from Lake Baikal

Ancient lakes are known speciation hotspots. One of the most speciose groups in the ancient Lake Baikal are gammaroid amphipods (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Gammaroidea). There are over 350 morphological species and subspecies of amphipods in Baikal, but the extent of cryptic variation is still unclear. One of the most common species in the littoral zone of the lake, Eulimnogammarus verrucosus (Gerstfeldt, 1858), was recently found to comprise at least three (pseudo)cryptic species based on molecular data. Here, we further explored these species by analyzing their mitogenome-based phylogeny, genome sizes with flow cytometry, and their reproductive compatibility. We found divergent times of millions of years and different genome sizes in the three species (6.1, 6.9 and 8 pg), further confirming their genetic separation. Experimental crossing of the western and southern species, which are morphologically indistinguishable and have adjacent ranges, showed their separation with a post-zygotic reproductive barrier, as hybrid embryos stopped developing roughly at the onset of gastrulation. Thus, the previously applied barcoding approach effectively indicated the separate biological species within E. verrucosus. These results provide new data for investigating genome evolution and highlight the need for precise tracking of the sample origin in any studies in this morphospecies.     

Stochastic Spatial Heterogeneity in Activities of H+-ATP-Ases in Electrically Connected Plant Cells Decreases Threshold for Cooling-Induced Electrical Responses

H⁺-ATP-ases, which support proton efflux through the plasma membrane, are key molecular transporters for electrogenesis in cells of higher plants. Initial activities of the transporters can influence the thresholds of generation of electrical responses induced by stressors and modify other parameters of these responses. Previously, it was theoretically shown that the stochastic heterogeneity of individual cell thresholds for electrical responses in a system of electrically connected neuronal cells can decrease the total threshold of the system (“diversity-induced resonance”, DIR). In the current work, we tested a hypothesis about decreasing the thresholds of generation of cooling-induced electrical responses in a system of electrically connected plant cells with increasing stochastic spatial heterogeny in the initial activities of H⁺-ATP-ases in these cells. A two-dimensional model of the system of electrically connected excitable cells (simple imitation of plant leaf), which was based on a model previously developed in our works, was used for the present investigation. Simulation showed that increasing dispersion in the distribution of initial activities of H⁺-ATP-ases between cells decreased the thresholds of generation of cooling-induced electrical responses. In addition, the increasing weakly influenced the amplitudes of electrical responses. Additional analysis showed two different mechanisms of the revealed effect. The increasing spatial heterogeneity in activities of H⁺-ATP-ases induced a weak positive shift of the membrane potential at rest. The shift decreased the threshold of electrical response generation. However, the decreased threshold induced by increasing the H⁺-ATP-ase activity heterogeneity was also observed after the elimination of the positive shift. The result showed that the “DIR-like” mechanism also participated in the revealed effect. Finally, we showed that the standard deviation of the membrane potentials before the induction of action potentials could be used for the estimation of thresholds of cooling-induced plant electrical responses. Thus, spatial heterogeneity in the initial activities of H⁺-ATP-ases can be a new regulatory mechanism influencing the generation of electrical responses in plants under actions of stressors.