Jakubauskas, Dainius; Kowalewska, Lucja; Sokolova, Anna V.; Garvey, Christopher J.; Mortensen, Kell; Jensen, Poul Erik; Kirkensgaard, Jacob J. K.
Ultrastructural modeling of small angle scattering from photosynthetic membranes
The last decade has seen a range of studies using non-invasive neutron and X-ray techniques to probe the ultrastructure of a variety of photosynthetic membrane systems. A common denominator in this work is the lack of an explicitly formulated underlying structural model, ultimately leading to ambiguity in the data interpretation.…
Fibril Charge Affects α-Synuclein Hydrogel Rheological Properties
Pogostin, Brett H.; Linse, Sara; Olsson, Ulf
In this paper, we have investigated the interactions between ?-synuclein fibrils at different pH values and how this relates to hydrogel formation and gel properties. Using a combination of rheology, small-angle X-ray scattering, Raman spectroscopy, and cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) experiments, we have been able to investigate the relationship between…
Probing the Nanostructure and Arrangement of Bacterial Magnetosomes by Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering
Rosenfeldt, Sabine; Riese, Cornelius N.; Mickoleit, Frank; Schüler, Dirk; Schenk, Anna S.
Magnetosomes are membrane-enveloped single-domain ferromagnetic nanoparticles enabling the navigation of magnetotactic bacteria along magnetic field lines. Strict control over each step of biomineralization generates particles of high crystallinity, strong magnetization, and remarkable uniformity in size and shape, which is particularly interesting for many biomedical and biotechnological
Tandem catalysis in multicomponent solvent-free biofluids
Atkins, Dylan Luke; Berrocal, José Augusto; Mason, Alexander Francesco; Voets, Ilja Karina
Enzymes are widely employed to reduce the environmental impact of chemical industries as biocatalysts improve productivity and offer high selectively under mild reaction conditions in a diverse range of chemical transformations. The poor stability of biomacromolecules under reaction conditions is often a critical bottleneck to their application. Protein engineering or…
Studying Excipient Modulated Physical Stability and Viscosity of Monoclonal Antibody Formulations Using Small-Angle Scattering
Xu, Amy Yuanyuan; Castellanos, Maria Monica; Mattison, Kevin; Krueger, Susan; Curtis, Joseph E.
Excipients are substances that are added to therapeutic products to improve stability, bioavailability, and manufacturability. Undesirable protein-protein interactions (PPI) can lead to self-association and/or high solution viscosity in concentrated protein formulations that are typically greater than 50 mg/mL. Therefore, understanding the effects of excipients on nonspecific PPI is important for
Reproducible Preparation of Proteopolymersomes via Sequential Polymer Film Hydration and Membrane Protein Reconstitution
Loo, Siew-Leng; Siti, Winna; Thiyagarajan, Monisha; Torres, Jaume; Wang, Rong; Hu, Xiao
Film rehydration method is commonly used for membrane protein (MP) reconstitution into block copolymer (BCP), but the lack of control in the rehydration step formed a heterogeneous population of proteopolymersomes that interferes with the characterization and performance of devices incorporating them. To improve the self-assembly of polymersomes with simultaneous MP…
Effects of charge contrast and composition on microgel formation and interactions with bacteria-mimicking liposomes
Borro, Bruno C.; Toussaint, Marie S.; Bucciarelli, Saskia; Malmsten, Martin
Microgels offer opportunities for improved delivery of antimicrobial peptides (AMP). To contribute to a foundation for rational design of such systems, we here study the effects of electrostatics on the generation of peptide-carrying microgels. For this, alginate microgels loaded with polymyxin B and cross-linked by Ca2+, were formed by electrostatic…
Disentangling the role of solvent polarity and protein solvation in folding and self-assembly of ?-lactalbumin
Bucciarelli, Saskia; Sayedi, Edres Sayed; Osella, Silvio; Trzaskowski, Bartosz; Vissing, Karina Juul; Vestergaard, Bente; Foderà, Vito
Protein (mis)folding, stability and aggregation are of interest in numerous fields, such as food sciences, biotechnology, and health sciences, and efforts are directed towards the elucidation of the underlying molecular mechanisms. Through an integrative approach, we show that a subtle balance between hydrogen bond formation and hydrophobic interactions defines protein…
Synthesis of Anthracene Conjugates of Truncated Antifreeze Protein Sequences: Effect of the End Group and Photocontrolled Dimerization on Ice Recrystallization Inhibition Activity
Graham, Ben; Fayter, Alice E. R.; Gibson, Matthew I.
Biomacromolecular antifreezes distinguish ice from water, function by binding to specific planes of ice, and could have many applications from cryobiology to aerospace where ice is a problem. In biology, antifreeze protein (AFP) activity is regulated by protein expression levels via temperature and light-regulated expression systems, but in the laboratory…
Aescin-Induced Conversion of Gel-Phase Lipid Membranes into Bicelle-like Lipid Nanoparticles
Geisler, Ramsia; Pedersen, Martin Cramer; Hannappel, Yvonne; Schweins, Ralf; Prévost, Sylvain; Dattani, Rajeev; Arleth, Lise; Hellweg, Thomas
Mixtures of the phospholipid 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) and the saponin ?-aescin spontaneously form monodisperse, bilayered discoidal micelles (also known as bicelles or nanodisks) in aqueous solution. Such bicelles form below the melting temperature of DMPC when the phospholipids are in the rigid L?? state and are precursors of spontaneously formed vesicles.…