Mechanism and dynamics of fatty acid photodecarboxylase.

Fatty acid photodecarboxylase (FAP) is a photoenzyme with potential green chemistry applications. By combining static, time-resolved, and cryotrapping spectroscopy and crystallography as well as computation, we characterized Chlorella variabilis FAP reaction intermediates on time scales from subpicoseconds to milliseconds. High-resolution crystal structures from synchrotron and free electron laser x-ray sources highlighted an unusual bent shape of the oxidized flavin chromophore. We demonstrate that decarboxylation occurs directly upon reduction of the excited flavin by the fatty acid substrate. Along with flavin reoxidation by the alkyl radical intermediate, a major fraction of the cleaved carbon dioxide unexpectedly transformed in 100 nanoseconds, most likely into bicarbonate. This reaction is orders of magnitude faster than in solution. Two strictly conserved residues, R451 and C432, are essential for substrate stabilization and functional charge transfer.

Lipidomic and transcriptomic analyses of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under heat stress unveil a direct route for the conversion of membrane lipids into storage lipids.

Studying how photosynthetic cells modify membrane lipids in response to heat stress is important to understand how plants and microalgae adapt to daily fluctuations in temperature and to investigate new lipid pathways. Here, we investigate changes occurring in lipid molecular species and lipid metabolism genes during early response to heat stress in the model photosynthetic microorganism Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Lipid molecular species analyses revealed that, after 60 min at 42 °C, a strong decrease in specific polyunsaturated membrane lipids was observed together with an increase in polyunsaturated triacylglycerols (TAGs) and diacylglycerols (DAGs). The fact that decrease in the major chloroplastic monogalactosyldiacylglycerol sn1-18:3/sn2-16:4 was mirrored by an accumulation of DAG sn1-18:3/sn2-16:4 and TAG sn1-18:3/sn2-16:4/sn3-18:3 indicated that newly accumulated TAGs were formed via direct conversion of monogalactosyldiacylglycerols to DAGs then TAGs. Lipidomic analyses showed that the third fatty acid of a TAG likely originated from a phosphatidylethanolamine or a diacylglyceryl-O-4'-(N,N,N,-trimethyl)-homoserine betaine lipid species. Candidate genes for this TAG synthesis pathway were provided through comparative transcriptomic analysis and included a phospholipase A2 homolog and the DAG acyltransferase DGTT1. This study gives insights into the molecular events underlying changes in membrane lipids during heat stress and reveals an alternative route for TAG synthesis.

Multivalent thioglycopeptoids via photoclick chemistry: potent affinities towards LecA and BC2L-A lectins.

Solution-phase synthesis of linear and cyclic ß- and α,ß-peptoids was coupled to photo-induced thiol-ene coupling reaction to readily access multivalent thioglycoclusters. A tetrameric cyclic ß-peptoid scaffold displaying 1-thio-ß-d-galactose or 1-thio-α-d-mannose has revealed by ITC experiments efficient binding potency for bacterial lectins LecA and BC2L-A, respectively.

Development and validation of a screening procedure of microalgae for biodiesel production: application to the genus of marine microalgae Nannochloropsis.

Nannochloropsis has emerged as a promising alga for biodiesel production. However, the genus consists of 6 species and hundreds of strains making strain selection a challenge. Furthermore, oil productivity is instrumental to economic viability of any algal strain for industrial production, which is dependent on growth rate and oil content. In most cases, these two parameters have been studied independently. Thus, the goal of this study is to provide a combined method for evaluating strain performance in specially designed photobioreactors together with an in-depth lipidomic analyses. The nine strains of Nannochloropsis tested showed considerable variations in productivity and lipidomics highlighting the importance of strain selection. Finally, Nannochloropsis gaditana CCMP527 and Nannochloropsis salina CCMP537 emerged as the two most promising strains, with an oil content of 37 and 27 dry wt% after 11-day nitrogen starvation, respectively, resulting in TAG productivity of 13×10(-3) and 18×10(-3) kg m(-3) d(-1), respectively.

Liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry for the analysis of sulfaquinoxaline byproducts formed in water upon solar light irradiation.

RATIONALE: Sulfonamides such as sulfaquinoxaline (SQX) are among the most important antibiotic families due to their extensive use in veterinary medicine. The prediction of their fate under solar irradiation through the identification of the generated metabolites is required. However, unambiguous structural characterizations often remain a challenge particularly when several isomers could match with the same MS(2) data. METHODS: Liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-Q-TOFMS) in the positive ion mode, leading to the formation of the protonated forms of the studied compounds, [M + H(+)] ions, was employed. Collision-induced dissociation tandem mass spectrometry (CID-MS/MS) of the protonated molecules was carried out, and the effect of the collision energy as well as the elemental compositions of the product ions were used to propose chemical structures. Validation of the hypothesized structures was performed by the calculation of key fragmentation pathway energies using density functional theory (DFT) calculations (B3LYP/6-31 G (d,p)). RESULTS: The photoproducts were identified as 2-aminoquinoxaline, SQX isomers, 2-(N-parabenzoquinoneimine)quinoxaline and isomers resulting from SO(2) extrusion. The direct fragmentations of [SQX + H](+) and its protonated isomers mostly occurred through the loss of 2-aminoquinoxaline and/or the 4-sulfoaniline radical ion, while their rearrangements involved the migration of H and/or O atoms. For the desulfonated byproducts in their protonated forms, the main neutral losses were of the quinoxaline radical, aminoquinoxaline and NH(3). The fragmentation of the protonated 2-aminoquinoxaline mainly involved the elimination of NH(3) and HCN. CONCLUSIONS: LC/ESI-Q-TOFMS and DFT calculations have been shown to be useful and complementary methods for the identification of unknown isomeric compounds and the elucidation of fragmentation patterns, in the case of the sulfaquinoxaline veterinary antibiotic.

Fluorogenic substrates for the screening assay of transketolase through beta-elimination of umbelliferone--Development, scope and limitations.

5-O-Coumarinyl-d-xylulose was studied as a fluorogenic substrate for the stereospecific assay of transketolase enzyme. Enzymatic C2-C3 cleavage released an alpha-hydroxyl, beta-coumarinyl substituted aldehyde. Although the subsequent beta-elimination step was rate limiting under chemical or enzymatic catalysis, we detected a TK activity as low as 0.7mIU. To improve the fluorescence signal release, kinetic and product distribution analyses of this reaction were performed by LC/UV/MS coupling.

Synthesis of carbocyclic phosphononucleosides.

Synthesis of carbocyclic analogs of phosphononucleosides are described by two different methods (introduction of the heterocycle under Mitsunobu conditions or build-up of the base around a cyclopentylamine moiety).