Electron Transfer through the Acceptor Side of Photosystem I: Interaction with Exogenous Acceptors and Molecular Oxygen.

This review considers the state-of-the-art on mechanisms and alternative pathways of electron transfer in photosynthetic electron transport chains of chloroplasts and cyanobacteria. The mechanisms of electron transport control between photosystems (PS) I and II and the Calvin-Benson cycle are considered. The redistribution of electron fluxes between the noncyclic, cyclic, and pseudocyclic pathways plays an important role in the regulation of photosynthesis. Mathematical modeling of light-induced electron transport processes is considered. Particular attention is given to the electron transfer reactions on the acceptor side of PS I and to interactions of PS I with exogenous acceptors, including molecular oxygen. A kinetic model of PS I and its interaction with exogenous electron acceptors has been developed. This model is based on experimental kinetics of charge recombination in isolated PS I. Kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the electron transfer reactions in PS I are scrutinized. The free energies of electron transfer between quinone acceptors A1A/A1B in the symmetric redox cofactor branches of PS I and iron-sulfur clusters FX, FA, and FB have been estimated. The second-order rate constants of electron transfer from PS I to external acceptors have been determined. The data suggest that byproduct formation of superoxide radical in PS I due to the reduction of molecular oxygen in the A1 site (Mehler reaction) can exceed 0.3% of the total electron flux in PS I.

Tissue-specific rhamnogalacturonan I forms the gel with hyperelastic properties.

Rhamnogalacturonans I are complex pectin polysaccharides extremely variable in structure and properties and widely represented in various sources. The complexity and diversity of the structure of rhamnogalacturonans I are the reasons for the limited information about the properties and supramolecular organization of these polysaccharides, including the relationship between these parameters and the functions of rhamnogalacturonans I in plant cells. In the present work, on the example of rhamnogalacturonan I from flax gelatinous fibers, the ability of this type of pectic polysaccharides to form at physiological concentrations hydrogels with hyperelastic properties was revealed for the first time. According to IR spectroscopy, water molecules are more tightly retained in the gelling rhamnogalacturonan I from flax fiber cell wall in comparison with the non-gelling rhamnogalacturonan I from primary cell wall of potato. With increase in strength of water binding by rhamnogalacturonan I, there is an increase in elastic modulus and decrease in Poisson's ratio of gel formed by this polysaccharide. The model of hyperelastic rhamnogalacturonan I capture by laterally interacting cellulose microfibrils, constructed using the finite element method, confirmed the suitability of rhamnogalacturonan I gel with the established properties for the function in the gelatinous cell wall, allowing consideration of this tissue- and stage-specific pectic polysaccharide as an important factor in creation of gelatinous fiber contractility.

Electron transfer in photosystem I containing native and modified quinone acceptors.

The pigment-protein complex of photosystem I (PS I) catalyzes light-driven oxidation of plastocyanin or cytochrome c6 and reduction of ferredoxin or flavodoxin in oxygenic photosynthetic organisms. In this review, we describe the current state of knowledge of the processes of excitation energy transfer and formation of the primary and secondary ion-radical pairs within PS I. The electron transfer reaction involving quinone cofactor in the A1 site and its role in providing asymmetry of electron transport as well as interaction with oxygen and ascorbate in PS I are discussed.

[THE EFFECT OF NEUROPEPTIDE Y ON SPIKE ACTIVITY OF NEURONS IN THE SUPRACHIASMATIC NUCLEUS OF RAT IN VITRO].

In the experiments on sagittal hypothalamic slices of male Wistar rats, the effect of 10 nM neuropeptide Y on the electrical activity of the suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons and spike information coding parameters were studied. Applications of neuropeptide Y induced a reduction of action potential frequency in 35 of 81 tested neurons, in 8 cells an increase in the parameter was observed; the remaining 38 neurons did not change their spike activity level. The decrease in spike frequency generation by neurons of the suprachiasmatic nucleus accompanied by an increase in both entropy of interspike interval distribution and mutual information between adjacent interspike intervals. These suggest an increased irregularity of the later as well as an increased patterning of spike information induced by neuropeptide Y. The obtained data indicate the ability of neuropeptide Y to modulate a level of activity and influence a spike code in a relatively numerous population of neurons in circadian oscillator of the suprachiasmatic nucleus.

[Microbial degradation of mustard gas reaction masses: isolation and selection of degradative microorganisms, analysis of organic components of reaction masses and their biodegradation]. / Mikrobiologicheskaia degradatsiia reaktsionnykh mass iprita: vydelenie i selektsiia mikroorganizmov-destruktorov, analiz organicheskikh komponentov reaktsionnykh mass i ikh biodestruktsiia.

Bacterial strains growing in medium with mustard gas reaction masses (RM) as carbon sources were obtained. Growth cessation in the above medium was caused by the exhaustion of bioutilizable substrates, first of all monoethanolamine (MEA) and ethyleneglycol (EG), rather than by the accumulation of toxic metabolites in the culture liquid or in the cells. The main RM components, 1,4-perhydrothiazines (PHT), formed in the course of chemical detoxication of mustard gas, were identified and analyzed. The predominant component of PHT mixture was N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-2-methyl-1,4-perhydrothiazine hydrochloride. Concentrations of all the PHT decreased by 50% in the course of culture growth; their destruction was a result of microbial metabolism.

[The use of electrophoretic methods for determining modified proteins in diabetic patients]. / Primenenie élektroforeticheskikh metodov dlia opredeleniia modifitsirovannykh belkov u bol'nykh sakharnym diabetom.

Modified proteins were determined by isoelectric focusing in borate-polyol system with subsequent colorimetry (micromethod) and electrophoresis of blood serum on paper with subsequent TCA-ethanol treatment. Increased levels of glycated hemoglobin and modified albumin and changed light absorbance of glycated albumin were detected. The levels of glycated hemoglobin assessed by the micromethod and colorimetry without calibration did not correlate.