Colorectal cancer is one of the most frequent and most lethal forms of cancer in the western world. The aim of this study is to characterize by 1 H high resolution magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopy (HRMAS) the metabolic fingerprint of both tumoral and healthy tissue samples obtained from a cohort of patients affected by primary colorectal adenocarcinoma. By analyzing HRMAS data using multivariate statistical analysis (PLS-DA), the two types of tissues could be discriminated with a high level of confidence. The identification of the metabolites at the origin of this discrimination revealed that adenocarcinomas are richer in taurine, glutamate, aspartate, and lactate whereas healthy tissues contain a higher amount of myo-inositol and b-glucose. The statistical model resulting from the PLS-DA analysis was subsequently used to perform a blind test on tumoral and healthy colon biopsies. The results of the classification showed that the HRMAS analysis has very high sensitivity and specificity.

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Under iron-deficient conditions, the Gram-negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 15692 secretes a peptidic siderophore, pyoverdine PvdI, composed of an aromatic chromophore derived from 2,3-diamino-6,7-dihydroxyquinoline and a partially cyclized octapeptide, d-Ser- l-Arg- d-Ser- l-FoOHOrn-( l-Lys- l-FoOHOrn- l-Thr- l-Thr), in which the C-terminal carboxyl group forms a peptidic bond with the primary amine of the l-Lys side chain. In aqueous solution at room temperature, the (1)H NMR spectrum of pyoverdine PvdI-Ga(III) showed clear evidence of exchange broadening. At 253 K, two distinct conformations were observed and the measurement of structural constraints was possible. The three-dimensional structures of the two PvdI-Ga(III) conformers were determined, and analysis of the structures indicates that the observed conformational exchange involves a stereoisomerization of the metal binding coordination accompanied by a change in the global shape of the siderophore. This conformational transition was further characterized by heteronuclear relaxation experiments. The possible implications of this dynamic behavior for siderophore recognition by the receptor FpvAI are discussed.