The ability of enniatins to bind alkali metal, alkaline earth metal and certain transition metal ions in solution has been investigated. The complexes have been shown to form in 1:1, 2:1 and 3:2 macrocycle:cation ratios; their stability constants have been determined, and the conditions favoring their formation have been established. The enniatins were shown to be complexones of very wide spectrum, displaying low metal ion selectivity in alcoholic solutions. Two basic spatial forms, the non‐symmetric N3 form (in nonpolar solvents) and the symmetric P form (in polar solvents) have been disclosed and proposals made as to their conformational parameters. The molecular structure of the enniatin complexes has been established. Independent of the complexed ion species, of the complex stoichiometry, or of the type of solvent, the enniatin backbone of the complex is in the P form. In the 1:1 complexes, the ion is accommodated in the molecular cavity, forming iondipole bonds with all the amide and ester carbonyls. The depsipeptide chain of the enniatins is flexible, permitting “adaptation” of the complexone to the size of the ion, and thus explaining the low selectivity of these complexones. In the 2:1 and 3:2 complexes the cation is sandwiched in between two molecules of the antibiotic at the symmetry axis and interacts mainly with the N‐methylamide carbonyls. In these “sandwich” complexes the cation is much better screened from the anion and solvent than in the equimolar complexes and is highly soluble in organic solvents. The data presented here may serve as basis for interpreting the dependence between the structure, metal complexing behavior and membrane‐affecting properties in the series of the naturally occurring enniatin ionophores and their synthetic analogs.

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the Siberian wood frog Rana amurensis is a recently discovered example of extreme hypoxia tolerance that is able to survive several months without oxygen. We studied metabolomic profiles of heart and liver of R. amurensis exposed to 17 days of extreme hypoxia. Without oxygen, the studied tissues experience considerable stress with a drastic decrease of ATP, phosphocreatine, and NAD+ concentrations, and concomitant increase of AMP, creatine, and NADH. Heart and liver switch to different pathways of glycolysis with differential accumulation of lactate, alanine, succinate, as well as 2,3-butanediol (previously not reported for vertebrates as an end product of glycolysis) and depletion of aspartate. We also observed statistically significant changes in concentrations of certain osmolytes and choline-related compounds. Low succinate/fumarate ratio and high glutathione levels indicate adaptations to reoxygenation stress. Our data suggest that maintenance of the ATP/ADP pool is not required for survival of R. amurensis, in contrast to anoxia-tolerant turtles. Anoxia is a huge stress for the majority of vertebrates. Amphibians are considered to be relatively anoxia-intolerant, in contrast to a few turtle species and certain fish species 1-3 : the most resistant species are known to survive anoxia for a few days at most. However, a recent study 4 proved that the Siberian wood frog Rana amurensis can tolerate almost complete anoxia at 2-3 °C (below 0.2 mg/L oxygen, i.e., less than 1.5% of the normal concentration at this temperature) for several months. This is on par with the best vertebrate models from other classes. Moreover, while red-eared slider turtles, the most studied anoxia-tolerant tetrapods, are dormant under anoxia, the Siberian wood frog is able to react to stimuli, e.g., to flee when disturbed. R. amurensis is thus a unique model of extreme hypoxia tolerance among terrestrial vertebrates. The natural range of R. amurensis includes Northeastern China and Siberia from the Urals to the coast of the Okhotsk sea; its northern distribution is limited by about 71° N. It overwinters under ice in water bodies. Many of these lakes are shallow (< 3 m) due to thermokarst origin, i.e. resulting from local melting of permafrost. Experimental studies 4 demonstrated that during the winter oxygen is depleted in overwintering sites till almost complete anoxia. Siberian wood frogs overwinter for 6 to 7 months in different regions under hypoxia until they can leave the lakes in April-early May. The mechanisms of adaptation to the lack of oxygen are totally unknown for R. amurensis. Here we made an attempt to study this phenomenon using 1 H-NMR-based quantitative metabolomics. This method simultaneously yields concentrations of multiple metabolites 5. At the present, the detailed quantitative metabolomic composition is known for many human tissues, but for very few animals 6-8. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the quantitative metabolomic analysis of amphibian tissues. We determined concentrations of ove...

Bacterial cell wall muramyl dipeptide (MDP) and glucosaminyl-MDP (GMDP) are potent activators of innate immunity. Two receptor targets, NOD2 and YB1, have been reported; we investigated potential overlap of NOD2 and YB1 pathways. Separate knockdown of NOD2 and YB1 demonstrates that both contribute to GMDP induction of NF-κB expression, a marker of innate immunity, although excess YB1 led to induction in the absence of NOD2. YB1 and NOD2 co-migrated on sucrose gradient centrifugation, and GMDP addition led to the formation of higher molecular mass complexes containing both YB1 and NOD2. Co-immunoprecipitation demonstrated a direct interaction between YB1 and NOD2, a major recombinant fragment of NOD2 (NACHT-LRR) bound to YB1, and complex formation was stimulated by GMDP. We also report subcellular colocalization of NOD2 and YB1. Although YB1 may have other binding partners in addition to NOD2, maximal innate immunity activation by muramyl peptides is mediated via an interaction between YB1 and NOD2.

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Only two species of boreal Holarctic frogs (genus Rana) can survive freezing and overwinter on land; they are found in the subarctic and cold regions of North America (Rana sylvatica LeConte, 1825) and Eurasia (Rana arvalis Nilsson, 1842) and are an example of an unusual adaptive strategy of overwintering. Freeze tolerance (down to -16°C) of R. sylvatica has been thoroughly studied; however, little is known about cold resistance of R. arvalis in cold regions. We found that R. arvalis from European Russia and from West Siberia tolerate freezing down to -12 or -16°C, while frogs from Danish population survived freezing only to -4°C (Voituron et al. 2009b). All of these populations, according to mtDNA markers, are closely related. We suggest that the observed differences in cold tolerance (-4°C vs -12 or -16°C) could be caused either by adaptations to climatic factors or by differences in experimental protocols. The northeastern boundary of the geographic range of R. arvalis in Yakutia coincides with the transitional area between discontinuous and continuous permafrost; beyond this area, winter soil temperature sharply declines. The lower lethal temperature and overwintering ecology of R. arvalis in Siberia are similar to those of the North American R. sylvatica.