Ammonia borane (H(3)N-BH(3), AB) is a lightweight material containing a high density of hydrogen (H(2)) that can be readily liberated for use in fuel cell-powered applications. However, in the absence of a straightforward, efficient method for regenerating AB from dehydrogenated polymeric spent fuel, its full potential as a viable H(2) storage material will not be realized. We demonstrate that the spent fuel type derived from the removal of greater than two equivalents of H(2) per molecule of AB (i.e., polyborazylene, PB) can be converted back to AB nearly quantitatively by 24-hour treatment with hydrazine (N(2)H(4)) in liquid ammonia (NH(3)) at 40°C in a sealed pressure vessel.

To investigate the determinants of protein order and disorder, three primary and one derivative database of intrinsically disordered proteins were compiled. The segments in each primary database were characterized by one of the following: X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), or circular dichroism (CD). The derivative database was based on homology. The three primary disordered databases have a combined total of 157 proteins or segments of length à "à vuà ' à rvqrà uvyrà urà qrvhvrà qhhihrà phvà $&! proteins from 32 families with 52,688 putatively disordered residues. For the four disordered databases, the amino acid compositions were compared with those from a database of ordered structure. Relative to the ordered protein, the intrinsically disordered segments in all four databases were significantly depleted in W, C, F, I, Y, V, L and N, significantly enriched in A, R, G, Q, S, P, E and K, and inconsistently different in H, M, T, and D, suggesting that the first set be called order-promoting and the second set disorder-promoting. Also, 265 amino acid properties were ranked by their ability to discriminate order and disorder and then pruned to remove the most highly correlated pairs. The 10 highest-ranking properties after pruning consisted of 2 residue contact scales, 4 hydrophobicity scales, 3 scales associated vuà urrà hqà rà yhvà phyrà à Vvtà urrà à rvrà sà phvà sà urà " primary databases suggests that disorder in all 3 databases is very similar, but with those characterized by NMR and CD being the most similar, those by CD and X-ray being next, and those by NMR and X-ray being the least similar.

One-sentence summary:Bacterial cytokinesis is controlled by circumferential treadmilling of FtsAZ filaments that drives the insertion of new cell wall. Abstract:How bacteria produce a septum to divide in two is not well understood. This process is mediated by periplasmic cell-wall producing enzymes that are positioned by filaments of the cytoplasmic membrane-associated actin FtsA and the tubulin FtsZ (FtsAZ). To understand how these components act in concert to divide cells, we visualized their movements relative to the dynamics of cell wall synthesis during cytokinesis. We find that the division septum is built at discrete sites that move around the division plane. Furthermore, FtsAZ filaments treadmill in circumferential paths around the division ring, pulling along the associated cell-wall-synthesizing enzymes. We show that the rate of FtsZ treadmilling controls both the rate of cell wall synthesis and cell division. The coupling of both the position and activity of the cell wall synthases to FtsAZ treadmilling guides the progressive insertion of new cell wall, synthesizing increasingly small concentric rings to divide the cell. Main Text:Cells from all domains of life must divide in order to proliferate. In bacteria, cell division involves the inward synthesis of the cell wall peptidoglycan (PG), creating a septum that cleaves the cell in two. Septation is directed by proteins that are highly conserved among bacteria. The location and activity of the septal PG synthesis enzymes are regulated by FtsZ, a tubulin homolog, which associates with the cytoplasmic side of the membrane via an actin-like protein FtsA. FtsZ can form filaments (1) and membrane-associated copolymers with FtsA (FtsAZ) (2). Together, the two proteins form a dynamic

The participation of the valence orbitals of actinides in bonding has been debated for decades. Recent experimental and computational investigations demonstrated the involvement of 6p, 6d and/or 5f orbitals in bonding. However, structural and spectroscopic data, as well as theory, indicate a decrease in covalency across the actinide series, and the evidence points to highly ionic, lanthanide-like bonding for late actinides. Here we show that chemical differentiation between californium and lanthanides can be achieved by using ligands that are both highly polarizable and substantially rearrange on complexation. A ligand that suits both of these desired properties is polyborate. We demonstrate that the 5f, 6d and 7p orbitals are all involved in bonding in a Cf(III) borate, and that large crystal-field effects are present. Synthetic, structural and spectroscopic data are complemented by quantum mechanical calculations to support these observations.

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High level ab initio electronic structure calculations at the coupled cluster level with a correction for triples extrapolated to the complete basis set limit have been made for the thermodynamics of the BrBrO(2), IIO(2), ClBrO(2), ClIO(2), and BrIO(2) isomers, as well as various molecules involved in the bond dissociation processes. Of the BrBrO(2) isomers, BrOOBr is predicted to be the most stable by 8.5 and 9.3 kcal/mol compared to BrBrO(2) and BrOBrO at 298 K, respectively. The weakest bond in BrOOBr is the O-Br bond with a bond dissociation energy (BDE) of 15.9 kcal/mol, and in BrBrO(2), it is the Br-Br bond of 19.1 kcal/mol. The smallest BDE in BrOBrO is for the central O-Br bond with a BDE of 12.6 kcal/mol. Of the IIO(2) isomers, IIO(2) is predicted to be the most stable by 3.3, 9.4, and 28.9 kcal/mol compared to IOIO, IOOI, and OIIO at 298 K, respectively. The weakest bond in IIO(2) is the I-I bond with a BDE of 22.2 kcal/mol. The smallest BDEs in IOIO and IOOI are the terminal O-I bonds with values of 19.0 and 5.2 kcal/mol, respectively.

Summary Temperate phages are pervasive in bacterial genomes, existing as vertically inherited islands termed prophages. Prophages are vulnerable to predation of their host bacterium by exogenous phages. Here, we identify BstA, a family of prophage-encoded phage-defense proteins in diverse Gram-negative bacteria. BstA localizes to sites of exogenous phage DNA replication and mediates abortive infection, suppressing the competing phage epidemic. During lytic replication, the BstA-encoding prophage is not itself inhibited by BstA due to self-immunity conferred by the anti-BstA ( aba ) element, a short stretch of DNA within the bstA locus. Inhibition of phage replication by distinct BstA proteins from Salmonella , Klebsiella , and Escherichia prophages is generally interchangeable, but each possesses a cognate aba element. The specificity of the aba element ensures that immunity is exclusive to the replicating prophage, preventing exploitation by variant BstA-encoding phages. The BstA protein allows prophages to defend host cells against exogenous phage attack without sacrificing the ability to replicate lytically.

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