The flavivirus NS5 harbors a methyltransferase (MTase) in its N-terminal ≈265 residues and an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) within the C-terminal part. One of the major interests and challenges in NS5 is to understand the interplay between RdRP and MTase as a unique natural fusion protein in viral genome replication and cap formation. Here, we report the first crystal structure of the full-length flavivirus NS5 from Japanese encephalitis virus. The structure completes the vision for polymerase motifs F and G, and depicts defined intra-molecular interactions between RdRP and MTase. Key hydrophobic residues in the RdRP-MTase interface are highly conserved in flaviviruses, indicating the biological relevance of the observed conformation. Our work paves the way for further dissection of the inter-regulations of the essential enzymatic activities of NS5 and exploration of possible other conformations of NS5 under different circumstances.
We have investigated the adsorption and thermal conversion of molecular oxygen (O2) states on the TiO2(110) surface by making use of the distinct photodesorption behavior of each adsorption state. Oxygen chemisorbs at the oxygen vacancy defect sites on the annealed TiO2(110) surface at 105 K to a saturation coverage of less than 0.12 monolayers (ML), producing mostly the α-O2 species which is observed to undergo slow photodesorption. Upon heating this surface to above 250 K, the α-O2 is converted to the β-O2 state which can photodesorb at a significantly higher rate. The β-O2 species dissociates above 400 K to produce atomic oxygen, eliminating the oxygen anionic vacancies. Both the α- and β-photodesorption processes have a threshold energy at the TiO2 band gap (3.1 eV), indicating a substrate excitation mediated process. The photodesorption time-profile is fitted with an exponential decay function with a cross section of ∼8×10−17 cm2 for the α-O2 and ∼1.5×10−15 cm2 for the β-O2 species at a photon energy of 3.94 eV.
CO chemisorption has been studied on TiO2(110) under surface conditions where oxygen anion vacancy sites are not present (oxidized surface), compared to conditions where the vacancy sites are present (annealed surface). The binding energy of CO on the nondefective TiO2(110) surface is 9.9 kcal/mole in the limit of zero coverage. CO...CO repulsive interactions have been observed at higher coverages. When anion vacancy sites are produced under controlled annealing conditions in vacuum at 900 K, a significant increase in the desorption temperature of a portion of the chemisorbed CO is observed. This observation, coupled with measurements showing that defective TiO2(110) does not have enhanced CO chemisorption capacity, suggests that CO adsorbs more strongly on lattice Ti sites in the vicinity of anion vacancy sites. It is postulated that enhanced CO bonding occurs via the interaction of the O moiety of CO with the anion vacancy site while primary adsorbate bonding occurs via the C moiety to Ti lattice sites. Neither CO2 production nor oxygen exchange in CO occurs when CO desorbs from defective TiO2(110).
The photooxidation of chemisorbed CO on
TiO2(110) was investigated. Molecular
O2, chemisorbed at 105
K at anion vacancy defect sites on TiO2(110), is shown
to undergo excitation leading to either photodesorption
of O2 or photooxidation of coadsorbed CO to produce
CO2. The yield of photoproduced CO2 and
photodesorbed
O2 follows the same excitation curve versus photon energy
with a threshold at the TiO2 band gap, 3.1 eV.
The decay time for photoproduced CO2 is essentially
identical with the characteristic decay time for
photodesorbed α-O2, corresponding to a photodesorption
cross section = 8 × 10-17 cm2 for 3.94 eV
photons.
This indicates that both O2 photodesorption and
CO2 photoproduction are related to the same
α-O2 species.
Compared to O2 photodesorption, CO2
photoproduction is a minor process. Lattice oxygen in
TiO2 is not
chemically involved in CO2 formation during ultraviolet
irradiation.
We report the first experimental observation of two chemisorption states for molecular oxygen on a TiO2(110) surface containing anion vacancy sites. The first molecular species can be photoactivated to oxidize coadsorbed CO to CO2 (α channel) and undergoes slow photodesorption. The second molecular oxygen species only undergoes fast photodesorption (β channel). Conversion from α-O2, to β-O2 occurs upon heating the surface to above 200 K.
A series of Ni(4) cubane complexes with the composition [Ni(hmp)(ROH)Cl](4) complexes 1-4 where R= -CH(3) (complex 1), -CH(2)CH(3) (complex 2), -CH(2)CH(2)(C(4)H(9)) (complex 3), -CH(2)CH(2)CH(2)(C(6)H(11)) (complex 4), hmp(-) is the anion of 2-hydroxymethylpyridine, t-Buhmp(-) is the anion of 4-tert-butyl-2-hydroxymethylpyridine, and dmb is 3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol] and [Ni(hmp)(dmb)Br](4) (complex 5) and [Ni(t-Buhmp)(dmb)Cl](4) (complex 6) were prepared. All six complexes were characterized by dc magnetic susceptibility data to be ferromagnetically coupled to give an S = 4 ground state with significant magnetoanisotropy (D approximately equal to -0.6 cm(-1)). Magnetization hysteresis measurements carried out on single crystals of complexes 1-6 establish the single-molecule magnet (SMM) behavior of these complexes. The exchange bias observed in the magnetization hysteresis loops of complexes 1 and 2 is dramatically decreased to zero in complex 3, where the bulky dmb ligand is employed. Fast tunneling of magnetization is observed for the high-symmetry (S(4) site symmetry) Ni(4) complexes in the crystal of complex 3, and the tunneling rate can even be enhanced by destroying the S(4) site symmetry, as is the case for complex 4, where there are two crystallographically different Ni(4) molecules, one with C(2) and the other with C(1) site symmetry. Magnetic ordering temperatures due to intermolecular dipolar and magnetic exchange interactions were determined by means of very low-temperature ac susceptibility measurements; complex 1 orders at 1100 mK, complex 3 at 290 mK, complex 4 at approximately 80 mK, and complex 6 at <50 mK. This confirms that bulkier ligands correspond to more isolated molecules, and therefore, magnetic ordering occurs at lower temperatures for those complexes with the bulkiest ligands.
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