The binding constant and stoichiometry ratio for the formation of iron(II)−(1,10-phenanthroline) or iron(II)−o-phenanthroline complexes has been determined by a combination of a low-cost analytical method using a smartphone and a molecular modeling method as a laboratory experiment designed for analytical and physical chemistry courses. Intensity values were obtained from the digital images by measuring the RGB (red, green, blue) values (on a scale of 0−255 in intensity) of the samples between Fe(II) and ophenanthroline using a digital camera from a smartphone. The R channel showed the best linearity for predicting the binding constant. For computational studies, iron(II) complexes using water molecules and 1,10-phenanthroline were used to evaluate the stability of the complex by varying the number of ligands. Complexes have been optimized by reaching a minimum amount of energy. It was possible to observe how stable the complexes are from the optimization calculations, including aspects about the achieved geometries. The approach provides a simple method for performing stability constants over a wide range of complexes, from the undergraduate chemistry laboratories, in the field, and in the research laboratory.

Scorpion venom constitutes a rich source of biologically active compounds with high potential for therapeutic and biotechnological applications that can be used as prototypes for the design of new drugs. The aim of this study was to characterize the structural conformation, evaluate the antimicrobial activity, and gain insight into the possible action mechanism underlying it, for two new analog peptides of the scorpion peptide Stigmurin, named StigA25 and StigA31. The amino acid substitutions in the native sequence for lysine residues resulted in peptides with higher positive net charge and hydrophobicity, with an increase in the theoretical helical content. StigA25 and StigA31 showed the capacity to modify their structural conformation according to the environment, and were stable to pH and temperature variation—results similar to the native peptide. Both analog peptides demonstrated broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity in vitro, showing an effect superior to that of the native peptide, being non-hemolytic at the biologically active concentrations. Therefore, this study demonstrates the therapeutic potential of the analog peptides from Stigmurin and the promising approach of rational drug design based on scorpion venom peptide to obtain new anti-infective agents.

BackgroundSaccharification of lignocellulosic material by xylanases and other glycoside hydrolases is generally conducted at high concentrations of the final reaction products, which frequently inhibit the enzymes used in the saccharification process. Using a random nonhomologous recombination strategy, we have fused the GH11 xylanase from Bacillus subtilis (XynA) with the xylose binding protein from Escherichia coli (XBP) to produce an enzyme that is allosterically stimulated by xylose.ResultsThe pT7T3GFP_XBP plasmid containing the XBP coding sequence was randomly linearized with DNase I, and ligated with the XynA coding sequence to create a random XynA–XBP insertion library, which was used to transform E. coli strain JW3538-1 lacking the XBP gene. Screening for active XBP was based on the expression of GFP from the pT7T3GFP_XBP plasmid under the control of a xylose inducible promoter. In the presence of xylose, cells harboring a functional XBP domain in the fusion protein (XBP+) showed increased GFP fluorescence and were selected using FACS. The XBP+ cells were further screened for xylanase activity by halo formation around xylanase producing colonies (XynA+) on LB-agar-xylan media after staining with Congo red. The xylanase activity ratio with xylose/without xylose in supernatants from the XBP+/XynA+ clones was measured against remazol brilliant blue xylan. A clone showing an activity ratio higher than 1.3 was selected where the XynA was inserted after the asparagine 271 in the XBP, and this chimera was denominated as XynA–XBP271. The XynA–XBP271 was more stable than XynA at 55 °C, and in the presence of xylose the catalytic efficiency was ~3-fold greater than the parental xylanase. Molecular dynamics simulations predicted the formation of an extended protein–protein interface with coupled movements between the XynA and XBP domains. In the XynA–XBP271 with xylose bound to the XBP domain, the mobility of a β-loop in the XynA domain results in an increased access to the active site, and may explain the observed allosteric activation.ConclusionsThe approach presented here provides an important advance for the engineering enzymes that are stimulated by the final product.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13068-016-0529-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

No abstract

No abstract