Quantitative structure-activity relationship modeling of peptide and protein behavior as a function of amino acid composition

A quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) modeling approach based on the location of each amino acid along three axes obtained by principal component analysis (called z scores) was extended to physical and functional properties of proteins, where the proportion of particular amino acids rather than a precise sequence is the determining factor. Coomassie Brilliant Blue spectral responses to amino acid homopolymers (R = 0.926) and proteins, either as a function of their contents of six basic and aromatic amino acids (R = 0.976) or as a function of the contributions of these amino acids to the three z scores (R = 0.935), were modeled. The ultraviolet absorbance of proteins was modeled in terms of the z score contributions of tyrosine, tryptophan, and cysteine (R = 0.995). Modeling many protein functional properties in this manner appears to be possible. An approach to modeling peptide behaviors that depend on short sequences of amino acids was also considered.     

Pyogranulomatous myocarditis due to Staphylococcus aureus septicaemia in two harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)

Staphylococcus aureus septicaemia was diagnosed in a dead, stranded harbour porpoise from the German Baltic Sea and in a live harbour porpoise by-caught in inner Danish waters and taken into captivity. Lesions included pyogranulomatous myocarditis, necrotising suppurative bronchopneumonia, pyelonephritis, osteomyelitis and leptomeningitis, and abscesses in lymph nodes and skeletal muscles. The captive animal had fibrinous suppurative epicarditis and pyogranulomatous myocarditis with abscesses. In both animals the organism was suspected to have entered through skin lesions or via the respiratory tract.     

Effects of protein-polyphenol interactions on beverage haze, stabilization, and analysis

The haze-forming activity of a polypeptide depends greatly on its proline content. Haze-forming polyphenols have at least two binding groups, each of which has at least two hydroxy groups on an aromatic ring. The protein/polyphenol ratio has a strong influence on the amount of haze formed; the largest amount occurs when the numbers of polyphenol binding ends and protein binding sites are nearly equal. This has important consequences for turbidimetric methods used to measure haze-active proteins and polyphenols in beverages. The ratio also influences the effectiveness of a number of stabilization procedures.     

Modeling protein functional properties from amino acid composition

Physicochemical and functional properties of proteins were modeled as a function of the contributions of each of the 20 coded amino acids to three (z-scores) or five (extended z-scores) amino acid principal properties using partial least squares regression. The five term models were in all cases stronger in both fit and prediction than the three term models, indicating that useful information is contained in the fourth and fifth property scores. Models predicting protein hydrophobicity (R = 0.932), viscosity (R = 0.737), and foam capacity (R = 0.880) from amino acid composition rather than sequence were obtained. It is likely that additional functional and physicochemical properties of proteins can be modeled in this way.     

Extractable iron and organic matter in the suspended insoluble material of fog droplets

In this work the formation and composition of aggregates between metals and organic material is studied in real fog samples. In a preliminary experiment it has been found that concentrated cloud samples form a yellow-brown precipitate in the presence of Fe(III). Standards of humic acids and fulvic acids co-precipitate with Fe(III), forming similar aggregates i.e. iron-humates (Fe-HA) and iron-fulvates (Fe-FA). By comparing the solubility properties of aggregates by extracting organic carbon (OC) in different pH conditions, it has been observed that fog droplet particulate samples are characterised by solubility properties more similar to those of Fe-HA than Fe-FA. Dilute alkaline solutions can also easily extract organic refractory substances that form aggregates with metals. The recoveries of the total extractable organic matter (accounting for 12% of total insoluble carbon and 15% of particulate mass) are similar to those of humic-like substances (HULIS) from particulate samples. The chromatographic behaviour and functional group characteristics measured in the alkali-extract fraction of precipitated aggregates with iron and in the insoluble particulate of fog samples, are those of humic-like material. Thus, soluble HULIS are able to interact with iron to form particulate, but the composition of a large fraction of insoluble organic carbon is still unknown. These findings have implications on the solubility and surface tension properties of fog droplets and can therefore potentially influence droplet formation, as well as cloud chemical and photochemical processes.     

Prediction of herbage intake and liveweight gain of cattle grazing tropical pastures from the composition of the diet

As a basis for calculating growth rates of cattle within a model of a beef herd, three experiments were carried out. Their purpose was to (i) develop equations to predict organic matter, digestible organic matter and metabolisable energy intakes of cattle, (ii) establish the conversion of metabolisable energy to live weight of tropical cattle, and (iii) establish the validity of these relationships for predicting the liveweight change of grazing animals.In the first experiment, Brahman × Shorthorn crossbred cattle were held either indoors in pens or in long laneways outdoors where they walked approximately 5 km per day. Organic matter intake was measured in both situations and was found to be not significantly different between the situations. Regression equations were calculated relating intake of organic matter and digestible organic matter by cattle indoors to the chemical composition of their diet. The conversion of digestible organic matter to metabolisable energy intake and finally to liveweight gain was confirmed in a second experiment. The liveweight gain of outdoor animals was predicted accurately provided the metabolism of crossbred animals was considered and an allowance made for the energy required for walking.The diet selected by oesophageally fistulated animals at pasture was chemically analysed over a four-month period following these measurements. Feed intake and liveweight gain of non-fistulated animals grazing native and improved pastures were predicted from the chemical composition of the diet selected. There was good prediction of liveweight gain in both pasture situations.