Carotenoid composition and conformation in retinal oil droplets of the domestic chicken.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Arteni AA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6544226 | biostudies-literature | 2019
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Carotenoid composition and conformation in retinal oil droplets of the domestic chicken.
Arteni Ana-Andreea AA LaFountain Amy M AM Alexandre Maxime T A MTA Fradot Mathias M Mendes-Pinto Maria M MM Sahel José-Alain JA Picaud Serge S Frank Harry A HA Robert Bruno B Pascal Andrew A AA
PloS one 20190531 5
Carotenoid-containing oil droplets in the avian retina act as cut-off filters to enhance colour discrimination. We report a confocal resonance Raman investigation of the oil droplets of the domestic chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus. We show that all carotenoids present are in a constrained conformation, implying a locus in specific lipid binding sites. In addition, we provide proof of a recent conclusion that all carotenoid-containing droplets contain a mixture of all carotenoids present, rathe ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:Fast biomass pyrolysis is an effective and promising process for high bio-oil yields, and represents one of the front-end technologies to provide alternative, sustainable fuels as a replacement of conventional, fossil-based ones. In this work, the effect of droplet initial diameter on the evaporation and ignition of droplets of crude fast pyrolysis bio-oil (FPBO) and FPBO/ethanol blend (50% vol) at ambient pressure is discussed. The experimental tests were carried out in a closed single droplet combustion chamber equipped with optical accesses, using droplets with a diameter in the range of 0.9-1.4 mm. The collected experimental data show a significant effect of droplet diameter and initial fuel composition on the evaporation and combustion of the droplets. At the same time, 1-dimensional modeling of the evaporation and ignition of different droplets of crude FPBO and its blend with ethanol is performed to understand the complex physical and chemical effects. To this purpose, an 8-component surrogate was adopted, and a skeletal mechanism (170 species and 2659 reactions) was obtained through an established methodology. The comparison of numerical and experimental results shows that the model is able to capture the main features related to the heating phase of the droplet and the effect of fuel composition on droplet temperature and evaporation, particularly the increased reactivity following ethanol addition and the variation of diameter with time. Also, a sensitivity analysis highlighted the reactions controlling the autoignition of the droplets in the different conditions. It was found that the autoignition of pure FPBO droplets is governed by dimethyl furane (DMF), because of its high volatility and in spite of not being the most abundant species. On the other side, ethanol chemistry drives the gas-phase ignition in the case of the blended (50/50 v/v) mixtures, due to its higher volatility and reactivity.
| S-EPMC8154438 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Xanthorhodopsin of the extremely halophilic bacterium Salinibacter ruber represents a novel antenna system. It consists of a carbonyl carotenoid, salinixanthin, bound to a retinal protein that serves as a light-driven transmembrane proton pump similar to bacteriorhodopsin of archaea. Here we apply the femtosecond transient absorption technique to reveal the excited-state dynamics of salinixanthin both in solution and in xanthorhodopsin. The results not only disclose extremely fast energy transfer rates and pathways, they also reveal effects of the binding site on the excited-state properties of the carotenoid. We compared the excited-state dynamics of salinixanthin in xanthorhodopsin and in NaBH(4)-treated xanthorhodopsin. The NaBH(4) treatment prevents energy transfer without perturbing the carotenoid binding site, and allows observation of changes in salinixanthin excited-state dynamics related to specific binding. The S(1) lifetimes of salinixanthin in untreated and NaBH(4)-treated xanthorhodopsin were identical (3 ps), confirming the absence of the S(1)-mediated energy transfer. The kinetics of salinixanthin S(2) decay probed in the near-infrared region demonstrated a change of the S(2) lifetime from 66 fs in untreated xanthorhodopsin to 110 fs in the NaBH(4)-treated protein. This corresponds to a salinixanthin-retinal energy transfer time of 165 fs and an efficiency of 40%. In addition, binding of salinixanthin to xanthorhodopsin increases the population of the S(*) state that decays in 6 ps predominantly to the ground state, but a small fraction (<10%) of the S(*) state generates a triplet state.
| S-EPMC2717270 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ImportanceRecently, intravitreal pegcetacoplan became the first drug to gain US Food and Drug Administration approval for the treatment of geographic atrophy associated with nonexudative age-related macular degeneration, but the administration of this medication may be associated with unanticipated posttreatment complications.ObjectiveTo assess the prevalence of presumed silicone oil droplets in the vitreous cavity after intravitreal injection of pegcetacoplan.Design, setting, and participantsThis case series study involved a retrospective record review of all 55 patients treated with intravitreal pegcetacoplan, 0.1 mL in 150-mg/mL solution, between March 24 and June 5, 2023, at a single specialty retina practice. All injections were done using needles from the kit supplied by Apellis Pharmaceuticals on a 1-mL McKesson Luer lock syringe.Main outcomes and measuresThe presence or absence of presumed silicone bubbles detected during dilated biomicroscopic fundus examination and/or on color fundus photographs, the presence or absence of symptoms, change in visual acuity, and/or increase in intraocular pressure.ResultsA total of 62 intravitreal pegcetacoplan injections were given to 55 patients (mean [SD] age, 83.8 [7.8] years; 33 women [60%]) from March 24 to June 5, 2023. Of the 55 patients, 16 (29%; mean [SD] age, 83.8 [7.4] years; 9 women [56%]) had presumed intravitreal silicone droplets discovered 2 to 4 weeks after treatment, 3 of which were documented on color fundus photographs. Of the 16 patients, 14 (88%) were symptomatic for new floaters that they described as persistent, while 2 (13%) were asymptomatic. There were no signs of inflammation or infection, no increases in intraocular pressure, and no changes in visual acuity for all 16 patients.Conclusions and relevanceA substantial percentage of patients had symptomatic floaters from presumed intravitreal silicone oil droplets after injections of pegcetacoplan using a McKesson 1-mL Luer lock syringe. These findings support consideration of informing patients of this potential adverse effect, avoiding use of the McKesson syringe, and considering use of silicone-free syringes for pegcetacoplan injections.
| S-EPMC10557030 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Evolution, once the preserve of biology, has been widely emulated in software, while physically embodied systems that can evolve have been limited to electronic and robotic devices and have never been artificially implemented in populations of physically interacting chemical entities. Herein we present a liquid-handling robot built with the aim of investigating the properties of oil droplets as a function of composition via an automated evolutionary process. The robot makes the droplets by mixing four different compounds in different ratios and placing them in a Petri dish after which they are recorded using a camera and the behaviour of the droplets analysed using image recognition software to give a fitness value. In separate experiments, the fitness function discriminates based on movement, division and vibration over 21 cycles, giving successive fitness increases. Analysis and theoretical modelling of the data yields fitness landscapes analogous to the genotype-phenotype correlations found in biological evolution.
| S-EPMC4268700 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Most of the microbial degradation in oil reservoirs is believed to take place at the oil-water transition zone (OWTZ). However, a recent study indicates that there is microbial life enclosed in microliter-sized water droplets dispersed in heavy oil of Pitch Lake in Trinidad and Tobago. This life in oil suggests that microbial degradation of oil also takes place in water pockets in the oil-bearing rock of an oil leg independent of the OWTZ. However, it is unknown whether microbial life in water droplets dispersed in oil is a generic property of oil reservoirs rather than an exotic exception. Hence, we took samples from three heavy-oil seeps, Pitch Lake (Trinidad and Tobago), the La Brea Tar Pits (California, USA), and an oil seep on the McKittrick oil field (California, USA). All three tested oil seeps contained dispersed water droplets. Larger droplets between 1 and 10 μl revealed high cell densities of up to 109 cells ml-1 Testing for ATP content and LIVE/DEAD staining showed that these populations consist of active and viable microbial cells with an average of 60% membrane-intact cells and ATP concentrations comparable to those of other subsurface ecosystems. Microbial community analyses based on 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing revealed the presence of known anaerobic oil-degrading microorganisms. Surprisingly, the community analyses showed similarities between all three oil seeps, revealing common OTUs, although the sampling sites were thousands of kilometers apart. Our results indicate that small water inclusions are densely populated microhabitats in heavy oil and possibly a generic trait of degraded-oil reservoirs.IMPORTANCE Our results confirmed that small water droplets in oil are densely populated microhabitats containing active microbial communities. Since these microhabitats occurred in three tested oil seeps which are located thousands of kilometers away from each other, such populated water droplets might be a generic trait of biodegraded oil reservoirs and might be involved in the overall oil degradation process. Microbial degradation might thus also take place in water pockets in the oil-bearing oil legs of the reservoir rock rather than only at the oil-water transition zone.
| S-EPMC7237766 | biostudies-literature
Project description:It is well known that oil and water do not mix. Similarly, the incorporation of oil droplets within inorganic crystals is highly counter-intuitive because there is a large difference in surface energy for these two components. Nevertheless, herein we demonstrate the efficient occlusion of ∼250-500 nm oil droplets within 20-40 μm calcite crystals. These droplets are stabilized using various amphiphilic poly(methacrylic acid)-poly(n-alkyl methacrylate) diblock copolymer emulsifiers. Both copolymer concentration and diblock compositions affect the extent of occlusion, with optimized conditions producing calcite crystals containing up to 11% oil by mass. Moreover, compressive forces exerted by the growing crystals cause significant deformation of the oil droplets during occlusion. In principle, this protocol enables the incorporation of water-insoluble dyes or hydrophobic nanoparticles within calcite, which is a cheap, naturally-occurring and environmentally-benign mineral. The single crystal nature of this host lattice ensures efficient retention of such guests, while lowering the solution pH leads to triggered release via acid dissolution.
| S-EPMC7472555 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The carotenoid composition of the flower of Telekia speciosa was investigated for the first time by HPLC-DAD-MS. In addition to the main carotenoid lutein and its geometrical isomers, 5,6-epoxy-carotenoids, namely violaxanthin, lutein 5,6-epoxide and antheraxanthin, were detected in larger amounts. In addition, β-carotene 5,6-epoxide and β-carotene 5,6,5',6'-diepoxide were found, which occurs very rarely in plants. For unambigous identification, β-carotene 5,6-epoxide and β-carotene 5,6,5',6'-diepoxide were prepared semisynthetically, and they were characterized by 1H and 13C NMR and HPLC-CD methods.
| S-EPMC10747434 | biostudies-literature
Project description:G protein-coupled receptors are vital membrane proteins that allosterically transduce biomolecular signals across the cell membrane. However, the process by which ligand binding induces protein conformation changes is not well understood biophysically. Rhodopsin, the mammalian dim-light receptor, is a unique test case for understanding these processes because of its switch-like activity; the ligand, retinal, is bound throughout the activation cycle, switching from inverse agonist to agonist after absorbing a photon. By contrast, the ligand-free opsin is outside the activation cycle and may behave differently. We find that retinal influences rhodopsin dynamics using an ensemble of all-atom molecular dynamics simulations that in aggregate contain 100 μs of sampling. Active retinal destabilizes the inactive state of the receptor, whereas the active ensemble was more structurally homogenous. By contrast, simulations of an active-like receptor without retinal present were much more heterogeneous than those containing retinal. These results suggest allosteric processes are more complicated than a ligand inducing protein conformational changes or simply capturing a shifted ensemble as outlined in classic models of allostery.
| S-EPMC4572577 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The floating lipid layer isolated centrifugation of rat liver was examined for composition and ultrastructure. It was chiefly composed of triglycerides and cholesterol esters plus much smaller amounts of free cholesterol, diglycerides, phospholipid and protein. No free fatty acids were detected. The triglyceride and cholesterol ester fractions consisted mostly of esters of linoleic acid, oleic acid and palmitic acid. Electron micrographs of the floating lipid layer revealed numerous spherical osmiophilic droplets having a mean diameter of 0.5-2mum with a very-thin dense outer coat. Similar structures were observed as organelles in electron micrographs of the intact liver cell. The amount of triglyceride in the layer decreased in rats starved for 72h, but pellet triglyceride (homogenate minus the floating lipid layer) was unchanged. These results suggest that the floating lipid layer is the representative in vitro of lipid-rich organelles which probably function as a depot form of hepatic-cell neutral lipid.
| S-EPMC1177590 | biostudies-other
Project description:We report observations of spontaneous formation of micrometer-sized water droplets within micrometer-thick films of a range of different oils (isotropic and nematic 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) and silicone, olive and corn oil) that are supported on glass substrates treated with octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) and immersed under water. Confocal imaging was used to determine that the water droplets nucleate and grow at the interface between the oils and OTS-treated glass with a contact angle of approximately 130 degrees. A simple thermodynamic model based on macroscopic interfacial energetic arguments consistent with the contact angle of 130 degrees, however, fails to account for the spontaneous formation of the water droplets. zeta-potential measurements performed with OTS-treated glass (-59.0 +/- 16.4 mV) and hydrophobic monolayers formed on gold films (2.0 +/- 0.7 mV), when combined with the observed absence of droplet formation under films of oil supported on the latter surfaces, suggest that the charge of the oil-solid interface promotes partitioning of water to the interfacial region. The hydrophobic nature of the OTS-treated glass promotes dewetting of water accumulated in the interfacial region into droplets (a thin film of water is seen to form on bare glass). The inhibitory effect on droplet formation of both salt (NaCl) and sucrose (0.1-500 mM) added to the aqueous phase was similar, indicating that both solutes lower the chemical potential of the bulk water (osmotic effect) sufficiently to prevent partitioning of the water to the interface between the oil and supporting substrates. These results suggest that charged, hydrophobic surfaces can provide routes to spontaneous formation of surface-supported, water-in-oil emulsions.
| S-EPMC2951552 | biostudies-literature