Amphibian biodiversity is in rapid global decline, due in part to the fungal disease chytridiomycosis, caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Susceptibility to Bd and chytridiomycosis varies between species and populations. Skin peptides and symbiotic skin bacteria appear to be important mechanisms of Bd resistance. However, not much is known about...
Glutathione, a ubiquitous intracellular tripeptide, protects cells by reacting with electrophiles and radicals that can damage cellular macromolecules. However, glutathione conjugation is now recognized as one mechanism by which drugs and xenobiotics can also be converted to reactive intermediates having toxic consequences to cells. The halogenated alkane 1,2-dichloroethane forms S-(2-chloroethyl)...
A novel method for detecting the peptidase activity of clinically relevant peptidases was investigated using solid-contact electrochemical polyion sensors under chronopotentiometric control. Complete instrumental control over ion-extraction was accomplished by incorporating a lipophilic electrolyte into the ion-selective membrane; the sensors had no intrinsic ion-exchange capabilities. The sensors were used to...
The fragmentation characteristics of protonated peptides have been investigated using
tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) under various fragmentation regimes and detailed
density functional theory (DFT) reaction pathway calculations. The DFT calculations
predict novel salt-bridge stabilized transition structures as well as consecutive reactions
occurring in proton-bound dimers for some of the ions...
Electron-biomolecule interactions are a biologically relevant field of study
because there are several ion fragmentation techniques that have come to the forefront
in mass spectrometric analysis that involve the interaction of charged peptides and
free electrons. By studying the electron energies that cause fragmentation in neutral
amino acids, amino acid...