ALBERT

Description: There is an urgent need for new drugs to treat malaria, with broad therapeutic potential and novel modes of action, to widen the scope of treatment and to overcome emerging drug resistance. Here we describe the discovery of DDD107498, a compound with a potent and novel spectrum of antimalarial activity against multiple life-cycle stages of the Plasmodium parasite, with good pharmacokinetic properties and an acceptable safety profile. DDD107498 demonstrates potential to address a variety of clinical needs, including single-dose treatment, transmission blocking and chemoprotection. DDD107498 was developed from a screening programme against blood-stage malaria parasites; its molecular target has been identified as translation elongation factor 2 (eEF2), which is responsible for the GTP-dependent translocation of the ribosome along messenger RNA, and is essential for protein synthesis. This discovery of eEF2 as a viable antimalarial drug target opens up new possibilities for drug discovery.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4700930/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4700930/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Baragana, Beatriz -- Hallyburton, Irene -- Lee, Marcus C S -- Norcross, Neil R -- Grimaldi, Raffaella -- Otto, Thomas D -- Proto, William R -- Blagborough, Andrew M -- Meister, Stephan -- Wirjanata, Grennady -- Ruecker, Andrea -- Upton, Leanna M -- Abraham, Tara S -- Almeida, Mariana J -- Pradhan, Anupam -- Porzelle, Achim -- Martinez, Maria Santos -- Bolscher, Judith M -- Woodland, Andrew -- Norval, Suzanne -- Zuccotto, Fabio -- Thomas, John -- Simeons, Frederick -- Stojanovski, Laste -- Osuna-Cabello, Maria -- Brock, Paddy M -- Churcher, Tom S -- Sala, Katarzyna A -- Zakutansky, Sara E -- Jimenez-Diaz, Maria Belen -- Sanz, Laura Maria -- Riley, Jennifer -- Basak, Rajshekhar -- Campbell, Michael -- Avery, Vicky M -- Sauerwein, Robert W -- Dechering, Koen J -- Noviyanti, Rintis -- Campo, Brice -- Frearson, Julie A -- Angulo-Barturen, Inigo -- Ferrer-Bazaga, Santiago -- Gamo, Francisco Javier -- Wyatt, Paul G -- Leroy, Didier -- Siegl, Peter -- Delves, Michael J -- Kyle, Dennis E -- Wittlin, Sergio -- Marfurt, Jutta -- Price, Ric N -- Sinden, Robert E -- Winzeler, Elizabeth A -- Charman, Susan A -- Bebrevska, Lidiya -- Gray, David W -- Campbell, Simon -- Fairlamb, Alan H -- Willis, Paul A -- Rayner, Julian C -- Fidock, David A -- Read, Kevin D -- Gilbert, Ian H -- 079838/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 091625/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 098051/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 100476/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- R01 AI090141/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI103058/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jun 18;522(7556):315-20. doi: 10.1038/nature14451.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Drug Discovery Unit, Division of Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery, College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 5EH, UK. ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, USA. ; Malaria Programme, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK. ; Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK. ; University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive 0760, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; Global Health and Tropical Medicine Division, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, PO Box 41096, Casuarina, Darwin, Northern Territory 0811, Australia. ; Department of Global Health, College of Public Health University of South Florida, 3720 Spectrum Boulevard, Suite 304, Tampa, Florida 33612, USA. ; GlaxoSmithKline, Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus-Diseases of the Developing World, Severo Ochoa 2, Tres Cantos 28760, Madrid, Spain. ; TropIQ Health Sciences, Geert Grooteplein 28, Huispost 268, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands. ; Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia. ; Eskitis Institute, Brisbane Innovation Park, Nathan Campus, Griffith University, Queensland 4111, Australia. ; Malaria Pathogenesis Laboratory, Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Jalan Diponegoro 69, 10430 Jakarta, Indonesia. ; Medicines for Malaria Venture, PO Box 1826, 20 route de Pre-Bois, 1215 Geneva 15, Switzerland. ; Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4051 Basel, Switzerland. ; 1] Global Health and Tropical Medicine Division, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, PO Box 41096, Casuarina, Darwin, Northern Territory 0811, Australia [2] Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LJ, UK. ; 1] Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, USA [2] Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26085270" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The Pahrump Hills region of Gale crater is a approximately 12 millimeter thick section of sedimentary rock in the Murray formation, interpreted as the basal geological unit of Mount Sharp. The Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity, arrived at the Pahrump Hills in September 2014 and performed a detailed six-month investigation of the sedimentary structures, geochemistry, and mineralogy of the area. During the campaign, Curiosity drilled and delivered three mudstone samples (targets Confidence Hills, Mojave 2, and Telegraph Peak) to its internal instruments, including the CheMin XRD/XRF.

Description: MSL Curiosity investigated the Windjana sandstone outcrop, in the Kimberley area of Gale Crater, and obtained mineralogical analyses with the CheMin XRD instrument. Windjana is remarkable in containing an abundance of potassium feldspar (and thus K in its bulk chemistry) combined with a low abundance of plagioclase (and low Na/K in its chemistry). The source of this enrichment in K is not clear, but has significant implications for the geology of Gale Crater and of Mars. The high K could be intrinsic to the sediment and imply that the sediment source area (Gale Crater rim) includes K-rich basalts and possibly more evolved rocks derived from alkaline magmas. Alternatively, the high K could be diagenetic and imply that the Gale Crater sediments were altered by K-rich aqueous fluids after deposition.

Description: The Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity has been exploring outcrop and regolith in Gale crater since August 6, 2012. During this exploration, the mission has collected 10 samples for mineralogical analysis by X-ray diffraction (XRD), using the CheMin instrument. The CheMin (Chemistry and Mineralogy) instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity uses a CCD detector and a Co-anode tube source to acquire both mineralogy (from the pat-tern of Co diffraction) and chemical information (from energies of fluoresced X-rays). A detailed description of CheMin is provided in [1]. As part of the rover checkout after landing, the first sample selected for analysis was an eolian sand deposit (the Rocknest "sand shadow"). This sample was selected in part to characterize unconsolidated eolian regolith, but primarily to prove performance of the scoop collection system on the rover. The focus of the mission after Rocknest was on the consolidated sediments of Gale crater, so all of the nine subsequent samples were collected by drilling into bedrock com-posed of lithified sedimentary materials, including mudstone and sandstone. No scoop samples have been collected since Rocknest, but at the time this abstract was written the mission stands poised to use the scoop again, to collect active dune sands from the Bagnold dune field. Several abstracts at this conference outline the Bagnold dune campaign and summarize preliminary results from analyses on approach to the Namib dune sampling site. In this abstract we review the mineralogy of Rocknest, contrast that with the mineralogy of local sediments, and anticipate what will be learned by XRD analysis of Bagnold dune sands.

Description: The bacterial ubiD and ubiX or the homologous fungal fdc1 and pad1 genes have been implicated in the non-oxidative reversible decarboxylation of aromatic substrates, and play a pivotal role in bacterial ubiquinone (also known as coenzyme Q) biosynthesis or microbial biodegradation of aromatic compounds, respectively. Despite biochemical studies on individual gene products, the composition and cofactor requirement of the enzyme responsible for in vivo decarboxylase activity remained unclear. Here we show that Fdc1 is solely responsible for the reversible decarboxylase activity, and that it requires a new type of cofactor: a prenylated flavin synthesized by the associated UbiX/Pad1. Atomic resolution crystal structures reveal that two distinct isomers of the oxidized cofactor can be observed, an isoalloxazine N5-iminium adduct and a N5 secondary ketimine species with markedly altered ring structure, both having azomethine ylide character. Substrate binding positions the dipolarophile enoic acid group directly above the azomethine ylide group. The structure of a covalent inhibitor-cofactor adduct suggests that 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition chemistry supports reversible decarboxylation in these enzymes. Although 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition is commonly used in organic chemistry, we propose that this presents the first example, to our knowledge, of an enzymatic 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction. Our model for Fdc1/UbiD catalysis offers new routes in alkene hydrocarbon production or aryl (de)carboxylation.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Payne, Karl A P -- White, Mark D -- Fisher, Karl -- Khara, Basile -- Bailey, Samuel S -- Parker, David -- Rattray, Nicholas J W -- Trivedi, Drupad K -- Goodacre, Royston -- Beveridge, Rebecca -- Barran, Perdita -- Rigby, Stephen E J -- Scrutton, Nigel S -- Hay, Sam -- Leys, David -- BB/K017802/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- BB/M/017702/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jun 25;522(7557):497-501. doi: 10.1038/nature14560. Epub 2015 Jun 17.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Centre for Synthetic Biology of Fine and Speciality Chemicals, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, UK. ; Innovation/Biodomain, Shell International Exploration and Production, Westhollow Technology Center, 3333 Highway 6 South, Houston, Texas 77082-3101, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26083754" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The human lens is comprised largely of crystallin proteins assembled into a highly ordered, interactive macro-structure essential for lens transparency and refractive index. Any disruption of intra- or inter-protein interactions will alter this delicate structure, exposing hydrophobic surfaces, with consequent protein aggregation and cataract formation. Cataracts are the most common cause of blindness worldwide, affecting tens of millions of people, and currently the only treatment is surgical removal of cataractous lenses. The precise mechanisms by which lens proteins both prevent aggregation and maintain lens transparency are largely unknown. Lanosterol is an amphipathic molecule enriched in the lens. It is synthesized by lanosterol synthase (LSS) in a key cyclization reaction of a cholesterol synthesis pathway. Here we identify two distinct homozygous LSS missense mutations (W581R and G588S) in two families with extensive congenital cataracts. Both of these mutations affect highly conserved amino acid residues and impair key catalytic functions of LSS. Engineered expression of wild-type, but not mutant, LSS prevents intracellular protein aggregation of various cataract-causing mutant crystallins. Treatment by lanosterol, but not cholesterol, significantly decreased preformed protein aggregates both in vitro and in cell-transfection experiments. We further show that lanosterol treatment could reduce cataract severity and increase transparency in dissected rabbit cataractous lenses in vitro and cataract severity in vivo in dogs. Our study identifies lanosterol as a key molecule in the prevention of lens protein aggregation and points to a novel strategy for cataract prevention and treatment.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Zhao, Ling -- Chen, Xiang-Jun -- Zhu, Jie -- Xi, Yi-Bo -- Yang, Xu -- Hu, Li-Dan -- Ouyang, Hong -- Patel, Sherrina H -- Jin, Xin -- Lin, Danni -- Wu, Frances -- Flagg, Ken -- Cai, Huimin -- Li, Gen -- Cao, Guiqun -- Lin, Ying -- Chen, Daniel -- Wen, Cindy -- Chung, Christopher -- Wang, Yandong -- Qiu, Austin -- Yeh, Emily -- Wang, Wenqiu -- Hu, Xun -- Grob, Seanna -- Abagyan, Ruben -- Su, Zhiguang -- Tjondro, Harry Christianto -- Zhao, Xi-Juan -- Luo, Hongrong -- Hou, Rui -- Perry, J Jefferson P -- Gao, Weiwei -- Kozak, Igor -- Granet, David -- Li, Yingrui -- Sun, Xiaodong -- Wang, Jun -- Zhang, Liangfang -- Liu, Yizhi -- Yan, Yong-Bin -- Zhang, Kang -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 30;523(7562):607-11. doi: 10.1038/nature14650. Epub 2015 Jul 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Molecular Medicine Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China [2] State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China [3] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. ; 1] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [2] Department of Ophthalmology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China. ; BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China. ; 1] State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China [2] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; 1] Molecular Medicine Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China [2] Guangzhou KangRui Biological Pharmaceutical Technology Company, Guangzhou 510005, China. ; Molecular Medicine Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China. ; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China. ; 1] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [2] CapitalBio Genomics Co., Ltd., Dongguan 523808, China. ; 1] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [2] Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai First People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai 20080, China. ; Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; Guangzhou KangRui Biological Pharmaceutical Technology Company, Guangzhou 510005, China. ; Department of Biochemistry, University of California Riverside, Riverside, California 92521, USA. ; 1] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [2] Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. ; Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai First People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai 20080, China. ; Department of Ophthalmology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China. ; 1] Molecular Medicine Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China [2] State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China [3] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [4] Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [5] Veterans Administration Healthcare System, San Diego, California 92093, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26200341" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Ubiquinone (also known as coenzyme Q) is a ubiquitous lipid-soluble redox cofactor that is an essential component of electron transfer chains. Eleven genes have been implicated in bacterial ubiquinone biosynthesis, including ubiX and ubiD, which are responsible for decarboxylation of the 3-octaprenyl-4-hydroxybenzoate precursor. Despite structural and biochemical characterization of UbiX as a flavin mononucleotide (FMN)-binding protein, no decarboxylase activity has been detected. Here we report that UbiX produces a novel flavin-derived cofactor required for the decarboxylase activity of UbiD. UbiX acts as a flavin prenyltransferase, linking a dimethylallyl moiety to the flavin N5 and C6 atoms. This adds a fourth non-aromatic ring to the flavin isoalloxazine group. In contrast to other prenyltransferases, UbiX is metal-independent and requires dimethylallyl-monophosphate as substrate. Kinetic crystallography reveals that the prenyltransferase mechanism of UbiX resembles that of the terpene synthases. The active site environment is dominated by pi systems, which assist phosphate-C1' bond breakage following FMN reduction, leading to formation of the N5-C1' bond. UbiX then acts as a chaperone for adduct reorientation, via transient carbocation species, leading ultimately to formation of the dimethylallyl C3'-C6 bond. Our findings establish the mechanism for formation of a new flavin-derived cofactor, extending both flavin and terpenoid biochemical repertoires.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉White, Mark D -- Payne, Karl A P -- Fisher, Karl -- Marshall, Stephen A -- Parker, David -- Rattray, Nicholas J W -- Trivedi, Drupad K -- Goodacre, Royston -- Rigby, Stephen E J -- Scrutton, Nigel S -- Hay, Sam -- Leys, David -- BB/K017802/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- BB/M017702/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jun 25;522(7557):502-6. doi: 10.1038/nature14559. Epub 2015 Jun 17.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Centre for Synthetic Biology of Fine and Speciality Chemicals, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, The University of Manchester, Manchester M1 7DN, UK. ; Innovation/Biodomain, Shell International Exploration and Production, Westhollow Technology Center, 3333 Highway 6 South, Houston, Texas 77082-3101, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26083743" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) signal primarily through G proteins or arrestins. Arrestin binding to GPCRs blocks G protein interaction and redirects signalling to numerous G-protein-independent pathways. Here we report the crystal structure of a constitutively active form of human rhodopsin bound to a pre-activated form of the mouse visual arrestin, determined by serial femtosecond X-ray laser crystallography. Together with extensive biochemical and mutagenesis data, the structure reveals an overall architecture of the rhodopsin-arrestin assembly in which rhodopsin uses distinct structural elements, including transmembrane helix 7 and helix 8, to recruit arrestin. Correspondingly, arrestin adopts the pre-activated conformation, with a approximately 20 degrees rotation between the amino and carboxy domains, which opens up a cleft in arrestin to accommodate a short helix formed by the second intracellular loop of rhodopsin. This structure provides a basis for understanding GPCR-mediated arrestin-biased signalling and demonstrates the power of X-ray lasers for advancing the frontiers of structural biology.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4521999/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4521999/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kang, Yanyong -- Zhou, X Edward -- Gao, Xiang -- He, Yuanzheng -- Liu, Wei -- Ishchenko, Andrii -- Barty, Anton -- White, Thomas A -- Yefanov, Oleksandr -- Han, Gye Won -- Xu, Qingping -- de Waal, Parker W -- Ke, Jiyuan -- Tan, M H Eileen -- Zhang, Chenghai -- Moeller, Arne -- West, Graham M -- Pascal, Bruce D -- Van Eps, Ned -- Caro, Lydia N -- Vishnivetskiy, Sergey A -- Lee, Regina J -- Suino-Powell, Kelly M -- Gu, Xin -- Pal, Kuntal -- Ma, Jinming -- Zhi, Xiaoyong -- Boutet, Sebastien -- Williams, Garth J -- Messerschmidt, Marc -- Gati, Cornelius -- Zatsepin, Nadia A -- Wang, Dingjie -- James, Daniel -- Basu, Shibom -- Roy-Chowdhury, Shatabdi -- Conrad, Chelsie E -- Coe, Jesse -- Liu, Haiguang -- Lisova, Stella -- Kupitz, Christopher -- Grotjohann, Ingo -- Fromme, Raimund -- Jiang, Yi -- Tan, Minjia -- Yang, Huaiyu -- Li, Jun -- Wang, Meitian -- Zheng, Zhong -- Li, Dianfan -- Howe, Nicole -- Zhao, Yingming -- Standfuss, Jorg -- Diederichs, Kay -- Dong, Yuhui -- Potter, Clinton S -- Carragher, Bridget -- Caffrey, Martin -- Jiang, Hualiang -- Chapman, Henry N -- Spence, John C H -- Fromme, Petra -- Weierstall, Uwe -- Ernst, Oliver P -- Katritch, Vsevolod -- Gurevich, Vsevolod V -- Griffin, Patrick R -- Hubbell, Wayne L -- Stevens, Raymond C -- Cherezov, Vadim -- Melcher, Karsten -- Xu, H Eric -- DK071662/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- EY005216/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- EY011500/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- GM073197/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM077561/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM095583/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM097463/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM102545/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM103310/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM104212/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM108635/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P30EY000331/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- P41 GM103310/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P41GM103393/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P41RR001209/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- P50 GM073197/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P50 GM073210/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK066202/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK071662/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 EY011500/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM087413/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM109955/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- S10 RR027270/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- U54 GM094586/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U54 GM094599/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U54 GM094618/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 30;523(7562):561-7. doi: 10.1038/nature14656. Epub 2015 Jul 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Structural Sciences, Center for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, USA. ; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA. ; Department of Chemistry, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA. ; Center for Free Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, 22607 Hamburg, Germany. ; Joint Center for Structural Genomics, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. ; 1] Laboratory of Structural Sciences, Center for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, USA [2] Department of Obstetrics &Gynecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. ; The National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy, New York Structural Biology Center, New York, New York 10027, USA. ; Department of Molecular Therapeutics, The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Florida, Jupiter, Florida 33458, USA. ; Jules Stein Eye Institute and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada. ; Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37232, USA. ; Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. ; 1] Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA [2] BioXFEL, NSF Science and Technology Center, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, New York 14203, USA. ; 1] Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA [2] Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA. ; 1] Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA [2] Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Haidian District, Beijing 10084, China. ; 1] Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA [2] Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211, USA. ; State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China. ; Department of Obstetrics &Gynecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. ; Swiss Light Source at Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland. ; Department of Biological Sciences, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA. ; School of Medicine and School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland. ; 1] BioXFEL, NSF Science and Technology Center, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, New York 14203, USA [2] Ben May Department for Cancer Research, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. ; Laboratory of Biomolecular Research at Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland. ; Department of Biology, Universitat Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany. ; Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. ; 1] Center for Free Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, 22607 Hamburg, Germany [2] Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, 22761 Hamburg, Germany. ; 1] Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada [2] Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada. ; 1] Department of Chemistry, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA [2] Department of Biological Sciences, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA [3] iHuman Institute, ShanghaiTech University, 2F Building 6, 99 Haike Road, Pudong New District, Shanghai 201210, China. ; 1] Laboratory of Structural Sciences, Center for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, USA [2] VARI-SIMM Center, Center for Structure and Function of Drug Targets, CAS-Key Laboratory of Receptor Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26200343" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Space-based and airborne coherent Doppler lidars designed for measuring global tropospheric wind profiles in cloud-free air rely on backscatter, beta from aerosols acting as passive wind tracers. Aerosol beta distribution in the vertical can vary over as much as 5-6 orders of magnitude. Thus, the design of a wave length-specific, space-borne or airborne lidar must account for the magnitude of 8 in the region or features of interest. The SPAce Readiness Coherent Lidar Experiment under development by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and scheduled for launch on the Space Shuttle in 2001, will demonstrate wind measurements from space using a solid-state 2 micrometer coherent Doppler lidar. Consequently, there is a critical need to understand variability of aerosol beta at 2.1 micrometers, to evaluate signal detection under varying aerosol loading conditions. Although few direct measurements of beta at 2.1 micrometers exist, extensive datasets, including climatologies in widely-separated locations, do exist for other wavelengths based on CO2 and Nd:YAG lidars. Datasets also exist for the associated microphysical and chemical properties. An example of a multi-parametric dataset is that of the NASA GLObal Backscatter Experiment (GLOBE) in 1990 in which aerosol chemistry and size distributions were measured concurrently with multi-wavelength lidar backscatter observations. More recently, continuous-wave (CW) lidar backscatter measurements at mid-infrared wavelengths have been made during the Multicenter Airborne Coherent Atmospheric Wind Sensor (MACAWS) experiment in 1995. Using Lorenz-Mie theory, these datasets have been used to develop a method to convert lidar backscatter to the 2.1 micrometer wavelength. This paper presents comparison of modeled backscatter at wavelengths for which backscatter measurements exist including converted beta (sub 2.1).

Description: The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on the Curiosity rover is designed to determine the inventory of organic and inorganic volatiles thermally evolved from solid samples using a combination of evolved gas analysis (EGA), gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS), and tunable laser spectroscopy. The first sample analyzed by SAM at the Rocknest (RN) aeolian deposit revealed chlorohydrocarbons derived primarily from reactions between a martian oxychlorine phase (e.g. perchlorate) and terrestrial carbon from N-methyl-N-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl) trifluoroacetamide (MTBSTFA) vapor present in the SAM instrument background. No conclusive evidence for martian chlorohydrocarbons in the RN sand was found. After RN, Curiosity traveled to Yellowknife Bay and drilled two holes separated by 2.75 m designated John Klein (JK) and Cumberland (CB). Analyses of JK and CB by both SAM and the CheMin x-ray diffraction instrument revealed a mudstone (called Sheepbed) consisting of approx.20 wt% smectite clays, which on Earth are known to aid the concentration and preservation of organic matter. Last year at LPSC we reported elevated abundances of chlorobenzene (CBZ) and a more diverse suite of chlorinated hydrocarbons including dichloroalkanes in CB compared to RN, suggesting that martian or meteoritic organic compounds may be preserved in the mudstone. Here we present SAM data from additional analyses of the CB sample and of Confidence Hills (CH), another drill sample collected at the base of Mt. Sharp. This new SAM data along with supporting laboratory analog experiments indicate that most of the chlorobenzene detected in CB is derived from martian organic matter preserved in the mudstone.