Studies on the Proton Pumping Activity of H^+-ATPase in Tonoplast Vesicles of Populus euphratica

Tonoplast-enriched vesicles were prepared from suspension-cultured Populus euphratica Oliv. cells by differential centrifugation and discontinuous sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The properties of the proton pumping activity of H+-ATPases in tonoplast vesicles were studied by acridine orange fluorescent quenching measured at 22 degreesC. The proton pumping activity of ATPase was ATP-dependent with apparent Michaelis-Menten Constant (K-m) for ATP about 0.65 mmol/L. The optimal pH for H+-ATPases activity was 7.5. The proton pumping activity of H+-ATPase could be initiated by some divalent cations, Mg2+ being highly efficient, much more than Fe2+; and Ca2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+ were inefficient under the experimental condition. The proton translocation could be stimulated by halide anions, with potencies decreasing in the order Cl- > Br- > I- > F-. The proton pumping activity was greatly inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide (NEM), N, N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD), NO3- and Bafilomycin A(1), but not by orthovanadate and azide. These results demonstrated that the H+-ATPase in the tonoplast of Populus euphratica belonged to vacuolar type ATPase. This work was the first time that tonoplast-enriched vesicles were isolated from Populus euphratica cells.

Relationship between ESIPT properties and antioxidant activities of 5-hydroxyflavone derivates

It is of great significance to study the relationship between the excited state intramolecular proton transfer(ESIPT)properties and antioxidant activities of compounds in the field of life sciences.In this work,two novel compounds 5HF-OMe and 5HF-NH2 are designed through introducing a methoxy-and amino-group into the structure of 5-hydroxyflavone(5HF)respectively.The relationship between the ESIPT reaction and antioxidant activities of the three compounds is studied via the density functional theory(DFT)and time-dependent DFT(TD-DFT)methods.The calculated potential energy curves suggest that the rate of ESIPT reaction will gradually slow down from 5HF to 5HF-OMe and 5HF-NH2.In addition,the antioxidant activities of the three compounds gradually enhance from 5HF to 5HF-OMe and 5HF-NH2,which can be seen from the calculated energy gaps and ionization potential values.Interestingly,the above results imply that the rate of ESIPT reaction has a negative relationship with the antioxidant activities of the compounds,i.e.,the slower rate of ESIPT reaction will reflect the higher antioxidant activity of the compound,which will provide valuable reference for detecting the antioxidant activity of compound via the photophysical method.

Cardiolipin is essential for higher proton translocation activity of reconstituted F_o

The Fo membrane domain of FoF1-ATPase complex had been purifiedfrom porcine heart mitochondria. SDS-PAGE with silver staining indicated that the purity of Fo was about 85% and the sample contained no subunits of F1-ATPase. The purified Fo was reconstituted into liposomes with different phospholipid composition, and the effect of CL (cardiolipin), PA (phosphatidic acid), PI (phosphatidylinositol) and PS (phosphatidylserine) on the H+ translocation activity of Fo was investigated. The results demonstrated that CL, PA and PI could promote the proton translocation of Fo with the order of CL＞PA＞＞PI, while PS inhibited it. Meanwhile ADM (adriamycin) severely impaired the proton translocation activity of Fo vesicles containing CL, which suggested that CL's stimulation of the activity of reconstituted Fo might correlate with its non-bilayer propensity. After Fo was incorporated into the liposomes containing PE (phosphatidylethanolamine), DOPE (dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine) as well as DEPE (dielaidoylphosphatidylethanolamine), it was found that the proton translocation activity of Fo vesicles increased with the increasing content of PE or DOPE, which has high propensity of forming non-bilayer structure, but was independent of DEPE. The dynamic quenching of the intrinsic fluorescence of tryptophan by HB (hypocrellin B) as well as fluorescent spectrum of acrylodan labeling Fo at cysteine indicated that CL could induce Fo to a suitable conformation resulting in higher proton translocation activity.

Electronic effect on the optical properties and sensing ability of AIEgens with ESIPT process based on salicylaldehyde azine

Two novel AIE-active salicylaldehyde azine(SAA) derivatives with a typical excited-state intramolecular proton transfer(ESIPT) process are prepared by introducing electron-withdrawing and donating groups at para-position of phenolic hydroxyl group(CN-SAA and TPA-SAA). The effect of the proton activity in SAA framework on their optical behaviors is investigated spectroscopically. The results from NMR and solvation measurements show that the proton of phenolic hydroxyl group has higher activity when there are electron-withdrawing groups, and the absorption and fluorescence spectra in buffers with different pH also provide the same results. After inviting F. as a nucleophilic probe, this proton activity difference in CN-SAA and TPA-SAA becomes more obvious. The potential application of both molecules is investigated. TPA-SAA exhibits good quantitative sensing ability towards F. with a fluorescence "turn-on" mode, whereas the aggregates of TPA-SAA can selectively and sensitively detect Cu2+ in aqueous solution. From these results, a structure-property relationship is established: the occurrence of ESIPT process will become much easier when linking electron-withdrawing groups at the para-position of phenolic hydroxyl group(e.g., CN-SAA),and it is better to introduce electron-donating groups to enhance the sensing ability towards ions(e.g., TPA-SAA). This work will provide guidance for further design and preparation of AIE-active luminogens with ESIPT process for sensing applications.