PMC

Variation of the viscosity (η) with the concentration (c) for some electrolyte solutions used in RFB at 298.15 K: (a) sulfuric acid (●) [] and hydrochloride (x) []; (b) sodium hydroxide (●) []: potassium hydroxide (□) [] and lithium hydroxide (∆) []; (c) sodium sulfate (●) [], potassium sulfate (□) [], lithium sulfate (∆) [], and ammonium sulfate (x) []; (d) sodium chloride (●) [], potassium chloride (□) []; lithium chloride (∆) [], and ammonium chloride (x) [].

Variation of the specific conductance (κ) with the concentration (c) for some electrolyte solutions used in RFB at 293.15 or 298.15 K. (a) sulfuric acid [], hydrochloric acid [], and hydrobromic acid []; (b) sodium hydroxide (●) [], potassium hydroxide (□) []; lithium hydroxide (∆) [], and ammonium hydroxide in 1 mol/L aqueous NaOH (x) []; (c) sodium sulfate (●) [], potassium sulfate (□) [], lithium sulfate (∆) [], and ammonium sulfate (x) []; (d) sodium chloride (●) [], potassium chloride (□) [], lithium chloride (∆) [], and ammonium chloride (x) [].

Morphology of the AbPGK crystals. The crystals were grown in 0.2 M potassium sodium tartrate, 0.1 M sodium citrate pH 6.0, 1.8 M lithium sulfate for 3 d. The crystals were approximately 400 × 400 × 400 µm in size.

Salt addition to a water and alcohol mixture. On the y-axis the peak area is displayed and on the x-axis the different alcohols which were used as substrate of interest are displayed. Salt addition resulted in an improvement of the peak area for the alcohols assessed, in particular lithium chloride addition. An increase of the peak area up to a factor of 25 was obtained for 1-butanol, whereas for 1-decanol an improvement of 7.6 was obtained. Samples were analyzed by means of GC–MS. KCl potassium chloride, LiCl lithium chloride, NaCl sodium chloride, Na₂SO₄ sodium sulfate

Image of a typical DatA crystal. The approximate dimensions of the crystal are 0.20 × 0.07 × 0.05 mm. The crystal was grown using reservoir-solution conditions consisting of 0.1 M CHES pH 8.6, 1.0 M potassium sodium tartrate, 0.2 M lithium sulfate, 0.01 M barium chloride. The colourless crystals typically grew in a few days at 293 K. The crystal appears blue in colour owing to the effect of the polarizing microscope.

The systematic design of the smear-based BCS1. The illustration demonstrates the complete factorial systematic design of the initial PEG smear-based screen BCS1. The buffers were used at a concentration of 0.1 M and the additives were (i) potassium acetate (KOAc), (ii) lithium sulfate (Li₂SO₄), (iii) ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃), (iv) lithium chloride and magnesium chloride mixture (LiCl + MgCl₂) and (v) ethylene glycol, all at 0.2 M concentration apart from ethylene glycol, which was at 10%(v/v). The PEG smears used are low molecular weight (LMW), medium molecular weight (MMW), high molecular weight (HMW) and broad molecular weight (BMW).

Representative surface tension data for selected salts, acids, and bases. Filled symbols represent acids, and the corresponding open symbols denote the sodium salt of the same anion. The symbols for the various anions are as follows: sulfate (asterisks), hydroxide (open diamonds), chloride (open and filled circles), bromide (open and filled squares), nitrate (open and filled triangles), and iodide (dashes). Data are taken from ref. . Potassium and lithium salts are omitted for clarity; as shown by the averages in , values of dγ/dm₂ for K⁺ and Li⁺ salts are slightly smaller than those for the corresponding Na⁺ salts.

Crystal and X-ray diffraction images of the wild type and V47S mutant of CpsUbiX. (a) A crystal of wild-type CpsUbiX obtained using 200 mM sodium chloride, 100 mM potassium phosphate monobasic/sodium phosphate dibasic pH 5.8, 11%(w/v) PEG 8000. Its approximate dimensions were 0.1 × 0.15 × 0.15 mm. (b) A crystal of V47S mutant CpsUbiX obtained using 0.1 M trisodium citrate pH 5.4, 0.5 M ammonium sulfate, 1.2 M lithium sulfate. Its approximate dimensions were 0.1 × 0.1 × 0.1 mm. (c) X-­ray diffraction image (2.0 Å resolution) from a crystal of wild-type CpsUbiX. (d) X-ray diffraction image (1.76 Å resolution) of the V47S mutant CpsUbiX crystal obtained during data collection.

Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) of microbial community, samples, and environmental parameters. Arrows indicate the direction and magnitude of environmental parameters associated with phyla (open green triangles) and samples studied (open blue circles). BOD, Biochemical oxygen demand; COD, Chemical oxygen demand; Chla, Chlorophyll a; HN, Hardness; Alk, Total alkalinity; T, Temperature; OM, Organic matter; TOC, Total organic Carbon; DO, Dissolved oxygen; , Nitrate; , Nitrite; TON, Total organic nitrogen; TP, Total phosphorus; OP, Orthophosphate; , Sulfate; S, Sulfur; S²⁻, Total sulfide; Na⁺, Sodium; Cl⁻, Chloride; K⁺, Potassium; Mg²⁺, Magnesium; Ca²⁺, Calcium; DB, Dissolved boron; TB, Total boron; DLi, Dissolved lithium; TLi, Total lithium; SiO₂, Silica; Dar, Dissolved Arsenic; Tar, Total Arsenic.

Recovery of the ConA′ structure upon addition of specific salts in bulk solution. (A) and (B) are Far-UV CD spectra of 5 μM ConA′ generated from 45% (vol/vol) methanol (black solid) in the presence of 1 M ammonium-based anions (sulfate, chloride and perchlorate) and 1 M acetate-based cations (tetramethylammonium, magnesium, potassium, lithium and tris), respectively. The CD spectrum corresponding to native ConA (black dotted) is also included for comparison. (C) DSC scans for 60 μM ConA′ generated from 20%:10% (vol/vol) acetic acid: methanol (top) with 1 M added ammonium sulfate, ammonium perchlorate, magnesium acetate and tetramethylammonium acetate (bottom). The experimental data and fit data are indicated by solid and dashed line, respectively.

Triangles represent response variables (OTU abundances). Arrows represent quantitative explanatory variables (physico-chemical parameters) with arrowheads indicating their direction of increase. Circles represent qualitative explanatory variables (sites). BOD: Biochemical oxygen demand; COD: Chemical oxygen demand; Chla: Chlorophyll a; HN: Hardness; TAlk: Total alkalinity; TOC: Total organic Carbon; NO-3: Nitrate; NO-2: Nitrite; TON: Total organic nitrogen; TP: Total phosphorus; PO43-: Phosphate; SO42-: Sulfate; S: Sulfur; Na+: Sodium; Cl-: Chloride; K+: Potassium; Mg2+: Magnesium; Ca2+: Calcium; DB: Dissolved boron; TB: Total boron; DLi: Dissolved lithium; TLi: Total lithium; SiO2: Silica; DAr: Dissolved Arsenic; TAr: Total Arsenic.

Proteins are ordered by sSCE; salt types are ordered by cation (ammonium, calcium, lithium, magnesium, manganese, potassium, rubidium, sodium, zinc, barium, cesium, cobalt, copper, iron, gadolinium, nickel, samarium, strontium, cadmium) and, within each cation, by anion (citrate, malonate, succinate, tartrate, acetate, bromide, cacodylate, carbonate, chloride, citrate tribasic, fluoride, formate, iodide, molybdate, nitrate, phosphate monobasic, phosphate dibasic, phosphate tribasic, pyrophosphate tetrabasic, sulfate, tetraborate, thiocyanate, thiosulfate, 4-aminosalicylate); and PEG types are ordered by molecular weight (200, 400, 550, 1000, 1500, 2000, 3350, 4000, 5000, 6000, 8000, 10000, 20000 g/mol).

Ion concentrations and microbial community composition of 43 water droplets from six different sampling sites of the Pitch Lake. Ion concentrations of surface water pudldes are shown for comparison in the right panel. Each bar represents the ion concentration or microbial community composition of a single water droplet, calculated as the mean of two technical replicates. (A)–(G) Concentrations of sulfate, phosphate, lithium, potassium, sodium, bromide and chloride in mM. Note different y-scales. (H) Relative abundance of OTUs clustered at a 97% sequence similarity level, with different colors representing different phyla, each casket represents a single OTU. Black bars at the bottom of the figure indicate the glass jar to which a water droplet belongs. Note that rare OTUs with very low abundances are not resolvable as single caskets with the bars and appear black. See Figure S3 (Supporting Information) for relative abundances of the Top 25 OTUs.

Crystals of AbALR with nine different shapes observed from 39 conditions in initial crystallization trials. (a) 2% Tascimate pH 5.0, 0.1 M sodium citrate tribasic dihydrate pH 5.6, 16% PEG 3350 (PEG/Ion 2 condition 32). (b) 0.02 M magnesium chloride hexahydrate, 0.1 M HEPES pH 7.5, 22% poly(acrylic acid sodium salt) 5100 (Index condition 59). (c) 25% PEG 3350, 10%(v/v) 2-methyl-2,4-pentanediol, 200 mM lithium sulfate, 100 mM imidazole–HCl pH 6.5 (Wizard Precipitant Synergy condition 142). (d) 0.17 M ammonium sulfate, 25.5% PEG 4000, 15% glycerol (Crystal Screen Cryo condition 30). (e) 0.1 M magnesium formate dihydrate, 15% PEG 3350 (Index condition 92). (f) 8% Tascimate pH 5.0, 20% polyethylene glycol 3350 (PEG/Ion 2 condition 12). (g) 0.2 M potassium sodium tartrate tetrahydrate, 20% PEG 3350 (Index condition 86). (h) 0.17 M ammonium acetate, 0.085 M sodium acetate trihydrate pH 4.6, 25.5% PEG 4000, 15% glycerol (Crystal Screen Cryo condition 10). (k) 3.5 M sodium formate, 0.1 M sodium acetate trihydrate pH 4.6 (SaltRX condition 30). The scale bars represent 0.01 mm.

Cation transport activity in proteoliposomes. Wild-type AtNHX1 and mutant V318I proteins were purified and reconstituted into liposomes to measure their cation/H⁺ exchange activity. A, proton transport assays were done as zero-trans experiments at 100 mm sodium, lithium or potassium chloride and using pyranine fluorescence to monitor H⁺ movements. Shown are means and S.E. of two independent preparations of both wild-type and V318I mutant. Closed bars, KCl; open bars, NaCl; dashed bars, LiCl. B, representative transport traces for V318I mutant. At the arrows, cation-chloride (assay start (a)) or NH₄Cl (assay end (b)) was added. C, concentration dependence of cation/H⁺ exchange velocity. Transport assays were done as in A over a 12.5–100 mm cation concentration range. A representative experiment of three with similar results is shown. Open symbols, wild-type AtNHX1; closed symbols, V318I mutant; □ and ▪, KCl; ▵ and ▴, NaCl; ○ and •, LiCl. D, alkali cation transport activities in tonoplast membranes from yeast OC02 (nhx1Δ vnx1Δ) transformed with an empty vector pDR195 or the same plasmid containing wild-type AtNHX1 or mutant V318I. Transport was measured as quenching of the V-ATPase-generated ΔpH gradient by the addition of 37.5 mm sulfate salts. Closed bars, K⁺ transport; open bars, Na⁺ transport.

Ecologically relevant phenotypes distinguish oak and vineyard populations. (A) Oak (blue, N = 10–11) and vineyard (pink, N = 12–16 depending on condition) strains were organized by hierarchical clustering based on average phenotype scores in stress compared with YPD control (blue boxes). Each row indicates a strain labeled on the right, and each column represents a different stress condition labeled on the top (CC, cadmium chloride; CS, copper sulfate; LC, lithium chloride; TA, tartaric acid; CR, Congo red; ET, ethanol; HT, heat; SD, sodium dodecyl sulfate; LG, low glucose; PA, potassium acetate). Colored boxes represent the averaged growth score, where dark blue represents rapid growth and light gray indicates no growth under the designated conditions (dark gray indicates missing data). (B) The average and standard error of the population mean (SEM) of the oak (blue) or vineyard (pink) phenotype scores represented in (A). All of the phenotypic differences shown were statistically significant (P < 10⁻⁴, two-tailed T-test with permutation). Caffeine, calcium chloride, and malic acid (not shown) did not significantly distinguish oak and vineyard strains. (C) Average and SEM of the optical density (OD₆₀₀) readings for oak (blue) and vineyard (pink) strains grown in white grape juice over 46 h.

NMR spectra of NCS-1 binding to ibudilast, vincristine sulfate, lithium, and Taxol. A, overlaid two-dimensional ¹H-¹⁵N HSQC NMR spectra of 1.7 mm uniformly labeled ¹⁵N NCS1 apo (red contours) and holo (yellow contours) in phosphate-buffered saline at pH 7.4, 9% v/v dimethyl-d6 sulfoxide and 3 mm DTT. Vincristine sulfate ligand was at an 11-fold molar excess relative to the ¹⁵N NCS1 protein. B, overlaid two-dimensional ¹H-¹⁵N HSQC NMR spectra of 1.7 mm uniformly labeled ¹⁵N NCS1 apo (red contours) and with ibudilast (violet contours) in phosphate-buffered saline at pH 7.4, 9% v/v dimethyl-d6 sulfoxide and 3 mm DTT. Ibudilast ligand was at a 3.5-fold molar excess relative to the ¹⁵N NCS1 protein. C, overlaid two-dimensional ¹H-¹⁵N HSQC NMR spectra of 70 μm uniformly labeled ¹⁵N NCS1 apo (red contours) and with paclitaxel (green contours) in 50 mm Tris buffer, 100 mm KCl at pH 7.4, with 9% v/v dimethyl-d6 sulfoxide and 1 mm Tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine hydrochloride (TCEP). Paclitaxel ligand was added at a 10-fold molar excess relative to the ¹⁵N NCS1 protein and precipitated ligand removed through centrifugation. D, overlaid two-dimensional ¹H-¹⁵N HSQC NMR spectra of 130 μm uniformly labeled ¹⁵N NCS1 apo (red contours) and with LiCl (blue contours) in 50 mm Tris buffer, 100 mm KCl at pH 7.4, with 9% v/v dimethyl-d6 sulfoxide and 1 mm TCEP. Lithium was added to a concentration of 10 mm in the holo spectrum. All buffers contained saturating concentrations of Ca²⁺ (∼20 mm) and Mg²⁺ (∼10 mm). Unlike the other ligands, there is a discrepancy between the NMR (shown here) and fluorescence results for lithium (A) which can be explained in one of two ways. First, lithium ions may be able to penetrate the NCS-1 structure and alter the solvation shell of buried tryptophans in a manner that potassium ions, with its larger ionic radius, cannot. Second, binding of lithium may involve only interactions with fixed side chain atoms with no alteration in chemical environment of backbone atoms. Proton chemical shifts are reported relative to 3-(trimethylsilyl)-1-propanesulfonic acid referenced to 0 ppm. All NMR experiments were conducted on a Varian INOVA 600 MHz spectrometer using a 5-mm triple-resonance probe equipped with triple-axis pulsed magnetic field gradients and utilized pulse sequences from the Varian BioPack User Library (Varian, Palo Alto, CA) and processed using NMRPipe (Refs. –).

(a) Comparison of the d₃₃ coefficients of pristine and doped Ww crystals measured using PFM. (b) Comparison of d₃₃ coefficients among different classes of organic and inorganic materials. The magenta, blue, cyan and grey regions show the range of d₃₃ values for peptide/amino acid self-assemblies, non-peptide organic materials, organic–inorganic hybrids and inorganic constituents, respectively. The Ww series (pristine and doped with iodine or neutrons) are denoted in red for comparison. From left to right: M13 bacteriophage nanopillars (phage-p), γ-glycine (γ-G), dl-alanine (dl-A), FF microrod arrays prepared using electric field (FF array-E), FF microrod arrays (FF array), M13 bacteriophage thin films (phage-f) and type I collagen films (collagen); nylon, Rochelle salt (E337) and triglycine sulfate (TGS), diisopropylammonium bromide (DIPAB), croconic acid (CRCA), poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF), poly(vinylidene fluoride/trifluoroerhylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)), imidazolium perchlorate (Im-ClO₃); trimethylchloromethyl ammonium trichloromanganese(ii) (TMCM-MnCl₃); ZnO and CdS, periodically poled lithium niobate (LiNbO₃), potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP), non-poled and poled BaTiO₃ [001], lead zirconate titanate (PZT). (c) Schematic cross-section diagram of the proof-of-concept generator used as a direct power source comprising the peptide crystals as the active components. The inset shows a photographic picture of the device. (d) Comparison of the output signals (V_oc, I_sc) from the generators utilized as a direct power source using undoped or doped Ww crystals as the active components, as designed in (c).

Predicted vs. measured concentrations of inorganic ions and some metabolites in real urine samples. Plots of the predicted vs. measured concentrations of 11 inorganic ions in 60 real urine samples, and of 6 among the most active metabolites in 120 real urine samples. The panels show: a chloride (Cl⁻), b sodium (Na⁺), c calcium (Ca²⁺), d potassium (K⁺), e magnesium (Mg²⁺), f phosphate (PO₄ ³⁻), g sulfate (SO₄ ²⁻), h lithium (Li⁺), i rubidium (Rb⁺), j zinc (Zn²⁺), k aluminum (Al³⁺), l creatinine, m dimethylamine, n creatine, o hippurate, p guanidoacetate, and q tartrate. Additional panels for another set of six metabolites are reported in Supplementary Fig. . The concentrations of the inorganic ions were determined in clinical analysis and analytical chemistry laboratories, and the metabolite concentrations were estimated by NMR lineshape fitting analyses (Methods). Horizontal error bars for ions indicate confidence intervals according to the estimated errors of the analytical technique used (Methods), and the vertical ones both for ions and active metabolites are based upon the accuracy of each predictive model, extracted from the relative root mean square error (rRMSE) values. In turn, the rRMSE values were calculated by the predictive efficiency of the models in the 40 randomly prepared artificial urine mixtures (Supplementary Fig. ) and the 4501 artificial urine spectra. For the cases of h Li⁺ and i Rb⁺, 10 and 6 urine samples, respectively, lie outside the normal concentration range in urine, as highlighted by an additional panel. It can be seen that the models are able to predict also these outliers with high accuracy. In addition, the diseases involving alterations of each of the reported ions are reported in orange panels, with the black arrows in the parentheses showing the concentration trend of the ion for each disease