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Samir Kumar Pal

Bio: Samir Kumar Pal is an academic researcher from S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences. The author has contributed to research in topics: Solvation & Förster resonance energy transfer. The author has an hindex of 52, co-authored 356 publications receiving 10901 citations. Previous affiliations of Samir Kumar Pal include California Institute of Technology & Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.


Papers
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TL;DR: Almost all biological macromoleculess proteins and DNAs are inactive in the absence of water, and the role of hydration in enzyme catalysis is well known and has recently been reviewed in a number of publications.
Abstract: Almost all biological macromoleculess proteins (enzymes) and DNAs are inactive in the absence of water. Hydration of a protein/enzyme is particularly important for the stability of the structure and for the function, especially the recognition at a specific site. This role of hydration in enzyme catalysis is well known and has recently been reviewed in a number of publications. In one of these studies it was shown that the dehydration of a protein, which makes it more rigid and increases its denaturation temperature, is correlated with the loss of its physiological function.

719 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Results show that hydration at the surface is a dynamical process with two general types of trajectories, those that result from weak interactions with the selected surface site, giving rise to bulk-type solvation, and those that have a stronger interaction, enough to define a rigid water structure, with a solvation time of 38 ps, much slower than that of the bulk.
Abstract: Biological water at the interface of proteins is critical to their equilibrium structures and enzyme function and to phenomena such as molecular recognition and protein-protein interactions. To actually probe the dynamics of water structure at the surface, we must examine the protein itself, without disrupting the native structure, and the ultrafast elementary processes of hydration. Here we report direct study, with femtosecond resolution, of the dynamics of hydration at the surface of the enzyme protein Subtilisin Carlsberg, whose single Trp residue (Trp-113) was used as an intrinsic biological fluorescent probe. For the protein, we observed two well separated dynamical solvation times, 0.8 ps and 38 ps, whereas in bulk water, we obtained 180 fs and 1.1 ps. We also studied a covalently bonded probe at a separation of approx 7 A and observed the near disappearance of the 38-ps component, with solvation being practically complete in (time constant) 1.5 ps. The degree of rigidity of the probe (anisotropy decay) and of the water environment (protein vs. micelle) was also studied. These results show that hydration at the surface is a dynamical process with two general types of trajectories, those that result from weak interactions with the selected surface site, giving rise to bulk-type solvation (approx 1 ps), and those that have a stronger interaction, enough to define a rigid water structure, with a solvation time of 38 ps, much slower than that of the bulk. At a distance of approx 7 A from the surface, essentially all trajectories are bulk-type. The theoretical framework for these observations is discussed.

522 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review the issues guided by experimental studies, from this laboratory, of polar hydration dynamics at the surfaces of two proteins (Subtilisin Carlsberg (SC) and Monellin).
Abstract: The unique features of a macromolecule and water as a solvent make the issue of solvation unconventional, with questions about the static versus dynamic nature of hydration and the physics of orientational and translational diffusion at the boundary. For proteins, the hydration shell that covers the surface is critical to the stability of its structure and function. Dynamically speaking, the residence time of water at the surface is a signature of its mobility and binding. With femtosecond time resolution it is possible to unravel the shortest residence times which are key for the description of the hydration layer, static or dynamic. In this article we review these issues guided by experimental studies, from this laboratory, of polar hydration dynamics at the surfaces of two proteins (Subtilisin Carlsberg (SC) and Monellin). The natural probe tryptophan amino acid was used for the interrogation of the dynamics, and for direct comparison we also studied the behavior in bulk watera complete hydration in 1 ...

477 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The quenching of luminescence of the protein-capped Cu QCs in the presence of very low hydrogen peroxide concentration reflects the efficacy of the QCs as a potential sensing material in biological environments.
Abstract: A one-pot synthesis of extremely stable, water-soluble Cu quantum clusters (QCs) capped with a model protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA), is reported. From matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry, we assign the clusters to be composed of Cu5 and Cu13 cores. The QCs also show luminescence properties having excitation and emission maxima at 325 and 410 nm, respectively, with a quantum yield of 0.15, which are found to be different from that of protein alone in similar experimental conditions. The quenching of luminescence of the protein-capped Cu QCs in the presence of very low hydrogen peroxide concentration (approximately nanomolar, or less than part-per-billion) reflects the efficacy of the QCs as a potential sensing material in biological environments. Moreover, as-prepared Cu QCs can detect highly toxic Pb2+ ions in water, even at the part-per-million level, without suffering any interference from other metal ions.

302 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a critique of the hydration dynamics of macromolecules, particularly those of protein and DNA, and maintain that there are two types of water hydration, those that reorient in the vicinity of the surface and those which are ordered.

280 citations


Cited by
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[...]

08 Dec 2001-BMJ
TL;DR: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one, which seems an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.
Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

33,785 citations

28 Jul 2005
TL;DR: PfPMP1)与感染红细胞、树突状组胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用,在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作�ly.
Abstract: 抗原变异可使得多种致病微生物易于逃避宿主免疫应答。表达在感染红细胞表面的恶性疟原虫红细胞表面蛋白1(PfPMP1)与感染红细胞、内皮细胞、树突状细胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用,在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作用。每个单倍体基因组var基因家族编码约60种成员,通过启动转录不同的var基因变异体为抗原变异提供了分子基础。

18,940 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Apr 1988-Nature
TL;DR: In this paper, a sedimentological core and petrographic characterisation of samples from eleven boreholes from the Lower Carboniferous of Bowland Basin (Northwest England) is presented.
Abstract: Deposits of clastic carbonate-dominated (calciclastic) sedimentary slope systems in the rock record have been identified mostly as linearly-consistent carbonate apron deposits, even though most ancient clastic carbonate slope deposits fit the submarine fan systems better. Calciclastic submarine fans are consequently rarely described and are poorly understood. Subsequently, very little is known especially in mud-dominated calciclastic submarine fan systems. Presented in this study are a sedimentological core and petrographic characterisation of samples from eleven boreholes from the Lower Carboniferous of Bowland Basin (Northwest England) that reveals a >250 m thick calciturbidite complex deposited in a calciclastic submarine fan setting. Seven facies are recognised from core and thin section characterisation and are grouped into three carbonate turbidite sequences. They include: 1) Calciturbidites, comprising mostly of highto low-density, wavy-laminated bioclast-rich facies; 2) low-density densite mudstones which are characterised by planar laminated and unlaminated muddominated facies; and 3) Calcidebrites which are muddy or hyper-concentrated debrisflow deposits occurring as poorly-sorted, chaotic, mud-supported floatstones. These

9,929 citations

01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The principles of fluorescence spectroscopy is universally compatible with any devices to read and is available in the digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly.
Abstract: Thank you very much for downloading principles of fluorescence spectroscopy. As you may know, people have look hundreds times for their favorite novels like this principles of fluorescence spectroscopy, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they cope with some harmful bugs inside their desktop computer. principles of fluorescence spectroscopy is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly. Our digital library spans in multiple locations, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Kindly say, the principles of fluorescence spectroscopy is universally compatible with any devices to read.

2,960 citations