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。

疟原虫var基因转换速率变化导致抗原变异[英]／Paul H, Robert P, Christodoulou Z, et al//Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

The spontaneous filling of hydrophobic carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by water observed both experimentally and from simulations is counterintuitive because confinement is generally expected to decrease both entropy and bonding, and remains largely unexplained. Here we report the entropy, enthalpy, and free energy extracted from molecular dynamics simulations of water confined in CNTs from 0.8 to 2.7-nm diameters. We find for all sizes that water inside the CNTs is more stable than in the bulk, but the nature of the favorable confinement of water changes dramatically with CNT diameter. Thus we find (i) an entropy (both rotational and translational) stabilized, vapor-like phase of water for small CNTs (0.8–1.0 nm), (ii) an enthalpy stabilized, ice-like phase for medium-sized CNTs (1.1–1.2 nm), and (iii) a bulk-like liquid phase for tubes larger than 1.4 nm, stabilized by the increased translational entropy as the waters sample a larger configurational space. Simulations with structureless coarse-grained water models further reveal that the observed free energies and sequence of transitions arise from the tetrahedral structure of liquid water. These results offer a broad theoretical basis for understanding water transport through CNTs and other nanostructures important in nanofluidics, nanofiltrations, and desalination.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/108/29/11794.full.pdf

Entropy and the driving force for the filling of carbon nanotubes with water

ConspectusUnderstanding the properties of strongly confined water is important for a variety of applications such as fast flow and desalination devices, voltage generation, flow sensing, and nanofluidics. Confined water also plays an important role in many biological processes such as flow through ion channels. Water in the bulk exhibits many unusual properties that arise primarily from the presence of a network of hydrogen bonds. Strong confinement in structures such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) substantially modifies the structural, thermodynamic, and dynamic (both translational and orientational) properties of water by changing the structure of the hydrogen bond network. In this Account, we provide an overview of the behavior of water molecules confined inside CNTs and slit pores between graphene and graphene oxide (GO) sheets.Water molecules confined in narrow CNTs are arranged in a single file and exhibit solidlike ordering at room temperature due to strong hydrogen bonding between nearest-neighbor mol...

Confined Water: Structure, Dynamics, and Thermodynamics

Part I. Bulk Water: 1. Uniqueness of water 2. Anomalies of water 3. Dynamics of water: molecular motions and hydrogen bond breaking kinetics 4. Inherent structures of liquid water 5. pH of water Part II. Water in Biology: Dynamical View and Function: 6. Biological water 7. Explicit role of water in biological functions 8. Hydration of proteins 9. Can we understand protein hydration layer: lessons from computer simulations 10. Water in and around DNA and RNA 11. Role of water in protein-DNA interaction 12. Water surrounding lipid bilayers 13. Water in Darwin's world Part III. Water in Complex Chemical Systems: 14. Hydrophilic effects 15. Hydrophobic effects 16. Aqueous binary mixtures: amphiphilic effect 17. Water in and around micelles, reverse micelles and microemulsions 18. Water in carbon nanotubes Part IV. Bulk Water: Advanced Topics: 19. Entropy of water 20. Freezing of water into ice 21. Supercritical water 22. Microscopic approaches to understand water anomalies.

Water in Biological and Chemical Processes: From Structure and Dynamics to Function

A groundbreaking discovery in nanofluidics was the observation of the tremendously enhanced water permeability of carbon nanotubes, those iconic objects of nanosciences. The origin of this phenomenon is still a subject of controversy. One of the proposed explanations involves dramatic modifications of the H-bond network of nanoconfined water with respect to that of bulk water. Infrared spectroscopy is an ideal technique to follow modifications of this network through the inter- and intramolecular bonds of water molecules. Here we report the first infrared study of water uptake at controlled vapor pressure in single walled carbon nanotubes with diameters ranging from 0.7 to 2.1 nm. It reveals a predominant contribution of loose H bonds even for fully hydrated states, irrespective of the nanotube size. Our results show that, while the dominating loosely bond signature is attributed to a one-dimensional chain structure for small diameter nanotubes, this feature also results from a water layer with “free” OH ...

/pdf/water-in-carbon-nanotubes-the-peculiar-hydrogen-bond-network-1hl5zgdn2o.pdf

Water in Carbon Nanotubes: The Peculiar Hydrogen Bond Network Revealed by Infrared Spectroscopy

Experiments and computer simulations demonstrate that water spontaneously fills the hydrophobic cavity of a carbon nanotube. To gain a quantitative thermody- namic understanding of this phenomenon, we use the recently developed Two Phase Thermodynamics (2PT) method to compute translational and rotational entropies of confined water molecules inside single-walled carbon nanotubes and show that the increase in energy of a water molecule inside the nanotube is compensated by the gain in its rotational entropy. The confined water is in equilibrium with the bulk wa- ter and the Helmholtz free energy per water molecule of confined water is the same as that in the bulk within the accuracy of the simulation results. A comparison of translational and rotational spectra of water molecules confined in carbon nanotubes with that of bulk water shows significant shifts in the positions of the spectral peaks that are directly related to the tube radius.

Shiang-Tai Lin Chandan Dasgupta

Papers

Thermodynamics of Water Entry in Hydrophobic Channels of Carbon Nanotubes