Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) catalyzes the first step in fatty acid biosynthesis: the synthesis of malonyl-CoA from acetyl-CoA. As essential regulators of fatty acid biosynthesis and metabolism, ACCs are regarded as therapeutic targets for the treatment of metabolic diseases such as obesity, In ACC, the biotinoyl domain performs a critical function by transferring an activated carboxyl group from the biotin carboxylase domain to the carboxyl transferase domain, followed by carboxyl transfer to malonyl-CoA. Despite the intensive research on this enzyme, only the bacterial and yeast ACC structures are currently available, To explore the mechanism of ACC holoenzyme function, we determined the structure of the biotinoyl domain of human ACC2 and analyze its characteristics using NMR spectroscopy. The 3D structure of the hACC2 biotinoyl domain has a similar folding topology to the previously determined domains from E. coli and P. Shermanii, however, the 'thumb' structure is absent in the hACC2 biotinoyl domain. Observations of the NMR signals upon the biotinylation indicate that the biotin group of hACC2 does not affect the structure of the biotinoyl domain, while the biotin group for E. coli ACC interacts directly with the thumb residues that are not present in the hACC2 structure. These results imply that, in the E. coli ACC reaction, the biotin moiety carrying the carboxyl group from BC to CT can pause at the thumb of the BCCP domain. The human biotinoyl domain, however, lacks the thumb structure and does not have additional non-covalent interactions with the biotin moiety; thus, the flexible motion of the biotinylated lysine residue must underlie the "swinging arm" motion. This study provides insight into the mechanism of ACC holoenzyme function and supports the "swinging arm" model in human ACCs.

To investigate the 3-bond connectivity of human brain metabolites by scalar coupling interaction through 2D-correlation spectroscopy (COSY) techniques using high field NMR spectroscopy. All NMR experiments were performed at 298K on Unity Inova 500 or 600 (Varian Inc.) equipped with a triple resonance probe head with z-shield gradient. Human brain metabolites were prepared with 10% $D_2O$. Two dimensional 2D COSY spectra were acquired with 4096 complex data points in $t_2$ and 128 or 256 increments in $t_1$ dimension. The spectral width was 9615.4 Hz and solvent suppression was achieved using presaturation using low power irradiation of the water resonance during 2s of relaxation delay. NMR data were processed using VNMRJ (Varian Instrument) software and all the chemical shifts were referenced to the methyl resonance of N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) peak at 2.0 ppm. Total 10 metabolites such as N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), creatine (Cr), choline (Cho), glutamine (Gln), glutamate (Glu), myo-inositol (Ins), lactate (Lac), taurine (Tau), ${\gamma}$-aminobutyricacid (GABA), alanine (Ala) were included for major target metabolites. Symmetrical 2D-COSY spectra were successfully acquired. Total 14 COSY cross peaks were observed even though there were parallel/orthogonal noisy peaks induced by water suppression. Except for Cr, all of human brain metabolites produced COSY cross peaks. The spectra of NAA methyl proton at 2.02 ppm and Glu methylene proton ($CH_2(3)$) at 2.11 ppm and Gln methylene proton ($CH_2(3)$) at 2.14 ppm were overlapped in the similar resonance frequency between 2.00 ppm and 2.15 ppm. The present study demonstrated that in vitro 2D-COSY represented the 3-bond connectivity of human brain metabolites by scalar coupling interaction. This study could aid in better understanding the interactions between human brain metabolites in vivo 2D-COSY study. Also it would be helpful to determine the molecular stereochemistry in vivo by using two-dimensional MR spectroscopy.

We report on the ferromagnetic characteristics of $Zn_{1-x}Mn_xO$ films (x = 0.3) prepared by sol-gel method on the silicon and (0001) ${\alpha}-Al_2O_3$ substrates at the annealing temperature of 700$^{\circ}C$. Magnetic measurements show that Curie temperature ($T_C$) and the coercive field ($H_C$) for the film on the silicon are about 32 K and about 275 Oe, while those for that on the sapphire are about 32 K and 425 Oe, respectively. Energy dispersive spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy measurements suggest that ferromagnetic precipitates originated by manganese oxide compound formed at the interfaces of the both substrates may be responsible for the observed ferromagnetic behavior of the films. Electron paramagnetic resonance study of the powders up to the concentration of x=0.15 supports the result.

Four sesterterpenoids were isolated from AMPK activity-guided fraction of marine sponge Sarcotragus species. Their planar structures were determined from combination of extensive 1D and 2D NMR experiments and MS data, and the configuration at the chiral centers were assigned by comparison with the $^1H$ and $^{13}C$ chemical shifts of the known compounds. Among four compounds, compound 2 was found to be a new sarcotrine derivative. Though not strong, compounds 1-4 moderately showed AMPK activation effect on L6 myoblast cell through Western Blot analysis.

Ghrelin is a unique peptide hormone that releases growth factor and it stimulates appetite. It comes from pre pro-ghrelin by the post translational modification process and its innate functions are known as food up-take and the growth hormone regulation. Therefore, the structural information of ghrelin precursor is of importance in understanding it function. From our results, we found that the solution structure of ghrelin is mostly random coil conformation at neutral pH value and the structural population changes with pH environments. Data from circular dichroism in different TFE concentrations revealed that the secondary structure changes from random coil to a-helix and the isodichroic point is observed at 202nm, implying that two equilibrium states exist between random coil and helical structure.

Convection effect in liquids has been one of the main targets to be overcome in pulsed-field-gradient NMR measurements of self-diffusion coefficients since the temperature gradient along the sample tube generated by the heating and/or cooling process causes the effect, resulting in additional diffusion. It is known that the capillary is the most appropriate tube type for diffusion experiments at variable temperatures since the narrower tube suppresses convection effectively. For evaluating the properties of hydrogen bonding, diffusion coefficients of the $K^+$-complexed and free valinomycin in a micro tube have been determined at various temperatures. From the analysis of the obtained diffusion coefficient values, we could conclude that the intramolecular hydrogen bonding in both of the $K^+$ complexed and free valinomycin in a non-polar solvent is preserved over the observed temperature range, and the temperature dependence of hydrogen bonding is more pronounced in free valinomycin. It is also thought that there is no big change in the radius of the $K^+$-complexed as temperature is varied, and the ratio of overall radius, $r_{complex}/r_{free}$ is slightly decreased as temperature rises.

Cross-polarization (CP) signals were observed even from liquid samples such as neat toluene. Therefore, CP signals of liquid molecules in the presence of high surface materials do not necessarily mean the molecules are adsorbed on solid surface, especially when no signal from the tertiary observing nuclei such as carbons of the molecules is detected.