Biomedical subjects

Weiping Huang

Publications and source records attributed to Weiping Huang.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2024

Activity, structure, and diversity of Type II proline-rich antimicrobial peptides from insects.

Apidaecin 1b (Api), the first characterized Type II Proline-rich antimicrobial peptide (PrAMP), is encoded in the honey bee genome. It inhibits bacterial growth by binding in the nascent peptide exit tunnel of the ribosome after the release of the completed protein and trapping the release factors. By genome mining, we have identified 71 PrAMPs encoded in insect genomes as pre-pro-polyproteins. Having chemically synthesized and tested the activity of 26 peptides, we demonstrate that despite significant sequence variation in the N-terminal sequence, the majority of the PrAMPs that retain the conserved C-terminal sequence of Api are able to trap the ribosome at the stop codons and induce stop codon readthrough-all hallmarks of Type II PrAMP mode of action. Some of the characterized PrAMPs exhibit superior antibacterial activity in comparison with Api. The newly solved crystallographic structures of the ribosome complexed with Api and with the more active peptide Fva1 from the stingless bee demonstrate the universal placement of the PrAMPs' C-terminal pharmacophore in the post-release ribosome despite variations in their N-terminal sequence.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Long-period grating refractive index sensor with a modified cladding structure for large operational range and high sensitivity.

What is believed to be a novel long-period grating (LPG) refractive index sensor with a modified cladding structure is proposed and studied. In the proposed structure, the cladding of the fiber has a two-layer structure, i.e., a cladding layer of low refractive index with a reduced radius and an overlay of high refractive index. The sensitivity of the structure-modified LPG sensor to the ambient refractive index change as a function of the cladding layer and overlay parameters is investigated by way of modeling. It is found that an increase of the ambient refractive index causes a field redistribution of the cladding mode into the overlay when the parameters of the overlay are properly selected. It is shown that by reducing the radius of the cladding layer, the operational range of the LPG refractive index sensor can be as large as 0.195 (from 1.244 to 1.440) with a minimum sensitivity of 660 nm/refractive index, which represents a 31% increase of operational range in comparison with the operational range obtained from the reported structure. The design guidelines for achieving this large operation range and high sensitivity are explained by investigating the dependence of the cladding modes on the radius of the cladding layer.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol over catalysts prepared via sonochemistry.

Copper-chromite oxide and TiO2-supported copper-chromite oxide catalysts are prepared by various methods. They are characterized with ICP, BET, XRD, XPS, SEM, and TEM, etc. Their catalytic performance for liquid phase hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol is also valuated. The catalysts prepared by ultrasound exhibit good performance. Catalytic activity of TiO2-supported catalysts is higher than that of catalyst without TiO2, notwithstanding they are all prepared by ultrasound. It is worth stressing that after reduced the TiO2-supported catalysts, which are X-ray amorphous, display good performance at 140 degrees C, while the catalysts without TiO2 show no activity under the same condition. Obtained results indicate that the catalytic performance of catalysts depends upon the amount of reducible copper ions and the activity decay is related to the loss of metal elements on the surface of catalyst.

Catalysis↗