Raman scattering and water structure in nonionic amphiphile solutions.
The structure of water in aqueous solutions of polyoxyethylene nonionic amphiphiles ${\mathrm{C}}_{10}$${\mathrm{E}}_{5}$, where ${\mathrm{E}}_{5}$ denotes ${\mathrm{H}}_{21}$(${\mathrm{OCH}}_{2}$${\mathrm{CH}}_{2}$${)}_{5}$OH, is studied by Raman scattering along an isothermal path crossing the isotropic one-phase region from 0 to 1 amphiphile volume fraction \ensuremath{\varphi}. The isotropic OH stretching-vibration spectrum points out a water behavior that depends on the amphiphile concentration. The data analysis is performed using the bond-percolation model developed for water. The interpretation of scattering data leads to the following structural picture for the water in the systems: for \ensuremath{\varphi} lower than 0.75, water is partially bound to the oxyethylene groups of the amphiphile; above \ensuremath{\varphi}=0.75 all water present in the system is bound. Analogously to the behavior of water in confined geometries, the structure of bound water presents a local fourfold-coordinated environment.
Water response to ganglioside GM1 surface remodelling.
BACKGROUND
Gangliosides are biological glycolipids participating in rafts, structural and functional domains of cell membranes. Their headgroups are able to assume different conformations when packed on the surface of an aggregate, more lying or standing. Switching between different conformations is possible, and is a collective event. Switching can be induced, in model systems, by concentration or temperature increase, then possibly involving ganglioside-water interaction. In the present paper, the effect of GM1 ganglioside headgroup conformation on the water structuring and interactions is addressed.


METHODS
Depolarized Rayleigh Scattering, Raman Scattering, Quasielastic Neutron Scattering and NMR measurements were performed on GM1 ganglioside solutions, focusing on solvent properties.


RESULTS
All used techniques agree in evidencing differences in the structure and dynamics of solvent water on different time-and-length scales in the presence of either GM1 headgroup conformations.


CONCLUSIONS
In general, all results indicate that both the structural properties of solvent water and its interactions with the sugar headgroups of GM1 respond to surface remodelling. The extent of this modification is much higher than expected and, interestingly, ganglioside headgroups seem to turn from cosmotropes to chaotropes upon collective rearrangement from the standing- to the lying-conformation.


SIGNIFICANCE
In a biological perspective, water structure modulation could be one of the physico-chemical elements contributing to the raft strategy, both for rafts formation and persistence and for their functional aspects. In particular, the interaction with approaching bodies could be favoured or inhibited or triggered by complex-sugar-sequence conformational switch. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Science for Life" Guest Editor: Dr. Austen Angell, Dr. Salvatore Magazù and Dr. Federica Migliardo.
Sustainable production of toxin free marine microalgae biomass as fish feed in large scale open system in the Qatari desert.
Mass cultivation of microalgae biomass for feed should be cost effective and toxin free. Evaporation loss in Qatar can be as high as 2 cm/d. Hence, production of marine microalgae biomass in Qatar would also require mitigating water loss as there was only very limited groundwater reserve. To address these issues, a combination of four growth conditions were applied to a 25,000 L raceway pond: locally isolated microalgae strain was selected which could grow in elevated salinity; strain that did not require silica and vitamins; volume of the culture would increase over time keeping denser inoculum in the beginning, and evaporation water loss would be balanced by adding seawater only. A local saline tolerant Nannochloropsis sp. was selected which did not require silica and vitamins. When the above conditions were combined in the pond, average areal biomass productivities reached 20.37 g/m(2)/d, and the culture was not contaminated by any toxic microalgae.