Mesophotic.org: a repository for scientific information on mesophotic ecosystems.

Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) and temperate mesophotic ecosystems (TMEs) occur at depths of roughly 30-150 m depth and are characterized by the presence of photosynthetic organisms despite reduced light availability. Exploration of these ecosystems dates back several decades, but our knowledge remained extremely limited until about a decade ago, when a renewed interest resulted in the establishment of a rapidly growing research community. Here, we present the 'mesophotic.org' database, a comprehensive and curated repository of scientific literature on mesophotic ecosystems. Through both manually curated and automatically extracted metadata, the repository facilitates rapid retrieval of available information about particular topics (e.g. taxa or geographic regions), exploration of spatial/temporal trends in research and identification of knowledge gaps. The repository can be queried to comprehensively obtain available data to address large-scale questions and guide future research directions. Overall, the 'mesophotic.org' repository provides an independent and open-source platform for the ever-growing research community working on MCEs and TMEs to collate and expedite our understanding of the occurrence, composition and functioning of these ecosystems. Database URL: http://mesophotic.org/.

Biophysical changes induced by xenon on phospholipid bilayers.

Structural and dynamic changes in cell membrane properties induced by xenon, a volatile anesthetic molecule, may affect the function of membrane-mediated proteins, providing a hypothesis for the mechanism of general anesthetic action. Here, we use molecular dynamics simulation and differential scanning calorimetry to examine the biophysical and thermodynamic effects of xenon on model lipid membranes. Our results indicate that xenon atoms preferentially localize in the hydrophobic core of the lipid bilayer, inducing substantial increases in the area per lipid and bilayer thickness. Xenon depresses the membrane gel-liquid crystalline phase transition temperature, increasing membrane fluidity and lipid head group spacing, while inducing net local ordering effects in a small region of the lipid carbon tails and modulating the bilayer lateral pressure profile. Our results are consistent with a role for nonspecific, lipid bilayer-mediated mechanisms in producing xenon's general anesthetic action.

Xenon hydrate dissociation measurements with model protein systems.

Effective long-term storage remains a significant challenge to the use and development of protein pharmaceuticals. We have investigated the interactions between clathrate hydrates and model protein solutions to determine the effects on hydrate formation. Here, the dissociation curve and equilibrium conditions for xenon clathrate hydrate with model lysozyme and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) protein solutions have been studied using calorimetry measurements at pressures ranging from 3 to 20 bar. Sucrose in solution was shown to exhibit small inhibition effects on xenon hydrate formation, shifting the dissociation curve and decreasing the conversion of water to hydrate by 15-26%. The addition of l-histidine buffer and lysozyme at low concentrations did not substantially inhibit hydrate formation. However, small shifts in the dissociation curve were demonstrated for solutions containing LDH. The presence of lysozyme and LDH in solution did not significantly alter the conversion of water to hydrate, indicating that these and similar proteins do not substantially affect the extent of xenon gas hydrate formation. Preliminary experiments were performed for LDH solutions to assess the impact of xenon hydrate formation and dissociation on enzymatic activity, with samples stored in hydrate systems showing small decreases in activity.