0000000000023335
AUTHOR
Jennifer Neumann
Folding energetics and oligomerization of polytopic α-helical transmembrane proteins
While interactions of single-span transmembrane helices have been studied to a significant extent in the past years, the folding of polytopic α-helical transmembrane proteins as well as their oligomerization, are far less analyzed and understood. The goal of the few thus far performed thermodynamic studies, in which unfolding of polytopic TM proteins was described, was to achieve a mild, potentially reversible unfolding process, to finally derive thermodynamic parameters for the reverse folding pathway. In the first part of this review, we summarize the studies analyzing the thermodynamic stability and folding pathways of polytopic transmembrane proteins. Based on these studies, we deduce s…
Folding and stability of the aquaglyceroporin GlpF: Implications for human aqua(glycero)porin diseases
AbstractAquaporins are highly selective polytopic transmembrane channel proteins that facilitate the permeation of water across cellular membranes in a large diversity of organisms. Defects in aquaporin function are associated with common diseases, such as nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, congenital cataract and certain types of cancer. In general, aquaporins have a highly conserved structure; from prokaryotes to humans. The conserved structure, together with structural dynamics and the structural framework for substrate selectivity is discussed. The folding pathway of aquaporins has been a topic of several studies in recent years. These studies revealed that a conserved protein structure ca…
Diverse relations between ABC transporters and lipids: An overview.
It was first discovered in 1992 that P-glycoprotein (Pgp, ABCB1), an ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter, can transport phospholipids such as phosphatidylcholine, -ethanolamine and -serine as well as glucosylceramide and glycosphingolipids. Subsequently, many other ABC transporters were identified to act as lipid transporters. For substrate transport by ABC transporters, typically a classic, alternating access model with an ATP-dependent conformational switch between a high and a low affinity substrate binding site is evoked. Transport of small hydrophilic substrates can easily be imagined this way, as the molecule can in principle enter and exit the transporter in the same orientation. …
Profiling of RNA modifications by multiplexed stable isotope labelling
The combination of (15)N/(13)C stable isotope labelling (SIL) and LC-MS/MS revealed a total of 52 modifications in RNA from E. coli and yeast, including 10 previously undescribed modifications. Two modifications, N-ribosylnicotinamide and 2-methylthioadenosine, were newly detected in species hitherto thought not to contain these modifications.