Search results for "030302 biochemistry & molecular biology"
showing 10 items of 238 documents
Cluster-determinant 36 (CD36) impacts on vitamin E postprandial response
2014
International audience; Scope: A single nucleotide polymorphism in the cluster determinant 36 (CD36) gene has recently been associated with plasma alpha-tocopherol concentration, suggesting a possible role of this protein in vitamin E intestinal absorption or tissue uptake. Methods and results: To investigate the involvement of CD36 in vitamin E transport, we first evaluated the effect of CD36 on alpha- and gamma-tocopherol transmembrane uptake and efflux using transfected HEK cells. gamma-Tocopherol postprandial response was then assessed in CD36-deficient mice compared with wild-type mice, after the mice had been fully characterized for their alpha -tocopherol, vitamin A and lipid plasma,…
Tracking Ca2+ ATPase intermediates in real time by x-ray solution scattering
2020
Sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase (SERCA) transporters regulate calcium signaling by active calcium ion reuptake to internal stores. Structural transitions associated with transport have been characterized by x-ray crystallography, but critical intermediates involved in the accessibility switch across the membrane are missing. We combined time-resolved x-ray solution scattering (TR-XSS) experiments and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for real-time tracking of concerted SERCA reaction cycle dynamics in the native membrane. The equilibrium [Ca2] E1 state before laser activation differed in the domain arrangement compared with crystal structures, and following laser-induced release o…
Subcellular localization of bacteriophage PRD1 proteins in Escherichia coli
2014
Bacteria possess an intricate internal organization resembling that of the eukaryotes. The complexity is especially prominent at the bacterial cell poles, which are also known to be the preferable sites for some bacteriophages to infect. Bacteriophage PRD1 is a well-known model serving as an ideal system to study structures and functions of icosahedral internal membrane-containing viruses. Our aim was to analyze the localization and interactions of individual PRD1 proteins in its native host Escherichia coli. This was accomplished by constructing a vector library for production of fluorescent fusion proteins. Analysis of solubility and multimericity of the fusion proteins, as well as their …
Fetuin-A and Cystatin C Are Endogenous Inhibitors of Human Meprin Metalloproteases
2010
Meprin α and β, zinc metalloproteinases, play significant roles in inflammation, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), possibly by activating cytokines, like interleukin 1β, interleukin 18, or tumor growth factor α. Although a number of potential activators for meprins are known, no endogenous inhibitors have been identified. In this work, we analyzed the inhibitory potential of human plasma and identified bovine fetuin-A as an endogenous meprin inhibitor with a K(i) (inhibition constant) of 4.2 × 10(-5) M for meprin α and a K(i) of 1.1 × 10(-6) M meprin β. This correlated with data obtained for a fetuin-A homologue from carp (nephrosin inhibitor) that revealed a potent meprin α and β…
Differential interaction of the two cholesterol-dependent, membrane-damaging toxins, streptolysin O and Vibrio cholerae cytolysin, with enantiomeric …
2003
AbstractMembrane cholesterol is essential to the activity of at least two structurally unrelated families of bacterial pore-forming toxins, represented by streptolysin O (SLO) and Vibrio cholerae cytolysin (VCC), respectively. Here, we report that SLO and VCC differ sharply in their interaction with liposome membranes containing enantiomeric cholesterol (ent-cholesterol). VCC had very low activity with ent-cholesterol, which is in line with a stereospecific mode of interaction of this toxin with cholesterol. In contrast, SLO was only slightly less active with ent-cholesterol than with cholesterol, suggesting a rather limited degree of structural specificity in the toxin–cholesterol interact…
Yeast mRNA cap-binding protein Cbc1/Sto1 is necessary for the rapid reprogramming of translation after hyperosmotic shock.
2011
Global translation is inhibited in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells under osmotic stress; nonetheless, osmostress-protective proteins are synthesized. We found that translation mediated by the mRNA cap-binding protein Cbc1 is stress-resistant and necessary for the rapid translation of osmostress-protective proteins under osmotic stress.
Tight DNA-protein complexes isolated from barley seedlings are rich in potential guanine quadruplex sequences
2020
Background The concept of chromatin domains attached to the nuclear matrix is being revisited, with nucleus described as a set of topologically associating domains. The significance of the tightly bound to DNA proteins (TBP), a protein group that remains attached to DNA after its deproteinization should be also revisited, as the existence of these interactions is in good agreement with the concept of the topologically associating domain. The work aimed to characterize the DNA component of TBP isolated from barley seedlings. Methods The tight DNA-protein complexes from the first leaves, coleoptiles, and roots of barley seedlings were isolated by purification with chromatography on nitrocell…
A Comprehensive Spectroscopic Analysis of the Ibuprofen Binding with Human Serum Albumin, Part II
2021
Human serum albumin (HSA) is the most abundant human plasma protein. HSA plays a crucial role in many binding endos- and exogenous substances, which affects their pharmacological effect. The innovative aspect of the study is not only the interaction of fatted (HSA) and defatted (dHSA) human serum albumin with ibuprofen (IBU), but the analysis of the influence of temperature on the structural modifications of albumin and the interaction between the drug and proteins from the temperature characteristic of near hypothermia (308 K) to the temperature reflecting inflammation in the body (312 K and 314 K). Ibuprofen is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. IBU is used to relieve acute pain, inf…
PyDSC: a simple tool to treat differential scanning calorimetry data
2020
AbstractHerein, we describe an open-source, Python-based, script to treat the output of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiments, called pyDSC, available free of charge for download at https://github.com/leonardo-chiappisi/pyDSC under a GNU General Public License v3.0. The main aim of this program is to provide the community with a simple program to analyze raw DSC data. Key features include the correction from spurious signals, and, most importantly, the baseline is computed with a robust, physically consistent approach. We also show that the baseline correction routine implemented in the script is significantly more reproducible than different standard ones proposed by propriet…
What monomeric nucleotide binding domains can teach us about dimeric ABC proteins
2020
The classic conceptualization of ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter function is an ATP-dependent conformational change coupled to transport of a substrate across a biological membrane via the transmembrane domains (TMDs). The binding of two ATP molecules within the transporter's two nucleotide binding domains (NBDs) induces their dimerization. Despite retaining the ability to bind nucleotides, isolated NBDs frequently fail to dimerize. ABC proteins without a TMD, for example ABCE and ABCF, have NBDs tethered via elaborate linkers, further supporting that NBD dimerization does not readily occur for isolated NBDs. Intriguingly, even in full-length transporters, the NBD-dimerized, outward-…