Search results for "Biophysics"
showing 10 items of 3515 documents
Relationships Between Dimorphism, Cell Wall Structure, and Surface Activities in Candida albicans
1991
Most cells are covered with a complex network of interacting molecules that form the extracellular matrix. These molecules (proteins and polysaccharides) are secreted locally and interact among themselves to form an organized structure outside the cell plasma membrane. In unicellular eukaryotic organisms and plant cells, this structure is reinforced to withstand osmotic changes in the external environment, giving rise to the so-called cell wall.
The role of pH on instability and aggregation of sickle hemoglobin solutions
2004
Understanding the physical basis of protein aggregation covers strong physical and biomedical interests. Sickle hemoglobin (HbS) is a point-mutant form of normal human adult hemoglobin (HbA). It is responsible for the first identified "molecular disease," as its propensity to aggregation is responsible for sickle cell disease. At moderately higher than physiological pH value, this propensity is inhibited: The rate of aggregate nucleation becomes exceedingly small and solubility after polymerization increases. These order-of-magnitude effects on polymer nucleation rates and concurrent relatively modest changes of solubility after polymerization are here shown to be related to both pH-induced…
Relationship between conformation and physicochemical properties of polypeptides. I. Synthesis of homo- and co-oligopeptides by the liquid-phase meth…
1980
The synthesis of the following oligo- and co-oligopeptides by the liquid-phase method is described: (L-Met)15 (I), [L-Glu(OBzl)]20 (II), (L-Val)8-Gly (IV), (L-Ile)8-Gly (V), (L-Ile)4-Gly-(L-Ile)4 (VI), (L-Ile)4-Pro-(L-Ile)4 (VII), (L-Met)5-L-Pro-(L-Met)5 (VIII), [L-Glu(OBzl)]7-L-Pro-[L-Glu(OBzl)]7 (IX). The oligomers are covalently bound to bifunctional polyethylene glycol (PEG) and monofunctional PEG-M of Mr 5 × 103−2 × 104. Analytical controls were carried out after each step of synthesis in order to ensure quantitative coupling yields. All products could be obtained in high purity as indicated by amino acid analysis, thin-layer chromatography and chiroptical methods. The solubility of th…
Negative Staining of Thinly Spread Biological Samples
2007
Negative staining is widely applicable to isolated viruses, protein molecules, macro-molecular assemblies and fibrils, subcellular membrane fractions, liposomes and artificial membranes, synthetic DNA arrays, and also to polymer solutions. In this chapter, techniques are provided for the preparation of the necessary support films (continuous carbon and holey/perforated carbon). The range of suitable negative stains is presented, with some emphasis on the benefit of using ammonium molybdate and of negative stain-trehalose combinations. Protocols are provided for the single-droplet negative staining technique (on continuous and holey carbon support films), the negative staining-carbon film te…
Effects of KL4-Type Peptides on the Surface Activity and Stability of Pulmonary Surfactant Films as Evaluated in the Captive Bubble Surfactometer
2012
Although SP-B is the most critical protein in lung surfactant, recombinant or synthetic forms of SP-B as a basis for the development of therapeutic surfactants are still not available. An alternative is the design and production of peptides mimicking the structure and general properties of essential motifs in SP-B.In the present study the surface activity of different KL4-derived peptides, as sequence variations of the original peptide designed to replicate a general amphipathic motif of SP-B [1], has been assessed in the captive bubble surfactometer. The peptides were reconstituted in a surfactant lipid matrix: DPPC/POPC/POPG (50:25:15, w/w/w). This mixture was selected because it offers a…
Interaction of pHPMA–pLMA Copolymers with Human Blood Serum and Its Components
2013
Immediately after administration, polymer therapeutics are exposed to complex biological media like blood which may influence and alter their physicochemical properties due to interactions with proteins or serum components. Among such interactions those leading to larger sized aggregates can be sensitively detected by dynamic light scattering (DLS) as a pre in vivo screening method. Random copolymers from N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide and lauryl methacrylate p(HPMA-co-LMA) and copolymers loaded with the model drug domperidone were characterized by DLS in isotonic salt solution and in blood serum. The bare amphiphilic copolymer micelles (Rh=30 nm in isotonic salt solution) formed large a…
Stabilization of an ?-helical conformation in an isolated hexapeptide inhibitor of calmodulin
2001
The conformational properties of two hexapeptides, Ac-LWRILW-NH(2) and its D-amino acid counterpart Ac-lwrilw-NH(2), identified as calmodulin inhibitors using mixture-based synthetic combinatorial library approaches, have been characterised by NMR and CD spectroscopy. The peptides fold into an alpha-helical conformation in aqueous solution. The observed short- and medium-range nuclear Overhauser effects were consistent with the formation of an alpha-helical structure and a reasonably well-defined set of structures was obtained by using restraints from the NMR data in simulated annealing calculations. Analysis of glycine-substitution analogues demonstrated that all the amino acids that make …
From Hydrophobic Matching to Interfacial Tuning: New Ideas for the Mutual Adaptation Between Membranes and Peptides
2009
It is widely accepted that membrane proteins and lipid bilayers are complementary in terms of the distribution in space of their hydrophobic and polar regions. Similarly, it is also accepted that the hydrophobic parts of the protein and the membrane must adapt to each other. Classically these ideas are rationalized under the concept of hydrophobic matching, which predicts a number of possible mechanisms by which proteins can vary their effective hydrophobic length, or membranes can change their hydrophobic thickness. Such effects have been studied in detail for simplified systems, like transmembrane peptides or protein fragments, which generally show that optimizing peptide orientation is t…
Sequence-specific and DNA structure-dependent interactions of Escherichia coli MutS and human p53 with DNA
2013
Many proteins involved in DNA repair systems interact with DNA that has structure altered from the typical B-form helix. Using magnetic beads to immobilize DNAs containing various types of structures, we evaluated the in vitro binding activities of two well-characterized DNA repair proteins, Escherichia coli MutS and human p53. E. coli MutS bound to double-stranded DNAs, with higher affinity for a G/T mismatch compared to a G/A mismatch and highest affinity for larger non-B-DNA structures. E. coli MutS bound best to DNA between pH 6 and 9. Experiments discriminated between modes of p53-DNA binding, and increasing ionic strength reduced p53 binding to nonspecific double-stranded DNA, but had…
Purification of rat liver epoxide hydratase to apparent homogeneity.
1975
Epoxide hydratase (EC 4.2.1.63) is a microsomal enzyme which catalyses the conversion of epoxides to trans-dihydrodiols. Epoxides, produced by the action of microsomal monooxygenases (EC 1.14.1.1) from aromatic and olefinic compounds, are thought to be responsible for many of the harinful effects of polycyclic hydrocarbons and related compounds. Thus epoxide hydratase, together with glutathione 9transferases, (EC 2.5.1.18) may play an important role in the removal of carcinogenic and cytotoxic metabolites (for reviews see [l-3]). It has been reported [4,5] that dihydrodiols formed from some polycyclic hydrocarbons (benz(a)anthracene and benzo(a)pyrene) are reactivated by the microsomal mono…