Search results for "INTERACTION"

Protein Interaction Networks and Disease: Highlights of the 3rd Challenges in Computational Biology Meeting

2017

Cellular functions are managed by a complex network of protein interactions, the malfunction of which may derive in disease phenotypes. In spite of the incompleteness and noise present in our current protein interaction maps, computational biologists are making strenuous efforts to extract knowledge from these intricate networks and, through their integration with other types of biological data, expedite the development of novel and more effective treatments against human disorders. The 3rd Challenges in Computational Biology meeting revolved around the Protein Interaction Networks and Disease subject, bringing expert network biologists to the city of Mainz, Germany to debate the current st…

Investigating marine shallow waters dynamics to explore the role of turbidity on ecological responses

2009

The ecological tangible effect of the complex interaction between sediments and water column in shallow waters is represented by turbidity which is a common feature of most aquatic ecosystems: it varies both temporally and spatially; it can cover a huge area and persist for a long period or it can be very localized and temporary. Among many factors able to generate turbidity, wind generated wave action and water mass movements due to tides seem important in causing resuspension of sediments. Although there is much research spent in last decades on this topic and many models to explain the complexity of the wind-water-sediment interaction, some interactive aspects are too site specific and t…

A Coclustering Approach for Mining Large Protein-Protein Interaction Networks

2012

Several approaches have been presented in the literature to cluster Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) networks. They can be grouped in two main categories: those allowing a protein to participate in different clusters and those generating only nonoverlapping clusters. In both cases, a challenging task is to find a suitable compromise between the biological relevance of the results and a comprehensive coverage of the analyzed networks. Indeed, methods returning high accurate results are often able to cover only small parts of the input PPI network, especially when low-characterized networks are considered. We present a coclustering-based technique able to generate both overlapping and nonove…

Label-free piezoelectric biosensor for prognosis and diagnosis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

2017

[EN] An autoantigen piezoelectric sensor to quantify specific circulating autoantibodies in human serum is developed. The sensor consisted on a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) where TRIM21 and TROVE2 autoantigens were covalently immobilized, allowing the selective determination of autoantibodies for diagnosis and prognosis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). The sensitivity of the biosensor, measured as IC50 value, was 1.51 U/mL and 0.32 U/mL, for anti-TRIM21 and anti-TROVE2 circulating autoantibodies, respectively. The sensor is also able to establish a structural interaction fingerprint pattern or profile of circulating autoantibodies, what allows scorin…

Exploiting Imperfections in Perception-Action Learning

2019

In this paper a some examples of simulations and experiments performed in the last few years in the field of bio-inspired robotics are reviewed and revisited, deepening their characteristics and emphasising the role of imperfections that could be the main actors guiding their success in real environment. Our cases of study rely on both geetic and behavioral experiments on the fruit fly, from which models, simulations and robotic experiments were performed.

Hydrophobic mismatch of mobile transmembrane helices: Merging theory and experiments

2012

Abstract Hydrophobic mismatch still represents a puzzle for transmembrane peptides, despite the apparent simplicity of this concept and its demonstrated validity in natural membranes. Using a wealth of available experimental 2 H NMR data, we provide here a comprehensive explanation of the orientation and dynamics of model peptides in lipid bilayers, which shows how they can adapt to membranes of different thickness. The orientational adjustment of transmembrane α-helices can be understood as the result of a competition between the thermodynamically unfavorable lipid repacking associated with peptide tilting and the optimization of peptide/membrane hydrophobic coupling. In the positive misma…

Production and characterisation of recombinant forms of human pulmonary surfactant protein C (SP-C):Structure and surface activity

2006

  Udgivelsesdato: 2006-Apr Surfactant protein C (SP-C) is an essential component for the surface tension-lowering activity of the pulmonary surfactant system. It contains a valine-rich alpha helix that spans the lipid bilayer, and is one of the most hydrophobic proteins known so far. SP-C is also an essential component of various surfactant preparations of animal origin currently used to treat neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS) in preterm infants. The limited supply of this material and the risk of transmission of infectious agents and immunological reactions have prompted the development of synthetic SP-C-derived peptides or recombinant humanized SP-C for inclusion in new prepar…

Interaction of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1 and Vip3A Proteins with Spodoptera frugiperda Midgut Binding Sites

2009

ABSTRACT Vip3Aa, Vip3Af, Cry1Ab, and Cry1Fa were tested for their toxicities and binding interactions. Vip3A proteins were more toxic than Cry1 proteins. Binding assays showed independent specific binding sites for Cry1 and Vip3A proteins. Cry1Ab and Cry1Fa competed for the same binding sites, whereas Vip3Aa competed for those of Vip3Af.

Real-time measurements of Hg0 and H2S at La Solfatara Crater (Campi Flegrei, Southern Italy) and Mt. Amiata volcano (Siena, Central Italy): a new geo…

2014

Susceptibility of eye fluke-infected fish to predation by bird hosts.

2005

Host manipulation by trophically transmitted parasites may predispose infected hosts to predation and in this way enhance parasite transmission. In most study systems, however, the evidence comes from laboratory studies, and therefore knowledge of the effect of manipulation on parasite transmission efficiency in the wild is still limited. Here we examined the effect ofDiplostomum spathaceum(Trematoda) eye flukes on the susceptibility of fish intermediate hosts to predation by bird definitive hosts. Our earlier studies have shown that the parasite alters fish phenotype and increases their susceptibility to artificial predation under laboratory conditions. In the present field study, we allow…