Search results for "Motifs"
showing 10 items of 180 documents
Cross-Reactivity of Epstein-Barr Virus-Specific Immunoglobulin M Antibodies with Cytomegalovirus Antigens Containing Glycine Homopolymers
2001
ABSTRACTTimely and reliable detection of acute primary human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is important in prenatal screening programs and for differential diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis-like disease. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) based on HCMV proteins enable the sensitive detection of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies during primary infection. However, concerns have been raised about possible cross-reactivities of the HCMV antigens used for the design of such ELISAs with IgM antibodies induced by Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). In this study we investigated whether IgM antibodies generated during acute EBV infection reacted with recombinant HCMV antigens. Serum samples f…
Nitric oxide inhibits the ATPase activity of the chaperone-like AAA+ ATPase CDC48, a target for S-nitrosylation in cryptogein signalling in tobacco c…
2012
NO has important physiological functions in plants, including the adaptative response to pathogen attack. We previously demonstrated that cryptogein, an elicitor of defence reaction produced by the oomycete Phytophthora cryptogea , triggers NO synthesis in tobacco. To decipher the role of NO in tobacco cells elicited by cryptogein, in the present study we performed a proteomic approach in order to identify proteins undergoing S-nitrosylation. We provided evidence that cryptogein induced the S-nitrosylation of several proteins and identified 11 candidates, including CDC48 (cell division cycle 48), a member of the AAA+ ATPase (ATPase associated with various cellular activities) family. In vit…
The Hammerhead Ribozyme: A Long History for a Short RNA
2017
Small nucleolytic ribozymes are a family of naturally occurring RNA motifs that catalyse a self-transesterification reaction in a highly sequence-specific manner. The hammerhead ribozyme was the first reported and the most extensively studied member of this family. However, and despite intense biochemical and structural research for three decades since its discovery, the history of this model ribozyme seems to be far from finished. The hammerhead ribozyme has been regarded as a biological oddity typical of small circular RNA pathogens of plants. More recently, numerous and new variations of this ribozyme have been found to inhabit the genomes of organisms from all life kingdoms, although th…
Molecular architecture and activation of the insecticidal protein Vip3Aa from Bacillus thuringiensis
2020
9 p.-5 fig.
Metallothionein Gene Family in the Sea Urchin Paracentrotus lividus: Gene Structure, Differential Expression and Phylogenetic Analysis
2017
Metallothioneins (MT) are small and cysteine-rich proteins that bind metal ions such as zinc, copper, cadmium, and nickel. In order to shed some light on MT gene structure and evolution, we cloned seven Paracentrotus lividus MT genes, comparing them to Echinodermata and Chordata genes. Moreover, we performed a phylogenetic analysis of 32 MTs from different classes of echinoderms and 13 MTs from the most ancient chordates, highlighting the relationships between them. Since MTs have multiple roles in the cells, we performed RT-qPCR and in situ hybridization experiments to understand better MT functions in sea urchin embryos. Results showed that the expression of MTs is regulated throughout de…
Determination of enrichment factors for modified RNA in MeRIP experiments
2019
In the growing field of RNA modification, precipitation techniques using antibodies play an important role. However, little is known about their specificities and protocols are missing to assess their effectiveness. Here we present a method to assess enrichment factors after MeRIP-type pulldown experiments, here exemplified with a commercial antibody against N6-methyladenosine (m6A). Testing different pulldown and elution conditions, we measure enrichment factors of 4-5 using m6A-containing mRNAs against an unmodified control of identical sequence. Both types of mRNA carry 32P labels at different nucleotides, allowing their relative quantification in a mixture after digestion to nucleotides…
alpha 11beta 1 integrin recognizes the GFOGER sequence in interstitial collagens.
2002
The integrins alpha(1)beta(1), alpha(2)beta(1), alpha(10)beta(1), and alpha(11)beta(1) are referred to as a collagen receptor subgroup of the integrin family. Recently, both alpha(1)beta(1) and alpha(2)beta(1) integrins have been shown to recognize triple-helical GFOGER (where single letter amino acid nomenclature is used, O = hydroxyproline) or GFOGER-like motifs found in collagens, despite their distinct binding specificity for various collagen subtypes. In the present study we have investigated the mechanism whereby the latest member in the integrin family, alpha(11)beta(1), recognizes collagens using C2C12 cells transfected with alpha(11) cDNA and the bacterially expressed recombinant a…
Snake venom disintegrins: evolution of structure and function.
2005
Disintegrins represent a family of polypeptides present in the venoms of various vipers that selectively block the function of integrin receptors. Here, we review our current view and hypothesis on the emergence and the structural and functional diversification of disintegrins by accelerated evolution and the selective loss of disulfide bonds of duplicated genes. Research on disintegrins is relevant for understanding the biology of viper venom toxins, but also provides information on new structural determinants involved in integrin recognition that may be useful in basic and clinical research. The role of the composition, conformation, and dynamics of the integrin inhibitory loop acting in …
Synthesis and Inhibitory Studies of Phosphonic Acid Analogues of Homophenylalanine and Phenylalanine towards Alanyl Aminopeptidases.
2020
A library of novel phosphonic acid analogues of homophenylalanine and phenylalanine, containing fluorine and bromine atoms in the phenyl ring, have been synthesized. Their inhibitory properties against two important alanine aminopeptidases, of human (hAPN, CD13) and porcine (pAPN) origin, were evaluated. Enzymatic studies and comparison with literature data indicated the higher inhibitory potential of the homophenylalanine over phenylalanine derivatives towards both enzymes. Their inhibition constants were in the submicromolar range for hAPN and the micromolar range for pAPN, with 1-amino-3-(3-fluorophenyl) propylphosphonic acid (compound 15c) being one of the best low-molecular inhibitors …
The Protein Structure Context of PolyQ Regions.
2016
Proteins containing glutamine repeats (polyQ) are known to be structurally unstable. Abnormal expansion of polyQ in some proteins exceeding a certain threshold leads to neurodegenerative disease, a symptom of which are protein aggregates. This has led to extensive research of the structure of polyQ stretches. However, the accumulation of contradictory results suggests that protein context might be of importance. Here we aimed to evaluate the structural context of polyQ regions in proteins by analysing the secondary structure of polyQ proteins and their homologs. The results revealed that the secondary structure in polyQ vicinity is predominantly random coil or helix. Importantly, the region…