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Xizang plateau frog (Nanorana parkeri) captured in Lhasa, Tibet, China, solely lives in the subtropical plateau, where there is strong ultraviolet radiation and long duration of sunshine. Considering its harsh living environment, the frog's innate defense against microbes and environmental stress was investigated. In current study, three antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) were purified and characterized...
The role of gap junctions in proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis has been recently highlighted. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms that control these physiological events by acting on gap junction channels are still unknown. We have recently demonstrated that heteromeric gap junction plaques composed by Cx43 and Cx33 are unstable at the cell boundary and are rapidly internalized by endocytosis...
For hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a leading cause of cancer death world-wide, there is no effective therapy especially for the advanced stage of the disease. Thus, we started the investigations about a novel anti HCC approach based on the depletion of the transcription factor serum response factor (SRF) in HCC cell lines; SRF choice was based on its recently proposed contribution to HCC tissue development...
STAT1 belongs to the STAT family of transcription factors, which comprises seven factors: STAT1, STAT2, STAT3, STAT4, STAT5A, STAT5B and STAT6. STAT1 is a 91 kDa protein originally identified as the mediator of the cellular response to interferon (IFN) α, and thereafter found to be a major component of the cellular response to IFNγ. STAT1 is, in fact, involved in the response to several cytokines...
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and Vibrio cholerae are well known causative agents of severe diarrheal diseases. Both pathogens produce AB 5 toxins, with one enzymatically active A-subunit and a pentamer of receptor-binding B-subunits. The primary receptor for both B-subunits is the GM1 ganglioside (Galβ3GalNAcβ4(NeuAcα3)Galβ4GlcβCer), but the B-subunits from porcine isolates of E. coli...
PPARγ is a ligand regulated transcriptional factor that modulates the transcription of several genes involved in fat and sugar metabolism. Due to its easy bacterial expression and crystallization, several crystal structures of holo-PPARγ have been reported and deposited in the Protein Data Bank. Here, we investigated the three-dimensional electrostatic properties of 55 PPARγ ligands and used this...
Glycolytic enzymes reversibly associate with the human erythrocyte membrane (EM) as part of their regulatory mechanism. The site for this association has been described as the amino terminus of band 3, a transmembrane anion transporter. Binding of glycolytic enzymes to this site is recognized to inhibit glycolysis, since binding inhibits the catalytic activity of these enzymes, including the rate-limiting...
The reversible thiol/disulfide exchange is an important regulatory mechanism of protein enzymatic activity. Many protein enzymes are susceptible to S-thiolation induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS); and the glutathione (GSH) and free amino acid cysteine (Cys) are critical cellular thiol anti-oxidants, protecting proteins from irreversible oxidative damage. In this study, we found that aldo–keto...
The equilibrium and kinetics studies of an 82 kDa large monomeric Escherichia coli protein Malate Synthase G (MSG) was investigated by far and near-UV CD, intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence and extrinsic fluorescence spectroscopy. We find that despite of its large size, folding is reversible, in vitro. Equilibrium unfolding process of MSG exhibited three-state transition thus, indicating the presence...
It has been reported that polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) binds to RNA via KH and S1 domains, and at least two main complexes (I and II) have been observed in RNA-binding assays. Here we describe PNPase binding to RNA, the factors involved in this activity and the nature of the interactions observed in vitro. Our results show that RNA length and composition affect PNPase binding, and that PNPase...
LysK, the enzyme lysing cells of Staphylococcus aureus, can be considered as perspective antimicrobial agent. Knowledge of LysK properties and behavior would allow optimizing conditions of its storage as well as formulating strategy towards its stabilization. Reaction of LysK with substrate (suspension of autoclaved Staphylococcus aureus cells) has been found to be adequately described by the two-stage...
Calorimetric and fluorescence techniques were used to characterize the binding of aminoglycosides-neomycin, paromomycin, and ribostamycin, with 5′-dA 12 -x-dT 12 -x-dT 12 -3′ intramolecular DNA triplex (x = hexaethylene glycol) and poly(dA)·2poly(dT) triplex. Our results demonstrate the following features: (1) UV thermal analysis reveals that the T m for triplex decreases...
DNase autoantibodies (Abzs) can be found in the blood of patients with several autoimmune diseases, while the blood of healthy donors or patients with diseases with an insignificant disturbance of the immune status does not contain DNase Abzs. Here we present the first analysis of the DNase Abzs activity in the patients with tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). Several strict criteria have been applied...
Gamma-glutamyltranspeptidases (γ-GTs) catalyze the transfer of the gamma-glutamyl moiety of glutathione and related gamma-glutamyl amides to water (hydrolysis) or to amino acids and peptides (transpeptidation) and play a key role in glutathione metabolism. Recently, γ-GTs have been considered attractive pharmaceutical targets for cancer and useful tools to produce γ-glutamyl compounds. To find out...
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