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University of Massachusetts Amherst

Theses/Dissertations

2023

Intrinsically disordered proteins

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Combining Simulation And The Mspa Nanopore To Study P53 Dynamics And Interactions, Samantha A. Schultz Nov 2023

Combining Simulation And The Mspa Nanopore To Study P53 Dynamics And Interactions, Samantha A. Schultz

Masters Theses

p53 is a transcription factor and an important tumor suppressor protein that becomes activated due to DNA damage. Because of its role as a tumor suppressor, mutations in the gene that encodes it are found in over 50% of human cancers. The N-terminal transactivation domain (NTAD) of p53 is intrinsically disordered and modulates the function and interactions of p53 in the cell. Its disordered structure allows it to be controlled closely by post-translation modifications that regulate p53’s ability to bind DNA and interact with regulatory binding partners. p53 is an attractive target for developing cancer therapeutics, but its intrinsically disordered …


Atomistic Simulations Of Intrinsically Disordered Protein Folding And Dynamics, Xiping Gong Nov 2023

Atomistic Simulations Of Intrinsically Disordered Protein Folding And Dynamics, Xiping Gong

Doctoral Dissertations

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are crucial in biology and human diseases, necessitating a comprehensive understanding of their structure, dynamics, and interactions. Atomistic simulations have emerged as a key tool for unraveling the molecular intricacies and establishing mechanistic insights into how these proteins facilitate diverse biological functions. However, achieving accurate simulations requires both an appropriate protein force field capable of describing the energy landscape of functionally relevant IDP conformations and sufficient conformational sampling to capture the free energy landscape of IDP dynamics. These factors are fundamental in comprehending potential IDP structures, dynamics, and interactions. I first conducted explicit solvent simulations to …