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Small Molecules Binding To Serpins, Junaid Afridi

Theses and Dissertations

Serpins are a unique breed of proteins due to their enzymatic mechanism. Two systems were closely monitored during fluorescent binding studies, the ACT-CHY along with the AT:TRY interaction. Four different conformational variants of each system were studied including the native, cleaved, latent and complex forms. Three different fluorescent dyes were used to identify the conformations including ANS, TNS, and bis-ANS. SI studies and protease assays utilizing both Suc-AAPF-pNA and L-BAPNA were instrumental in determining conformations along with gel electrophoresis studies. The hydrophobic dyes bound to the different serpins with varying KD and ΔFmax due to structural variations among the conformers …