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Novel Methods For The Inactivation Of Cruzain For The Prevention And Treatment Of Chagas Disease, Veronica Gonzalez
Novel Methods For The Inactivation Of Cruzain For The Prevention And Treatment Of Chagas Disease, Veronica Gonzalez
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Chagas Disease, also known as American Trypanosomiasis, is endemic to Latin American and is gradually making its way to other countries. The disease is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoan parasite that causes lesions and inflammation of organs including the heart, esophagus, and colon. Over 30% of people infected will develop heart disease which can be fatal if untreated. While no vaccine is yet available, research is currently being conducted in finding new treatments for the disease. One target is an enzyme that is believed to help the progression of the disease. Cruzain, a cysteine protease expressed as a pro-enzyme, …
The Role Of Protein Disulfide Isomerase (Pdi) In Oxidative Folding, Veronica Gonzalez
The Role Of Protein Disulfide Isomerase (Pdi) In Oxidative Folding, Veronica Gonzalez
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Protein Disulfide Isomerase is a highly evolved oxidoreductase enzyme that has the capability of oxidizing, reducing, and isomerizing disulfides in substrate. PDI is organized into several domains denoted a, b, b', a' and c. These domains are believed to have different functions but all must be present for full PDI activity. In this manuscript we recorded the ability of PDI b' to catalyze oxidative folding in fully reduced RNase A. We also examined competition between thiol-disulfide shuffling and conformational folding by PDI. This competition creates a rough effect of a highly efficient enzyme in two different substrates: RNase A and …