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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Conformation Of The U12-U6atac Snrna Complex Of The Minor Spliceosome And Binding By Ntc-Related Protein Rbm22, Joanna Ciavarella
Conformation Of The U12-U6atac Snrna Complex Of The Minor Spliceosome And Binding By Ntc-Related Protein Rbm22, Joanna Ciavarella
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Splicing of precursor messenger (pre-m)RNA is a critical process in eukaryotes in which the non-coding regions, called introns, are removed and coding regions, or exons, are ligated to form a mature mRNA. This process is catalyzed by the spliceosome, a multi-mega Dalton ribonucleoprotein complex assembled from five small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNP) in the form of small nuclear (sn)RNA-protein complexes (U1, U2, U4, U5 and U6) and >100 proteins. snRNA components catalyze the two transesterification reactions while proteins perform critical roles in assembly and rearrangement. U2 and U6 snRNAs are the only snRNAs directly implicated in catalyzing the splicing of pre-mRNA. …
Paddling Along The Voltage Gated Sodium Channel Galaxy With Sea Anemone Toxins: Structural Studies Of The Interaction Between The Paddle Motif From Nav1.5div And Sea Anemone Toxin, Adel K. Hussein
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Voltage gated sodium channels (VGSC) are membrane proteins that serve an important function in the central nervous system (CNS), peripheral nervous system (PNS), and cardiac muscles amongst others. The main function of VGSC is in the propagation of electrical signals by depolarizing excitable cells. Nine mammalian VGSC subtypes have been characterized, NaV1.1 – NaV1.9, that are expressed in a tissue specific manner, each with unique gating properties. Numerous diseases have been linked to defects in VGSC including epilepsy, mental retardation, long QT syndrome, and Brugada disease. Furthermore, these channels are one of the primary targets of …
Structural Studies On Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Activation Of Eukaryotic Elongation Factor 2 Kinase, Kwangwoon Lee
Structural Studies On Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Activation Of Eukaryotic Elongation Factor 2 Kinase, Kwangwoon Lee
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Eukaryotic elongation factor 2 kinase (eEF-2K) is a key modulator of the rate of protein synthesis. Activated by calcium-loaded calmodulin (Ca2+-CaM), eEF-2K phosphorylates its only known physiological substrate, eEF-2, on a specific threonine residue (Thr-56). Phosphorylated eEF-2 has reduced affinity for the ribosome, and results in a significant decrease in the rate of translation elongation. Modulation of the rate of translation elongation plays a crucial role in proteostasis – adequate regulation of protein synthesis, protein folding, and protein degradation that greatly influences cellular growth and survival. Binding of Ca2+-CaM triggers activation of eEF-2K and remains intact …
Insight Into The Interaction Between The Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma (Pparγ) And Adipocyte Fatty Acid-Binding Protein (A-Fabp), Qian Wang
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
The Adipocyte Fatty Acid-Binding Protein (AFABP) is mainly expressed in fat cells. It can bind fatty acids and other lipophilic substances such as eicosanoids and retinoids. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) is a nuclear receptor protein that requires ligand binding to regulate the specific gene transcription. PPARγ is expressed at extremely high levels in adipose tissue, macrophages, and the large intestine, where it controls lipid adipogenesis and energy conversion. Moreover, it has been found that AFABP and PPARγ can form a complex in vivo. It is proposed that AFABP carries the ligand and enters into the nucleus where it …
Characterization Of Lipid Rafts In Human Platelets Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance: A Pilot Study, Joshua F. Ceñido, Boris Itin, Ruth E. Stark, Yung-Yu Huang, Maria A. Oquendo, J. John Mann, M. Elizabeth Sublette
Characterization Of Lipid Rafts In Human Platelets Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance: A Pilot Study, Joshua F. Ceñido, Boris Itin, Ruth E. Stark, Yung-Yu Huang, Maria A. Oquendo, J. John Mann, M. Elizabeth Sublette
Publications and Research
Lipid microdomains (‘lipid rafts’) are plasma membrane subregions, enriched in cholesterol and glycosphingolipids, which participate dynamically in cell signaling and molecular trafficking operations. One strategy for the study of the physicochemical properties of lipid rafts in model membrane systems has been the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), but until now this spectroscopic method has not been considered a clinically relevant tool. We performed a proof-of-concept study to test the feasibility of using NMR to study lipid rafts in human tissues. Platelets were selected as a cost-effective and minimally invasive model system in which lipid rafts have previously been studied …
Nmrfx Processor: A Cross-Platform Nmr Data Processing Program, Michael Norris, Bayard Fetler, Jan Marchant, Bruce A. Johnson
Nmrfx Processor: A Cross-Platform Nmr Data Processing Program, Michael Norris, Bayard Fetler, Jan Marchant, Bruce A. Johnson
Advanced Science Research Center
NMRFx Processor is a new program for the processing of NMR data. Written in the Java programming language, NMRFx Processor is a cross-platform application and runs on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows operating systems. The application can be run in both a graphical user interface (GUI) mode and from the command line. Processing scripts are written in the Python programming language and executed so that the low-level Java commands are automatically run in parallel on computers with multiple cores or CPUs. Processing scripts can be generated automatically from the parameters of NMR experiments or interactively constructed in the GUI. …
Interaction Of Spliceosomal U2 Snrnp Protein P14 With Its Branch Site Rna Target, William Perea Vargas
Interaction Of Spliceosomal U2 Snrnp Protein P14 With Its Branch Site Rna Target, William Perea Vargas
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Newly transcribed precursor messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) molecules contain coding sequences (exons) interspersed with non-coding intervening sequences (introns). These introns must be removed in order to generate a continuous coding sequence prior to translation of the message into protein. The mechanism through which these introns are removed is known as pre-mRNA splicing, a two-step reaction catalyzed be a large macromolecular machine, the spliceosome, located in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. The spliceosome is a protein-directed ribozyme composed of small nuclear RNAs (snRNA) and hundreds of proteins that assemble in a very dynamic process. One of these snRNAs, the U2 snRNA, is …
Conformational Heterogeneity And Exchange Within The Junction Of The Human U2-U6 Snrna Complex Measured By 19f Nmr Spectroscopy, Caijie Zhao
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Pre-mRNA splicing, the process by which non-coding sequences are removed and coding sequences are ligated, plays an important role in the maturation of precursor messenger RNA molecules prior to their translation into proteins. In eukaryotes, splicing is catalyzed by the spliceosome, a large and dynamic nuclear macromolecular "machine" that comprises five small nuclear (sn)RNA molecules and more than one hundred proteins. Among the RNA components, the complex formed between the U2 and U6 snRNA molecules is implicated in catalytic activity. In this dissertation, I have used 19F NMR techniques to characterize the conformation ("fold") and dynamics of a protein-free …