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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Multiscale Simulations Of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins, Xiaorong Liu Jul 2019

Multiscale Simulations Of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins, Xiaorong Liu

Doctoral Dissertations

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) lack stable secondary and/or tertiary structures under physiological conditions. The have now been recognized to play important roles in numerous biological processes, particularly cellular signaling and regulation. Mutation of IDPs are frequently associated with human diseases, such as cancers and neuron degenerative diseases. Therefore, it is important to understand the structure, dynamics, and interactions of IDPs, so as to establish the mechanistic basis of how intrinsic disorder mediates versatile functions and how such mechanisms may fail in human diseases. However, the heterogeneous structural ensembles of IDPs are not amenable to high resolution characterization solely through experimental …


Ni Site Structure And Function In Biological Sensing And Enzyme Activity, Hsin-Ting Huang Jul 2019

Ni Site Structure And Function In Biological Sensing And Enzyme Activity, Hsin-Ting Huang

Doctoral Dissertations

Ni(II) is one of the important cofactors involved in various enzyme functions. For organisms utilizing Ni(II), a regulation system is required to maintain Ni(II) homeostasis and prevent toxicity. The focus of this dissertation is on investigating the relationship between the Ni(II) site structure and the function of proteins, a Ni(II) sensor and a Ni(II) enzyme. RcnR, a Ni(II)/Co(II) sensor in E. coli, controls the expression of the Ni(II)/Co(II) exporter proteins, RcnAB. Due to the lack of structural information, the mechanism of metal induced allosteric regulation and metal selection is not fully elucidated. Results presented here show that binding of …


Probing Apoptotic Caspase Allostery And Exosite Interactions For Alternative Regulation, Derek J. Macpherson Mar 2019

Probing Apoptotic Caspase Allostery And Exosite Interactions For Alternative Regulation, Derek J. Macpherson

Doctoral Dissertations

Programmed cell death, or apoptosis is a critical homeostatic pathway that monitors the balance of cell life and death. Apoptosis is regulated by a class of enzymes known as the cysteine aspartic proteases, or the caspases. The 12 human caspases that play important roles in the progression and regulation of apoptosis and inflammation. Caspases are tightly regulated by numerous factors including enzymatic activation, post-translational modifications, metal ligand binding, and protein modulation. Aberrant caspase activation and regulation has been implicated in the progression of numerous diseases such as proliferative diseases and neurodegeneration. The deeply entwined nature of caspases and apoptosis makes …