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Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology

Huntingtin Aggregation At Interfaces Associated With Membranes And Organelles, Adewale Vincent Adegbuyiro Jan 2021

Huntingtin Aggregation At Interfaces Associated With Membranes And Organelles, Adewale Vincent Adegbuyiro

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Huntington’s Disease (HD) is a genetic neurodegenerative disease caused by the expansion of polyglutamine (polyQ) domain within the first exon (exon1) of the huntingtin (htt) protein. Due to this mutation within the polyQ domain, htt aggregates into various toxic species such as oligomers, fibrils, and other amorphous aggregates. While the aggregation of htt strongly correlates with polyQ length, other factors, e.g. interaction with membranes or organelles and posttranslational modifications (PTMs), modulate aggregation. The first 17 N-terminal amino acids (Nt17) that precede the polyQ in htt-exon1 enhances aggregation and facilitated binding of htt to membranous organelles, promoting morphological changes and disfunction. …


Quantification Of Mitochondrial Zinc Homeostasis And Analysis Of Zinc And Polyamine-Mediated Axonal Trafficking, Dylan Hunt Fudge Jan 2020

Quantification Of Mitochondrial Zinc Homeostasis And Analysis Of Zinc And Polyamine-Mediated Axonal Trafficking, Dylan Hunt Fudge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The zinc ion is an important emerging signaling molecule for biological processes. In this work we engineered improved zinc sensors based on our previously developed fluorescent sensor GZnP1 to provide sensors with a higher fluorescent readout, faster kinetics, and a superior sensitivity to zinc. We utilized these zinc sensors and further developed the sensors to answer questions pertaining to biological zinc. We showed the labile zinc concentration in the mitochondrial matrix was less than 1 pM while the labile zinc concentration in the cytosol and mitochondrial IMS were comparable (~100 pM) across four different cell lines. Using these zinc sensors …


A Mechanistic Study Of An Ipsc Model For Leigh’S Disease Caused By Mtdna Mutataion (8993 T>G), John P. Galdun Jan 2016

A Mechanistic Study Of An Ipsc Model For Leigh’S Disease Caused By Mtdna Mutataion (8993 T>G), John P. Galdun

Theses and Dissertations

Mitochondrial diseases encompass a broad range of devastating disorders that typically affect tissues with high-energy requirements. These disorders have been difficult to diagnose and research because of the complexity of mitochondrial genetics, and the large variability seen among patient populations. We have devised and carried out a mechanistic study to generate a cell based model for Leigh’s disease caused by mitochondrial DNA mutation 8993 T>G. Leigh’s disease is a multi-organ system disorder that depends heavily on the mutation burden seen within various tissues. Using new reprogramming and sequencing technologies, we were able to show that Leigh’s disease patient fibroblasts …