Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

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

Modeling And Analyzing An Optogenetic System For Photoactivatable Protein Dissociation, Anvin Thomas, James Schaff May 2018

Modeling And Analyzing An Optogenetic System For Photoactivatable Protein Dissociation, Anvin Thomas, James Schaff

Honors Scholar Theses

Computational modeling of cell-cell interactions can grant clues and can answer questions about an experiment, especially for observations about binding interactions and kinetics. This approach was used to investigate an interaction between a light-oxygen-voltage (LOV) domain and an engineered protein called Zdark (Zdk). The LOV domain is membrane-bound while Zdk is cytosolic. The LOV domain and Zdk bind strongly in dark (Kd 26.2 nM), and weakly upon exposure to blue light (Kd > 4 μM). Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) images are acquired of Zdk, the fluorescent species bound to a mCherry tag, and the loss of fluorescence is …


Reconstitution Of Gabaergic Postsynapses In Host Cells, Karthik Kanamalla Apr 2018

Reconstitution Of Gabaergic Postsynapses In Host Cells, Karthik Kanamalla

Honors Scholar Theses

Type A GABA receptors (GABAARs) can be found embedded in postsynaptic membranes or in a variety of extrasynaptic locations. Receptors with synaptic function are recruited to the postsynapse by submembranous scaffolds composed of gephyrin and collybistin (CB). This study was aimed at assessing whether the ability to interact with the scaffold differentiates synaptic from non-synaptic receptors. Using HEK293 cells as an expression system, and indirect immunofluorescence (IF), co-localization of extrasynaptic receptors α1β3δ and α4β3δ with the CB-gephyrin scaffold was assessed and compared with that of the synaptic receptor α1β3γ2. Results indicated that both extrasynaptic receptors were able to colocalize with …