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Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology

Fused In Sarcoma Regulates Glutamate Signaling And Oxidative Stress Response, Chiong-Hee Wong, Abu Rahat, Howard C Chang Jan 2024

Fused In Sarcoma Regulates Glutamate Signaling And Oxidative Stress Response, Chiong-Hee Wong, Abu Rahat, Howard C Chang

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

Mutations in fused in sarcoma (fust-1) are linked to ALS. However, how these ALS causative mutations alter physiological processes and lead to the onset of ALS remains largely unknown. By obtaining humanized fust-1 ALS mutations via CRISPR-CAS9, we generated a C. elegans ALS model. Homozygous fust-1 ALS mutant and fust-1 deletion animals are viable in C. elegans. This allows us to better characterize the molecular mechanisms of fust-1-dependent responses. We found FUST-1 plays a role in regulating superoxide dismutase, glutamate signaling, and oxidative stress. FUST-1 suppresses SOD-1 and VGLUT/EAT-4 in the nervous system. FUST-1 also regulates synaptic AMPA-type glutamate receptor …


A Dedicated Chaperone Mediates The Safe Transfer Of Mitoribosomal Proteins To Their Site Of Assembly, Gabrielle Ashley Hillman May 2019

A Dedicated Chaperone Mediates The Safe Transfer Of Mitoribosomal Proteins To Their Site Of Assembly, Gabrielle Ashley Hillman

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Mitochondrial ribosomes are functionally specialized for the synthesis of several essential inner membrane proteins of the respiratory chain. While remarkable progress has recently been made towards understanding the structure of mitoribosomes, the unique pathways and factors that facilitate their biogenesis remain largely unknown. This dissertation defines the physiological role of an evolutionarily conserved yeast protein called Mam33 in mitochondrial ribosome assembly. The biomedical relevance of this finding stems from the fact that mutations or changes in its expression of the human ortholog p32 result in mitochondrial dysfunction. In human patients, bi-allelic mutations cause severe multisystemic defects in mitochondrial energy metabolism, …


An Arginine Finger Regulates The Sequential Action Of Asymmetrical Hexameric Atpase In The Double-Stranded Dna Translocation Motor, Zhengyi Zhao, Gian Marco De-Donatis, Chad T. Schwartz, Huaming Fang, Jingyuan Li, Peixuan Guo Oct 2016

An Arginine Finger Regulates The Sequential Action Of Asymmetrical Hexameric Atpase In The Double-Stranded Dna Translocation Motor, Zhengyi Zhao, Gian Marco De-Donatis, Chad T. Schwartz, Huaming Fang, Jingyuan Li, Peixuan Guo

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Biological motors are ubiquitous in living systems. Currently, how the motor components coordinate the unidirectional motion is elusive in most cases. Here, we report that the sequential action of the ATPase ring in the DNA packaging motor of bacteriophage ϕ29 is regulated by an arginine finger that extends from one ATPase subunit to the adjacent unit to promote noncovalent dimer formation. Mutation of the arginine finger resulted in the interruption of ATPase oligomerization, ATP binding/hydrolysis, and DNA translocation. Dimer formation reappeared when arginine mutants were mixed with other ATPase subunits that can offer the arginine to promote their interaction. Ultracentrifugation …


Characterization Of The Catalytic Ck2 Subunits With Substitutions At Residues Involved In Inhibitor Binding, Paul Desormeaux Sep 2016

Characterization Of The Catalytic Ck2 Subunits With Substitutions At Residues Involved In Inhibitor Binding, Paul Desormeaux

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

CK2 is a constitutively active, ubiquitously expressed and pleiotropic serine/threonine protein kinase that is implicated in many cellular functions including tumorigenesis. CK2 has two catalytic subunits, CK2a and CK2a’, that carry out its function in the cell. Previous studies have indicated that inhibitor-refractory mutants have been effective in recovering residual CK2 activity, in the presence of inhibitors, when compared to wild type CK2. Based on these observations, inhibitor-refractory mutants were created for both CK2a and CK2a’ and tested with various concentrations with two CK2-specific inhibitors, CX-4945 and inhibitor VIII. The CK2a triple mutant (V66A/I174A/H160D) was tested in inducible U2OS Flp-In …


Autonomy And Robustness Of Translocation Through The Nuclear Pore Complex: A Single-Molecule Study, Thomas Dange, David Grunwald, Antje Grunwald, Reiner Peters, Ulrich Kubitscheck Nov 2014

Autonomy And Robustness Of Translocation Through The Nuclear Pore Complex: A Single-Molecule Study, Thomas Dange, David Grunwald, Antje Grunwald, Reiner Peters, Ulrich Kubitscheck

David Grünwald

All molecular traffic between nucleus and cytoplasm occurs via the nuclear pore complex (NPC) within the nuclear envelope. In this study we analyzed the interactions of the nuclear transport receptors kapalpha2, kapbeta1, kapbeta1DeltaN44, and kapbeta2, and the model transport substrate, BSA-NLS, with NPCs to determine binding sites and kinetics using single-molecule microscopy in living cells. Recombinant transport receptors and BSA-NLS were fluorescently labeled by AlexaFluor 488, and microinjected into the cytoplasm of living HeLa cells expressing POM121-GFP as a nuclear pore marker. After bleaching the dominant GFP fluorescence the interactions of the microinjected molecules could be studied using video microscopy …


Mutation And Complementation Of A Cellulose Synthase (Cesa) Gene, Ahmed Y. El-Araby May 2012

Mutation And Complementation Of A Cellulose Synthase (Cesa) Gene, Ahmed Y. El-Araby

Senior Honors Projects

Cellulose is a carbohydrate polymer that is composed of repeating glucose subunits. Being the most abundant organic compound in the biosphere and comprising a large percentage of all plant biomass, cellulose is extremely plentiful and has a significant role in nature. Cellulose is present in plant cell walls, in commercial products such as those made from wood or cotton, and is of interest to the biofuel industry as a potential alternative fuel source. Although indigestible by humans, cellulose is nutritionally valuable, serving as a dietary fiber. Because of its ubiquity and importance in many areas, studying cellulose will prove to …