Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Dancing Protein Clouds: The Strange Biology And Chaotic Physics Of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins, Vladimir N. Uversky
Dancing Protein Clouds: The Strange Biology And Chaotic Physics Of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins, Vladimir N. Uversky
Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications
Biologically active but floppy proteins represent a new reality of modern protein science. These intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and hybrid proteins containing ordered and intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDPRs) constitute a noticeable part of any given proteome. Functionally, they complement ordered proteins, and their conformational flexibility and structural plasticity allow them to perform impossible tricks and be engaged in biological activities that are inaccessible to well folded proteins with their unique structures. The major goals of this minireview are to show that, despite their simplified amino acid sequences, IDPs/IDPRs are complex entities often resembling chaotic systems, are structurally and functionally …
Compartmentalization And Functionality Of Nuclear Disorder: Intrinsic Disorder And Protein-Protein Interactions In Intra-Nuclear Compartments, Fanchi Meng, Insung Na, Lukasz Kurgan, Vladimir N. Uversky
Compartmentalization And Functionality Of Nuclear Disorder: Intrinsic Disorder And Protein-Protein Interactions In Intra-Nuclear Compartments, Fanchi Meng, Insung Na, Lukasz Kurgan, Vladimir N. Uversky
Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications
The cell nucleus contains a number of membrane-less organelles or intra-nuclear compartments. These compartments are dynamic structures representing liquid-droplet phases which are only slightly denser than the bulk intra-nuclear fluid. They possess different functions, have diverse morphologies, and are typically composed of RNA (or, in some cases, DNA) and proteins. We analyzed 3005 mouse proteins localized in specific intra-nuclear organelles, such as nucleolus, chromatin, Cajal bodies, nuclear speckles, promyelocytic leukemia (PML) nuclear bodies, nuclear lamina, nuclear pores, and perinuclear compartment and compared them with ~29,863 non-nuclear proteins from mouse proteome. Our analysis revealed that intrinsic disorder is enriched in the …