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

Medicine and Health Sciences Commons

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

Articles 1 - 18 of 18

Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Improved Detection By Ensemble-Decision Aliquot Ranking Of Circulating Tumor Cells With Low Numbers Of A Targeted Surface Antigen, Eleanor S. Johnson, Robbyn K. Anand, Daniel T. Chiu Aug 2015

Improved Detection By Ensemble-Decision Aliquot Ranking Of Circulating Tumor Cells With Low Numbers Of A Targeted Surface Antigen, Eleanor S. Johnson, Robbyn K. Anand, Daniel T. Chiu

Robbyn Anand

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are shed from a solid tumor into the bloodstream and can seed new metastases. CTCs hold promise for cancer diagnosis and prognosis and to increase our understanding of the metastatic process. However, their low numbers in blood and varied phenotypic characteristics make their detection and isolation difficult. One source of heterogeneity among CTCs is molecular: When they leave the primary tumor, these cells must undergo a molecular transition, which increases their mobility and chance of survival in the blood. During this molecular transition, the cells lose some of their epithelial character, which is manifested by the …


Large Interdomain Rearrangement Triggered By Suppression Of Micro- To Millisecond Dynamics In Bacterial ​Enzyme I, Vincenzo Venditti, Vitali Tugarinov, Charles D. Schwieters, Alexander Grishaev, G. Marius Clore Jan 2015

Large Interdomain Rearrangement Triggered By Suppression Of Micro- To Millisecond Dynamics In Bacterial ​Enzyme I, Vincenzo Venditti, Vitali Tugarinov, Charles D. Schwieters, Alexander Grishaev, G. Marius Clore

Vincenzo Venditti

Enzyme I (EI), the first component of the bacterial phosphotransfer signal transduction system, undergoes one of the largest substrate-induced interdomain rearrangements documented to date. Here we characterize the perturbations generated by two small molecules, the natural substrate phosphoenolpyruvate and the inhibitor a-ketoglutarate, on the structure and dynamics of EI using NMR, small-angle X-ray scattering and biochemical techniques. The results indicate unambiguously that the open-to-closed conformational switch of EI is triggered by complete suppression of micro- to millisecond dynamics within the C-terminal domain of EI. Indeed, we show that a ligand-induced transition from a dynamic to a more rigid conformational state …


A Nmr Experiment For Simultaneous Correlations Of Valine And Leucine/Isoleucine Methyls With Carbonyl Chemical Shifts In Proteins, Vitali Tugarinov, Vincenzo Venditti, G. Marius Clore Jan 2014

A Nmr Experiment For Simultaneous Correlations Of Valine And Leucine/Isoleucine Methyls With Carbonyl Chemical Shifts In Proteins, Vitali Tugarinov, Vincenzo Venditti, G. Marius Clore

Vincenzo Venditti

A methyl-detected ‘out-and-back’ NMR experiment for obtaining simultaneous correlations of methyl resonances of valine and isoleucine/leucine residues with backbone carbonyl chemical shifts, SIM-HMCM(CGCBCA)CO, is described. The developed pulse-scheme serves the purpose of convenience in recording a single data set for all Ileδ1, Leuδ and Valγ (ILV) methyl positions instead of acquiring two separate spectra selective for valine or leucine/isoleucine residues. The SIM-HMCM(CGCBCA)CO experiment can be used for ILV methyl assignments in moderately sized protein systems (up to ~100 kDa) where the backbone chemical shifts of 13Cα, 13Cβ and 13CO are known from prior NMR studies and where some losses in …


The Genome And Developmental Transcriptome Of The Strongylid Nematode Haemonchus Contortus, Erich M. Schwarz, Pasi K. Korhonen, Bronwyn E. Campbell, Neil D. Young, Aaron R. Jex, Abdul Jabbar, Ross S. Hall, Alinda Mondal, Adina C. Howe, Jason Pell, Andreas Hofmann, Peter R. Boag, Xing-Quan Zhu, T. Ryan Gregory, Alex Loukas, Brian A. Williams, Igor Antoshechkin, C. Titus Brown, Paul W. Sternberg, Robin B. Gasser Aug 2013

The Genome And Developmental Transcriptome Of The Strongylid Nematode Haemonchus Contortus, Erich M. Schwarz, Pasi K. Korhonen, Bronwyn E. Campbell, Neil D. Young, Aaron R. Jex, Abdul Jabbar, Ross S. Hall, Alinda Mondal, Adina C. Howe, Jason Pell, Andreas Hofmann, Peter R. Boag, Xing-Quan Zhu, T. Ryan Gregory, Alex Loukas, Brian A. Williams, Igor Antoshechkin, C. Titus Brown, Paul W. Sternberg, Robin B. Gasser

Adina Howe

Background The barber's pole worm, Haemonchus contortus, is one of the most economically important parasites of small ruminants worldwide. Although this parasite can be controlled using anthelmintic drugs, resistance against most drugs in common use has become a widespread problem. We provide a draft of the genome and the transcriptomes of all key developmental stages of H. contortus to support biological and biotechnological research areas of this and related parasites. Results The draft genome of H. contortus is 320 Mb in size and encodes 23,610 protein-coding genes. On a fundamental level, we elucidate transcriptional alterations taking place throughout the life …


Structural Basis For Enzyme I Inhibition By Α-Ketoglutarate, Vincenzo Venditti, Rodolfo Ghirlando, G. Marius Clore Jan 2013

Structural Basis For Enzyme I Inhibition By Α-Ketoglutarate, Vincenzo Venditti, Rodolfo Ghirlando, G. Marius Clore

Vincenzo Venditti

Creating new bacterial strains in which carbon and nitrogen metabolism are uncoupled is potentially very useful for optimizing yields of microbial produced chemicals from renewable carbon sources. However, the mechanisms that balance carbon and nitrogen consumption in bacteria are poorly understood. Recently, α-ketoglutarate (αKG), the carbon substrate for ammonia assimilation, has been observed to inhibit Escherichia coli enzyme I (EI), the first component of the bacterial phosphotransferase system (PTS), thereby providing a direct biochemical link between central carbon and nitrogen metabolism. Here we investigate the EI-αKG interaction by NMR and enzymatic assays. We show that αKG binds with a KD …


Structure, Dynamics And Biophysics Of The Cytoplasmic Protein–Protein Complexes Of The Bacterial Phosphoenolpyruvate: Sugar Phosphotransferase System, Vincenzo Venditti Jan 2013

Structure, Dynamics And Biophysics Of The Cytoplasmic Protein–Protein Complexes Of The Bacterial Phosphoenolpyruvate: Sugar Phosphotransferase System, Vincenzo Venditti

Vincenzo Venditti

The bacterial phosphotransferase system (PTS) couples phosphoryl transfer, via a series of bimolecular protein–protein interactions, to sugar transport across the membrane. The multitude of complexes in the PTS provides a paradigm for studying protein interactions, and for understanding how the same binding surface can specifically recognize a diverse array of targets. Fifteen years of work aimed at solving the solution structures of all soluble protein–protein complexes of the PTS has served as a test bed for developing NMR and integrated hybrid approaches to study larger complexes in solution and to probe transient, spectroscopically invisible states, including encounter complexes. We review …


New Generation Of Ensemble-Decision Aliquot Ranking Based On Simplified Microfluidic Components For Large-Capacity Trapping Of Circulating Tumor Cells, Mengxia Zhao, Wyatt C. Nelson, Bingchuan Wei, Perry G. Schiro, Bejan M. Hakimi, Eleanor S. Johnson, Robbyn K. Anand, Grace S. Gyurkey, Lisa M. White, Samuel H. Whiting, Andrew L. Coveler, Daniel T. Chiu Jan 2013

New Generation Of Ensemble-Decision Aliquot Ranking Based On Simplified Microfluidic Components For Large-Capacity Trapping Of Circulating Tumor Cells, Mengxia Zhao, Wyatt C. Nelson, Bingchuan Wei, Perry G. Schiro, Bejan M. Hakimi, Eleanor S. Johnson, Robbyn K. Anand, Grace S. Gyurkey, Lisa M. White, Samuel H. Whiting, Andrew L. Coveler, Daniel T. Chiu

Robbyn Anand

Ensemble-decision aliquot ranking (eDAR) is a sensitive and high-throughput method to analyze circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from peripheral blood. Here, we report the next generation of eDAR, where we designed and optimized a new hydrodynamic switching scheme for the active sorting step in eDAR, which provided fast cell sorting with an improved reproducibility and stability. The microfluidic chip was also simplified by incorporating a functional area for subsequent purification using microslits fabricated by standard lithography method. Using the reported second generation of eDAR, we were able to analyze 1 mL of whole-blood samples in 12.5 min, with a 95% recovery …


The Use Of A Ditopic Gd(Iii) Paramagnetic Probe For Investigating Α-Bungarotoxin Surface Accessibility, Andrea Bernini, Ottavia Spiga, Vincenzo Venditti, Filippo Prischi, Mauro Botta, Gianluca Croce, Angela Pui-Ling Tong, Wing-Talk Wong, Neri Niccolai Jan 2012

The Use Of A Ditopic Gd(Iii) Paramagnetic Probe For Investigating Α-Bungarotoxin Surface Accessibility, Andrea Bernini, Ottavia Spiga, Vincenzo Venditti, Filippo Prischi, Mauro Botta, Gianluca Croce, Angela Pui-Ling Tong, Wing-Talk Wong, Neri Niccolai

Vincenzo Venditti

Protein surface accessibility is a critical parameter which drives all intermolecular interaction processes. In this respect a big deal of information has been derived by analyzing paramagnetic perturbation profiles obtained from NMR protein spectra, particularly in the case that the effects due to different soluble paramagnets can be compared. Here Gd2L7, a neutral ditopic paramagnetic NMR probe, has been characterized in terms of structure and relaxivity and its paramagnetic perturbations on α-bungarotoxin CαH signals in 1H–13C HSQC (heteronuclear single quantum coherence) spectra have been analyzed. Then, these signal attenuations have been compared with the ones previously obtained in the presence …


An Efficient Protocol For Incorporation Of An Unnatural Amino Acid In Perdeuterated Recombinant Proteins Using Glucose-Based Media, Vincenzo Venditti, Nicolas L. Fawzi, G. Marius Clore Jan 2012

An Efficient Protocol For Incorporation Of An Unnatural Amino Acid In Perdeuterated Recombinant Proteins Using Glucose-Based Media, Vincenzo Venditti, Nicolas L. Fawzi, G. Marius Clore

Vincenzo Venditti

The in vivo incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins is a well-established technique requiring an orthogonal tRNA/aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase pair specific for the unnatural amino acid that is incorporated at a position encoded by a TAG amber codon. Although this technology provides unique opportunities to engineer protein structures, poor protein yields are usually obtained in deuterated media, hampering its application in the protein NMR field. Here, we describe a novel protocol for incorporating unnatural amino acids into fully deuterated proteins using glucose-based media (which are relevant to the production, for example, of amino acid-specific methyl-labeled proteins used in the study …


Conformational Selection And Substrate Binding Regulate The Monomer/Dimer Equilibrium Of The C-Terminal Domain Of Escherichia Coli Enzyme I, Vincenzo Venditti, G. Marius Clore Jan 2012

Conformational Selection And Substrate Binding Regulate The Monomer/Dimer Equilibrium Of The C-Terminal Domain Of Escherichia Coli Enzyme I, Vincenzo Venditti, G. Marius Clore

Vincenzo Venditti

The bacterial phosphotransferase system (PTS) is a signal transduction pathway that couples phosphoryl transfer to active sugar transport across the cell membrane. The PTS is initiated by the binding of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) to the C-terminal domain (EIC) of enzyme I (EI), a highly conserved protein that is common to all sugar branches of the PTS. EIC exists in a dynamic monomer/dimer equilibrium that is modulated by ligand binding and is thought to regulate the overall PTS. Isolation of EIC has proven challenging, and conformational dynamics within the EIC domain during the catalytic cycle are still largely unknown. Here, we present …


Automated Sequence- And Stereo-Specific Assignment Of Methyl-Labeled Proteins By Paramagnetic Relaxation And Methyl–Methyl Nuclear Overhauser Enhancement Spectroscopy, Vincenzo Venditti, Nicolas L. Fawzi, G. Marius Clore Jan 2011

Automated Sequence- And Stereo-Specific Assignment Of Methyl-Labeled Proteins By Paramagnetic Relaxation And Methyl–Methyl Nuclear Overhauser Enhancement Spectroscopy, Vincenzo Venditti, Nicolas L. Fawzi, G. Marius Clore

Vincenzo Venditti

Methyl-transverse relaxation optimized spectroscopy is rapidly becoming the preferred NMR technique for probing structure and dynamics of very large proteins up to ~1 MDa in molecular size. Data interpretation, however, necessitates assignment of methyl groups which still presents a very challenging and time-consuming process. Here we demonstrate that, in combination with a known 3D structure, paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (PRE), induced by nitroxide spin-labels incorporated at only a few surface-exposed engineered cysteines, provides fast, straightforward and robust access to methyl group resonance assignments, including stereoassignments for the methyl groups of leucine and valine. Neither prior assignments, including backbone assignments, for the …


A Structurally Driven Analysis Of Thiol Reactivity In Mammalian Albumins, Ottavia Spiga, Domenico Summa, Simone Cirri, Andrea Bernini, Vincenzo Venditti, Matteo De Chiara, Raffaella Priora, Simona Frosail, Antonios Margaritis, Danila Di Giuseppe, Paolo Di Simplicio, Neri Niccolai Jan 2011

A Structurally Driven Analysis Of Thiol Reactivity In Mammalian Albumins, Ottavia Spiga, Domenico Summa, Simone Cirri, Andrea Bernini, Vincenzo Venditti, Matteo De Chiara, Raffaella Priora, Simona Frosail, Antonios Margaritis, Danila Di Giuseppe, Paolo Di Simplicio, Neri Niccolai

Vincenzo Venditti

Understanding the structural basis of protein redox activity is still an open question. Hence, by using a structural genomics approach, different albumins have been chosen to correlate protein structural features with the corresponding reaction rates of thiol exchange between albumin and disulfide DTNB. Predicted structures of rat, porcine, and bovine albumins have been compared with the experimentally derived human albumin. High structural similarity among these four albumins can be observed, in spite of their markedly different reactivity with DTNB. Sequence alignments offered preliminary hints on the contributions of sequence-specific local environments modulating albumin reactivity. Molecular dynamics simulations performed on experimental …


Optimal Dynamic Policies For Influenza Management, Michael Ludkovski, Jarad Niemi Jan 2010

Optimal Dynamic Policies For Influenza Management, Michael Ludkovski, Jarad Niemi

Jarad Niemi

Management policies for influenza outbreaks balance the expected morbidity and mortality costs versus the cost of intervention policies. We present a methodology for dynamic determination of optimal policies in a completely observed stochastic compartmental model with parameter uncertainty. Our approach is simulation-based and searches the full set of sequential control strategies. For each time point, it generates a policy map describing the optimal intervention to implement as a function of outbreak state and Bayesian parameter posteriors. As a running example, we study a stochastic SIR model with isolation and vaccination as two possible interventions. Numerical simulations based on a classic …


Protection Of Retinal Cells From Ischemia By A Novel Gap Junction Inhibitor, Satyabrata Das, Dingo Lin, Snehalata Jena, Aibin Shi, Srinivas Battina, Duy H. Hua, Rachel A. Allbaugh, Dolores J. Takemoto Sep 2008

Protection Of Retinal Cells From Ischemia By A Novel Gap Junction Inhibitor, Satyabrata Das, Dingo Lin, Snehalata Jena, Aibin Shi, Srinivas Battina, Duy H. Hua, Rachel A. Allbaugh, Dolores J. Takemoto

Rachel A. Allbaugh

Retinal cells which become ischemic will pass apoptotic signal to adjacent cells, resulting in the spread of damage. This occurs through open gap junctions. A class of novel drugs, based on primaquine (PQ), was tested for binding to connexin 43 using simulated docking studies. A novel drug has been synthesized and tested for inhibition of gap junction activity using R28 neuro-retinal cells in culture. Four drugs were initially compared to mefloquine, a known gap junction inhibitor. The drug with optimal inhibitory activity, PQ1, was tested for inhibition and was found to inhibit dye transfer by 70% at 10 μM. Retinal …


Measuring The Dynamic Surface Accessibility Of Rna With The Small Paramagnetic Molecule Tempol, Vincenzo Venditti, Neri Niccolai, Samuel E. Butcher Jan 2008

Measuring The Dynamic Surface Accessibility Of Rna With The Small Paramagnetic Molecule Tempol, Vincenzo Venditti, Neri Niccolai, Samuel E. Butcher

Vincenzo Venditti

The surface accessibility of macromolecules plays a key role in modulating molecular recognition events. RNA is a complex and dynamic molecule involved in many aspects of gene expression. However, there are few experimental methods available to measure the accessible surface of RNA. Here, we investigate the accessible surface of RNA using NMR and the small paramagnetic molecule TEMPOL. We investigated two RNAs with known structures, one that is extremely stable and one that is dynamic. For helical regions, the TEMPOL probing data correlate well with the predicted RNA surface, and the method is able to distinguish subtle variations in atom …


Structure And Thermodynamics Of A Conserved U2 Snrna Domain From Yeast And Human, Dipali G. Sashital, Vincenzo Venditti, Courtney G. Angers, Gabriel Cornilescu, Samuel E. Butcher Jan 2007

Structure And Thermodynamics Of A Conserved U2 Snrna Domain From Yeast And Human, Dipali G. Sashital, Vincenzo Venditti, Courtney G. Angers, Gabriel Cornilescu, Samuel E. Butcher

Vincenzo Venditti

The spliceosome is a dynamic ribonucleoprotein complex responsible for the removal of intron sequences from pre-messenger RNA. The highly conserved 5′ end of the U2 small nuclear RNA (snRNA) makes key base-pairing interactions with the intron branch point sequence and U6 snRNA. U2 stem I, a stem–loop located in the 5′ region of U2, has been implicated in spliceosome assembly and may modulate the folding of the U2 and U6 snRNAs in the spliceosome active site. Here we present the NMR structures of U2 stem I from human and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These sequences represent the two major classes of U2 …


Distinct Glycan Structures Of Uroplakins Ia And Ib, Bo Xie, Ge Zhou, Shiu-Yung Chan, Ellen Shapiro, Xiant-Peng Kong, Xue-Ru Wu, Tung-Tien Sun, Catherine E. Costello May 2006

Distinct Glycan Structures Of Uroplakins Ia And Ib, Bo Xie, Ge Zhou, Shiu-Yung Chan, Ellen Shapiro, Xiant-Peng Kong, Xue-Ru Wu, Tung-Tien Sun, Catherine E. Costello

Bo Xie

Although it has been shown that mouse uroplakin (UP) Ia, a major glycoprotein of urothelial apical surface, can serve as the receptor for the FimH lectin adhesin of type 1-fimbriated Escherichia coli, the organism that causes a great majority of urinary tract infections, the glycan structure of this native receptor was unknown. Using a sensitive approach that combines in-gel glycosidase and protease digestions, permethylation of released glycans, and mass spectrometry, we have elucidated for the first time the native glycoform structures of the mouse UPIa receptor and those of its non-binding homolog, UPIb, and have determined the glycosylation site occupancy. …


Serum Chemistry Of Bowhead Whales (Balaena Mysticetus), Jerry R. Heidel, L. Michael Philo, Thomas F. Albert, Claire B. Andreasen, Bernadette V. Stang Jan 1996

Serum Chemistry Of Bowhead Whales (Balaena Mysticetus), Jerry R. Heidel, L. Michael Philo, Thomas F. Albert, Claire B. Andreasen, Bernadette V. Stang

Claire B. Andreasen

Sera of 19 male and female bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) collected near Barrow, Alaska (USA) between 30 August and 13 October 1992 were evaluated for 18 serum chemistry values. Male bowhead whales had significantly greater creatinine and sodium concentrations, and significantly lower glucose concentrations than females. Pregnant females had greater triglyceride levels than non-pregnant females. The mean concentrations of creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, total protein, sodium, potassium, chloride, phosphorus, and calcium were similar to those previously reported from bowhead whales. High aspartate aminotransferase and creatine kinase levels were attributed to muscle damage associated with harpooning.