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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Evidence Of Direct Interaction Between Cisplatin And The Caspase-Cleaved Prostate Apoptosis Response-4 Tumor Suppressor, Krishna K. Raut, Samjhana Pandey, Gyanendra Kharel, Steven M. Pascal
Evidence Of Direct Interaction Between Cisplatin And The Caspase-Cleaved Prostate Apoptosis Response-4 Tumor Suppressor, Krishna K. Raut, Samjhana Pandey, Gyanendra Kharel, Steven M. Pascal
Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications
Prostate apoptosis response-4 (Par-4) tumor suppressor protein has gained attention as a potential therapeutic target owing to its unique ability to selectively induce apoptosis in cancer cells, sensitize them to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and mitigate drug resistance. It has recently been reported that Par-4 interacts synergistically with cisplatin, a widely used anticancer drug. However, the mechanistic details underlying this relationship remain elusive. In this investigation, we employed an array of biophysical techniques, including circular dichroism spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, and UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, to characterize the interaction between the active caspase-cleaved Par-4 (cl-Par-4) fragment and cisplatin. Additionally, elemental analysis was …
L-Tryptophan Adsorption Differentially Changes The Optical Behaviour Of Pseudo-Enantiomeric Cysteine-Functionalized Quantum Dots: Towards Chiral Fluorescent Biosensors, Faezeh Askari, Abbas Rahdar, John F. Trant
L-Tryptophan Adsorption Differentially Changes The Optical Behaviour Of Pseudo-Enantiomeric Cysteine-Functionalized Quantum Dots: Towards Chiral Fluorescent Biosensors, Faezeh Askari, Abbas Rahdar, John F. Trant
Chemistry and Biochemistry Publications
Water-soluble chiral graphene quantum dots (GQDs) with a strong blue emission were synthesized by covalently immobilizing l-cysteine or d-cysteine onto the GQDs. Either the amine or the thiol group of cysteine was used to make the bond through amide coupling or thiol-ene click chemistry respectively. The functionalized chiral GQDs were the characterized by FT-IR and UV–vis. The enantiomeric pairs exhibit equal but opposite bands in circular dichroism spectra suggesting that there is no difference in the efficacy of conjugation. The fluorescent response of these chiral GQDs when exposed to l-tryptophan was then studied. The fluorescence of the amide-conjugated GQDs was …
Folding Of Gα Subunits: Implications For Disease States, Matthew Najor, Brian D. Leverson, Jesse L. Goossens, Saad Kothawala, Kenneth W. Olsen, Duarte Mota De Freitas
Folding Of Gα Subunits: Implications For Disease States, Matthew Najor, Brian D. Leverson, Jesse L. Goossens, Saad Kothawala, Kenneth W. Olsen, Duarte Mota De Freitas
Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works
G-proteins play a central role in signal transduction by fluctuating between “on” and “off” phases that are determined by a conformational change. cAMP is a secondary messenger whose formation is inhibited or stimulated by activated Giα1 or Gsα subunit. We used tryptophan fluorescence, UV/vis spectrophotometry, and circular dichroism to probe distinct structural features within active and inactive conformations from wild-type and tryptophan mutants of Giα1 and Gsα. For all proteins studied, we found that the active conformations were more stable than the inactive conformations, and upon refolding from higher temperatures, activated wild-type subunits recovered significantly more native structure. We also …
Vitamin E Circular Dichroism Studies: Insights Into Conformational Changes Induced By The Solvent’S Polarity, Drew Marquardt, Brad J. Van Oosten, Mikel Ghelfi, Jeffrey Atkinson, Thad A. Harroun
Vitamin E Circular Dichroism Studies: Insights Into Conformational Changes Induced By The Solvent’S Polarity, Drew Marquardt, Brad J. Van Oosten, Mikel Ghelfi, Jeffrey Atkinson, Thad A. Harroun
Chemistry and Biochemistry Publications
We used circular dichroism (CD) to study differences in CD spectra between α-, δ-, and methylated-α-tocopherol in solvents with different polarities. CD spectra of the different tocopherol structures differ from each other in intensity and peak locations, which can be attributed to chromanol substitution and the ability to form hydrogen bonds. In addition, each structure was examined in different polarity solvents using the Reichardt index—a measure of the solvent’s ionizing ability, and a direct measurement of solvent–solute interactions. Differences across solvents indicate that hydrogen bonding is a key contributor to CD spectra at 200 nm. These results are a first …
Conformational Dynamics And Stability Associated With Magnesium Or Calcium Binding To Dream In The Regulation Of Interactions Between Dream And Dna Or Presenilins, Khoa Ngoc Pham
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Downstream regulatory element antagonist modulator (DREAM) is involved in various interactions with targets both inside and outside of the nucleus. In the cytoplasm, DREAM interacts with the C-terminal fragments of presenilins to facilitate the production of β-amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease. In the nucleus, Ca2+ free DREAM directly binds to specific downstream regulatory elements of prodynorphin/c-fos gene to repress the gene transcription in pain modulation. These interactions are regulated by Ca2+ and/or Mg2+ association at the EF-hands in DREAM. Therefore, understanding the conformational dynamics and stability associated with Ca2+ and/or Mg2+ binding to DREAM …
Expression, Purification, And Analysis Of Unknown Translation Factors From Escherichia Coli: A Synthesis Approach, Justin D. Walter, Peter Littlefield, Scott P. Delbecq, Gerry Prody, P. Clint Spiegel
Expression, Purification, And Analysis Of Unknown Translation Factors From Escherichia Coli: A Synthesis Approach, Justin D. Walter, Peter Littlefield, Scott P. Delbecq, Gerry Prody, P. Clint Spiegel
Chemistry Faculty and Staff Publications
New approaches are currently being developed to expose biochemistry and molecular biology undergraduates to a more interactive learning environment. Here, we propose a unique project-based laboratory module, which incorporates exposure to biophysical chemistry approaches to address problems in protein chemistry. Each of the experiments described herein contributes to the stepwise process of isolating, identifying, and analyzing a protein involved in a central biological process, prokaryotic translation. Students are provided with expression plasmids that harbor an unknown translation factor, and it is their charge to complete a series of experiments that will allow them to develop hypotheses for discovering the identity …
Mutational Studies Uncover Non-Native Structure In The Dimeric Kinetic Intermediate Of The H2a–H2b Heterodimer, Matthew R. Stump, Lisa M. Gloss
Mutational Studies Uncover Non-Native Structure In The Dimeric Kinetic Intermediate Of The H2a–H2b Heterodimer, Matthew R. Stump, Lisa M. Gloss
Faculty Publications - Department of Biological & Molecular Science
The folding pathway of the histone H2A–H2B heterodimer minimally includes an on-pathway, dimeric, burst-phase intermediate, I2. The partially folded H2A and H2B monomers populated at equilibrium were characterized as potential monomeric kinetic intermediates. Folding kinetics were compared for initiation from isolated, folded monomers and the heterodimer unfolded in 4 M urea. The observed rates were virtually identical above 0.4Murea, exhibiting a log-linear relationship on the final denaturant concentration. Below ∼0.4 M urea (concentrations inaccessible from the 4-M urea unfolded state), a rollover in the rates was observed; this suggests that a component of the I2 ensemble contains non-native structure that …
Dynamics Of Apomyoglobin In The Α-To-Β Transition And Of Partially Unfolded Aggregated Protein, E. Fabiani, A. M. Stadler, D. Madern, M. M. Koza, M. Tehei, M. Hirai, G. Zaccai
Dynamics Of Apomyoglobin In The Α-To-Β Transition And Of Partially Unfolded Aggregated Protein, E. Fabiani, A. M. Stadler, D. Madern, M. M. Koza, M. Tehei, M. Hirai, G. Zaccai
Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)
Changes of molecular dynamics in the α-to-β transition associated with amyloid fibril formation were explored on apo-myoglobin (ApoMb) as a model system. Circular dichroism, neutron and X-ray scattering experiments were performed as a function of temperature on the protein, at different solvent conditions. A significant change in molecular dynamics was observed at the α-to-β transition at about 55 ˚C, indicating a more resilient high temperature β structure phase. A similar effect at approximately the same temperature was observed in holo-myoglobin, associated with partial unfolding and protein aggregation. A study in a wide temperature range between 20 K and 360 K …
Mutational Analysis Of The Stability Of The H2a And H2b Histone Monomers, Matthew R. Stump, Lisa M. Gloss
Mutational Analysis Of The Stability Of The H2a And H2b Histone Monomers, Matthew R. Stump, Lisa M. Gloss
Faculty Publications - Department of Biological & Molecular Science
The eukaryotic histone heterodimer H2A–H2B folds through an obligatory dimeric intermediate that forms in a nearly diffusion-limited association reaction in the stopped-flow dead time. It is unclear whether there is partial folding of the isolated monomers before association. To address the possible contributions of structure in the monomers to the rapid association, we characterized H2A and H2B monomers in the absence of their heterodimeric partner. By far-UV circular dichroism, the H2A and H2B monomers are 15% and 31% helical, respectively—significantly less than observed in X-ray crystal structures. Acrylamide quenching of the intrinsic Tyr fluorescence was indicative of tertiary structure. The …