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Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry

Nucleic Acids Promote Oligomerization Of Immunoglobulin G, Alexa Gomez Jan 2021

Nucleic Acids Promote Oligomerization Of Immunoglobulin G, Alexa Gomez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nucleic acids have been found to prevent aggregation as chaperones, as well as act as co-factors and promote aggregation of amyloidogenic proteins leading to various diseases. Immunoglobulin G, IgG, are prone to aggregate as therapeutic proteins, and light chains of IgG can form amyloid fibrils, causing a disease known as light chain amyloidosis. Here we discuss the effect nucleic acids have on full-length immunoglobulin G aggregation. Our results show G-quadruplex DNA, and bulk DNA lead to oligomerization of full-length IgG, and induce increases in secondary structure. Tryptophan fluorescence indicates structural changes are occurring in the presence of DNA. Additionally, IgG …


Gq Noncanonical Roles In Translational Regulation, Brett Demarco Aug 2018

Gq Noncanonical Roles In Translational Regulation, Brett Demarco

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates protein nucleic acid interactions, focusing on G-quadruplex (GQ) forming DNA/RNA in human disease. GQ structures are formed in DNA/RNA, when four guanine residues form planar tetrads stabilized by Hoogsteen base pairing, that stack forming a GQ structure stabilized by potassium ions. These GQ structures are targeted by the arginine glycine-glycine (RGG) RNA-binding domain. Fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), a translation regulator protein implicated in the fragile X syndrome, has an RGG domain and has been previously shown to interact with neuronal GQ forming messenger RNA (mRNA). We have investigated three neuronal FMRP mRNA targets that we …


Biophysical And Computational Investigations Into G-Quadruplex Structural Polymorphism And Interaction With Small Molecules., Huy Tuan Le Aug 2014

Biophysical And Computational Investigations Into G-Quadruplex Structural Polymorphism And Interaction With Small Molecules., Huy Tuan Le

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the cell, guanine-rich nucleic acids can self-assemble into unique four stranded tertiary structures known as G-quadruplexes. G-quadruplex formation in the telomere leads inhibits telomerase, an enzyme activated in cancer cells to maintain the telomere and allowing for cancer cells to achieve immortality. G-quadruplex formation in the promoters and 5’-untranslated regions regulates the expression of many oncogenes. Furthermore, G-quadruplex formation during cellular replication promotes genomic instability, a characteristic which enables tumor development. Because of their implication in cancer, G-quadruplex structures have emerged as attractive drug targets for anti-tumor therapeutics. In the current dissertation work, we present three experimental approaches to …


Variants And Polymorphisms Of Three Repetitive Dna Families In The Human Genome, Robert M. Roudabush May 1989

Variants And Polymorphisms Of Three Repetitive Dna Families In The Human Genome, Robert M. Roudabush

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A novel 0.6 kb LINE family in human DNA, designated L2Hs, has been described (Musich and Dykes 1986). Studies employing clone N6.4, containing three 0.6 kb segments of this family, indicate that these sequences are interspersed and moderately repetitive. Two additional variant sequences of the L2Hs family, N6.1 and N6.3, have been identified. Restriction mapping of each cloned segment indicates similarities among N6.4, N6.3 and N6.1. When the cloned DNAs were cleaved with restriction enzymes and subjected to cross-hybridization, each cloned insert produced a pattern indicating that the sequences contained in N6.1 and N6.3 are represented in at least one …