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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Mutational Analysis Of The Nitrogenase Carbon Monoxide Protective Protein Cown Reveals That A Conserved C‑Terminal Glutamic Acid Residue Is Necessary For Its Activity, Dustin L. Willard, Joshuah J. Arellano, Mitch Underdahl, Terrence M. Lee, Avinash S. Ramaswamy, Gabriella Fumes, Agatha Kliman, Emily Y. Wong, Cedric P. Owens Dec 2023

Mutational Analysis Of The Nitrogenase Carbon Monoxide Protective Protein Cown Reveals That A Conserved C‑Terminal Glutamic Acid Residue Is Necessary For Its Activity, Dustin L. Willard, Joshuah J. Arellano, Mitch Underdahl, Terrence M. Lee, Avinash S. Ramaswamy, Gabriella Fumes, Agatha Kliman, Emily Y. Wong, Cedric P. Owens

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Nitrogenase is the only enzyme that catalyzes the reduction of nitrogen gas into ammonia. Nitrogenase is tightly inhibited by the environmental gas carbon monoxide (CO). Many nitrogen fixing bacteria protect nitrogenase from CO inhibition using the protective protein CowN. This work demonstrates that a conserved glutamic acid residue near the C-terminus of Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus CowN is necessary for its function. Mutation of the glutamic acid residue abolishes both CowN’s protection against CO inhibition and the ability of CowN to bind to nitrogenase. In contrast, a conserved C-terminal cysteine residue is not important for CO protection by CowN. Overall, this work …


Purification And Biochemical Characterization Of The Dna Binding Domain Of The Nitrogenase Transcriptional Activator Nifa From Gluconacetobacter Diazotrophicus, Heidi G. Standke, Lois Kim, Cedric P. Owens Oct 2023

Purification And Biochemical Characterization Of The Dna Binding Domain Of The Nitrogenase Transcriptional Activator Nifa From Gluconacetobacter Diazotrophicus, Heidi G. Standke, Lois Kim, Cedric P. Owens

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

NifA is a σ54 activator that turns on bacterial nitrogen fixation under reducing conditions and when fixed cellular nitrogen levels are low. The redox sensing mechanism in NifA is poorly understood. In α- and β-proteobacteria, redox sensing involves two pairs of Cys residues within and immediately following the protein’s central AAA+ domain. In this work, we examine if an additional Cys pair that is part of a C(X)5 C motif and located immediately upstream of the DNA binding domain of NifA from the α-proteobacterium Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus (Gd) is involved in redox sensing. We hypothesize that the …


Α7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Interaction With G Proteins In Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation, Motility, And Calcium Signaling, Murat Oz, Justin R. King, Keun-Hang Susan Yang, Sarah Khushaish, Yulia Tchugunova, Maitham A. Khajah, Yunus A. Luqmani, Nadine Kabbani Jul 2023

Α7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Interaction With G Proteins In Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation, Motility, And Calcium Signaling, Murat Oz, Justin R. King, Keun-Hang Susan Yang, Sarah Khushaish, Yulia Tchugunova, Maitham A. Khajah, Yunus A. Luqmani, Nadine Kabbani

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Chronic smoking is a primary risk factor for breast cancer due to the presence of various toxins and carcinogens within tobacco products. Nicotine is the primary addictive component of tobacco products and has been shown to promote breast cancer cell proliferation and metastases. Nicotine activates nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) that are expressed in cancer cell lines. Here, we examine the role of the α7 nAChR in coupling to heterotrimeric G proteins within breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Pharmacological activation of the α7 nAChR using choline or nicotine was found to increase proliferation, motility, and calcium signaling in MCF-7 cells. This effect …


The Pros Of Changing Trna Identity, Michael Ibba Jun 2023

The Pros Of Changing Trna Identity, Michael Ibba

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The notion that errors in protein synthesis are universally harmful to the cell has been questioned by findings that suggest such mistakes may sometimes be beneficial. However, how often these beneficial mistakes arise from programmed changes in gene expression as opposed to reduced accuracy of the translation machinery is still unclear. A new study published in JBC shows that some bacteria have beneficially evolved the ability to mistranslate specific parts of the genetic code, a trait that allows improved antibiotic resistance.


Small Community Water Systems Have The Highest Prevalence Of Mn In Drinking Water In California, Usa, Miranda Aiken, Samantha C. Ying May 2023

Small Community Water Systems Have The Highest Prevalence Of Mn In Drinking Water In California, Usa, Miranda Aiken, Samantha C. Ying

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Manganese (Mn) is currently regulated as a secondary contaminant in California, USA; however, recent revisions of the World Health Organization drinking water guidelines have increased regulatory attention of Mn in drinking water due to increasing reports of neurotoxic effects in infants and children. In this study, Mn concentrations reported to California’s Safe Drinking Water Information System were used to estimate the potentially exposed population within California based on system size. We estimate that between 2011 and 2021, over 525,000 users in areas with reported Mn data are potentially exposed to Mn concentrations exceeding the WHO health-based guideline (80 μg L …


Computational Design And Molecular Modeling Of Morphine Derivatives For Preferential Binding In Inflamed Tissue, Makena Augenstein, Nayiri Alexander, Matthew Gartner Apr 2023

Computational Design And Molecular Modeling Of Morphine Derivatives For Preferential Binding In Inflamed Tissue, Makena Augenstein, Nayiri Alexander, Matthew Gartner

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The opioid epidemic has impacted over 10 million Americans in 2019. Opioids, like morphine, bind non-selectively in both peripheral tissue, leading to effective pain relief, and central tissue, resulting in dangerous side effects and addiction. The inflamed conditions of injured tissues have a lower pH (pH = 6–6.5) environment than healthy tissue (pH = 7.4). We aim to design a morphine derivative that binds selectively within inflamed tissue using molecular extension and dissection techniques. Morphine binds to the μ-opioid receptor (MOR) when the biochemically active amine group is protonated. Fluorination of a β-carbon from the tertiary amine group led to …


Virtual And In Vitro Screening Of Natural Products Identifies Indole And Benzene Derivatives As Inhibitors Of Sars-Cov-2 Main Protease (MPro), Dony Ang, Riley Kendall, Hagop S. Atamian Mar 2023

Virtual And In Vitro Screening Of Natural Products Identifies Indole And Benzene Derivatives As Inhibitors Of Sars-Cov-2 Main Protease (MPro), Dony Ang, Riley Kendall, Hagop S. Atamian

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The rapid spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) resulted in serious health, social, and economic consequences. While the development of effective vaccines substantially reduced the severity of symptoms and the associated deaths, we still urgently need effective drugs to further reduce the number of casualties associated with SARS-CoV-2 infections. Machine learning methods both improved and sped up all the different stages of the drug discovery processes by performing complex analyses with enormous datasets. Natural products (NPs) have been used for treating diseases and infections for thousands of years and represent a valuable resource for drug discovery when combined with …