Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 16, Issue 6, 2016

All residues in an alpha helix can be characterized and dispositioned on a 2D the wenxiang diagram, which possesses the following features: (1) the relative locations of the amino acids in the α-helix can be clearly displayed regardless how long it is; (2) direction of an alphahelix can be indicated; and (3) more information regarding each of the constituent amino acid residues in an alpha helix. Owing to its intuitionism and easy visi Read More

The posttranslational modification or PTM is a later but subtle step in protein biosynthesis via which to change the properties of a protein by adding a modified group to its one or more amino acid residues. PTMs are responsible for many significant biological processes, and meanwhile for many major diseases as well, such as cancer. Facing the avalanche of biological sequences generated in the post-genomic age, it is important Read More

Protein-RNA interactions play crucial roles in numerous biological processes. However, detecting the interactions and binding sites between protein and RNA by traditional experiments is still time consuming and labor costing. Thus, it is of importance to develop bioinformatics methods for predicting protein-RNA interactions and binding sites. Accurate prediction of protein-RNA interactions and recognitions will highly benefit Read More

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase:transfer RNA (aaRS:tRNA) systems became recently essential targets in molecular medicine, because perturbed recognition of cognate tRNAs by aaRSs and poor precision in tRNA aminoacylation do not guarantee accurate protein biosynthesis, thus leading to diseases. Sets of identity determinants situated at particular zones of tRNA are responsible for functional accuracy. Recent work in X-ray Read More

Ocular biology is a prominent area of research and advancement, as eyes are the most precious for us to see this beautiful world. Though we have overcome many ocular problems, but still challenges, no doubt exist in the path of the journey. Many ocular disorders still either have surgery or symptomatic drugs as a treatment. If we could get a better preventive way or single drug with many and more potential effects, will defi Read More

Schizophrenia is a severe complex disabling disease that has impaired about 1% of the total population. It is widely recognized that schizophrenia is caused by the abnormal immune system. However, the current genome-wide association study (GWAS) of schizophrenia did not identify any cytokine molecules except genes in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region, suggesting that new strategies are needed to fin Read More

Blood coagulation is healthy and lifesaving because it can stop bleeding. It can, however, be a troublemaker as well, causing serious medical problems including heart attack and stroke. Body has complex blood coagulation cascade to modulate the blood clots. In the environment of plasma, the blood coagulation cascade is regulated by antithrombin, which is deemed one of the most important serine protease inhibit Read More