Protein and Peptide Letters - Volume 23, Issue 11, 2016

Recent studies document the importance of endothelial dysfunction (ED) in cancer development and metastasis. We previously reported that vascular oxidative stress and inflammation result in ED in animals bearing brain murine metastatic breast carcinoma (BCa). Substance P (SP), a neuropeptide found in sensory nerve terminals, was reported to enhance anti-tumoral effects of conventional treatments. SP was also r Read More

Splicing factor, proline- and glutamine-rich protein (SFPQ), was identified in eight human cultivated cell lines by proteomic approaches. The cell proteins have been separated by means of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis in two modifications and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry with further tandem mass spectrometry. The analysis of proteins from three human sarcomas Read More

In NMR experiments, the chemical shift is typically the first parameter measured and is a source of structural information for biomolecules. Indeed, secondary chemical shifts, the difference between the measured chemical shifts and those expected for a randomly oriented sequence of peptides (the "random coil"), are correlated with the secondary structure of proteins; secondary shift analysis is thereby a standard approach in s Read More

It has been reported that pulse proteolysis may be used to investigate protein unfolding kinetics in cell lysate. However, the method has not become popular and we could not judge whether or not it is effective for protein folding study. In this work, we examined the folding and unfolding kinetics of a protein and its variants without purification by pulse proteolysis. The unfolding and refolding rates of the unpurified proteins Read More

Recent studies have indicated that PrP23-98, an N-terminal portion of PrP, polymerizes into amyloid-like and proteinase K (PK)-resistant aggregates in the presence of NADPH with copper ions [19], and then that CRT suppressed aggregation of PrP23-98 and also promoted solubilization of the aggregates [18]. As it is interesting to find out whether other chaperones can inhibit aggregation of PrP23-98 in vitro similar to CRT, this Read More

Plant defensins are plant defence peptides that have many different biological activities, including antifungal, antimicrobial, and insecticidal activities. A cDNA (EgDFS) encoding defensin was isolated from Elaeis guineensis. The open reading frame of EgDFS contained 231 nucleotides encoding a 71-amino acid protein with a predicted molecular weight at 8.69 kDa, and a potential signal peptide. The eight highly conser Read More

The potent multifunctionality of human galectins is based on their modular structure in a not yet fully understood manner. A strategy to dissect the contributions of individual sequence stretches to lectin activity is based on engineering variants of the natural proteins, which are composed of novel combinations of distinct parts. On proof-of-principle level, we here describe the design of a hybrid constituted by the N-terminal tai Read More

Prostaglandin H synthase (PGHS) catalyzes the biosynthesis of PGG2 and PGH2, the precursor of all prostanoids, from arachidonic acid (AA). PGHS exhibits two enzymatic activities following a branched-chain radical mechanism: 1) a peroxidase activity (POX) that utilizes hydroperoxide through heme redox cycles to generate the critical Tyr385 tyrosyl radical for coupling both enzyme activities; 2) the cyclooxygenase (COX) activit Read More

Apolipoprotein (apo)A-I and apoE are the two protein components that have been extensively investigated for their anti-atherogenic properties. Both apolipoproteins possess amphipathic helical structures, responsible for the solubilization of lipids. While apoA-I possesses class A amphipathic helical structures, apoE possesses a 59 residue long amphipathic helical domain linked to a four helix bundle containing the Arg-rich, 10 Read More

Many polyketides show biological activities and have thus been applied in clinics, as food additives, and in agriculture. Type II thioesterases (TEIIs) play an important role in polyketide biosynthesis. Most TEIIs belong to α/β-hydrolase family and usually contain a catalytic triad Ser-His-Asp. In polyketide biosynthesis, TEIIs can play an editing role by removal of aberrant non-extendable acyl units in elongation steps, a starter unit Read More

As a graduate course student, I studied the aggregation behavior of the wheat protein gluten, induced by changes in pH and ionic strength, thus beginning my research career in the field of solvent effects. The following 5 years were spent as a post-doctoral reseracher in the U.S., focused on protein-solvent interactions, which, according to my advisor, Dr. Timasheff, was too basic to be supported by academic grants. This stud Read More