Protein and Peptide Letters - Volume 26, Issue 6, 2019

Background: Metabolic processes in living organisms are closely related to the catalytic activity of enzymes. Changes in enzyme activity cause various diseases e.g., neurological, cancer, metabolic and cardiovascular. Most of the current therapeutic drugs available in clinical utilization function as enzyme inhibitors. Objective: The main goal of the current study to contribute to this growing drug design area (such as med Read More

Background: Peptide-based therapeutics offer a unique avenue for the development of novel agents for the treatment of diabetes mellitus including α-glucosidase inhibitors. The peptide, SQSPA, was reported to possess to α -glucosidase inhibitory activity in addition to resistance to Gastrointestinal Tract (GIT) digestion. Methods: In this study, the in silico and in vitro structure-activity analyses of the peptide was condu Read More

Background: Genome sequence analysis (GenBank access No.: FN667742.1) shows that Xenorhabdus nematophila ATCC19061 contains one gene (Xn-cbp) encoding chitin binding protein (Xn-CBP). Objective: The present work aims to clarify the characteristics and function of Xn-CBP from X. nematophila HB310. Methods: In this study, the Xn-cbp gene was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). Substrate binding Read More

Background: Antibacterial peptidyl derivative - Cystapep 1, was previously found to be active both against antibiotic-resistant staphylococci and streptococci as well as antibioticsusceptible strains of these species. Therefore, it is a promising lead compound to search for new antimicrobial peptidomimetics. Objectives: We focused on identifying structural elements that are responsible for the biological activity of Cystapep 1 Read More

Background: Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases play an important role in catalyzing the first step in protein synthesis by attaching the appropriate amino acid to its cognate tRNA which then transported to the growing polypeptide chain. Asparaginyl-tRNA Synthetase (AsnRS) from Brugia malayi, Leishmania major, Thermus thermophilus, Trypanosoma brucei have been shown to play an important role in survival and pathogenesis. Read More

Background: The significance of multi-site phosphorylation of BCL-2 protein in the flexible loop domain remains controversial, in part due to the lack of structural biology studies of phosphorylated BCL-2. Objective: The purpose of the study is to explore the phosphorylation induced structural changes of BCL-2 protein. Methods: We constructed a phosphomietic mutant BCL-2(62-206) (t69e, s70e and s87e) (EEEBCL- 2-EK (62-20 Read More

Background: A well-known tissue marker of ovarian cancer, Human Epididymis protein 4 (HE4) is the member of whey acidic four-disulfide core proteins family. Purified from human seminal plasma and characterized as a cross-class protease inhibitor, HE4 was proposed to shield spermatozoa against proteolytic factors. However, its exact biological function is unknown. Proteins usually function in conjunction with Read More