O-GlcNAcylation regulates ischemia-induced neuronal apoptosis through AKT signaling.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Jianhua; Gu, Jin-hua; Dai, Chun-ling; Gu, Jianlan; Jin, Xiaoxia; Sun, Jianming; Iqbal, Khalid; Liu, Fei; Gong, Cheng-Xin

2015-09-28

Apoptosis plays an important role in neural development and neurological disorders. In this study, we found that O-GlcNAcylation, a unique protein posttranslational modification with O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), promoted apoptosis through attenuating phosphorylation/activation of AKT and Bad. By using co-immunoprecipitation and mutagenesis techniques, we identified O-GlcNAc modification at both Thr308 and Ser473 of AKT. O-GlcNAcylation-induced apoptosis was attenuated by over-expression of AKT. We also found a dynamic elevation of protein O-GlcNAcylation during the first four hours of cerebral ischemia, followed by continuous decline after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in the mouse brain. The elevation of O-GlcNAcylation coincided with activation of cell apoptosis. Finally, we found a negative correlation between AKT phosphorylation and O-GlcNAcylation in ischemic brain tissue. These results indicate that cerebral ischemia induces a rapid increase of O-GlcNAcylation that promotes apoptosis through down-regulation of AKT activity. These findings provide a novel mechanism through which O-GlcNAcylation regulates ischemia-induced neuronal apoptosis through AKT signaling.

Functional O-GlcNAc modifications: Implications in molecular regulation and pathophysiology

Science.gov (United States)

Wells, Lance

2016-01-01

O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is a regulatory post-translational modification of intracellular proteins. The dynamic and inducible cycling of the modification is governed by O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcase (OGA) in response to UDP-GlcNAc levels in the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP). Due to its reliance on glucose flux and substrate availability, a major focus in the field has been on how O-GlcNAc contributes to metabolic disease. For years this post-translational modification has been known to modify thousands of proteins implicated in various disorders, but direct functional connections have until recently remained elusive. New research is beginning to reveal the specific mechanisms through which O-GlcNAc influences cell dynamics and disease pathology including clear examples of O-GlcNAc modification at a specific site on a given protein altering its biological functions. The following review intends to focus primarily on studies in the last half decade linking O-GlcNAc modification of proteins with chromatin-directed gene regulation, developmental processes, and several metabolically related disorders including Alzheimer’s, heart disease and cancer. These studies illustrate the emerging importance of this post-translational modification in biological processes and multiple pathophysiologies. PMID:24524620

Spliced X-box binding protein 1 couples the unfolded protein response to hexosamine biosynthetic pathway.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhao V; Deng, Yingfeng; Gao, Ningguo; Pedrozo, Zully; Li, Dan L; Morales, Cyndi R; Criollo, Alfredo; Luo, Xiang; Tan, Wei; Jiang, Nan; Lehrman, Mark A; Rothermel, Beverly A; Lee, Ann-Hwee; Lavandero, Sergio; Mammen, Pradeep P A; Ferdous, Anwarul; Gillette, Thomas G; Scherer, Philipp E; Hill, Joseph A

2014-03-13

The hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) generates uridine diphosphate N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) for glycan synthesis and O-linked GlcNAc (O-GlcNAc) protein modifications. Despite the established role of the HBP in metabolism and multiple diseases, regulation of the HBP remains largely undefined. Here, we show that spliced X-box binding protein 1 (Xbp1s), the most conserved signal transducer of the unfolded protein response (UPR), is a direct transcriptional activator of the HBP. We demonstrate that the UPR triggers HBP activation via Xbp1s-dependent transcription of genes coding for key, rate-limiting enzymes. We further establish that this previously unrecognized UPR-HBP axis is triggered in a variety of stress conditions. Finally, we demonstrate a physiologic role for the UPR-HBP axis by showing that acute stimulation of Xbp1s in heart by ischemia/reperfusion confers robust cardioprotection in part through induction of the HBP. Collectively, these studies reveal that Xbp1s couples the UPR to the HBP to protect cells under stress. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Functional significance of O-GlcNAc modification in regulating neuronal properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Hongik; Rhim, Hyewhon

2018-03-01

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) covalently modify proteins and diversify protein functions. Along with protein phosphorylation, another common PTM is the addition of O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) to serine and/or threonine residues. O-GlcNAc modification is similar to phosphorylation in that it occurs to serine and threonine residues and cycles on and off with a similar time scale. However, a striking difference is that the addition and removal of the O-GlcNAc moiety on all substrates are mediated by the two enzymes regardless of proteins, O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcase (OGA), respectively. O-GlcNAcylation can interact or potentially compete with phosphorylation on serine and threonine residues, and thus serves as an important molecular mechanism to modulate protein functions and activation. However, it has been challenging to address the role of O-GlcNAc modification in regulating protein functions at the molecular level due to the lack of convenient tools to determine the sites and degrees of O-GlcNAcylation. Studies in this field have only begun to expand significantly thanks to the recent advances in detection and manipulation methods such as quantitative proteomics and highly selective small-molecule inhibitors for OGT and OGA. Interestingly, multiple brain regions, especially hippocampus, express high levels of both OGT and OGA, and a number of neuron-specific proteins have been reported to undergo O-GlcNAcylation. This review aims to discuss the recent updates concerning the impacts of O-GlcNAc modification on neuronal functions at multiple levels ranging from intrinsic neuronal properties to synaptic plasticity and animal behaviors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

N-Acetylglucosamine Functions in Cell Signaling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James B. Konopka

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The amino sugar N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc is well known for the important structural roles that it plays at the cell surface. It is a key component of bacterial cell wall peptidoglycan, fungal cell wall chitin, and the extracellular matrix of animal cells. Interestingly, recent studies have also identified new roles for GlcNAc in cell signaling. For example, GlcNAc stimulates the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans to undergo changes in morphogenesis and expression of virulence genes. Pathogenic E. coli responds to GlcNAc by altering the expression of fimbriae and CURLI fibers that promote biofilm formation and GlcNAc stimulates soil bacteria to undergo changes in morphogenesis and production of antibiotics. Studies with animal cells have revealed that GlcNAc influences cell signaling through the posttranslational modification of proteins by glycosylation. O-linked attachment of GlcNAc to Ser and Thr residues regulates a variety of intracellular proteins, including transcription factors such as NFκB, c-myc, and p53. In addition, the specificity of Notch family receptors for different ligands is altered by GlcNAc attachment to fucose residues in the extracellular domain. GlcNAc also impacts signal transduction by altering the degree of branching of N-linked glycans, which influences cell surface signaling proteins. These emerging roles of GlcNAc as an activator and mediator of cellular signaling in fungi, animals, and bacteria will be the focus of this paper.

Calreticulin discriminates the proximal region at the N-glycosylation site of Glc1Man9GlcNAc2 ligand

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hirano, Makoto; Adachi, Yuka [Department of Materials and Life Science, Seikei University, 3-3-1 Kichijoji-kita, Musashino, Tokyo 180-8633 (Japan); Ito, Yukishige [Synthetic Cellular Chemistry Laboratory, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); ERATO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Ito Glycotrilogy Project, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Totani, Kiichiro, E-mail: ktotani@st.seikei.ac.jp [Department of Materials and Life Science, Seikei University, 3-3-1 Kichijoji-kita, Musashino, Tokyo 180-8633 (Japan)

2015-10-23

Calreticulin (CRT) is well known as a lectin-like chaperone that recognizes Glc1Man9GlcNAc2 (G1M9)-glycoproteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, whether CRT can directly interact with the aglycone moiety (protein portion) of the glycoprotein remains controversial. To improve our understanding of CRT interactions, structure-defined G1M9-derivatives with different aglycones (–OH, –Gly–NH{sub 2}, and –Gly–Glu–{sup t}Bu) were used as CRT ligands, and their interactions with recombinant CRT were analyzed using thermal shift analysis. The results showed that CRT binds strongly to a G1M9-ligand in the order –Gly–Glu–{sup t}Bu > –Gly–NH{sub 2} > –OH, which is the same as that of the reglucosylation of Man9GlcNAc2 (M9)-derivatives by the folding sensor enzyme UGGT (UDP-glucose: glycoprotein glucosyltransferase). Our results indicate that, similar to UGGT, CRT discriminates the proximal region at the N-glycosylation site, suggesting a similar mechanism mediating the recognition of aglycone moieties in the ER glycoprotein quality control system. - Highlights: • Glc1Man9GlcNAc2 (G1M9) ligands with different aglycones were chemically prepared. • Calreticulin (CRT) discriminates the aglycone of Glc1Man9GlcNAc2 (G1M9) ligand. • CRT binds with G1M9 ligands in a similar manner to folding sensor enzyme.

Protein O-GlcNAc Modification Increases in White Blood Cells After a Single Bout of Physical Exercise.

Science.gov (United States)

Nagy, Tamás; Kátai, Emese; Fisi, Viktória; Takács, Tamás Tibor; Stréda, Antal; Wittmann, István; Miseta, Attila

2018-01-01

Protein O-linked N -acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is a dynamic posttranslational modification influencing the function of many intracellular proteins. Recently it was revealed that O-GlcNAc regulation is modified under various stress states, including ischemia and oxidative stress. Aside from a few contradictory studies based on animal models, the effect of exercise on O-GlcNAc is unexplored. To evaluate O-GlcNAc levels in white blood cells (WBC) of human volunteers following physical exercise. Young (age 30 ± 5.2), healthy male volunteers ( n  = 6) were enlisted for the study. Blood parameters including metabolites, ions, "necro"-enzymes, and cell counts were measured before and after a single bout of exercise (2-mile run). From WBC samples, we performed western blots to detect O-GlcNAc modified proteins. The distribution of O-GlcNAc in WBC subpopulations was assessed by flow cytometry. Elevation of serum lactic acid (increased from 1.3 ± 0.4 to 6.9 ± 1.7 mM), creatinine (from 77.5 ± 6.3 U/L to 102.2 ± 7.0 μM), and lactate dehydrogenase (from 318.5 ± 26.2 to 380.5 ± 33.2 U/L) confirmed the effect of exercise. WBC count also significantly increased (from 6.6 ± 1.0 to 8.4 ± 1.4 G/L). The level of O-GlcNAc modified proteins in WBCs showed significant elevation after exercise (85 ± 51%, p  O-GlcNAc status of WBCs. O-GlcNAc modification could be a natural process by which physical activity modulates the immune system. Further research could elucidate the role of O-GlcNAc during exercise and validate O-GlcNAc as a biomarker for fitness assessment.

Posttranslational modification of bioaerosol protein by common gas pollutants: NO2 and O3

Science.gov (United States)

Abdullahi Mahmood, Marliyyah; Bloss, William; Pope, Francis

2016-04-01

Air pollution can exacerbate several medical conditions, for example, hay fever and asthma. The global incidence of hay fever has been rising for decades; however, the underlying reasons behind this rise remain unclear. It is hypothesized that the exposure of pollen to common gas phase pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3), increases the allergenicity of the pollen and thus increases hay fever incidence (Reinmuth-Selzle et al., 2014, Franze, et al., 2005). Since atmospheric pollutants often have greater concentrations within urban areas (in particular NO2) the hypothesis suggests that greater allergenicity should occur in urban areas. Certainly, several studies do suggest higher hay fever incidence within urban areas compared to rural areas (Schröder et al., 2015). Previous published work suggests a link between increased allergies and changes in the chemical composition of pollen protein via posttranslational modification of the protein (Reinmuth-Selzle et al., 2014). This study investigates the posttranslational modification of two highly allergenic pollen species (Birch and Ragweed) that are common in Europe. Within the laboratory, we expose pollen grains to atmospherically relevant exposures of gas phase NO2, O3 and other common gas phase oxidants under a range of environmentally relevant conditions. The effects of the exposures on the biochemistry of the pollen grains were probed using a proteomic approach (liquid chromatography coupled ultra-high resolution spectrometer). Our findings indicate the interaction between gas phase pollutants and pollen cause protein specific modifications; in particular nitration that occurs upon tyrosine residues and nitrosylation on cysteine residues. These modifications may affect human immune response to the pollen protein, which may suggest a possible reason for increased allergies in reaction to such chemically altered protein. Quantification of the relative degree of PTMs, from a variety of

O-GLYCBASE version 2.0: a revised database of O-glycosylated proteins

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Jan; Lund, Ole; Rapacki, Kristoffer

1997-01-01

O-GLYCBASE is an updated database of information on glycoproteins and their O-linked glycosylation sites. Entries are compiled and revised from the literature, and from the SWISS-PROT database. Entries include information about species, sequence, glycosylation sites and glycan type. O-GLYCBASE is...... patterns for the GalNAc, mannose and GlcNAc transferases are shown. The O-GLYCBASE database is available through WWW or by anonymous FTP....

O-acetylation of the serine-rich repeat glycoprotein GspB is coordinated with accessory Sec transport.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ravin Seepersaud

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The serine-rich repeat (SRR glycoproteins are a family of adhesins found in many Gram-positive bacteria. Expression of the SRR adhesins has been linked to virulence for a variety of infections, including streptococcal endocarditis. The SRR preproteins undergo intracellular glycosylation, followed by export via the accessory Sec (aSec system. This specialized transporter is comprised of SecA2, SecY2 and three to five accessory Sec proteins (Asps that are required for export. Although the post-translational modification and transport of the SRR adhesins have been viewed as distinct processes, we found that Asp2 of Streptococcus gordonii also has an important role in modifying the SRR adhesin GspB. Biochemical analysis and mass spectrometry indicate that Asp2 is an acetyltransferase that modifies N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc moieties on the SRR domains of GspB. Targeted mutations of the predicted Asp2 catalytic domain had no effect on transport, but abolished acetylation. Acetylated forms of GspB were only detected when the protein was exported via the aSec system, but not when transport was abolished by secA2 deletion. In addition, GspB variants rerouted to export via the canonical Sec pathway also lacked O-acetylation, demonstrating that this modification is specific to export via the aSec system. Streptococci expressing GspB lacking O-acetylated GlcNAc were significantly reduced in their ability bind to human platelets in vitro, an interaction that has been strongly linked to virulence in the setting of endocarditis. These results demonstrate that Asp2 is a bifunctional protein involved in both the post-translational modification and transport of SRR glycoproteins. In addition, these findings indicate that these processes are coordinated during the biogenesis of SRR glycoproteins, such that the adhesin is optimally modified for binding. This requirement for the coupling of modification and export may explain the co-evolution of the SRR

A novel post-translational modification in nerve terminals: O-linked N-acetylglucosamine phosphorylation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Graham, Mark E; Thaysen-Andersen, Morten; Bache, Nicolai

2011-01-01

Protein phosphorylation and glycosylation are the most common post-translational modifications observed in biology, frequently on the same protein. Assembly protein AP180 is a synapse-specific phosphoprotein and O-linked beta-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modified glycoprotein. AP180 is involved......NAc-P to a Thr residue was confirmed by electron transfer dissociation MS. A second AP180 tryptic peptide was also glycosyl phosphorylated, but the site of modification was not assigned. Sequence similarities suggest there may be a common motif within AP180 involving glycosyl phosphorylation and dual flanking...... phosphorylation sites within 4 amino acid residues. This novel type of protein glycosyl phosphorylation adds a new signaling mechanism to the regulation of neurotransmission and more complexity to the study of O-GlcNAc modification....

Effects of Heterologous tRNA Modifications on the Production of Proteins Containing Noncanonical Amino Acids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Crnković

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Synthesis of proteins with noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs enables the creation of protein-based biomaterials with diverse new chemical properties that may be attractive for material science. Current methods for large-scale production of ncAA-containing proteins, frequently carried out in Escherichia coli, involve the use of orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (o-aaRSs and tRNAs (o-tRNAs. Although o-tRNAs are designed to be orthogonal to endogenous aaRSs, their orthogonality to the components of the E. coli metabolism remains largely unexplored. We systematically investigated how the E. coli tRNA modification machinery affects the efficiency and orthogonality of o-tRNASep used for production of proteins with the ncAA O-phosphoserine (Sep. The incorporation of Sep into a green fluorescent protein (GFP in 42 E. coli strains carrying deletions of single tRNA modification genes identified several genes that affect the o-tRNA activity. Deletion of cysteine desulfurase (iscS increased the yield of Sep-containing GFP more than eightfold, while overexpression of dimethylallyltransferase MiaA and pseudouridine synthase TruB improved the specificity of Sep incorporation. These results highlight the importance of tRNA modifications for the biosynthesis of proteins containing ncAAs, and provide a novel framework for optimization of o-tRNAs.

Defining carbohydrate specificity of Ricinus communis agglutinin as Gal beta 1-->4GlcNAc (II) > Gal beta 1-->3GlcNAc (I) > Gal alpha 1-->3Gal (B) > Gal beta 1-->3GalNAc (T).

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, J H; Herp, A; Wu, A M

1993-03-01

To define carbohydrate specificity of Ricinus communis agglutinin (RCA1), the combining site of RCA1 was further characterized by quantitative precipitin (QPA) and precipitin-inhibition assays (QPIA). Among the oligosaccharides tested for QPIA, Gal beta 1-->4GlcNAc (II, human blood group type II precursor sequence) was found to be 7.1 times more active than Gal beta 1-->3GalNAc (T, Thomsen-Friedenreich sequence) and about 1.7 times more active than the other three disaccharides tested--Gal beta 1-->4Man, Gal beta 1-->3DAra and Gal beta 1-->6GalNAc. Gal alpha 1-->4Gal, the receptor of the uropathogenic E. coli ligand was 3.6 times less active than the II sequence. These results indicate that the beta 1-->4 linkage of the terminal Gal to subterminal GlcNAc is important as this beta 1-->4GlcNAc sequence is at least 1.6 times more active than other types of disaccharides. Among the glycoproteins examined for QPA, native and desialized bovine submandibular glycoproteins, native and desialized human plasma alpha 1-acid glycoproteins, as well as crude hog stomach mucin and its three mild acid hydrolyzed products reacted well with the lectin. These glycoproteins precipitated over 75% of the lectin nitrogen added indicating that RCA1 has the ability to recognize Gal beta 1-->4/3GlcNAc and/or the related residues at the non-reducing ends and at positions in the interior of the chains. However, Tn (GalNAc alpha 1-->Ser/Thr sequence) rich glycoproteins such as desialized ovine submandibular glycoprotein and desialized armadillo salivary glycoprotein, in which over 90% of the carbohydrate side chains are Tn determinants with none or only a trace of I/II or T determinants, precipitated poorly with RCA1. From the present and previous results obtained, the carbohydrate specificity of RCA1 can be constructed and summarized in decreasing order by lectin determinants as follows: II (Gal beta 1-->4GlcNAc) > I (Gal beta 1-->3GlcNAc) > E (Gal alpha 1-->4Gal) and B (Gal alpha 1-->3Gal

Protein Modifications as Manifestations of Hyperglycemic Glucotoxicity in Diabetes and Its Complications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hong Zheng

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Diabetes and its complications are hyperglycemic toxicity diseases. Many metabolic pathways in this array of diseases become aberrant, which is accompanied with a variety of posttranslational protein modifications that in turn reflect diabetic glucotoxicity. In this review, we summarize some of the most widely studied protein modifications in diabetes and its complications. These modifications include glycation, carbonylation, nitration, cysteine S-nitrosylation, acetylation, sumoylation, ADP-ribosylation, O-GlcNAcylation, and succination. All these posttranslational modifications can be significantly attributed to oxidative stress and/or carbon stress induced by diabetic redox imbalance that is driven by activation of pathways, such as the polyol pathway and the ADP-ribosylation pathway. Exploring the nature of these modifications should facilitate our understanding of the pathological mechanisms of diabetes and its associated complications.

Chemical modifications of therapeutic proteins induced by residual ethylene oxide.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Louise; Sloey, Christopher; Zhang, Zhongqi; Bondarenko, Pavel V; Kim, Hyojin; Ren, Da; Kanapuram, Sekhar

2015-02-01

Ethylene oxide (EtO) is widely used in sterilization of drug product primary containers and medical devices. The impact of residual EtO on protein therapeutics is of significant interest in the biopharmaceutical industry. The potential for EtO to modify individual amino acids in proteins has been previously reported. However, specific identification of EtO adducts in proteins and the effect of residual EtO on the stability of therapeutic proteins has not been reported to date. This paper describes studies of residual EtO with two therapeutic proteins, a PEGylated form of the recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (Peg-GCSF) and recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO) formulated with human serum albumin (HSA). Peg-GCSF was filled in an EtO sterilized delivery device and incubated at accelerated stress conditions. Glu-C peptide mapping and LC-MS analyses revealed residual EtO reacted with Peg-GCSF and resulted in EtO modifications at two methionine residues (Met-127 and Met-138). In addition, tryptic peptide mapping and LC-MS analyses revealed residual EtO in plastic vials reacted with HSA in EPO formulation at Met-328 and Cys-34. This paper details the work conducted to understand the effects of residual EtO on the chemical stability of protein therapeutics. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association.

O-GlcNAc profiling: from proteins to proteomes

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

O-linked β-D-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification (O-GlcNAcylation) onto serine and threonine residues of proteins is an important post-translational modification (PTM), which is involved in many crucial biological processes including transcription, translation, proteasomal degradation, and signal transduction. Aberrant protein O-GlcNAcylation is directly linked to the pathological progression of chronic diseases including diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders. Identification, site mapping, and quantification of O-GlcNAc proteins are a prerequisite to decipher their functions. In this review, we mainly focus on technological developments regarding O-GlcNAc protein profiling. Specifically, on one hand, we show how these techniques are being used for the comprehensive characterization of certain targeted proteins in which biologists are most interested. On the other hand, we present several newly developed approaches for O-GlcNAcomic profiling as well as how they provide us with a systems perspective to crosstalk amongst different PTMs and complicated biological events. Promising technical trends are also highlighted to evoke more efforts by diverse laboratories, which would further expand our understanding of the physiological and pathological roles of protein O-GlcNAcylation in chronic diseases. PMID:24593906

O-Linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification: a new pathway to decode pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Gurel, Zafer; Sheibani, Nader

2018-01-31

The incidence of diabetes continues to rise among all ages and ethnic groups worldwide. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a complication of diabetes that affects the retinal neurovasculature causing serious vision problems, including blindness. Its pathogenesis and severity is directly linked to the chronic exposure to high glucose conditions. No treatments are currently available to stop the development and progression of DR. To develop new and effective therapeutic approaches, it is critical to better understand how hyperglycemia contributes to the pathogenesis of DR at the cellular and molecular levels. We propose alterations in O-GlcNAc modification of target proteins during diabetes contribute to the development and progression of DR. The O-GlcNAc modification is regulated through hexosamine biosynthetic pathway. We showed this pathway is differentially activated in various retinal vascular cells under high glucose conditions perhaps due to their selective metabolic activity. O-GlcNAc modification can alter protein stability, activity, interactions, and localization. By targeting the same amino acid residues (serine and threonine) as phosphorylation, O-GlcNAc modification can either compete or cooperate with phosphorylation. Here we will summarize the effects of hyperglycemia-induced O-GlcNAc modification on the retinal neurovasculature in a cell-specific manner, providing new insight into the role of O-GlcNAc modification in early loss of retinal pericytes and the pathogenesis of DR. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society.

Cell signaling, post-translational protein modifications and NMR spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Theillet, Francois-Xavier; Smet-Nocca, Caroline; Liokatis, Stamatios; Thongwichian, Rossukon; Kosten, Jonas; Yoon, Mi-Kyung; Kriwacki, Richard W.; Landrieu, Isabelle; Lippens, Guy; Selenko, Philipp

2012-01-01

Post-translationally modified proteins make up the majority of the proteome and establish, to a large part, the impressive level of functional diversity in higher, multi-cellular organisms. Most eukaryotic post-translational protein modifications (PTMs) denote reversible, covalent additions of small chemical entities such as phosphate-, acyl-, alkyl- and glycosyl-groups onto selected subsets of modifiable amino acids. In turn, these modifications induce highly specific changes in the chemical environments of individual protein residues, which are readily detected by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy. In the following, we provide a concise compendium of NMR characteristics of the main types of eukaryotic PTMs: serine, threonine, tyrosine and histidine phosphorylation, lysine acetylation, lysine and arginine methylation, and serine, threonine O-glycosylation. We further delineate the previously uncharacterized NMR properties of lysine propionylation, butyrylation, succinylation, malonylation and crotonylation, which, altogether, define an initial reference frame for comprehensive PTM studies by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy.

OGT (O-GlcNAc Transferase) Selectively Modifies Multiple Residues Unique to Lamin A.

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Dan N; Wriston, Amanda; Fan, Qiong; Shabanowitz, Jeffrey; Florwick, Alyssa; Dharmaraj, Tejas; Peterson, Sherket B; Gruenbaum, Yosef; Carlson, Cathrine R; Grønning-Wang, Line M; Hunt, Donald F; Wilson, Katherine L

2018-05-17

The LMNA gene encodes lamins A and C with key roles in nuclear structure, signaling, gene regulation, and genome integrity. Mutations in LMNA cause over 12 diseases ('laminopathies'). Lamins A and C are identical for their first 566 residues. However, they form separate filaments in vivo, with apparently distinct roles. We report that lamin A is β- O -linked N -acetylglucosamine- (O -GlcNAc)-modified in human hepatoma (Huh7) cells and in mouse liver. In vitro assays with purified O -GlcNAc transferase (OGT) enzyme showed robust O -GlcNAcylation of recombinant mature lamin A tails (residues 385⁻646), with no detectable modification of lamin B1, lamin C, or 'progerin' (Δ50) tails. Using mass spectrometry, we identified 11 O -GlcNAc sites in a 'sweet spot' unique to lamin A, with up to seven sugars per peptide. Most sites were unpredicted by current algorithms. Double-mutant (S612A/T643A) lamin A tails were still robustly O -GlcNAc-modified at seven sites. By contrast, O -GlcNAcylation was undetectable on tails bearing deletion Δ50, which causes Hutchinson⁻Gilford progeria syndrome, and greatly reduced by deletion Δ35. We conclude that residues deleted in progeria are required for substrate recognition and/or modification by OGT in vitro. Interestingly, deletion Δ35, which does not remove the majority of identified O -GlcNAc sites, does remove potential OGT-association motifs (lamin A residues 622⁻625 and 639⁻645) homologous to that in mouse Tet1. These biochemical results are significant because they identify a novel molecular pathway that may profoundly influence lamin A function. The hypothesis that lamin A is selectively regulated by OGT warrants future testing in vivo, along with two predictions: genetic variants may contribute to disease by perturbing OGT-dependent regulation, and nutrient or other stresses might cause OGT to misregulate wildtype lamin A.

Interaction between O-GlcNAc modification and tyrosine phosphorylation of prohibitin: implication for a novel binary switch.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sudharsana R Ande

Full Text Available Prohibitin (PHB or PHB1 is an evolutionarily conserved, multifunctional protein which is present in various cellular compartments including the plasma membrane. However, mechanisms involved in various functions of PHB are not fully explored yet. Here we report for the first time that PHB interacts with O-linked beta-N-acetylglucosamine transferase (O-GlcNAc transferase, OGT and is O-GlcNAc modified; and also undergoes tyrosine phosphorylation in response to insulin. Tyrosine 114 (Tyr114 and tyrosine 259 (Tyr259 in PHB are in the close proximity of potential O-GlcNAc sites serine 121 (Ser121 and threonine 258 (Thr258 respectively. Substitution of Tyr114 and Tyr259 residues in PHB with phenylalanine by site-directed mutagenesis results in reduced tyrosine phosphorylation as well as reduced O-GlcNAc modification of PHB. Surprisingly, this also resulted in enhanced tyrosine phosphorylation and activity of OGT. This is attributed to the presence of similar tyrosine motifs in PHB and OGT. Substitution of Ser121 and Thr258 with alanine and isoleucine respectively resulted in attenuation of O-GlcNAc modification and increased tyrosine phosphorylation of PHB suggesting an association between these two dynamic modifications. Sequence analysis of O-GlcNAc modified proteins having known O-GlcNAc modification site(s or known tyrosine phosphorylation site(s revealed a strong potential association between these two posttranslational modifications in various proteins. We speculate that O-GlcNAc modification and tyrosine phosphorylation of PHB play an important role in tyrosine kinase signaling pathways including insulin, growth factors and immune receptors signaling. In addition, we propose that O-GlcNAc modification and tyrosine phosphorylation is a novel previously unidentified binary switch which may provide new mechanistic insights into cell signaling pathways and is open for direct experimental examination.

Genetic Variation and Its Reflection on Posttranslational Modifications in Frequency Clock and Mating Type a-1 Proteins in Sordaria fimicola

OpenAIRE

Arif, Rabia; Akram, Faiza; Jamil, Tazeen; Mukhtar, Hamid; Lee, Siu Fai; Saleem, Muhammad

2017-01-01

Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) occur in all essential proteins taking command of their functions. There are many domains inside proteins where modifications take place on side-chains of amino acids through various enzymes to generate different species of proteins. In this manuscript we have, for the first time, predicted posttranslational modifications of frequency clock and mating type a-1 proteins in Sordaria fimicola collected from different sites to see the effect of environment o...

O-GlcNAcase Fragment Discovery with Fluorescence Polarimetry.

Science.gov (United States)

Borodkin, Vladimir S; Rafie, Karim; Selvan, Nithya; Aristotelous, Tonia; Navratilova, Iva; Ferenbach, Andrew T; van Aalten, Daan M F

2018-05-18

The attachment of the sugar N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) to specific serine and threonine residues on proteins is referred to as protein O-GlcNAcylation. O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) is the enzyme responsible for carrying out the modification, while O-GlcNAcase (OGA) reverses it. Protein O-GlcNAcylation has been implicated in a wide range of cellular processes including transcription, proteostasis, and stress response. Dysregulation of O-GlcNAc has been linked to diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disease. OGA has been proposed to be a drug target for the treatment of Alzheimer's and cardiovascular disease given that increased O-GlcNAc levels appear to exert a protective effect. The search for specific, potent, and drug-like OGA inhibitors with bioavailability in the brain is therefore a field of active research, requiring orthogonal high-throughput assay platforms. Here, we describe the synthesis of a novel probe for use in a fluorescence polarization based assay for the discovery of inhibitors of OGA. We show that the probe is suitable for use with both human OGA, as well as the orthologous bacterial counterpart from Clostridium perfringens, CpOGA, and the lysosomal hexosaminidases HexA/B. We structurally characterize CpOGA in complex with a ligand identified from a fragment library screen using this assay. The versatile synthesis procedure could be adapted for making fluorescent probes for the assay of other glycoside hydrolases.

Identification of O-GlcNAcylated proteins in Plasmodium falciparum.

Science.gov (United States)

Kupferschmid, Mattis; Aquino-Gil, Moyira Osny; Shams-Eldin, Hosam; Schmidt, Jörg; Yamakawa, Nao; Krzewinski, Frédéric; Schwarz, Ralph T; Lefebvre, Tony

2017-11-29

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) constitute a huge group of chemical modifications increasing the complexity of the proteomes of living beings. PTMs have been discussed as potential anti-malarial drug targets due to their involvement in many cell processes. O-GlcNAcylation is a widespread PTM found in different organisms including Plasmodium falciparum. The aim of this study was to identify O-GlcNAcylated proteins of P. falciparum, to learn more about the modification process and to understand its eventual functions in the Apicomplexans. The P. falciparum strain 3D7 was amplified in erythrocytes and purified. The proteome was checked for O-GlcNAcylation using different methods. The level of UDP-GlcNAc, the donor of the sugar moiety for O-GlcNAcylation processes, was measured using high-pH anion exchange chromatography. O-GlcNAcylated proteins were enriched and purified utilizing either click chemistry labelling or adsorption on succinyl-wheat germ agglutinin beads. Proteins were then identified by mass-spectrometry (nano-LC MS/MS). While low when compared to MRC5 control cells, P. falciparum disposes of its own pool of UDP-GlcNAc. By using proteomics methods, 13 O-GlcNAcylated proteins were unambiguously identified (11 by click-chemistry and 6 by sWGA-beads enrichment; 4 being identified by the 2 approaches) in late trophozoites. These proteins are all part of pathways, functions and structures important for the parasite survival. By probing clicked-proteins with specific antibodies, Hsp70 and α-tubulin were identified as P. falciparum O-GlcNAc-bearing proteins. This study is the first report on the identity of P. falciparum O-GlcNAcylated proteins. While the parasite O-GlcNAcome seems close to those of other species, the structural differences exhibited by the proteomes provides a glimpse of innovative therapeutic paths to fight malaria. Blocking biosynthesis of UDP-GlcNAc in the parasites is another promising option to reduce Plasmodium life cycle.

Analysis of Protein O-GlcNAcylation by Mass Spectrometry

OpenAIRE

Ma, Junfeng; Hart, Gerald W.

2017-01-01

O-linked β-D-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) addition (O-GlcNAcylation), a post-translational modification of serine/threonine residues of proteins, is involved in diverse cellular metabolic and signaling pathways. Aberrant O-GlcNAcylation underlies the initiation and progression of multiple chronic diseases including diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. Numerous methods have been developed for the analysis of protein O-GlcNAcylation, but instead of discussing the classical bioche...

The structure of the hypothetical protein smu.1377c from Streptococcus mutans suggests a role in tRNA modification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fu, Tian-Min; Liu, Xiang; Li, Lanfen; Su, Xiao-Dong

2010-01-01

The crystal structure of smu.1377c, a hypothetical protein from S. mutans, shows a similar fold to Sua5-YciO-YrdC-family proteins and indicates its functional role in tRNA modification. Members of the Sua5-YciO-YrdC protein family are found in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes and possess a conserved α/β twisted open-sheet fold. The Escherichia coli protein YrdC has been shown to be involved in modification of tRNA. The crystal structure of smu.1377c, a hypothetical protein from Streptococcus mutans, has been determined to 2.25 Å resolution. From structure analysis and comparison, it is shown that smu.1377c is a member of the Sua5-YciO-YrdC family and that it may play the same role as E. coli YrdC

Dynamic O-linked N-acetylglucosamine modification of proteins affects stress responses and survival of mesothelial cells exposed to peritoneal dialysis fluids.

Science.gov (United States)

Herzog, Rebecca; Bender, Thorsten O; Vychytil, Andreas; Bialas, Katarzyna; Aufricht, Christoph; Kratochwill, Klaus

2014-12-01

The ability of cells to respond and survive stressful conditions is determined, in part, by the attachment of O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) to proteins (O-GlcNAcylation), a post-translational modification dependent on glucose and glutamine. This study investigates the role of dynamic O-GlcNAcylation of mesothelial cell proteins in cell survival during exposure to glucose-based peritoneal dialysis fluid (PDF). Immortalized human mesothelial cells and primary mesothelial cells, cultured from human omentum or clinical effluent of PD patients, were assessed for O-GlcNAcylation under normal conditions or after exposure to PDF. The dynamic status of O-GlcNAcylation and effects on cellular survival were investigated by chemical modulation with 6-diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine (DON) to decrease or O-(2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucopyranosylidene)amino N-phenyl carbamate (PUGNAc) to increase O-GlcNAc levels. Viability was decreased by reducing O-GlcNAc levels by DON, which also led to suppressed expression of the cytoprotective heat shock protein 72. In contrast, increasing O-GlcNAc levels by PUGNAc or alanyl-glutamine led to significantly improved cell survival paralleled by higher heat shock protein 72 levels during PDF treatment. Addition of alanyl-glutamine increased O-GlcNAcylation and partly counteracted its inhibition by DON, also leading to improved cell survival. Immunofluorescent analysis of clinical samples showed that the O-GlcNAc signal primarily originates from mesothelial cells. In conclusion, this study identified O-GlcNAcylation in mesothelial cells as a potentially important molecular mechanism after exposure to PDF. Modulating O-GlcNAc levels by clinically feasible interventions might evolve as a novel therapeutic target for the preservation of peritoneal membrane integrity in PD. Copyright © 2014 by the American Society of Nephrology.

Chromatin proteins and modifications as drug targets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Helin, Kristian; Dhanak, Dashyant

2013-01-01

A plethora of groundbreaking studies have demonstrated the importance of chromatin-associated proteins and post-translational modifications of histones, proteins and DNA (so-called epigenetic modifications) for transcriptional control and normal development. Disruption of epigenetic control...... is a frequent event in disease, and the first epigenetic-based therapies for cancer treatment have been approved. A generation of new classes of potent and specific inhibitors for several chromatin-associated proteins have shown promise in preclinical trials. Although the biology of epigenetic regulation...

Protein covalent modification by biologically active quinones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MIROSLAV J. GASIC

2004-11-01

Full Text Available The avarone/avarol quinone/hydroquinone couple shows considerable antitumor activity. In this work, covalent modification of b-lactoglobulin by avarone and its derivatives as well as by the synthetic steroidal quinone 2,5(10-estradiene-1,4,17-trione and its derivatives were studied. The techniques for studying chemical modification of b-lactoglobulin by quinones were: UV/Vis spectrophotometry, SDS PAGE and isoelectrofocusing. SDS PAGE results suggest that polymerization of the protein occurs. It could be seen that the protein of 18 kD gives the bands of 20 kD, 36 kD, 40 kD, 45 kD, 64 kD and 128 kD depending on modification agent. The shift of the pI of the protein (5.4 upon modification toward lower values (from pI 5.0 to 5.3 indicated that lysine amino groups are the principal site of the reaction of b-lactoglobulin with the quinones.

Diversity Within the O-linked Protein Glycosylation Systems of Acinetobacter Species

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Scott, N. E.; Kinsella, R. L.; Edwards, A. V. G.

2014-01-01

nature of glycan biogenesis we investigated the composition, diversity, and properties of the Acinetobacter glycoproteome. Utilizing global and targeted mass spectrometry methods, we examined 15 strains and found extensive glycan diversity in the O-linked glycoproteome of Acinetobacter. Comparison......-linked glycosylation favors short (three to five residue) glycans with limited branching containing negatively charged sugars such as GlcNAc3NAcA4OAc or legionaminic/pseudaminic acid derivatives. These observations suggest that although highly diverse, the capsule/O-linked glycan biosynthetic pathways generate glycans...

Aberrant O-GlcNAcylated proteins: New perspectives in breast and colorectal cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Parunya eChaiyawat

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Increasing glucose consumption is thought to provide an evolutionary advantage to cancer cells. Alteration of glucose metabolism in cancer influences various important metabolic pathways including the hexosamine biosynthesis pathway (HBP, a relatively minor branch of glycolysis. Uridine diphosphate N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc, an end product of HBP, is a sugar substrate used for classical glycosylation and O-GlcNAcylation, a post-translational protein modification implicated in a wide range of effects on cellular functions. Emerging evidence reveals that certain cellular proteins are abnormally O-GlcNAc modified in many kinds of cancers, indicating O-GlcNAcylation is associated with malignancy. Since O-GlcNAc rapidly on and off modifies in a similar time scale as in phosphorylation and these modifications may occur on proteins at either on the same or adjacent sites, it suggests that both modifications can work to regulate the cellular signaling pathways. This review describes the metabolic shifts related to the HBP which are commonly found in most cancers. It also describes O-GlcNAc modified proteins identified in primary breast and colorectal cancer, as well as in the related cancer cell lines. Moreover, we also discuss the potential use of aberrant O-GlcNAcylated proteins as novel biomarkers of cancer. + P. Chaiyawat and P. Netsirisawan contributed equally to this study

Surface modification of protein enhances encapsulation in chitosan nanoparticles

Science.gov (United States)

Koyani, Rina D.; Andrade, Mariana; Quester, Katrin; Gaytán, Paul; Huerta-Saquero, Alejandro; Vazquez-Duhalt, Rafael

2018-04-01

Chitosan nanoparticles have a huge potential as nanocarriers for environmental and biomedical purposes. Protein encapsulation in nano-sized chitosan provides protection against inactivation, proteolysis, and other alterations due to environmental conditions, as well as the possibility to be targeted to specific tissues by ligand functionalization. In this work, we demonstrate that the chemical modification of the protein surface enhances the protein loading in chitosan nanocarriers. Encapsulation of green fluorescent protein and the cytochrome P450 was studied. The increase of electrostatic interactions between the free amino groups of chitosan and the increased number of free carboxylic groups in the protein surface enhance the protein loading, protein retention, and, thus, the enzymatic activity of chitosan nanoparticles. The chemical modification of protein surface with malonic acid moieties reduced drastically the protein isoelectric point increasing the protein interaction with the polycationic biomaterial and chitosan. The chemical modification of protein does not alter the morphology of chitosan nanoparticles that showed an average diameter of 18 nm, spheroidal in shape, and smooth surfaced. The strategy of chemical modification of protein surface, shown here, is a simple and efficient technique to enhance the protein loading in chitosan nanoparticles. This technique could be used for other nanoparticles based on polycationic or polyanionic materials. The increase of protein loading improves, doubtless, the performance of protein-loaded chitosan nanoparticles for biotechnological and biomedical applications.

Exploring the diversity of protein modifications: special bacterial phosphorylation systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mijakovic, Ivan; Grangeasse, Christophe; Turgay, Kürşad

2016-01-01

Protein modifications not only affect protein homeostasis but can also establish new cellular protein functions and are important components of complex cellular signal sensing and transduction networks. Among these post-translational modifications, protein phosphorylation represents the one that ...

Chemical synthesis of membrane proteins by the removable backbone modification method.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Shan; Zuo, Chao; Huang, Dong-Liang; Cai, Xiao-Ying; Zhang, Long-Hua; Tian, Chang-Lin; Zheng, Ji-Shen; Liu, Lei

2017-12-01

Chemical synthesis can produce membrane proteins bearing specifically designed modifications (e.g., phosphorylation, isotope labeling) that are difficult to obtain through recombinant protein expression approaches. The resulting homogeneously modified synthetic membrane proteins are valuable tools for many advanced biochemical and biophysical studies. This protocol describes the chemical synthesis of membrane proteins by condensation of transmembrane peptide segments through native chemical ligation. To avoid common problems encountered due to the poor solubility of transmembrane peptides in almost any solvent, we describe an effective procedure for the chemical synthesis of membrane proteins through the removable-backbone modification (RBM) strategy. Two key steps of this protocol are: (i) installation of solubilizing Arg4-tagged RBM groups into the transmembrane peptides at any primary amino acid through Fmoc (9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl) solid-phase peptide synthesis and (ii) native ligation of the full-length sequence, followed by removal of the RBM tags by TFA (trifluoroacetic acid) cocktails to afford the native protein. The installation of RBM groups is achieved by using 4-methoxy-5-nitrosalicyladehyde by reduction amination to incorporate an activated O-to-N acyl transfer auxiliary. The Arg4-tag-modified membrane-spanning peptide segments behave like water-soluble peptides to facilitate their purification, ligation and mass characterization.

O-linked-N-acetylglucosamine modification of mammalian Notch receptors by an atypical O-GlcNAc transferase Eogt1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sakaidani, Yuta [Department of Biochemistry II, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-0065 (Japan); Ichiyanagi, Naoki [Department of Applied Molecular Biosciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601 (Japan); Saito, Chika; Nomura, Tomoko [Department of Biochemistry II, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-0065 (Japan); Ito, Makiko [Department of Applied Molecular Biosciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601 (Japan); Nishio, Yosuke [Department of Biochemistry II, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-0065 (Japan); Nadano, Daita; Matsuda, Tsukasa [Department of Applied Molecular Biosciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601 (Japan); Furukawa, Koichi [Department of Biochemistry II, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-0065 (Japan); Okajima, Tetsuya, E-mail: tokajima@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp [Department of Biochemistry II, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-0065 (Japan); Department of Applied Molecular Biosciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601 (Japan)

2012-03-02

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We characterized A130022J15Rik (Eogt1)-a mouse gene homologous to Drosophila Eogt. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Eogt1 encodes EGF domain O-GlcNAc transferase. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Expression of Eogt1 in Drosophila rescued the cell-adhesion defect in the Eogt mutant. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer O-GlcNAcylation reaction in the secretory pathway is conserved through evolution. -- Abstract: O-linked-{beta}-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification is a unique cytoplasmic and nuclear protein modification that is common in nearly all eukaryotes, including filamentous fungi, plants, and animals. We had recently reported that epidermal growth factor (EGF) repeats of Notch and Dumpy are O-GlcNAcylated by an atypical O-GlcNAc transferase, EOGT, in Drosophila. However, no study has yet shown whether O-GlcNAcylation of extracellular proteins is limited to insects such as Drosophila or whether it occurs in other organisms, including mammals. Here, we report the characterization of A130022J15Rik, a mouse gene homolog of Drosophila Eogt (Eogt 1). Enzymatic analysis revealed that Eogt1 has a substrate specificity similar to that of Drosophila EOGT, wherein the Thr residue located between the fifth and sixth conserved cysteines of the folded EGF-like domains is modified. This observation is supported by the fact that the expression of Eogt1 in Drosophila rescued the cell-adhesion defect caused by Eogt downregulation. In HEK293T cells, Eogt1 expression promoted modification of Notch1 EGF repeats by O-GlcNAc, which was further modified, at least in part, by galactose to generate a novel O-linked-N-acetyllactosamine structure. These results suggest that Eogt1 encodes EGF domain O-GlcNAc transferase and that O-GlcNAcylation reaction in the secretory pathway is a fundamental biochemical process conserved through evolution.

O-linked-N-acetylglucosamine modification of mammalian Notch receptors by an atypical O-GlcNAc transferase Eogt1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakaidani, Yuta; Ichiyanagi, Naoki; Saito, Chika; Nomura, Tomoko; Ito, Makiko; Nishio, Yosuke; Nadano, Daita; Matsuda, Tsukasa; Furukawa, Koichi; Okajima, Tetsuya

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► We characterized A130022J15Rik (Eogt1)—a mouse gene homologous to Drosophila Eogt. ► Eogt1 encodes EGF domain O-GlcNAc transferase. ► Expression of Eogt1 in Drosophila rescued the cell-adhesion defect in the Eogt mutant. ► O-GlcNAcylation reaction in the secretory pathway is conserved through evolution. -- Abstract: O-linked-β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification is a unique cytoplasmic and nuclear protein modification that is common in nearly all eukaryotes, including filamentous fungi, plants, and animals. We had recently reported that epidermal growth factor (EGF) repeats of Notch and Dumpy are O-GlcNAcylated by an atypical O-GlcNAc transferase, EOGT, in Drosophila. However, no study has yet shown whether O-GlcNAcylation of extracellular proteins is limited to insects such as Drosophila or whether it occurs in other organisms, including mammals. Here, we report the characterization of A130022J15Rik, a mouse gene homolog of Drosophila Eogt (Eogt 1). Enzymatic analysis revealed that Eogt1 has a substrate specificity similar to that of Drosophila EOGT, wherein the Thr residue located between the fifth and sixth conserved cysteines of the folded EGF-like domains is modified. This observation is supported by the fact that the expression of Eogt1 in Drosophila rescued the cell-adhesion defect caused by Eogt downregulation. In HEK293T cells, Eogt1 expression promoted modification of Notch1 EGF repeats by O-GlcNAc, which was further modified, at least in part, by galactose to generate a novel O-linked-N-acetyllactosamine structure. These results suggest that Eogt1 encodes EGF domain O-GlcNAc transferase and that O-GlcNAcylation reaction in the secretory pathway is a fundamental biochemical process conserved through evolution.

Protein O-GlcNAcylation in diabetes and diabetic complications.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Junfeng; Hart, Gerald W

2013-08-01

The post-translational modification of serine and threonine residues of proteins by O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is highly ubiquitous, dynamic and inducible. Protein O-GlcNAcylation serves as a key regulator of critical biological processes including transcription, translation, proteasomal degradation, signal transduction and apoptosis. Increased O-GlcNAcylation is directly linked to insulin resistance and to hyperglycemia-induced glucose toxicity, two hallmarks of diabetes and diabetic complications. In this review, we briefly summarize what is known about protein O-GlcNAcylation and nutrient metabolism, as well as discuss the commonly used tools to probe changes of O-GlcNAcylation in cultured cells and in animal models. We then focus on some key proteins modified by O-GlcNAc, which play crucial roles in the etiology and progression of diabetes and diabetic complications. Proteomic approaches are also highlighted to provide a system view of protein O-GlcNAcylation. Finally, we discuss how aberrant O-GlcNAcylation on certain proteins may be exploited to develop methods for the early diagnosis of pre-diabetes and/or diabetes.

Soy protein modification: A review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barać Miroljub B.

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Soy protein products such as flour, concentrates and isolates are used in food formulation because of their functionality, nutritional value and low cost. To obtain their optimal nutritive and functional properties as well as desirable flavor different treatments are used. Soybean proteins can be modified by physical, chemical and enzymatic treatments. Different thermal treatments are most commonly used, while the most appropriate way of modifying soy proteins from the standpoint of safety is their limited proteolysis. These treatments cause physical and chemical changes that affect their functional properties. This review discusses three principal methods used for modification of soy protein products, their effects on dominant soy protein properties and some biologically active compounds.

BioJava-ModFinder: identification of protein modifications in 3D structures from the Protein Data Bank.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Jianjiong; Prlic, Andreas; Bi, Chunxiao; Bluhm, Wolfgang F; Dimitropoulos, Dimitris; Xu, Dong; Bourne, Philip E; Rose, Peter W

2017-07-01

We developed a new software tool, BioJava-ModFinder, for identifying protein modifications observed in 3D structures archived in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). Information on more than 400 types of protein modifications were collected and curated from annotations in PDB, RESID, and PSI-MOD. We divided these modifications into three categories: modified residues, attachment modifications, and cross-links. We have developed a systematic method to identify these modifications in 3D protein structures. We have integrated this package with the RCSB PDB web application and added protein modification annotations to the sequence diagram and structure display. By scanning all 3D structures in the PDB using BioJava-ModFinder, we identified more than 30 000 structures with protein modifications, which can be searched, browsed, and visualized on the RCSB PDB website. BioJava-ModFinder is available as open source (LGPL license) at ( https://github.com/biojava/biojava/tree/master/biojava-modfinder ). The RCSB PDB can be accessed at http://www.rcsb.org . pwrose@ucsd.edu. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Overexpression of Catalase Diminishes Oxidative Cysteine Modifications of Cardiac Proteins.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chunxiang Yao

Full Text Available Reactive protein cysteine thiolates are instrumental in redox regulation. Oxidants, such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2, react with thiolates to form oxidative post-translational modifications, enabling physiological redox signaling. Cardiac disease and aging are associated with oxidative stress which can impair redox signaling by altering essential cysteine thiolates. We previously found that cardiac-specific overexpression of catalase (Cat, an enzyme that detoxifies excess H2O2, protected from oxidative stress and delayed cardiac aging in mice. Using redox proteomics and systems biology, we sought to identify the cysteines that could play a key role in cardiac disease and aging. With a 'Tandem Mass Tag' (TMT labeling strategy and mass spectrometry, we investigated differential reversible cysteine oxidation in the cardiac proteome of wild type and Cat transgenic (Tg mice. Reversible cysteine oxidation was measured as thiol occupancy, the ratio of total available versus reversibly oxidized cysteine thiols. Catalase overexpression globally decreased thiol occupancy by ≥1.3 fold in 82 proteins, including numerous mitochondrial and contractile proteins. Systems biology analysis assigned the majority of proteins with differentially modified thiols in Cat Tg mice to pathways of aging and cardiac disease, including cellular stress response, proteostasis, and apoptosis. In addition, Cat Tg mice exhibited diminished protein glutathione adducts and decreased H2O2 production from mitochondrial complex I and II, suggesting improved function of cardiac mitochondria. In conclusion, our data suggest that catalase may alleviate cardiac disease and aging by moderating global protein cysteine thiol oxidation.

Diagonal chromatography to study plant protein modifications.

Science.gov (United States)

Walton, Alan; Tsiatsiani, Liana; Jacques, Silke; Stes, Elisabeth; Messens, Joris; Van Breusegem, Frank; Goormachtig, Sofie; Gevaert, Kris

2016-08-01

An interesting asset of diagonal chromatography, which we have introduced for contemporary proteome research, is its high versatility concerning proteomic applications. Indeed, the peptide modification or sorting step that is required between consecutive peptide separations can easily be altered and thereby allows for the enrichment of specific, though different types of peptides. Here, we focus on the application of diagonal chromatography for the study of modifications of plant proteins. In particular, we show how diagonal chromatography allows for studying proteins processed by proteases, protein ubiquitination, and the oxidation of protein-bound methionines. We discuss the actual sorting steps needed for each of these applications and the obtained results. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Plant Proteomics--a bridge between fundamental processes and crop production, edited by Dr. Hans-Peter Mock. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Induction of PNAd and N-acetylglucosamine 6-O-sulfotransferases 1 and 2 in mouse collagen-induced arthritis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosen Steven D

2006-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Leukocyte recruitment across blood vessels is fundamental to immune surveillance and inflammation. Lymphocyte homing to peripheral lymph nodes is mediated by the adhesion molecule, L-selectin, which binds to sulfated carbohydrate ligands on high endothelial venules (HEV. These glycoprotein ligands are collectively known as peripheral node addressin (PNAd, as defined by the function-blocking monoclonal antibody known as MECA-79. The sulfation of these ligands depends on the action of two HEV-expressed N-acetylglucosamine 6-O-sulfotransferases: GlcNAc6ST-2 and to a lesser degree GlcNAc6ST-1. Induction of PNAd has also been shown to occur in a number of human inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA. Results In order to identify an animal model suitable for investigating the role of PNAd in chronic inflammation, we examined the expression of PNAd as well as GlcNAc6ST-1 and -2 in collagen-induced arthritis in mice. Here we show that PNAd is expressed in the vasculature of arthritic synovium in mice immunized with collagen but not in the normal synovium of control animals. This de novo expression of PNAd correlates strongly with induction of transcripts for both GlcNAc6ST-1 and GlcNAc6ST-2, as well as the expression of GlcNAc6ST-2 protein. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that PNAd and the sulfotransferases GlcNAc6ST-1 and 2 are induced in mouse collagen-induced arthritis and suggest that PNAd antagonists or inhibitors of the enzymes may have therapeutic benefit in this widely-used mouse model of RA.

Mining Proteomic Data to Expose Protein Modifications in Methanosarcina mazei strain Gö1

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deborah eLeon

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Proteomic tools identify constituents of complex mixtures, often delivering long lists of identified proteins. The high-throughput methods excel at matching tandem mass spectrometry data to spectra predicted from sequence databases. Unassigned mass spectra are ignored, but could, in principle, provide valuable information on unanticipated modifications and improve protein annotations while consuming limited quantities of material. Strategies to mine information from these discards are presented, along with discussion of features that, when present, provide strong support for modifications. In this study we mined LC-MS/MS datasets of proteolytically-digested concanavalin A pull down fractions from Methanosarcina mazei Gö1 cell lysates. Analyses identified 154 proteins. Many of the observed proteins displayed post-translationally modified forms, including O-formylated and methyl-esterified segments that appear biologically relevant (i.e., not artifacts of sample handling. Interesting cleavages and modifications (e.g., S-cyanylation and trimethylation were observed near catalytic sites of methanogenesis enzymes. Of 31 Methanosarcina protein N-termini recovered by concanavalin A binding or from a previous study, only M. mazei S-layer protein MM1976 and its M. acetivorans C2A orthologue, MA0829, underwent signal peptide excision. Experimental results contrast with predictions from algorithms SignalP 3.0 and Exprot, which were found to over-predict the presence of signal peptides. Proteins MM0002, MM0716, MM1364, and MM1976 were found to be glycosylated, and employing chromatography tailored specifically for glycopeptides will likely reveal more.This study supplements limited, existing experimental datasets of mature archaeal N-termini, including presence or absence of signal peptides, translation initiation sites, and other processing. Methanosarcina surface and membrane proteins are richly modified.

Structure and Modification of Electrode Materials for Protein Electrochemistry.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeuken, Lars J C

The interactions between proteins and electrode surfaces are of fundamental importance in bioelectrochemistry, including photobioelectrochemistry. In order to optimise the interaction between electrode and redox protein, either the electrode or the protein can be engineered, with the former being the most adopted approach. This tutorial review provides a basic description of the most commonly used electrode materials in bioelectrochemistry and discusses approaches to modify these surfaces. Carbon, gold and transparent electrodes (e.g. indium tin oxide) are covered, while approaches to form meso- and macroporous structured electrodes are also described. Electrode modifications include the chemical modification with (self-assembled) monolayers and the use of conducting polymers in which the protein is imbedded. The proteins themselves can either be in solution, electrostatically adsorbed on the surface or covalently bound to the electrode. Drawbacks and benefits of each material and its modifications are discussed. Where examples exist of applications in photobioelectrochemistry, these are highlighted.

Mammalian O-mannosylation of Cadherins and Plexins is Independent of Protein O-mannosyltransferase 1 and 2

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Ida Signe Bohse; Narimatsu, Yoshiki; Joshi, Hiren Jitendra

2017-01-01

Protein O-mannosylation is found in yeast and metazoans and a family of conserved orthologous protein O-mannosyltransferases is believed to initiate this important post-translational modification. We recently discovered that the cadherin superfamily carries O-linked mannose (O-Man) glycans...... at highly conserved residues in specific extracellular cadherin domains, and it was suggested that the function of E-cadherin was dependent on the O-Man glycans. Deficiencies in enzymes catalyzing O-Man biosynthesis, including the two human protein O-mannosyltransferases, POMT1 and POMT2, underlie...... a subgroup of congenital muscular dystrophies (CMD) designated α-dystroglycanopathies, because deficient O-Man glycosylation of -dystroglycan disrupts laminin interaction with -dystroglycan and the extracellular matrix. In order to explore the functions of O-Man glycans on cadherins and protocadherins we...

Site-selective protein-modification chemistry for basic biology and drug development.

Science.gov (United States)

Krall, Nikolaus; da Cruz, Filipa P; Boutureira, Omar; Bernardes, Gonçalo J L

2016-02-01

Nature has produced intricate machinery to covalently diversify the structure of proteins after their synthesis in the ribosome. In an attempt to mimic nature, chemists have developed a large set of reactions that enable post-expression modification of proteins at pre-determined sites. These reactions are now used to selectively install particular modifications on proteins for many biological and therapeutic applications. For example, they provide an opportunity to install post-translational modifications on proteins to determine their exact biological roles. Labelling of proteins in live cells with fluorescent dyes allows protein uptake and intracellular trafficking to be tracked and also enables physiological parameters to be measured optically. Through the conjugation of potent cytotoxicants to antibodies, novel anti-cancer drugs with improved efficacy and reduced side effects may be obtained. In this Perspective, we highlight the most exciting current and future applications of chemical site-selective protein modification and consider which hurdles still need to be overcome for more widespread use.

A Panel of Recombinant Mucins Carrying a Repertoire of Sialylated O-Glycans Based on Different Core Chains for Studies of Glycan Binding Proteins

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reeja Maria Cherian

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Sialylated glycans serve as key elements of receptors for many viruses, bacteria, and bacterial toxins. The microbial recognition and their binding specificity can be affected by the linkage of the terminal sugar residue, types of underlying sugar chains, and the nature of the entire glycoconjugate. Owing to the pathobiological significance of sialylated glycans, we have engineered Chinese hamster ovary (CHO cells to secrete mucin-type immunoglobulin-fused proteins carrying terminal α2,3- or α2,6-linked sialic acid on defined O-glycan core saccharide chains. Besides stably expressing P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1/mouse immunoglobulin G2b cDNA (PSGL-1/mIgG2b, CHO cells were stably transfected with plasmids encoding glycosyltransferases to synthesize core 2 (GCNT1, core 3 (B3GNT6, core 4 (GCNT1 and B3GNT6, or extended core 1 (B3GNT3 chains with or without the type 1 chain-encoding enzyme B3GALT5 and ST6GAL1. Western blot and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis confirmed the presence of core 1, 2, 3, 4, and extended core 1 chains carrying either type 1 (Galb3GlcNAc or type 2 (Galb4GlcNAc outer chains with or without α2,6-linked sialic acids. This panel of recombinant mucins carrying a repertoire of sialylated O-glycans will be important tools in studies aiming at determining the fine O-glycan binding specificity of sialic acid-specific microbial adhesins and mammalian lectins.

Quantitative proteomics identifies altered O-GlcNAcylation of structural, synaptic and memory-associated proteins in Alzheimer's disease: Brain protein O-GlcNAcylation in Alzheimer's disease

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Sheng [Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Yang, Feng [Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Petyuk, Vladislav A. [Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Shukla, Anil K. [Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Monroe, Matthew E. [Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Gritsenko, Marina A. [Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Rodland, Karin D. [Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Smith, Richard D. [Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Qian, Wei-Jun [Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Gong, Cheng-Xin [New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, New York USA; Liu, Tao [Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA

2017-07-28

Protein modification by O-linked beta-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is emerging as an important factor in the pathogenesis of sporadic Alzheimer’s disease. Herein we report the most comprehensive, quantitative proteomics analysis for protein O-GlcNAcylation in post-mortem human brains with and without Alzheimer’s using isobaric tandem mass tags labeling, chemoenzymatic photocleavage enrichment and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. A total of 1,850 O-GlcNAc peptides covering 1,094 O-GlcNAcylation sites were identified from 530 proteins in the human brain. 128 O-GlcNAc peptides covering 78 proteins were altered significantly in Alzheimer’s brain as compared to controls (q<0.05). Moreover, alteration of the O-GlcNAc peptide abundance could be attributed more to O-GlcNAcylation level than to protein level changes. The altered O-GlcNAcylated proteins belong to several structural and functional categories, including synaptic proteins, cytoskeleton proteins, and memory-associated proteins. These findings suggest that dysregulation of O-GlcNAcylation of multiple brain proteins may be involved in the development of sporadic Alzheimer’s disease.

Characterization of the okra mucilage by interaction with Gal, GalNAc and GlcNAc specific lectins.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, A M; Jiang, Y J; Hwang, P Y; Shen, F S

1995-02-23

A bio-active polysaccharide, which was the major component of the extract of the common okra, Hibiscus esculentus, was isolated from the extract by precipitation with ethanol between 28.5 to 45%. According to a previous report (Whistler, R.L. and Conrad, H.E. (1954) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 76, 1673-1674), this polysaccharide contains the Gal alpha 1-->4Gal sequence, which is the ligand for the uropathogenic Escherichia coli and toxic lectins. Analysis of the binding property of the okra polysaccharide by precipitin assay with Gal, GalNAc and GlcNAc specific lectins showed that this okra mucilage reacted best with Mistletoe toxic lectin-I (ML-I) and precipitated over 80% of the ML-I nitrogen (5.1 micrograms N) added. It also precipitated well with Abrus precatorius (APA), Momordica charantia (MCA) and Ricinus communis (RCA1) agglutinins, but poorly with other lectins. The results obtained suggest that this polysaccharide is a valuable reagent to differentiate Gal specific lectins from the GalNAc and/or GlcNAc specific series.

Two crystalline modifications of RuO4

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pley, Martin; Wickleder, Mathias S.

2005-01-01

RuO 4 was prepared by oxidation of elemental ruthenium. Two different modifications were obtained and investigated by X-ray single crystal diffraction. RuO 4 -I has cubic symmetry (P4; - 3n,Z=8,a=8.509(1)A), and two independent tetrahedral molecules are present in the unit cell. Within the standard uncertainties in both molecules the distances Ru-O are 1.695A. The second modification, RuO 4 -II, is monoclinic (C2/c,Z=4,a=9.302(4)A,b=4.3967(10)A,c=8.454(4)A,β=116.82(3) o ) and isotypic with OsO 4 . There is one independent molecule in the unit cell, which shows distances Ru-O of 1.697 and 1.701A, respectively

Artificial Metalloenzymes through Chemical Modification of Engineered Host Proteins

KAUST Repository

Zernickel, Anna

2014-10-01

With a few exceptions, all organisms are restricted to the 20 canonical amino acids for ribosomal protein biosynthesis. Addition of new amino acids to the genetic code can introduce novel functionalities to proteins, broadening the diversity of biochemical as well as chemical reactions and providing new tools to study protein structure, reactivity, dynamics and protein-protein-interactions. The site directed in vivo incorporation developed by P. G. SCHULTZ and coworkers, using an archeal orthogonal tRNA/aaRS (aminoacyl-tRNA synthase) pair, allows site-specifically insertion of a synthetic unnatural amino acid (UAA) by reprogramming the amber TAG stop codon. A variety of over 80 different UAAs can be introduced by this technique. However by now a very limited number can form kinetically stable bonds to late transition metals. This thesis aims to develop new catalytically active unnatural amino acids or strategies for a posttranslational modification of site-specific amino acids in order to achieve highly enantioselective metallorganic enzyme hybrids (MOEH). As a requirement a stable protein host has to be established, surviving the conditions for incorporation, posttranslational modification and the final catalytic reactions. mTFP* a fluorescent protein was genetically modified by excluding any exposed Cys, His and Met forming a variant mTFP*, which fulfills the required specifications. Posttranslational chemical modification of mTFP* allow the introduction of single site metal chelating moieties. For modification on exposed cysteines different maleiimid containing ligand structures were synthesized. In order to perform copper catalyzed click reactions, suitable unnatural amino acids (para-azido-(L)-phenylalanine, para-ethynyl-(L)-phenylalanine) were synthesized and a non-cytotoxic protocol was established. The triazole ring formed during this reaction may contribute as a moderate σ-donor/π-acceptor ligand to the metal binding site. Since the cell limits the

Age-related carbonylation of fibrocartilage structural proteins drives tissue degenerative modification.

Science.gov (United States)

Scharf, Brian; Clement, Cristina C; Yodmuang, Supansa; Urbanska, Aleksandra M; Suadicani, Sylvia O; Aphkhazava, David; Thi, Mia M; Perino, Giorgio; Hardin, John A; Cobelli, Neil; Vunjak-Novakovic, Gordana; Santambrogio, Laura

2013-07-25

Aging-related oxidative stress has been linked to degenerative modifications in different organs and tissues. Using redox proteomic analysis and illustrative tandem mass spectrometry mapping, we demonstrate oxidative posttranslational modifications in structural proteins of intervertebral discs (IVDs) isolated from aging mice. Increased protein carbonylation was associated with protein fragmentation and aggregation. Complementing these findings, a significant loss of elasticity and increased stiffness was measured in fibrocartilage from aging mice. Studies using circular dichroism and intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence revealed a significant loss of secondary and tertiary structures of purified collagens following oxidation. Collagen unfolding and oxidation promoted both nonenzymatic and enzymatic degradation. Importantly, induction of oxidative modification in healthy fibrocartilage recapitulated the biochemical and biophysical modifications observed in the aging IVD. Together, these results suggest that protein carbonylation, glycation, and lipoxidation could be early events in promoting IVD degenerative changes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PLMD: An updated data resource of protein lysine modifications.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Haodong; Zhou, Jiaqi; Lin, Shaofeng; Deng, Wankun; Zhang, Ying; Xue, Yu

2017-05-20

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) occurring at protein lysine residues, or protein lysine modifications (PLMs), play critical roles in regulating biological processes. Due to the explosive expansion of the amount of PLM substrates and the discovery of novel PLM types, here we greatly updated our previous studies, and presented a much more integrative resource of protein lysine modification database (PLMD). In PLMD, we totally collected and integrated 284,780 modification events in 53,501 proteins across 176 eukaryotes and prokaryotes for up to 20 types of PLMs, including ubiquitination, acetylation, sumoylation, methylation, succinylation, malonylation, glutarylation, glycation, formylation, hydroxylation, butyrylation, propionylation, crotonylation, pupylation, neddylation, 2-hydroxyisobutyrylation, phosphoglycerylation, carboxylation, lipoylation and biotinylation. Using the data set, a motif-based analysis was performed for each PLM type, and the results demonstrated that different PLM types preferentially recognize distinct sequence motifs for the modifications. Moreover, various PLMs synergistically orchestrate specific cellular biological processes by mutual crosstalks with each other, and we totally found 65,297 PLM events involved in 90 types of PLM co-occurrences on the same lysine residues. Finally, various options were provided for accessing the data, while original references and other annotations were also present for each PLM substrate. Taken together, we anticipated the PLMD database can serve as a useful resource for further researches of PLMs. PLMD 3.0 was implemented in PHP + MySQL and freely available at http://plmd.biocuckoo.org. Copyright © 2017 Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Genetics Society of China. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structural basis of O-GlcNAc recognition by mammalian 14-3-3 proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Toleman, Clifford A; Schumacher, Maria A; Yu, Seok-Ho; Zeng, Wenjie; Cox, Nathan J; Smith, Timothy J; Soderblom, Erik J; Wands, Amberlyn M; Kohler, Jennifer J; Boyce, Michael

2018-05-21

O-GlcNAc is an intracellular posttranslational modification that governs myriad cell biological processes and is dysregulated in human diseases. Despite this broad pathophysiological significance, the biochemical effects of most O-GlcNAcylation events remain uncharacterized. One prevalent hypothesis is that O-GlcNAc moieties may be recognized by "reader" proteins to effect downstream signaling. However, no general O-GlcNAc readers have been identified, leaving a considerable gap in the field. To elucidate O-GlcNAc signaling mechanisms, we devised a biochemical screen for candidate O-GlcNAc reader proteins. We identified several human proteins, including 14-3-3 isoforms, that bind O-GlcNAc directly and selectively. We demonstrate that 14-3-3 proteins bind O-GlcNAc moieties in human cells, and we present the structures of 14-3-3β/α and γ bound to glycopeptides, providing biophysical insights into O-GlcNAc-mediated protein-protein interactions. Because 14-3-3 proteins also bind to phospho-serine and phospho-threonine, they may integrate information from O-GlcNAc and O-phosphate signaling pathways to regulate numerous physiological functions.

Cellular modifications produced by D2O in yeast culture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mihancea, I.; Mircea, R.Al.

1996-01-01

The cellular cycle of the Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, chosen as experimental object, is unmodified by the presence in the culture medium of D 2 O at different concentrations. An increased concentration of D 2 O in the culture medium leads to a decrease of the number of budded cells, to metabolic alterations, to DNA structure modification as well as to enzymatic changes produced by blocking. Other anomalies appear, as a function of the cell defence capacity and of the influence of the factors from the nutrient substrate or exterior medium. Due to D 2 O, the medium's pH changes and modifications at the enzyme level and of the cell microstructure and morphology occur. The enzymatic reactions take place in D 2 O slower than in H 2 O. Three-dimensional modifications appear in the organic components of the live cell which, in turn, produce profound modifications in the cell growth and division. Due to the kinetic and isotopic effects, modifications of the biochemical reactions affecting the cell integrity happen

Protein O-Mannosylation in the Murine Brain: Occurrence of Mono-O-Mannosyl Glycans and Identification of New Substrates.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Markus F Bartels

Full Text Available Protein O-mannosylation is a post-translational modification essential for correct development of mammals. In humans, deficient O-mannosylation results in severe congenital muscular dystrophies often associated with impaired brain and eye development. Although various O-mannosylated proteins have been identified in the recent years, the distribution of O-mannosyl glycans in the mammalian brain and target proteins are still not well defined. In the present study, rabbit monoclonal antibodies directed against the O-mannosylated peptide YAT(α1-ManAV were generated. Detailed characterization of clone RKU-1-3-5 revealed that this monoclonal antibody recognizes O-linked mannose also in different peptide and protein contexts. Using this tool, we observed that mono-O-mannosyl glycans occur ubiquitously throughout the murine brain but are especially enriched at inhibitory GABAergic neurons and at the perineural nets. Using a mass spectrometry-based approach, we further identified glycoproteins from the murine brain that bear single O-mannose residues. Among the candidates identified are members of the cadherin and plexin superfamilies and the perineural net protein neurocan. In addition, we identified neurexin 3, a cell adhesion protein involved in synaptic plasticity, and inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor 5, a protease inhibitor important in stabilizing the extracellular matrix, as new O-mannosylated glycoproteins.

Protein O-Mannosylation in the Murine Brain: Occurrence of Mono-O-Mannosyl Glycans and Identification of New Substrates

Science.gov (United States)

Bartels, Markus F.; Winterhalter, Patrick R.; Yu, Jin; Liu, Yan; Lommel, Mark; Möhrlen, Frank; Hu, Huaiyu; Feizi, Ten; Westerlind, Ulrika; Ruppert, Thomas; Strahl, Sabine

2016-01-01

Protein O-mannosylation is a post-translational modification essential for correct development of mammals. In humans, deficient O-mannosylation results in severe congenital muscular dystrophies often associated with impaired brain and eye development. Although various O-mannosylated proteins have been identified in the recent years, the distribution of O-mannosyl glycans in the mammalian brain and target proteins are still not well defined. In the present study, rabbit monoclonal antibodies directed against the O-mannosylated peptide YAT(α1-Man)AV were generated. Detailed characterization of clone RKU-1-3-5 revealed that this monoclonal antibody recognizes O-linked mannose also in different peptide and protein contexts. Using this tool, we observed that mono-O-mannosyl glycans occur ubiquitously throughout the murine brain but are especially enriched at inhibitory GABAergic neurons and at the perineural nets. Using a mass spectrometry-based approach, we further identified glycoproteins from the murine brain that bear single O-mannose residues. Among the candidates identified are members of the cadherin and plexin superfamilies and the perineural net protein neurocan. In addition, we identified neurexin 3, a cell adhesion protein involved in synaptic plasticity, and inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor 5, a protease inhibitor important in stabilizing the extracellular matrix, as new O-mannosylated glycoproteins. PMID:27812179

Functional Modification of Thioether Groups in Peptides, Polypeptides, and Proteins

OpenAIRE

Deming, TJ

2017-01-01

Recent developments in the modification of methionine and other thioether-containing residues in peptides, polypeptides, and proteins are reviewed. Properties and potential applications of the resulting functionalized products are also discussed. While much of this work is focused on natural Met residues, modifications at other side-chain residues have also emerged as new thioether-containing amino acids have been incorporated into peptidic materials. Functional modification of thioether-cont...

Molecular classification of fatty liver by high-throughput profiling of protein post-translational modifications.

Science.gov (United States)

Urasaki, Yasuyo; Fiscus, Ronald R; Le, Thuc T

2016-04-01

We describe an alternative approach to classifying fatty liver by profiling protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) with high-throughput capillary isoelectric focusing (cIEF) immunoassays. Four strains of mice were studied, with fatty livers induced by different causes, such as ageing, genetic mutation, acute drug usage, and high-fat diet. Nutrient-sensitive PTMs of a panel of 12 liver metabolic and signalling proteins were simultaneously evaluated with cIEF immunoassays, using nanograms of total cellular protein per assay. Changes to liver protein acetylation, phosphorylation, and O-N-acetylglucosamine glycosylation were quantified and compared between normal and diseased states. Fatty liver tissues could be distinguished from one another by distinctive protein PTM profiles. Fatty liver is currently classified by morphological assessment of lipid droplets, without identifying the underlying molecular causes. In contrast, high-throughput profiling of protein PTMs has the potential to provide molecular classification of fatty liver. Copyright © 2016 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

O-GlcNAc-specific antibody CTD110.6 cross-reacts with N-GlcNAc2-modified proteins induced under glucose deprivation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takahiro Isono

Full Text Available Modification of serine and threonine residues in proteins by O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc glycosylation is a feature of many cellular responses to the nutritional state and to stress. O-GlcNAc modification is reversibly regulated by O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine transferase (OGT and β-D-N-acetylglucosaminase (O-GlcNAcase. O-GlcNAc modification of proteins is dependent on the concentration of uridine 5'-diphospho-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc, which is a substrate of OGT and is synthesized via the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway. Immunoblot analysis using the O-GlcNAc-specific antibody CTD110.6 has indicated that glucose deprivation increases protein O-GlcNAcylation in some cancer cells. The mechanism of this paradoxical phenomenon has remained unclear. Here we show that the increased glycosylation induced by glucose deprivation and detected by CTD110.6 antibodies is actually modification by N-GlcNAc(2, rather than by O-GlcNAc. We found that this induced glycosylation was not regulated by OGT and O-GlcNAcase, unlike typical O-GlcNAcylation, and it was inhibited by treatment with tunicamycin, an N-glycosylation inhibitor. Proteomics analysis showed that proteins modified by this induced glycosylation were N-GlcNAc(2-modified glycoproteins. Furthermore, CTD110.6 antibodies reacted with N-GlcNAc(2-modified glycoproteins produced by a yeast strain with a ts-mutant of ALG1 that could not add a mannose residue to dolichol-PP-GlcNAc(2. Our results demonstrated that N-GlcNAc(2-modified glycoproteins were induced under glucose deprivation and that they cross-reacted with the O-GlcNAc-specific antibody CTD110.6. We therefore propose that the glycosylation status of proteins previously classified as O-GlcNAc-modified proteins according to their reactivity with CTD110.6 antibodies must be re-examined. We also suggest that the repression of mature N-linked glycoproteins due to increased levels of N-GlcNAc(2-modified proteins is a newly

Functional Modification of Thioether Groups in Peptides, Polypeptides, and Proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Deming, Timothy J

2017-03-15

Recent developments in the modification of methionine and other thioether-containing residues in peptides, polypeptides, and proteins are reviewed. Properties and potential applications of the resulting functionalized products are also discussed. While much of this work is focused on natural Met residues, modifications at other side-chain residues have also emerged as new thioether-containing amino acids have been incorporated into peptidic materials. Functional modification of thioether-containing amino acids has many advantages and is a complementary methodology to the widely utilized methods for modification at cysteine residues.

Gamma irradiation effect on soy protein modification, protein - phenolic interaction and antioxidant activity in soybean

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumari, Sweta; Dahuja, Anil; Vinutha, T.; Singh, Bhupinder

2014-01-01

Soy protein is one of the most important sources of protein to feed the world population in the future. Consumption of soybean quality protein and their texture is dependent on the protein modification. In the present study, four soybean genotypes PL5039 (black), EC 472143 (black), Pusa 9814 (yellow) and SL525 (yellow), differing in their seed coat colour were gamma irradiated at 0.5,1.0, 2.0 and 5.0 kGy and the extent of protein modification and parameters affecting it viz. free phenolics, bound phenolics, lip oxygenase and antioxidant activity were analysed. Modifications of soybean proteins were investigated by chemical analysis and electrophoresis. The irradiation dose of 1.0 kGy showed decreased turbidity, protein oxidation, surface hydrophobicity but increased solubility and sulfhydryl and disulfide contents in all the genotypes. Further, SDS PAGE profile of treated soybean seeds revealed remarkable difference in electrophoretic bands as compared to the untreated seeds. Lipoxygense activity in all the genotypes decreased with increased exposure of gamma irradiation, which produced peroxide products that changes the structural characteristics of soy protein. Free phenolics, bound phenolics and total antioxidant activity measured in terms of FRAP in all the genotypes increased significantly at a dose of 2.0 kGy and it declined at a dose of 5.0 kGy. Antioxidant potential measured in terms of 1,1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity showed an increasing trend with dose, indicating that radiation processing as a method of food preservation has a positive nutritional implication. Hence, it is suggested that, mild gamma irradiation upto 2.0 kGy may reduce the protein oxidation, enhance the antioxidant activity and improve the soybean protein quality compared to higher dose 5.0 kGy, which reduced the protein quality. (author)

Unusual glycosylation of proteins: Beyond the universal sequon and other amino acids.

Science.gov (United States)

Dutta, Devawati; Mandal, Chhabinath; Mandal, Chitra

2017-12-01

Glycosylation of proteins is the most common, multifaceted co- and post-translational modification responsible for many biological processes and cellular functions. Significant alterations and aberrations of these processes are related to various pathological conditions, and often turn out to be disease biomarkers. Conventional N-glycosylation occurs through the recognition of the consensus sequon, asparagine (Asn)-X-serine (Ser)/threonine (Thr), where X is any amino acid except for proline, with N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) as the first glycosidic linkage. Usually, O-glycosylation adds a glycan to the hydroxyl group of Ser or Thr beginning with N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc). Protein glycosylation is further governed by additional diversifications in sequon and structure, which are yet to be fully explored. This review mainly focuses on the occurrence of N-glycosylation in non-consensus motifs, where Ser/Thr at the +2 position is substituted by other amino acids. Additionally, N-glycosylation is also observed in other amide/amine group-containing amino acids. Similarly, O-glycosylation occurs at hydroxyl group-containing amino acids other than serine/threonine. The neighbouring amino acids and local structural features around the potential glycosylation site also play a significant role in determining the extent of glycosylation. All of these phenomena that yield glycosylation at the atypical sites are reported in a variety of biological systems, including different pathological conditions. Therefore, the discovery of more novel sequence patterns for N- and O-glycosylation may help in understanding the functions of complex biological processes and cellular functions. Taken together, all these information provided in this review would be helpful for the biological readers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Amides are novel protein modifications formed by physiological sugars.

Science.gov (United States)

Glomb, M A; Pfahler, C

2001-11-09

The Maillard reaction, or nonenzymatic browning, proceeds in vivo, and the resulting protein modifications (advanced glycation end products) have been associated with various pathologies. Despite intensive research only very few structures have been established in vivo. We report here for the first time N(6)-[2-[(5-amino-5-carboxypentyl)amino]-2-oxoethyl]lysine (GOLA) and N(6)-glycoloyllysine (GALA) as prototypes for novel amide protein modifications produced by reducing sugars. Their identity was confirmed by independent synthesis and coupled liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Model reactions with N(alpha)-t-butoxycarbonyl-lysine showed that glyoxal and glycolaldehyde are immediate precursors, and reaction pathways are directly linked to N(epsilon)-carboxymethyllysine via glyoxal-imine structures. GOLA, the amide cross-link, and 1,3-bis(5-amino-5-carboxypentyl)imidazolium salt (GOLD), the imidazolium cross-link, share a common intermediate. The ratio of GOLA to GOLD is greater when glyoxal levels are low at constant lysine concentrations. GOLA and GALA formation from the Amadori product of glucose and lysine depends directly upon oxidation. With the advanced glycation end product inhibitors aminoguanidine and pyridoxamine we were able to dissect oxidative fragmentation of the Amadori product as a second mechanism of GOLA formation exactly coinciding with N(epsilon)-carboxymethyllysine synthesis. In contrast, the formation of GALA appears to depend solely upon glyoxal-imines. After enzymatic hydrolysis GOLA was found at 66 pmol/mg of brunescent lens protein. This suggests amide protein modifications as important markers of pathophysiological processes.

Surface Modification of SiO2 Microchannels with Biocompatible Polymer Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Science.gov (United States)

Saito, Tatsuro; Momose, Takeshi; Hoshi, Toru; Takai, Madoka; Ishihara, Kazuhiko; Shimogaki, Yukihiro

2010-11-01

The surface of 500-mm-long microchannels in SiO2 microchips was modified using supercritical CO2 (scCO2) and a biocompatible polymer was coated on it to confer biocompatibility to the SiO2 surface. In this method, the SiO2 surface of a microchannel was coated with poly(ethylene glycol monomethacrylate) (PEGMA) as the biocompatible polymer using allyltriethoxysilane (ATES) as the anchor material in scCO2 as the reactive medium. Results were compared with those using the conventional wet method. The surface of a microchannel could not be modified by the wet method owing to the surface tension and viscosity of the liquid, but it was modified uniformly by the scCO2 method probably owing to the near-zero surface tension, low viscosity, and high diffusivity of scCO2. The effect of the surface modification by the scCO2 method to prevent the adsorption of protein was as high as that of the modification by the wet method. Modified microchips can be used in biochemical and medical analyses.

Spatial and Temporal Effects in Protein Post-translational Modification Distributions in the Developing Mouse Brain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Edwards, Alistair V G; Edwards, Gregory J; Schwämmle, Veit

2014-01-01

Protein post-translational modification (PTM) is a powerful way to modify the behavior of cellular proteins and thereby cellular behavior. Multiple recent studies of evolutionary trends have shown that certain pairs of protein post-translational modifications tend to occur closer to each other than...... for observations of increasingly frequent and diverse protein modification in cell biology. In this study, we use mass spectrometry and proteomic strategies to present biological data showing spatiotemporal PTM co-localization across multiple PTM categories, which display changes over development of the brain...

Protein modification by acrolein: Formation and stability of cysteine adducts

OpenAIRE

Cai, Jian; Bhatnagar, Aruni; Pierce, William M.

2009-01-01

The toxicity of the ubiquitous pollutant and endogenous metabolite, acrolein, is due in part to covalent protein modifications. Acrolein reacts readily with protein nucleophiles via Michael addition and Schiff base formation. Potential acrolein targets in protein include the nucleophilic side chains of cysteine, histidine, and lysine residues as well as the free amino terminus of proteins. Although cysteine is the most acrolein-reactive residue, cysteine-acrolein adducts are difficult to iden...

SseK3 Is a Salmonella Effector That Binds TRIM32 and Modulates the Host's NF-κB Signalling Activity.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhe Yang

Full Text Available Salmonella Typhimurium employs an array of type III secretion system effectors that facilitate intracellular survival and replication during infection. The Salmonella effector SseK3 was originally identified due to amino acid sequence similarity with NleB; an effector secreted by EPEC/EHEC that possesses N-acetylglucoasmine (GlcNAc transferase activity and modifies death domain containing proteins to block extrinsic apoptosis. In this study, immunoprecipitation of SseK3 defined a novel molecular interaction between SseK3 and the host protein, TRIM32, an E3 ubiquitin ligase. The conserved DxD motif within SseK3, which is essential for the GlcNAc transferase activity of NleB, was required for TRIM32 binding and for the capacity of SseK3 to suppress TNF-stimulated activation of NF-κB pathway. However, we did not detect GlcNAc modification of TRIM32 by SseK3, nor did the SseK3-TRIM32 interaction impact on TRIM32 ubiquitination that is associated with its activation. In addition, lack of sseK3 in Salmonella had no effect on production of the NF-κB dependent cytokine, IL-8, in HeLa cells even though TRIM32 knockdown suppressed TNF-induced NF-κB activity. Ectopically expressed SseK3 partially co-localises with TRIM32 at the trans-Golgi network, but SseK3 is not recruited to Salmonella induced vacuoles or Salmonella induced filaments during Salmonella infection. Our study has identified a novel effector-host protein interaction and suggests that SseK3 may influence NF-κB activity. However, the lack of GlcNAc modification of TRIM32 suggests that SseK3 has further, as yet unidentified, host targets.

Chemical modifications of Au/SiO2 template substrates for patterned biofunctional surfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Briand, Elisabeth; Humblot, Vincent; Landoulsi, Jessem; Petronis, Sarunas; Pradier, Claire-Marie; Kasemo, Bengt; Svedhem, Sofia

2011-01-18

The aim of this work was to create patterned surfaces for localized and specific biochemical recognition. For this purpose, we have developed a protocol for orthogonal and material-selective surface modifications of microfabricated patterned surfaces composed of SiO(2) areas (100 μm diameter) surrounded by Au. The SiO(2) spots were chemically modified by a sequence of reactions (silanization using an amine-terminated silane (APTES), followed by amine coupling of a biotin analogue and biospecific recognition) to achieve efficient immobilization of streptavidin in a functional form. The surrounding Au was rendered inert to protein adsorption by modification by HS(CH(2))(10)CONH(CH(2))(2)(OCH(2)CH(2))(7)OH (thiol-OEG). The surface modification protocol was developed by testing separately homogeneous SiO(2) and Au surfaces, to obtain the two following results: (i) SiO(2) surfaces which allowed the grafting of streptavidin, and subsequent immobilization of biotinylated antibodies, and (ii) Au surfaces showing almost no affinity for the same streptavidin and antibody solutions. The surface interactions were monitored by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D), and chemical analyses were performed by polarization modulation-reflexion absorption infrared spectroscopy (PM-RAIRS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to assess the validity of the initial orthogonal assembly of APTES and thiol-OEG. Eventually, microscopy imaging of the modified Au/SiO(2) patterned substrates validated the specific binding of streptavidin on the SiO(2)/APTES areas, as well as the subsequent binding of biotinylated anti-rIgG and further detection of fluorescent rIgG on the functionalized SiO(2) areas. These results demonstrate a successful protocol for the preparation of patterned biofunctional surfaces, based on microfabricated Au/SiO(2) templates and supported by careful surface analysis. The strong immobilization of the biomolecules resulting from the described

Overview of xeroderma pigmentosum proteins architecture, mutations and post-translational modifications.

Science.gov (United States)

Feltes, Bruno César; Bonatto, Diego

2015-01-01

The xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group proteins (XPs), which include XPA through XPG, play a critical role in coordinating and promoting global genome and transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair (GG-NER and TC-NER, respectively) pathways in eukaryotic cells. GG-NER and TC-NER are both required for the repair of bulky DNA lesions, such as those induced by UV radiation. Mutations in genes that encode XPs lead to the clinical condition xeroderma pigmentosum (XP). Although the roles of XPs in the GG-NER/TC-NER subpathways have been extensively studied, complete knowledge of their three-dimensional structure is only beginning to emerge. Hence, this review aims to summarize the current knowledge of mapped mutations and other structural information on XP proteins that influence their function and protein-protein interactions. We also review the possible post-translational modifications for each protein and the impact of these modifications on XP protein functions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A SIMPLE FLUORESCENT LABELING METHOD FOR STUDIES OF PROTEIN OXIDATION, PROTEIN MODIFICATION, AND PROTEOLYSIS

Science.gov (United States)

Pickering, Andrew. M.; Davies, Kelvin. J. A.

2014-01-01

Proteins are sensitive to oxidation, and oxidized proteins are excellent substrates for degradation by proteolytic enzymes such as the Proteasome and the mitochondrial Lon protease. Protein labeling is required for studies of protein turnover. Unfortunately, most labeling techniques involve 3H or 14C methylation which is expensive, exposes researchers to radioactivity, generates large amounts of radioactive waste, and allows only single-point assays because samples require acid-precipitation. Alternative labeling methods, have largely proven unsuitable, either because the probe itself is modified by the oxidant(s) being studied, or because the alternative labeling techniques are too complex or too costly for routine use. What is needed is a simple, quick, and cheap labeling technique that uses a non-radioactive marker, that binds strongly to proteins, is resistant to oxidative modification, and emits a strong signal. We have devised a new reductive method for labeling free carboxyl groups of proteins with the small fluorophore 7-amino-4-methycoumarin (AMC). When bound to target proteins, AMC fluoresces very weakly but when AMC is released by proteinases, proteases, or peptidases, it fluoresces strongly. Thus, without acid-precipitation, the proteolysis of any target protein can be studied continuously, in multiwell plates. In direct comparisons, 3H-labeled proteins and AMC-labeled proteins exhibited essentially identical degradation patterns during incubation with trypsin, cell extracts, and purified proteasome. AMC-labeled proteins are well-suited to study increased proteolytic susceptibility following protein modification, since the AMC-protein bond is resistant to oxidizing agents such as hydrogen peroxide and peroxynitrite, and is stable over time and to extremes of pH, temperature (even boiling), freeze-thawing, mercaptoethanol, and methanol. PMID:21988844

Altering protein surface charge with chemical modification modulates protein–gold nanoparticle aggregation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jamison, Jennifer A.; Bryant, Erika L.; Kadali, Shyam B.; Wong, Michael S.; Colvin, Vicki L.; Matthews, Kathleen S.; Calabretta, Michelle K.

2011-01-01

Gold nanoparticles (AuNP) can interact with a wide range of molecules including proteins. Whereas significant attention has focused on modifying the nanoparticle surface to regulate protein–AuNP assembly or influence the formation of the protein “corona,” modification of the protein surface as a mechanism to modulate protein–AuNP interaction has been less explored. Here, we examine this possibility utilizing three small globular proteins—lysozyme with high isoelectric point (pI) and established interactions with AuNP; α-lactalbumin with similar tertiary fold to lysozyme but low pI; and myoglobin with a different globular fold and an intermediate pI. We first chemically modified these proteins to alter their charged surface functionalities, and thereby shift protein pI, and then applied multiple methods to assess protein–AuNP assembly. At pH values lower than the anticipated pI of the modified protein, AuNP exposure elicits changes in the optical absorbance of the protein–NP solutions and other properties due to aggregate formation. Above the expected pI, however, protein–AuNP interaction is minimal, and both components remain isolated, presumably because both species are negatively charged. These data demonstrate that protein modification provides a powerful tool for modulating whether nanoparticle–protein interactions result in material aggregation. The results also underscore that naturally occurring protein modifications found in vivo may be critical in defining nanoparticle–protein corona compositions.

Interaction between the enamel matrix proteins amelogenin and ameloblastin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ravindranath, Hanumanth H.; Chen, Li-Sha; Zeichner-David, Margaret; Ishima, Rieko; Ravindranath, Rajeswari M.H.

2004-01-01

Enamel matrix consists of amelogenin and non-amelogenins. Though amelogenin is not involved in nucleation of minerals, the enamel mineralization is impaired when amelogenin or other matrix protein (ameloblastin/enamelin) genes are mutated. We hypothesize that amelogenin may promote enamel mineralization by interacting with the calcium-binding matrix proteins. Specific binding of amelogenin to N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), GlcNAc-mimicking peptides (GMps), and their carrier proteins and the identification of amelogenin-trityrosyl-motif-peptide (ATMP) as a GlcNAc/GMp-binding domain in amelogenin favor the hypothesis. This study tested the interaction of amelogenin with ameloblastin, a carrier of GMp sequence at intermittent sites. Neither GlcNAc nor sialic acids were identified in the recombinant-ameloblastin. Amelogenin bound to recombinant-ameloblastin in both Western blots and in ELISA. More specifically, [ 3 H]ATMP bound to both recombinant and native ameloblastins. Dosimetry and Scatchard analyses showed the specific interaction between ATMP and ameloblastin, suggesting that amelogenin may interact with ameloblastin to form a heteromolecular assembly

Interaction between the enamel matrix proteins amelogenin and ameloblastin.

Science.gov (United States)

Ravindranath, Hanumanth H; Chen, Li-Sha; Zeichner-David, Margaret; Ishima, Rieko; Ravindranath, Rajeswari M H

2004-10-22

Enamel matrix consists of amelogenin and non-amelogenins. Though amelogenin is not involved in nucleation of minerals, the enamel mineralization is impaired when amelogenin or other matrix protein (ameloblastin/enamelin) genes are mutated. We hypothesize that amelogenin may promote enamel mineralization by interacting with the calcium-binding matrix proteins. Specific binding of amelogenin to N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), GlcNAc-mimicking peptides (GMps), and their carrier proteins and the identification of amelogenin-trityrosyl-motif-peptide (ATMP) as a GlcNAc/GMp-binding domain in amelogenin favor the hypothesis. This study tested the interaction of amelogenin with ameloblastin, a carrier of GMp sequence at intermittent sites. Neither GlcNAc nor sialic acids were identified in the recombinant-ameloblastin. Amelogenin bound to recombinant-ameloblastin in both Western blots and in ELISA. More specifically, [(3)H]ATMP bound to both recombinant and native ameloblastins. Dosimetry and Scatchard analyses showed the specific interaction between ATMP and ameloblastin, suggesting that amelogenin may interact with ameloblastin to form a heteromolecular assembly.

Proteins and their modifications in a medieval mummy

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Mikšík, Ivan; Sedláková, Pavla; Pataridis, Statis; Bortolotti, F.; Gottardo, R.

2016-01-01

Roč. 25, č. 11 (2016), s. 2037-2044 ISSN 0961-8368 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA15-01948S Institutional support: RVO:67985823 Keywords : mummy * collagen * protein modification * deamidation * carbamylation * carboxymethylation Subject RIV: CB - Analytical Chemistry, Separation Impact factor: 2.523, year: 2016

Protein N-myristoylation in Escherichia coli: Reconstitution of a eukaryotic protein modification in bacteria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duronio, R.J.; Jackson-Machelski, E.; Heuckeroth, R.O.; Gordon, J.I.; Olins, P.O.; Devine, C.S.; Yonemoto, W.; Slice, L.W.; Taylor, S.S.

1990-01-01

Protein N-myristoylation refers to the covalent attachment of a myristoyl group (C14:0), via amide linkage, to the NH 2 -terminal glycine residue of certain cellular and viral proteins. Myristoyl-CoA:protein N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) catalyzes this cotranslational modification. The authors have developed a system for studying the substrate requirements and biological effects of protein N-myristoylation as well as NMT structure-activity relationships. Expression of the yeast NMT1 gene in Escherichia coli, a bacterium that has no endogenous NMT activity, results in production of the intact 53-kDa NMT polypeptide as well as a truncated polypeptide derived from proteolytic removal of its NH 2 -terminal 39 amino acids. By using a dual plasmid system, N-myristoylation of a mammalian protein was reconstituted in E. coli by simultaneous expression of the yeast NMT1 gene and a murine cDNA encoding the catalytic (C) subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PK-A). A major advantage of the bacterial system over eukaryotic systems is the absence of endogenous NMT and substrates, providing a more straightforward way of preparing myristoylated, analog-substituted, and nonmyristoylated forms of a given protein for comparison of their structural and functional properties. The experimental system may prove useful for recapitulating other eukaryotic protein modifications in E. coli so that structure-activity relationships of modifying enzymes and their substrates can be more readily assessed

Milk whey protein modification by coffee-specific phenolics: effect on structural and functional properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Mostafa; Homann, Thomas; Khalil, Mahmoud; Kruse, Hans-Peter; Rawel, Harshadrai

2013-07-17

A suitable vehicle for integration of bioactive plant constituents is proposed. It involves modification of proteins using phenolics and applying these for protection of labile constituents. It dissects the noncovalent and covalent interactions of β-lactoglobulin with coffee-specific phenolics. Alkaline and polyphenol oxidase modulated covalent reactions were compared. Tryptic digestion combined with MALDI-TOF-MS provided tentative allocation of the modification type and site in the protein, and an in silico modeling of modified β-lactoglobulin is proposed. The modification delivers proteins with enhanced antioxidative properties. Changed structural properties and differences in solubility, surface hydrophobicity, and emulsification were observed. The polyphenol oxidase modulated reaction provides a modified β-lactoglobulin with a high antioxidative power, is thermally more stable, requires less energy to unfold, and, when emulsified with lutein esters, exhibits their higher stability against UV light. Thus, adaptation of this modification provides an innovative approach for functionalizing proteins and their uses in the food industry.

L-selectin-carbohydrate interactions: relevant modifications of the Lewis x trisaccharide.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, W J; Katsumoto, T R; Bertozzi, C R; Rosen, S D; Kiessling, L L

1996-11-26

Protein-carbohydrate interactions are known to mediate cell-cell recognition and adhesion events. Specifically, three carbohydrate binding proteins termed selectins (E-, P-, and L-selectin) have been shown to be essential for leukocyte rolling along the vascular endothelium, the first step in the recruitment of leukocytes from the blood into inflammatory sites or into secondary lymphoid organs. Although this phenomenon is well-established, little is known about the molecular-level interactions on which it depends. All three selectins recognize sulfated and sialylated derivatives of the Lewis x [Le(x):Gal beta 1-->4(Fuc alpha 1-->3)GlcNAc] and Lewis a [Le(a): Gal beta 1-->3(Fuc alpha 1-->4)GlcNAc] trisaccharide cores with affinities in the millimolar range, and it is believed that variants of these structures are the carbohydrate determinants of selectin recognition. Recently it was shown that the mucin GlyCAM-1, a secreted physiological ligand for L-selectin, is capped with sulfated derivatives of sialyl Lewis x [sLe(x): Sia alpha 2-->3Gal beta 1-->4(Fuc alpha 1-->3)GlcNAc] and that sulfation is required for the high-affinity interaction between GlyCAM-1 and L-selectin. To elucidate the important sites of sulfation on Le(x) with respect to L-selectin recognition, we have synthesized six sulfated Le(x) analogs and determined their abilities to block binding of a recombinant L-selectin-Ig chimera to immobilized GlyCAM-1. Our results suggest that 6-sulfo sLe(x) binds to L-selectin with higher affinity than does sLe(x) or 6'-sulfo sLe(x) and that sulfation of sLe(x) capping groups on GlyCAM-1 at the 6-position is important for L-selectin recognition.

Post-Translational Modifications of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough Sulfate Reduction Pathway Proteins

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gaucher, S.P.; Redding, A.M.; Mukhopadhyay, A.; Keasling, J.D.; Singh, A.K.

2008-03-01

Recent developments in shotgun proteomics have enabled high-throughput studies of a variety of microorganisms at a proteome level and provide experimental validation for predicted open reading frames in the corresponding genome. More importantly, advances in mass spectrometric data analysis now allow mining of large proteomics data sets for the presence of post-translational modifications(PTMs). Although PTMs are a critical aspectof cellular activity, such information eludes cell-wide studies conducted at the transcript level. Here, we analyze several mass spectrometric data sets acquired using two-dimensional liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, 2D-LC/MS/MS, for the sulfate reducing bacterium, Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough. Our searches of the raw spectra led us to discover several post-translationally modified peptides in D. vulgaris. Of these, several peptides containing a lysine with a +42 Da modification were found reproducibly across all data sets. Both acetylation and trimethylation have the same nominal +42 Da mass, and are therefore candidates for this modification. Several spectra were identified having markers for trimethylation, while one is consistent with an acetylation. Surprisingly, these modified peptides predominantly mapped to proteins involved in sulfate respiration. Other highly expressed proteins in D. vulgaris, such as enzymes involved in electron transport and other central metabolic processes, did not contain this modification. Decoy database searches were used to control for random spectrum/sequence matches. Additional validation for these modifications was provided by alternate workflows, for example, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by mass spectrometry analysis of the dissimilatory sulfite reductase gamma-subunit(DsrC) protein. MS data for DsrC in this alternate workflow also contained the +42 Da modification at the same loci. Furthermore, the DsrC homologue in another sulfate reducing bacterium

Redox modification of caveolar proteins in the cardiovascular system- role in cellular signalling and disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Bubb, Kristen J; Birgisdottir, Asa Birna; Tang, Owen; Hansen, Thomas; Figtree, Gemma A

2017-08-01

Rapid and coordinated release of a variety of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide (O 2 .- ), hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and peroxynitrite, in specific microdomains, play a crucial role in cell signalling in the cardiovascular system. These reactions are mediated by reversible and functional modifications of a wide variety of key proteins. Dysregulation of this oxidative signalling occurs in almost all forms of cardiovascular disease (CVD), including at the very early phases. Despite the heavily publicized failure of "antioxidants" to improve CVD progression, pharmacotherapies such as those targeting the renin-angiotensin system, or statins, exert at least part of their large clinical benefit via modulating cellular redox signalling. Over 250 proteins, including receptors, ion channels and pumps, and signalling proteins are found in the caveolae. An increasing proportion of these are being recognized as redox regulated-proteins, that reside in the immediate vicinity of the two major cellular sources of ROS, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (Nox) and uncoupled endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). This review focuses on what is known about redox signalling within the caveolae, as well as endogenous protective mechanisms utilized by the cell, and new approaches to targeting dysregulated redox signalling in the caveolae as a therapeutic strategy in CVD. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Hydrophilic Surface Modification of PDMS Microchannel for O/W and W/O/W Emulsions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shazia Bashir

2015-09-01

Full Text Available A surface modification method for bonded polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS microchannels is presented herein. Polymerization of acrylic acid was performed on the surface of a microchannel using an inline atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier microplasma technique. The surface treatment changes the wettability of the microchannel from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. This is a challenging task due to the fast hydrophobic recovery of the PDMS surface after modification. This modification allows the formation of highly monodisperse oil-in-water (O/W droplets. The generation of water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W double emulsions was successfully achieved by connecting in series a hydrophobic microchip with a modified hydrophilic microchip. An original channel blocking technique to pattern the surface wettability of a specific section of a microchip using a viscous liquid comprising a mixture of honey and glycerol, is also presented for generating W/O/W emulsions on a single chip.

Beyond gene expression: the impact of protein post-translational modifications in bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Cain, Joel A; Solis, Nestor; Cordwell, Stuart J

2014-01-31

The post-translational modification (PTM) of proteins plays a critical role in the regulation of a broad range of cellular processes in eukaryotes. Yet their role in governing similar systems in the conventionally presumed 'simpler' forms of life has been largely neglected and, until recently, was thought to occur only rarely, with some modifications assumed to be limited to higher organisms alone. Recent developments in mass spectrometry-based proteomics have provided an unparalleled power to enrich, identify and quantify peptides with PTMs. Additional modifications to biological molecules such as lipids and carbohydrates that are essential for bacterial pathophysiology have only recently been detected on proteins. Here we review bacterial protein PTMs, focusing on phosphorylation, acetylation, proteolytic degradation, methylation and lipidation and the roles they play in bacterial adaptation - thus highlighting the importance of proteomic techniques in a field that is only just in its infancy. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Trends in Microbial Proteomics. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Posttranslational modifications of proteins : tools for functional proteomics [Methods in molecular biology, v. 194

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Kannicht, Christoph

2002-01-01

... single glycosylation sites in a protein. Additional powerful techniques facilitate the analysis of glycosylphosphatidylinositols, lipid modifications, protein phosphorylation and sulfation, protein methylation and acetylation, a-amidation...

Protein redox chemistry: post-translational cysteine modifications that regulate signal transduction and drug pharmacology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Revati eWani

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The perception of reactive oxygen species (ROS has evolved over the past decade from agents of cellular damage to secondary messengers which modify signaling proteins in physiology and the disease state (e.g. cancer. New protein targets of specific oxidation are rapidly being identified. One emerging class of redox modification occurs to the thiol side chain of cysteine residues which can produce multiple chemically-distinct alterations to the protein (e.g. sulfenic/sulfinic/sulfonic acid, disulfides. These post-translational modifications (PTM are shown to affect the protein structure and function. Because redox-sensitive proteins can traffic between subcellular compartments that have different redox environments, cysteine oxidation enables a spatio-temporal control to signaling. Understanding ramifications of these oxidative modifications to the functions of signaling proteins is crucial for understanding cellular regulation as well as for informed-drug discovery process. The effects of EGFR oxidation of Cys797 on inhibitor pharmacology are presented to illustrate the principle. Taken together, cysteine redox PTM can impact both cell biology and drug pharmacology.

Understanding the effect of locked nucleic acid and 2'-O-methyl modification on the hybridization thermodynamics of a miRNA-mRNA pair in the presence and absence of AfPiwi protein.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Santosh; Mapa, Koyeli; Maiti, Souvik

2014-03-18

miRNAs are some of the key epigenetic regulators of gene expression. They act through hybridization with their target mRNA and modulate the level of respective proteins via different mechanisms. Various cancer conditions are known to be associated with up- and downregulation of the oncogenic and tumor suppressor miRNAs, respectively. The levels of aberrantly expressed oncogenic miRNAs can be downregulated in different ways. Similarly, restoration of tumor suppressor miRNAs to their normal levels can be achieved using miRNA mimics. However, the use of miRNA mimics is limited by their reduced biostability and function. We have studied the hybridization thermodynamics of the miRNA 26a (11-mer, including the seed sequence) guide strand with the mRNA (11-mer) target strand in the absence and presence of AfPiwi protein. We have also inserted locked nucleic acids (LNAs) and 2'-O-methyl-modified nucleotides into the guide strand, in a walk-through manner, to assess their effect on the binding efficiency between guide and target RNA. Insertion of LNA and 2'-O-methyl-modified nucleotides into the guide strand helped to strengthen the binding affinity irrespective of the position of insertion. However, in the presence of AfPiwi protein, these modifications reduced the binding affinity to different extents depending on the position of insertion. Insertion of a modification leads to an increase in the enthalpic contribution with an increased unfavorable entropic contribution, which negatively compensates for the higher favorable enthalpy.

Novel staphylococcal glycosyltransferases SdgA and SdgB mediate immunogenicity and protection of virulence-associated cell wall proteins.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wouter L W Hazenbos

Full Text Available Infection of host tissues by Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis requires an unusual family of staphylococcal adhesive proteins that contain long stretches of serine-aspartate dipeptide-repeats (SDR. The prototype member of this family is clumping factor A (ClfA, a key virulence factor that mediates adhesion to host tissues by binding to extracellular matrix proteins such as fibrinogen. However, the biological siginificance of the SDR-domain and its implication for pathogenesis remain poorly understood. Here, we identified two novel bacterial glycosyltransferases, SdgA and SdgB, which modify all SDR-proteins in these two bacterial species. Genetic and biochemical data demonstrated that these two glycosyltransferases directly bind and covalently link N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc moieties to the SDR-domain in a step-wise manner, with SdgB appending the sugar residues proximal to the target Ser-Asp repeats, followed by additional modification by SdgA. GlcNAc-modification of SDR-proteins by SdgB creates an immunodominant epitope for highly opsonic human antibodies, which represent up to 1% of total human IgG. Deletion of these glycosyltransferases renders SDR-proteins vulnerable to proteolysis by human neutrophil-derived cathepsin G. Thus, SdgA and SdgB glycosylate staphylococcal SDR-proteins, which protects them against host proteolytic activity, and yet generates major eptopes for the human anti-staphylococcal antibody response, which may represent an ongoing competition between host and pathogen.

Protein O-fucosylation in Plasmodium falciparum ensures efficient infection of mosquito and vertebrate hosts.

Science.gov (United States)

Lopaticki, Sash; Yang, Annie S P; John, Alan; Scott, Nichollas E; Lingford, James P; O'Neill, Matthew T; Erickson, Sara M; McKenzie, Nicole C; Jennison, Charlie; Whitehead, Lachlan W; Douglas, Donna N; Kneteman, Norman M; Goddard-Borger, Ethan D; Boddey, Justin A

2017-09-15

O-glycosylation of the Plasmodium sporozoite surface proteins CSP and TRAP was recently identified, but the role of this modification in the parasite life cycle and its relevance to vaccine design remain unclear. Here, we identify the Plasmodium protein O-fucosyltransferase (POFUT2) responsible for O-glycosylating CSP and TRAP. Genetic disruption of POFUT2 in Plasmodium falciparum results in ookinetes that are attenuated for colonizing the mosquito midgut, an essential step in malaria transmission. Some POFUT2-deficient parasites mature into salivary gland sporozoites although they are impaired for gliding motility, cell traversal, hepatocyte invasion, and production of exoerythrocytic forms in humanized chimeric liver mice. These defects can be attributed to destabilization and incorrect trafficking of proteins bearing thrombospondin repeats (TSRs). Therefore, POFUT2 plays a similar role in malaria parasites to that in metazoans: it ensures the trafficking of Plasmodium TSR proteins as part of a non-canonical glycosylation-dependent endoplasmic reticulum protein quality control mechanism.The role of O-glycosylation in the malaria life cycle is largely unknown. Here, the authors identify a Plasmodium protein O-fucosyltransferase and show that it is important for normal trafficking of a subset of surface proteins, particularly CSP and TRAP, and efficient infection of mosquito and vertebrate hosts.

Quantitative proteomic characterization of redox-dependent post-translational modifications on protein cysteines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Duan, Jicheng; Gaffrey, Matthew J.; Qian, Wei-Jun

2017-01-01

Protein cysteine thiols play a crucial role in redox signaling, regulation of enzymatic activity and protein function, and maintaining redox homeostasis in living systems. The unique chemical reactivity of thiol groups makes cysteine susceptible to oxidative modifications by reactive oxygen and nitrogen species to form a broad array of reversible and irreversible protein post-translational modifications (PTMs). The reversible modifications in particular are one of the major components of redox signaling and are involved in regulation of various cellular processes under physiological and pathological conditions. The biological significance of these redox PTMs in health and diseases has been increasingly recognized. Herein, we review the recent advances of quantitative proteomic approaches for investigating redox PTMs in complex biological systems, including the general considerations of sample processing, various chemical or affinity enrichment strategies, and quantitative approaches. We also highlight a number of redox proteomic approaches that enable effective profiling of redox PTMs for addressing specific biological questions. Although some technological limitations remain, redox proteomics is paving the way towards a better understanding of redox signaling and regulation in human health and diseases.

In Silico Analysis of Correlations between Protein Disorder and Post-Translational Modifications in Algae.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurotani, Atsushi; Sakurai, Tetsuya

2015-08-20

Recent proteome analyses have reported that intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of proteins play important roles in biological processes. In higher plants whose genomes have been sequenced, the correlation between IDRs and post-translational modifications (PTMs) has been reported. The genomes of various eukaryotic algae as common ancestors of plants have also been sequenced. However, no analysis of the relationship to protein properties such as structure and PTMs in algae has been reported. Here, we describe correlations between IDR content and the number of PTM sites for phosphorylation, glycosylation, and ubiquitination, and between IDR content and regions rich in proline, glutamic acid, serine, and threonine (PEST) and transmembrane helices in the sequences of 20 algae proteomes. Phosphorylation, O-glycosylation, ubiquitination, and PEST preferentially occurred in disordered regions. In contrast, transmembrane helices were favored in ordered regions. N-glycosylation tended to occur in ordered regions in most of the studied algae; however, it correlated positively with disordered protein content in diatoms. Additionally, we observed that disordered protein content and the number of PTM sites were significantly increased in the species-specific protein clusters compared to common protein clusters among the algae. Moreover, there were specific relationships between IDRs and PTMs among the algae from different groups.

In Silico Analysis of Correlations between Protein Disorder and Post-Translational Modifications in Algae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atsushi Kurotani

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Recent proteome analyses have reported that intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs of proteins play important roles in biological processes. In higher plants whose genomes have been sequenced, the correlation between IDRs and post-translational modifications (PTMs has been reported. The genomes of various eukaryotic algae as common ancestors of plants have also been sequenced. However, no analysis of the relationship to protein properties such as structure and PTMs in algae has been reported. Here, we describe correlations between IDR content and the number of PTM sites for phosphorylation, glycosylation, and ubiquitination, and between IDR content and regions rich in proline, glutamic acid, serine, and threonine (PEST and transmembrane helices in the sequences of 20 algae proteomes. Phosphorylation, O-glycosylation, ubiquitination, and PEST preferentially occurred in disordered regions. In contrast, transmembrane helices were favored in ordered regions. N-glycosylation tended to occur in ordered regions in most of the studied algae; however, it correlated positively with disordered protein content in diatoms. Additionally, we observed that disordered protein content and the number of PTM sites were significantly increased in the species-specific protein clusters compared to common protein clusters among the algae. Moreover, there were specific relationships between IDRs and PTMs among the algae from different groups.

The Impact of O-Glycan Chemistry on the Stability of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beckham, Gregg T [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Prates, Erica T [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Crowley, Michael F [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Guan, Xiaoyang [University of Colorado; Li, Yaohao [University of Colorado; Wang, Xinfeng [University of Colorado; Chaffey, Patrick K. [University of Colorado; Skaf, Munir S. [University of Campinas; Tan, Zhongping [University of Colorado

2018-03-02

Protein glycosylation is a diverse post-translational modification that serves myriad biological functions. O-linked glycans in particular vary widely in extent and chemistry in eukaryotes, with secreted proteins from fungi and yeast commonly exhibiting O-mannosylation in intrinsically disordered regions of proteins, likely for proteolysis protection, among other functions. However, it is not well understood why mannose is often the preferred glycan, and more generally, if the neighboring protein sequence and glycan have coevolved to protect against proteolysis in glycosylated intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). Here, we synthesized variants of a model IDP, specifically a natively O-mannosylated linker from a fungal enzyme, with a-O-linked mannose, glucose, and galactose moieties, along with a non-glycosylated linker. Upon exposure to thermolysin, O-mannosylation, by far, provides the highest extent of proteolysis protection. To explain this observation, extensive molecular dynamics simulations were conducted, revealing that the axial configuration of the C2-hydroxyl group (2-OH) of a-mannose adjacent to the glycan-peptide bond strongly influences the conformational features of the linker. Specifically, a-mannose restricts the torsions of the IDP main chain more than other glycans whose equatorial 2-OH groups exhibit interactions that favor perpendicular glycan-protein backbone orientation. We suggest that IDP stiffening due to O-mannosylation impairs protease action, with contributions from protein-glycan interactions, protein flexibility, and protein stability. Our results further imply that resistance to proteolysis is an important driving force for evolutionary selection of a-mannose in eukaryotic IDPs, and more broadly, that glycan motifs for proteolysis protection likely coevolve with the protein sequence to which they attach.

N-terminal modifications of cellular proteins: The enzymes involved, their substrate specificities and biological effects

Science.gov (United States)

Varland, Sylvia; Osberg, Camilla; Arnesen, Thomas

2015-01-01

The vast majority of eukaryotic proteins are N-terminally modified by one or more processing enzymes. Enzymes acting on the very first amino acid of a polypeptide include different peptidases, transferases, and ligases. Methionine aminopeptidases excise the initiator methionine leaving the nascent polypeptide with a newly exposed amino acid that may be further modified. N-terminal acetyl-, methyl-, myristoyl-, and palmitoyltransferases may attach an acetyl, methyl, myristoyl, or palmitoyl group, respectively, to the α-amino group of the target protein N-terminus. With the action of ubiquitin ligases, one or several ubiquitin molecules are transferred, and hence, constitute the N-terminal modification. Modifications at protein N-termini represent an important contribution to proteomic diversity and complexity, and are essential for protein regulation and cellular signaling. Consequently, dysregulation of the N-terminal modifying enzymes is implicated in human diseases. We here review the different protein N-terminal modifications occurring co- or post-translationally with emphasis on the responsible enzymes and their substrate specificities. PMID:25914051

Protein O-linked ß-N-acetylglucosamine: A novel effector of cardiomyocyte metabolism and function

Science.gov (United States)

Darley-Usmar, Victor M.; Ball, Lauren E.; Chatham, John C.

2014-01-01

The post-translational modification of serine and threonine residues of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins by the O-linked attachment of the monosaccharide ß-N-acetyl-glucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is emerging as an important mechanism for the regulation of numerous biological processes critical for normal cell function. Active synthesis of O-GlcNAc is essential for cell viability and acute activation of pathways resulting in increased protein O-GlcNAc levels improves the tolerance of cells to a wide range of stress stimuli. Conversely sustained increases in O-GlcNAc levels have been implicated in numerous chronic disease states, especially as a pathogenic contributor to diabetic complications. There has been increasing interest in the role of O-GlcNAc in the heart and vascular system and acute activation of O-GlcNAc levels have been shown to reduce ischemia/reperfusion injury attenuate vascular injury responses as well mediate some of the detrimental effects of diabetes and hypertension on cardiac and vascular function. Here we provide an overview of our current understanding of pathways regulating protein O-GlcNAcylation, summarize the different methodologies for identifying and characterizing O-GlcNAcylated proteins and subsequently focus on two emerging areas: 1) the role of O-GlcNAc as a potential regulator of cardiac metabolism and 2) the cross talk between O-GlcNAc and reactive oxygen species. PMID:21878340

Connection between markers of cholestasis and intensity of oxidative modification of proteins in patients with choledocholithiasis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zoran Damnjanović

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to examine the connection between cholestatic markers and the oxidative protein modification intensity in patients with choledocholithiasis. All the participants were subjected to clinical, laboratory and ultrasonic check-up at the Internal Department of the Military Hospital in Niš, Serbia. The parameters of oxidative stress: carbonyl groups, a measure of oxidative protein modification, and biochemical markers of cholestasis were determined by standard biochemical methods. The concentration of total (r=0.41, p<0.05, direct (r=0.49, p<+0.01 and indirect (r=0.41, p<0.05 bilirubin was in statistically significant positive linear correlation with the intensity of oxidative modification of proteins, while the other biochemical markers of cholestasis did not show such correlation. Total, direct and indirect bilirubins showed a significant positive correlation with oxidative protein modification, assessed through the levels of carbonyl groups in patients with choledocholithiasis.

Tyrosine Sulfation as a Protein Post-Translational Modification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuh-Shyong Yang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Integration of inorganic sulfate into biological molecules plays an important role in biological systems and is directly involved in the instigation of diseases. Protein tyrosine sulfation (PTS is a common post-translational modification that was first reported in the literature fifty years ago. However, the significance of PTS under physiological conditions and its link to diseases have just begun to be appreciated in recent years. PTS is catalyzed by tyrosylprotein sulfotransferase (TPST through transfer of an activated sulfate from 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate to tyrosine in a variety of proteins and peptides. Currently, only a small fraction of sulfated proteins is known and the understanding of the biological sulfation mechanisms is still in progress. In this review, we give an introductory and selective brief review of PTS and then summarize the basic biochemical information including the activity and the preparation of TPST, methods for the determination of PTS, and kinetics and reaction mechanism of TPST. This information is fundamental for the further exploration of the function of PTS that induces protein-protein interactions and the subsequent biochemical and physiological reactions.

Prediction of protein post-translational modifications: main trends and methods

Science.gov (United States)

Sobolev, B. N.; Veselovsky, A. V.; Poroikov, V. V.

2014-02-01

The review summarizes main trends in the development of methods for the prediction of protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) by considering the three most common types of PTMs — phosphorylation, acetylation and glycosylation. Considerable attention is given to general characteristics of regulatory interactions associated with PTMs. Different approaches to the prediction of PTMs are analyzed. Most of the methods are based only on the analysis of the neighbouring environment of modification sites. The related software is characterized by relatively low accuracy of PTM predictions, which may be due both to the incompleteness of training data and the features of PTM regulation. Advantages and limitations of the phylogenetic approach are considered. The prediction of PTMs using data on regulatory interactions, including the modular organization of interacting proteins, is a promising field, provided that a more carefully selected training data will be used. The bibliography includes 145 references.

Modification degrees at specific sites on heparan sulphate: an approach to measure chemical modifications on biological molecules with stable isotope labelling

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Zhengliang L.; Lech, Miroslaw

2005-01-01

Chemical modification of biological molecules is a general mechanism for cellular regulation. A quantitative approach has been developed to measure the extent of modification on HS (heparan sulphates). Sulphation on HS by sulphotransferases leads to variable sulphation levels, which allows cells to tune their affinities to various extracellular proteins, including growth factors. With stable isotope labelling and HPLC-coupled MS, modification degrees at various O-sulphation sites could be determined. A bovine kidney HS sample was first saturated in vitro with 34S by an OST (O-sulphotransferase), then digested with nitrous acid and analysed with HPLC-coupled MS. The 34S-labelled oligosaccharides were identified based on their unique isotope clusters. The modification degrees at the sulphotransferase recognition sites were obtained by calculating the intensities of isotopic peaks in the isotope clusters. The modification degrees at 3-OST-1 and 6-OST-1 sites were examined in detail. This approach can also be used to study other types of chemical modifications on biological molecules. PMID:15743272

Maillard-reaction-induced modification and aggregation of proteins and hardening of texture in protein bar model systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Peng; Guo, Mufan; Liu, Dasong; Liu, Xiaoming; Labuza, Teodore P

2013-03-01

The hardening of high-protein bars causes problems in their acceptability to consumers. The objective of this study was to determine the progress of the Maillard reaction in model systems of high-protein nutritional bars containing reducing sugars, and to illustrate the influences of the Maillard reaction on the modification and aggregation of proteins and the hardening of bar matrices during storage. The progress of the Maillard reaction, glycation, and aggregation of proteins, and textural changes in bar matrices were investigated during storage at 25, 35, and 45 °C. The initial development of the Maillard reaction caused little changes in hardness; however, further storage resulted in dramatic modification of protein with formation of high-molecular-weight polymers, resulting in the hardening in texture. The replacement of reducing sugars with nonreducing ingredients such as sugar alcohols in the formula minimized the changes in texture. The hardening of high-protein bars causes problems in their acceptability to consumers. Maillard reaction is one of the mechanisms contributing to the hardening of bar matrix, particularly for the late stage of storage. The replacement of reducing sugars with nonreducing ingredients such as sugar alcohols in the formula will minimize the changes in texture. © 2013 Institute of Food Technologists®

Unrestricted Mass Spectrometric Data Analysis for Identification, Localization, and Quantification of Oxidative Protein Modifications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rykær, Martin; Svensson, Birte; Davies, Michael J

2017-01-01

modifications based on so-called "dependent peptides". The strategy involves unrestricted database searches with rigorous filtering focusing on oxidative modifications. The approach was applied to bovine serum albumin and human serum proteins subjected to metal ion-catalyzed oxidation, resulting...

MODIFICATION OF ERYTHROCYTE MEMBRANE PROTEINS WITH POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL 1500

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. G. Zemlianskykh

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The aim of the work was to study the effect of polyethylene glycol PEG-1500 on the Ca2+-ATPase activity and changes in CD44 surface marker expression in human erythrocyte membranes. Determination of the Ca2+-ATPase activity was carried out in sealed erythrocyte ghosts by the level of accumulation of inorganic phosphorus. Changes in the expression of CD44 and amount of CD44+-erythrocytes were evaluated by flow cytometry. The inhibition of Ca2+-ATPase activity and a reduction in the level of CD44 expression and also the decrease in the amount CD44+-cells were found, reflecting a fairly complex restructuring in the membrane-cytoskeleton complex of erythrocytes under the influence of PEG-1500. Effect of PEG-1500 on the surface CD44 marker could be mediated by modification of proteins of membrane-cytoskeleton complex, as indicated by accelerated loss of CD44 in erythrocyte membranes after application of protein cross-linking reagent diamide. Reduced activity of Ca2+-ATPase activity may contribute to the increase in intracellular Ca2+ level and thus leads to a modification of interactions of integral proteins with cytoskeletal components that eventually could result in membrane vesiculation and decreasing in expression of the CD44 marker, which is dynamically linked to the cytoskeleton.

Protein S-glutathionylation lowers superoxide/hydrogen peroxide release from skeletal muscle mitochondria through modification of complex I and inhibition of pyruvate uptake.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert M Gill

Full Text Available Protein S-glutathionylation is a reversible redox modification that regulates mitochondrial metabolism and reactive oxygen species (ROS production in liver and cardiac tissue. However, whether or not it controls ROS release from skeletal muscle mitochondria has not been explored. In the present study, we examined if chemically-induced protein S-glutathionylation could alter superoxide (O2●-/hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 release from isolated muscle mitochondria. Disulfiram, a powerful chemical S-glutathionylation catalyst, was used to S-glutathionylate mitochondrial proteins and ascertain if it can alter ROS production. It was found that O2●-/H2O2 release rates from permeabilized muscle mitochondria decreased with increasing doses of disulfiram (100-500 μM. This effect was highest in mitochondria oxidizing succinate or palmitoyl-carnitine, where a ~80-90% decrease in the rate of ROS release was observed. Similar effects were detected in intact mitochondria respiring under state 4 conditions. Incubation of disulfiram-treated mitochondria with DTT (2 mM restored ROS release confirming that these effects were associated with protein S-glutathionylation. Disulfiram treatment also inhibited phosphorylating and proton leak-dependent respiration. Radiolabelled substrate uptake experiments demonstrated that disulfiram inhibited pyruvate import but had no effect on carnitine uptake. Immunoblot analysis of complex I revealed that it contained several protein S-glutathionylation targets including NDUSF1, a subunit required for NADH oxidation. Taken together, these results demonstrate that O2●-/H2O2 release from muscle mitochondria can be altered by protein S-glutathionylation. We attribute these changes to the protein S-glutathionylation complex I and inhibition of mitochondrial pyruvate carrier.

Use of wheat and maize protein mutants in breeding for improved protein quantity and quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Denic, M.; Dumanovic, J.; Misevic, D.; Konstantinov, K.; Fidler, D.; Stojanovic, Z.

1984-01-01

Selected offspring progenies (50 mutant lines) originating from mutation experiments with hexaploid wheat (cv. Bezostaya 1) were analysed for induced heritable variation in protein content, lysine content, grain yield and protein and lysine yields. Ten of these mutant lines were crossed with 11 local varieties. The protein and lysine contents were measured in the progenies of these crossings. The data showed better correlations of grain yield with protein and lysine yields than the protein and lysine contents with their corresponding yields. F 1 seeds showed higher lysine and protein contents than local varieties. Data with maize showed that: (1) the total endosperm protein content of modified opaque-2 types increases with an increase in the degree of normalization; (2) the lysine content in dry matter and protein in normalized o 2 kernels usually decreases with the increasing degree of normalization; (3) the lysine content in protein of modified o 2 kernels, is, in general, satisfactory up to the normalization of about 50% of endosperm. A desirable modification of o 2 endosperm within line A632o 2 was selected and crossed with o 2 lines. Most of the tested hybrids had a good protein quality, but endosperm modification was not evident in all hybrids. The o 2 gene was incorporated into high protein backgrounds. Besides a high protein content and quality, some of the hybrids tested had a comparable or higher yield than the o 2 check. (author)

Prediction of protein modification sites of pyrrolidone carboxylic acid using mRMR feature selection and analysis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lu-Lu Zheng

Full Text Available Pyrrolidone carboxylic acid (PCA is formed during a common post-translational modification (PTM of extracellular and multi-pass membrane proteins. In this study, we developed a new predictor to predict the modification sites of PCA based on maximum relevance minimum redundancy (mRMR and incremental feature selection (IFS. We incorporated 727 features that belonged to 7 kinds of protein properties to predict the modification sites, including sequence conservation, residual disorder, amino acid factor, secondary structure and solvent accessibility, gain/loss of amino acid during evolution, propensity of amino acid to be conserved at protein-protein interface and protein surface, and deviation of side chain carbon atom number. Among these 727 features, 244 features were selected by mRMR and IFS as the optimized features for the prediction, with which the prediction model achieved a maximum of MCC of 0.7812. Feature analysis showed that all feature types contributed to the modification process. Further site-specific feature analysis showed that the features derived from PCA's surrounding sites contributed more to the determination of PCA sites than other sites. The detailed feature analysis in this paper might provide important clues for understanding the mechanism of the PCA formation and guide relevant experimental validations.

Prediction of human protein function from post-translational modifications and localization features

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Lars Juhl; Gupta, Ramneek; Blom, Nikolaj

2002-01-01

a number of functional attributes that are more directly related to the linear sequence of amino acids, and hence easier to predict, than protein structure. These attributes include features associated with post-translational modifications and protein sorting, but also much simpler aspects......We have developed an entirely sequence-based method that identifies and integrates relevant features that can be used to assign proteins of unknown function to functional classes, and enzyme categories for enzymes. We show that strategies for the elucidation of protein function may benefit from...

Profiling of integral membrane proteins and their post translational modifications using high-resolution mass spectrometry

Science.gov (United States)

Souda, Puneet; Ryan, Christopher M.; Cramer, William A.; Whitelegge, Julian

2011-01-01

Integral membrane proteins pose challenges to traditional proteomics approaches due to unique physicochemical properties including hydrophobic transmembrane domains that limit solubility in aqueous solvents. A well resolved intact protein molecular mass profile defines a protein’s native covalent state including post-translational modifications, and is thus a vital measurement toward full structure determination. Both soluble loop regions and transmembrane regions potentially contain post-translational modifications that must be characterized if the covalent primary structure of a membrane protein is to be defined. This goal has been achieved using electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) with low-resolution mass analyzers for intact protein profiling, and high-resolution instruments for top-down experiments, toward complete covalent primary structure information. In top-down, the intact protein profile is supplemented by gas-phase fragmentation of the intact protein, including its transmembrane regions, using collisionally activated and/or electroncapture dissociation (CAD/ECD) to yield sequence-dependent high-resolution MS information. Dedicated liquid chromatography systems with aqueous/organic solvent mixtures were developed allowing us to demonstrate that polytopic integral membrane proteins are amenable to ESI-MS analysis, including top-down measurements. Covalent post-translational modifications are localized regardless of their position in transmembrane domains. Top-down measurements provide a more detail oriented high-resolution description of post-transcriptional and post-translational diversity for enhanced understanding beyond genomic translation. PMID:21982782

Lysine-Directed Post-translational Modifications of Tau Protein in Alzheimer's Disease and Related Tauopathies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christiana Kontaxi

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Tau is a microtubule-associated protein responsible mainly for stabilizing the neuronal microtubule network in the brain. Under normal conditions, tau is highly soluble and adopts an “unfolded” conformation. However, it undergoes conformational changes resulting in a less soluble form with weakened microtubule stabilizing properties. Altered tau forms characteristic pathogenic inclusions in Alzheimer's disease and related tauopathies. Although, tau hyperphosphorylation is widely considered to be the major trigger of tau malfunction, tau undergoes several post-translational modifications at lysine residues including acetylation, methylation, ubiquitylation, SUMOylation, and glycation. We are only beginning to define the site-specific impact of each type of lysine modification on tau biology as well as the possible interplay between them, but, like phosphorylation, these modifications are likely to play critical roles in tau's normal and pathobiology. This review summarizes the latest findings focusing on lysine post-translational modifications that occur at both endogenous tau protein and pathological tau forms in AD and other tauopathies. In addition, it highlights the significance of a site-dependent approach of studying tau post-translational modifications under normal and pathological conditions.

Genetic analysis of the heparan modification network in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Science.gov (United States)

Townley, Robert A; Bülow, Hannes E

2011-05-13

Heparan sulfates (HS) are highly modified sugar polymers in multicellular organisms that function in cell adhesion and cellular responses to protein signaling. Functionally distinct, cell type-dependent HS modification patterns arise as the result of a conserved network of enzymes that catalyze deacetylations, sulfations, and epimerizations in specific positions of the sugar residues. To understand the genetic interactions of the enzymes during the HS modification process, we have measured the composition of HS purified from mutant strains of Caenorhabditis elegans. From these measurements we have developed a genetic network model of HS modification. We find the interactions to be highly recursive positive feed-forward and negative feedback loops. Our genetic analyses show that the HS C-5 epimerase hse-5, the HS 2-O-sulfotransferase hst-2, or the HS 6-O-sulfotransferase hst-6 inhibit N-sulfation. In contrast, hse-5 stimulates both 2-O- and 6-O-sulfation and, hst-2 and hst-6 inhibit 6-O- and 2-O-sulfation, respectively. The effects of hst-2 and hst-6 on N-sulfation, 6-O-sulfation, and 2-O-sulfation appear largely dependent on hse-5 function. This core of regulatory interactions is further modulated by 6-O-endosulfatase activity (sul-1). 47% of all 6-O-sulfates get removed from HS and this editing process is dependent on hst-2, thereby providing additional negative feedback between 2-O- and 6-O-sulfation. These findings suggest that the modification patterns are highly sensitive to the relative composition of the HS modification enzymes. Our comprehensive genetic analysis forms the basis of understanding the HS modification network in metazoans.

Genetic Analysis of the Heparan Modification Network in Caenorhabditis elegans*

Science.gov (United States)

Townley, Robert A.; Bülow, Hannes E.

2011-01-01

Heparan sulfates (HS) are highly modified sugar polymers in multicellular organisms that function in cell adhesion and cellular responses to protein signaling. Functionally distinct, cell type-dependent HS modification patterns arise as the result of a conserved network of enzymes that catalyze deacetylations, sulfations, and epimerizations in specific positions of the sugar residues. To understand the genetic interactions of the enzymes during the HS modification process, we have measured the composition of HS purified from mutant strains of Caenorhabditis elegans. From these measurements we have developed a genetic network model of HS modification. We find the interactions to be highly recursive positive feed-forward and negative feedback loops. Our genetic analyses show that the HS C-5 epimerase hse-5, the HS 2-O-sulfotransferase hst-2, or the HS 6-O-sulfotransferase hst-6 inhibit N-sulfation. In contrast, hse-5 stimulates both 2-O- and 6-O-sulfation and, hst-2 and hst-6 inhibit 6-O- and 2-O-sulfation, respectively. The effects of hst-2 and hst-6 on N-sulfation, 6-O-sulfation, and 2-O-sulfation appear largely dependent on hse-5 function. This core of regulatory interactions is further modulated by 6-O-endosulfatase activity (sul-1). 47% of all 6-O-sulfates get removed from HS and this editing process is dependent on hst-2, thereby providing additional negative feedback between 2-O- and 6-O-sulfation. These findings suggest that the modification patterns are highly sensitive to the relative composition of the HS modification enzymes. Our comprehensive genetic analysis forms the basis of understanding the HS modification network in metazoans. PMID:21454666

Increasing the Thermostable Sugar-1-Phosphate Nucleotidylyltransferase Activities of the Archaeal ST0452 Protein through Site Saturation Mutagenesis of the 97th Amino Acid Position.

Science.gov (United States)

Honda, Yuki; Zang, Qian; Shimizu, Yasuhiro; Dadashipour, Mohammad; Zhang, Zilian; Kawarabayasi, Yutaka

2017-02-01

The ST0452 protein is a bifunctional protein exhibiting sugar-1-phosphate nucleotidylyltransferase (sugar-1-P NTase) and amino-sugar-1-phosphate acetyltransferase activities and was isolated from the thermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus tokodaii Based on the previous observation that five single mutations increased ST0452 sugar-1-P NTase activity, nine double-mutant ST0452 proteins were generated with the intent of obtaining enzymes exhibiting a further increase in catalysis, but all showed less than 15% of the wild-type N-acetyl-d-glucosamine-1-phosphate uridyltransferase (GlcNAc-1-P UTase) activity. The Y97A mutant exhibited the highest activity of the single-mutant proteins, and thus site saturation mutagenesis of the 97th position (Tyr) was conducted. Six mutants showed both increased GlcNAc-1-P UTase and glucose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase activities, eight mutants showed only enhanced GlcNAc-1-P UTase activity, and six exhibited higher GlcNAc-1-P UTase activity than that of the Y97A mutant. Kinetic analyses of three typical mutants indicated that the increase in sugar-1-P NTase activity was mainly due to an increase in the apparent k cat value. We hypothesized that changing the 97th position (Tyr) to a smaller amino acid with similar electronic properties would increase activity, and thus the Tyr at the corresponding 103rd position of the Escherichia coli GlmU (EcGlmU) enzyme was replaced with the same residues. The Y103N mutant EcGlmU showed increased GlcNAc-1-P UTase activity, revealing that the Tyr at the 97th position of the ST0452 protein (103rd position in EcGlmU) plays an important role in catalysis. The present results provide useful information regarding how to improve the activity of natural enzymes and how to generate powerful enzymes for the industrial production of sugar nucleotides. It is typically difficult to increase enzymatic activity by introducing substitutions into a natural enzyme. However, it was previously found that the ST0452 protein

Multiple Posttranslational Modifications of Leptospira biflexa Proteins as Revealed by Proteomic Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Philip E; Carroll, James A; Olano, L Rennee; Sturdevant, Daniel E; Rosa, Patricia A

2016-02-15

The saprophyte Leptospira biflexa is an excellent model for studying the physiology of the medically important Leptospira genus, the pathogenic members of which are more recalcitrant to genetic manipulation and have significantly slower in vitro growth. However, relatively little is known regarding the proteome of L. biflexa, limiting its utility as a model for some studies. Therefore, we have generated a proteomic map of both soluble and membrane-associated proteins of L. biflexa during exponential growth and in stationary phase. Using these data, we identified abundantly produced proteins in each cellular fraction and quantified the transcript levels from a subset of these genes using quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). These proteins should prove useful as cellular markers and as controls for gene expression studies. We also observed a significant number of L. biflexa membrane-associated proteins with multiple isoforms, each having unique isoelectric focusing points. L. biflexa cell lysates were examined for several posttranslational modifications suggested by the protein patterns. Methylation and acetylation of lysine residues were predominately observed in the proteins of the membrane-associated fraction, while phosphorylation was detected mainly among soluble proteins. These three posttranslational modification systems appear to be conserved between the free-living species L. biflexa and the pathogenic species Leptospira interrogans, suggesting an important physiological advantage despite the varied life cycles of the different species. Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The glycomic effect of N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase III overexpression in metastatic melanoma cells. GnT-III modifies highly branched N-glycans.

Science.gov (United States)

Link-Lenczowski, Paweł; Bubka, Monika; Balog, Crina I A; Koeleman, Carolien A M; Butters, Terry D; Wuhrer, Manfred; Lityńska, Anna

2018-04-01

N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase III (GnT-III) is known to catalyze N-glycan "bisection" and thereby modulate the formation of highly branched complex structures within the Golgi apparatus. While active, it inhibits the action of other GlcNAc transferases such as GnT-IV and GnT-V. Moreover, GnT-III is considered as an inhibitor of the metastatic potential of cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. However, the effects of GnT-III may be more diverse and depend on the cellular context. We describe the detailed glycomic analysis of the effect of GnT-III overexpression in WM266-4-GnT-III metastatic melanoma cells. We used MALDI-TOF and ESI-ion-trap-MS/MS together with HILIC-HPLC of 2-AA labeled N-glycans to study the N-glycome of membrane-attached and secreted proteins. We found that the overexpression of GnT-III in melanoma leads to the modification of a broad range of N-glycan types by the introduction of the "bisecting" GlcNAc residue with highly branched complex structures among them. The presence of these unusual complex N-glycans resulted in stronger interactions of cellular glycoproteins with the PHA-L. Based on the data presented here we conclude that elevated activity of GnT-III in cancer cells does not necessarily lead to a total abrogation of the formation of highly branched glycans. In addition, the modification of pre-existing N-glycans by the introduction of "bisecting" GlcNAc can modulate their capacity to interact with carbohydrate-binding proteins such as plant lectins. Our results suggest further studies on the biological function of "bisected" oligosaccharides in cancer cell biology and their interactions with carbohydrate-binding proteins.

Effect of urea on protein-ligand association.

Science.gov (United States)

Stepanian, Lora; Son, Ikbae; Chalikian, Tigran V

2017-12-01

We combine experimental and theoretical approaches to investigate the influence of a cosolvent on a ligand-protein association event. We apply fluorescence measurements to determining the affinity of the inhibitor tri-N-acetylglucosamine [(GlcNAc) 3 ] for lysozyme at urea concentrations ranging from 0 to 8M. Notwithstanding that, at room temperature and neutral pH, lysozyme retains its native conformation up to the solubility limit of urea, the affinity of (GlcNAc) 3 for the protein steadily decreases as the concentration of urea increases. We analyze the urea dependence of the binding free energy within the framework of a simplified statistical thermodynamics-based model that accounts for the excluded volume effect and direct solute-solvent interactions. The analysis reveals that the detrimental action of urea on the inhibitor-lysozyme binding originates from competition between the free energy contributions of the excluded volume effect and direct solute-solvent interactions. The free energy contribution of direct urea-solute interactions narrowly overcomes the excluded volume contribution thereby resulting in urea weakening the protein-ligand association. More broadly, the successful application of the simple model employed in this work points to the possibility of its use in quantifying the stabilizing/destabilizing action of individual cosolvents on biochemical folding and binding reactions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modification of DNA radiolysis by DNA-binding proteins: Structural aspects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davidkova, M.; Stisova, V.; Goffinont, S.; Gillard, N.; Castaing, B.; Spotheim-Maurizot, M.

2006-01-01

Formation of specific complexes between proteins and their cognate DNA modulates the yields and the location of radiation damage on both partners of the complex. The radiolysis of DNA-protein complexes is studied for: (1) the Escherichia coli lactose operator-repressor complex, (2) the complex between DNA bearing an analogue of an abasic site and the repair protein Fpg of Lactococcus lactis. Experimental patterns of DNA damages are presented and compared to predicted damage distribution obtained using an improved version of the stochastic model RADACK. The same method is used for predicting the location of damages on the proteins. At doses lower than a threshold that depends on the system, proteins protect their specific binding site on DNA while at high doses, the studied complexes are disrupted mainly through protein damage. The loss of binding ability is the functional consequence of the amino-acids modification by OH . radicals. Many of the most probably damaged amino acids are essential for the DNA-protein interaction and within a complex are protected by DNA. (authors)

Interaction of hamster submaxillary sialyl-Tn and Tn glycoproteins with Gal, GalNAc and GlcNAc specific lectins.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, A M; Shen, F; Herp, A; Wu, J H

1994-04-01

Hamster submaxillary glycoprotein (HSM), one of the simplest glycoproteins among mammalian salivary mucins, is composed of approximately equivalent amounts of protein, hexosamine and sialic acid. The Thr and Ser residues in the protein core account for more than half of all of the amino acid residues, while Lys, Glu, Pro and Ala are the major components of the remaining portion of amino acids. The carbohydrate side chains of this mucous glycoprotein have mainly the NeuAc-GalNAc-(sialyl-Tn) sequence (HSM), and those of the desialylated product (HSM-Tn) are almost exclusively unsubstituted GalNAc residues (Tn determinants). The binding properties of sialyl-Tn (HSM) and asialo-HSM (HSM-Tn) glycoproteins were tested by precipitin assay with Gal, GalNAc and GlcNAc specific lectins. The HSM-Tn completely precipitated Vicia villosa (VVL both B4 and mixture of A and B), Maclura pomifera (MPL), and Artocarpus integrifolia (Jacalin) lectins; less than 2 micrograms of HSM-Tn were required for precipitating 50% of 5.0-6.3 micrograms lectin nitrogen added. HSM-Tn also reacted well with Helix pomatia lectin (HPL), Wistaria floribunda lectin (WFL) and Abrus precatorius agglutinin (APA) and precipitated in each case over 81% of the lectin nitrogen added. The reactivity of HSM-Tn with other lectins (Ricinus communis, RCA1; Dolichol biflorus, DBL; Viscum album, ML-I; Arachis hypogaea, PNA, and Triticum vulgaris, WGA) was weak or negligible. The activity of sialyl-Tn (HSM) was more restricted; HSM reacted well with Jacalin, moderately with MPL and VVL-B4, but was inactive or only weakly with the other lectins used. These findings indicate that HSM and its desialylated product (HSM-Tn) are highly useful reagents for the differentiation of Tn and T/Gal specific lectins and for anti-T, Tn and Af monoclonal antibodies.

Assessment of protein modifications in liver of rats under chronic treatment with paracetamol (acetaminophen) using two complementary mass spectrometry-based metabolomic approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Mast, Carole; Lyan, Bernard; Joly, Charlotte; Centeno, Delphine; Giacomoni, Franck; Martin, Jean-François; Mosoni, Laurent; Dardevet, Dominique; Pujos-Guillot, Estelle; Papet, Isabelle

2015-04-29

Liver protein can be altered under paracetamol (APAP) treatment. APAP-protein adducts and other protein modifications (oxidation/nitration, expression) play a role in hepatotoxicity induced by acute overdoses, but it is unknown whether liver protein modifications occur during long-term treatment with non-toxic doses of APAP. We quantified APAP-protein adducts and assessed other protein modifications in the liver from rats under chronic (17 days) treatment with two APAP doses (0.5% or 1% of APAP in the diet w/w). A targeted metabolomic method was validated and used to quantify APAP-protein adducts as APAP-cysteine adducts following proteolytic hydrolysis. The limit of detection was found to be 7ng APAP-cysteine/mL hydrolysate i.e. an APAP-Cys to tyrosine ratio of 0.016‰. Other protein modifications were assessed on the same protein hydrolysate by untargeted metabolomics including a new strategy to process the data and identify discriminant molecules. These two complementary mass spectrometry (MS)-based metabolic approaches enabled the assessment of a wide range of protein modifications induced by chronic treatment with APAP. APAP-protein adducts were detected even in the absence of glutathione depletion and hepatotoxicity, i.e. in the 0.5% APAP group, and increased by 218% in the 1% APAP group compared to the 0.5% APAP group. At the same time, the untargeted metabolomic method revealed a decrease in the binding of cysteine, cysteinyl-glycine and GSH to thiol groups of protein cysteine residues, an increase in the oxidation of tryptophan and proline residues and a modification in protein expression. This wide range of modifications in liver proteins occurred in rats under chronic treatment with APAP that did not induce hepatotoxicity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Microstructural and plasmonic modifications in Ag–TiO2 and Au–TiO2 nanocomposites through ion beam irradiation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Venkata Sai Kiran Chakravadhanula

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The development of new fabrication techniques of plasmonic nanocomposites with specific properties is an ongoing issue in the plasmonic and nanophotonics community. In this paper we report detailed investigations on the modifications of the microstructural and plasmonic properties of metal–titania nanocomposite films induced by swift heavy ions. Au–TiO2 and Ag–TiO2 nanocomposite thin films with varying metal volume fractions were deposited by co-sputtering and were subsequently irradiated by 100 MeV Ag8+ ions at various ion fluences. The morphology of these nanocomposite thin films before and after ion beam irradiation has been investigated in detail by transmission electron microscopy studies, which showed interesting changes in the titania matrix. Additionally, interesting modifications in the plasmonic absorption behavior for both Au–TiO2 and Ag–TiO2 nanocomposites were observed, which have been discussed in terms of ion beam induced growth of nanoparticles and structural modifications in the titania matrix.

A Halotyrosine Antibody that Detects Increased Protein Modifications in Asthma Patients

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jin, Hongjun; Hallstrand, Teal S.; Daly, Don S.; Matzke, Melissa M.; Nair, Parameswaran; Bigelow, Diana J.; Pounds, Joel G.; Zangar, Richard C.

2014-01-31

Background-Airway inflammation plays an important pathophysiological role in asthma. Eosinophils produce hypobromite and bromotyrosine while neutrophils produce hypochlorite and chlorotyrosine. Objective-To evaluate halotyrosine modifications of individual airway proteins as a marker of inflammation in asthma using an antibody-based assay. Methods-We developed a novel monoclonal antibody (BTK-94C) that binds halogenated tyrosine residues, and used this antibody in a custom enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) microarray platform to examine halotyrosine levels in 23 proteins in three independent sets of sputum samples (52 samples total). Results-In 15 subjects with either no asthma, or with asthma characterized by high or low sputum eosinophil counts, we found associations between increased halotyrosine levels of at least three proteins and severity of airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). Treatment with mepolizumab in 17 patients with sputum eosinophilia markedly reduced the sputum eosinophilia and significantly reduced halotyrosine levels in one sputum protein. Further analysis of 10 subjects with neutrophilic asthma and 10 health controls demonstrated a broad increase in halotyrosine in the patients with airway neutrophilia. Conclusions-Significantly higher levels of halotyrosine are associated with asthma in the asthma phenotypes we examined. The halotyrosine levels correlated with indirect AHR in the form of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction. Clinical Implication-An antibody-based assay for tyrosine halogenation in specific proteins may prove useful for assessing airway inflammation in asthma. Capsule Summary-An antibody to measure protein monobrominated tyrosine and other halotyrosine modifications was developed and used to evaluate halogenation in specific proteins in the airways for the first time. Associations were found between levels of halotyrosine and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, and eosinophil and neutrophil inflammation in sputum from

Nano titanium dioxide photocatalytic protein tyrosine nitration: A potential hazard of TiO2 on skin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Naihao; Zhu Zhening; Zhao Xuqi; Tao Ran; Yang Xiangliang; Gao Zhonghong

2008-01-01

Protein tyrosine nitration is a prevalent post-translational modification which occurs as a result of oxidative and nitrative stress, it may be directly involved in the onset and/or progression of diseases. Considering the existence of nano titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) in environment and sunscreen products along with the high content of nitrite in sweat, the UV-exposed skin may be a significant target for the photosensitized damage. In this paper, tyrosine nitration of bovine serum albumin (BSA) was initiated in the UV-irradiated reaction mixture containing 0.2-3.0 mg/ml of three commercially nano TiO 2 products and 0.25-1.0 mM NO 2 - . It was found that anatase TiO 2 and Degussa P25 TiO 2 showed prominent photocatalytic activity on promoting the formation of protein tyrosine nitration, and the optimum condition for the reaction was around physiological pH. Meanwhile, the photocatalytic effect of rutile on protein tyrosine nitration was subtle. The potential physiological significance of nano TiO 2 -photocatalytic protein nitration was also demonstrated in mouse skin homogenate. Although the relationship between photocatalytic protein tyrosine nitration and chronic cutaneous diseases needs further study, the toxicity of nano TiO 2 to the skin disease should be paid more attention in the production and utilization process

A novel mass spectrometric strategy "BEMAP" reveals Extensive O-linked protein glycosylation in Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boysen, Anders; Palmisano, Giuseppe; Krogh, Thøger Jensen

2016-01-01

The attachment of sugars to proteins via side-chain oxygen atoms (O-linked glycosylation) is seen in all three domains of life. However, a lack of widely-applicable analytical tools has restricted the study of this process, particularly in bacteria. In E. coli, only four O-linked glycoproteins have...... previously been characterized. Here we present a glycoproteomics technique, termed BEMAP, which is based on the beta-elimination of O-linked glycans followed by Michael-addition of a phosphonic acid derivative, and subsequent titanium dioxide enrichment. This strategy allows site-specific mass......-spectrometric identification of proteins with O-linked glycan modifications in a complex biological sample. Using BEMAP we identified cell surface-associated and membrane vesicle glycoproteins from Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) and non-pathogenic E. coli K-12. We identified 618 glycosylated Serine and Threonine residues...

Conditions Inducing Excessive O-GlcNAcylation Inhibit BMP2-Induced Osteogenic Differentiation of C2C12 Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Hanna; Song, Mina; Boonanantanasarn, Kanitsak; Baek, Kyunghwa; Woo, Kyung Mi; Ryoo, Hyun-Mo; Baek, Jeong-Hwa

2018-01-09

Hyperglycemic conditions in diabetic patients can affect various cellular functions, including the modulation of osteogenic differentiation. However, the molecular mechanisms by which hyperglycemia affects osteogenic differentiation are yet to be clarified. This study aimed to investigate whether the aberrant increase in protein O -linked-β- N -acetylglucosamine glycosylation ( O -GlcNAcylation) contributes to the suppression of osteogenic differentiation due to hyperglycemia. To induce osteogenic differentiation, C2C12 cells were cultured in the presence of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2). Excessive protein O -GlcNAcylation was induced by treating C2C12 cells with high glucose, glucosamine, or N -acetylglucosamine concentrations or by O -GlcNAc transferase (OGT) overexpression. The effect of O -GlcNAcylation on osteoblast differentiation was then confirmed by examining the expression levels of osteogenic marker gene mRNAs, activity of alkaline phosphatase, and transcriptional activity of Runx2, a critical transcription factor for osteoblast differentiation and bone formation. Cell treatment with high glucose, glucosamine or N -acetylglucosamine increased O -GlcNAcylation of Runx2 and the total levels of O -GlcNAcylated proteins, which led to a decrease in the transcriptional activity of Runx2, expression levels of osteogenic marker genes (Runx2, osterix, alkaline phosphatase, and type I collagen), and activity of alkaline phosphatase. These inhibitory effects were rescued by lowering protein O -GlcNAcylation levels by adding STO45849, an OGT inhibitor, or by overexpressing β- N -acetylglucosaminidase. Our findings suggest that excessive protein O -GlcNAcylation contributes to high glucose-suppressed osteogenic differentiation.

Covalent protein modification with ISG15 via a conserved cysteine in the hinge region.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veronika N Bade

Full Text Available The ubiquitin-like protein ISG15 (interferon-stimulated gene of 15 kDa is strongly induced by type I interferons and displays antiviral activity. As other ubiquitin-like proteins (Ubls, ISG15 is post-translationally conjugated to substrate proteins by an isopeptide bond between the C-terminal glycine of ISG15 and the side chains of lysine residues in the substrates (ISGylation. ISG15 consists of two ubiquitin-like domains that are separated by a hinge region. In many orthologs, this region contains a single highly reactive cysteine residue. Several hundred potential substrates for ISGylation have been identified but only a few of them have been rigorously verified. In order to investigate the modification of several ISG15 substrates, we have purified ISG15 conjugates from cell extracts by metal-chelate affinity purification and immunoprecipitations. We found that the levels of proteins modified by human ISG15 can be decreased by the addition of reducing agents. With the help of thiol blocking reagents, a mutational analysis and miRNA mediated knock-down of ISG15 expression, we revealed that this modification occurs in living cells via a disulphide bridge between the substrates and Cys78 in the hinge region of ISG15. While the ISG15 activating enzyme UBE1L is conjugated by ISG15 in the classical way, we show that the ubiquitin conjugating enzyme Ubc13 can either be classically conjugated by ISG15 or can form a disulphide bridge with ISG15 at the active site cysteine 87. The latter modification would interfere with its function as ubiquitin conjugating enzyme. However, we found no evidence for an ISG15 modification of the dynamin-like GTPases MxA and hGBP1. These findings indicate that the analysis of potential substrates for ISG15 conjugation must be performed with great care to distinguish between the two types of modification since many assays such as immunoprecipitation or metal-chelate affinity purification are performed with little or no

GtfA and GtfB Are Both Required for Protein O-Glycosylation in Lactobacillus plantarum

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, I-Chiao; van Swam, Iris I.; Tomita, Satoru; Morsomme, Pierre; Rolain, Thomas; Hols, Pascal; Bron, Peter A.

2014-01-01

Acm2, the major autolysin of Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1, was recently found to be O-glycosylated with N-acetylhexosamine, likely N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc). In this study, we set out to identify the glycosylation machinery by employing a comparative genomics approach to identify Gtf1 homologues, which are involved in fimbria-associated protein 1 (Fap1) glycosylation in Streptococcus parasanguinis. This in silico approach resulted in the identification of 6 candidate L. plantarum WCFS1 genes with significant homology to Gtf1, namely, tagE1 to tagE6. These candidate genes were targeted by systematic gene deletion, followed by assessment of the consequences on glycosylation of Acm2. We observed a changed mobility of Acm2 on SDS-PAGE in the tagE5E6 deletion strain, while deletion of other tagE genes resulted in Acm2 mobility comparable to that of the wild type. Subsequent mass spectrometry analysis of excised and in-gel-digested Acm2 confirmed the loss of glycosylation on Acm2 in the tagE5E6 deletion mutant, whereas a lectin blot using GlcNAc-specific succinylated wheat germ agglutinin (sWGA) revealed that besides Acm2, tagE5E6 deletion also abolished all but one other sWGA-reactive, protease-sensitive signal. Only complementation of both tagE5 and tagE6 restored those sWGA lectin signals, establishing that TagE5 and TagE6 are both required for the glycosylation of Acm2 as well as the vast majority of other sWGA-reactive proteins. Finally, sWGA lectin blotting experiments using a panel of 8 other L. plantarum strains revealed that protein glycosylation is a common feature in L. plantarum strains. With the establishment of these enzymes as protein glycosyltransferases, we propose to rename TagE5 and TagE6 as GtfA and GtfB, respectively. PMID:24532775

Western blot data using two distinct anti-O-GlcNAc monoclonal antibodies showing unique glycosylation status on cellular proteins under 2-deoxy-d-glucose treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tetsuya Okuda

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Protein modification by O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAcylation is one of the post transcriptional modifications occurring on cellular proteins. This paper provides a data set relating to the O-GlcNAcylation of cellular proteins detected by RL2 and CTD110.6 antibodies, which are commonly used for detection of protein O-GlcNAcylation, in 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2DG-treated human teratocarcinoma NCCIT cells in support of the research article entitled “A novel, promoter-based, target-specific assay identifies 2-deoxy-d-glucose as an inhibitor of globotriaosylceramide biosynthesis” (Okuda et al., 2009 [1]. The main article described a suppressive effect of 2DG on an Sp1 target gene in NCCIT cells and discussed the relationship between the effect of 2DG and O-GlcNAcylation status of Sp1. The data in this paper complements this relationship by Western blotting and clearly showed that the 2DG treatment increased O-GlcNAcylation of cellular proteins in NCCIT cells, whereas the RL2 and CTD110.6 epitopes were detected in a different manner. The RL2 epitope was detected on Sp1 during 2DG treatment, and the level was transiently increased at 24 h. In contrast, the CTD110.6 epitope became detectable on Sp1 over 72 h after 2DG treatment, and then the other proteins containing CTD110.6 epitopes also appeared in the cell lysates and the anti-Sp1 antibody precipitates.

Covalent modification of platelet proteins by palmitate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muszbek, L.; Laposata, M.

1989-01-01

Covalent attachment of fatty acid to proteins plays an important role in association of certain proteins with hydrophobic membrane structures. In platelets, the structure of many membrane glycoproteins (GPs) has been examined in detail, but the question of fatty acid acylation of platelet proteins has not been addressed. In this study, we wished to determine (a) whether platelet proteins could be fatty acid acylated; and, if so, (b) whether these modified proteins were present in isolated platelet membranes and cytoskeletal fractions; and (c) if the pattern of fatty acid acylated proteins changed on stimulation of the platelets with the agonist thrombin. We observed that in platelets allowed to incorporate 3H-palmitate, a small percentage (1.37%) of radioactivity incorporated into the cells became covalently bound to protein. Selective cleavage of thioester, thioester plus O-ester, and amide-linked 3H-fatty acids from proteins, and their subsequent analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) indicated that the greatest part of 3H-fatty acid covalently bound to protein was thioester-linked 3H-palmitate. By sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and fluorography, at least ten major radiolabeled proteins were detected. Activation of platelets by thrombin greatly increased the quantity of 3H-palmitoylated proteins associated with the cytoskeleton. Nearly all radiolabeled proteins were recovered in the membrane fraction, indicating that these proteins are either integral or peripheral membrane proteins or proteins tightly associated to membrane constituents. Components of the GPIIb-IIIa complex were not palmitoylated. Thus, platelet proteins are significantly modified posttranslationally by 3H-palmitate, and incorporation of palmitoylated proteins into the cytoskeleton is a prominent component of the platelet response to thrombin stimulation

Improved efficiency in organic/inorganic hybrid solar cells by interfacial modification of ZnO nanowires with small molecules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Sehoon; Park, Hyesung; Cheng, Jayce J; Rekemeyer, Paul H; Gradečak, Silvija

2014-01-01

We demonstrate improved photovoltaic performance of ZnO nanowire/poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanofiber hybrid devices using an interfacial modification of ZnO nanowires. Formation of cascade energy levels between the ZnO nanowire and P3HT nanofiber was achieved by interfacial modification of ZnO nanowires using small molecules tetraphenyldibenzoperiflanthene (DBP) and 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic bisbenzimidazole (PTCBI). The successful demonstration of improved device performance owing to the cascade energy levels by small molecule modification is a promising approach toward highly efficient organic/inorganic hybrid solar cells. (paper)

Mutations in N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) transferase in patients with X-linked intellectual disability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Willems, A.P.; Gundogdu, M.; Kempers, M.J.E.; Giltay, J.C.; Pfundt, R.P.; Elferink, M.; Loza, B.F.; Fuijkschot, J.; Ferenbach, A.T.; Gassen, K.L. van; Aalten, D.M.F. van; Lefeber, D.J.

2017-01-01

N-Acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) transferase (OGT) regulates protein O-GlcNAcylation, an essential and dynamic post-translational modification. The O-GlcNAc modification is present on numerous nuclear and cytosolic proteins and has been implicated in essential cellular functions such as signaling and

Modification of calcite crystal growth by abalone shell proteins: an atomic force microscope study.

OpenAIRE

Walters, D A; Smith, B L; Belcher, A M; Paloczi, G T; Stucky, G D; Morse, D E; Hansma, P K

1997-01-01

A family of soluble proteins from the shell of Haliotis rufescens was introduced over a growing calcite crystal being scanned in situ by an atomic force microscope (AFM). Atomic step edges on the crystal surface were altered in shape and speed of growth by the proteins. Proteins attached nonuniformly to the surface, indicating different interactions with crystallographically different step edges. The observed changes were consistent with the habit modification induced by this family of protei...

Improving protein resistance of {alpha}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} membranes by modification with POEGMA brushes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

He Huating [State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing 210009 (China); Jing Wenheng, E-mail: jingwenheng@yahoo.com.cn [State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing 210009 (China); Xing Weihong; Fan Yiqun [State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing 210009 (China)

2011-11-15

A kind of protein-resistant ceramic membrane is prepared by grafting poly(oligo (ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) (POEGMA) brushes onto the surfaces and pore walls of {alpha}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} membrane (AM) by surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). Contact-angle, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were measured to confirm that the surfaces and pore walls of the ceramic porous membranes have been modified by the brushes with this method successfully. The protein interaction behavior with the POEGMA modified membranes (AM-POEGMA) was studied by the model protein of bovine serum albumin (BSA). A protein-resistant mechanism of AM-POEGMA was proposed to describe an interesting phenomenon discovered in the filtration experiment, in which the initial flux filtrating BSA solution is higher than the pure water flux. The fouling of AM-POEGMA was easier to remove than AM for the action of POEGMA brushes, indicated that the ceramic porous membranes modified with POEGMA brushes exhibit excellent protein resistance.

O-Fucose Monosaccharide of Drosophila Notch Has a Temperature-sensitive Function and Cooperates with O-Glucose Glycan in Notch Transport and Notch Signaling Activation*

Science.gov (United States)

Ishio, Akira; Sasamura, Takeshi; Ayukawa, Tomonori; Kuroda, Junpei; Ishikawa, Hiroyuki O.; Aoyama, Naoki; Matsumoto, Kenjiroo; Gushiken, Takuma; Okajima, Tetsuya; Yamakawa, Tomoko; Matsuno, Kenji

2015-01-01

Notch (N) is a transmembrane receptor that mediates the cell-cell interactions necessary for many cell fate decisions. N has many epidermal growth factor-like repeats that are O-fucosylated by the protein O-fucosyltransferase 1 (O-Fut1), and the O-fut1 gene is essential for N signaling. However, the role of the monosaccharide O-fucose on N is unclear, because O-Fut1 also appears to have O-fucosyltransferase activity-independent functions, including as an N-specific chaperon. Such an enzymatic activity-independent function could account for the essential role of O-fut1 in N signaling. To evaluate the role of the monosaccharide O-fucose modification in N signaling, here we generated a knock-in mutant of O-fut1 (O-fut1R245A knock-in), which expresses a mutant protein that lacks O-fucosyltransferase activity but maintains the N-specific chaperon activity. Using O-fut1R245A knock-in and other gene mutations that abolish the O-fucosylation of N, we found that the monosaccharide O-fucose modification of N has a temperature-sensitive function that is essential for N signaling. The O-fucose monosaccharide and O-glucose glycan modification, catalyzed by Rumi, function redundantly in the activation of N signaling. We also showed that the redundant function of these two modifications is responsible for the presence of N at the cell surface. Our findings elucidate how different forms of glycosylation on a protein can influence the protein's functions. PMID:25378397

Molecular insights on the recognition of a Lactococcus lactis cell wall pellicle by the phage 1358 receptor binding protein.

Science.gov (United States)

Farenc, Carine; Spinelli, Silvia; Vinogradov, Evgeny; Tremblay, Denise; Blangy, Stéphanie; Sadovskaya, Irina; Moineau, Sylvain; Cambillau, Christian

2014-06-01

The Gram-positive bacterium Lactococcus lactis is used for the production of cheeses and other fermented dairy products. Accidental infection of L. lactis cells by virulent lactococcal tailed phages is one of the major risks of fermentation failures in industrial dairy factories. Lactococcal phage 1358 possesses a host range limited to a few L. lactis strains and strong genomic similarities to Listeria phages. We report here the X-ray structures of phage 1358 receptor binding protein (RBP) in complex with monosaccharides. Each monomer of its trimeric RBP is formed of two domains: a "shoulder" domain linking the RBP to the rest of the phage and a jelly roll fold "head/host recognition" domain. This domain harbors a saccharide binding crevice located in the middle of a monomer. Crystal structures identified two sites at the RBP surface, ∼8 Å from each other, one accommodating a GlcNAc monosaccharide and the other accommodating a GlcNAc or a glucose 1-phosphate (Glc1P) monosaccharide. GlcNAc and GlcNAc1P are components of the polysaccharide pellicle that we identified at the cell surface of L. lactis SMQ-388, the host of phage 1358. We therefore modeled a galactofuranose (Galf) sugar bridging the two GlcNAc saccharides, suggesting that the trisaccharidic motif GlcNAc-Galf-GlcNAc (or Glc1P) might be common to receptors of genetically distinct lactococcal phages p2, TP091-1, and 1358. Strain specificity might therefore be elicited by steric clashes induced by the remaining components of the pellicle hexasaccharide. Taken together, these results provide a first insight into the molecular mechanism of host receptor recognition by lactococcal phages. Siphophages infecting the Gram-positive bacterium Lactococcus lactis are sources of milk fermentation failures in the dairy industry. We report here the structure of the pellicle polysaccharide from L. lactis SMQ-388, the specific host strain of phage 1358. We determined the X-ray structures of the lytic lactococcal phage

Proteomic analysis of post-translational modifications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mann, Matthias; Jensen, Ole N

2003-01-01

Post-translational modifications modulate the activity of most eukaryote proteins. Analysis of these modifications presents formidable challenges but their determination generates indispensable insight into biological function. Strategies developed to characterize individual proteins are now...... systematically applied to protein populations. The combination of function- or structure-based purification of modified 'subproteomes', such as phosphorylated proteins or modified membrane proteins, with mass spectrometry is proving particularly successful. To map modification sites in molecular detail, novel...

The Role of Posttranslational Protein Modifications in Rheumatological Diseases: Focus on Rheumatoid Arthritis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Mastrangelo

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The definition of posttranslational modification (PTM encompasses a wide group of chemical reactions that allow modification and modulation of protein functions. The regulation of PTMs is crucial for the activity and survival of the cells. Dysregulation of PTMs has been observed in several pathological conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA. RA is a systemic autoimmune disease primarily targeting the joints. The three PTMs mainly involved in this disease are glycosylation, citrullination, and carbamylation. Glycosylation is essential for antigen processing and presentation and can modulate immunoglobulin activity. Citrullination of self-antigens is strongly associated with RA, as demonstrated by the presence of antibodies directed to anti-citrullinated proteins in patients’ sera. Carbamylation and its dysregulation have been recently associated with RA. Aim of this review is to illustrate the most significant alterations of these PTMs in RA and to evaluate their possible involvement in the pathogenesis of the disease.

Advanced Oxidation Protein Products and Carbonylated Proteins as Biomarkers of Oxidative Stress in Selected Atherosclerosis-Mediated Diseases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bogna Gryszczyńska

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives. The main question of this study was to evaluate the intensity of oxidative protein modification shown as advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP and carbonylated proteins, expressed as protein carbonyl content (C=O in abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA, aortoiliac occlusive disease (AIOD, and chronic kidney disease (CKD. Design and Methods. The study was carried out in a group of 35 AAA patients and 13 AIOD patients. However, CKD patients were divided into two groups: predialysis (PRE included 50 patients or hemodialysis (HD consisted of 34 patients. AOPP and C=O were measured using colorimetric assay kit, while C-reactive protein concentration was measured by high-sensitivity assay (hsCRP. Results. The concentration of AOPP in both AAA and AIOD groups was higher than in PRE and HD groups according to descending order: AAA~AIOD > HD > PRE. The content of C=O was higher in the PRE group in comparison to AIOD and AAA according to the descending order: PRE~HD > AAA~AIOD. Conclusions. AAA, AIOD, and CKD-related atherosclerosis (PRE and HD contribute to the changes in the formation of AOPP and C=O. They may promote modification of proteins in a different way, probably due to the various factors that influence oxidative stress here.

The influence of molecular interface modification on the charge dynamics of polymeric semiconductor:ZnO heterostructure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rezasoltani, Elham, E-mail: elham.rezasoltani@umontreal.ca; Silva, Carlos [Département de physique, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7 (Canada); Wang, Mingqing; Hill, Ian G. [Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2 (Canada)

2014-08-21

We demonstrate an enhancement of photocurrent in hybrid photovoltaic cells based on nanoparticles of zinc oxide (ZnO) and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), through molecular interface modification with and without cis-bis(4,4′-dicarboxy-2,2′bipyridine) ruthenium (II) (N3-dye) and α-Sexithiophen-2-yl-phosphonic Acid (6TP) as interface modifiers. We identify the formation of long-lived polarons at P3HT:ZnO interface by means of quasi-steady-state photoinduced absorption (PIA) spectroscopy. Furthermore, by probing the pump-modulation-frequency-dependent PIA signal, we find that P3HT:ZnO-N3 and P3HT:ZnO-6TP exhibit more sharply decaying density with increasing modulation frequency, which is indicative of a longer average lifetime, approximating 1 ms as opposed to ∼0.2 ms without ZnO surface modification. This highlights the importance of the molecular interface modification in the steady-state polaron dynamics in hybrid solar cells.

Identification of GIG1, a GlcNAc-induced gene in Candida albicans needed for normal sensitivity to the chitin synthase inhibitor nikkomycin Z.

Science.gov (United States)

Gunasekera, Angelo; Alvarez, Francisco J; Douglas, Lois M; Wang, Hong X; Rosebrock, Adam P; Konopka, James B

2010-10-01

The amino sugar N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) is known to be an important structural component of cells from bacteria to humans, but its roles in cell signaling are less well understood. GlcNAc induces two pathways in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans. One activates cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling, which stimulates the formation of hyphal cells and the expression of virulence genes, and the other pathway induces genes needed to catabolize GlcNAc. Microarray analysis of gene expression was carried out under four different conditions in order to characterize the transcriptional changes induced by GlcNAc. The most highly induced genes include those that encode a GlcNAc transporter (NGT1) and the GlcNAc catabolic enzymes (HXK1, DAC1, and NAG1). GlcNAc also activated most of the genes whose expression is increased when cells are triggered with other stimuli to form hyphae. Surprisingly, GlcNAc also induced a subset of genes that are regulated by galactose (GAL1, GAL7, and GAL10), which may be due to cross talk between signaling pathways. A novel GlcNAc-induced gene, GIG1, which is not essential for GlcNAc catabolism or the induction of hyphae, was identified. However, a Gig1-green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion protein was specifically induced by GlcNAc, and not by other sugars. Gig1-GFP localized to the cytoplasm, where GlcNAc metabolism occurs. Significantly, a gig1Δ mutant displayed increased resistance to nikkomycin Z, which inhibits chitin synthase from converting UDP-GlcNAc into cell wall chitin. Gig1 is highly conserved in fungi, especially those that contain GlcNAc catabolic genes. These results implicate Gig1 in GlcNAc metabolism.

Identification of GIG1, a GlcNAc-Induced Gene in Candida albicans Needed for Normal Sensitivity to the Chitin Synthase Inhibitor Nikkomycin Z▿§

Science.gov (United States)

Gunasekera, Angelo; Alvarez, Francisco J.; Douglas, Lois M.; Wang, Hong X.; Rosebrock, Adam P.; Konopka, James B.

2010-01-01

The amino sugar N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) is known to be an important structural component of cells from bacteria to humans, but its roles in cell signaling are less well understood. GlcNAc induces two pathways in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans. One activates cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling, which stimulates the formation of hyphal cells and the expression of virulence genes, and the other pathway induces genes needed to catabolize GlcNAc. Microarray analysis of gene expression was carried out under four different conditions in order to characterize the transcriptional changes induced by GlcNAc. The most highly induced genes include those that encode a GlcNAc transporter (NGT1) and the GlcNAc catabolic enzymes (HXK1, DAC1, and NAG1). GlcNAc also activated most of the genes whose expression is increased when cells are triggered with other stimuli to form hyphae. Surprisingly, GlcNAc also induced a subset of genes that are regulated by galactose (GAL1, GAL7, and GAL10), which may be due to cross talk between signaling pathways. A novel GlcNAc-induced gene, GIG1, which is not essential for GlcNAc catabolism or the induction of hyphae, was identified. However, a Gig1-green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion protein was specifically induced by GlcNAc, and not by other sugars. Gig1-GFP localized to the cytoplasm, where GlcNAc metabolism occurs. Significantly, a gig1Δ mutant displayed increased resistance to nikkomycin Z, which inhibits chitin synthase from converting UDP-GlcNAc into cell wall chitin. Gig1 is highly conserved in fungi, especially those that contain GlcNAc catabolic genes. These results implicate Gig1 in GlcNAc metabolism. PMID:20675577

Crosstalk between phosphorylation and O-GlcNAcylation: friend or foe.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Laarse, Saar A M; Leney, Aneika C; Heck, Albert J R

2018-05-02

A wide variety of protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) decorate cellular proteins, regulating their structure, interactions and ultimately their function. The density of co-occurring PTMs on proteins can be very high, where multiple PTMs can positively or negatively influence each other's actions, termed PTM crosstalk. In this review, we highlight recent progress in the area of PTM crosstalk, whereby we focus on crosstalk between protein phosphorylation and O-GlcNAcylation. These two PTMs largely target identical (i.e., Ser and Thr) amino acids in proteins. Phosphorylation/O-GlcNAcylation crosstalk comes in many flavors, for instance by competition for the same site/residue (reciprocal crosstalk), as well as by modifications influencing each other in proximity or even distal on the protein sequence. PTM crosstalk is observed on the writers of these modifications (i.e., kinases and O-GlcNAc transferase), on the erasers (i.e., phosphatases and O-GlcNAcase), and on the readers and the substrates. We describe examples of all these different flavors of crosstalk, and additionally the methods that are emerging to better investigate in particular phosphorylation/O-GlcNAcylation crosstalk. © 2018 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

Site-specific protein O-glycosylation modulates proprotein processing - Deciphering specific functions of the large polypeptide GalNAc-transferase gene family

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schjoldager, Katrine Ter-Borch Gram; Clausen, Henrik

2012-01-01

Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) greatly expand the function and regulation of proteins, and glycosylation is the most abundant and diverse PTM. Of the many different types of protein glycosylation, one is quite unique; GalNAc-type (or mucin-type) O-glycosylation, where biosynthesis...... and considerable redundancy. Recently we have begun to uncover human diseases associated with deficiencies in GalNAc-T genes (GALNTs). Thus deficiencies in individual GALNTs produce cell and protein specific effects and subtle distinct phenotypes such as hyperphosphatemia with hyperostosis (GALNT3...

Structure modification and functionality of whey proteins: quantitative structure-activity relationship approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakai, S; Li-Chan, E

1985-10-01

According to the original idea of quantitative structure-activity relationship, electric, hydrophobic, and structural parameters should be taken into consideration for elucidating functionality. Changes in these parameters are reflected in the property of protein solubility upon modification of whey proteins by heating. Although solubility is itself a functional property, it has been utilized to explain other functionalities of proteins. However, better correlations were obtained when hydrophobic parameters of the proteins were used in conjunction with solubility. Various treatments reported in the literature were applied to whey protein concentrate in an attempt to obtain whipping and gelling properties similar to those of egg white. Mapping simplex optimization was used to search for the best results. Improvement in whipping properties by pepsin hydrolysis may have been due to higher protein solubility, and good gelling properties resulting from polyphosphate treatment may have been due to an increase in exposable hydrophobicity. However, the results of angel food cake making were still unsatisfactory.

Contribution of High-Pressure-Induced Protein Modifications to the Microenvironment and Functional Properties of Rabbit Meat Sausages.

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Siwen; Yu, Xiaobo; Yang, Huijuan; Xu, Xinglian; Ma, Hanjun; Zhou, Guanghong

2017-06-01

Rabbit meat batters were subjected to high pressure (HP, 100 to 300 MPa for 3, 9, or 15 min) to elucidate their effects on proteins structures, the microenvironment, and the resulting functionalities of the subsequently heated products. To determine these effects, we investigated structural and microenvironmental changes using Raman spectroscopy and also expressible moisture content, textural characteristics, and dynamic rheological properties of batters during heating (20 to 80 °C). Untreated samples served as controls. Analysis of specific Raman spectral regions demonstrated that applications of HP to rabbit meat batters tended to induce the transformation of the all-gauche S-S conformation to gauche-gauche-trans in the batter system. HP treatment higher than 100 MPa for 9 min promoted secondary structural rearrangements, and molecular polarity enhancement in the proteins prior to cooking. Also, increases of O-H stretching intensities of rabbit meat sausages were obtained by HP treatment, denoting the strengthening of water-holding capacity. These HP-induced alterations resulted in improved texture and, perhaps, improved juiciness of rabbit meat sausages (P functionalities of gel-type products through modification of meat proteins. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

Posttranslational modifications of Rab proteins cause effective displacement of GDP dissociation inhibitor.

Science.gov (United States)

Oesterlin, Lena K; Goody, Roger S; Itzen, Aymelt

2012-04-10

Intracellular vesicular trafficking is regulated by approximately 60 members of the Rab subfamily of small Ras-like GDP/GTP binding proteins. Rab proteins cycle between inactive and active states as well as between cytosolic and membrane bound forms. Membrane extraction/delivery and cytosolic distribution of Rabs is mediated by interaction with the protein GDP dissociation inhibitor (GDI) that binds to prenylated inactive (GDP-bound) Rab proteins. Because the Rab:GDP:GDI complex is of high affinity, the question arises of how GDI can be displaced efficiently from Rab protein in order to allow the necessary recruitment of the Rab to its specific target membrane. While there is strong evidence that DrrA, as a bacterially encoded GDP/GTP exchange factor, contributes to this event, we show here that posttranslational modifications of Rabs can also modulate the affinity for GDI and thus cause effective displacement of GDI from Rab:GDI complexes. These activities have been found associated with the phosphocholination and adenylylation activities of the enzymes AnkX and DrrA/SidM, respectively, from the pathogenic bacterium Legionella pneumophila. Both modifications occur after spontaneous dissociation of Rab:GDI complexes within their natural equilibrium. Therefore, the effective GDI displacement that is observed is caused by inhibition of reformation of Rab:GDI complexes. Interestingly, in contrast to adenylylation by DrrA, AnkX can covalently modify inactive Rabs with high catalytic efficiency even when GDP is bound to the GTPase and hence can inhibit binding of GDI to Rab:GDP complexes. We therefore speculate that human cells could employ similar mechanisms in the absence of infection to effectively displace Rabs from GDI.

Surface defect modification of ZnO quantum dots based on rare earth acetylacetonate and their impacts on optical performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Lixi, E-mail: wanglixi_njut@163.com [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu (China); Jiangsu Collaboration Innovation Center for Advanced Inorganic Function Composites, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu (China); Yang, Xiaojuan; Yang, Weimin [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu (China); Jiangsu Collaboration Innovation Center for Advanced Inorganic Function Composites, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu (China); Zhang, Jing [China Geol Survey, Nanjing Ctr, Nanjing, 210016, Jiangsu (China); Zhang, Qitu [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu (China); Jiangsu Collaboration Innovation Center for Advanced Inorganic Function Composites, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu (China); Song, Bo; Wong, Chingping [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, 30332, GA (United States)

2017-03-15

Graphical abstract: RE(AcAc){sub 3} (RE = Ce, Dy and Tb) can realize the defects modification of ZnO QDs based on the linkage occurs between the protons of the hydroxyl groups on the surface of ZnO QDs and the π–system of acetylacetone. The color coordinate could be shifted among yellow-green, blue-green, and green region by changing the RE (AcAc){sub 3} ratios. The stable Ce(AcAc){sub 3}/ZnO QDs with average sizes of about 3.0 nm can be obtained. The calculated band gap data also proved the efficient modification of Ce(AcAc){sub 3} for ZnO QDs with the largest variation of band gap energy of 0.039 eV (from 3.583 eV to 3.544 eV). - Highlights: • Defects modification of ZnO QDs based on rare earth acetylacetonate. • Stable Ce(AcAc){sub 3}/ZnO QDs with an average sizes of about 3.0 nm. • The color coordinate could be shifted among yellow-green, blue-green, and green region by changing the RE (AcAc){sub 3} ratios. - Abstract: The surface defect modification has an important effect on the application of ZnO quantum dots, and it has gained much progress in recently years, propelled by the development of additives. Our research efforts are directed toward developing a new surface modification additive RE(AcAc){sub 3} (RE = Ce, Dy, Tb) to achieve fine ZnO QDs and adjust their surface properties. RE(AcAc){sub 3}/ZnO QDs nanostructured materials have been designed and prepared, and particular emphasis has been given to the relation between the surface modification and optical properties. The effects of RE(III) acetylacetonate modification on the FT-IR, TEM images and photoluminescence (PL) spectra were investigated, and the surface defect modification principle and effect were discussed in details. The band gap (E{sub g}) was also calculated to prove the surface modification effect. For the RE(AcAc){sub 3}/ZnO QDs complex materials, stable linkage occurs because of the affinity of −COOH from acetylacetonate anionic ligand to zinc oxide surfaces, with attachment

Multiple γ-glutamylation: A novel type of post-translational modification in a diapausing Artemia cyst protein

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasegawa, Mai; Ikeda, Yuka; Kanzawa, Hideaki; Sakamoto, Mika; Goto, Mina; Tsunasawa, Susumu; Uchiumi, Toshio; Odani, Shoji

2010-01-01

A highly hydrophilic, glutamate-rich protein was identified in the aqueous phenol extract from the cytosolic fraction of brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana) diapausing cysts and termed Artemia phenol soluble protein (PSP). Mass spectrometric analysis revealed the presence of many protein peaks around m/z 11,000, separated by 129 atomic mass units; this value corresponds to that of glutamate, which is strongly suggestive of heterogeneous polyglutamylation. Polyglutamylation has long been known as the functionally important post-translational modification of tubulins, which carry poly(L-glutamic acid) chains of heterogeneous length branching off from the main chain at the γ-carboxy groups of a few specific glutamate residues. In Artemia PSP, however, Edman degradation of enzymatic peptides revealed that at least 13, and presumably 16, glutamate residues were modified by the attachment of a single L-glutamate, representing a hitherto undescribed type of post-translational modification: namely, multiple γ-glutamylation or the addition of a large number of glutamate residues along the polypeptide chain. Although biological significance of PSP and its modification is yet to be established, suppression of in vitro thermal aggregation of lactate dehydrogenase by glutamylated PSP was observed.

Role of O-GlcNAcylation in nutritional sensing, insulin resistance and in mediating the benefits of exercise.

Science.gov (United States)

Myslicki, Jason P; Belke, Darrell D; Shearer, Jane

2014-11-01

The purpose of this review is to highlight the role of O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) protein modification in metabolic disease states and to summarize current knowledge of how exercise affects this important post-translational signalling pathway. O-GlcNAc modification is an intracellular tool capable of integrating energy supply with demand. The accumulation of excess energy associated with obesity and insulin resistance is mediated, in part, by the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP), which results in the O-GlcNAcylation of a myriad of proteins, thereby affecting their respective function, stability, and localization. Insulin resistance is related to the excessive O-GlcNAcylation of key metabolic proteins causing a chronic blunting of insulin signalling pathways and precipitating the accompanying pathologies, such as heart and kidney disease. Lifestyle modifications such as diet and exercise also modify the pathway. Exercise is a front-line and cost-effective therapeutic approach for insulin resistance, and recent work shows that the intervention can alter O-GlcNAc gene expression, signalling, and protein modification. However, there is currently no consensus on the effect of frequency, intensity, type, and duration of exercise on O-GlcNAc modification, the HBP, and its related enzymes. On one end of the spectrum, mild, prolonged swim training reduces O-GlcNAcylation, while on the other end, higher intensity treadmill running increases cardiac protein O-GlcNAc modification. Clearly, a balance between acute and chronic stress of exercise is needed to reap the benefits of the intervention on O-GlcNAc signalling.

Enhanced photochemical catalysis of TiO2 inverse opals by modification with ZnO or Fe2O3 using ALD and the hydrothermal method

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jiatong; Sun, Cuifeng; Fu, Ming; Long, Jie; He, Dawei; Wang, Yongsheng

2018-02-01

The development of porous materials exhibiting photon regulation abilities for improved photoelectrochemical catalysis performance is always one of the important goals of solar energy harvesting. In this study, methods to improve the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 inverse opals were discussed. TiO2 inverse opals were prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using colloidal crystal templates. In addition, TiO2 inverse opal heterostructures were fabricated using colloidal heterocrystals by repeated vertical deposition using different colloidal spheres. The hydrothermal method and ALD were used to prepare ZnO- or Fe2O3-modified TiO2 inverse opals on the internal surfaces of the TiO2 porous structures. Although the photonic reflection band was not significantly varied by oxide modification, the presence of Fe2O3 in the TiO2 inverse opals enhanced their visible absorption. The conformally modified oxides on the TiO2 inverse opals could also form energy barriers and avoid the recombination of electrons and holes. The fabrication of the TiO2 photonic crystal heterostructures and modification with ZnO or Fe2O3 can enhance the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 inverse opals.

Monoaminylation of Fibrinogen and Glia-Derived Proteins: Indication for Similar Mechanisms in Posttranslational Protein Modification in Blood and Brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Hummerich, René; Costina, Victor; Findeisen, Peter; Schloss, Patrick

2015-07-15

Distinct proteins have been demonstrated to be posttranslationally modified by covalent transamidation of serotonin (5-hydropxytryptamin) to glutamine residues of the target proteins. This process is mediated by transglutaminase (TGase) and has been termed "serotonylation." It has also been shown that other biogenic amines, including the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine, can substitute for serotonin, implying a more general mechanism of "monoaminylation" for this kind of protein modification. Here we transamidated the autofluorescent monoamine monodansylcadaverine (MDC) to purified plasma fibrinogen and to proteins from a primary glia cell culture. Electrophoretic separation of MDC-conjugated proteins followed by mass spectrometry identified three fibrinogen subunits (Aα, Bβ, γ), a homomeric Aα2 dimer, and adducts of >250 kDa molecular weight, as well as several glial proteins. TGase-mediated MDC incorporation was strongly reduced by serotonin, underlining the general mechanism of monoaminylation.

A new triclinic modification of the pyrochlore-type KOs2O6 superconductor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Katrych, S.; Gu, Q.F.; Bukowski, Z.; Zhigadlo, N.D.; Krauss, G.; Karpinski, J.

2009-01-01

A new modification of KOs 2 O 6 , the representative of a new structural type (Pearson symbol aP18, a=5.5668(1) A, b=6.4519(2) A, c=7.2356(2) A, α=65.377(3) o , β=70.572(3) o , γ=75.613(2) o space group P-1, no. 2 was synthesized employing high pressure technique. Its structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure can be described as two OsO 6 octahedral chains relating to each other through inversion and forming big voids with K atoms inside. Quantum chemical calculations were performed on the novel compound and structurally related cubic compound. High-pressure X-ray study showed that cubic KOs 2 O 6 phase was stable up to 32.5(2) GPa at room temperature. - Graphical abstract: A new modification of KOs 2 O 6 , the representative of a new structural type (Pearson symbol aP18, a=5.5668(1) A, b=6.4519(2) A, c=7.2356(2) A, α=65.377(3) o , β=70.572(3) o , γ=75.613(2) o space group P-1, no. 2 was synthesized employing high pressure technique. The structure can be described as two OsO 6 octahedral chains relating to each other through inversion and forming big voids with K atoms inside

Modification of aniline containing proteins using an oxidative coupling strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hooker, Jacob M; Esser-Kahn, Aaron P; Francis, Matthew B

2006-12-13

A new bioconjugation reaction has been developed based on the chemoselective modification of anilines through an oxidative coupling pathway. Aryl amines were installed on the surface of protein substrates through lysine acylation reactions or through the use of native chemical ligation techniques. Upon exposure to NaIO4 in aqueous buffer, the anilines coupled rapidly to the aromatic rings of N,N-dialkyl-N'-acyl-p-phenylenediamines. The identities of the reaction products were confirmed using ESI-MS and through comparison to small molecule analogs. Control experiments indicated that none of the native amino acids participated in the reaction. The resulting bioconjugates were found to be stable toward hydrolysis from pH 4 to pH 11 and in the presence of many commonly used oxidants, reductants, and nucleophiles. A fluorescent phenylenediamine reagent was synthesized for the selective detection of aniline labeled proteins in mixtures, and the reaction was used to append the C-terminus of the green fluorescent protein with a single PEG chain. When combined with techniques for the incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins, this bioorthogonal coupling method should prove useful for a number of applications requiring a high degree of labeling specificity.

Analysis of tyrosine-O-sulfation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bundgaard, J.R.; Sen, J.W.; Johnsen, A.H.

2008-01-01

Tyrosine O-sulfation was first described about 50 years ago as a post-translational modification of fibrinogen. In the following 30 years it was considered to be a rare modification affecting only a few proteins and peptides. However, in the beginning of the 1980s tyrosine (Tyr) sulfation was shown...... to be a common modification and since then an increasing number of proteins have been identified as sulfated. The target proteins belong to the classes of secretory, plasma membrane, and lysosomal proteins, which reflects the intracellular localization of the enzymes catalyzing Tyr sulfation, the tyrosylprotein...... sulfotransferases (TPSTs).Traditionally, Tyr sulfation has been analyzed by incorporation of radiolabeled sulfate into target cells followed by purification of the target protein. Subsequently, the protein is degraded enzymatically or by alkaline hydrolysis followed by thin-layer electrophoresis to demonstrate...

Modification of the protein corona–nanoparticle complex by physiological factors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Braun, Nicholas J.; DeBrosse, Madeleine C.; Hussain, Saber M. [Molecular Bioeffects Branch, Bioeffects Division, Human Effectiveness Directorate, 711 Human Performance Wing, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson AFB, 2729 R. St, Bldg 837, Dayton, OH, 45433 (United States); Comfort, Kristen K., E-mail: kcomfort1@udayton.edu [Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Dayton, 524 Kettering Laboratories, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469 (United States)

2016-07-01

Nanoparticle (NP) effects in a biological system are driven through the formation and structure of the protein corona–NP complex, which is dynamic by nature and dependent upon factors from both the local environment and NP physicochemical parameters. To date, considerable data has been gathered regarding the structure and behavior of the protein corona in blood, plasma, and traditional cell culture medium. However, there exists a knowledge gap pertaining to the protein corona in additional biological fluids and following incubation in a dynamic environment. Using 13 nm gold NPs (AuNPs), functionalized with either polyethylene glycol or tannic acid, we demonstrated that both particle characteristics and the associated protein corona were altered when exposed to artificial physiological fluids and under dynamic flow. Furthermore, the magnitude of observed behavioral shifts were dependent upon AuNP surface chemistry. Lastly, we revealed that exposure to interstitial fluid produced protein corona modifications, reshaping of the nano-cellular interface, modified AuNP dosimetry, and induction of previously unseen cytotoxicity. This study highlights the need to elucidate both NP and protein corona behavior in biologically representative environments in an effort to increase accurate interpretation of data and transfer of this knowledge to efficacy, behavior, and safety of nano-based applications. - Highlights: • Dynamic flow increased the size of the gold nanoparticle protein corona. • Exposure to biological fluids altered protein corona size and composition. • Interstitial fluid modified the nano-cellular interface and deposition efficiency. • Tannic acid coated nanoparticles induced toxicity in an interstitial environment.

Modification of the protein corona–nanoparticle complex by physiological factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Braun, Nicholas J.; DeBrosse, Madeleine C.; Hussain, Saber M.; Comfort, Kristen K.

2016-01-01

Nanoparticle (NP) effects in a biological system are driven through the formation and structure of the protein corona–NP complex, which is dynamic by nature and dependent upon factors from both the local environment and NP physicochemical parameters. To date, considerable data has been gathered regarding the structure and behavior of the protein corona in blood, plasma, and traditional cell culture medium. However, there exists a knowledge gap pertaining to the protein corona in additional biological fluids and following incubation in a dynamic environment. Using 13 nm gold NPs (AuNPs), functionalized with either polyethylene glycol or tannic acid, we demonstrated that both particle characteristics and the associated protein corona were altered when exposed to artificial physiological fluids and under dynamic flow. Furthermore, the magnitude of observed behavioral shifts were dependent upon AuNP surface chemistry. Lastly, we revealed that exposure to interstitial fluid produced protein corona modifications, reshaping of the nano-cellular interface, modified AuNP dosimetry, and induction of previously unseen cytotoxicity. This study highlights the need to elucidate both NP and protein corona behavior in biologically representative environments in an effort to increase accurate interpretation of data and transfer of this knowledge to efficacy, behavior, and safety of nano-based applications. - Highlights: • Dynamic flow increased the size of the gold nanoparticle protein corona. • Exposure to biological fluids altered protein corona size and composition. • Interstitial fluid modified the nano-cellular interface and deposition efficiency. • Tannic acid coated nanoparticles induced toxicity in an interstitial environment.

Self-assembling triblock proteins for biofunctional surface modification

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, Stephen E.

of the triblock protein hydrogels, and the ease of introducing multiple functionalities to a substrate surface, a surface coating is tailored for neural stem cell culture in order to improve proliferation on the scaffold, while maintaining the stem cell phenotype. These studies demonstrate the unique advantages of genetic engineering over traditional techniques for surface modification. In addition to their unmatched sequence fidelity, recombinant proteins can easily be modified with bioactive ligands and their organization into coherent, supramolecular structures mimics natural self-assembly processes.

Peptidomics of Peptic Digest of Selected Potato Tuber Proteins: Post-Translational Modifications and Limited Cleavage Specificity.

Science.gov (United States)

C K Rajendran, Subin R; Mason, Beth; Udenigwe, Chibuike C

2016-03-23

Bioinformatic tools are useful in predicting bioactive peptides from food proteins. This study was focused on using bioinformatics and peptidomics to evaluate the specificity of peptide release and post-translational modifications (PTMs) in a peptic digest of potato protein isolate. Peptides in the protein hydrolysate were identified by LC-MS/MS and subsequently aligned to their parent potato tuber proteins. Five major proteins were selected for further analysis, namely, lipoxygenase, α-1,4-glucan phosphorylase, annexin, patatin, and polyubiquitin, based on protein coverage, abundance, confidence levels, and function. Comparison of the in silico peptide profile generated with ExPASy PeptideCutter and experimental peptidomics data revealed several differences. The experimental peptic cleavage sites were found to vary in number and specificity from PeptideCutter predictions. Average peptide chain length was also found to be higher than predicted with hexapeptides as the smallest detected peptides. Moreover, PTMs, particularly Met oxidation and Glu/Asp deamidation, were observed in some peptides, and these were unaccounted for during in silico analysis. PTMs can be formed during aging of potato tubers, or as a result of processing conditions during protein isolation and hydrolysis. The findings provide insights on the limitations of current bioinformatics tools for predicting bioactive peptide release from proteins, and on the existence of structural modifications that can alter the peptide bioactivity and functionality.

A central role for ubiquitination within a circadian clock protein modification code

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katarina eStojkovic

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Circadian rhythms, endogenous cycles of about 24 h in physiology, are generated by a master clock located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus and other clocks located in the brain and peripheral tissues. Circadian disruption is known to increase the incidence of various illnesses, such as mental disorders, metabolic syndrome and cancer. At the molecular level, periodicity is established by a set of clock genes via autoregulatory translation-transcription feedback loops. This clock mechanism is regulated by post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation and ubiquitination, which set the pace of the clock. Ubiquitination in particular has been found to regulate the stability of core clock components, but also other clock protein functions. Mutation of genes encoding ubiquitin ligases can cause either elongation or shortening of the endogenous circadian period. Recent research has also started to uncover roles for deubiquitination in the molecular clockwork. Here we review the role of the ubiquitin pathway in regulating the circadian clock and we propose that ubiquitination is a key element in a clock protein modification code that orchestrates clock mechanisms and circadian behavior over the daily cycle.

Modification of liposomes with proteins by dansyl-labeled heterobifunctional crosslinker.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Tao; Wang, Rutao; Lu, Tingting; Liang, Guozheng; Lu, Tingli

2011-07-01

The introduction of a fluorescent chromaphore into bifunctional crosslinkers results in a molecule with normal crosslinker properties and a fluorescent group for straightforward quantification. This work describes the synthesis of the dansyl-labeled heterobifunctional crosslinker N-succinimidyl ε-N-dansyl α-N-(acetylthio)acetyllysine (dansyl-ATA-lysine-NHS) containing reactive N-hydroxysuccinimidyl (NHS) ester and sulfhydryl groups. The application of this crosslinker to conjugation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein to the surface of a liposome containing maleimide functions is also demonstrated. BSA was modified with the dansyl-labeled crosslinker and subsequently conjugated to liposomes containing reactive phospholipid derivative N-[4-(p-maleimidophenyl)butyryl]phosphatidylethanolamine and the degree of modification and conjugation were quantitatively determined by measuring the fluorescence emission of the dansyl group. The reliability of the fluorescence quantification was confirmed by a micro bio-barcode assay protein assay.

Comparative LC-MS/MS profiling of free and protein-bound early and advanced glycation-induced lysine modifications in dairy products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hegele, Joerg; Buetler, Timo; Delatour, Thierry

2008-01-01

Free and protein-bound forms of early and advanced glycation-induced lysine (Lys) modifications were quantified in dairy products by LC-MS/MS using a stable isotope dilution assay. The glycation profiles for N ε -fructoselysine (FL), N ε -carboxymethyllysine (CML) and pyrraline (Pyr) were monitored in raw and processed cow milk to investigate whether free glycation products could serve as fast and simple markers to assess the extent of protein glycation in dairy products. In all milk samples, the fraction of free glycation adducts was predominantly composed of advanced modifications, e.g. 8.34 ± 3.81 nmol CML per μmol of free Lys (Lys free ) and 81.5 ± 87.8 nmol Pyr μmol -1 Lys free -1 vs. 3.72 ± 1.29 nmol FL μmol -1 Lys free -1 . In contrast, the protein-bound early glycation product FL considerably outweighed the content of CML and Pyr in milk proteins of raw and processed cow milk, whereas severely heat treated milk products, e.g. condensed milk, contained a higher amount of protein-bound advanced glycation adducts. Typical values recorded for milk samples processed under mild conditions were 0.47 ± 0.08 nmol FL μmol -1 of protein-bound Lys (Lys p-b ), 0.04 ± 0.03 nmol CML μmol -1 Lys p-b -1 and 0.06 ± 0.02 nmol Pyr μmol -1 Lys p-b -1 . It was particularly noticeable, however, that mild heat treatment of raw milk, i.e. pasteurization and UHT treatment, did not significantly increase the amount of both free and protein-bound Lys modifications. In conclusion, the profiles of free and protein-bound glycation-induced Lys modifications were found to be different and a screening of free glycation adducts does, therefore, not allow for a conclusion about the protein glycation status of dairy products

Phosphorylation coexists with O-GlcNAcylation in a plant virus protein and influences viral infection.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Turiño, Sandra; Pérez, José De Jesús; Hervás, Marta; Navajas, Rosana; Ciordia, Sergio; Udeshi, Namrata D; Shabanowitz, Jeffrey; Hunt, Donald F; García, Juan Antonio

2018-06-01

Phosphorylation and O-GlcNAcylation are two widespread post-translational modifications (PTMs), often affecting the same eukaryotic target protein. Plum pox virus (PPV) is a member of the genus Potyvirus which infects a wide range of plant species. O-GlcNAcylation of the capsid protein (CP) of PPV has been studied extensively, and some evidence of CP phosphorylation has also been reported. Here, we use proteomics analyses to demonstrate that PPV CP is phosphorylated in vivo at the N-terminus and the beginning of the core region. In contrast with the 'yin-yang' mechanism that applies to some mammalian proteins, PPV CP phosphorylation affects residues different from those that are O-GlcNAcylated (serines Ser-25, Ser-81, Ser-101 and Ser-118). Our findings show that PPV CP can be concurrently phosphorylated and O-GlcNAcylated at nearby residues. However, an analysis using a differential proteomics strategy based on iTRAQ (isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation) showed a significant enhancement of phosphorylation at Ser-25 in virions recovered from O-GlcNAcylation-deficient plants, suggesting that crosstalk between O-GlcNAcylation and phosphorylation in PPV CP takes place. Although the preclusion of phosphorylation at the four identified phosphotarget sites only had a limited impact on viral infection, the mimicking of phosphorylation prevents PPV infection in Prunus persica and weakens infection in Nicotiana benthamiana and other herbaceous hosts, prompting the emergence of potentially compensatory second mutations. We postulate that the joint action of phosphorylation and O-GlcNAcylation in the N-proximal segment of CP allows a fine-tuning of protein stability, providing the amount of CP required in each step of viral infection. © 2017 BSPP AND JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD.

Proteomic Investigation of Protein Profile Changes and Amino Acid Residue Level Modification in Cooked Lamb Meat: The Effect of Boiling.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Tzer-Yang; Morton, James D; Clerens, Stefan; Dyer, Jolon M

2015-10-21

Hydrothermal treatment (heating in water) is a common method of general food processing and preparation. For red-meat-based foods, boiling is common; however, how the molecular level effects of this treatment correlate to the overall food properties is not yet well-understood. The effects of differing boiling times on lamb meat and the resultant cooking water were here examined through proteomic evaluation. The longer boiling time was found to result in increased protein aggregation involving particularly proteins such as glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, as well as truncation in proteins such as in α-actinin-2. Heat-induced protein backbone cleavage was observed adjacent to aspartic acid and asparagine residues. Side-chain modifications of amino acid residues resulting from the heating, including oxidation of phenylalanine and formation of carboxyethyllysine, were characterized in the cooked samples. Actin and myoglobin bands from the cooked meat per se remained visible on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, even after significant cooking time. These proteins were also found to be the major source of observed heat-induced modifications. This study provides new insights into molecular-level modifications occurring in lamb meat proteins during boiling and a protein chemistry basis for better understanding the effect of this common treatment on the nutritional and functional properties of red-meat-based foods.

Surface Modification of Solution-Processed ZrO2 Films through Double Coating for Pentacene Thin-Film Transistors

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Jin-Hyuk; Bae, Jin-Hyuk; Lee, Hyeonju; Park, Jaehoon

2018-03-01

We report the modification of surface properties of solution-processed zirconium oxide (ZrO2) dielectric films achieved by using double-coating process. It is proven that the surface properties of the ZrO2 film are modified through the double-coating process; the surface roughness decreases and the surface energy increases. The present surface modification of the ZrO2 film contributes to an increase in grain size of the pentacene film, thereby increasing the field-effect mobility and decreasing the threshold voltage of the pentacene thin-film transistors (TFTs) having the ZrO2 gate dielectric. Herein, the molecular orientation of pentacene film is also studied based on the results of contact angle and X-ray diffraction measurements. Pentacene molecules on the double-coated ZrO2 film are found to be more tilted than those on the single-coated ZrO2 film, which is attributed to the surface modification of the ZrO2 film. However, no significant differences are observed in insulating properties between the single-and the double-coated ZrO2 dielectric films. Consequently, the characteristic improvements of the pentacene TFTs with the double-coated ZrO2 gate dielectric film can be understood through the increase in pentacene grain size and the reduction in grain boundary density.

Tandem affinity purification of histones, coupled to mass spectrometry, identifies associated proteins and new sites of post-translational modification in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Science.gov (United States)

Valero, M Luz; Sendra, Ramon; Pamblanco, Mercè

2016-03-16

Histones and their post-translational modifications contribute to regulating fundamental biological processes in all eukaryotic cells. We have applied a conventional tandem affinity purification strategy to histones H3 and H4 of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mass spectrometry analysis of the co-purified proteins revealed multiple associated proteins, including core histones, which indicates that tagged histones may be incorporated to the nucleosome particle. Among the many other co-isolated proteins there are histone chaperones, elements of chromatin remodeling, of nucleosome assembly/disassembly, and of histone modification complexes. The histone chaperone Rtt106p, two members of chromatin assembly FACT complex and Psh1p, an ubiquitin ligase, were the most abundant proteins obtained with both H3-TAP and H4-TAP, regardless of the cell extraction medium stringency. Our mass spectrometry analyses have also revealed numerous novel post-translational modifications, including 30 new chemical modifications in histones, mainly by ubiquitination. We have discovered not only new sites of ubiquitination but that, besides lysine, also serine and threonine residues are targets of ubiquitination on yeast histones. Our results show the standard tandem affinity purification procedure is suitable for application to yeast histones, in order to isolate and characterize histone-binding proteins and post-translational modifications, avoiding the bias caused by histone purification from a chromatin-enriched fraction. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Surface modification and enhanced photocatalytic CO{sub 2} reduction performance of TiO{sub 2}: a review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Low, Jingxiang; Cheng, Bei [State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Luoshi Road 122, Wuhan 430070 (China); Yu, Jiaguo, E-mail: jiaguoyu@yahoo.com [State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Luoshi Road 122, Wuhan 430070 (China); Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589 (Saudi Arabia)

2017-01-15

Highlights: • Application of modified TiO{sub 2} for photocatalytic CO{sub 2} reduction is summarized. • Different surface modification strategies of TiO{sub 2} are highlighted. • Summary and future perspectives in photocatalytic CO{sub 2} reduction are presented. - Abstract: Recently, the excessive consumption of fossil fuels has caused high emissions of the greenhouse gases, CO{sub 2} into atmosphere and global energy crisis. Mimicking the natural photosynthesis by using semiconductor materials to achieve photocatalytic CO{sub 2} reduction into valuable solar fuels such as CH{sub 4}, HCO{sub 2}H, CH{sub 2}O, and CH{sub 3}OH is known as one of the best solutions for addressing the aforementioned issue. Among various proposed photocatalysts, TiO{sub 2} has been extensively studied over the past several decades for photocatalytic CO{sub 2} reduction because of its cheapness and environmental friendliness. Particularly, surface modification of TiO{sub 2} has attracted numerous interests due to its capability of enhancing the light absorption ability, facilitating the electron-hole separation, tuning the CO{sub 2} reduction selectivity and increasing the CO{sub 2} adsorption and activation ability of TiO{sub 2} for photocatalytic CO{sub 2} reduction. In this review, recent approaches of the surface modification of TiO{sub 2} for photocatalytic CO{sub 2} reduction, including impurity doping, metal deposition, alkali modification, heterojunction construction and carbon-based material loading, are presented. The photocatalytic CO{sub 2} reduction mechanism and pathways of TiO{sub 2} are discussed. The future research direction and perspective of photocatalytic CO{sub 2} reduction over surface-modified TiO{sub 2} are also presented.

Glycomic analyses of mouse models of congenital muscular dystrophy.

Science.gov (United States)

Stalnaker, Stephanie H; Aoki, Kazuhiro; Lim, Jae-Min; Porterfield, Mindy; Liu, Mian; Satz, Jakob S; Buskirk, Sean; Xiong, Yufang; Zhang, Peng; Campbell, Kevin P; Hu, Huaiyu; Live, David; Tiemeyer, Michael; Wells, Lance

2011-06-17

Dystroglycanopathies are a subset of congenital muscular dystrophies wherein α-dystroglycan (α-DG) is hypoglycosylated. α-DG is an extensively O-glycosylated extracellular matrix-binding protein and a key component of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex. Previous studies have shown α-DG to be post-translationally modified by both O-GalNAc- and O-mannose-initiated glycan structures. Mutations in defined or putative glycosyltransferase genes involved in O-mannosylation are associated with a loss of ligand-binding activity of α-DG and are causal for various forms of congenital muscular dystrophy. In this study, we sought to perform glycomic analysis on brain O-linked glycan structures released from proteins of three different knock-out mouse models associated with O-mannosylation (POMGnT1, LARGE (Myd), and DAG1(-/-)). Using mass spectrometry approaches, we were able to identify nine O-mannose-initiated and 25 O-GalNAc-initiated glycan structures in wild-type littermate control mouse brains. Through our analysis, we were able to confirm that POMGnT1 is essential for the extension of all observed O-mannose glycan structures with β1,2-linked GlcNAc. Loss of LARGE expression in the Myd mouse had no observable effect on the O-mannose-initiated glycan structures characterized here. Interestingly, we also determined that similar amounts of O-mannose-initiated glycan structures are present on brain proteins from α-DG-lacking mice (DAG1) compared with wild-type mice, indicating that there must be additional proteins that are O-mannosylated in the mammalian brain. Our findings illustrate that classical β1,2-elongation and β1,6-GlcNAc branching of O-mannose glycan structures are dependent upon the POMGnT1 enzyme and that O-mannosylation is not limited solely to α-DG in the brain.

Sequence-engineered mRNA Without Chemical Nucleoside Modifications Enables an Effective Protein Therapy in Large Animals

OpenAIRE

Thess, Andreas; Grund, Stefanie; Mui, Barbara L; Hope, Michael J; Baumhof, Patrick; Fotin-Mleczek, Mariola; Schlake, Thomas

2015-01-01

Being a transient carrier of genetic information, mRNA could be a versatile, flexible, and safe means for protein therapies. While recent findings highlight the enormous therapeutic potential of mRNA, evidence that mRNA-based protein therapies are feasible beyond small animals such as mice is still lacking. Previous studies imply that mRNA therapeutics require chemical nucleoside modifications to obtain sufficient protein expression and avoid activation of the innate immune system. Here we sh...

Genetic Variation and Its Reflection on Posttranslational Modifications in Frequency Clock and Mating Type a-1 Proteins in Sordaria fimicola

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rabia Arif

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Posttranslational modifications (PTMs occur in all essential proteins taking command of their functions. There are many domains inside proteins where modifications take place on side-chains of amino acids through various enzymes to generate different species of proteins. In this manuscript we have, for the first time, predicted posttranslational modifications of frequency clock and mating type a-1 proteins in Sordaria fimicola collected from different sites to see the effect of environment on proteins or various amino acids pickings and their ultimate impact on consensus sequences present in mating type proteins using bioinformatics tools. Furthermore, we have also measured and walked through genomic DNA of various Sordaria strains to determine genetic diversity by genotyping the short sequence repeats (SSRs of wild strains of S. fimicola collected from contrasting environments of two opposing slopes (harsh and xeric south facing slope and mild north facing slope of Evolution Canyon (EC, Israel. Based on the whole genome sequence of S. macrospora, we targeted 20 genomic regions in S. fimicola which contain short sequence repeats (SSRs. Our data revealed genetic variations in strains from south facing slope and these findings assist in the hypothesis that genetic variations caused by stressful environments lead to evolution.

Genetic Variation and Its Reflection on Posttranslational Modifications in Frequency Clock and Mating Type a-1 Proteins in Sordaria fimicola.

Science.gov (United States)

Arif, Rabia; Akram, Faiza; Jamil, Tazeen; Mukhtar, Hamid; Lee, Siu Fai; Saleem, Muhammad

2017-01-01

Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) occur in all essential proteins taking command of their functions. There are many domains inside proteins where modifications take place on side-chains of amino acids through various enzymes to generate different species of proteins. In this manuscript we have, for the first time, predicted posttranslational modifications of frequency clock and mating type a-1 proteins in Sordaria fimicola collected from different sites to see the effect of environment on proteins or various amino acids pickings and their ultimate impact on consensus sequences present in mating type proteins using bioinformatics tools. Furthermore, we have also measured and walked through genomic DNA of various Sordaria strains to determine genetic diversity by genotyping the short sequence repeats (SSRs) of wild strains of S. fimicola collected from contrasting environments of two opposing slopes (harsh and xeric south facing slope and mild north facing slope) of Evolution Canyon (EC), Israel. Based on the whole genome sequence of S. macrospora , we targeted 20 genomic regions in S. fimicola which contain short sequence repeats (SSRs). Our data revealed genetic variations in strains from south facing slope and these findings assist in the hypothesis that genetic variations caused by stressful environments lead to evolution.

Crystallite growth kinetics of TiO2 surface modification with 9 mol% ZnO prepared by a coprecipitation process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ko, Horng-Huey; Hsi, Chi-Shiung; Wang, Moo-Chin; Zhao, Xiujian

2014-01-01

Highlights: • TiO 2 powder surface modification with 9 mol% ZnO was obtained. • Phase transformation from anatase to rutile was hindered by ZnO added. • Growth kinetic of anatase TiO 2 nanocrystallites in T-9Z powders was described as: D A,9 2 =2.42×10 5 ×exp(-39.9×10 3 /RT). • Growth kinetic of rutile TiO 2 nanocrystallites in T-9Z powders was described as: D R,9 2 =8.49×10 5 ×exp(-47.6×10 3 /RT) rutile TiO 2 . -- Abstract: The nanocrystallite growth of TiO 2 surface modification with 9 mol% ZnO prepared by a coprecipitation process has been studied. Thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and UV–VIS–NIR spectrophotometry have been utilized to characterize the TiO 2 nanocrystallites surface modification with 9 mol% ZnO (denoted by T-9Z). The DTA result shows that the anatase TiO 2 first formed at 533 K and the completion of anatase TiO 2 crystallization occurred at 745 K for the T-9Z freeze-dried precursor powders. XRD results reveal that the anatase and rutile TiO 2 coexist when the T-9Z freeze-dried precursor powders were calcined at 523–973 K for 2 h. When the T-9Z freeze-dried precursor powders were calcined at 973 K for 2 h, rutile TiO 2 was the major phase, and the minor phases were anatase TiO 2 and Zn 2 Ti 3 O 8 . The phase was composed of the rutile TiO 2 and Zn 2 TiO 4 for the T-9Z freeze-dried precursor powders after calcination at 1273 K for 2 h. The growth kinetics of TiO 2 nanocrystallites in T-9Z powders were described as: D A,9 2 =2.42×10 5 ×exp(-39.9×10 3 /RT)and D R,9 2 =8.49×10 5 ×exp(-47.6×10 3 /RT) for anatase and rutile TiO 2 nanocrystallites respectively. The analysis results of UV/VIS/NIR spectra reveal that the T-9Z freeze-dried precursor powders after calcination have a red-shifted effect with increasing calcination temperature and can be used as a UVA-attenuating agent

Accelerated differentiation of osteoblast cells on polycaprolactone scaffolds driven by a combined effect of protein coating and plasma modification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yildirim, Eda D; Gueceri, Selcuk; Sun, Wei [Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Besunder, Robyn; Allen, Fred [Drexel University, School of Biomedical Engineering Science and Health System, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Pappas, Daphne, E-mail: edy22@drexel.ed [Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005 (United States)

2010-03-15

A combined effect of protein coating and plasma modification on the quality of the osteoblast-scaffold interaction was investigated. Three-dimensional polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds were manufactured by the precision extrusion deposition (PED) system. The structural, physical, chemical and biological cues were introduced to the surface through providing 3D structure, coating with adhesive protein fibronectin and modifying the surface with oxygen-based plasma. The changes in the surface properties of PCL after those modifications were examined by contact angle goniometry, surface energy calculation, surface chemistry analysis (XPS) and surface topography measurements (AFM). The effects of modification techniques on osteoblast short-term and long-term functions were examined by cell adhesion, proliferation assays and differentiation markers, namely alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP) and osteocalcin secretion. The results suggested that the physical and chemical cues introduced by plasma modification might be sufficient for improved cell adhesion, but for accelerated osteoblast differentiation the synergetic effects of structural, physical, chemical and biological cues should be introduced to the PCL surface.

The recognition of three different epitopes for the H-type 2 human blood group determinant by lectins of Ulex europaeus, Galactia tenuiflora and Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (winged bean).

Science.gov (United States)

Du, M H; Spohr, U; Lemieux, R U

1994-10-01

The chemical mapping of the regions of H-type 2 human blood group-related trisaccharide (Fuc alpha (1-2)Gal beta (1-4)GlcNAc beta Me) that are recognized by three different lectins, the so-called epitopes, are reviewed together with an account of how and why oligosaccharides form specific complexes with proteins as presently viewed in this laboratory. The occasion is used to report the synthesis of the various mono-O-methyl derivatives of the above trisaccharide that were used in these investigations. Also, Fuc alpha (1-2)Gal beta (1-4)Xyl beta Me was synthesized in order to examine whether or not the hydroxymethyl group of the GlcNAc residue participates in the binding reaction.

Impact of Post-Translational Modifications of Crop Proteins under Abiotic Stress

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akiko Hashiguchi

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The efficiency of stress-induced adaptive responses of plants depends on intricate coordination of multiple signal transduction pathways that act coordinately or, in some cases, antagonistically. Protein post-translational modifications (PTMs can regulate protein activity and localization as well as protein–protein interactions in numerous cellular processes, thus leading to elaborate regulation of plant responses to various external stimuli. Understanding responses of crop plants under field conditions is crucial to design novel stress-tolerant cultivars that maintain robust homeostasis even under extreme conditions. In this review, proteomic studies of PTMs in crops are summarized. Although the research on the roles of crop PTMs in regulating stress response mechanisms is still in its early stage, several novel insights have been retrieved so far. This review covers techniques for detection of PTMs in plants, representative PTMs in plants under abiotic stress, and how PTMs control functions of representative proteins. In addition, because PTMs under abiotic stresses are well described in soybeans under submergence, recent findings in PTMs of soybean proteins under flooding stress are introduced. This review provides information on advances in PTM study in relation to plant adaptations to abiotic stresses, underlining the importance of PTM study to ensure adequate agricultural production in the future.

PhosphOrtholog: a web-based tool for cross-species mapping of orthologous protein post-translational modifications.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaudhuri, Rima; Sadrieh, Arash; Hoffman, Nolan J; Parker, Benjamin L; Humphrey, Sean J; Stöckli, Jacqueline; Hill, Adam P; James, David E; Yang, Jean Yee Hwa

2015-08-19

Most biological processes are influenced by protein post-translational modifications (PTMs). Identifying novel PTM sites in different organisms, including humans and model organisms, has expedited our understanding of key signal transduction mechanisms. However, with increasing availability of deep, quantitative datasets in diverse species, there is a growing need for tools to facilitate cross-species comparison of PTM data. This is particularly important because functionally important modification sites are more likely to be evolutionarily conserved; yet cross-species comparison of PTMs is difficult since they often lie in structurally disordered protein domains. Current tools that address this can only map known PTMs between species based on known orthologous phosphosites, and do not enable the cross-species mapping of newly identified modification sites. Here, we addressed this by developing a web-based software tool, PhosphOrtholog ( www.phosphortholog.com ) that accurately maps protein modification sites between different species. This facilitates the comparison of datasets derived from multiple species, and should be a valuable tool for the proteomics community. Here we describe PhosphOrtholog, a web-based application for mapping known and novel orthologous PTM sites from experimental data obtained from different species. PhosphOrtholog is the only generic and automated tool that enables cross-species comparison of large-scale PTM datasets without relying on existing PTM databases. This is achieved through pairwise sequence alignment of orthologous protein residues. To demonstrate its utility we apply it to two sets of human and rat muscle phosphoproteomes generated following insulin and exercise stimulation, respectively, and one publicly available mouse phosphoproteome following cellular stress revealing high mapping and coverage efficiency. Although coverage statistics are dataset dependent, PhosphOrtholog increased the number of cross-species mapped sites

Use of hydrostatic pressure for modulation of protein chemical modification and enzymatic selectivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Makarov, Alexey A; Helmy, Roy; Joyce, Leo; Reibarkh, Mikhail; Maust, Mathew; Ren, Sumei; Mergelsberg, Ingrid; Welch, Christopher J

2016-05-11

Using hydrostatic pressure to induce protein conformational changes can be a powerful tool for altering the availability of protein reactive sites and for changing the selectivity of enzymatic reactions. Using a pressure apparatus, it has been demonstrated that hydrostatic pressure can be used to modulate the reactivity of lysine residues of the protein ubiquitin with a water-soluble amine-specific homobifunctional coupling agent. Fewer reactive lysine residues were observed when the reaction was carried out under elevated pressure of 3 kbar, consistent with a pressure-induced conformational change of ubiquitin that results in fewer exposed lysine residues. Additionally, modulation of the stereoselectivity of an enzymatic transamination reaction was observed at elevated hydrostatic pressure. In one case, the minor diasteromeric product formed at atmospheric pressure became the major product at elevated pressure. Such pressure-induced alterations of protein reactivity may provide an important new tool for enzymatic reactions and the chemical modification of proteins.

Mitochondrial thiol modification by a targeted electrophile inhibits metabolism in breast adenocarcinoma cells by inhibiting enzyme activity and protein levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Ryan Smith

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Many cancer cells follow an aberrant metabolic program to maintain energy for rapid cell proliferation. Metabolic reprogramming often involves the upregulation of glutaminolysis to generate reducing equivalents for the electron transport chain and amino acids for protein synthesis. Critical enzymes involved in metabolism possess a reactive thiolate group, which can be modified by certain oxidants. In the current study, we show that modification of mitochondrial protein thiols by a model compound, iodobutyl triphenylphosphonium (IBTP, decreased mitochondrial metabolism and ATP in MDA-MB 231 (MB231 breast adenocarcinoma cells up to 6 days after an initial 24 h treatment. Mitochondrial thiol modification also depressed oxygen consumption rates (OCR in a dose-dependent manner to a greater extent than a non-thiol modifying analog, suggesting that thiol reactivity is an important factor in the inhibition of cancer cell metabolism. In non-tumorigenic MCF-10A cells, IBTP also decreased OCR; however the extracellular acidification rate was significantly increased at all but the highest concentration (10 µM of IBTP indicating that thiol modification can have significantly different effects on bioenergetics in tumorigenic versus non-tumorigenic cells. ATP and other adenonucleotide levels were also decreased by thiol modification up to 6 days post-treatment, indicating a decreased overall energetic state in MB231 cells. Cellular proliferation of MB231 cells was also inhibited up to 6 days post-treatment with little change to cell viability. Targeted metabolomic analyses revealed that thiol modification caused depletion of both Krebs cycle and glutaminolysis intermediates. Further experiments revealed that the activity of the Krebs cycle enzyme, aconitase, was attenuated in response to thiol modification. Additionally, the inhibition of glutaminolysis corresponded to decreased glutaminase C (GAC protein levels, although other protein levels were

Chemo-enzymatic modification of poly-N-acetyllactosamine (LacNAc oligomers and N,N-diacetyllactosamine (LacDiNAc based on galactose oxidase treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christiane E. Kupper

2012-05-01

Full Text Available The importance of glycans in biological systems is highlighted by their various functions in physiological and pathological processes. Many glycan epitopes on glycoproteins and glycolipids are based on N-acetyllactosamine units (LacNAc; Galβ1,4GlcNAc and often present on extended poly-LacNAc glycans ([Galβ1,4GlcNAc]n. Poly-LacNAc itself has been identified as a binding motif of galectins, an important class of lectins with functions in immune response and tumorigenesis. Therefore, the synthesis of natural and modified poly-LacNAc glycans is of specific interest for binding studies with galectins as well as for studies of their possible therapeutic applications. We present the oxidation by galactose oxidase and subsequent chemical or enzymatic modification of terminal galactose and N-acetylgalactosamine residues of poly-N-acetyllactosamine (poly-LacNAc oligomers and N,N-diacetyllactosamine (LacDiNAc by galactose oxidase. Product formation starting from different poly-LacNAc oligomers was characterised and optimised regarding formation of the C6-aldo product. Further modification of the aldehyde containing glycans, either by chemical conversion or enzymatic elongation, was established. Base-catalysed β-elimination, coupling of biotin–hydrazide with subsequent reduction to the corresponding hydrazine linkage, and coupling by reductive amination to an amino-functionalised poly-LacNAc oligomer were performed and the products characterised by LC–MS and NMR analysis. Remarkably, elongation of terminally oxidised poly-LacNAc glycans by β3GlcNAc- and β4Gal-transferase was also successful. In this way, a set of novel, modified poly-LacNAc oligomers containing terminally and/or internally modified galactose residues were obtained, which can be used for binding studies and various other applications.

Modular Synthesis of Heparin-Related Tetra-, Hexa- and Octasaccharides with Differential O-6 Protections: Programming for Regiodefined 6-O-Modifications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marek Baráth

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Heparin and heparan sulphate (H/HS are important members of the glycosaminoglycan family of sugars that regulate a substantial number of biological processes. Such biological promiscuity is underpinned by hetereogeneity in their molecular structure. The degree of O-sulfation, particularly at the 6-position of constituent D-GlcN units, is believed to play a role in modulating the effects of such sequences. Synthetic chemistry is essential to be able to extend the diversity of HS-like fragments with defined molecular structure, and particularly to deconvolute the biological significance of modifications at O6. Here we report a synthetic approach to a small matrix of protected heparin-type oligosaccharides, containing orthogonal D-GlcN O-6 protecting groups at programmed positions along the chain, facilitating access towards programmed modifications at specific sites, relevant to sulfation or future mimetics.

Selective functional activity measurement of a PEGylated protein with a modification-dependent activity assay.

Science.gov (United States)

Weber, Alfred; Engelmaier, Andrea; Mohr, Gabriele; Haindl, Sonja; Schwarz, Hans Peter; Turecek, Peter L

2017-01-05

BAX 855 (ADYNOVATE) is a PEGylated recombinant factor VIII (rFVIII) that showed prolonged circulatory half-life compared to unmodified rFVIII in hemophilic patients. Here, the development and validation of a novel assay is described that selectively measures the activity of BAX 855 as cofactor for the serine protease factor IX, which actives factor X. This method type, termed modification-dependent activity assay, is based on PEG-specific capture of BAX 855 by an anti-PEG IgG preparation, followed by a chromogenic FVIII activity assay. The assay principle enabled sensitive measurement of the FVIII cofactor activity of BAX 855 down to the pM-range without interference by non-PEGylated FVIII. The selectivity of the capture step, shown by competition studies to primarily target the terminal methoxy group of PEG, also allowed assessment of the intactness of the attached PEG chains. Altogether, the modification-dependent activity not only enriches, but complements the group of methods to selectively, accurately, and precisely measure a PEGylated drug in complex biological matrices. In contrast to all other methods described so far, it allows measurement of the biological activity of the PEGylated protein. Data obtained demonstrate that this new method principle can be extended to protein modifications other than PEGylation and to a variety of functional activity assays. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A bioinformatics-based overview of protein Lys-Ne-acetylation

Science.gov (United States)

Among posttranslational modifications, there are some conceptual similarities between Lys-N'-acetylation and Ser/Thr/Tyr O-phosphorylation. Herein we present a bioinformatics-based overview of reversible protein Lys-acetylation, including some comparisons with reversible protein phosphorylation. T...

SMRT Sequencing Revealed Mitogenome Characteristics and Mitogenome-Wide DNA Modification Pattern in Ophiocordyceps sinensis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Xincong; Hu, Liqin; Shen, Pengyuan; Li, Rui; Liu, Dongbo

2017-01-01

Single molecule, real-time (SMRT) sequencing was used to characterize mitochondrial (mt) genome of Ophiocordyceps sinensis and to analyze the mt genome-wide pattern of epigenetic DNA modification. The complete mt genome of O. sinensis , with a size of 157,539 bp, is the fourth largest Ascomycota mt genome sequenced to date. It contained 14 conserved protein-coding genes (PCGs), 1 intronic protein rps3 , 27 tRNAs and 2 rRNA subunits, which are common characteristics of the known mt genomes in Hypocreales. A phylogenetic tree inferred from 14 PCGs in Pezizomycotina fungi supports O. sinensis as most closely related to Hirsutella rhossiliensis in Ophiocordycipitaceae. A total of 36 sequence sites in rps3 were under positive selection, with dN/dS >1 in the 20 compared fungi. Among them, 16 sites were statistically significant. In addition, the mt genome-wide base modification pattern of O. sinensis was determined in this study, especially DNA methylation. The methylations were located in coding and uncoding regions of mt PCGs in O. sinensis , and might be closely related to the expression of PCGs or the binding affinity of transcription factor A to mtDNA. Consequently, these methylations may affect the enzymatic activity of oxidative phosphorylation and then the mt respiratory rate; or they may influence mt biogenesis. Therefore, methylations in the mitogenome of O. sinensis might be a genetic feature to adapt to the cold and low PO 2 environment at high altitude, where O. sinensis is endemic. This is the first report on epigenetic modifications in a fungal mt genome.

Surface-defect induced modifications in the optical properties of α-MnO_2 nanorods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

John, Reenu Elizabeth; Chandran, Anoop; Thomas, Marykutty; Jose, Joshy; George, K.C.

2016-01-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Alpha-MnO_2 nanorods are prepared by chemical method. • Difference in surface defect density is achieved. • Characterized using XRD, Rietveld, XPS, EDS, HR-TEM, BET, UV–vis absorption spectroscopy and PL spectroscopy. • Explains the bandstructure modification due to Jahn–Teller distortions using crystal field theory. • Modification in the intensity of optical emissions related to defect levels validates the concept of surface defect induced tuning of optical properties. - Abstract: The science of defect engineering via surface tuning opens a new route to modify the inherent properties of nanomaterials for advanced functional and practical applications. In this work, two independent synthesis methods (hydrothermal and co-precipitation) are adopted to fabricate α-MnO_2 nanorods with different defect structures so as to understand the effect of surface modifications on their optical properties. The crystal structure and morphology of samples are investigated with the aid of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Atomic composition calculated from energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) confirms non-stoichiometry of the samples. The surface properties and chemical environment are thoroughly studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. Bond angle variance and bond valence sum are determined to validate distortions in the basic MnO_6 octahedron. The surface studies indicate that the concentration of Jahn–Teller manganese (III) (Mn"3"+) ion in the samples differ from each other which results in their distinct properties. Band structure modifications due to Jahn–Teller distortion are examined with the aid of ultraviolet–visible (UV) reflectance and photoluminescence (PL) studies. The dual peaks obtained in derivative spectrum conflict the current concept on the bandgap energy of MnO_2. These studies suggest that

O-GlcNAcase Expression is Sensitive to Changes in O-GlcNAc Homeostasis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhen; Tan, Ee Phie; VandenHull, Nicole J; Peterson, Kenneth R; Slawson, Chad

2014-01-01

O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is a post-translational modification involving an attachment of a single β-N-acetylglucosamine moiety to serine or threonine residues in nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins. Cellular O-GlcNAc levels are regulated by two enzymes: O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcase (OGA), which add and remove the modification, respectively. The levels of O-GlcNAc can rapidly change in response to fluctuations in the extracellular environment; however, O-GlcNAcylation returns to a baseline level quickly after stimulus removal. This process termed O-GlcNAc homeostasis appears to be critical to the regulation of many cellular functions including cell cycle progress, stress response, and gene transcription. Disruptions in O-GlcNAc homeostasis are proposed to lead to the development of diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease. O-GlcNAc homeostasis is correlated with the expression of OGT and OGA. We reason that alterations in O-GlcNAc levels affect OGA and OGT transcription. We treated several human cell lines with Thiamet-G (TMG, an OGA inhibitor) to increase overall O-GlcNAc levels resulting in decreased OGT protein expression and increased OGA protein expression. OGT transcript levels slightly declined with TMG treatment, but OGA transcript levels were significantly increased. Pretreating cells with protein translation inhibitor cycloheximide did not stabilize OGT or OGA protein expression in the presence of TMG; nor did TMG stabilize OGT and OGA mRNA levels when cells were treated with RNA transcription inhibitor actinomycin D. Finally, we performed RNA Polymerase II chromatin immunoprecipitation at the OGA promoter and found that RNA Pol II occupancy at the transcription start site was lower after prolonged TMG treatment. Together, these data suggest that OGA transcription was sensitive to changes in O-GlcNAc homeostasis and was potentially regulated by O-GlcNAc.

O-GlcNAcylation: A New Cancer Hallmark?

Science.gov (United States)

Fardini, Yann; Dehennaut, Vanessa; Lefebvre, Tony; Issad, Tarik

2013-01-01

O-linked N-acetylglucosaminylation (O-GlcNAcylation) is a reversible post-translational modification consisting in the addition of a sugar moiety to serine/threonine residues of cytosolic or nuclear proteins. Catalyzed by O-GlcNAc-transferase (OGT) and removed by O-GlcNAcase, this dynamic modification is dependent on environmental glucose concentration. O-GlcNAcylation regulates the activities of a wide panel of proteins involved in almost all aspects of cell biology. As a nutrient sensor, O-GlcNAcylation can relay the effects of excessive nutritional intake, an important cancer risk factor, on protein activities and cellular functions. Indeed, O-GlcNAcylation has been shown to play a significant role in cancer development through different mechanisms. O-GlcNAcylation and OGT levels are increased in different cancers (breast, prostate, colon…) and vary during cell cycle progression. Modulating their expression or activity can alter cancer cell proliferation and/or invasion. Interestingly, major oncogenic factors have been shown to be directly O-GlcNAcylated (p53, MYC, NFκB, β-catenin…). Furthermore, chromatin dynamics is modulated by O-GlcNAc. DNA methylation enzymes of the Tet family, involved epigenetic alterations associated with cancer, were recently found to interact with and target OGT to multi-molecular chromatin-remodeling complexes. Consistently, histones are subjected to O-GlcNAc modifications which regulate their function. Increasing number of evidences point out the central involvement of O-GlcNAcylation in tumorigenesis, justifying the attention received as a potential new approach for cancer treatment. However, comprehension of the underlying mechanism remains at its beginnings. Future challenge will be to address directly the role of O-GlcNAc-modified residues in oncogenic-related proteins to eventually propose novel strategies to alter cancer development and/or progression.

O-GlcNAcylation: A New Cancer Hallmark?

Science.gov (United States)

Fardini, Yann; Dehennaut, Vanessa; Lefebvre, Tony; Issad, Tarik

2013-01-01

O-linked N-acetylglucosaminylation (O-GlcNAcylation) is a reversible post-translational modification consisting in the addition of a sugar moiety to serine/threonine residues of cytosolic or nuclear proteins. Catalyzed by O-GlcNAc-transferase (OGT) and removed by O-GlcNAcase, this dynamic modification is dependent on environmental glucose concentration. O-GlcNAcylation regulates the activities of a wide panel of proteins involved in almost all aspects of cell biology. As a nutrient sensor, O-GlcNAcylation can relay the effects of excessive nutritional intake, an important cancer risk factor, on protein activities and cellular functions. Indeed, O-GlcNAcylation has been shown to play a significant role in cancer development through different mechanisms. O-GlcNAcylation and OGT levels are increased in different cancers (breast, prostate, colon…) and vary during cell cycle progression. Modulating their expression or activity can alter cancer cell proliferation and/or invasion. Interestingly, major oncogenic factors have been shown to be directly O-GlcNAcylated (p53, MYC, NFκB, β-catenin…). Furthermore, chromatin dynamics is modulated by O-GlcNAc. DNA methylation enzymes of the Tet family, involved epigenetic alterations associated with cancer, were recently found to interact with and target OGT to multi-molecular chromatin-remodeling complexes. Consistently, histones are subjected to O-GlcNAc modifications which regulate their function. Increasing number of evidences point out the central involvement of O-GlcNAcylation in tumorigenesis, justifying the attention received as a potential new approach for cancer treatment. However, comprehension of the underlying mechanism remains at its beginnings. Future challenge will be to address directly the role of O-GlcNAc-modified residues in oncogenic-related proteins to eventually propose novel strategies to alter cancer development and/or progression. PMID:23964270

Comparative LC-MS/MS profiling of free and protein-bound early and advanced glycation-induced lysine modifications in dairy products

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hegele, Joerg [Nestle Research Centre, Nestec Ltd., Vers-chez-les-Blanc, CH-1000 Lausanne 26 (Switzerland)], E-mail: joerg.hegele@rdls.nestle.com; Buetler, Timo; Delatour, Thierry [Nestle Research Centre, Nestec Ltd., Vers-chez-les-Blanc, CH-1000 Lausanne 26 (Switzerland)

2008-06-09

Free and protein-bound forms of early and advanced glycation-induced lysine (Lys) modifications were quantified in dairy products by LC-MS/MS using a stable isotope dilution assay. The glycation profiles for N{sup {epsilon}}-fructoselysine (FL), N{sup {epsilon}}-carboxymethyllysine (CML) and pyrraline (Pyr) were monitored in raw and processed cow milk to investigate whether free glycation products could serve as fast and simple markers to assess the extent of protein glycation in dairy products. In all milk samples, the fraction of free glycation adducts was predominantly composed of advanced modifications, e.g. 8.34 {+-} 3.81 nmol CML per {mu}mol of free Lys (Lys{sub free}) and 81.5 {+-} 87.8 nmol Pyr {mu}mol{sup -1} Lys{sub free}{sup -1} vs. 3.72 {+-} 1.29 nmol FL {mu}mol{sup -1} Lys{sub free}{sup -1}. In contrast, the protein-bound early glycation product FL considerably outweighed the content of CML and Pyr in milk proteins of raw and processed cow milk, whereas severely heat treated milk products, e.g. condensed milk, contained a higher amount of protein-bound advanced glycation adducts. Typical values recorded for milk samples processed under mild conditions were 0.47 {+-} 0.08 nmol FL {mu}mol{sup -1} of protein-bound Lys (Lys{sub p-b}), 0.04 {+-} 0.03 nmol CML {mu}mol{sup -1} Lys{sub p-b}{sup -1} and 0.06 {+-} 0.02 nmol Pyr {mu}mol{sup -1} Lys{sub p-b}{sup -1}. It was particularly noticeable, however, that mild heat treatment of raw milk, i.e. pasteurization and UHT treatment, did not significantly increase the amount of both free and protein-bound Lys modifications. In conclusion, the profiles of free and protein-bound glycation-induced Lys modifications were found to be different and a screening of free glycation adducts does, therefore, not allow for a conclusion about the protein glycation status of dairy products.

Enhancement of H2-sensing Properties of F-doped SnO2 Sensorby Surface Modification with SiO2

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. P. Khatkar

2006-05-01

Full Text Available Effects of surface chemical modification with sodium silicate on the gas-sensingproperties of F-doped SnO2 gas sensor designed and fabricated employing micro-electromechanical system (MEMS technology were investigated. Gas sensing properties of thesensor were checked against combustible gases like H2, CO, CH4 and C3H8 at a heatervoltage of 0.7 V. The H2 sensitivity of the surface modified F-doped SnO2 micro sensormarkedly increased and reached S = 175 which was found to be about 40 times more thanthat of unmodified sensor (S = ~ 4.2. The increase in the sensitivity is discussed in terms ofincreased resistivity and reduced permeation of gaseous oxygen into the underlying sensinglayer due to the surface modification of the sensor. The present micro-hydrogen sensor withenhanced sensitivity due to SiO2 incorporation is a low energy consuming portable sensormodule that can be mass-produced using MEMS technology at low cost.

Stability of globular proteins in H2O and D2O

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Efimova, Y. M.; Haemers, S.; Wierczinski, B.; Norde, W.; van Well, A. A.

2007-01-01

In several experimental techniques D2O rather then H2O is often used as a solvent for proteins. Concerning the influence of the solvent on the stability of the proteins, contradicting results have been reported in literature. In this paper the influence of H2O-D2O solvent substitution on the

Protein Corona Prevents TiO2 Phototoxicity.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maja Garvas

Full Text Available TiO2 nanoparticles have generally low toxicity in the in vitro systems although some toxicity is expected to originate in the TiO2-associated photo-generated radical production, which can however be modulated by the radical trapping ability of the serum proteins. To explore the role of serum proteins in the phototoxicity of the TiO2 nanoparticles we measure viability of the exposed cells depending on the nanoparticle and serum protein concentrations.Fluorescence and spin trapping EPR spectroscopy reveal that the ratio between the nanoparticle and protein concentrations determines the amount of the nanoparticles' surface which is not covered by the serum proteins and is proportional to the amount of photo-induced radicals. Phototoxicity thus becomes substantial only at the protein concentration being too low to completely coat the nanotubes' surface.These results imply that TiO2 nanoparticles should be applied with ligands such as proteins when phototoxic effects are not desired - for example in cosmetics industry. On the other hand, the nanoparticles should be used in serum free medium or any other ligand free medium, when phototoxic effects are desired - as for efficient photodynamic cancer therapy.

Engineering specific chemical modification sites into a collagen-like protein from Streptococcus pyogenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Stoichevska, Violet; Peng, Yong Y; Vashi, Aditya V; Werkmeister, Jerome A; Dumsday, Geoff J; Ramshaw, John A M

2017-03-01

Recombinant bacterial collagens provide a new opportunity for safe biomedical materials. They are readily expressed in Escherichia coli in good yield and can be readily purified by simple approaches. However, recombinant proteins are limited in that direct secondary modification during expression is generally not easily achieved. Thus, inclusion of unusual amino acids, cyclic peptides, sugars, lipids, and other complex functions generally needs to be achieved chemically after synthesis and extraction. In the present study, we have illustrated that bacterial collagens that have had their sequences modified to include cysteine residue(s), which are not normally present in bacterial collagen-like sequences, enable a range of specific chemical modification reactions to be produced. Various model reactions were shown to be effective for modifying the collagens. The ability to include alkyne (or azide) functions allows the extensive range of substitutions that are available via "click" chemistry to be accessed. When bifunctional reagents were used, some crosslinking occurred to give higher molecular weight polymeric proteins, but gels were not formed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 105A: 806-813, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Prediction of possible CaMnO3 modifications using an ab initio minimization data-mining approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Zagorac, Jelena; Zagorac, Dejan; Zarubica, Aleksandra; Schön, J Christian; Djuris, Katarina; Matovic, Branko

2014-10-01

We have performed a crystal structure prediction study of CaMnO3 focusing on structures generated by octahedral tilting according to group-subgroup relations from the ideal perovskite type (Pm\\overline 3 m), which is the aristotype of the experimentally known CaMnO3 compound in the Pnma space group. Furthermore, additional structure candidates have been obtained using data mining. For each of the structure candidates, a local optimization on the ab initio level using density-functional theory (LDA, hybrid B3LYP) and the Hartree--Fock (HF) method was performed, and we find that several of the modifications may be experimentally accessible. In the high-pressure regime, we identify a post-perovskite phase in the CaIrO3 type, not previously observed in CaMnO3. Similarly, calculations at effective negative pressure predict a phase transition from the orthorhombic perovskite to an ilmenite-type (FeTiO3) modification of CaMnO3.

Characterizing the Range of Extracellular Protein Post-Translational Modifications in a Cellulose-Degrading Bacteria Using a Multiple Proteolyic Digestion/Peptide Fragmentation Approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dykstra, Andrew B [ORNL; Rodriguez, Jr., Miguel [ORNL; Raman, Babu [Dow Chemical Company, The; Cook, Kelsey [ORNL; Hettich, Robert {Bob} L [ORNL

2013-01-01

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are known to play a significant role in many biological functions. The focus of this study is to characterize the post-translational modifications of the cellulosome protein complex used by the bacterium Clostridium thermocellum to better understand how this protein machine is tuned for enzymatic cellulose solubilization. To enhance comprehensive characterization, the extracellular cellulosome proteins were analyzed using multiple proteolytic digests (trypsin, Lys-C, Glu-C) and multiple fragmentation techniques (collisionally-activated dissociation, electron transfer dissociation, decision tree). As expected, peptide and protein identifications were increased by utilizing alternate proteases and fragmentation methods, in addition to the increase in protein sequence coverage. The complementarity of these experiments also allowed for a global exploration of PTMs associated with the cellulosome based upon a set of defined PTMs that included methylation, oxidation, acetylation, phosphorylation, and signal peptide cleavage. In these experiments, 85 modified peptides corresponding to 28 cellulosome proteins were identified. Many of these modifications were located in active cellulolytic or structural domains of the cellulosome proteins, suggesting a level of possible regulatory control of protein function in various cellulotyic conditions. The use of multiple enzymes and fragmentation technologies allowed for independent verification of PTMs in different experiments, thus leading to increased confidence in PTM identifications.

O-GlcNAcylation: a new cancer hallmark?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yann eFardini

2013-08-01

Full Text Available O-linked N-acetylglucosaminylation (O-GlcNAcylation is a reversible post-translational modification consisting in the addition of a sugar moiety to serine/threonine residues of cytosolic or nuclear proteins. Catalyzed by OGT and removed by OGA, this dynamic modification is dependent on environmental glucose concentration. O-GlcNAcylation regulates the activities of a wide panel of proteins involved in almost all aspects of cell biology. As a nutrient sensor, O-GlcNAcylation can relay the effects of excessive nutritional intake, an important cancer risk factor, on protein activities and cellular functions. Indeed, O-GlcNAcylation has been shown to play a significant role in cancer development through different mechanisms. O-GlcNAcylation and OGT levels are increased in different cancers (breast, prostate, colon... and vary during cell cycle progression. Modulating their expression or activity can alter cancer cell proliferation and/or invasion. Interestingly, major oncogenic factors have been shown to be directly O-GlcNAcylated (p53, MYC, NFκB, β-catenin.... Furthermore, chromatin dynamics is modulated by O-GlcNAc. DNA methylation enzymes of the Tet family, involved epigenetic alterations associated with cancer, were recently found to interact with and target OGT to multi-molecular chromatin remodelling complexes. Consistently, histones are subjected to O-GlcNAc modifications which regulate their function. Increasing number of evidences point out the central involvement of O-GlcNAcylation in tumorigenesis, justifying the attention received as a potential new approach for cancer treatment. However, comprehension of the underlying mechanism remains at its beginnings. Future challenge will be to address directly the role of O-GlcNAc-modified residues in oncogenic-related proteins to eventually propose novel strategies to alter cancer development and/or progression.

Production of N-acetyl-D-neuraminic acid using two sequential enzymes overexpressed as double-tagged fusion proteins

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng Chung-Hsien

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Two sequential enzymes in the production of sialic acids, N-acetyl-D-glucosamine 2-epimerase (GlcNAc 2-epimerase and N-acetyl-D-neuraminic acid aldolase (Neu5Ac aldolase, were overexpressed as double-tagged gene fusions. Both were tagged with glutathione S-transferase (GST at the N-terminus, but at the C-terminus, one was tagged with five contiguous aspartate residues (5D, and the other with five contiguous arginine residues (5R. Results Both fusion proteins were overexpressed in Escherichia coli and retained enzymatic activity. The fusions were designed so their surfaces were charged under enzyme reaction conditions, which allowed isolation and immobilization in a single step, through a simple capture with either an anionic or a cationic exchanger (Sepharose Q or Sepharose SP that electrostatically bound the 5D or 5R tag. The introduction of double tags only marginally altered the affinity of the enzymes for their substrates, and the double-tagged proteins were enzymatically active in both soluble and immobilized forms. Combined use of the fusion proteins led to the production of N-acetyl-D-neuraminic acid (Neu5Ac from N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc. Conclusion Double-tagged gene fusions were overexpressed to yield two enzymes that perform sequential steps in sialic acid synthesis. The proteins were easily immobilized via ionic tags onto ionic exchange resins and could thus be purified by direct capture from crude protein extracts. The immobilized, double-tagged proteins were effective for one-pot enzymatic production of sialic acid.

Laser- and UV-assisted modification of polystyrene surfaces for control of protein adsorption and cell adhesion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pfleging, Wilhelm; Torge, Maika; Bruns, Michael; Trouillet, Vanessa; Welle, Alexander; Wilson, Sandra

2009-01-01

An appropriate choice of laser and process parameters enables new approaches for the fabrication of polymeric lab-on-chip devices with integrated functionalities. We will present our current research results in laser-assisted modification of polystyrene (PS) with respect to the fabrication of polymer devices for cell culture applications. For this purpose laser micro-patterning of PS and subsequent surface functionalization was investigated as function of laser and process parameters. A high power ArF-excimer laser radiation source with a pulse length of 19 ns as well as a high repetition ArF-excimer laser source with a pulse length of 5 ns were used in order to study the influence of laser pulse length on laser-induced surface oxidation. The change in surface chemistry was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and contact angle measurements. The difference between laser-assisted modification versus UV-lamp assisted modification was investigated. A photolytic activation of specific areas of the polymer surface and subsequent oxidization in oxygen or ambient air leads to a chemically modified polymer surface bearing carboxylic acid groups well-suited for controlled competitive protein adsorption or protein immobilization. Finally, distinct areas for cell growth and adhesion are obtained

Glycan Reader is improved to recognize most sugar types and chemical modifications in the Protein Data Bank.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Sang-Jun; Lee, Jumin; Patel, Dhilon S; Ma, Hongjing; Lee, Hui Sun; Jo, Sunhwan; Im, Wonpil

2017-10-01

Glycans play a central role in many essential biological processes. Glycan Reader was originally developed to simplify the reading of Protein Data Bank (PDB) files containing glycans through the automatic detection and annotation of sugars and glycosidic linkages between sugar units and to proteins, all based on atomic coordinates and connectivity information. Carbohydrates can have various chemical modifications at different positions, making their chemical space much diverse. Unfortunately, current PDB files do not provide exact annotations for most carbohydrate derivatives and more than 50% of PDB glycan chains have at least one carbohydrate derivative that could not be correctly recognized by the original Glycan Reader. Glycan Reader has been improved and now identifies most sugar types and chemical modifications (including various glycolipids) in the PDB, and both PDB and PDBx/mmCIF formats are supported. CHARMM-GUI Glycan Reader is updated to generate the simulation system and input of various glycoconjugates with most sugar types and chemical modifications. It also offers a new functionality to edit the glycan structures through addition/deletion/modification of glycosylation types, sugar types, chemical modifications, glycosidic linkages, and anomeric states. The simulation system and input files can be used for CHARMM, NAMD, GROMACS, AMBER, GENESIS, LAMMPS, Desmond, OpenMM, and CHARMM/OpenMM. Glycan Fragment Database in GlycanStructure.Org is also updated to provide an intuitive glycan sequence search tool for complex glycan structures with various chemical modifications in the PDB. http://www.charmm-gui.org/input/glycan and http://www.glycanstructure.org. wonpil@lehigh.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

The early metazoan Trichoplax adhaerens possesses a functional O-GlcNAc system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Selvan, Nithya; Mariappa, Daniel; Van Den Toorn, Henk W P; Heck, Albert J R; Ferenbach, Andrew T.; Van Aalten, Daan M F

2015-01-01

Protein O-GlcNAcylation is a reversible post-translational signaling modification of nucleocytoplasmic proteins that is essential for embryonic development in bilateria. In a search for a reductionist model to study O-GlcNAc signaling, we discovered the presence of functional O-GlcNAc transferase

Protein Expression Modifications in Phage-Resistant Mutants of Aeromonas salmonicida after AS-A Phage Treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catarina Moreirinha

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The occurrence of infections by pathogenic bacteria is one of the main sources of financial loss for the aquaculture industry. This problem often cannot be solved with antibiotic treatment or vaccination. Phage therapy seems to be an alternative environmentally-friendly strategy to control infections. Recognizing the cellular modifications that bacteriophage therapy may cause to the host is essential in order to confirm microbial inactivation, while understanding the mechanisms that drive the development of phage-resistant strains. The aim of this work was to detect cellular modifications that occur after phage AS-A treatment in A. salmonicida, an important fish pathogen. Phage-resistant and susceptible cells were subjected to five successive streak-plating steps and analysed with infrared spectroscopy, a fast and powerful tool for cell study. The spectral differences of both populations were investigated and compared with a phage sensitivity profile, obtained through the spot test and efficiency of plating. Changes in protein associated peaks were found, and these results were corroborated by 1-D electrophoresis of intracellular proteins analysis and by phage sensitivity profiles. Phage AS-A treatment before the first streaking-plate step clearly affected the intracellular proteins expression levels of phage-resistant clones, altering the expression of distinct proteins during the subsequent five successive streak-plating steps, making these clones recover and be phenotypically more similar to the sensitive cells.

Proteomic investigation of protein profile changes and amino acid residue-level modification in cooked lamb longissimus thoracis et lumborum: The effect of roasting.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Tzer-Yang; Morton, James D; Clerens, Stefan; Dyer, Jolon M

2016-09-01

Protein modifications of meat cooked by typical dry-heat methods (e.g., roasting) are currently not well understood. The present study utilised a shotgun proteomic approach to examine the molecular-level effect of roasting on thin lamb longissimus thoracis et lumborum patties, in terms of changes to both the protein profile and amino acid residue side-chain modifications. Cooking caused aggregation of actin, myosin heavy chains and sarcoplasmic proteins. Longer roasting time resulted in significantly reduced protein extractability as well as protein truncation involving particularly a number of myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic proteins, e.g., 6-phosphofructokinase, beta-enolase, l-lactate dehydrogenase A chain, alpha-actinin-3, actin and possibly myosin heavy chains. Modifications that have potential influence on nutritional properties, including carboxyethyllysine and a potentially glucose-derived N-terminal Amadori compound, were observed in actin and myoglobin after roasting. This study provided new insights into molecular changes resulting from the dry-heat treatment of meat, such as commonly used in food preparation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

OXIDATIVE MODIFICATION OF PROTEINS AND GLUTATHIONE SYSTEM IN ADIPOCYTES UNDER DIABETES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ye. V. Shakhristova

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Currently, diabetes ranks third in relation to medical and social significance after cardiovascular diseases and cancer and is the leading cause of blindness; it greatly increases the risk of myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, nephropathy and hypertension in patients with this disorder; therefore clinical and experimental studies aimed at investigation of diabetes emergence and development mechanisms are urgent.The aim of the study was to investigate the status of oxidative modification of proteins and glutathionedependent antioxidant defense system in adipocytes of rats with alloxan diabetes under conditions of oxidative stress.Material and methods. Development of type 1 diabetes was induced in rats by alloxan administration (90 mg/kg of body mass. Adipocytes were obtained from epididymal adipose tissue of rats. The level of carbonyl derivatives of proteins, oxidized tryptophan, bityrosine, general, reduced, oxygenated and protein-bound glutathione, as well as glutathione peroxidase activity in adipocytes of rats was determined.Results. In adipocytes of rats with alloxan diabetes, concentration of carbonyl derivatives of proteins, bityrosine and oxidized tryptophan increased on the background of redox-potential of glutathione system and glutathione peroxidase activity decrease.Conclusion. The obtained data indicate the activation of free-radical oxidation of proteins and reduction of antioxidant defense under conditions of oxidative stress in the adipose tissue of rats with alloxan diabetes; this process plays an important role in pathogenesis of diabetes and its complications development.

DbPTM 3.0: an informative resource for investigating substrate site specificity and functional association of protein post-translational modifications.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Cheng-Tsung; Huang, Kai-Yao; Su, Min-Gang; Lee, Tzong-Yi; Bretaña, Neil Arvin; Chang, Wen-Chi; Chen, Yi-Ju; Chen, Yu-Ju; Huang, Hsien-Da

2013-01-01

Protein modification is an extremely important post-translational regulation that adjusts the physical and chemical properties, conformation, stability and activity of a protein; thus altering protein function. Due to the high throughput of mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods in identifying site-specific post-translational modifications (PTMs), dbPTM (http://dbPTM.mbc.nctu.edu.tw/) is updated to integrate experimental PTMs obtained from public resources as well as manually curated MS/MS peptides associated with PTMs from research articles. Version 3.0 of dbPTM aims to be an informative resource for investigating the substrate specificity of PTM sites and functional association of PTMs between substrates and their interacting proteins. In order to investigate the substrate specificity for modification sites, a newly developed statistical method has been applied to identify the significant substrate motifs for each type of PTMs containing sufficient experimental data. According to the data statistics in dbPTM, >60% of PTM sites are located in the functional domains of proteins. It is known that most PTMs can create binding sites for specific protein-interaction domains that work together for cellular function. Thus, this update integrates protein-protein interaction and domain-domain interaction to determine the functional association of PTM sites located in protein-interacting domains. Additionally, the information of structural topologies on transmembrane (TM) proteins is integrated in dbPTM in order to delineate the structural correlation between the reported PTM sites and TM topologies. To facilitate the investigation of PTMs on TM proteins, the PTM substrate sites and the structural topology are graphically represented. Also, literature information related to PTMs, orthologous conservations and substrate motifs of PTMs are also provided in the resource. Finally, this version features an improved web interface to facilitate convenient access to the resource.

Betaine Phosphate (CH3)3N+CH2COO-.H3PO4 Modification Using D2O

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saryati; Ridwan; Deswita; Sugiantoro, Sugik

2002-01-01

Betaine fosfate (CH 3 ) 3 N + CH 2 COO - .H 3 PO 4 modification by using D 2 O has been studied. This modification was carried out by slowly evaporation the saturated Betaine phosphat in the D 2 O solution in the dry box at 40 o C, until the dry crystal were formed. Based on the NMR data, can be concluded that the exchange process with D has been runed well and Betaine phosphate-D (CH 3 ) 3 N + CH 2 COO - .H 3 PO 4 has been resulted. From the X-ray diffraction pattern data can be concluded that there are a deference in the crystal structure between Betaine phosphate and Betaine phosphate modification result. From the Differential Scanning Colorimeter (DSC) diagram at the range temperature from 30 o C to 250 o C, can be shown that the Betaine phosphate-H has two endothermic transition phase, at 99 o C with a very little adsorbed calor and at 221.50 o C with -26.75 cal/g. Modified Betaine phosphate has also two endothermic transition phase, at 99.86 o C with -1.94 cal/g and at 171.01 o C with -3.48 cal/g. It can be conclosed that the D atom substitution on the H atoms in Betaine phosphate, to change the crystal and the endothermic fase temperature and energy

钛酸酯偶联剂对包硅铝钛白粉表面的有机改性%Surface Organic Modification of SiO2 ＆ Al2O3 Coated TiO2 Particles with Titanate Coupling Reagent

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

林玉兰; 王亭杰; 覃操; 金涌

2001-01-01

The surface organic modification of TiO2 particles with titanate coupling reagent,which was pre-coated with double layers of SiO2 and Al2O3,was studied.Experiments showed that the modified particles exhibited hydrophobic characteristics.The modification state of the particle surface was characterized by IR spectroscopic measurement,pyrolytic gas chromatography,thermogravimetric analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectra.The titanate coupling reagent binding with the hydroxyl on the particle surface was analyzed.The surface characteristics of pre-modification and post-modification particles were compared.

Recent advances on the posttranslational modifications of EXTs and their roles in plant cell walls

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Velasquez, Melina; Salter, Juan Salgado; Dorosz, Javier Gloazzo

2012-01-01

The genetic set up and the enzymes that define the O-glycosylation sites and transfer the activated sugars to cell wall glycoprotein Extensins (EXTs) have remained unknown for a long time. We are now beginning to see the emerging components of the molecular machinery that assembles these complex O......-glycoproteins on the plant cell wall. Genes conferring the posttranslational modifications, i.e., proline hydroxylation and subsequent O-glycosylation, of the EXTs have been recently identified. In this review we summarize the enzymes that define the O-glycosylation sites on the O-glycoproteins, i.e., the prolyl 4......-hydroxylases (P4Hs), the glycosyltransferases that transfer arabinose units (named arabinosyltransferases, AraTs), and the one responsible for transferring a single galactose (galactosyltransferase, GalT) on the protein EXT backbones. We discuss the effects of posttranslational modifications on the structure...

A comprehensive platform for the analysis of ubiquitin-like protein modifications using in vivo biotinylation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pirone, Lucia; Xolalpa, Wendy; Sigurdsson, Jón Otti

2017-01-01

L conjugates from interactors, and low quantities of modified substrates. Here we describe bioUbLs, a comprehensive set of tools for studying modifications in Drosophila and mammals, based on multicistronic expression and in vivo biotinylation using the E. coli biotin protein ligase BirA. While the bio...

SnapShot: O-Glycosylation Pathways across Kingdoms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Joshi, Hiren J.; Narimatsu, Yoshiki; Schjoldager, Katrine T.

2018-01-01

O-glycosylation is one of the most abundant and diverse types of post-translational modifications of proteins. O-glycans modulate the structure, stability, and function of proteins and serve generalized as well as highly specific roles in most biological processes. This ShapShot presents types of......-glycans found in different organisms and their principle biosynthetic pathways...

External electric field driven modification of the anomalous and spin Hall conductivities in Fe thin films on MgO(001)

Science.gov (United States)

Pradipto, Abdul-Muizz; Akiyama, Toru; Ito, Tomonori; Nakamura, Kohji

2018-01-01

The effects of applying external electric fields to the anomalous and spin Hall conductivities in Fe thin-film models with different layer thicknesses on MgO(001) are investigated by using first-principles calculations. We observe that, for the considered systems, the application of positive electric field associated with the accumulation of negative charges on the Fe side generally decreases (increases) the anomalous (spin) Hall conductivities. The mapping of the Hall conductivities within the two-dimensional Brillouin zone shows that the electric-field-induced modifications are related to the modification of the band structures of the atoms at the interface with the MgO substrate. In particular, the external electric field affects the Hall conductivities via the modifications of the dx z,dy z orbitals, in which the application of positive electric field pushes the minority-spin states of the dx z,dy z bands closer to the Fermi level. Better agreement with the anomalous Hall conductivity for bulk Fe and a more realistic scenario for the electric field modification of Hall conductivities are obtained by using the thicker layers of Fe on MgO (Fe3/MgO and Fe5/MgO).

Stability of globular proteins in H2O and in D2O

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Efimova, Y.M.; Haemers, S.; Wierczinsky, B.; Norde, W.; Well, van A.A.

2007-01-01

In several experimental techniques D2O rather then H2O is often used as a solvent for proteins. Concerning the influence of the solvent on the stability of the proteins, contradicting results have been reported in literature. In this paper the influence of H2O-D2O solvent substitution on the

Surface-defect induced modifications in the optical properties of α-MnO{sub 2} nanorods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

John, Reenu Elizabeth [Department of Physics, St. Berchmans College, Changanassery, Kerala 686101 (India); Chandran, Anoop [School of Pure and Applied Physics, MG University, Kottayam, Kerala 686560 (India); Thomas, Marykutty [Department of Physics, BCM College, Kottayam, Kerala 686001 (India); Jose, Joshy [Department of Physics, St. Berchmans College, Changanassery, Kerala 686101 (India); George, K.C., E-mail: drkcgeorge@gmail.com [Department of Physics, St. Berchmans College, Changanassery, Kerala 686101 (India)

2016-03-30

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Alpha-MnO{sub 2} nanorods are prepared by chemical method. • Difference in surface defect density is achieved. • Characterized using XRD, Rietveld, XPS, EDS, HR-TEM, BET, UV–vis absorption spectroscopy and PL spectroscopy. • Explains the bandstructure modification due to Jahn–Teller distortions using crystal field theory. • Modification in the intensity of optical emissions related to defect levels validates the concept of surface defect induced tuning of optical properties. - Abstract: The science of defect engineering via surface tuning opens a new route to modify the inherent properties of nanomaterials for advanced functional and practical applications. In this work, two independent synthesis methods (hydrothermal and co-precipitation) are adopted to fabricate α-MnO{sub 2} nanorods with different defect structures so as to understand the effect of surface modifications on their optical properties. The crystal structure and morphology of samples are investigated with the aid of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Atomic composition calculated from energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) confirms non-stoichiometry of the samples. The surface properties and chemical environment are thoroughly studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. Bond angle variance and bond valence sum are determined to validate distortions in the basic MnO{sub 6} octahedron. The surface studies indicate that the concentration of Jahn–Teller manganese (III) (Mn{sup 3+}) ion in the samples differ from each other which results in their distinct properties. Band structure modifications due to Jahn–Teller distortion are examined with the aid of ultraviolet–visible (UV) reflectance and photoluminescence (PL) studies. The dual peaks obtained in derivative spectrum conflict the current concept on the bandgap energy of MnO{sub 2}. These

Crystallite growth kinetics of TiO{sub 2} surface modification with 9 mol% ZnO prepared by a coprecipitation process

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ko, Horng-Huey [Department of Fragrance and Cosmetic Science, Kaohsiung Medical University, 100 Shih-Chuan 1st Road, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan (China); Hsi, Chi-Shiung [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National United University, 1 Lein-Da, Kung-Ching Li, Miao-Li 36003, Taiwan (China); Wang, Moo-Chin, E-mail: mcwang@kmu.edu.tw [Department of Fragrance and Cosmetic Science, Kaohsiung Medical University, 100 Shih-Chuan 1st Road, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan (China); Zhao, Xiujian, E-mail: opluse@whut.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070 (China)

2014-03-05

Highlights: • TiO{sub 2} powder surface modification with 9 mol% ZnO was obtained. • Phase transformation from anatase to rutile was hindered by ZnO added. • Growth kinetic of anatase TiO{sub 2} nanocrystallites in T-9Z powders was described as: D{sub A,9}{sup 2}=2.42×10{sup 5}×exp(-39.9×10{sup 3}/RT). • Growth kinetic of rutile TiO{sub 2} nanocrystallites in T-9Z powders was described as: D{sub R,9}{sup 2}=8.49×10{sup 5}×exp(-47.6×10{sup 3}/RT) rutile TiO{sub 2}. -- Abstract: The nanocrystallite growth of TiO{sub 2} surface modification with 9 mol% ZnO prepared by a coprecipitation process has been studied. Thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and UV–VIS–NIR spectrophotometry have been utilized to characterize the TiO{sub 2} nanocrystallites surface modification with 9 mol% ZnO (denoted by T-9Z). The DTA result shows that the anatase TiO{sub 2} first formed at 533 K and the completion of anatase TiO{sub 2} crystallization occurred at 745 K for the T-9Z freeze-dried precursor powders. XRD results reveal that the anatase and rutile TiO{sub 2} coexist when the T-9Z freeze-dried precursor powders were calcined at 523–973 K for 2 h. When the T-9Z freeze-dried precursor powders were calcined at 973 K for 2 h, rutile TiO{sub 2} was the major phase, and the minor phases were anatase TiO{sub 2} and Zn{sub 2}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 8}. The phase was composed of the rutile TiO{sub 2} and Zn{sub 2}TiO{sub 4} for the T-9Z freeze-dried precursor powders after calcination at 1273 K for 2 h. The growth kinetics of TiO{sub 2} nanocrystallites in T-9Z powders were described as: D{sub A,9}{sup 2}=2.42×10{sup 5}×exp(-39.9×10{sup 3}/RT)and D{sub R,9}{sup 2}=8.49×10{sup 5}×exp(-47.6×10{sup 3}/RT) for anatase and rutile TiO{sub 2} nanocrystallites respectively. The analysis results of UV/VIS/NIR spectra reveal that the T-9Z freeze

A Simple Surface Modification of NiO Cathode with TiO2 Nano-Particles for Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFCs)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Hee Seon; Kim, Keon; Yi, Cheolwoo

2014-01-01

The TiO 2 -modified Ni powders, prepared by the simple method (ball-milling and subsequent annealing) without resorting to any complex coating process, eventually form nickel titanate passive layer at high temperature. It as good corrosion resistance in molten carbonates media and higher electrical conductivity at high temperature. In addition, the modified cathode increases the degree of lithiation during the operation of MCFC. These positive effects provide a decrease in the internal resistance and improve the cell performance. Results obtained from this study can be applied to develop the surface modification of cathode materials and the performance of molten carbonate fuel cells. Molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) are efficient energy conversion devices to convert chemical energy into electrical energy through the electrochemical reaction. Because of a lot of advantages of MCFC operated at high temperature, many researchers have been trying to apply it to large-scaled power generations, marine boats, and so on. Among various cathode materials, nickel oxide, NiO, is the most widely used cathode for MCFCs due to its stability and high electrical conductivity, but the degradation of cathode material, so-called NiO dissolution, prevents a long-term operation of MCFC. In order to overcome the drawback, numerous studies have been performed. One of the most useful ways to enhance the surface property and maintain the bulk property of the host materials is the surface modification. The most common modification method is coating and these coating procedures which need some complicated steps with the use of organic materials, but it restricts the large-scale fabrication. In this study, to improve the electrochemical performance, we have prepared an alternative MCFC cathode material, TiO 2 -modified NiO, by simple method without resorting to any complex coating process. Results obtained in this study can provide an effective way to mass-produce the cathode materials

Modification of oxide films by ion implantation: TiO2-films modified by Ti+ and O+ as example

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schultze, J.W.; Elfenthal, L.; Leitner, K.; Meyer, O.

1988-01-01

Oxide films can be modified by ion implantation. Changes in the electrochemical properties of the films are due to the deposition profile of the implanted ion, ie doping and stoichiometric changes, as well as to the radiation damage. The latter is due to the formation of Frenkel defects and at high concentrations to a complete amorphization of the oxide film. TiOsub(x)-films with 1 + - and O + -ions into anodic oxide films on titanium. The electrode capacity shows always the behaviour of an n-type semiconductor with an almost constant flatband potential but a strong maximum donor concentration at about 3% Ti + concentration. Oxygen implantation, on the other hand, causes a small increase of donor concentration only at high concentration of O + . Electron transfer reactions show strong modifications of the electronic behaviour of the oxide film with a maximum again at 3% titanium. Photocurrent spectra prove the increasing amorphization and show interband states 2.6 eV above the VB or below the CB. During repassivation measurements at various potentials different defects formed by Ti + - and O + -implantation become mobile. A tentative model of the band structure is constructed which takes into account the interband states due to localised Ti + - and O + -ions. The modification of ion implanted oxide films is compared with the effects of other preparation techniques. (author)

Sequence tagging reveals unexpected modifications in toxicoproteomics

Science.gov (United States)

Dasari, Surendra; Chambers, Matthew C.; Codreanu, Simona G.; Liebler, Daniel C.; Collins, Ben C.; Pennington, Stephen R.; Gallagher, William M.; Tabb, David L.

2010-01-01

Toxicoproteomic samples are rich in posttranslational modifications (PTMs) of proteins. Identifying these modifications via standard database searching can incur significant performance penalties. Here we describe the latest developments in TagRecon, an algorithm that leverages inferred sequence tags to identify modified peptides in toxicoproteomic data sets. TagRecon identifies known modifications more effectively than the MyriMatch database search engine. TagRecon outperformed state of the art software in recognizing unanticipated modifications from LTQ, Orbitrap, and QTOF data sets. We developed user-friendly software for detecting persistent mass shifts from samples. We follow a three-step strategy for detecting unanticipated PTMs in samples. First, we identify the proteins present in the sample with a standard database search. Next, identified proteins are interrogated for unexpected PTMs with a sequence tag-based search. Finally, additional evidence is gathered for the detected mass shifts with a refinement search. Application of this technology on toxicoproteomic data sets revealed unintended cross-reactions between proteins and sample processing reagents. Twenty five proteins in rat liver showed signs of oxidative stress when exposed to potentially toxic drugs. These results demonstrate the value of mining toxicoproteomic data sets for modifications. PMID:21214251

O-GlcNAcase expression is sensitive to changes in O-GlcNAc homeostasis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ZHEN eZHANG

2014-12-01

Full Text Available O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc is a post-translational modification involving an attachment of a single β-N-acetylglucosamine moiety to serine or threonine residues in nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins. Cellular O-GlcNAc levels are regulated by two enzymes: O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT and O-GlcNAcase (OGA, which add and remove the modification respectively. The levels of O-GlcNAc can rapidly change in response to fluctuations in the extracellular environment; however, O-GlcNAcylation returns to a baseline level quickly after stimulus removal. This process termed O-GlcNAc homeostasis appears to be critical to the regulation of many cellular functions including cell cycle progress, stress response, and gene transcription. Disruptions in O-GlcNAc homeostasis are proposed to lead to the development of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. O-GlcNAc homeostasis is correlated with the expression of OGT and OGA. We reason that alterations in O-GlcNAc levels affect OGA and OGT transcription. We treated several human cell lines with Thiamet-G (TMG, an OGA inhibitor to increase overall O-GlcNAc levels resulting in decreased OGT protein expression and increased OGA protein expression. OGT transcript levels slightly declined with TMG treatment, but OGA transcript levels were significantly increased. Pretreating cells with protein translation inhibitor cycloheximide (CHX did not stabilize OGT or OGA protein expression in the presence of TMG; nor did TMG stabilize OGT and OGA mRNA levels when cells were treated with RNA transcription inhibitor actinomycin D (AMD. Finally, we performed RNA Polymerase II chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP at the OGA promoter and found RNA Pol II occupancy at the transcription start site (TSS was lower after prolonged TMG treatment. Together, these data suggest that OGA transcription was sensitive to changes in O-GlcNAc homeostasis and was potentially regulated by O-GlcNAc.

Protein-RNA linkage and posttranslational modifications of feline calicivirus and murine norovirus VPg proteins

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Allan Olspert

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Members of the Caliciviridae family of positive sense RNA viruses cause a wide range of diseases in both humans and animals. The detailed characterization of the calicivirus life cycle had been hampered due to the lack of robust cell culture systems and experimental tools for many of the members of the family. However, a number of caliciviruses replicate efficiently in cell culture and have robust reverse genetics systems available, most notably feline calicivirus (FCV and murine norovirus (MNV. These are therefore widely used as representative members with which to examine the mechanistic details of calicivirus genome translation and replication. The replication of the calicivirus RNA genome occurs via a double-stranded RNA intermediate that is then used as a template for the production of new positive sense viral RNA, which is covalently linked to the virus-encoded protein VPg. The covalent linkage to VPg occurs during genome replication via the nucleotidylylation activity of the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. Using FCV and MNV, we used mass spectrometry-based approach to identify the specific amino acid linked to the 5′ end of the viral nucleic acid. We observed that both VPg proteins are covalently linked to guanosine diphosphate (GDP moieties via tyrosine positions 24 and 26 for FCV and MNV respectively. These data fit with previous observations indicating that mutations introduced into these specific amino acids are deleterious for viral replication and fail to produce infectious virus. In addition, we also detected serine phosphorylation sites within the FCV VPg protein with positions 80 and 107 found consistently phosphorylated on VPg-linked viral RNA isolated from infected cells. This work provides the first direct experimental characterization of the linkage of infectious calicivirus viral RNA to the VPg protein and highlights that post-translational modifications of VPg may also occur during the viral life cycle.

Precision mapping of the human O-GalNAc glycoproteome through SimpleCell technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steentoft, Catharina; Vakhrushev, Sergey; Joshi, Hiren Jitendra

2013-01-01

Glycosylation is the most abundant and diverse posttranslational modification of proteins. While several types of glycosylation can be predicted by the protein sequence context, and substantial knowledge of these glycoproteomes is available, our knowledge of the GalNAc-type O-glycosylation is hig......Glycosylation is the most abundant and diverse posttranslational modification of proteins. While several types of glycosylation can be predicted by the protein sequence context, and substantial knowledge of these glycoproteomes is available, our knowledge of the GalNAc-type O......-glycosylation is highly limited. This type of glycosylation is unique in being regulated by 20 polypeptide GalNAc-transferases attaching the initiating GalNAc monosaccharides to Ser and Thr (and likely some Tyr) residues. We have developed a genetic engineering approach using human cell lines to simplify O...

Structural analysis of DNA–protein complexes regulating the restriction–modification system Esp1396I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, Richard N. A.; McGeehan, John E.; Ball, Neil J.; Streeter, Simon D.; Thresh, Sarah-Jane; Kneale, G. G.

2013-01-01

Comparison of bound and unbound DNA in protein–DNA co-crystal complexes reveals insights into controller-protein binding and DNA distortion in transcriptional regulation. The controller protein of the type II restriction–modification (RM) system Esp1396I binds to three distinct DNA operator sequences upstream of the methyltransferase and endonuclease genes in order to regulate their expression. Previous biophysical and crystallographic studies have shown molecular details of how the controller protein binds to the operator sites with very different affinities. Here, two protein–DNA co-crystal structures containing portions of unbound DNA from native operator sites are reported. The DNA in both complexes shows significant distortion in the region between the conserved symmetric sequences, similar to that of a DNA duplex when bound by the controller protein (C-protein), indicating that the naked DNA has an intrinsic tendency to bend when not bound to the C-protein. Moreover, the width of the major groove of the DNA adjacent to a bound C-protein dimer is observed to be significantly increased, supporting the idea that this DNA distortion contributes to the substantial cooperativity found when a second C-protein dimer binds to the operator to form the tetrameric repression complex

Modifications of proteins by polyunsaturated fatty acid peroxidation products

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Refsgaard, Hanne; Tsai, Lin; Stadtman, Earl

2000-01-01

The ability of unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters to modify amino acid residues in bovine serum albumin (BSA), glutamine synthetase, and insulin in the presence of a metal-catalyzed oxidation system [ascorbate/Fe(lll)/O-2] depends on the degree of unsaturation of the fatty acid. The fatty acid......-dependent generation of carbonyl groups and loss of lysine residues increased in the order methyl linoleate fatty acids were oxidized in the presence...... in the formation of protein carbonyls, These results are consistent with the proposition that metal-catalyzed oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids can contribute to the generation of protein carbonyls by direct interaction of lipid oxidation products (alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes) with lysine residues...

Surface modification of RuO2 electrodes by laser irradiation and ion ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

RuO2 thin layers were deposited on Ti supports by thermal decomposition of RuCl3 at 400°C. Some of the samples were subjected to laser irradiation between 0.5 and 1.5 J cm-2. Some others to Kr bombardment with doses between 1015 and 1016 cm-2. Modifications introduced by the surface treatments were monitored ...

Extraction and Characterization of Extracellular Proteins and Their Post-Translational Modifications from Arabidopsis thaliana Suspension Cell Cultures and Seedlings: A Critical Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mina Ghahremani

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Proteins secreted by plant cells into the extracellular space, consisting of the cell wall, apoplastic fluid, and rhizosphere, play crucial roles during development, nutrient acquisition, and stress acclimation. However, isolating the full range of secreted proteins has proven difficult, and new strategies are constantly evolving to increase the number of proteins that can be detected and identified. In addition, the dynamic nature of the extracellular proteome presents the further challenge of identifying and characterizing the post-translational modifications (PTMs of secreted proteins, particularly glycosylation and phosphorylation. Such PTMs are common and important regulatory modifications of proteins, playing a key role in many biological processes. This review explores the most recent methods in isolating and characterizing the plant extracellular proteome with a focus on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, highlighting the current challenges yet to be overcome. Moreover, the crucial role of protein PTMs in cell wall signalling, development, and plant responses to biotic and abiotic stress is discussed.

Synthesis and Characterization of a New Modification of the Quasi-Low-Dimensional Compound KMo 4O 6

Science.gov (United States)

Ramanujachary, K. V.; Greenblatt, D. M.; Jones, E. B.; McCarroll, W. H.

1993-01-01

Prismatic single crystals, up to 3 mm in length, of a third modification of KMo4O6 have been prepared by electrolysis of a melt with a high ratio of K2MoO4 to MoO3. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the structure conforms more closely than the other two modifications to that reported originally for NaMo4O6. When current is passed parallel to the tetragonal c axis (i.e., parallel to the trans-edge-sharing chains of Mo6 octahedra) the compound displays metallic conductivity down to 100 K, where a broad transition to semiconducting behavior occurs. If the current is passed perpendicular to the c axis the conductivity is approximately a factor of 5 lower. Magnetic susceptibility measurements on a randomly oriented collection of crystals showed Pauli paramagnetic behavior with a small Curie tail at low temperatures.

Efficient silver modification of TiO2 nanotubes with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jing; Ding, Lei; Xi, Yaoning; Shi, Liang; Su, Ge; Gao, Rongjie; Wang, Wei; Dong, Bohua; Cao, Lixin

2018-06-01

In this paper, Ag(CH3NH2)2+, Ag(NH3)2+ and Ag+ with different radii have been used as silver sources to find out the distribution of Ag ions on the H-TNT surface, which is critical to the final performance. The influence of this distribution on visible photocatalytic activity is further studied. The results indicate that, when Ag+ used as silver source with low concentration, these small sized silver ions mainly distribute on interlayer spacing of H-TNT. After heat-treatment and photo-reduction, the generated silver nanoparticles uniformly embed in the anatase TiO2 nanotube walls, and bring large interfacial area between Ag particles and TiO2 nanotubes. The separation effect of photogenerated electron-hole pair in TiO2 is enhanced by Ag particles, and achieves the best at 0.15 g/L, much higher than P25, TiO2/0, Ag-N@TiO2 and Ag-C-N@TiO2. This paper provides new ideas for the modification of TiO2 nanotubes.

Laser-assisted modification of polystyrene surfaces for cell culture applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pfleging, Wilhelm; Bruns, Michael; Welle, Alexander; Wilson, Sandra

2007-01-01

Laser-assisted patterning and modification of polystyrene (PS) was investigated with respect to applications in micro-fluidics and cell culture. For this purpose the wettability, the adsorption of proteins and the adhesion of animal cells were investigated as function of laser- and processing parameters. The change of surface chemistry was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The local formation of chemical structures suitable for improved cell adhesion was realized on PS surfaces by UV laser irradiation. Above and below the laser ablation threshold two different mechanisms affecting cell adhesion were detected. In the first case the debris deposited on and along laser irradiated areas was responsible for improved cell adhesion, while in the second case a photolytic activation of the polymer surface including a subsequent oxidization in oxygen or ambient air is leading to a highly localized alteration of protein adsorption from cell culture media and finally to increased cell adhesion. Laser modifications of PS using suitable exposure doses and an appropriate choice of the processing gas (helium or oxygen) enabled a highly localized control of wetting. The dynamic advancing contact angle could be adjusted between 2 o and 150 o . The hydrophilic and hydrophobic behaviour are caused by chemical and topographical surface changes

Conflict RNA modification, host-parasite co-evolution, and the origins of DNA and DNA-binding proteins1.

Science.gov (United States)

McLaughlin, Paul J; Keegan, Liam P

2014-08-01

Nearly 150 different enzymatically modified forms of the four canonical residues in RNA have been identified. For instance, enzymes of the ADAR (adenosine deaminase acting on RNA) family convert adenosine residues into inosine in cellular dsRNAs. Recent findings show that DNA endonuclease V enzymes have undergone an evolutionary transition from cleaving 3' to deoxyinosine in DNA and ssDNA to cleaving 3' to inosine in dsRNA and ssRNA in humans. Recent work on dsRNA-binding domains of ADARs and other proteins also shows that a degree of sequence specificity is achieved by direct readout in the minor groove. However, the level of sequence specificity observed is much less than that of DNA major groove-binding helix-turn-helix proteins. We suggest that the evolution of DNA-binding proteins following the RNA to DNA genome transition represents the major advantage that DNA genomes have over RNA genomes. We propose that a hypothetical RNA modification, a RRAR (ribose reductase acting on genomic dsRNA) produced the first stretches of DNA in RNA genomes. We discuss why this is the most satisfactory explanation for the origin of DNA. The evolution of this RNA modification and later steps to DNA genomes are likely to have been driven by cellular genome co-evolution with viruses and intragenomic parasites. RNA modifications continue to be involved in host-virus conflicts; in vertebrates, edited cellular dsRNAs with inosine-uracil base pairs appear to be recognized as self RNA and to suppress activation of innate immune sensors that detect viral dsRNA.

Crosslinking Protein Glutathionylation Mediated by O2-Arylated Bis-Diazeniumdiolate “Double JS-K”

Science.gov (United States)

Holland, Ryan J.; Maciag, Anna E.; Kumar, Varun; Shi, Lei; Saavedra, Joseph E.; Prud’homme, Robert K.; Chakrapani, Harinath; Keefer, Larry K.

2012-01-01

Attachment of glutathione (GSH) to cysteine residues in proteins (S-glutathionylation) is a reversible post-translational modification that can profoundly alter protein structure and function. Often serving in a protective role, e.g., by temporarily saving protein thiols from irreversible oxidation and inactivation, glutathionylation can be identified and semi-quantitatively assessed using anti-GSH antibodies, thought to be specific for recognition of the S-glutathionylation modification. Here we describe an alternate mechanism of protein glutathionylation in which the sulfur atoms of the GSH and the protein’s thiol group are covalently bound via a crosslinking agent, rather than through a disulfide bond. This form of thiol crosslinking has been shown to occur and confirmed by mass spectrometry at the solution chemistry level, as well as in experiments documenting the potent antiproliferative activity of the bis-diazeniumdiolate Double JS-K in H1703 cells in vitro and in vivo. The modification is recognized by the anti-GSH antibody as if it were authentic S-glutathionylation, requiring mass spectrometry to distinguish between them. PMID:23106594

The Role of Protein Modifications of T-Bet in Cytokine Production and Differentiation of T Helper Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sera Oh

2014-01-01

Full Text Available T-Bet (T-box protein expressed in T cells, also called as TBX21 was originally cloned as a key transcription factor involved in the commitment of T helper (Th cells to the Th1 lineage. T-Bet directly activates IFN-γ gene transcription and enhances development of Th1 cells. T-Bet simultaneously modulates IL-2 and Th2 cytokines in an IFN-γ-independent manner, resulting in an attenuation of Th2 cell development. Numerous studies have demonstrated that T-bet plays multiple roles in many subtypes of immune cells, including B cell, dendritic cells, natural killer (NK cells, NK T cells, and innate lymphoid cells. Therefore, T-bet is crucial for the development and coordination of both innate and adaptive immune responses. To fulfill these multiple roles, T-bet undergoes several posttranslational protein modifications, such as phosphorylation at tyrosine, serine, and threonine residues, and ubiquitination at lysine residues, which affect lineage commitment during Th cell differentiation. This review presents a current overview of the progress made in understanding the roles of various types of T-bet protein modifications in the regulation of cytokine production during Th cell differentiation.

Reducing ZnO nanoparticle cytotoxicity by surface modification.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Mingdeng; Shen, Cenchao; Feltis, Bryce N; Martin, Lisandra L; Hughes, Anthony E; Wright, Paul F A; Turney, Terence W

2014-06-07

Nanoparticulate zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the most widely used engineered nanomaterials and its toxicology has gained considerable recent attention. A key aspect for controlling biological interactions at the nanoscale is understanding the relevant nanoparticle surface chemistry. In this study, we have determined the disposition of ZnO nanoparticles within human immune cells by measurement of total Zn, as well as the proportions of extra- and intracellular dissolved Zn as a function of dose and surface coating. From this mass balance, the intracellular soluble Zn levels showed little difference in regard to dose above a certain minimal level or to different surface coatings. PEGylation of ZnO NPs reduced their cytotoxicity as a result of decreased cellular uptake arising from a minimal protein corona. We conclude that the key role of the surface properties of ZnO NPs in controlling cytotoxicity is to regulate cellular nanoparticle uptake rather than altering either intracellular or extracellular Zn dissolution.

Tandem Affinity Purification Approach Coupled to Mass Spectrometry to Identify Post-translational Modifications of Histones Associated with Chromatin-Binding Proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Beyer, Sophie; Robin, Philippe; Ait-Si-Ali, Slimane

2017-01-01

Protein purification by tandem affinity purification (TAP)-tag coupled to mass spectrometry analysis is usually used to reveal protein complex composition. Here we describe a TAP-tag purification of chromatin-bound proteins along with associated nucleosomes, which allow exhaustive identification of protein partners. Moreover, this method allows exhaustive identification of the post-translational modifications (PTMs) of the associated histones. Thus, in addition to partner characterization, this approach reveals the associated epigenetic landscape that can shed light on the function and properties of the studied chromatin-bound protein.

Activity, splice variants, conserved peptide motifs, and phylogeny of two new alpha1,3-fucosyltransferase families (FUT10 and FUT11).

Science.gov (United States)

Mollicone, Rosella; Moore, Stuart E H; Bovin, Nicolai; Garcia-Rosasco, Marcela; Candelier, Jean-Jacques; Martinez-Duncker, Iván; Oriol, Rafael

2009-02-13

We report the cloning of three splice variants of the FUT10 gene, encoding for active alpha-l-fucosyltransferase-isoforms of 391, 419, and 479 amino acids, and two splice variants of the FUT11 gene, encoding for two related alpha-l-fucosyltransferases of 476 and 492 amino acids. The FUT10 and FUT11 appeared 830 million years ago, whereas the other alpha1,3-fucosyltransferases emerged 450 million years ago. FUT10-391 and FUT10-419 were expressed in human embryos, whereas FUT10-479 was cloned from adult brain and was not found in embryos. Recombinant FUT10-419 and FUT10-479 have a type II trans-membrane topology and are retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by a membrane retention signal at their NH(2) termini. The FUT10-479 has, in addition, a COOH-ER membrane retention signal. The FUT10-391 is a soluble protein without a trans-membrane domain or ER retention signal that transiently localizes to the Golgi and then is routed to the lysosome. After transfection in COS7 cells, the three FUT10s and at least one FUT11, link alpha-l-fucose onto conalbumin glycopeptides and biantennary N-glycan acceptors but not onto short lactosaminyl acceptor substrates as do classical monoexonic alpha1,3-fucosyltransferases. Modifications of the innermost core GlcNAc of the N-glycan, by substitution with ManNAc or with an opened GlcNAc ring or by the addition of an alpha1,6-fucose, suggest that the FUT10 transfer is performed on the innermost GlcNAc of the core chitobiose. We can exclude alpha1,3-fucosylation of the two peripheral GlcNAcs linked to the trimannosyl core of the acceptor, because the FUT10 fucosylated biantennary N-glycan product loses both terminal GlcNAc residues after digestion with human placenta alpha-N-acetylglucosaminidase.

Modification-specific proteomics: strategies for characterization of post-translational modifications using enrichment techniques

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhao, Yingming; Jensen, Ole N

2009-01-01

More than 300 different types of protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) have been described, many of which are known to have pivotal roles in cellular physiology and disease. Nevertheless, only a handful of PTMs have been extensively investigated at the proteome level. Knowledge of protein...... substrates and their PTM sites is key to dissection of PTM-mediated cellular processes. The past several years have seen a tremendous progress in developing MS-based proteomics technologies for global PTM analysis, including numerous studies of yeast and other microbes. Modification-specific enrichment...

BBD Optimization of K-ZnO Catalyst Modification Process for Heterogeneous Transesterification of Rice Bran Oil to Biodiesel

Science.gov (United States)

Kabo, K. S.; Yacob, A. R.; Bakar, W. A. W. A.; Buang, N. A.; Bello, A. M.; Ruskam, A.

2016-07-01

Environmentally benign zinc oxide (ZnO) was modified with 0-15% (wt.) potassium through wet impregnation and used in transesterification of rice bran oil (RBO) to form biodiesel. The catalyst was characterized by X-Ray powder Diffraction (XRD), its basic sites determined by back titration and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) Box-Behnken Design (BBD) was used to optimize the modification process variables on the basic sites of the catalyst. The transesterification product, biodiesel was analyzed by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The result reveals K-modified ZnO with highly increased basic sites. Quadratic model with high regression R2 = 0.9995 was obtained from the ANOVA of modification process, optimization at maximum basic sites criterion gave optimum modification conditions of K-loading = 8.5% (wt.), calcination temperature = 480 oC and time = 4 hours with response and basic sites = 8.14 mmol/g which is in close agreement with the experimental value of 7.64 mmol/g. The catalyst was used and a value of 95.53% biodiesel conversion was obtained and effect of potassium leaching was not significant in the process

Preparation and surface modification of hierarchical nanosheets-based ZnO microstructures for dye-sensitized solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meng, Yongming; Lin, Yu, E-mail: linyuyrr@163.com; Lin, Yibing; Yang, Jiyuan

2014-02-15

This paper reports a simple one-step hydrothermal route for the preparation of hierarchical nanosheets-based ZnO microstructures and their application to dye-sensitized solar cells. The morphologies of the products were controlled by the dosage of the reactants. Their physical characteristics were detected by X-ray diffraction, a field-emission scanning electron microscope and a surface analyzer. It is proved that the sample of ZnO microspheres with larger surface area and stronger light-trapping capacity since the superiority of their entirely spherical structures exhibits better photoelectrochemical properties than the mixtures of ZnO microspheres and ZnO microflowers. A dye-sensitized solar cell assembled by the ZnO microspheres as photoanode shows an energy conversion efficiency of 2.94% after surface modification by tetrabutyl titanate solution at 90 {sup °}C. This result is over 1.6 times higher than the non-modified cell fabricated by the ZnO microspheres on the basis of the external improvement and the stability enhancement for the dye-sensitized ZnO photoanode. - Graphical abstract: Influences on energy conversion efficiency of the dye-sensitized solar cells assembled by decorating hierarchical nanosheets-based ZnO microstructures with tetrabutyl titanate solution at different temperatures. Display Omitted - Highlights: • Hierarchical nanosheets-based ZnO microstructures were controllably synthesized. • The ZnO microspheres show good optical and electrochemical properties. • The ZnO microspheres were modified by C{sub 16}H{sub 36}O{sub 4}Ti solution. • Remarkable increase of conversion efficiency is observed after surface modification.

Xylosylation of proteins by expression of human xylosyltransferase 2 in plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Matsuo, Kouki; Atsumi, Go

2018-04-12

Through the years, the post-translational modification of plant-made recombinant proteins has been a considerable problem. Protein glycosylation is arguably the most important post-translational modification; thus, for the humanization of protein glycosylation in plants, the introduction, repression, and knockout of many glycosylation-related genes has been carried out. In addition, plants lack mammalian-type protein O-glycosylation pathways; thus, for the synthesis of mammalian O-glycans in plants, the construction of these pathways is necessary. In this study, we successfully xylosylated the recombinant human proteoglycan core protein, serglycin, by transient expression of human xylosyltransferase 2 in Nicotiana benthamiana plants. When human serglycin was co-expressed with human xylosyltransferase 2 in plants, multiple serine residues of eight xylosylation candidates were xylosylated. From the results of carbohydrate assays for total soluble proteins, some endogenous plant proteins also appeared to be xylosylated, likely through the actions of xylosyltransferase 2. The xylosylation of core proteins is the initial step of the glycosaminoglycan part of the synthesis of proteoglycans. In the future, these novel findings may lead to whole mammalian proteoglycan synthesis in plants. Copyright © 2018 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparative proteome analysis between C . briggsae embryos and larvae reveals a role of chromatin modification proteins in embryonic cell division

KAUST Repository

An, Xiaomeng

2017-06-21

Caenorhabditis briggsae has emerged as a model for comparative biology against model organism C. elegans. Most of its cell fate specifications are completed during embryogenesis whereas its cell growth is achieved mainly in larval stages. The molecular mechanism underlying the drastic developmental changes is poorly understood. To gain insights into the molecular changes between the two stages, we compared the proteomes between the two stages using iTRAQ. We identified a total of 2,791 proteins in the C. briggsae embryos and larvae, 247 of which undergo up- or down-regulation between the two stages. The proteins that are upregulated in the larval stages are enriched in the Gene Ontology categories of energy production, protein translation, and cytoskeleton; whereas those upregulated in the embryonic stage are enriched in the categories of chromatin dynamics and posttranslational modification, suggesting a more active chromatin modification in the embryos than in the larva. Perturbation of a subset of chromatin modifiers followed by cell lineage analysis suggests their roles in controlling cell division pace. Taken together, we demonstrate a general molecular switch from chromatin modification to metabolism during the transition from C. briggsae embryonic to its larval stages using iTRAQ approach. The switch might be conserved across metazoans.

Effect of heavy-metal insertions at Fe/MgO interfaces on electric-field-induced modification of magnetocrystalline anisotropy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nakamura, K.; Nomura, T. [Department of Physics Engineering, Mie University, Tsu, Mie 514-8507 (Japan); Pradipto, A.-M. [Department of Physics Engineering, Mie University, Tsu, Mie 514-8507 (Japan); Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011 (Japan); Nawa, K.; Akiyama, T.; Ito, T. [Department of Physics Engineering, Mie University, Tsu, Mie 514-8507 (Japan)

2017-05-01

Magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA) at Fe/MgO interfaces with insertions of 3d (Co, Ni), 4d (Ru, Rh, Pd), and 5d (Os, Ir, Pt) elements in external electric fields was investigated from first-principles calculations. The MCA energy and the electric-field-induced MCA modification dramatically depend on the inserted elements. Large MCA modification may be achieved by heavy-metal insertions, in which the strength of spin-orbit coupling of inserted elements and the position of the Fermi level relative to d band level play key roles. - Highlights: • MCA at Fe/MgO interface dramatically depends on insertions of 3d, 4d, and 5d elements. • Large electric-field-induced MCA modification is achieved by heavy-metal insertions. • Position of Fermi level relative to d band level plays key role in determining MCA.

Measuring O-GlcNAc cleavage by OGA and cell lysates on a peptide microarray

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sharif, Suhela; Shi, Jie; Bourakba, Mostafa; Ruijtenbeek, Rob; Pieters, Roland J.

2017-01-01

O-GlcNAcylation is a post-translational modification resulting from the addition of an N-acetylglucosamine moiety to the hydroxyl groups of serine and threonine residues of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins. In addition, O-GlcNAcylated proteins can be phosphorylated, which suggests the possibility

Role of post-translational modifications on structure, function and pharmacology of class C G protein-coupled receptors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørskov-Lauritsen, Lenea; Bräuner-Osborne, Hans

2015-01-01

taste receptors (T1R1-3), one calcium-sensing (CaS) receptor, one GPCR, class C, group 6, subtype A (GPRC6) receptor, and seven orphan receptors. G protein-coupled receptors undergo a number of post-translational modifications, which regulate their structure, function and/or pharmacology. Here, we...

Improved efficiency of nanoneedle insertion by modification with a cell-puncturing protein

Science.gov (United States)

Ryu, Seunghwan; Matsumoto, Yuta; Matsumoto, Takahiro; Ueno, Takafumi; Silberberg, Yaron R.; Nakamura, Chikashi

2018-03-01

An atomic force microscope (AFM) probe etched into an ultra-sharp cylindrical shape (a nanoneedle) can be inserted into a living cell and mechanical responses of the insertion process are represented as force-distance curves using AFM. A probe-molecule-functionalized nanoneedle can be used to detect intracellular molecules of interest in situ. The insertion efficiencies of nanoneedles vary among cell types due to the cortex structures of cells, and some cell types, such as mouse fibroblast Balb/3T3 cells, show extremely low efficacy of insertion. We addressed this issue by using a cell membrane puncturing protein from bacteriophage T4 (gp5), a needle-like protein that spontaneously penetrates through the cell membrane. Gp5 was immobilized onto a nanoneedle surface. The insertion efficiency of the functionalized nanoneedle increased by over 15% compared to the non-functionalized control. Gp5-modification is a versatile approach in cell manipulation techniques for the insertion of other types of nanostructures into cells.

Computational and statistical methods for high-throughput analysis of post-translational modifications of proteins

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schwämmle, Veit; Braga, Thiago Verano; Roepstorff, Peter

2015-01-01

The investigation of post-translational modifications (PTMs) represents one of the main research focuses for the study of protein function and cell signaling. Mass spectrometry instrumentation with increasing sensitivity improved protocols for PTM enrichment and recently established pipelines...... for high-throughput experiments allow large-scale identification and quantification of several PTM types. This review addresses the concurrently emerging challenges for the computational analysis of the resulting data and presents PTM-centered approaches for spectra identification, statistical analysis...

Mapping the O-Mannose Glycoproteome in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Neubert, Patrick; Halim, Adnan; Zauser, Martin

2016-01-01

-transfer dissociation (ETD)-based MS/MS. In this study, we focus on the 293O-glycoproteins (over 1900 glycosylation sites identified by ETD-MS/MS) that enter the secretory pathway and are targets of ER-localized proteinO-mannosyltransferases. We find thatO-mannosylation is not only a prominent modification of cell wall...

Novel mechanism for the modification of Al2O3-based inclusions in ultra-low carbon Al-killed steel considering the effects of magnesium and calcium

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Jing; Cheng, Shu-sen; Guo, Han-jie; Mei, Ya-guang

2018-03-01

Many researchers have explored the inclusion modification mechanism to improve non-metallic inclusion modifications in steelmaking. In this study, two types of industrial trials on inclusion modifications in liquid steel were conducted using ultra-low-carbon Al-killed steel with different Mg and Ca contents to verify the effects of Ca and Mg contents on the modification mechanism of Al2O3-based inclusions during secondary refining. The results showed that Al2O3-based inclusions can be modified into liquid calcium aluminate or a multi-component inclusion with the addition of a suitable amount of Ca. In addition, [Mg] in liquid steel can further reduce CaO in liquid calcium aluminate to drive its evolution into CaO-MgO-Al2O3 multi-component inclusions. Thermodynamic analysis confirmed that the reaction between [Mg] and CaO in liquid calcium aluminate occurs when the MgO content of liquid calcium aluminate is less than 3wt% and the temperature is higher than 1843 K.

Early cytoskeletal protein modifications precede overt structural degeneration in the DBA/2J mouse model of glaucoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gina Nicole Wilson

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Axonal transport deficits precede structural loss in glaucoma and other neurodegenerations. Impairments in structural support, including modified cytoskeletal proteins and microtubule-destabilizing elements, could be initiating factors in glaucoma pathogenesis. We investigated the time course of changes in protein levels and post-translational modifications in the DBA/2J mouse model of glaucoma. Using anterograde tract tracing of the retinal projection, we assessed major cytoskeletal and transported elements as a function of transport integrity in different stages of pathological progression. Using capillary-based electrophoresis, single- and multiplex immunosorbent assays, and immunofluorescence, we quantified hyperphosphorylated neurofilament-heavy chain, phosphorylated tau (ptau, calpain-mediated spectrin breakdown product (145/150kDa, β –tubulin, and amyloid-β42 proteins based on age and transport outcome to the superior colliculus (SC, the main retinal target in mice. Phosphorylated neurofilament-heavy chain (pNF-H was elevated within the optic nerve (ON and SC of 8-10 month-old DBA/2J mice, but was not evident in the retina until 12-15 months, suggesting that cytoskeletal modifications first appear in the distal retinal projection. As expected, higher pNF-H levels in the SC and retina were correlated with axonal transport deficits. Elevations in hyperphosphorylated tau (ptau occurred in ON and SC between 3-8 month of age while retinal ptau accumulations occurred at 12-15 months in DBA/2J mice. In vitro co-immunoprecipitation experiments suggested increased affinity of ptau for the retrograde motor complex protein, dynactin. We observed a transport-related decrease of β-tubulin in ON of 10-12 month-old DBA/2J mice, suggesting destabilized microtubule array. Elevations in calpain-mediated spectrin breakdown product were seen in ON and SC at the earliest age examined, well before axonal transport loss is evident. Finally, transport

Proteins from Erwinia asparaginase Erwinase ® and E. coli asparaginase 2 MEDAC ® for treatment of human leukemia, show a multitude of modifications for which the consequences are completely unclear.

Science.gov (United States)

Bae, Narkhyun; Pollak, Arnold; Lubec, Gert

2011-07-01

L-Asparaginase from Erwinia chrysanthemi (ASPG_ERWCH; UniProtKB accession number P06608 (Erwinase(®))) and L-asparaginase 2 from Escherichia coli (ASPG2_ECOLI; UniProtKB accession number P00805 (Medac(®))), both L-asparagine amidohydrolases, are widely used for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. A series of serious side effects have been reported and this warrants studies into the protein chemistry of the medical products sold. Mass spectrometry (MS) data on ASPG_ERWCH and ASPG2_ECOLI have not been published so far and herein a gel-based proteomics study was performed to provide information about sequence and modifications of the commercially available medical products. ASPG_ERWCH and ASPG2_ECOLI were applied onto two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, spots were in-gel digested with several proteases and resulting peptides and protein modifications were analysed by nano-ESI-LC-MS/MS. Four spots were observed for ASPG_ERWCH, six spots were observed for ASPG2_ECOLI and the identified proteins showed high sequence coverage without sequence conflicts. Several protein modifications including technical and posttranslational modifications were demonstrated. Protein modifications are known to change physicochemical, immunochemical, biological and pharmacological properties and results from this work may challenge re-designing of the product including possible removal of the modifications by the manufacturer because it is not known whether they are contributing to the serious adverse effects of the protein drug. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Site-specific modification of genome with cell-permeable Cre fusion protein in preimplantation mouse embryo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Kyoungmi; Kim, Hwain; Lee, Daekee

2009-01-01

Site-specific recombination (SSR) by Cre recombinase and its target sequence, loxP, is a valuable tool in genetic analysis of gene function. Recently, several studies reported successful application of Cre fusion protein containing protein transduction peptide for inducing gene modification in various mammalian cells including ES cell as well as in the whole animal. In this study, we show that a short incubation of preimplantation mouse embryos with purified cell-permeable Cre fusion protein results in efficient SSR. X-Gal staining of preimplantation embryos, heterozygous for Gtrosa26 tm1Sor , revealed that treatment of 1-cell or 2-cell embryos with 3 μM of Cre fusion protein for 2 h leads to Cre-mediated excision in 70-85% of embryos. We have examined the effect of the concentration of the Cre fusion protein and the duration of the treatment on embryonic development, established a condition for full term development and survival to adulthood, and demonstrated the germ line transmission of excised Gtrosa26 allele. Potential applications and advantages of the highly efficient technique described here are discussed.

Hydroimidazolone modification of the conserved Arg12 in small heat shock proteins: studies on the structure and chaperone function using mutant mimics.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ram H Nagaraj

Full Text Available Methylglyoxal (MGO is an α-dicarbonyl compound present ubiquitously in the human body. MGO reacts with arginine residues in proteins and forms adducts such as hydroimidazolone and argpyrimidine in vivo. Previously, we showed that MGO-mediated modification of αA-crystallin increased its chaperone function. We identified MGO-modified arginine residues in αA-crystallin and found that replacing such arginine residues with alanine residues mimicked the effects of MGO on the chaperone function. Arginine 12 (R12 is a conserved amino acid residue in Hsp27 as well as αA- and αB-crystallin. When treated with MGO at or near physiological concentrations (2-10 µM, R12 was modified to hydroimidazolone in all three small heat shock proteins. In this study, we determined the effect of arginine substitution with alanine at position 12 (R12A to mimic MGO modification on the structure and chaperone function of these proteins. Among the three proteins, the R12A mutation improved the chaperone function of only αA-crystallin. This enhancement in the chaperone function was accompanied by subtle changes in the tertiary structure, which increased the thermodynamic stability of αA-crystallin. This mutation induced the exposure of additional client protein binding sites on αA-crystallin. Altogether, our data suggest that MGO-modification of the conserved R12 in αA-crystallin to hydroimidazolone may play an important role in reducing protein aggregation in the lens during aging and cataract formation.

Epigenetic modifications by Trithorax group proteins during early embryogenesis: do members of Trx-G function as maternal effect genes?

Science.gov (United States)

Andreu-Vieyra, Claudia; Matzuk, Martin M

2007-02-01

Maternal effect genes encode transcripts that are expressed during oogenesis. These gene products are stored in the oocyte and become functional during resumption of meiosis and zygote genome activation, and in embryonic stem cells. To date, a few maternal effect genes have been identified in mammals. Epigenetic modifications have been shown to be important during early embryonic development and involve DNA methylation and post-translational modification of core histones. During development, two families of proteins have been shown to be involved in epigenetic changes: Trithorax group (Trx-G) and Polycomb group (Pc-G) proteins. Trx-G proteins function as transcriptional activators and have been shown to accumulate in the oocyte. Deletion of Trx-G members using conventional knockout technology results in embryonic lethality in the majority of the cases analysed to date. Recent studies using conditional knockout mice have revealed that at least one family member is necessary for zygote genome activation. We propose that other Trx-G members may also regulate embryonic genome activation and that the use of oocyte-specific deletor mouse lines will help clarify their roles in this process.

A DFT-D study of structural and energetic properties of TiO2 modifications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moellmann, Jonas; Ehrlich, Stephan; Tonner, Ralf; Grimme, Stefan

2012-01-01

The structures and relative energies of the three naturally occurring modifications of titanium dioxide (rutile, brookite and anatase) were investigated. For an accurate description, atom-pairwise dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT-D) was applied. The DFT-D3 scheme was extended non-empirically to improve the description of Ti atoms in bulk systems. New dispersion coefficients were derived from TDDFT calculations for electrostatically embedded TiO 2 clusters. The dispersion coefficient C 6 TiTi is reduced by a factor of 18 compared to the free atom. The three TiO 2 modifications were optimized in periodic plane-wave calculations with dispersion-corrected GGA (PBE, revPBE) and hybrid density functionals (PBE0, revPBE0). The calculated lattice parameters are in good agreement with experimental data, in particular the dispersion-corrected PBE0 and revPBE0 hybrid functionals. Although the observed relative stabilities could not be reproduced in all cases, dispersion corrections improve the results. For an accurate description of bulk metal oxides, London dispersion is a prominent force that should not be neglected when energies and structures are computed with DFT. Additionally, the influence of dispersion interactions on the relaxation of the TiO 2 (110) surface is investigated.

O-GLYCOBASE version 4.0: a revised database of O-glycosylated proteins

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gupta, Ramneek; Birch, Hanne; Rapacki, Krzysztof

1999-01-01

O-GLYCBASE is a database of glycoproteins with O-linked glycosylation sites. Entries with at least one experimentally verified O-glycosylation site have been complied from protein sequence databases and literature. Each entry contains information about the glycan involved, the species, sequence, ...

Synaptic protein changes after a chronic period of sensorimotor perturbation in adult rats: a potential role of phosphorylation/O-GlcNAcylation interplay.

Science.gov (United States)

Fourneau, Julie; Canu, Marie-Hélène; Cieniewski-Bernard, Caroline; Bastide, Bruno; Dupont, Erwan

2018-05-28

In human, a chronic sensorimotor perturbation (SMP) through prolonged body immobilization alters motor task performance through a combination of peripheral and central factors. Studies performed on a rat model of SMP have shown biomolecular changes and a reorganization of sensorimotor cortex through events such as morphological modifications of dendritic spines (number, length, functionality). However, underlying mechanisms are still unclear. It is well known that phosphorylation regulates a wide field of synaptic activity leading to neuroplasticity. Another post-translational modification that interplays with phosphorylation is O-GlcNAcylation. This atypical glycosylation, reversible and dynamic, is involved in essential cellular and physiological processes such as synaptic activity, neuronal morphogenesis, learning and memory. We examined potential roles of phosphorylation/O-GlcNAcylation interplay in synaptic plasticity within rat sensorimotor cortex after a SMP period. For this purpose, sensorimotor cortex synaptosomes were separated by sucrose gradient, in order to isolate a subcellular compartment enriched in proteins involved in synaptic functions. A period of SMP induced plastic changes at the pre- and postsynaptic levels, characterized by a reduction of phosphorylation (synapsin1, AMPAR GluA2) and expression (synaptophysin, PSD-95, AMPAR GluA2) of synaptic proteins, as well as a decrease in MAPK/ERK42 activation. Expression levels of OGT/OGA enzymes was unchanged but we observed a specific reduction of synapsin1 O-GlcNAcylation in sensorimotor cortex synaptosomes. The synergistic regulation of synapsin1 phosphorylation/O-GlcNAcylation could affect presynaptic neurotransmitter release. Associated with other pre- and postsynaptic changes, synaptic efficacy could be impaired in somatosensory cortex of SMP rat. Thus, synapsin1 O-GlcNAcylation/phosphorylation interplay also appears to be involved in this synaptic plasticity by finely regulating neural activity

Functional Properties of Mouse Chitotriosidase Expressed in the Periplasmic Space of Escherichia coli.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masahiro Kimura

Full Text Available Chitotriosidase (Chit1 is an enzyme associated with various diseases, including Gaucher disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Alzheimer disease and cystic fibrosis. In this study, we first expressed mouse mature Chit1 fused with V5 and (His6 tags at the C-terminus (Chit1-V5-His in the cytoplasm of Escherichia coli and found that most of the expressed protein was insoluble. In contrast, Chit1 tagged with Protein A at the N-terminus and V5-His at the C-terminus, was expressed in the periplasmic space of E. coli as a soluble protein and successfully purified. We evaluated the chitinolytic properties of the recombinant enzyme using 4-nitrophenyl N,N'-diacetyl-β-D-chitobioside [4NP-chitobioside, 4NP-(GlcNAc2] and found that its activity was comparable to CHO cells-expressed Chit1-V5-His. Optimal conditions for the E. coli-produced Chit1 were pH ~5.0 at 50°C. Chit1 was stable after 1 h incubation at pH 5.0~11.0 on ice and its chitinolytic activity was lost at pH 2.0, although the affinity to chitin remained unchanged. Chit1 efficiently cleaved crystalline and colloidal chitin substrates as well as oligomers of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc releasing primarily (GlcNAc2 fragments at pH 5.0. On the other hand, (GlcNAc3 was relatively resistant to digestion by Chit1. The degradation of 4NP-(GlcNAc2 and (GlcNAc3 was less evident at pH 7.0~8.0, while (GlcNAc2 production from colloidal chitin and (GlcNAc6 at these pH conditions remained strong at the neutral conditions. Our results indicate that Chit1 degrades chitin substrates under physiological conditions and suggest its important pathophysiological roles in vivo.

Modification of cellulose acetate nanocomposite with TiO{sub 2}-organoclay as nanofiller and its self-photodegradation study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luthfiyah, Siti Zahrotul; Krisnandi, Yuni K., E-mail: yuni.krisnandi@sci.ui.ac.id; Andhika, Kadek; Sihombing, Riwandi [Department of Chemistry, FMIPA, Universitas Indonesia, Kampus UI Depok (Indonesia); Fisli, Adel [National Nuclear Energy Agency, Serpong, South Tangerang (Indonesia)

2016-04-19

Nanocomposite cellulose acetate has been synthesized using organoclay nanofiller modified with TiO{sub 2}. Tapanuli bentonite was previously subjected to purification and sodium exchangeprocesses, then modified with TiO{sub 2},that was added as much as 0%, 1%, 3%, 5%, and 10% weight of the total composite. FTIR analysis showed intercalation with Hexadecyl Ammonium Bromide (HDTMABr) surfactant was successfully carried out, indicated by new absorption bands at 2636 cm{sup −1} and 2569 cm{sup −1}. XRD diffractogram shows the increase in basal spasing on the modification of bentonite from 15.7 Å to 19.7 Å after modification. Fabrication of nanocomposite film was carried out using acetone as solvent and through solvent casting method. Nanocomposite application in photodegradation test was carried out under direct sunlight irradiation, UV light, and without irradiation for six days. It is found that the greater the amount of TiO{sub 2} in the composites, the more weight loss occured, due to photodegredation. Percent weight loss in the UV light irradiation are 1.11%, 2.15%, 2.73%, 3.18%, and 3.96%, while under direct sunlight irradiation, the weight loss was 1.03%, 3.03%, 3.88%, 4.53%, and 5.57%. Modification of nanocomposite with the addition of photocatalytic TiO{sub 2} has shown to give the nanocomposite the ability of self-photodegradation.

Methods for the Detection, Study, and Dynamic Profiling of O-GlcNAc Glycosylation.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, John W; Griffin, Matthew E; Hsieh-Wilson, Linda C

2018-01-01

The addition of O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) to serine/threonine residues of proteins is a ubiquitous posttranslational modification found in all multicellular organisms. Like phosphorylation, O-GlcNAc glycosylation (O-GlcNAcylation) is inducible and regulates a myriad of physiological and pathological processes. However, understanding the diverse functions of O-GlcNAcylation is often challenging due to the difficulty of detecting and quantifying the modification. Thus, robust methods to study O-GlcNAcylation are essential to elucidate its key roles in the regulation of individual proteins, complex cellular processes, and disease. In this chapter, we describe a set of chemoenzymatic labeling methods to (1) detect O-GlcNAcylation on proteins of interest, (2) monitor changes in both the total levels of O-GlcNAcylation and its stoichiometry on proteins of interest, and (3) enable mapping of O-GlcNAc to specific serine/threonine residues within proteins to facilitate functional studies. First, we outline a procedure for the expression and purification of a multiuse mutant galactosyltransferase enzyme (Y289L GalT). We then describe the use of Y289L GalT to modify O-GlcNAc residues with a functional handle, N-azidoacetylgalactosamine (GalNAz). Finally, we discuss several applications of the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition "click" reaction to attach various alkyne-containing chemical probes to GalNAz and demonstrate how this functionalization of O-GlcNAc-modified proteins can be used to realize (1)-(3) above. Overall, these methods, which utilize commercially available reagents and standard protein analytical tools, will serve to advance our understanding of the diverse and important functions of O-GlcNAcylation. © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ruminal fermentation modification of protein and carbohydrate by means of roasted and estimation of microbial protein synthesis Modificação da fermentação ruminal de proteína e carboidrato por meio da tostagem e estimativa de síntese de proteína microbiana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Héctor Andrade-Montemayor

2009-07-01

Full Text Available The animal meal prohibition as a protein source with low ruminal degradability in ruminant nutrition, creates the need to seek alternatives, as legume seeds, however, its protein, have a high degradability, which could generate losses of nitrogen in the rumen. Other problem in the legume seeds is the content of antinutritional factors such as protease inhibitors, tannins, phenolic compounds, lectins and some others, could affect the digestibility. One alternative to decrease the degradability of the protein and/or decrease the activity of some antinutritional factors is the use of different technological treatments such as roasting. Microbial protein synthesis is dependent on the availability of nitrogen or amino acids and of the degradable carbohydrate content, or of content of Organic Matter digestible and rumen degraded (OMDRD, and the synchronization in rumen degradation between protein and carbohydrates. If there are high amounts of degradable nitrogen or if the content and rate of carbohydrates degradation in the rumen is reduced or not synchronized with the degradation of protein, could be losses of nitrogen and/or energy in the rumen. In this paper, we analyze the characteristics of proteins and carbohydrates from various seeds and grains, the effect of dry-roasted application on degradability behavior of seeds.A proibição das farinhas de origem animal como fonte de proteína com baixa degradabilidade na nutrição de ruminantes, criou a necessidade de buscar alternativas, como sementes de leguminosas, porém, sua proteínas têm alta degradabilidade, podendo gerar perdas de nitrogênio no rúmen. Outro problema em sementes de leguminosas é o conteúdo de fatores antinutricionais, como os inibidores de proteases, taninos, compostos fenólicos, lectinas e alguns outros, podendo afetar a digestibilidade. Uma alternativa para diminuir a degradabilidade da proteína e/ou diminuir a atividade de alguns fatores antinutricionais é o uso de

Plant-derived phenolics inhibit the accrual of structurally characterised protein and lipid oxidative modifications.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arantza Soler-Cantero

Full Text Available Epidemiological data suggest that plant-derived phenolics beneficial effects include an inhibition of LDL oxidation. After applying a screening method based on 2,4-dinitrophenyl hydrazine-protein carbonyl reaction to 21 different plant-derived phenolic acids, we selected the most antioxidant ones. Their effect was assessed in 5 different oxidation systems, as well as in other model proteins. Mass-spectrometry was then used, evidencing a heterogeneous effect on the accumulation of the structurally characterized protein carbonyl glutamic and aminoadipic semialdehydes as well as for malondialdehyde-lysine in LDL apoprotein. After TOF based lipidomics, we identified the most abundant differential lipids in Cu(++-incubated LDL as 1-palmitoyllysophosphatidylcholine and 1-stearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine. Most of selected phenolic compounds prevented the accumulation of those phospholipids and the cellular impairment induced by oxidized LDL. Finally, to validate these effects in vivo, we evaluated the effect of the intake of a phenolic-enriched extract in plasma protein and lipid modifications in a well-established model of atherosclerosis (diet-induced hypercholesterolemia in hamsters. This showed that a dietary supplement with a phenolic-enriched extract diminished plasma protein oxidative and lipid damage. Globally, these data show structural basis of antioxidant properties of plant-derived phenolic acids in protein oxidation that may be relevant for the health-promoting effects of its dietary intake.

Pathogenic Leptospires Modulate Protein Expression and Post-translational Modifications in Response to Mammalian Host Signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Nally, Jarlath E; Grassmann, Andre A; Planchon, Sébastien; Sergeant, Kjell; Renaut, Jenny; Seshu, Janakiram; McBride, Alan J; Caimano, Melissa J

2017-01-01

Pathogenic species of Leptospira cause leptospirosis, a bacterial zoonotic disease with a global distribution affecting over one million people annually. Reservoir hosts of leptospirosis, including rodents, dogs, and cattle, exhibit little to no signs of disease but shed large numbers of organisms in their urine. Transmission occurs when mucosal surfaces or abraded skin come into contact with infected urine or urine-contaminated water or soil. Whilst little is known about how Leptospira adapt to and persist within a reservoir host, in vitro studies suggest that leptospires alter their transcriptomic and proteomic profiles in response to environmental signals encountered during mammalian infection. We applied the dialysis membrane chamber (DMC) peritoneal implant model to compare the whole cell proteome of in vivo derived leptospires with that of leptospires cultivated in vitro at 30°C and 37°C by 2-dimensional difference in-gel electrophoresis (2-D DIGE). Of 1,735 protein spots aligned across 9 2-D DIGE gels, 202 protein spots were differentially expressed ( p 1.25 or expressed proteins were excised for identification by mass spectrometry. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD006995. The greatest differences were detected when DMC-cultivated leptospires were compared with IV30- or IV37-cultivated leptospires, including the increased expression of multiple isoforms of Loa22, a known virulence factor. Unexpectedly, 20 protein isoforms of LipL32 and 7 isoforms of LipL41 were uniformly identified by DIGE as differentially expressed, suggesting that unique post-translational modifications (PTMs) are operative in response to mammalian host conditions. To test this hypothesis, a rat model of persistent renal colonization was used to isolate leptospires directly from the urine of experimentally infected rats. Comparison of urinary derived leptospires to IV30 leptospires by 2-D immunoblotting confirmed that modification of proteins with

Pathogenic Leptospires Modulate Protein Expression and Post-translational Modifications in Response to Mammalian Host Signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jarlath E. Nally

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Pathogenic species of Leptospira cause leptospirosis, a bacterial zoonotic disease with a global distribution affecting over one million people annually. Reservoir hosts of leptospirosis, including rodents, dogs, and cattle, exhibit little to no signs of disease but shed large numbers of organisms in their urine. Transmission occurs when mucosal surfaces or abraded skin come into contact with infected urine or urine-contaminated water or soil. Whilst little is known about how Leptospira adapt to and persist within a reservoir host, in vitro studies suggest that leptospires alter their transcriptomic and proteomic profiles in response to environmental signals encountered during mammalian infection. We applied the dialysis membrane chamber (DMC peritoneal implant model to compare the whole cell proteome of in vivo derived leptospires with that of leptospires cultivated in vitro at 30°C and 37°C by 2-dimensional difference in-gel electrophoresis (2-D DIGE. Of 1,735 protein spots aligned across 9 2-D DIGE gels, 202 protein spots were differentially expressed (p < 0.05, fold change >1.25 or < −1.25 across all three conditions. Differentially expressed proteins were excised for identification by mass spectrometry. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD006995. The greatest differences were detected when DMC-cultivated leptospires were compared with IV30- or IV37-cultivated leptospires, including the increased expression of multiple isoforms of Loa22, a known virulence factor. Unexpectedly, 20 protein isoforms of LipL32 and 7 isoforms of LipL41 were uniformly identified by DIGE as differentially expressed, suggesting that unique post-translational modifications (PTMs are operative in response to mammalian host conditions. To test this hypothesis, a rat model of persistent renal colonization was used to isolate leptospires directly from the urine of experimentally infected rats. Comparison of urinary derived leptospires to IV30

In-situ kinetics of modifications induced by swift heavy ions in Al2O3: Colour centre formation, structural modification and amorphization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grygiel, C.; Moisy, F.; Sall, M.; Lebius, H.; Balanzat, E.; Madi, T.; Been, T.; Marie, D.; Monnet, I.

2017-01-01

This paper details in-situ studies of modifications induced by swift heavy ion irradiation in α-Al2O3. This complex behaviour is intermediary between the behaviour of amorphizable and non-amorphizable materials, respectively. A unique combination of irradiation experiments was performed at the IRRSUD beam line of the GANIL facility, with three different characterisation techniques: in-situ UV–Vis absorption, in-situ grazing incidence X-Ray diffraction and ex-situ transmission electron microscopy. This allows a complete study of point defects, and by depth profile of structural and microstructural modifications created on the trajectory of the incident ion. The α-Al2O3 crystals have been irradiated by 92 MeV Xenon and 74 MeV Krypton ions, the irradiation conditions have been chosen rather similar with an energy range where the ratio between electronic and nuclear stopping power changes dramatically as function of depth penetration. The main contribution of electronic excitation, above the threshold for track formation, is present beneath the surface to finally get almost only elastic collisions at the end of the projected range. Amorphization kinetics by the overlapping of multiple ion tracks is observed. In the crystalline matrix, long range strains, unit-cell swelling, local microstrain, domain size decrease, disordering of oxygen sublattice as well as colour centre formation are found. This study highlights the relationship between ion energy losses into a material and its response. While amorphization requires electronic stopping values above a certain threshold, point defects are predominantly induced by elastic collisions, while some structural modifications of the crystalline matrix, such as unit-cell swelling, are due to contribution of both electronic and nuclear processes.

[Preparation and catalytic activity of surface-modification CNTs/TiO2 composite photocatalysts].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Huan-Ying; Li, Wen-Jun; Chang, Zhi-Dong; Zhou, Hua-Lei; Guo, Hui-Chao

2011-09-01

A novel kind of carbon nanotubes/titanium dioxide (CNTs/TiO2) composite photocatalyst was prepared by a modified sol-gel method in which the nanoscaled TiO2 particles were uniformly deposited on the CNTs modified with poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). The composites were characterized by a range of analytical techniques including high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results show the successful covering of the CNTs with PVP, forming core-shell structure. The nanoscaled TiO2 particles were uniformly deposited on the surface of CNTs reducing the bare CNTs which avoid losing the absorption and scattering of photons. The combination of CNTs and TiO2 particles imply the enhanced interactions between the CNTs and TiO2 interface which possibly becomes heterojunction. The composites become mesoporous crystalline TiO2 (anatase) clusters after annealing at 500 degrees C, and the surface area increases obviously. The photocatalytic activities of surface modification CNTs/TiO2 (smCNTs/TiO2) composites are extremely enhanced from the results of the photodegradation of methylene blue (MB).

Modifications of nano-titania surface for in vitro evaluations of hemolysis, cytotoxicity, and nonspecific protein binding

Science.gov (United States)

Datta, Aparna; Dasgupta, Sayantan; Mukherjee, Siddhartha

2017-04-01

In the past decade, a variety of drug carriers based on mesoporous silica nanoparticles has been extensively reported. However, their biocompatibility still remains debatable, which motivated us to explore the porous nanostructures of other metal oxides, for example titanium dioxide (TiO2), as potential drug delivery vehicles. Herein, we report the in vitro hemolysis, cytotoxicity, and protein binding of TiO2 nanoparticles, synthesized by a sol-gel method. The surface of the TiO2 nanoparticles was modified with hydroxyl, amine, or thiol containing moieties to examine the influence of surface functional groups on the toxicity and protein binding aspects of the nanoparticles. Our study revealed the superior hemocompatibility of pristine, as well as functionalized TiO2 nanoparticles, compared to that of mesoporous silica, the present gold standard. Among the functional groups studied, aminosilane moieties on the TiO2 surface substantially reduced the degree of hemolysis (down to 5%). Further, cytotoxicity studies by MTT assay suggested that surface functional moieties play a crucial role in determining the biocompatibility of the nanoparticles. The presence of NH2- functional groups on the TiO2 nanoparticle surface enhanced the cell viability by almost 28% as compared to its native counterpart (at 100 μg/ml), which was in agreement with the hemolysis assay. Finally, nonspecific protein adsorption on functionalized TiO2 surfaces was examined using human serum albumin and it was found that negatively charged surface moieties, like -OH and -SH, could mitigate protein adsorption to a significant extent.

Increase of the Photocatalytic Activity of TiO by Carbon and Iron Modifications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beata Tryba

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Modification of TiO2 by doping of a residue carbon and iron can give enhanced photoactivity of TiO2. Iron adsorbed on the surface of TiO2 can be an electron or hole scavenger and results in the improvement of the separation of free carriers. The presence of carbon can increase the concentration of organic pollutants on the surface of TiO2 facilitating the contact of the reactive species with the organic molecules. Carbon-doped TiO2 can extend the absorption of the light to the visible region and makes the photocatalysts active under visible-light irradiation. It was proved that TiO2 modified by carbon and iron can work in both photocatalysis and photo-Fenton processes, when H2O2 is used, enhancing markedly the rate of the organic compounds decomposition such as phenol, humic acids and dyes. The photocatalytic decomposition of organic compounds on TiO2 modified by iron and carbon is going by the complex reactions of iron with the intermediates, what significantly accelerate the process of their decomposition. The presence of carbon in such photocatalyst retards the inconvenient reaction of OH radicals scavenging by H2O2, which occurs when Fe-TiO2 photocatalyst is used.

Lectin binding assays for in-process monitoring of sialylation in protein production.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Weiduan; Chen, Jianmin; Yamasaki, Glenn; Murphy, John E; Mei, Baisong

2010-07-01

Many therapeutic proteins require appropriate glycosylation for their biological activities and plasma half life. Coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) is a glycoprotein which has extensive post-translational modification by N-linked glycosylation. The terminal sialic acid in the N-linked glycans of FVIII is required for maximal circulatory half life. The extent of FVIII sialylation can be determined by high pH anion-exchange chromatography coupled with a pulse electrochemical detector (HPAEC-PED), but this requires a large amount of purified protein. Using FVIII as a model, the objective of the present study was to develop assays that enable detection and prediction of sialylation deficiency at an early stage in the process and thus prevent downstream product quality excursions. Lectin ECA (Erythrina Cristagalli) binds to unsialylated Galbeta1-4 GlcNAc and the ECA-binding level (i.e., terminal Gal(beta1-4) exposure) is inversely proportional to the level of sialylation. By using ECA, a cell-based assay was developed to measure the global sialylation profile in FVIII producing cells. To examine the Galbeta1-4 exposure on the FVIII molecule in bioreactor tissue culture fluid (TCF), an ELISA-based ECA-FVIII binding assay was developed. The ECA-binding specificity in both assays was assessed by ECA-specific sugar inhibitors and neuraminidase digestion. The ECA-binding specificity was also independently confirmed by a ST3GAL4 siRNA knockdown experiment. To establish the correlation between Galbeta1-4 exposure and the HPAEC-PED determined FVIII sialylation value, the FVIII containing bioreactor TCF and the purified FVIII samples were tested with ECA ELISA binding assay. The results indicated an inverse correlation between ECA binding and the corresponding HPAEC-PED sialylation value. The ECA-binding assays are cost effective and can be rapidly performed, thereby making them effective for in-process monitoring of protein sialylation.

Nutrient regulation of transcription and signalling by O-GlcNAcylation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gerald W. Hart

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The cycling (addition and removal of O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc on serine or threonine residues of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins serves as a nutrient sensor via the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway's production of UDP-GlcNAc, the donor for the O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT. OGT is exquisitely sensitive both in terms of its catalytic activity and by its specificity to the levels of this nucleotide sugar. UDP-GlcNAc is a major node of metabolism whose levels are coupled to flux through the major metabolic pathways of the cell. O-GlcNAcylation has extensive crosstalk with protein phosphorylation to regulate signalling pathways in response to flux through glucose, amino acid, fatty acid, energy and nucleotide metabolism. Not only does O-GlcNAcylation compete for phosphorylation sites on proteins, but also over one-half of all kinases appear to be O-GlcNAcylated, and many are regulated by O-GlcNAcylation. O-GlcNAcylation is also fundamentally important to nutrient regulation of gene expression. OGT is a polycomb gene. Nearly all RNA polymerase II transcription factors are O-GlcNAcylated, and the sugar regulates their activities in many different ways, depending upon the transcription factor and even upon the specific O-GlcNAc site on the protein. O-GlcNAc is part of the histone code, and the sugar affects the modification of histones by other epigenetic marks. O-GlcNAcylation regulates DNA methylation by the TET family of proteins. O-GlcNAc modification of the basal transcription machinery is required for assembly of the pre-initiation complex in the transcription cycle. Dysregulated O-GlcNAcylation is directly involved in the aetiology of the major chronic diseases associated with ageing.

In-depth glycoproteomic characterization of γ-conglutin by high-resolution accurate mass spectrometry.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Schiarea

Full Text Available The molecular characterization of bioactive food components is necessary for understanding the mechanisms of their beneficial or detrimental effects on human health. This study focused on γ-conglutin, a well-known lupin seed N-glycoprotein with health-promoting properties and controversial allergenic potential. Given the importance of N-glycosylation for the functional and structural characteristics of proteins, we studied the purified protein by a mass spectrometry-based glycoproteomic approach able to identify the structure, micro-heterogeneity and attachment site of the bound N-glycan(s, and to provide extensive coverage of the protein sequence. The peptide/N-glycopeptide mixtures generated by enzymatic digestion (with or without N-deglycosylation were analyzed by high-resolution accurate mass liquid chromatography-multi-stage mass spectrometry. The four main micro-heterogeneous variants of the single N-glycan bound to γ-conglutin were identified as Man2(Xyl (Fuc GlcNAc2, Man3(Xyl (Fuc GlcNAc2, GlcNAcMan3(Xyl (Fuc GlcNAc2 and GlcNAc 2Man3(Xyl (Fuc GlcNAc2. These carry both core β1,2-xylose and core α1-3-fucose (well known Cross-Reactive Carbohydrate Determinants, but corresponding fucose-free variants were also identified as minor components. The N-glycan was proven to reside on Asn131, one of the two potential N-glycosylation sites. The extensive coverage of the γ-conglutin amino acid sequence suggested three alternative N-termini of the small subunit, that were later confirmed by direct-infusion Orbitrap mass spectrometry analysis of the intact subunit.

Synthesis of O-glycopeptides and construction of glycopeptide microarrays

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Blixt, Klas Ola; Cló, Emiliano

2013-01-01

O-glycosylation of proteins is an important modification which affects biological function and immunity. In this chapter, we provide protocols for efficient solid-phase O-glycopeptide synthesis (SPGPS) and protocols for the construction of glycopeptide microarray chips for screening applications....

Protein oxidation and peroxidation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Davies, Michael Jonathan

2016-01-01

Proteins are major targets for radicals and two-electron oxidants in biological systems due to their abundance and high rate constants for reaction. With highly reactive radicals damage occurs at multiple side-chain and backbone sites. Less reactive species show greater selectivity with regard...... to the residues targeted and their spatial location. Modification can result in increased side-chain hydrophilicity, side-chain and backbone fragmentation, aggregation via covalent cross-linking or hydrophobic interactions, protein unfolding and altered conformation, altered interactions with biological partners...... and modified turnover. In the presence of O2, high yields of peroxyl radicals and peroxides (protein peroxidation) are formed; the latter account for up to 70% of the initial oxidant flux. Protein peroxides can oxidize both proteins and other targets. One-electron reduction results in additional radicals...

A nutrient-driven tRNA modification alters translational fidelity and genome-wide protein coding across an animal genus.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaborske, John M; DuMont, Vanessa L Bauer; Wallace, Edward W J; Pan, Tao; Aquadro, Charles F; Drummond, D Allan

2014-12-01

Natural selection favors efficient expression of encoded proteins, but the causes, mechanisms, and fitness consequences of evolved coding changes remain an area of aggressive inquiry. We report a large-scale reversal in the relative translational accuracy of codons across 12 fly species in the Drosophila/Sophophora genus. Because the reversal involves pairs of codons that are read by the same genomically encoded tRNAs, we hypothesize, and show by direct measurement, that a tRNA anticodon modification from guanosine to queuosine has coevolved with these genomic changes. Queuosine modification is present in most organisms but its function remains unclear. Modification levels vary across developmental stages in D. melanogaster, and, consistent with a causal effect, genes maximally expressed at each stage display selection for codons that are most accurate given stage-specific queuosine modification levels. In a kinetic model, the known increased affinity of queuosine-modified tRNA for ribosomes increases the accuracy of cognate codons while reducing the accuracy of near-cognate codons. Levels of queuosine modification in D. melanogaster reflect bioavailability of the precursor queuine, which eukaryotes scavenge from the tRNAs of bacteria and absorb in the gut. These results reveal a strikingly direct mechanism by which recoding of entire genomes results from changes in utilization of a nutrient.

A nutrient-driven tRNA modification alters translational fidelity and genome-wide protein coding across an animal genus.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John M Zaborske

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Natural selection favors efficient expression of encoded proteins, but the causes, mechanisms, and fitness consequences of evolved coding changes remain an area of aggressive inquiry. We report a large-scale reversal in the relative translational accuracy of codons across 12 fly species in the Drosophila/Sophophora genus. Because the reversal involves pairs of codons that are read by the same genomically encoded tRNAs, we hypothesize, and show by direct measurement, that a tRNA anticodon modification from guanosine to queuosine has coevolved with these genomic changes. Queuosine modification is present in most organisms but its function remains unclear. Modification levels vary across developmental stages in D. melanogaster, and, consistent with a causal effect, genes maximally expressed at each stage display selection for codons that are most accurate given stage-specific queuosine modification levels. In a kinetic model, the known increased affinity of queuosine-modified tRNA for ribosomes increases the accuracy of cognate codons while reducing the accuracy of near-cognate codons. Levels of queuosine modification in D. melanogaster reflect bioavailability of the precursor queuine, which eukaryotes scavenge from the tRNAs of bacteria and absorb in the gut. These results reveal a strikingly direct mechanism by which recoding of entire genomes results from changes in utilization of a nutrient.

Investigation and identification of functional post-translational modification sites associated with drug binding and protein-protein interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Min-Gang; Weng, Julia Tzu-Ya; Hsu, Justin Bo-Kai; Huang, Kai-Yao; Chi, Yu-Hsiang; Lee, Tzong-Yi

2017-12-21

Protein post-translational modification (PTM) plays an essential role in various cellular processes that modulates the physical and chemical properties, folding, conformation, stability and activity of proteins, thereby modifying the functions of proteins. The improved throughput of mass spectrometry (MS) or MS/MS technology has not only brought about a surge in proteome-scale studies, but also contributed to a fruitful list of identified PTMs. However, with the increase in the number of identified PTMs, perhaps the more crucial question is what kind of biological mechanisms these PTMs are involved in. This is particularly important in light of the fact that most protein-based pharmaceuticals deliver their therapeutic effects through some form of PTM. Yet, our understanding is still limited with respect to the local effects and frequency of PTM sites near pharmaceutical binding sites and the interfaces of protein-protein interaction (PPI). Understanding PTM's function is critical to our ability to manipulate the biological mechanisms of protein. In this study, to understand the regulation of protein functions by PTMs, we mapped 25,835 PTM sites to proteins with available three-dimensional (3D) structural information in the Protein Data Bank (PDB), including 1785 modified PTM sites on the 3D structure. Based on the acquired structural PTM sites, we proposed to use five properties for the structural characterization of PTM substrate sites: the spatial composition of amino acids, residues and side-chain orientations surrounding the PTM substrate sites, as well as the secondary structure, division of acidity and alkaline residues, and solvent-accessible surface area. We further mapped the structural PTM sites to the structures of drug binding and PPI sites, identifying a total of 1917 PTM sites that may affect PPI and 3951 PTM sites associated with drug-target binding. An integrated analytical platform (CruxPTM), with a variety of methods and online molecular docking

Albumin modification and fragmentation in renal disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Donadio, Carlo; Tognotti, Danika; Donadio, Elena

2012-02-18

Albumin is the most important antioxidant substance in plasma and performs many physiological functions. Furthermore, albumin is the major carrier of endogenous molecules and exogenous ligands. This paper reviews the importance of post-translational modifications of albumin and fragments thereof in patients with renal disease. First, current views and controversies on renal handling of proteins, mainly albumin, will be discussed. Post-translational modifications, namely the fragmentation of albumin found with proteomic techniques in nephrotic patients, diabetics, and ESRD patients will be presented and discussed. It is reasonable to hypothesize that proteolytic fragmentation of serum albumin is due to a higher susceptibility to proteases, induced by oxidative stress. The clinical relevance of the fragmentation of albumin has not yet been established. These modifications could affect some physiological functions of albumin and have a patho-physiological role in uremic syndrome. Proteomic analysis of serum allows the identification of over-expressed proteins and can detect post-translational modifications of serum proteins, hitherto hidden, using standard laboratory techniques. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chemical Posttranslational Modification with Designed Rhodium(II) Catalysts.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, S C; Minus, M B; Ball, Z T

2016-01-01

Natural enzymes use molecular recognition to perform exquisitely selective transformations on nucleic acids, proteins, and natural products. Rhodium(II) catalysts mimic this selectivity, using molecular recognition to allow selective modification of proteins with a variety of functionalized diazo reagents. The rhodium catalysts and the diazo reactivity have been successfully applied to a variety of protein folds, the chemistry succeeds in complex environments such as cell lysate, and a simple protein blot method accurately assesses modification efficiency. The studies with rhodium catalysts provide a new tool to study and probe protein-binding events, as well as a new synthetic approach to protein conjugates for medical, biochemical, or materials applications. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modifications of nano-titania surface for in vitro evaluations of hemolysis, cytotoxicity, and nonspecific protein binding

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Datta, Aparna, E-mail: adatta.research@gmail.com [Jadavpur University, School of Materials Science and Nanotechnology (India); Dasgupta, Sayantan [NRS Medical College and Hospital, Department of Biochemistry (India); Mukherjee, Siddhartha [Jadavpur University, Department of Metallurgical and Material Engineering (India)

2017-04-15

In the past decade, a variety of drug carriers based on mesoporous silica nanoparticles has been extensively reported. However, their biocompatibility still remains debatable, which motivated us to explore the porous nanostructures of other metal oxides, for example titanium dioxide (TiO{sub 2}), as potential drug delivery vehicles. Herein, we report the in vitro hemolysis, cytotoxicity, and protein binding of TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles, synthesized by a sol–gel method. The surface of the TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles was modified with hydroxyl, amine, or thiol containing moieties to examine the influence of surface functional groups on the toxicity and protein binding aspects of the nanoparticles. Our study revealed the superior hemocompatibility of pristine, as well as functionalized TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles, compared to that of mesoporous silica, the present gold standard. Among the functional groups studied, aminosilane moieties on the TiO{sub 2} surface substantially reduced the degree of hemolysis (down to 5%). Further, cytotoxicity studies by MTT assay suggested that surface functional moieties play a crucial role in determining the biocompatibility of the nanoparticles. The presence of NH{sub 2}– functional groups on the TiO{sub 2} nanoparticle surface enhanced the cell viability by almost 28% as compared to its native counterpart (at 100 μg/ml), which was in agreement with the hemolysis assay. Finally, nonspecific protein adsorption on functionalized TiO{sub 2} surfaces was examined using human serum albumin and it was found that negatively charged surface moieties, like –OH and –SH, could mitigate protein adsorption to a significant extent.

2'-O-methylation in mRNA disrupts tRNA decoding during translation elongation.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Junhong; Indrisiunaite, Gabriele; DeMirci, Hasan; Ieong, Ka-Weng; Wang, Jinfan; Petrov, Alexey; Prabhakar, Arjun; Rechavi, Gideon; Dominissini, Dan; He, Chuan; Ehrenberg, Måns; Puglisi, Joseph D

2018-03-01

Chemical modifications of mRNA may regulate many aspects of mRNA processing and protein synthesis. Recently, 2'-O-methylation of nucleotides was identified as a frequent modification in translated regions of human mRNA, showing enrichment in codons for certain amino acids. Here, using single-molecule, bulk kinetics and structural methods, we show that 2'-O-methylation within coding regions of mRNA disrupts key steps in codon reading during cognate tRNA selection. Our results suggest that 2'-O-methylation sterically perturbs interactions of ribosomal-monitoring bases (G530, A1492 and A1493) with cognate codon-anticodon helices, thereby inhibiting downstream GTP hydrolysis by elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu) and A-site tRNA accommodation, leading to excessive rejection of cognate aminoacylated tRNAs in initial selection and proofreading. Our current and prior findings highlight how chemical modifications of mRNA tune the dynamics of protein synthesis at different steps of translation elongation.

Chemical modification of b-lactoglobulin by quinones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DUSAN SLADIC

2003-05-01

Full Text Available The avarone/avarol quinone/hydroquinone couple, as well as their derivatives show considerable antitumor activity. In this work, covalent modifications of b-lactoglobulin, isolated from cow milk, by avarone, its model compound 2-tert-butyl-1,4-benzoquinone, and several of their alkylthio derivatives were studied. The techniques applied for assaying the modifications were: UV/VIS spectrophotometry, SDS PAGE and isoelectrofocusing. The results of the SDS PAGE suggest that polymerisation of the protein occurs. The shift of the pI of the protein upon modification toward lower values indicates that lysine amino groups are the principal site of the reaction of b-lactoglobulin with the quinones.

A new triclinic modification of the pyrochlore-type KOs 2O 6 superconductor

Science.gov (United States)

Katrych, S.; Gu, Q. F.; Bukowski, Z.; Zhigadlo, N. D.; Krauss, G.; Karpinski, J.

2009-03-01

A new modification of KOs 2O 6, the representative of a new structural type (Pearson symbol a P18, a=5.5668(1) Å, b=6.4519(2) Å, c=7.2356(2) Å, α=65.377(3)°, β=70.572(3)°, γ=75.613(2)° space group P-1, no. 2 was synthesized employing high pressure technique. Its structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure can be described as two OsO 6 octahedral chains relating to each other through inversion and forming big voids with K atoms inside. Quantum chemical calculations were performed on the novel compound and structurally related cubic compound. High-pressure X-ray study showed that cubic KOs 2O 6 phase was stable up to 32.5(2) GPa at room temperature.

Interface modification of organic photovoltaics by combining molybdenum oxide (MoO{sub x}) and molecular template layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Duan, Haichao [Institute of Super-microstructure and Ultrafast Process in Advanced Materials, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083 (China); Hunan Key Laboratory for Super-microstructure and Ultrafast Process, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083 (China); Yang, Junliang, E-mail: junliang.yang@csu.edu.cn [Institute of Super-microstructure and Ultrafast Process in Advanced Materials, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083 (China); Hunan Key Laboratory for Super-microstructure and Ultrafast Process, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083 (China); Fu, Lin; Xiong, Jian; Yang, Bingchu; Ouyang, Jun; Zhou, Conghua; Huang, Han [Institute of Super-microstructure and Ultrafast Process in Advanced Materials, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083 (China); Hunan Key Laboratory for Super-microstructure and Ultrafast Process, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083 (China); Gao, Yongli [Institute of Super-microstructure and Ultrafast Process in Advanced Materials, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083 (China); Hunan Key Laboratory for Super-microstructure and Ultrafast Process, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083 (China); Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627 (United States)

2015-01-01

We report discrete heterojunction small molecular organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with enhanced performance by modifying the interface using molybdenum oxide (MoO{sub x}) and molecular template layer perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic-3,4,9,10-dianhydride (PTCDA). A large increase in open-circuit voltage was obtained in copper phthalocyanine/fullerene, i.e., CuPc/C{sub 60} and CuPc/PCBM, discrete planar heterojunction photovoltaics with an insertion of 5 nm MoO{sub x} hole transport layer at the interface between the anode electrode and the CuPc donor layer. It results from the band bending at the interface and the pinning of the highest occupied molecular orbital level of CuPc to the Fermi level of MoO{sub x} due to the defect states (oxygen vacancies) in MoO{sub x} thin films. Moreover, the short-circuit current showed an efficient improvement by inserting a 1 nm PTCDA layer at the interface between the MoO{sub x} layer and the CuPc layer. The PTCDA layer induces the growth of CuPc thin film with lying-down molecular arrangement, supporting the charge transports along the vertical direction. The power conversion efficiencies of CuPc/C{sub 60} and CuPc/PCBM discrete planar heterojunction photovoltaic devices were improved from about 0.80% to 1.50% with inserting both MoO{sub x} and PTCDA layers. The results suggest that the performance of organic discrete planar heterojunction photovoltaics could be optimized by interface modification with combining hole transport layer and molecular template layer, which are potentially suitable for other highly efficient OPVs, such as small molecular tandem OPVs. - Highlights: • Organic small molecule photovoltaics were fabricated by interface modification. • An inserted molybdenum oxide layer largely enhances open-circuit voltage. • An inserted molecular template layer dramatically improves short-circuit current. • The power conversion efficiencies are almost doubled with interface modification.

Effect of pH values on surface modification and solubility of phosphate bioglass-ceramics in the CaO-P 2O 5-Na 2O-SrO-ZnO system

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xudong; Cai, Shu; Zhang, Wenjuang; Xu, Guohua; Zhou, Wei

2009-08-01

The bioactive glass-ceramics in the CaO-P 2O 5-Na 2O-SrO-ZnO system were synthesized by the sol-gel technique, and then chemically treated at different pH values to study the solubility and surface modification. Samples sintered at 650 °C for 4 h consisted of the crystalline phase β-Ca 2P 2O 7 and the glass matrix. After soaking in the solution at pH 1.0, the residual glass matrix on the surface appeared entirely dissolved and no new phase could be detected. Whereas at pH 3.0, web-like layer exhibiting peaks corresponding to CaP 2O 6 was formed and covered the entire surface of the sample. When conducted at pH 10.0, only part of the glass matrix was dissolved and a new phase Ca 4P 6O 19 was precipitated, forming the petaline layer. The chemical treatment can easily change the surface morphologies and phase composition of this bioactive glass-ceramics. The higher level of surface roughness resulting from the new-formed layer would improve the interface bonding and benefit for cell adhesion.

Functional Anthology of Intrinsic Disorder. III. Ligands, Postranslational Modifications and Diseases Associated with Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Hongbo; Vucetic, Slobodan; Iakoucheva, Lilia M.; Oldfield, Christopher J.; Dunker, A. Keith; Obradovic, Zoran; Uversky, Vladimir N.

2008-01-01

Z., Uversky V.N. (2006) Functional anthology of intrinsic disorder. I. Biological processes and functions of proteins with long disordered regions. J. Proteome Res.). The second paper of the series was devoted to the presentation of 87 Swiss-Prot keywords attributed to the cellular components, domains, technical terms, developmental processes and coding sequence diversities possessing strong positive and negative correlation with long disordered regions (Vucetic S., Xie H., Iakoucheva L.M., Oldfield C.J., Dunker A.K., Obradovic Z., Uversky V.N. (2006) Functional anthology of intrinsic disorder. II. Cellular components, domains, technical terms, developmental processes and coding sequence diversities correlated with long disordered regions. J. Proteome Res.). Protein structure and functionality can be modulated by various posttranslational modifications or/and as a result of binding of specific ligands. Numerous human diseases are associated with protein misfolding/misassembly/ misfunctioning. This work concludes the series of papers dedicated to the functional anthology of intrinsic disorder and describes ~80 Swiss-Prot functional keywords that are related to ligands, posttranslational modifications and diseases possessing strong positive or negative correlation with the predicted long disordered regions in proteins. PMID:17391016

Prediction of mucin-type O-glycosylation sites in mammalian proteins using the composition of k-spaced amino acid pairs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sheng Zhi-Ya

2008-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background As one of the most common protein post-translational modifications, glycosylation is involved in a variety of important biological processes. Computational identification of glycosylation sites in protein sequences becomes increasingly important in the post-genomic era. A new encoding scheme was employed to improve the prediction of mucin-type O-glycosylation sites in mammalian proteins. Results A new protein bioinformatics tool, CKSAAP_OGlySite, was developed to predict mucin-type O-glycosylation serine/threonine (S/T sites in mammalian proteins. Using the composition of k-spaced amino acid pairs (CKSAAP based encoding scheme, the proposed method was trained and tested in a new and stringent O-glycosylation dataset with the assistance of Support Vector Machine (SVM. When the ratio of O-glycosylation to non-glycosylation sites in training datasets was set as 1:1, 10-fold cross-validation tests showed that the proposed method yielded a high accuracy of 83.1% and 81.4% in predicting O-glycosylated S and T sites, respectively. Based on the same datasets, CKSAAP_OGlySite resulted in a higher accuracy than the conventional binary encoding based method (about +5.0%. When trained and tested in 1:5 datasets, the CKSAAP encoding showed a more significant improvement than the binary encoding. We also merged the training datasets of S and T sites and integrated the prediction of S and T sites into one single predictor (i.e. S+T predictor. Either in 1:1 or 1:5 datasets, the performance of this S+T predictor was always slightly better than those predictors where S and T sites were independently predicted, suggesting that the molecular recognition of O-glycosylated S/T sites seems to be similar and the increase of the S+T predictor's accuracy may be a result of expanded training datasets. Moreover, CKSAAP_OGlySite was also shown to have better performance when benchmarked against two existing predictors. Conclusion Because of CKSAAP

Preparation of MgO with High Surface Area, and Modification of Its Pore Characteristics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Moon Hee; Park, Dong Gon [Sookmyung Women' s University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2003-10-15

Thermal decomposition of hydrated surface layer of Mg(OH){sub 2} at 500 .deg. C in vacuum turned non-porous MgO into porous one with high surface area of around 270 m{sup 2}/g. Most of its surface area, 74 %, was from micropores, and rest of it was from mesopores in wedge-shaped slits, exhibiting bimodal size distribution centered around 30 and 90 A. Rehydration followed by subsequent dehydration at 300 .deg. C in dynamic vacuum further raised the surface area to 340 m{sup 2}/g. Fraction of microporous surface area was increased to 93%, and the shape of the mesopores was modified into parallel slits with a specific dimension of 32 A. Application of Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} over MgO via iron complex formation did not alter the pore characteristics of MgO core, except slightly increased pore dimension. Over the course of the modification, Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} stayed on the surface possibly via spill-over reaction.

Enhancement of CO Evolution by Modification of Ga2O3 with Rare-Earth Elements for the Photocatalytic Conversion of CO2 by H2O.

Science.gov (United States)

Tatsumi, Hiroyuki; Teramura, Kentaro; Huang, Zeai; Wang, Zheng; Asakura, Hiroyuki; Hosokawa, Saburo; Tanaka, Tsunehiro

2017-12-12

Modification of the surface of Ga 2 O 3 with rare-earth elements enhanced the evolution of CO as a reduction product in the photocatalytic conversion of CO 2 using H 2 O as an electron donor under UV irradiation in aqueous NaHCO 3 as a pH buffer, with the rare-earth species functioning as a CO 2 capture and storage material. Isotope experiments using 13 CO 2 as a substrate clearly revealed that CO was generated from the introduced gaseous CO 2 . In the presence of the NaHCO 3 additive, the rare-earth (RE) species on the Ga 2 O 3 surface are transformed into carbonate hydrates (RE 2 (CO 3 ) 3 ·nH 2 O) and/or hydroxycarbonates (RE 2 (OH) 2(3-x) (CO 3 ) x ) which are decomposed upon photoirradiation. Consequently, Ag-loaded Yb-modified Ga 2 O 3 exhibits much higher activity (209 μmol h -1 of CO) than the pristine Ag-loaded Ga 2 O 3 . The further modification of the surface of the Yb-modified Ga 2 O 3 with Zn afforded a selectivity toward CO evolution of 80%. Thus, we successfully achieved an efficient Ag-loaded Yb- and Zn-modified Ga 2 O 3 photocatalyst with high activity and controllable selectivity, suitable for use in artificial photosynthesis.

XBP1 (X-Box-Binding Protein-1)-Dependent O-GlcNAcylation Is Neuroprotective in Ischemic Stroke in Young Mice and Its Impairment in Aged Mice Is Rescued by Thiamet-G.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Meng; Yu, Shu; Yu, Zhui; Sheng, Huaxin; Li, Ying; Liu, Shuai; Warner, David S; Paschen, Wulf; Yang, Wei

2017-06-01

Impaired protein homeostasis induced by endoplasmic reticulum dysfunction is a key feature of a variety of age-related brain diseases including stroke. To restore endoplasmic reticulum function impaired by stress, the unfolded protein response is activated. A key unfolded protein response prosurvival pathway is controlled by the endoplasmic reticulum stress sensor (inositol-requiring enzyme-1), XBP1 (downstream X-box-binding protein-1), and O-GlcNAc (O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine) modification of proteins (O-GlcNAcylation). Stroke impairs endoplasmic reticulum function, which activates unfolded protein response. The rationale of this study was to explore the potentials of the IRE1/XBP1/O-GlcNAc axis as a target for neuroprotection in ischemic stroke. Mice with Xbp1 loss and gain of function in neurons were generated. Stroke was induced by transient or permanent occlusion of the middle cerebral artery in young and aged mice. Thiamet-G was used to increase O-GlcNAcylation. Deletion of Xbp1 worsened outcome after transient and permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion. After stroke, O-GlcNAcylation was activated in neurons of the stroke penumbra in young mice, which was largely Xbp1 dependent. This activation of O-GlcNAcylation was impaired in aged mice. Pharmacological increase of O-GlcNAcylation before or after stroke improved outcome in both young and aged mice. Our study indicates a critical role for the IRE1/XBP1 unfolded protein response branch in stroke outcome. O-GlcNAcylation is a prosurvival pathway that is activated in the stroke penumbra in young mice but impaired in aged mice. Boosting prosurvival pathways to counterbalance the age-related decline in the brain's self-healing capacity could be a promising strategy to improve ischemic stroke outcome in aged brains. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

Characterization of mammalian selenoprotein o: a redox-active mitochondrial protein.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Seong-Jeong; Lee, Byung Cheon; Yim, Sun Hee; Gladyshev, Vadim N; Lee, Seung-Rock

2014-01-01

Selenoproteins exhibit diverse biological functions, most of which are associated with redox control. However, the functions of approximately half of mammalian selenoproteins are not known. One such protein is Selenoprotein O (SelO), the largest mammalian selenoprotein with orthologs found in a wide range of organisms, including bacteria and yeast. Here, we report characterization of mammalian SelO. Expression of this protein could be verified in HEK 293T cells by metabolic labeling of cells with 75Se, and it was abolished when selenocysteine was replaced with serine. A CxxU motif was identified in the C-terminal region of SelO. This protein was reversibly oxidized in a time- and concentration-dependent manner in HEK 293T cells when cells were treated with hydrogen peroxide. This treatment led to the formation of a transient 88 kDa SelO-containing complex. The formation of this complex was enhanced by replacing the CxxU motif with SxxC, but abolished when it was replaced with SxxS, suggesting a redox interaction of SelO with another protein through its Sec residue. SelO was localized to mitochondria and expressed across mouse tissues. Its expression was little affected by selenium deficiency, suggesting it has a high priority for selenium supply. Taken together, these results show that SelO is a redox-active mitochondrial selenoprotein.

Characterization of mammalian selenoprotein o: a redox-active mitochondrial protein.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seong-Jeong Han

Full Text Available Selenoproteins exhibit diverse biological functions, most of which are associated with redox control. However, the functions of approximately half of mammalian selenoproteins are not known. One such protein is Selenoprotein O (SelO, the largest mammalian selenoprotein with orthologs found in a wide range of organisms, including bacteria and yeast. Here, we report characterization of mammalian SelO. Expression of this protein could be verified in HEK 293T cells by metabolic labeling of cells with 75Se, and it was abolished when selenocysteine was replaced with serine. A CxxU motif was identified in the C-terminal region of SelO. This protein was reversibly oxidized in a time- and concentration-dependent manner in HEK 293T cells when cells were treated with hydrogen peroxide. This treatment led to the formation of a transient 88 kDa SelO-containing complex. The formation of this complex was enhanced by replacing the CxxU motif with SxxC, but abolished when it was replaced with SxxS, suggesting a redox interaction of SelO with another protein through its Sec residue. SelO was localized to mitochondria and expressed across mouse tissues. Its expression was little affected by selenium deficiency, suggesting it has a high priority for selenium supply. Taken together, these results show that SelO is a redox-active mitochondrial selenoprotein.

Modifications of Western-type diet regarding protein, fat and sucrose levels as modulators of steroid metabolism and activity in liver.

Science.gov (United States)

Krawczyńska, Agata; Herman, Andrzej P; Antushevich, Hanna; Bochenek, Joanna; Dziendzikowska, Katarzyna; Gajewska, Alina; Gromadzka-Ostrowska, Joanna

2017-01-01

The aim of the study was to evaluate whether the modification of the Western-type diet (high-fat, high-sucrose diet rich in saturated fatty acids) considering macronutrients content would influence hepatic metabolism and activity of steroids. For 3 weeks Wistar rat were fed the Western-type diet (21% fat, 35% sucrose, 19% protein, lard) and its modifications regarding dietary protein (10 and 19%), fat (5 and 21%) and sucrose (0 and 35%) levels. The steroid 5α-reductase type 1 (Srd5a1) and androgen receptor (Ar) gene expression as well as testosterone (T) conversion towards 5α-reduced derivatives in liver were positively correlated with body weight gain. The Western-type diets with decreased protein content regardless of the sucrose level exerted the most negative effect on the antioxidant system decreasing catalase (Cat), sodium dismutase (Sod1) and glutathione peroxidase (Gpx1) gene expression as well as Cat and Gpx activity and total antioxidant status, simultaneously intensifying lipid peroxidation. The impaired antioxidant system was accompanied by decreased level of hepatic T metabolism towards estrogens: 17β-estradiol (E2) and estriol, and increased estrogen receptor type 1 (Esr1) gene expression. Liver Esr1 mRNA level was differently correlated with T (positively) and E2 (negatively) plasma levels. Whereas the fat reduction in Western-type diet restored the plasma proportion between T and E2. In conclusion it could be stated that Western-type diet modification relating to protein, sucrose and fat content can influence hepatic steroid metabolism and activity; however the estrogens and androgens metabolism in liver would be connected with impairment of liver function or catabolic activity, respectively. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modifications to the translational apparatus which affect the regulation of protein synthesis in sea urchin embryos

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scalise, F.W.

1988-01-01

Protein synthesis can be regulated at a number of cellular levels. I have examined how modifications to specific components of the protein synthetic machinery are involved in regulating the efficiency of initiation of translation during early sea urchin embryogenesis. It is demonstrated that Ca 2+ concentrations exceeding 500 uM cause the inhibition of protein synthesis in cell-free translation lysates prepared from sea urchin embryos. Specific changes in the state of phosphorylation of at least 8 proteins occur during this Ca 2+ -mediated repression of translation. Analysis of these proteins has indicated that, unlike mammalian systems, there is no detectable level of Ca 2+ -dependent phosphorylation of the αsubunit eIF-2. Two of the proteins which do become phosphorylated in response to Ca 2+ are calmodulin and an isoelectric form of sea urchin eIF-4D. In addition, 2 proteins which share similarities with kinases involved in the regulation of protein synthesis in mammalian cells, also become phosphorylated. I have investigated the consequences of changes in eIF-4D during sea urchin embryogenesis because it has been proposed that a polyamine-mediated conversion of lysine to hypusine in this factor may enhance translational activity. It is demonstrated that [ 3 H] spermidine-derived radioactivity is incorporated into a number of proteins when sea urchin embryos are labeled in vivo, and that the pattern of individual proteins that become labeled changes over the course of the first 30 hr of development

Improvement of Polypropylene Biological Interactions by using Superhydrophobic Surface Modification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Shirani

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The significance of producing superhydrophobic surfaces through modification of surface chemistry and structure is in preventing or delaying biofilm formation. This is done to improve biocompatibility and chemical and biological properties of the surface by creating micro-nano multilevel rough structure; and to decrease surface free energy by Fault Tolerant Control Strategy (FTCS . Here, we produced a superhydrophobic surface through TiO2 coating and flurosilanization methods. Then, in order to evaluate the physicochemical properties of the modified surfaces, they were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR, Contact Angle (CA, cell viability assay (using Hela and MCF-7 cancer cell lines as well as non-cancerous human fibroblast cells by MTT, Bovine Serum Abumin (BSA protein adsorption using Bradford and bacterial adhesion assay (Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis using microtiter. Results showed that contact angle and surface energey of superhydrophobic modified surface increased to 150° and decreased to 5.51 mj/m2, respectively due to physicochemical modifications of the surface. In addition, the results showed a substantial reduction in protein adsorption and bacterial cell adhesion in superhydrophobic surface.

Analysis of Histones H3 and H4 Reveals Novel and Conserved Post-Translational Modifications in Sugarcane.

Science.gov (United States)

Moraes, Izabel; Yuan, Zuo-Fei; Liu, Shichong; Souza, Glaucia Mendes; Garcia, Benjamin A; Casas-Mollano, J Armando

2015-01-01

Histones are the main structural components of the nucleosome, hence targets of many regulatory proteins that mediate processes involving changes in chromatin. The functional outcome of many pathways is "written" in the histones in the form of post-translational modifications that determine the final gene expression readout. As a result, modifications, alone or in combination, are important determinants of chromatin states. Histone modifications are accomplished by the addition of different chemical groups such as methyl, acetyl and phosphate. Thus, identifying and characterizing these modifications and the proteins related to them is the initial step to understanding the mechanisms of gene regulation and in the future may even provide tools for breeding programs. Several studies over the past years have contributed to increase our knowledge of epigenetic gene regulation in model organisms like Arabidopsis, yet this field remains relatively unexplored in crops. In this study we identified and initially characterized histones H3 and H4 in the monocot crop sugarcane. We discovered a number of histone genes by searching the sugarcane ESTs database. The proteins encoded correspond to canonical histones, and their variants. We also purified bulk histones and used them to map post-translational modifications in the histones H3 and H4 using mass spectrometry. Several modifications conserved in other plants, and also novel modified residues, were identified. In particular, we report O-acetylation of serine, threonine and tyrosine, a recently identified modification conserved in several eukaryotes. Additionally, the sub-nuclear localization of some well-studied modifications (i.e., H3K4me3, H3K9me2, H3K27me3, H3K9ac, H3T3ph) is described and compared to other plant species. To our knowledge, this is the first report of histones H3 and H4 as well as their post-translational modifications in sugarcane, and will provide a starting point for the study of chromatin regulation in

O-GlcNAc transferase regulates transcriptional activity of human Oct4.

Science.gov (United States)

Constable, Sandii; Lim, Jae-Min; Vaidyanathan, Krithika; Wells, Lance

2017-10-01

O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is a single sugar modification found on many different classes of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins. Addition of this modification, by the enzyme O-linked N-acetylglucosamine transferase (OGT), is dynamic and inducible. One major class of proteins modified by O-GlcNAc is transcription factors. O-GlcNAc regulates transcription factor properties through a variety of different mechanisms including localization, stability and transcriptional activation. Maintenance of embryonic stem (ES) cell pluripotency requires tight regulation of several key transcription factors, many of which are modified by O-GlcNAc. Octamer-binding protein 4 (Oct4) is one of the key transcription factors required for pluripotency of ES cells and more recently, the generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The action of Oct4 is modulated by the addition of several post-translational modifications, including O-GlcNAc. Previous studies in mice found a single site of O-GlcNAc addition responsible for transcriptional regulation. This study was designed to determine if this mechanism is conserved in humans. We mapped 10 novel sites of O-GlcNAc attachment on human Oct4, and confirmed a role for OGT in transcriptional activation of Oct4 at a site distinct from that found in mouse that allows distinction between different Oct4 target promoters. Additionally, we uncovered a potential new role for OGT that does not include its catalytic function. These results confirm that human Oct4 activity is being regulated by OGT by a mechanism that is distinct from mouse Oct4. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

SURFACE MODIFICATION OF SEMICONDUCTOR THIN FILM OF TiO2 ON GRAPHITE SUBSTRATE BY Cu-ELECTRODEPOSITION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fitria Rahmawati

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Surface modification of graphite/TiO2 has been done by mean of Cu electrodeposition. This research aims to study the effect of Cu electrodeposition on photocatalytic enhancing of TiO2. Electrodeposition has been done using CuSO4 0,4 M as the electrolyte at controlled current. The XRD pattern of modified TiO2 thin film on graphite substrate exhibited new peaks at 2θ= 43-44o and 2θ= 50-51o that have been identified as Cu with crystal cubic system, face-centered crystal lattice and crystallite size of 26-30 nm. CTABr still remains in the material as impurities. Meanwhile, based on morphological analysis, Cu particles are dissipated in the pore of thin film. Graphite/TiO2/Cu has higher photoconversion efficiency than graphite/TiO2.   Keywords: semiconductor, graphite/TiO2, Cu electrodeposition

Bivalent Carbohydrate Binding Is Required for Biological Activity of Clitocybe nebularis Lectin (CNL), the N,N′-Diacetyllactosediamine (GalNAcβ1–4GlcNAc, LacdiNAc)-specific Lectin from Basidiomycete C. nebularis*

Science.gov (United States)

Pohleven, Jure; Renko, Miha; Magister, Špela; Smith, David F.; Künzler, Markus; Štrukelj, Borut; Turk, Dušan; Kos, Janko; Sabotič, Jerica

2012-01-01

Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins that exert their biological activity by binding to specific cell glycoreceptors. We have expressed CNL, a ricin B-like lectin from the basidiomycete Clitocybe nebularis in Escherichia coli. The recombinant lectin, rCNL, agglutinates human blood group A erythrocytes and is specific for the unique glycan N,N′-diacetyllactosediamine (GalNAcβ1–4GlcNAc, LacdiNAc) as demonstrated by glycan microarray analysis. We here describe the crystal structures of rCNL in complex with lactose and LacdiNAc, defining its interactions with the sugars. CNL is a homodimeric lectin, each of whose monomers consist of a single ricin B lectin domain with its β-trefoil fold and one carbohydrate-binding site. To study the mode of CNL action, a nonsugar-binding mutant and nondimerizing monovalent CNL mutants that retain carbohydrate-binding activity were prepared. rCNL and the mutants were examined for their biological activities against Jurkat human leukemic T cells and the hypersensitive nematode Caenorhabditis elegans mutant strain pmk-1. rCNL was toxic against both, although the mutants were inactive. Thus, the bivalent carbohydrate-binding property of homodimeric CNL is essential for its activity, providing one of the rare pieces of evidence that certain activities of lectins are associated with their multivalency. PMID:22298779

Isothermal titration calorimetric and computational studies on the binding of chitooligosaccharides to pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) phloem exudate lectin.

Science.gov (United States)

Narahari, Akkaladevi; Singla, Hitesh; Nareddy, Pavan Kumar; Bulusu, Gopalakrishnan; Surolia, Avadhesha; Swamy, Musti J

2011-04-14

The interaction of chitooligosaccharides [(GlcNAc)(2-6)] with pumpkin phloem exudate lectin (PPL) was investigated by isothermal titration calorimetry and computational methods. The dimeric PPL binds to (GlcNAc)(3-5) with binding constants of 1.26-1.53 × 10(5) M(-1) at 25 °C, whereas chitobiose exhibits approximately 66-fold lower affinity. Interestingly, chitohexaose shows nearly 40-fold higher affinity than chitopentaose with a binding constant of 6.16 × 10(6) M(-1). The binding stoichiometry decreases with an increase in the oligosaccharide size from 2.26 for chitobiose to 1.08 for chitohexaose. The binding reaction was essentially enthalpy driven with negative entropic contribution, suggesting that hydrogen bonds and van der Waals' interactions are the main factors that stabilize PPL-saccharide association. The three-dimensional structure of PPL was predicted by homology modeling, and binding of chitooligosaccharides was investigated by molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations, which showed that the protein binding pocket can accommodate up to three GlcNAc residues, whereas additional residues in chitotetraose and chitopentaose did not exhibit any interactions with the binding pocket. Docking studies with chitohexaose indicated that the two triose units of the molecule could interact with different protein binding sites, suggesting formation of higher order complexes by the higher oligomers of GlcNAc by their simultaneous interaction with two protein molecules.

Sequence-engineered mRNA Without Chemical Nucleoside Modifications Enables an Effective Protein Therapy in Large Animals

Science.gov (United States)

Thess, Andreas; Grund, Stefanie; Mui, Barbara L; Hope, Michael J; Baumhof, Patrick; Fotin-Mleczek, Mariola; Schlake, Thomas

2015-01-01

Being a transient carrier of genetic information, mRNA could be a versatile, flexible, and safe means for protein therapies. While recent findings highlight the enormous therapeutic potential of mRNA, evidence that mRNA-based protein therapies are feasible beyond small animals such as mice is still lacking. Previous studies imply that mRNA therapeutics require chemical nucleoside modifications to obtain sufficient protein expression and avoid activation of the innate immune system. Here we show that chemically unmodified mRNA can achieve those goals as well by applying sequence-engineered molecules. Using erythropoietin (EPO) driven production of red blood cells as the biological model, engineered Epo mRNA elicited meaningful physiological responses from mice to nonhuman primates. Even in pigs of about 20 kg in weight, a single adequate dose of engineered mRNA encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) induced high systemic Epo levels and strong physiological effects. Our results demonstrate that sequence-engineered mRNA has the potential to revolutionize human protein therapies. PMID:26050989

Functional anthology of intrinsic disorder. 3. Ligands, post-translational modifications, and diseases associated with intrinsically disordered proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Hongbo; Vucetic, Slobodan; Iakoucheva, Lilia M; Oldfield, Christopher J; Dunker, A Keith; Obradovic, Zoran; Uversky, Vladimir N

2007-05-01

devoted to the presentation of 87 Swiss-Prot keywords attributed to the cellular components, domains, technical terms, developmental processes, and coding sequence diversities possessing strong positive and negative correlation with long disordered regions (Vucetic, S.; Xie, H.; Iakoucheva, L. M.; Oldfield, C. J.; Dunker, A. K.; Obradovic, Z.; Uversky, V. N. Functional anthology of intrinsic disorder. 2. Cellular components, domains, technical terms, developmental processes, and coding sequence diversities correlated with long disordered regions. J. Proteome Res. 2007, 5, 1899-1916). Protein structure and functionality can be modulated by various post-translational modifications or/and as a result of binding of specific ligands. Numerous human diseases are associated with protein misfolding/misassembly/misfunctioning. This work concludes the series of papers dedicated to the functional anthology of intrinsic disorder and describes approximately 80 Swiss-Prot functional keywords that are related to ligands, post-translational modifications, and diseases possessing strong positive or negative correlation with the predicted long disordered regions in proteins.

Influence of EDC/NHS coupling chemistry on stability and cytotoxicity of ZnO nanoparticles modified with proteins

Science.gov (United States)

Keleştemur, Seda; Altunbek, Mine; Culha, Mustafa

2017-05-01

The toxicity of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) is a growing concern due to its increasing use in several products including sunscreens, paints, pigments and ceramics for its antibacterial, antifungal, anti-corrosive and UV filtering properties. The toxicity of ZnO NPs is mostly attributed to the Zn2+ release causing an increase in the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level. The surface modification with a biocompatible ligand or a polymer can be a good strategy to reduce dissolution based toxicity. In two previous studies, the conflicting results with EDC/NHS coupling chemistry for ZnO NPs were reported. In this study, the same surface modification strategy with an emphasis on the stability of ZnO NPs is clarified. First, the density of -OH groups on the ZnO NPs is increased with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) treatment, and then a silica coating on the ZnO NPs (Si-ZnO) surface is performed. Finally, a covalent attachment of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on three different concentrations of ZnO-Si is carried out by EDC/NHS coupling chemistry. ZnO NPs have a very high dissolution rate under acidic conditions of EDC/NHS coupling chemistry as determined from the ICP-MS analysis. In addition, the amount of ZnO NPs in coupling reaction has an important effect on the dissolution rate of Zn2+ and dependently BSA attached on the ZnO NP surfaces. Finally, the cytotoxicity of the BSA modified Si-ZnO NPs on human lung cancer (A549) and human skin fibroblast (HSF) is evaluated. Although an increased association of BSA modified ZnO NPs with cells was observed, the modification significantly decreased their cytotoxicity. This can be explained with the decreased active surface area of ZnO NPs with the surface modification. However, an increase in the mitochondrial depolarization and ROS production was observed depending on the amount of BSA coverage.

Characterization of Mammalian Selenoprotein O: A Redox-Active Mitochondrial Protein

OpenAIRE

Han, Seong-Jeong; Lee, Byung Cheon; Yim, Sun Hee; Gladyshev, Vadim N.; Lee, Seung-Rock

2014-01-01

Selenoproteins exhibit diverse biological functions, most of which are associated with redox control. However, the functions of approximately half of mammalian selenoproteins are not known. One such protein is Selenoprotein O (SelO), the largest mammalian selenoprotein with orthologs found in a wide range of organisms, including bacteria and yeast. Here, we report characterization of mammalian SelO. Expression of this protein could be verified in HEK 293T cells by metabolic labeling of cells ...

Strain dependent microstructural modifications of BiCrO{sub 3} epitaxial thin films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kannan, Vijayanandhini, E-mail: kvnandhini@gmail.com [Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Weinberg 2, D-06120 Halle (Saale) (Germany); CNRS, University of Bordeaux, ICMCB, UPR 9048, F-33600 Pessac (France); Arredondo, Miryam; Johann, Florian; Hesse, Dietrich [Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Weinberg 2, D-06120 Halle (Saale) (Germany); Labrugere, Christine [CNRS, University of Bordeaux, ICMCB, UPR 9048, F-33600 Pessac (France); CeCaMA, University of Bordeaux, ICMCB, F-33600 Pessac (France); Maglione, Mario [CNRS, University of Bordeaux, ICMCB, UPR 9048, F-33600 Pessac (France); Vrejoiu, Ionela [Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Weinberg 2, D-06120 Halle (Saale) (Germany)

2013-10-31

Strain-dependent microstructural modifications were observed in epitaxial BiCrO{sub 3} (BCO) thin films fabricated on single crystalline substrates, utilizing pulsed laser deposition. The following conditions were employed to modify the epitaxial-strain: (i) in-plane tensile strain, BCO{sub STO} [BCO grown on buffered SrTiO{sub 3} (001)] and in-plane compressive strain, BCO{sub NGO} [BCO grown on buffered NdGaO{sub 3} (110)] and (ii) varying BCO film thickness. A combination of techniques like X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to analyse the epitaxial growth quality and the microstructure of BCO. Our studies revealed that in the case of BCO{sub STO}, a coherent interface with homogeneous orthorhombic phase is obtained only for BCO film with thicknesses, d < 50 nm. All the BCO{sub STO} films with d ≥ 50 nm were found to be strain-relaxed with an orthorhombic phase showing 1/2 <100> and 1/4 <101> satellite reflections, the latter oriented at 45° from orthorhombic diffraction spots. High angle annular dark field scanning TEM of these films strongly suggested that the satellite reflections, 1/2 <100> and 1/4 <101>, originate from the atomic stacking sequence changes (or “modulated structure”) as reported for polytypes, without altering the chemical composition. The unaltered stoichiometry was confirmed by estimating both valency of Bi and Cr cations by surface and in-depth XPS analysis as well as the stoichiometric ratio (1 Bi:1 Cr) using scanning TEM–energy dispersive X-ray analysis. In contrast, compressively strained BCO{sub NGO} films exhibited monoclinic symmetry without any structural modulations or interfacial defects, up to d ∼ 200 nm. Our results indicate that both the substrate-induced in-plane epitaxial strain and the BCO film thickness are the crucial parameters to stabilise a homogeneous BCO phase in an epitaxially grown film. - Highlights: • Phase pure

Identification and Interrogation of Combinatorial Histone Modifications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kelly R Karch

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Histone proteins are dynamically modified to mediate a variety of cellular processes including gene transcription, DNA damage repair, and apoptosis. Regulation of these processes occurs through the recruitment of non-histone proteins to chromatin by specific combinations of histone post-translational modifications (PTMs. Mass spectrometry has emerged as an essential tool to discover and quantify histone PTMs both within and between samples in an unbiased manner. Developments in mass spectrometry that allow for characterization of large histone peptides or intact protein has made it possible to determine which modifications occur simultaneously on a single histone polypeptide. A variety of techniques from biochemistry, biophysics, and chemical biology have been employed to determine the biological relevance of discovered combinatorial codes. This review first describes advancements in the field of mass spectrometry that have facilitated histone PTM analysis and then covers notable approaches to probe the biological relevance of these modifications in their nucleosomal context.

Three Pseudomonas putida FNR Family Proteins with Different Sensitivities to O2.

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahim, Susan A; Crack, Jason C; Rolfe, Matthew D; Borrero-de Acuña, José Manuel; Thomson, Andrew J; Le Brun, Nick E; Schobert, Max; Stapleton, Melanie R; Green, Jeffrey

2015-07-03

The Escherichia coli fumarate-nitrate reduction regulator (FNR) protein is the paradigm for bacterial O2-sensing transcription factors. However, unlike E. coli, some bacterial species possess multiple FNR proteins that presumably have evolved to fulfill distinct roles. Here, three FNR proteins (ANR, PP_3233, and PP_3287) from a single bacterial species, Pseudomonas putida KT2440, have been analyzed. Under anaerobic conditions, all three proteins had spectral properties resembling those of [4Fe-4S] proteins. The reactivity of the ANR [4Fe-4S] cluster with O2 was similar to that of E. coli FNR, and during conversion to the apo-protein, via a [2Fe-2S] intermediate, cluster sulfur was retained. Like ANR, reconstituted PP_3233 and PP_3287 were converted to [2Fe-2S] forms when exposed to O2, but their [4Fe-4S] clusters reacted more slowly. Transcription from an FNR-dependent promoter with a consensus FNR-binding site in P. putida and E. coli strains expressing only one FNR protein was consistent with the in vitro responses to O2. Taken together, the experimental results suggest that the local environments of the iron-sulfur clusters in the different P. putida FNR proteins influence their reactivity with O2, such that ANR resembles E. coli FNR and is highly responsive to low concentrations of O2, whereas PP_3233 and PP_3287 have evolved to be less sensitive to O2. © 2015 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Enzymes in lipid modification: From classical biocatalysis with commercial enzymes to advanced protein engineering tools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bornscheuer Uwe T.

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In this review, the application of enzymes, especially lipases, for the modification of fats and oils is covered. This includes the lipase-catalyzed selective production of structured triglycerides and the isolation or incorporation of specific fatty acids. Protein engineering methods to modify lipases on a molecular level were used to alter the fatty acid chain-length and ‘‘trans over cis’’ selectivity of lipase A from Candida antarctica. Furthermore, an enzymatic cascade reaction to remove 3-monochloropropanediol and the identification of a phospholipase C for degumming are briefly covered.

Measuring O-GlcNAc cleavage by OGA and cell lysates on a peptide microarray.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharif, Suhela; Shi, Jie; Bourakba, Mostafa; Ruijtenbeek, Rob; Pieters, Roland J

2017-09-01

O-GlcNAcylation is a post-translational modification resulting from the addition of an N-acetylglucosamine moiety to the hydroxyl groups of serine and threonine residues of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins. In addition, O-GlcNAcylated proteins can be phosphorylated, which suggests the possibility for crosstalk between O-GlcNAcylation and phosphorylation. Dysregulation of O-GlcNAcylation affects cell signaling, transcriptional regulation, cell cycle control and can e.g. lead to tumorigenesis and tumor metastasis. There is a strong demand for efficient analytical techniques to better detect and investigate this abundant modification and its role in cancer. Herein we demonstrated the utility of an O-GlcNAcylated peptide array to examine O-GlcNAcase (OGA) activity and substrate specificity of both purified protein as well cell lysates of different cancer cell lines. Using this microarray, we clearly observed OGA activity and also inhibition thereof by OGA inhibitor thiamet G. Interestingly, different levels of OGA activity were observed of lysates derived from different cancer cell lines. This suggests that the tool may be useful in cancer research and biomarker development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Surface Modification of Biomaterials: A Quest for Blood Compatibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Achala de Mel

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Cardiovascular implants must resist thrombosis and intimal hyperplasia to maintain patency. These implants when in contact with blood face a challenge to oppose the natural coagulation process that becomes activated. Surface protein adsorption and their relevant 3D confirmation greatly determine the degree of blood compatibility. A great deal of research efforts are attributed towards realising such a surface, which comprise of a range of methods on surface modification. Surface modification methods can be broadly categorized as physicochemical modifications and biological modifications. These modifications aim to modulate platelet responses directly through modulation of thrombogenic proteins or by inducing antithrombogenic biomolecules that can be biofunctionalised onto surfaces or through inducing an active endothelium. Nanotechnology is recognising a great role in such surface modification of cardiovascular implants through biofunctionalisation of polymers and peptides in nanocomposites and through nanofabrication of polymers which will pave the way for finding a closer blood match through haemostasis when developing cardiovascular implants with a greater degree of patency.

ELISA-PLA: A novel hybrid platform for the rapid, highly sensitive and specific quantification of proteins and post-translational modifications.

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Qing-He; Tao, Tao; Xie, Li-Qi; Lu, Hao-Jie

2016-06-15

Detection of low-abundance proteins and their post-translational modifications (PTMs) remains a great challenge. A conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is not sensitive enough to detect low-abundance PTMs and suffers from nonspecific detection. Herein, a rapid, highly sensitive and specific platform integrating ELISA with a proximity ligation assay (PLA), termed ELISA-PLA, was developed. Using ELISA-PLA, the specificity was improved by the simultaneous and proximate recognition of targets through multiple probes, and the sensitivity was significantly improved by rolling circle amplification (RCA). For GFP, the limit of detection (LOD) was decreased by two orders of magnitude compared to that of ELISA. Using site-specific phospho-antibody and pan-specific phospho-antibody, ELISA-PLA was successfully applied to quantify the phosphorylation dynamics of ERK1/2 and the overall tyrosine phosphorylation level of ERK1/2, respectively. ELISA-PLA was also used to quantify the O-GlcNAcylation of AKT, c-Fos, CREB and STAT3, which is faster and more sensitive than the conventional immunoprecipitation and western blotting (IP-WB) method. As a result, the sample consumption of ELISA-PLA was reduced 40-fold compared to IP-WB. Therefore, ELISA-PLA could be a promising platform for the rapid, sensitive and specific detection of proteins and PTMs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

O-GlcNAc inhibits interaction between Sp1 and Elf-1 transcription factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lim, Kihong; Chang, Hyo-Ihl

2009-01-01

The novel protein modification, O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc), plays an important role in various aspects of cell regulation. Although most of nuclear transcription regulatory factors are modified by O-GlcNAc, O-GlcNAc effects on transcription remain largely undefined yet. In this study, we show that O-GlcNAc inhibits a physical interaction between Sp1 and Elf-1 transcription factors, and negatively regulates transcription of placenta and embryonic expression oncofetal protein gene (Pem). These findings suggest that O-GlcNAc inhibits Sp1-mediated gene transcription possibly by interrupting Sp1 interaction with its cooperative factor.

Surface modification of spinel λ-MnO2 and its lithium adsorption properties from spent lithium ion batteries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Li; Qu, Wenjie; Liu, Fang; Zhao, Taolin; Zhang, Xiaoxiao; Chen, Renjie; Wu, Feng

2014-01-01

Highlights: • A method is designed to synthesize a λ-MnO 2 ion-sieve for lithium ions adsorption. • Ultrasonic treatment with acid is highly efficient for lithium ions extraction. • Surface modification by CeO 2 is used to improve the adsorption capacity. • A 0.5 wt.% CeO 2 -coated ion-sieve shows the best adsorption properties. • λ-MnO 2 ion-sieves are promising for recovering scarce lithium resources. - Abstract: Spinel λ-MnO 2 ion-sieves are promising materials because of their high selectivity toward lithium ions, and this can be applied to the recovery of lithium from spent lithium ion batteries. However, manganese dissolution loss during the delithiation of LiMn 2 O 4 causes a decrease in adsorption capacity and poor cycling stability for these ion-sieves. To improve the lithium adsorption properties of λ-MnO 2 ion-sieves, surface modification with a CeO 2 coating was studied using hydrothermal-heterogeneous nucleation. The structure, morphology and composition of the synthesized materials were determined by XRD, SEM, TEM and EDS. The effect of hydrothermal synthesis conditions and the amount of CeO 2 coating on the adsorption performance of λ-MnO 2 were also investigated. A 0.5 wt.% CeO 2 -coated ion-sieve was synthesized by heating at 120 °C for 3 h and it had better adsorption properties than the bare samples. The effect of ultrasonic treatment on the lithium extraction ratio from LiMn 2 O 4 upon acid treatment at various temperatures was studied and the results were compared with conventional mechanical stirring. We found that ultrasonic treatment at lower temperature gave almost the same maximum lithium extraction ratio and was more efficient and economic

ZnO nanostructures directly grown on paper and bacterial cellulose substrates without any surface modification layer.

Science.gov (United States)

Costa, Saionara V; Gonçalves, Agnaldo S; Zaguete, Maria A; Mazon, Talita; Nogueira, Ana F

2013-09-21

In this report, hierarchical ZnO nano- and microstructures were directly grown for the first time on a bacterial cellulose substrate and on two additional different papers by hydrothermal synthesis without any surface modification layer. Compactness and smoothness of the substrates are two important parameters that allow the growth of oriented structures.

Standardization and quality control in quantifying non-enzymatic oxidative protein modifications in relation to ageing and disease: Why is it important and why is it hard?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nedić, Olgica; Rogowska-Wrzesinska, Adelina; Rattan, Suresh

2015-01-01

Post-translational modifications (PTM) of proteins determine the activity, stability, specificity, transportability and lifespan of a protein. Some PTM are highly specific and regulated involving various enzymatic pathways, but there are other non-enzymatic PTM (nePTM), which occur stochastically...

Radiation-induced reductive modifications of sulfur-containing amino acids within peptides and proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Chatgilialoglu, Chryssostomos; Ferreri, Carla; Torreggiani, Armida; Salzano, Anna Maria; Renzone, Giovanni; Scaloni, Andrea

2011-10-19

The complex scenario of radical stress reactions affecting peptides/proteins can be better elucidated through the design of biomimetic studies simulating the consequences of the different free radicals attacking amino acids. In this context, ionizing radiations allowed to examine the specific damages caused by H-atoms and electrons coupled with protons, thus establishing the molecular basis of reductive radical stress. This is an innovative concept that complements the well-known oxidative stress also in view of a complete understanding of the global consequences of radical species reactivities on living systems. This review summarizes the knowledge of the chemical changes present in sulfur-containing amino acids occurring in polypeptides under reductive radical conditions, in particular the transformation of Met and Cys residues into α-amino butyric acid and alanine, respectively. Reductive radical stress causing a desulfurization process, is therefore coupled with the formation of S-centered radicals, which in turn can diffuse apart and become responsible of the damage transfer from proteins to lipids. These reductive modifications assayed in different peptide/protein sequences constitute an integration of the molecular inventories that up to now take into account only oxidative transformations. They can be useful to achieve an integrated vision of the free radical reactivities in a multifunctional system and, overall, for wider applications in the redox proteomics field. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparison of modification strategies towards enhanced charge carrier separation and photocatalytic degradation activity of metal oxide semiconductors (TiO{sub 2}, WO{sub 3} and ZnO)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kumar, S. Girish [Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 560012 Karnataka (India); Department of Chemistry, School of Engineering and Technology, CMR University, Bengaluru, 562149, Karnataka (India); Rao, K.S.R. Koteswara, E-mail: raoksrk@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 560012 Karnataka (India)

2017-01-01

Graphical abstract: Semiconductor metal oxides: Modifications, charge carrier dynamics and photocatalysis. - Highlights: • TiO{sub 2}, WO{sub 3} and ZnO based photocatalysis is reviewed. • Advances to improve the efficiency are emphasized. • Differences and similarities in the modifications are highlighted. • Charge carrier dynamics for each strategy are discussed. - Abstract: Metal oxide semiconductors (TiO{sub 2}, WO{sub 3} and ZnO) finds unparalleled opportunity in wastewater purification under UV/visible light, largely encouraged by their divergent admirable features like stability, non-toxicity, ease of preparation, suitable band edge positions and facile generation of active oxygen species in the aqueous medium. However, the perennial failings of these photocatalysts emanates from the stumbling blocks like rapid charge carrier recombination and meager visible light response. In this review, tailoring the surface-bulk electronic structure through the calibrated and veritable approaches such as impurity doping, deposition with noble metals, sensitizing with other compounds (dyes, polymers, inorganic complexes and simple chelating ligands), hydrogenation process (annealing under hydrogen atmosphere), electronic integration with other semiconductors, modifying with carbon nanostructures, designing with exposed facets and tailoring with hierarchical morphologies to overcome their critical drawbacks are summarized. Taking into account the materials intrinsic properties, the pros and cons together with similarities and striking differences for each strategy in specific to TiO{sub 2}, WO{sub 3} & ZnO are highlighted. These subtlety enunciates the primacy for improving the structure-electronic properties of metal oxides and credence to its fore in the practical applications. Future research must focus on comparing the performances of ZnO, TiO{sub 2} and WO{sub 3} in parallel to get insight into their photocatalytic behaviors. Such comparisons not only reveal

Trafficking and function of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator: a complex network of posttranslational modifications

Science.gov (United States)

McClure, Michelle L.; Barnes, Stephen; Brodsky, Jeffrey L.

2016-01-01

Posttranslational modifications add diversity to protein function. Throughout its life cycle, the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) undergoes numerous covalent posttranslational modifications (PTMs), including glycosylation, ubiquitination, sumoylation, phosphorylation, and palmitoylation. These modifications regulate key steps during protein biogenesis, such as protein folding, trafficking, stability, function, and association with protein partners and therefore may serve as targets for therapeutic manipulation. More generally, an improved understanding of molecular mechanisms that underlie CFTR PTMs may suggest novel treatment strategies for CF and perhaps other protein conformational diseases. This review provides a comprehensive summary of co- and posttranslational CFTR modifications and their significance with regard to protein biogenesis. PMID:27474090

The Role of Histone Protein Modifications and Mutations in Histone Modifiers in Pediatric B-Cell Progenitor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Science.gov (United States)

Janczar, Szymon; Janczar, Karolina; Pastorczak, Agata; Harb, Hani; Paige, Adam J. W.; Zalewska-Szewczyk, Beata; Danilewicz, Marian; Mlynarski, Wojciech

2017-01-01

While cancer has been long recognized as a disease of the genome, the importance of epigenetic mechanisms in neoplasia was acknowledged more recently. The most active epigenetic marks are DNA methylation and histone protein modifications and they are involved in basic biological phenomena in every cell. Their role in tumorigenesis is stressed by recent unbiased large-scale studies providing evidence that several epigenetic modifiers are recurrently mutated or frequently dysregulated in multiple cancers. The interest in epigenetic marks is especially due to the fact that they are potentially reversible and thus druggable. In B-cell progenitor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL) there is a relative paucity of reports on the role of histone protein modifications (acetylation, methylation, phosphorylation) as compared to acute myeloid leukemia, T-cell ALL, or other hematologic cancers, and in this setting chromatin modifications are relatively less well studied and reviewed than DNA methylation. In this paper, we discuss the biomarker associations and evidence for a driver role of dysregulated global and loci-specific histone marks, as well as mutations in epigenetic modifiers in BCP-ALL. Examples of chromatin modifiers recurrently mutated/disrupted in BCP-ALL and associated with disease outcomes include MLL1, CREBBP, NSD2, and SETD2. Altered histone marks and histone modifiers and readers may play a particular role in disease chemoresistance and relapse. We also suggest that epigenetic regulation of B-cell differentiation may have parallel roles in leukemogenesis. PMID:28054944

Characterization of the Pichia pastoris protein-O-mannosyltransferase gene family.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juergen H Nett

Full Text Available The methylotrophic yeast, Pichiapastoris, is an important organism used for the production of therapeutic proteins. However, the presence of fungal-like glycans, either N-linked or O-linked, can elicit an immune response or enable the expressed protein to bind to mannose receptors, thus reducing their efficacy. Previously we have reported the elimination of β-linked glycans in this organism. In the current report we have focused on reducing the O-linked mannose content of proteins produced in P. pastoris, thereby reducing the potential to bind to mannose receptors. The initial step in the synthesis of O-linked glycans in P. pastoris is the transfer of mannose from dolichol-phosphomannose to a target protein in the yeast secretory pathway by members of the protein-O-mannosyltransferase (PMT family. In this report we identify and characterize the members of the P. pastoris PMT family. Like Candida albicans, P. pastoris has five PMT genes. Based on sequence homology, these PMTs can be grouped into three sub-families, with both PMT1 and PMT2 sub-families possessing two members each (PMT1 and PMT5, and PMT2 and PMT6, respectively. The remaining sub-family, PMT4, has only one member (PMT4. Through gene knockouts we show that PMT1 and PMT2 each play a significant role in O-glycosylation. Both, by gene knockouts and the use of Pmt inhibitors we were able to significantly reduce not only the degree of O-mannosylation, but also the chain-length of these glycans. Taken together, this reduction of O-glycosylation represents an important step forward in developing the P. pastoris platform as a suitable system for the production of therapeutic glycoproteins.

Analysis of the post-translational modifications of the individual amino acids in lens proteins which were induced by aging and irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujii, Noriko; Kim, Ingu; Saito, Takeshi; Takata, Takumi

2017-01-01

The eye lens is a transparent organ that functions to focus light and images on the retina. The transparency and high refraction of the lens are maintained by the function of α-, β- and γ-crystallins. These long-lived proteins are subject to various post-translational modifications, such as oxidation, deamidation, truncation and isomerization, which occur gradually during the aging process. Such modifications, which are generated by UV light and oxidative stress, decrease crystallin solubility and lens transparency, and ultimately lead to the development of age-related cataracts. Here, we irradiated young rat lenses with γ-rays (5-500 Gy) and extracted the water-soluble (WS) and insoluble (WI) protein fractions. The WS and WI lens proteins were digested with trypsin, and the resulting peptides were analyzed by one-shot LC-MS/MS to determine the specific sites of oxidation of methionine and tryptophan, deamidation of asparagine and glutamine, and isomerization of aspartyl in rat α- and β-crystallins in the WS and WI fractions. Oxidation and deamidation occurred in several crystallins after irradiation at more than, respectively, 50 Gy and 5 Gy; however, isomerization did not occur in any crystallin even after exposure to 500 Gy of irradiation. The number of oxidation and deamidation sites was much higher in the WI than in the WS fraction. Furthermore, the oxidation and deamidation sites in rat crystallins resemble those reported in crystallins from human age-related cataracts. Thus, this study on post-translational modifications of crystallins induced by ionizing irradiation may provide useful information relevant to the formation of human age-related cataracts. (author)

Aplicação de filmes proteicos à base de soro de leite Application of whey protein films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristiana Maria Pedroso Yoshida

2009-06-01

Full Text Available A eficiência da aplicação de filmes à base de proteínas de soro de leite foi avaliada em um sistema de embalagem que consistia em um pote plástico utilizando-se filmes de proteínas de soro de leite como fechamento superior. Pedaços de maçã foram embalados e armazenados à temperatura ambiente (25 °C e sob refrigeração (10 °C. Os filmes proteicos à base de soro de leite foram obtidos por três procedimentos distintos: por desnaturação térmica; com a incorporação de ácido esteárico (0,5%, em massa; e por modificação enzimática utilizando-se a transglutaminase microbiana (10U/g proteína, ACTIVA TG-B , a partir de uma formulação básica de 6,50% de proteína, 3,0% de plastificante (glicerol e pH 7,0. A integridade dos filmes após embalagem e durante armazenamento foi observada, medindo-se as propriedades mecânicas dos filmes. A permeabilidade ao vapor d'água foi avaliada pela perda de massa, teor de umidade, e variação de textura dos pedaços de maçã. Os resultados indicaram que os filmes apresentam uma barreira moderada à umidade, apresentando diferença entre potes com e sem coberturas de filmes. A permeabilidade ao oxigênio foi conferida pelo escurecimento enzimático das maçãs pela ação da enzima polifenoxidase, apresentando diferença em relação ao das amostras acondicionadas em atmosfera modificada com gás N2.The efficiency of whey protein films packaging was evaluated. The packaging system consisted of whey protein films closing the top extremity of synthetic plastic container. Slices of apple were packed and stored at room temperature (25 °C and at 10 °C. Modified atmosphere packaging (N2 gas flushing was studied to verify the oxygen permeability of the films. Whey protein films (6.5% of protein, 3.0% of glycerol, and pH 7.0 were obtained by thermal denaturation, emulsification (0.5% (w/w with stearic acid, and enzymatic modification (10U/g protein of transglutaminase, ACTIVA-TG. Mechanical

Alcohol alters hepatic FoxO1, p53, and mitochondrial SIRT5 deacetylation function

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lieber, Charles S.; Leo, Maria Anna; Wang, Xiaolei; DeCarli, Leonore M.

2008-01-01

Chronic alcohol consumption affects the gene expression of a NAD-dependent deacetylase Sirtuis 1 (SIRT1) and the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator1α (PGC-1α). Our aim was to verify that it also alters the forkhead (FoxO1) and p53 transcription factor proteins, critical in the hepatic response to oxidative stress and regulated by SIRT1 through its deacetylating capacity. Accordingly, rats were pair-fed the Lieber-DeCarli alcohol-containing liquid diets for 28 days. Alcohol increased hepatic mRNA expression of FoxO1 (p = 0.003) and p53 (p = 0.001) while corresponding protein levels remained unchanged. However phospho-FoxO1 and phospho-Akt (protein kinase) were both decreased by alcohol consumption (p = 0.04 and p = 0.02, respectively) while hepatic p53 was found hyperacetylated (p = 0.017). Furthermore, mitochondrial SIRT5 was reduced (p = 0.0025), and PGC-1α hyperacetylated (p = 0.027), establishing their role in protein modification. Thus, alcohol consumption disrupts nuclear-mitochondrial interactions by post-translation protein modifications, which contribute to alteration of mitochondrial biogenesis through the newly discovered reduction of SIRT5

Hydrophobic surface modification of TiO2 nanoparticles for production of acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylate terpolymer/TiO2 composited cool materials

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Yanli; Xiang, Bo; Tan, Wubin; Zhang, Jun

2017-10-01

Hydrophobic surface modification of TiO2 was conducted for production of acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylate (ASA) terpolymer/titanium dioxide (TiO2) composited cool materials. Different amount of 3-methacryloxypropyl-trimethoxysilane (MPS) was employed to change hydrophilic surface of TiO2 into hydrophobic surface. The hydrophobic organosilane chains were successfully grafted onto TiO2 through Sisbnd Osbnd Ti bonds, which were verified by Fourier transformed infrared spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The water contact angle of the sample added with TiO2 modified by 5 wt% MPS increased from 86° to 113°. Besides, all the ASA/TiO2 composites showed significant improvement in both solar reflectance and cooling property. The reflectance of the composites throughout the near infrared (NIR) region and the whole solar wavelength is increased by 113.92% and 43.35% compared with pristine ASA resin. Simultaneously, significant drop in temperature demonstrates excellent cooling property. A maximum decrease approach to 27 °C was observed in indoor temperature test, while a decrease around 9 °C tested outdoors is achieved.

Protein carbonylation and metal-catalyzed protein oxidation in a cellular perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Ian Max; Rogowska-Wrzesinska, Adelina; Rao, R S P

2011-01-01

Proteins can become oxidatively modified in many different ways, either by direct oxidation of amino acid side chains and protein backbone or indirectly by conjugation with oxidation products of polyunsaturated fatty acids and carbohydrates. While reversible oxidative modifications are thought...... to be relevant in physiological processes, irreversible oxidative modifications are known to contribute to cellular damage and disease. The most well-studied irreversible protein oxidation is carbonylation. In this work we first examine how protein carbonylation occurs via metal-catalyzed oxidation (MCO) in vivo...... and in vitro with an emphasis on cellular metal ion homeostasis and metal binding. We then review proteomic methods currently used for identifying carbonylated proteins and their sites of modification. Finally, we discuss the identified carbonylated proteins and the pattern of carbonylation sites in relation...

System in biology leading to cell pathology: stable protein-protein interactions after covalent modifications by small molecules or in transgenic cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Malina, Halina Z

2011-01-19

in disease development. In the knockout cells, incorrect interactions between proteins were observed without the protein modification by small molecules, indicating the abnormality of the protein network in the transgenic system. The irreversible protein-protein interactions lead to protein aggregation and cell degeneration, which are observed in all aging-associated diseases.

Location, location, location: new insights into O-GalNAc protein glycosylation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gill, David J; Clausen, Henrik; Bard, Frederic

2011-01-01

O-GalNAc glycosylation of proteins confers essential structural, protective and signaling roles in eumetazoans. Addition of O-glycans onto proteins is an extremely complex process that regulates both sites of attachment and the types of oligosaccharides added. Twenty distinct polypeptide GalNAc......-transferases (GalNAc-Ts) initiate O-glycosylation and fine-tuning their expression provides a mechanism for regulating this action. Recently, a new mode of regulation has emerged where activation of Src kinase selectively redistributes Golgi-localized GalNAc-Ts to the ER. This relocalization results in a strong...... increase in the density of O-glycan decoration. In this review, we discuss how different mechanisms can regulate the number and the types of O-glycans decorating proteins. In addition, we speculate how Src-dependent relocation of GalNAc-Ts could play an important role in cancerous cellular transformation....

In vivo modification of tyrosine residues in recombinant mussel adhesive protein by tyrosinase co-expression in Escherichia coli

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Choi Yoo

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In nature, mussel adhesive proteins (MAPs show remarkable adhesive properties, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Thus, they have been considered promising adhesive biomaterials for various biomedical and industrial applications. However, limited production of natural MAPs has hampered their practical applications. Recombinant production in bacterial cells could be one alternative to obtain useable amounts of MAPs, although additional post-translational modification of tyrosine residues into 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-alanine (Dopa and Dopaquinone is required. The superior properties of MAPs are mainly attributed to the introduction of quinone-derived intermolecular cross-links. To solve this problem, we utilized a co-expression strategy of recombinant MAP and tyrosinase in Escherichia coli to successfully modify tyrosine residues in vivo. Results A recombinant hybrid MAP, fp-151, was used as a target for in vivo modification, and a dual vector system of pET and pACYC-Duet provided co-expression of fp-151 and tyrosinase. As a result, fp-151 was over-expressed and mainly obtained from the soluble fraction in the co-expression system. Without tyrosinase co-expression, fp-151 was over-expressed in an insoluble form in inclusion bodies. The modification of tyrosine residues in the soluble-expressed fp-151 was clearly observed from nitroblue tetrazolium staining and liquid-chromatography-mass/mass spectrometry analyses. The purified, in vivo modified, fp-151 from the co-expression system showed approximately 4-fold higher bulk-scale adhesive strength compared to in vitro tyrosinase-treated fp-151. Conclusion Here, we reported a co-expression system to obtain in vivo modified MAP; additional in vitro tyrosinase modification was not needed to obtain adhesive properties and the in vivo modified MAP showed superior adhesive strength compared to in vitro modified protein. It is expected that this co-expression strategy will accelerate

Surface modification of TiO2 with g-C3N4 for enhanced UV and visible photocatalytic activity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lei, Juying; Chen, Ying; Shen, Fan; Wang, Lingzhi; Liu, Yongdi; Zhang, Jinlong

2015-01-01

Highlights: • g-C 3 N 4 /TiO 2 was prepared by a one-step preparation under mild conditions. • Photocatalysts showed excellent activity under both UV and visible light. • A neat surface modification process is proved, excluding influence of N doping. • Two photocatalytic mechanisms under different wavelengths are proposed. • A wide range of available wavelengths would greatly improve practicability of TiO 2 . - Abstract: g-C 3 N 4 modified TiO 2 composites were prepared through a simple calcination process of anatase and cyanamide. The as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry (DRS), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetry differential thermal analysis (TG–DTA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), proving a successful modification of TiO 2 with g-C 3 N 4 . Photodegradation of acid orange 7 (AO7) was used to evaluate the photocatalytic activities of the composites, showing excellent activity of them under both visible and UV light. In addition, base treatment was then introduced to investigate the interaction between g-C 3 N 4 and TiO 2 . After removing the g-C 3 N 4 modified on TiO 2 by base, no nitrogen doping is found in TiO 2 lattice, demonstrating the g-C 3 N 4 was surface attached on TiO 2 and attributing all improvement of photocatalytic activity of g-C 3 N 4 /TiO 2 composite to the synergy between the two semiconductors

Comparative study of 150 keV Ar+ and O+ ion implantation induced structural modification on electrical conductivity in Bakelite polymer

Science.gov (United States)

Aneesh Kumar, K. V.; Krishnaveni, S.; Asokan, K.; Ranganathaiah, C.; Ravikumar, H. B.

2018-02-01

A comparative study of 150 keV argon (Ar+) and oxygen (O+) ion implantation induced microstructural modifications in Bakelite Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) detector material at different implantation fluences have been studied using Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy (PALS). Positron lifetime parameters viz., o-Ps lifetime (τ3) and its intensity (I3) upon lower implantation fluences can be interpreted as the cross-linking and the increased local temperature induced diffusion followed by trapping of ions in the interior polymer voids. The increased o-Ps lifetime (τ3) at higher O+ ion implantation fluences indicates chain scission owing to the oxidation and track formation. This is also justified by the X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) results. The modification in the microstructure and electrical conductivity of Bakelite materials are more upon implantation of O+ ions than Ar+ ions of same energy and fluences. The reduced electrical conductivity of Bakelite polymer material upon ion implantation of both the ions is correlated to the conducting pathways and cross-links in the polymer matrix. The appropriate energy and fluence of implanting ions might reduce the leakage current and hence improve the performance of Bakelite RPC detectors.

Modification of the temperatures of phase transformations of alumina by the insertion of MgO and ZrO2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosario, D.C.C.; Gouvea, D.

2010-01-01

Due to the stability and diversity of alumina polymorph, it becomes a very interesting material for stability studies considering changes in surface energy. The gamma phase is metastable and extensively studied due its properties and applications in catalysis. Studies have been conducted with the purpose to changing the transformation temperature gamma-alpha, considering modification on surface energy of nanomaterials. Thereby, this study aims to understand the phase transition amorphous-gamma of alumina by inserting additives (MgO and ZrO 2 ), taking into account the effects on specific surface area and surface energy. The assessment of stability was performed by analysis of DTA, X-ray diffraction and measurements of specific surface area, showing an increase in surface area with additives concentration, followed by a decrease of surface energy, then stability of gamma phase. (author)

Posttranslational Modification Biology of Glutamate Receptors and Drug Addiction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li-Min eMao

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Posttranslational covalent modifications of glutamate receptors remain a hot topic. Early studies have established that this family of receptors, including almost all ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptor subtypes, undergoes active phosphorylation at serine, threonine, or tyrosine residues on their intracellular domains. Recent evidence identifies several glutamate receptor subtypes to be direct substrates for palmitoylation at cysteine residues. Other modifications such as ubiquitination and sumoylation at lysine residues also occur to certain glutamate receptors. These modifications are dynamic and reversible in nature and are regulatable by changing synaptic inputs. The regulated modifications significantly impact the receptor in many ways, including interrelated changes in biochemistry (synthesis, subunit assembling and protein-protein interactions, subcellular redistribution (trafficking, endocytosis, synaptic delivery and clustering, and physiology, usually associated with changes in synaptic plasticity. Glutamate receptors are enriched in the striatum and cooperate closely with dopamine to regulate striatal signaling. Emerging evidence shows that modification processes of striatal glutamate receptors are sensitive to addictive drugs, such as psychostimulants (cocaine and amphetamines. Altered modifications are believed to be directly linked to enduring receptor/synaptic plasticity and drug-seeking. This review summarizes several major types of modifications of glutamate receptors and analyzes the role of these modifications in striatal signaling and in the pathogenesis of psychostimulant addiction.

Effects of single and dual physical modifications on pinhão starch.

Science.gov (United States)

Pinto, Vânia Zanella; Vanier, Nathan Levien; Deon, Vinicius Gonçalves; Moomand, Khalid; El Halal, Shanise Lisie Mello; Zavareze, Elessandra da Rosa; Lim, Loong-Tak; Dias, Alvaro Renato Guerra

2015-11-15

Pinhão starch was modified by annealing (ANN), heat-moisture (HMT) or sonication (SNT) treatments. The starch was also modified by a combination of these treatments (ANN-HMT, ANN-SNT, HMT-ANN, HMT-SNT, SNT-ANN, SNT-HMT). Whole starch and debranched starch fractions were analyzed by gel-permeation chromatography. Moreover, crystallinity, morphology, swelling power, solubility, pasting and gelatinization characteristics were evaluated. Native and single ANN and SNT-treated starches exhibited a CA-type crystalline structure while other modified starches showed an A-type structure. The relative crystallinity increased in ANN-treated starches and decreased in single HMT- and SNT-treated starches. The ANN, HMT and SNT did not provide visible cracks, notches or grooves to pinhão starch granule. SNT applied as second treatment was able to increase the peak viscosity of single ANN- and HMT-treated starches. HMT used alone or in dual modifications promoted the strongest effect on gelatinization temperatures and enthalpy. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tribological effects of polymer surface modification through plastic

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Tribological effects of polymer surface modification through plastic deformation. K O Low K J Wong ... In this regard, a surface modification technique through plastic deformation has been implemented. ... Bulletin of Materials Science | News.

N-Glycosylation analysis of yeast Carboxypeptidase Y reveals the ultimate removal of phosphate from glycans at Asn368.

Science.gov (United States)

B S, Gnanesh Kumar; Surolia, Avadhesha

2017-05-01

Carboxypeptidase Y from Saccharomyces cerivisiae was characterized for its site specific N-glycosylation through mass spectrometry. The N-glycopeptides were derived using non specific proteases and are analysed directly on liquid chromatography coupled to ion trap mass spectrometer in tandem mode. The evaluation of glycan fragment ions and the Y 1 ions (peptide+HexNAc) +n revealed the glycan sequence and the corresponding site of attachment. We observed the microheterogeneity in N-glycans such as Man 11-15 GlcNAc 2 at Asn 13 , Man 8-12 GlcNAc 2 at Asn 87 , Man 9-14 GlcNAc 2 at Asn 168 and phosphorylated Man 12-17 GlcNAc 2 as well as Man 11-16 GlcNAc 2 at Asn 368 . The presence of N-glycans with Man <18 GlcNAc 2 indicated that in vacuoles the steady release of mannose/phospho mannose residues from glycans occurs initially at Asn 13 or Asn 168 followed by at Asn 368 . However, glycans at Asn 87 which comprises Man 8-12 residues as reported earlier remain intact suggesting its inaccessibility for a similar processing. This in turn indicates the interaction of the glycan at Asn 87 with the polypeptide chain implicating it in the folding of the protein. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nutrient-driven O-GlcNAc in proteostasis and neurodegeneration.

Science.gov (United States)

Akan, Ilhan; Olivier-Van Stichelen, Stephanie; Bond, Michelle R; Hanover, John A

2018-01-01

Proteostasis is essential in the mammalian brain where post-mitotic cells must function for decades to maintain synaptic contacts and memory. The brain is dependent on glucose and other metabolites for proper function and is spared from metabolic deficits even during starvation. In this review, we outline how the nutrient-sensitive nucleocytoplasmic post-translational modification O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) regulates protein homeostasis. The O-GlcNAc modification is highly abundant in the mammalian brain and has been linked to proteopathies, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's. C. elegans, Drosophila, and mouse models harboring O-GlcNAc transferase- and O-GlcNAcase-knockout alleles have helped define the role O-GlcNAc plays in development as well as age-associated neurodegenerative disease. These enzymes add and remove the single monosaccharide from protein serine and threonine residues, respectively. Blocking O-GlcNAc cycling is detrimental to mammalian brain development and interferes with neurogenesis, neural migration, and proteostasis. Findings in C. elegans and Drosophila model systems indicate that the dynamic turnover of O-GlcNAc is critical for maintaining levels of key transcriptional regulators responsible for neurodevelopment cell fate decisions. In addition, pathways of autophagy and proteasomal degradation depend on a transcriptional network that is also reliant on O-GlcNAc cycling. Like the quality control system in the endoplasmic reticulum which uses a 'mannose timer' to monitor protein folding, we propose that cytoplasmic proteostasis relies on an 'O-GlcNAc timer' to help regulate the lifetime and fate of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins. O-GlcNAc-dependent developmental alterations impact metabolism and growth of the developing mouse embryo and persist into adulthood. Brain-selective knockout mouse models will be an important tool for understanding the role of O-GlcNAc in the

Epigenetic modifications: An important mechanism in diabetic disturbances.

Science.gov (United States)

Rorbach-Dolata, Anna; Kubis, Adriana; Piwowar, Agnieszka

2017-11-29

In the search for explanations of diabetes pathomechanisms, especially the development of its vascular complications (micro- and macrovascular ), although current, good metabolic control of diabetes, attention was drawn to the role of epigenetic inheritance associated with epigenetic modifications of histone proteins and DNA in hyperglycemia conditions. This study showed the significant role of DNA methylation and histone epigenetic modifications (a different nature and a different degree) in the transmission of information that is not connected with gene inheritance but concerns the persistent changes induced by hyperglycemia..Attention was paid to the role of DNA methylation of pancreatic cells in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes, but also type 2. The important role of DNA methylation changes in a so-called intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) as reason of subsequent development of diabetes was particularly emphasized. In the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and its complications, especially microvascular complications, the greatest share and importance of epigenetic modifications on mitochondrial DNA metylation are the most important. The multidirectionality Complicaand complexity of epigenetic modifications of histone proteins indicate their importance in the development of diabetic disturbances. An especially important role is attributed to methylation and acetylation of histone proteins, in particular on arginine and lysine, whose changes occur most frequently. Moreover, epigenetic modifications of the enzymes, especially methylases, responsible for these processes are the underlying. It has been indicated that the identification of epigenetic differences within the DNA or histone proteins may be a useful prognostic biomarker of susceptibility to the disease development in the future. Moreover, they may become a potential target for future therapeutic interventions for clinical disorders in diabetes.

Oxidation of Proteins in Plants-Mechanisms and Consequences

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sweetlove, Lee J; Møller, Ian M

2009-01-01

The production of reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species in plant cells can lead to a variety of modifications of proteins through oxidation of amino acid side groups. The widespread occurrence of such modifications is becoming appreciated as new proteomic approaches allow their systematic....... A view that such modifications could have signalling ramifications is emerging. However, in many cases there is a lack of information as to the effect of oxidation on protein activity or function. Severe protein oxidation is costly to the cell since oxidatively damaged proteins need to be degraded...... of modified proteins by affinity purification. Although there are several technical caveats with such approaches, they have been useful in documenting the extent of oxidative modification of proteins and have highlighted a number of proteins where oxidative modification is critical for protein function...

In silico assessment of phosphorylation and O-β-GlcNAcylation sites in human NPC1 protein critical for Ebola virus entry.

Science.gov (United States)

Basharat, Zarrin; Yasmin, Azra

2015-08-01

Ebola is a highly pathogenic enveloped virus responsible for deadly outbreaks of severe hemorrhagic fever. It enters human cells by binding a multifunctional cholesterol transporter Niemann-Pick C1 (NPC1) protein. Post translational modification (PTM) information for NPC1 is crucial to understand Ebola virus (EBOV) entry and action due to changes in phosphorylation or glycosylation at the binding site. It is difficult and costly to experimentally assess this type of interaction, so in silico strategy was employed. Identification of phosphorylation sites, including conserved residues that could be possible targets for 21 predicted kinases was followed by interplay study between phosphorylation and O-β-GlcNAc modification of NPC1. Results revealed that only 4 out of 48 predicted phosphosites exhibited O-β-GlcNAc activity. Predicted outcomes were integrated with residue conservation and 3D structural information. Three Yin Yang sites were located in the α-helix regions and were conserved in studied vertebrate and mammalian species. Only one modification site S425 was found in β-turn region located near the N-terminus of NPC1 and was found to differ in pig, mouse, cobra and humans. The predictions suggest that Yin Yang sites may not be important for virus attachment to NPC1, whereas phosphosite 473 may be important for binding and hence entry of Ebola virus. This information could be useful in addressing further experimental studies and therapeutic strategies targeting PTM events in EBOV entry. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enhancing the functional properties of thermophilic enzymes by chemical modification and immobilization.

Science.gov (United States)

Cowan, Don A; Fernandez-Lafuente, Roberto

2011-09-10

The immobilization of proteins (mostly typically enzymes) onto solid supports is mature technology and has been used successfully to enhance biocatalytic processes in a wide range of industrial applications. However, continued developments in immobilization technology have led to more sophisticated and specialized applications of the process. A combination of targeted chemistries, for both the support and the protein, sometimes in combination with additional chemical and/or genetic engineering, has led to the development of methods for the modification of protein functional properties, for enhancing protein stability and for the recovery of specific proteins from complex mixtures. In particular, the development of effective methods for immobilizing large multi-subunit proteins with multiple covalent linkages (multi-point immobilization) has been effective in stabilizing proteins where subunit dissociation is the initial step in enzyme inactivation. In some instances, multiple benefits are achievable in a single process. Here we comprehensively review the literature pertaining to immobilization and chemical modification of different enzyme classes from thermophiles, with emphasis on the chemistries involved and their implications for modification of the enzyme functional properties. We also highlight the potential for synergies in the combined use of immobilization and other chemical modifications. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Trans-species Engineering of Glycosylated Therapeutic Proteins

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Zhang

important to address. Whenever glycosylation has been found to be an important PTM for function or bioactivity, human therapeutics have generally been produced in mammalian Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line. Oglycosylation is one of the most complex regulated PTMs of proteins but also one of the least...... understood. Currently, mammalian cells are required for human O-glycosylation. Increasing efforts have been devoted to engineering non-mammalian cells for production of recombinant proteins with “human-like” glycosylation. Substantial success has been achieved with designed N-glycosylation in both lower......Recombinant expression of therapeutic proteins is one of the major tasks in modern biomedicine. One of the most important factors with respect to therapeutic use in human is posttranslational modifications (PTMs) of the recombinant proteins, of which protein glycosylation is by far the most...

Analysis of SiO2 nanoparticles binding proteins in rat blood and brain homogenate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shim KH

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Kyu Hwan Shim,1 John Hulme,1 Eun Ho Maeng,2 Meyoung-Kon Kim,3 Seong Soo A An1 1Department of Bionano Technology, Gachon Medical Research Institute, Gachon University, Sungnam-si, 2Department of Analysis, KTR, Kimpo, Gyeonggi-do, 3Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Korea University Medical School and College, Seoul, South Korea Abstract: A multitude of nanoparticles, such as titanium oxide (TiO2, zinc oxide, aluminum oxide, gold oxide, silver oxide, iron oxide, and silica oxide, are found in many chemical, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and electronic products. Recently, SiO2 nanoparticles were shown to have an inert toxicity profile and no association with an irreversible toxicological change in animal models. Hence, exposure to SiO2 nanoparticles is on the increase. SiO2 nanoparticles are routinely used in numerous materials, from strengthening filler for concrete and other construction composites, to nontoxic platforms for biomedical application, such as drug delivery and theragnostics. On the other hand, recent in vitro experiments indicated that SiO2 nanoparticles were cytotoxic. Therefore, we investigated these nanoparticles to identify potentially toxic pathways by analyzing the adsorbed protein corona on the surface of SiO2 nanoparticles in the blood and brain of the rat. Four types of SiO2 nanoparticles were chosen for investigation, and the protein corona of each type was analyzed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry technology. In total, 115 and 48 plasma proteins from the rat were identified as being bound to negatively charged 20 nm and 100 nm SiO2 nanoparticles, respectively, and 50 and 36 proteins were found for 20 nm and 100 nm arginine-coated SiO2 nanoparticles, respectively. Higher numbers of proteins were adsorbed onto the 20 nm sized SiO2 nanoparticles than onto the 100 nm sized nanoparticles regardless of charge. When proteins were compared between the two charges, higher numbers of proteins were

Rapid identification of fluorochrome modification sites in proteins by LC ESI-Q-TOF mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Manikwar, Prakash; Zimmerman, Tahl; Blanco, Francisco J; Williams, Todd D; Siahaan, Teruna J

2011-07-20

Conjugation of either a fluorescent dye or a drug molecule to the ε-amino groups of lysine residues of proteins has many applications in biology and medicine. However, this type of conjugation produces a heterogeneous population of protein conjugates. Because conjugation of fluorochrome or drug molecule to a protein may have deleterious effects on protein function, the identification of conjugation sites is necessary. Unfortunately, the identification process can be time-consuming and laborious; therefore, there is a need to develop a rapid and reliable way to determine the conjugation sites of the fluorescent label or drug molecule. In this study, the sites of conjugation of fluorescein-5'-isothiocyanate and rhodamine-B-isothiocyanate to free amino groups on the insert-domain (I-domain) protein derived from the α-subunit of lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) were determined by electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-Q-TOF MS) along with peptide mapping using trypsin digestion. A reporter fragment of the fluorochrome moiety that is generated in the collision cell of the Q-TOF without explicit MS/MS precursor selection was used to identify the conjugation site. Selected ion plots of the reporter ion readily mark modified peptides in chromatograms of the complex digest. Interrogation of theses spectra reveals a neutral loss/precursor pair that identifies the modified peptide. The results show that one to seven fluorescein molecules or one to four rhodamine molecules were attached to the lysine residue(s) of the I-domain protein. No modifications were found in the metal ion-dependent adhesion site (MIDAS), which is an important binding region of the I-domain.

Structural and Functional Annotation of Hypothetical Proteins of O139

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Md. Saiful Islam

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In developing countries threat of cholera is a significant health concern whenever water purification and sewage disposal systems are inadequate. Vibrio cholerae is one of the responsible bacteria involved in cholera disease. The complete genome sequence of V. cholerae deciphers the presence of various genes and hypothetical proteins whose function are not yet understood. Hence analyzing and annotating the structure and function of hypothetical proteins is important for understanding the V. cholerae. V. cholerae O139 is the most common and pathogenic bacterial strain among various V. cholerae strains. In this study sequence of six hypothetical proteins of V. cholerae O139 has been annotated from NCBI. Various computational tools and databases have been used to determine domain family, protein-protein interaction, solubility of protein, ligand binding sites etc. The three dimensional structure of two proteins were modeled and their ligand binding sites were identified. We have found domains and families of only one protein. The analysis revealed that these proteins might have antibiotic resistance activity, DNA breaking-rejoining activity, integrase enzyme activity, restriction endonuclease, etc. Structural prediction of these proteins and detection of binding sites from this study would indicate a potential target aiding docking studies for therapeutic designing against cholera.

Rewiring the Glucose Transportation and Central Metabolic Pathways for Overproduction of N-Acetylglucosamine in Bacillus subtilis.

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Yang; Deng, Jieying; Liu, Yanfeng; Li, Jianghua; Shin, Hyun-Dong; Du, Guocheng; Chen, Jian; Liu, Long

2017-10-01

N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) is an important amino sugar extensively used in the healthcare field. In a previous study, the recombinant Bacillus subtilis strain BSGN6-P xylA -glmS-pP43NMK-GNA1 (BN0-GNA1) had been constructed for microbial production of GlcNAc by pathway design and modular optimization. Here, the production of GlcNAc is further improved by rewiring both the glucose transportation and central metabolic pathways. First, the phosphotransferase system (PTS) is blocked by deletion of three genes, yyzE (encoding the PTS system transporter subunit IIA YyzE), ypqE (encoding the PTS system transporter subunit IIA YpqE), and ptsG (encoding the PTS system glucose-specific EIICBA component), resulting in 47.6% increase in the GlcNAc titer (from 6.5 ± 0.25 to 9.6 ± 0.16 g L -1 ) in shake flasks. Then, reinforcement of the expression of the glcP and glcK genes and optimization of glucose facilitator proteins are performed to promote glucose import and phosphorylation. Next, the competitive pathways for GlcNAc synthesis, namely glycolysis, peptidoglycan synthesis pathway, pentose phosphate pathway, and tricarboxylic acid cycle, are repressed by initiation codon-optimization strategies, and the GlcNAc titer in shake flasks is improved from 10.8 ± 0.25 to 13.2 ± 0.31 g L -1 . Finally, the GlcNAc titer is further increased to 42.1 ± 1.1 g L -1 in a 3-L fed-batch bioreactor, which is 1.72-fold that of the original strain, BN0-GNA1. This study shows considerably enhanced GlcNAc production, and the metabolic engineering strategy described here will be useful for engineering other prokaryotic microorganisms for the production of GlcNAc and related molecules. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Characterization of O-mannosyltransferase family in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Naotaka; Fujita, Yasuko; Suzuki, Shotaro; Morishita, Masayo; Giga-Hama, Yuko; Shimoda, Chikashi; Takegawa, Kaoru

2005-05-13

Protein O-glycosylation is an essential protein modification in eukaryotic cells. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, O-mannosylation is initiated in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum by O-mannosyltransferase gene products (Pmt1p-7p). A search of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe genome database revealed a total of three O-glycoside mannosyltransferase homologs (ogm1+, ogm2+, and ogm4+), closely related to Saccharomyces cerevisiae PMT1, PMT2, and PMT4. Although individual ogm genes were not found to be essential, ogm1Delta and ogm4Delta mutants exhibited aberrant morphology and failed to agglutinate during mating. The phenotypes of the ogm4Delta mutant were not complemented by overexpression of ogm1+ or ogm2+, suggesting that each of the Ogm proteins does not have overlapping functions. Heterologous expression of a chitinase from S. cerevisiae in the ogm mutants revealed that O-glycosylation of chitinase had decreased in ogm1Delta cells. A GFP-tagged Fus1p from S. cerevisiae was specifically not glycosylated and accumulated in the Golgi in ogm4Delta cells. These results indicate that O-glycosylation initiated by Ogm proteins plays crucial physiological roles and can serve as a sorting determinant for protein transport of membrane glycoproteins in S. pombe.

O-Linked N-Acetylglucosamine Transiently Elevates in HeLa Cells during Mitosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viktória Fisi

2018-05-01

Full Text Available O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc is a dynamic post-translational modification of serine and threonine residues on nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins. O-GlcNAc modification influences many cellular mechanisms, including carbohydrate metabolism, signal transduction and protein degradation. Multiple studies also showed that cell cycle might be modulated by O-GlcNAc. Although the role of O-GlcNAc in the regulation of some cell cycle processes such as mitotic spindle organization or histone phosphorylation is well established, the general behaviour of O-GlcNAc regulation during cell cycle is still controversial. In this study, we analysed the dynamic changes of overall O-GlcNAc levels in HeLa cells using double thymidine block. O-GlcNAc levels in G1, S, G2 and M phase were measured. We observed that O-GlcNAc levels are significantly increased during mitosis in comparison to the other cell cycle phases. However, this change could only be detected when mitotic cells were enriched by harvesting round shaped cells from the G2/M fraction of the synchronized cells. Our data verify that O-GlcNAc is elevated during mitosis, but also emphasize that O-GlcNAc levels can significantly change in a short period of time. Thus, selection and collection of cells at specific cell-cycle checkpoints is a challenging, but necessary requirement for O-GlcNAc studies.

Modification of SnO2 Anodes by Atomic Layer Deposition for High Performance Lithium Ion Batteries

KAUST Repository

Yesibolati, Nulati

2013-05-01

Tin dioxide (SnO2) is considered one of the most promising anode materials for Lithium ion batteries (LIBs), due to its large theoretical capacity and natural abundance. However, its low electronic/ionic conductivities, large volume change during lithiation/delithiation and agglomeration prevent it from further commercial applications. In this thesis, we investigate modified SnO2 as a high energy density anode material for LIBs. Specifically two approaches are presented to improve battery performances. Firstly, SnO2 electrochemical performances were improved by surface modification using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). Ultrathin Al2O3 or HfO2 were coated on SnO2 electrodes. It was found that electrochemical performances had been enhanced after ALD deposition. In a second approach, we implemented a layer-by-layer (LBL) assembled graphene/carbon-coated hollow SnO2 spheres as anode material for LIBs. Our results indicated that the LBL assembled electrodes had high reversible lithium storage capacities even at high current densities. These superior electrochemical performances are attributed to the enhanced electronic conductivity and effective lithium diffusion, because of the interconnected graphene/carbon networks among nanoparticles of the hollow SnO2 spheres.

Chemical modification of the lectin of the marine coral Gerardia savaglia by marine quinone avarone

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

IVANA PAJIC

2007-12-01

Full Text Available The quinone avarone, isolated from the marine sponge Dysidea avara, possesses the ability to chemically modify proteins. In this work, modification of lectin isolated from the coral Gerardia savaglia by avarone was examined. The techniques used for studying the modification were: SDS PAGE, isoelectric focusing and hemagglutination testing. The results of the SDS PAGE indicate dimerization of the protein. A shift of the pI toward lower value occurs upon modification. The change of the hemagglutination activity of the protein confirms that chemical modification of G. savaglia lectin by avarone changes its ability to interact with the membrane of erythrocytes.

N-Acetylcysteine treatment of dystrophic mdx mice results in protein thiol modifications and inhibition of exercise induced myofibre necrosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Terrill, Jessica R; Radley-Crabb, Hannah G; Grounds, Miranda D; Arthur, Peter G

2012-05-01

Oxidative stress is implicated as a factor that increases necrosis of skeletal muscles in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and the dystrophic mdx mouse. Consequently, drugs that minimize oxidative stress are potential treatments for muscular dystrophy. This study examined the in vivo benefits to mdx mice of an antioxidant treatment with the cysteine precursor N-acetylcysteine (NAC), administered in drinking water. NAC was completely effective in preventing treadmill exercise-induced myofibre necrosis (assessed histologically) and the increased blood creatine kinase levels (a measure of sarcolemma leakiness) following exercise were significantly lower in the NAC treated mice. While NAC had no effect on malondialdehyde level or protein carbonylation (two indicators of irreversible oxidative damage), treatment with NAC for one week significantly decreased the oxidation of glutathione and protein thiols, and enhanced muscle protein thiol content. These data provide in vivo evidence for protective benefits of NAC treatment on dystropathology, potentially via protein thiol modifications. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Toward stable genetic engineering of human o-glycosylation in plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Zhang; Bennett, Eric Paul; Jørgensen, Bodil

2012-01-01

Glycosylation is the most abundant and complex posttranslational modification to be considered for recombinant production of therapeutic proteins. Mucin-type (N-acetylgalactosamine [GalNAc]-type) O-glycosylation is found in eumetazoan cells but absent in plants and yeast, making these cell types...... an obvious choice for de novo engineering of this O-glycosylation pathway. We previously showed that transient implementation of O-glycosylation capacity in plants requires introduction of the synthesis of the donor substrate UDP-GalNAc and one or more polypeptide GalNAc-transferases for incorporating Gal......NAc residues into proteins. Here, we have stably engineered O-glycosylation capacity in two plant cell systems, soil-grown Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) Bright Yellow-2 suspension culture cells. Efficient GalNAc O-glycosylation of two stably coexpressed substrate O...

Estudo da modificação química de polidienos do tipo SBR e BR Study of chemical modification of SBR and BR polydiene

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana L. A. C. Rocha

2004-12-01

Full Text Available A utilização de modificações químicas de polidienos comerciais tem sido estudada como um meio alternativo à síntese de novos polímeros, para otimização das propriedades finais destes materiais através da introdução de diferentes grupamentos reativos na cadeia polimérica. A modificação química pode ser feita através de diferentes métodos, os quais podem ser realizados tanto em solução como em massa, onde podem ser destacadas as reações de epoxidação, sulfonação, maleinização, carboxilação, etc. Neste trabalho foi estudado o método de epoxidação de borrachas do tipo SBR e BR. Foi possível observar que mesmo pequenos graus de modificação química causam mudanças marcantes nas propriedades finais dos polímeros, como determinado para a temperatura de transição vítrea.Chemical modification of polydiene has been studied as an alternative route to obtain modified polymers with improved final properties. This improvement is due to the introduction of different kinds of reactive groups into a polymer chain, and it can be done in solution as well as in bulk. The chemical modification can be carried out by different methods such as epoxidation, maleination, carboxylation, sulfonation etc. In this work we show that in the epoxidation of SBR and BR even a small degree of modification can change the final properties of the polymer, as it occurred for the glass transition temperature.

Unique N-Glycan Moieties of the 66-kDa Cell Wall Glycoprotein from the Red Microalga Porphyridium sp.

Science.gov (United States)

Levy-Ontman, Oshrat; Arad, Shoshana (Malis); Harvey, David J.; Parsons, Thomas B.; Fairbanks, Antony; Tekoah, Yoram

2011-01-01

We report here the structural determination of the N-linked glycans in the 66-kDa glycoprotein, part of the unique sulfated complex cell wall polysaccharide of the red microalga Porphyridium sp. Structures were elucidated by a combination of normal phase/reverse phase HPLC, positive ion MALDI-TOF MS, negative ion electrospray ionization, and MS/MS. The sugar moieties of the glycoprotein consisted of at least four fractions of N-linked glycans, each composed of the same four monosaccharides, GlcNAc, Man, 6-O-MeMan, and Xyl, with compositions Man8–9Xyl1–2Me3GlcNAc2. The present study is the first report of N-glycans with the terminal Xyl attached to the 6-mannose branch of the 6-antenna and to the 3-oxygen of the penultimate (core) GlcNAc. Another novel finding was that all four glycans contain three O-methylmannose residues in positions that have never been reported before. Although it is known that some lower organisms are able to methylate terminal monosaccharides in glycans, the present study on Porphyridium sp. is the first describing an organism that is able to methylate non-terminal mannose residues. This study will thus contribute to understanding of N-glycosylation in algae and might shed light on the evolutionary development from prokaryotes to multicellular organisms. It also may contribute to our understanding of the red algae polysaccharide formation. The additional importance of this research lies in its potential for biotechnological applications, especially in evaluating the use of microalgae as cell factories for the production of therapeutic proteins. PMID:21515680

Thermal Reactions of H2O2 on Icy Satellites and Small Bodies: Descent with Modification?

Science.gov (United States)

Hudson, Reggie L.; Loeffler, Mark J.

2012-01-01

Magnetospheric radiation drives surface and near-surface chemistry on Europa, but below a few meters Europa's chemistry is hidden from direct observation . As an example, surface radiation chemistry converts H2O and SO2 into H2O2 and (SO4)(sup 2-), respectively, and these species will be transported downward for possible thermally-driven reactions. However, while the infrared spectra and radiation chemistry of H2O2-containing ices are well documented, this molecule's thermally-induced solid-phase chemistry has seldom been studied. Here we report new results on thermal reactions in H2O + H2O2 + SO2 ices at 50 - 130 K. As an example of our results, we find that warming H2O + H2O2 + SO2 ices promotes SO2 oxidation to (SO4)(sup 2-). These results have implications for the survival of H2O2 as it descends, with modification, towards a subsurface ocean on Europa. We suspect that such redox chemistry may explain some of the observations related to the presence and distribution of H2O2 across Europa's surface as well as the lack of H2O2 on Ganymede and Callisto.