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Biomolecules, Volume 9, Issue 3

2019 March - 37 articles

Cover Story: Parvulin 42 (TbPar42) of Trypanosoma brucei plays a key role in cell growth. Knockdown of this nuclear protein in procyclic cells inhibits proliferation of the parasite. Orthologous proteins of TbPar42 are exclusively found in unicellular organisms and exhibit two-domains, an N-terminal forkhead-associated (FHA)-domain and a peptidyl-prolyl-cis/trans-isomerase (PPIase) domain. We used NMR spectroscopy and X-ray analysis to determine the structures of the isolated domains of TbPar42. We demonstrate the recognition of phosphorylated peptides by motifs within the FHA domain, and test the catalytic activity of the PPIase domain against a broad variety of substrates. The FHA domain of TbPar42 shows structural homology to FHA domains of nuclear RNA-binding proteins in multi-cellular organisms, suggesting a role of TbPar42 in RNA binding/processing. View this paper.
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Articles (37)

  • Communication
  • Open Access
6 Citations
4,132 Views
10 Pages

Structure and Ligands Interactions of Citrus Tryptophan Decarboxylase by Molecular Modeling and Docking Simulations

  • Angelo Facchiano,
  • Domenico Pignone,
  • Luigi Servillo,
  • Domenico Castaldo and
  • Luigi De Masi

26 March 2019

In a previous work, we in silico annotated protein sequences of Citrus genus plants as putative tryptophan decarboxylase (pTDC). Here, we investigated the structural properties of Citrus pTDCs by using the TDC sequence of Catharanthus roseus as an ex...

  • Article
  • Open Access
30 Citations
9,492 Views
16 Pages

Electrostatics of Tau Protein by Molecular Dynamics

  • Tarsila G. Castro,
  • Florentina-Daniela Munteanu and
  • Artur Cavaco-Paulo

23 March 2019

Tau is a microtubule-associated protein that promotes microtubule assembly and stability. This protein is implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s. To date, the three-dimensional (3D) structure of tau has not been fully...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Chronic Diseases)
  • Article
  • Open Access
14 Citations
5,885 Views
19 Pages

Metformin Induces Different Responses in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Caki Cell Lines

  • Mazhar Pasha,
  • Siveen K. Sivaraman,
  • Ronald Frantz,
  • Abdelali Agouni and
  • Shankar Munusamy

22 March 2019

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common and lethal form of urological cancer diagnosed globally. Mutations of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor-suppressor gene and the resultant overexpression of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1&al...

  • Review
  • Open Access
48 Citations
7,477 Views
16 Pages

Spontaneous Switching among Conformational Ensembles in Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

  • Ucheor B. Choi,
  • Hugo Sanabria,
  • Tatyana Smirnova,
  • Mark E. Bowen and
  • Keith R. Weninger

22 March 2019

The common conception of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) is that they stochastically sample all possible configurations driven by thermal fluctuations. This is certainly true for many IDPs, which behave as swollen random coils that can be de...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Chronic Diseases)
  • Article
  • Open Access
11 Citations
3,868 Views
12 Pages

Influence of Monoterpenes in Biological Activities of Nectandra megapotamica (Spreng.) Mez Essential Oils

  • Letícia J. Danielli,
  • Tiago J.T. de Souza,
  • Ana J. Maciel,
  • Marco F. Ferrão,
  • Alexandre M. Fuentefria and
  • Miriam A. Apel

21 March 2019

Investigating the influence of seasonal variations on biological activities is important for pharmacological studies and metabolic engineering. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the variation of the chemical composition of essential oi...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Evaluation and formulation of Bioactive Terpenes)
  • Article
  • Open Access
18 Citations
6,351 Views
9 Pages

Effect of Antifreeze Glycoproteins on Organoid Survival during and after Hypothermic Storage

  • Guizela Huelsz-Prince,
  • Arthur L. DeVries,
  • Huib J. Bakker,
  • Jeroen S. van Zon and
  • Konrad Meister

19 March 2019

We study the effect of antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGPs) on the survival of organoids under hypothermic conditions. We find that the survival of organoids in cold conditions depends on their developmental stage. Mature organoids die within 24 h when b...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antifreeze Protein: New Insight from Different Approaches)
  • Article
  • Open Access
22 Citations
4,305 Views
7 Pages

19 March 2019

Cryopreservation-thawing of human semen was found to reduce the level of antioxidant activity surrounding the sperm, which may negatively affect post-cryopreservation (post-thaw) recovery of sperm motility. Therefore, the current manufactured cryopro...

  • Article
  • Open Access
136 Citations
6,499 Views
13 Pages

Association of MMP9-1562C/T and MMP13-77A/G Polymorphisms with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in Southern Chinese Population

  • Wen Li,
  • Ming Xi Jia,
  • Jian Hui Wang,
  • Jie Li Lu,
  • Jing Deng,
  • Jian Xin Tang and
  • Cun Liu

18 March 2019

Background: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are capable of degrading and modifying most components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and the basal membrane (BM), and play crucial roles in cancer invasion and metastasis. MMP gene expressions were reg...

  • Article
  • Open Access
12 Citations
4,762 Views
8 Pages

Diagnostic Value of Soluble Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator Receptor in Addition to High-Sensitivity Troponin I in Early Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction

  • Nils A. Sörensen,
  • Günay Dönmez,
  • Johannes T. Neumann,
  • Julius Nikorowitsch,
  • Nicole Rübsamen,
  • Stefan Blankenberg,
  • Dirk Westermann,
  • Tanja Zeller and
  • Mahir Karakas

18 March 2019

The soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is a new marker for immune activation and inflammation and may provide diagnostic value on top of established biomarkers in patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI). H...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomolecules for Translational Approaches in Cardiology)
  • Article
  • Open Access
142 Citations
11,690 Views
17 Pages

Antimicrobial Films Based on Nanocomposites of Chitosan/Poly(vinyl alcohol)/Graphene Oxide for Biomedical Applications

  • Sebastián Ruiz,
  • Julián Andrés Tamayo,
  • Johannes Delgado Ospina,
  • Diana Paola Navia Porras,
  • Mayra Eliana Valencia Zapata,
  • José Herminsul Mina Hernandez,
  • Carlos Humberto Valencia,
  • Fabio Zuluaga and
  • Carlos David Grande Tovar

18 March 2019

Today, tissue regeneration is one of the greatest challenges in the field of medicine, since it represents hope after accidents or illnesses. Tissue engineering is the science based on improving or restoring tissues and organs. In this work, five for...

(This article belongs to the Section Molecular Medicine)
  • Review
  • Open Access
143 Citations
20,044 Views
23 Pages

Plant-Derived Bioactives in Oral Mucosal Lesions: A Key Emphasis to Curcumin, Lycopene, Chamomile, Aloe vera, Green Tea and Coffee Properties

  • Bahare Salehi,
  • Pia Lopez-Jornet,
  • Eduardo Pons-Fuster López,
  • Daniela Calina,
  • Mehdi Sharifi-Rad,
  • Karina Ramírez-Alarcón,
  • Katherine Forman,
  • Marcos Fernández,
  • Miquel Martorell and
  • Javad Sharifi-Rad
  • + 3 authors

17 March 2019

Oral mucosal lesions have many etiologies, including viral or bacterial infections, local trauma or irritation, systemic disorders, and even excessive alcohol and tobacco consumption. Folk knowledge on medicinal plants and phytochemicals in the treat...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant-Food-Derived Bioactive Molecules on Human Longevity and Disease Prevention)
  • Review
  • Open Access
61 Citations
15,181 Views
32 Pages

Structure and Functions of Microtubule Associated Proteins Tau and MAP2c: Similarities and Differences

  • Kateřina Melková,
  • Vojtěch Zapletal,
  • Subhash Narasimhan,
  • Séverine Jansen,
  • Jozef Hritz,
  • Rostislav Škrabana,
  • Markus Zweckstetter,
  • Malene Ringkjøbing Jensen,
  • Martin Blackledge and
  • Lukáš Žídek

16 March 2019

The stability and dynamics of cytoskeleton in brain nerve cells are regulated by microtubule associated proteins (MAPs), tau and MAP2. Both proteins are intrinsically disordered and involved in multiple molecular interactions important for normal phy...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Chronic Diseases)
  • Review
  • Open Access
53 Citations
8,708 Views
14 Pages

Class II PI3Ks at the Intersection between Signal Transduction and Membrane Trafficking

  • Jean Piero Margaria,
  • Edoardo Ratto,
  • Luca Gozzelino,
  • Huayi Li and
  • Emilio Hirsch

15 March 2019

Phosphorylation of inositol phospholipids by the family of phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) is crucial in controlling membrane lipid composition and regulating a wide range of intracellular processes, which include signal transduction and vesicular...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phosphoinositide 3-kinase, a Field in Transition)
  • Article
  • Open Access
13 Citations
5,044 Views
13 Pages

Analysis of Flavonoids Bioactivity for Cholestatic Liver Disease: Systematic Literature Search and Experimental Approaches

  • Juan Carlos Sánchez-Salgado,
  • Samuel Estrada-Soto,
  • Sara García-Jiménez,
  • Sergio Montes,
  • Jaime Gómez-Zamudio and
  • Rafael Villalobos-Molina

14 March 2019

Flavonoids are naturally occurring compounds that show health benefits on the liver. However, there is little investigation about identification and evaluation of new flavonoid-containing drugs for cholestatic liver disease, one of the most common li...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Approaches for the Discovery of Pharmacologically-Active Natural Compounds)
  • Article
  • Open Access
15 Citations
4,171 Views
7 Pages

Diagnostic and Prognostic Significance of Carboxypeptidase A4 (CPA4) in Breast Cancer

  • Suleyman Bademler,
  • Muhammed Zubeyr Ucuncu,
  • Ceren Tilgen Yasasever,
  • Murat Serilmez,
  • Hakan Ertin and
  • Hasan Karanlık

14 March 2019

Recent research focused on prolonged survival has suggested that carboxypeptidase A4 (CPA4) plays a role in both tumor microenvironment formation and distant metastasis in cancer. In some patients, serum and expression (mRNA) levels of CPA4 have been...

  • Article
  • Open Access
5 Citations
6,081 Views
15 Pages

Cellular and Immunohistochemical Changes in Anaphylactic Shock Induced in the Ovalbumin-Sensitized Wistar Rat Model

  • Suhail Al-Salam,
  • Elhadi H. Aburawi,
  • Suleiman Al-Hammadi,
  • Sekhar Dhanasekaran,
  • Mohamed Shafiuallah,
  • Javed Yasin,
  • Manjusha Sudhadevi,
  • Aktham Awwad,
  • Seth L. Alper and
  • Abdelouahab Bellou
  • + 1 author

13 March 2019

Anaphylactic shock (AS) is a life-threatening, multisystem disorder arising from sudden release of mast cell- and basophil-derived mediators into the circulation. In this study, we have used a Wistar rat model to investigate AS-associated histopathol...

  • Review
  • Open Access
238 Citations
17,075 Views
21 Pages

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a metabolic disease characterized by insulin resistance and hyperglycemia and is associated with personal health and global economic burdens. Current strategies/approaches of insulin resistance and T2DM prevention a...

  • Article
  • Open Access
37 Citations
7,662 Views
12 Pages

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Prevent Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder-Induced Memory Impairment

  • Laiali Alquraan,
  • Karem H. Alzoubi,
  • Hana Hammad,
  • Suzie Y. Rababa’h and
  • Fadia Mayyas

12 March 2019

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that can happen after exposure to a traumatic event. Post-traumatic stress disorder is common among mental health disorders that include mood and anxiety disorders. Omega-3 fatty acids (...

  • Review
  • Open Access
30 Citations
5,859 Views
10 Pages

Protein phosphorylation often switches cellular activity from one state to another, and this post-translational modification plays an important role in gene regulation by the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily, including the glucocorticoid receptor...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Chronic Diseases)
  • Article
  • Open Access
49 Citations
9,571 Views
8 Pages

The Relationship between Plasma Taurine Levels and Diabetic Complications in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

  • Duygu Sak,
  • Fusun Erdenen,
  • Cuneyt Müderrisoglu,
  • Esma Altunoglu,
  • Volkan Sozer,
  • Hulya Gungel,
  • Pınar Akca Guler,
  • Tuncer Sak and
  • Hafize Uzun

Background: Taurine has an active role in providing glucose homeostasis and diabetes causes a decline in taurine levels. This paper investigates the relationship between taurine and diabetic complications, patients’ demographic features, and bi...

  • Article
  • Open Access
18 Citations
4,091 Views
12 Pages

The Relationship between Epicardial Adipose Tissue Thickness and Serum Interleukin-17a Level in Patients with Isolated Metabolic Syndrome

  • Esra Demir,
  • Nazmiye Özlem Harmankaya,
  • İrem Kıraç Utku,
  • Gönül Açıksarı,
  • Turgut Uygun,
  • Hanise Özkan and
  • Bülent Demir

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the relationship between the epicardial adipose tissue thickness (EATT) and serum IL-17A level insulin resistance in metabolic syndrome patients. This study enrolled a total of 160 subjects, of whom 80 were...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Obesity and Hormones)
  • Article
  • Open Access
12 Citations
7,860 Views
20 Pages

The Main Metabolites of Fluorouracil + Adriamycin + Cyclophosphamide (FAC) Are Not Major Contributors to FAC Toxicity in H9c2 Cardiac Differentiated Cells

  • Ana Reis-Mendes,
  • Félix Carvalho,
  • Fernando Remião,
  • Emília Sousa,
  • Maria de Lourdes Bastos and
  • Vera Marisa Costa

In the clinical practice, the combination of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) + Adriamycin (also known as doxorubicin, DOX) + cyclophosphamide (CYA) (known as FAC) is used to treat breast cancer. The FAC therapy, however, carries some serious risks, namely pote...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multidrug Combinations)
  • Review
  • Open Access
55 Citations
6,353 Views
16 Pages

The natural polyphenol Resveratrol (RSV) claims numerous positive effects on health due to the well documented biological effects demonstrating its potential as a disease-preventing agent and as adjuvant for treatment of a wide variety of chronic dis...

  • Article
  • Open Access
1 Citations
5,637 Views
20 Pages

Structural Analysis of the 42 kDa Parvulin of Trypanosoma brucei

  • Edisa Rehic,
  • Dana Hoenig,
  • Bianca E. Kamba,
  • Anna Goehring,
  • Eckhard Hofmann,
  • Raphael Gasper,
  • Anja Matena and
  • Peter Bayer

Trypanosoma brucei is a unicellular eukaryotic parasite, which causes the African sleeping sickness in humans. The recently discovered trypanosomal protein Parvulin 42 (TbPar42) plays a key role in parasite cell proliferation. Homologues of this two-...

(This article belongs to the Section Molecular Structure and Dynamics)
  • Article
  • Open Access
13 Citations
4,869 Views
14 Pages

Rational Design, Synthesis and Preliminary Evaluation of Novel Fusarinine C-Based Chelators for Radiolabeling with Zirconium-89

  • Chuangyan Zhai,
  • Shanzhen He,
  • Yunjie Ye,
  • Christine Rangger,
  • Piriya Kaeopookum,
  • Dominik Summer,
  • Hubertus Haas,
  • Leopold Kremser,
  • Herbert Lindner and
  • Clemens Decristoforo
  • + 2 authors

Fusarinine C (FSC) has recently been shown to be a promising and novel chelator for 89Zr. Here, FSC has been further derivatized to optimize the complexation properties of FSC-based chelators for 89Zr-labeling by introducing additional carboxylic gro...

  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
4,681 Views
14 Pages

[Pt(O,O′-acac)(γ-acac)(DMS)] Induces Autophagy in Caki-1 Renal Cancer Cells

  • Giovanna Antonaci,
  • Luca Giulio Cossa,
  • Antonella Muscella,
  • Carla Vetrugno,
  • Sandra Angelica De Pascali,
  • Francesco Paolo Fanizzi and
  • Santo Marsigliante

We have demonstrated the cytotoxic effects of [Pt(O,O′-acac)(γ-acac)(dimethyl sulfide (DMS))] on various immortalized cell lines, in primary cultures, and in murine xenograft models in vivo. Recently, we also showed that [Pt(O,O′-ac...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Anticancer Platinum Drugs Update)
  • Article
  • Open Access
18 Citations
5,771 Views
18 Pages

Functional Segments on Intrinsically Disordered Regions in Disease-Related Proteins

  • Hiroto Anbo,
  • Masaya Sato,
  • Atsushi Okoshi and
  • Satoshi Fukuchi

One of the unique characteristics of intrinsically disordered proteins (IPDs) is the existence of functional segments in intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs). A typical function of these segments is binding to partner molecules, such as proteins a...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Chronic Diseases)
  • Article
  • Open Access
42 Citations
5,944 Views
21 Pages

Molecular Antioxidant Properties and In Vitro Cell Toxicity of the p-Aminobenzoic Acid (PABA) Functionalized Peptide Dendrimers §

  • Marta Sowinska,
  • Maja Morawiak,
  • Marta Bochyńska-Czyż,
  • Andrzej W. Lipkowski,
  • Elżbieta Ziemińska,
  • Barbara Zabłocka and
  • Zofia Urbanczyk-Lipkowska

Background: Exposure to ozone level and ultraviolet (UV) radiation is one of the major concerns in the context of public health. Numerous studies confirmed that abundant free radicals initiate undesired processes, e.g. carcinogenesis, cells degenerat...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Moving Forward with Dendrimers: A Themed Issue in Honor of Professor Donald A. Tomalia on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday)
  • Review
  • Open Access
171 Citations
16,555 Views
15 Pages

The properties and characteristics of calix[n]arenes are described, as well as their capacity to form amphiphilic assemblies by means of the design of synthetic macrocycles with a hydrophilic head and a hydrophobic tail. Their interaction with variou...

  • Article
  • Open Access
22 Citations
7,144 Views
14 Pages

Quantifying Tubulin Concentration and Microtubule Number Throughout the Fission Yeast Cell Cycle

  • Isabelle Loiodice,
  • Marcel E. Janson,
  • Penny Tavormina,
  • Sebastien Schaub,
  • Divya Bhatt,
  • Ryan Cochran,
  • Julie Czupryna,
  • Chuanhai Fu and
  • Phong T. Tran

The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe serves as a good genetic model organism for the molecular dissection of the microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton. However, analysis of the number and distribution of individual MTs throughout the cell cycle, parti...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cytoskeleton and Regulation of Mitosis)
  • Review
  • Open Access
50 Citations
11,371 Views
21 Pages

Dual Role of the Alternative Reading Frame ARF Protein in Cancer

  • Rosa Fontana,
  • Michela Ranieri,
  • Girolama La Mantia and
  • Maria Vivo

The CDKN2a/ARF locus expresses two partially overlapping transcripts that encode two distinct proteins, namely p14ARF (p19Arf in mouse) and p16INK4a, which present no sequence identity. Initial data obtained in mice showed that both proteins are pote...

  • Article
  • Open Access
6 Citations
7,702 Views
14 Pages

The disordered p53 transactivation domain (p53TAD) contains specific levels of transient helical secondary structure that are necessary for its binding to the negative regulators, mouse double minute 2 (Mdm2) and MdmX. The interactions of p53 with Md...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Chronic Diseases)
  • Article
  • Open Access
22 Citations
4,963 Views
17 Pages

Conserved Glycines Control Disorder and Function in the Cold-Regulated Protein, COR15A

  • Oluwakemi T. Sowemimo,
  • Patrick Knox-Brown,
  • Wade Borcherds,
  • Tobias Rindfleisch,
  • Anja Thalhammer and
  • Gary W. Daughdrill

Cold-regulated (COR) 15A is an intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) from Arabidopsis thaliana important for freezing tolerance. During freezing-induced cellular dehydration, COR15A transitions from a disordered to mostly α-helical structure. We tes...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Chronic Diseases)
  • Review
  • Open Access
86 Citations
15,200 Views
35 Pages

Structural Determinants of Isoform Selectivity in PI3K Inhibitors

  • Michelle S. Miller,
  • Philip E. Thompson and
  • Sandra B. Gabelli

26 February 2019

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases (PI3Ks) are important therapeutic targets for the treatment of cancer, thrombosis, and inflammatory and immune diseases. The four highly homologous Class I isoforms, PI3Kα, PI3Kβ, PI3Kγ and PI3Kδ have unique, non-redund...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phosphoinositide 3-kinase, a Field in Transition)
  • Review
  • Open Access
24 Citations
5,522 Views
11 Pages

26 February 2019

Protein interactions involving intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) greatly extend the range of binding mechanisms available to proteins. In interactions employing coupled folding and binding, IDPs undergo disorder-to-order transitions to form a...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Chronic Diseases)
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Biomolecules - ISSN 2218-273X