71 Results Found

Consecutive interactions of 3Na⁺ or 1Ca²⁺ with the Na⁺/Ca²⁺ exchanger (NCX) result in an alternative exposure (access) of the cytosolic and extracellular vestibules to opposite sides of the membrane, where ion-induced transitions between the outward-...

Conformational changes are fundamental events in the transport mechanism. The serotonin transporter (SERT) catalyzes reuptake of the neurotransmitter serotonin after its release by serotonergic neurons and is the molecular target for antidepressant d...

Cataracts are defined as the clouding of the lens due to the formation of insoluble protein aggregates. Metal ions exposure has been recognized as a risk factor in the cataract formation process. The γ and β crystallins are members of a la...

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy has emerged as an ideal biophysical tool to study complex biological processes. EPR spectroscopy can follow minor conformational changes in various proteins as a function of ligand or protein binding...

The nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) from the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is responsible for processing the non-structural region of the viral precursor polyprotein in infected hepatic cells. NS3 protease activity, located at the N-terminal domain, is a zi...

Holliday Junctions are critical DNA intermediates central to double strand break repair and homologous recombination. The junctions can adopt two general forms: open and stacked-X, which are induced by protein or ion binding. In this work, fluorescen...

Azobenzene-based photochromic lipids are valuable probes for the analysis of ion channel–lipid interactions. Rapid photoisomerization of these molecules enables the analysis of lipid gating kinetics and provides information on lipid sensing. Th...

Cataracts are diseases characterized by the opacity of the ocular lens and the subsequent deterioration of vision. Metal ions are one of the factors that have been reported to induce crystallin aggregation. For HγS crystallin, several equivalen...

Transthyretin (TTR) is a plasma homotetrameric protein that transports thyroxine and retinol. TTR itself, under pathological conditions, dissociates into partially unfolded monomers that aggregate and form fibrils. Metal ions such as Zn²⁺, Cu²⁺, Fe²⁺...

G12 mutations heavily affect conformational transformation and activity of KRAS. In this study, Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD) simulations were performed on the GDP-bound wild-type (WT), G12A, G12D, and G12R KRAS to probe mutation-med...

Protein misfolding and conformational changes are common hallmarks in many neurodegenerative diseases involving formation and deposition of toxic protein aggregates. Although many players are involved in the in vivo protein aggregation, physiological...

Sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺-ATPase (SERCA) maintains the level of calcium concentration in cells by pumping calcium ions from the cytoplasm to the lumen while undergoing substantial conformational changes, which can be stabilized or prevented by...

Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Field (nsPEF or Nano Pulsed Stimulation, NPS) is a technology that delivers a series of pulses of high-voltage electric fields during a short period of time, in the order of nanoseconds. The main consequence of nsPEF upon c...

The allosteric coupling between activation and inactivation processes is a common feature observed in K⁺ channels. Particularly, in the prokaryotic KcsA channel the K⁺ conduction process is controlled by the inner gate, which is activated by acidic p...

The outer vestibule of voltage-gated Na⁺ channels is formed by extracellular loops connecting the S5 and S6 segments of all four domains (“P-loops”), which fold back into the membrane. Classically, this structure has been implicated in the control of...

The phosphorylation of different sites produces a significant effect on the conformational dynamics of KRAS. Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD) simulations were combined with deep learning (DL) to explore the molecular mechanism of the ph...

The conformational changes in switch domains significantly affect the activity of NRAS. Gaussian-accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD) simulations of three separate replicas were performed to decipher the effects of G13D, Q16R, and C118S on the confo...

DNA polymerase $\beta$ is a member of the X-family of DNA polymerases, playing a critical role in the base excision repair (BER) pathway in mammalian cells by implementing the nucleotide gap-filling step. In vitro phosphorylation of DNA polymerase $\mathrm{\&be}$...

The widespread use of uranium for civilian purposes causes a worldwide concern of its threat to human health due to the long-lived radioactivity of uranium and the high toxicity of uranyl ion (UO₂²⁺). Although uranyl–protein/DNA interactions ha...

Proteins with low complexity, disordered sequences are receiving increasing attention due to their central roles in the biogenesis and regulation of membraneless organelles. In eukaryotic organisms, a substantial fraction of disordered proteins resid...

Manganese (II) ions are essential for a variety of bacterial cellular processes. The transcription factor MntR is a metallosensor that regulates Mn²⁺ ion homeostasis in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. Its DNA-binding affinity is increased by Mn²⁺ io...

As a natural calcium resource, animal bone needs to be miniaturized to the nanoscale to improve palatability and absorption capacity. To explore the mechanism of high-pressure homogenization (HPH) in preparing natural bone aqueous nanosuspensions, th...

Miscibility is an important issue in biopolymer blends for analysis of the behavior of polymer pairs through the detection of phase separation and improvement of the mechanical and physical properties of the blend. This study presents the formulation...

trans-3,4-Dihydroxyselenolane (DHS), a water-soluble cyclic selenide, exhibits selenoenzyme-like unique redox activities through reversible oxidation to the corresponding selenoxide. Previously, we demonstrated that DHS can be applied as an antioxida...

Helicobacter pylori causes severe diseases, such as chronic gastritis, peptic ulcers, and stomach cancers. H. pylori neutrophil-activating protein (HP-NAP) is an iron storage protein that forms a dodecameric shell, promotes the adhesion of neutrophil...

Metal ions are used in various situations in living organisms and as a part of functional materials. Since the excessive intake of metal ions can cause health hazards and environmental pollution, the development of new molecules that can monitor meta...

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are ligand-gated ion channels that play an important role in signal transduction at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). Movement of the nAChR extracellular domain following agonist binding induces conformation...

Oscillatory phosphorylation/dephosphorylation can be commonly found in a biological system as a means of signal transduction though its pivotal presence in the workings of circadian clocks has drawn significant interest: for example in a significant...

The monoamine transporters, including the serotonin transporter (SERT), dopamine transporter (DAT), and norepinephrine transporter (NET), are the therapeutic targets for the treatment of many neuropsychiatric disorders. Despite significant progress i...

The cornerstone of molecular magnetism is a detailed understanding of the relationship between structure and magnetic behaviour, i.e., the development of magneto-structural correlations. Traditionally, the synthetic chemist approaches this challenge...

Metal ions are well known modulators of protein aggregation and are key players in Alzheimer’s Disease, being found to be associated to pathologic protein deposits in diseased brains. Therefore, understanding how metals influence amyloid aggreg...

Spontaneous cleavage reactions normally occur in vivo on amino acid peptide backbones, leading to fragmentation products that can have different physiological roles and toxicity, particularly when the substrate of the hydrolytic processes are neurona...

Mercury ions (Hg²⁺), a heavy metal contaminant of strong biotoxicity, pose a serious threat to ecosystems and human health in aquatic environments. Developing highly sensitive and specific detection methods is therefore of great importance. This stud...

Apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonucleases Nfo (Escherichia coli) and APE1 (human) represent two conserved structural families of enzymes that cleave AP-site–containing DNA in base excision repair. Nfo and APE1 have completely different structures of t...

Nuclear technology, while offering significant benefits across various sectors, poses potential health risks due to uranium (U) contamination, particularly through its internalization and subsequent interactions with biological systems. This study in...

The aim of this study was to demonstrate the utility of time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy in the detection of subtle changes in the local microenvironment of a tryptophan chromophore in a confined and crowded medium of AOT reverse micelles, whi...

Human ether a-go-go related gene (hERG) or KV11.1 potassium channels mediate the rapid delayed rectifier current (I_Kr) in cardiac myocytes. Drug-induced inhibition of hERG channels has been implicated in the development of acquired long QT syndrome t...

Lead contamination in aquatic products is one of the main hazard factors. The aptasensor is a promising detection method for lead ion (Pb(II)) because of its selectivity, but it is easily affected by pH. The combination of ion-imprinted polymers(IIP)...

Silver ions (Ag⁺) are crucial in various fields, but pose environmental and health risks at high concentrations. This study presents a straightforward approach for the ultra-trace detection of Ag⁺, utilizing a composite of a cytosine-rich oligonucleo...

The voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC) is a crucial mitochondrial protein that facilitates ion and metabolite exchange between mitochondria and the cytosol. Initially characterized over three decades ago, the structure of VDAC-1 was resolved in 2...

Pannexin 1 channels located in the cell membrane are permeable to ions, metabolites, and signaling molecules. While the activity of these channels is known to be modulated by phosphorylation on T198, T308, and S206, the possible involvement of other...

The thermosensory transient receptor potential (thermoTRP) family of ion channels is constituted by several nonselective cation channels that are activated by physical and chemical stimuli functioning as paradigmatic polymodal receptors. Gating of th...

Experimental embolic particles based on a novel zinc-silicate glass system have been biologically evaluated for potential consideration in transcatheter arterial embolization procedures. In addition to controlling the cytotoxicity and haemocompatibil...

Therapeutic and diagnostic nucleic acid aptamers are designed to bind tightly and specifically to their target. The combination of structural and kinetic analyses of aptamer interactions has gained increasing importance. Here, we present a fluorescen...

Ca²⁺ ion channels are critical in a variety of physiological events, including cell growth, differentiation, gene transcription and apoptosis. One such essential entry pathway for calcium into the cell is the Ca²⁺ release-activated Ca²⁺ (CRAC) channe...

Plant peptidase inhibitors play essential roles in the defense systems of plants. A trypsin inhibitor (PHTI) with a molecular mass of 20.5 kDa was isolated from the fresh roots of the medicinal herb, Pseudostellaria heterophylla. The purification pro...

The composition and dynamics of the lipid membrane define the physical properties of the bilayer and consequently affect the function of the incorporated membrane transporters, which also applies for the prominent Ca²⁺ release-activated Ca²⁺ ion chan...

Here, we report an allosteric effect of an anionic phospholipid on a model K⁺ channel, KcsA. The anionic lipid in mixed detergent–lipid micelles specifically induces a change in the conformational equilibrium of the channel selectivity filter (...

Riboswitches are highly structured RNA regulators of gene expression. Although found in all three domains of life, they are particularly abundant and widespread in bacteria, including many human pathogens, thus making them an attractive target for an...

Studies on the interaction sites of peptide toxins and ion channels typically involve site-directed mutations in toxins. However, natural mutant toxins exist among them, offering insights into how the evolutionary process has conserved crucial sequen...