Metal ions are critical for the biological and physiological functions of many proteins. Mass spectrometry (MS)-based structural proteomics is an ever-growing field that has been adopted to study protein and metal ion interactions. Native MS offers i...
Cation binding under equilibrium conditions has been used as a tool to explore the accessibility of permeant and nonpermeant cations to the selectivity filter in three different inactivated models of the potassium channel KcsA. The results show that...
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 (...
Pacemaking activity in substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons is generated by the coordinated activity of a variety of distinct somatodendritic voltage- and calcium-gated ion channels. We investigated whether these functional interactions could arise...
The intrinsically disordered protein α-synuclein plays a major role in Parkinson’s disease. The protein can oligomerize resulting in the formation of various aggregated species in neuronal cells, leading to neurodegeneration. The interact...
KcsA, a prokaryote tetrameric potassium channel, was the first ion channel ever to be structurally solved at high resolution. This, along with the ease of its expression and purification, made KcsA an experimental system of choice to study structure&...
The S100A1 protein, involved in various physiological activities through the binding of calcium ions (Ca2+), participates in several protein-protein interaction (PPI) events after Ca2+-dependent activation. The present work investigates Ca2+-dependen...
In this study, we characterize the interactions between the extracellular matrix protein, procollagen C-proteinase enhancer-1 (PCPE-1), and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), which are linear anionic periodic polysaccharides. We applied molecular modeling ap...
Background: Mechanosensitive ion channels PIEZO1 and PIEZO2 are key mediators of mechanotransduction, which converts physical forces into cellular signals involved in proprioception, touch, vascular function, and other physiological processes. Mutati...
The Na+, K+-ATPase is an integral membrane protein which uses the energy of ATP hydrolysis to pump Na+ and K+ ions across the plasma membrane of all animal cells. It plays crucial roles in numerous physiological processes, such as cell volume regulat...
Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a leading cause of cancer mortality, yet no systematic effort has linked druggable CRC driver genes to downstream ion channel effectors. We integrated differential expression analysis, weighted gene co-expression netwo...
Ion pairs (also known as salt bridges) of electrostatically interacting cationic and anionic moieties are important for proteins and nucleic acids to perform their function. Although numerous three-dimensional structures show ion pairs at functionall...
Influenza is a highly contagious virus that causes seasonal epidemics and unpredictable pandemics. Four influenza virus types have been identified to date: A, B, C and D, with only A–C known to infect humans. Influenza A and B viruses are respo...
Whey proteins tend to interact with metal ions, which have implications in different fields related to human life quality. There are two impacts of such interactions: they can provide opportunities for applications in food and nutraceuticals, but may...
Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) is a light-gated ion channel that conducts cations of multiple valencies down the electrochemical gradient. This light-gated property has made ChR2 a popular tool in the field of optogenetics, allowing for the spatial and te...
The Rare Cold-Inducible 2 (RCI2) gene encodes a conserved hydrophobic peptide that plays a crucial role in ion homeostasis, membrane stability, and responses to abiotic stress. In this study, six members of the MsRCI2 gene family were identified in M...
Sodium and potassium are two alkali cations abundant in the biosphere. Potassium is essential for plants and its concentration must be maintained at approximately 150 mM in the plant cell cytoplasm including under circumstances where its concentratio...
A quantitative analysis of the precipitate effects of metal ions (Al3+, Fe2+, Cu2+, Zn2+) by bovine serum albumin (BSA) on two condensed tannins (CT) from sorghum and plum was presented in this study. The results showed that adding metal ions enhance...
Silk secreted by Bombyx mori L. silkworm has become one of the most important biomaterials, due to its excellent biocompatibility, controllable biodegradability, superior processability, and unique mechanical properties. Silk fibroin and sericin, as...
Contemporary techniques of molecular modeling allow for rational design of several specific classes of artificial proteins. Transmembrane channels are among these classes. A recent successful synthesis of self-assembling, highly symmetrical 12- or 16...
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...
Quantitative analysis of endocrine-disrupting molecules such as bisphenol A (BPA) in freshwater to determine their widespread occurrence in environmental resources has been challenged by various adsorption and desorption processes. In this work, ion...
Silver(I) ions and organometallic complexes thereof are well-established antimicrobial agents. They have been employed in medical applications for centuries. It is also known that some bacteria can resist silver(I) treatments through an efflux mechan...
Homologous recombination is involved in repairing DNA damage, contributing to maintaining the integrity and stability of viral and cellular genomes. In bacteria, the recombination mediator proteins RecO and RecR are required to load the RecA recombin...
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is accountable for the protracted COVID-19 pandemic. Its high transmission rate and pathogenicity led to health emergencies and economic crisis. Recent studies pertaining to the understandi...
Voltage-gated sodium channels are central to electrical excitability, and Nav1.7 is a major therapeutic target implicated in pain disorders and sensory signaling. Within the channel pore, permeating Na+ ions experience dynamically fluctuating hydrati...
Taking advantage of the last cryogenic electron microscopy structure of human huntingtin, we explored with computational methods its physicochemical properties, focusing on the solvent accessible surface of the protein and highlighting a quite intere...
The effects of Na+ and pea protein isolate (PPI) concentrations on the gelation behavior of Abelia macrotera pectin (AMP) were systematically investigated using texture analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron m...
During the W1/O phase (in the W1/O/W2 process) of protein microencapsulation within poly-lactide-co-glycolide (PLGA), hydrophobic interfaces are expanded where interfacial adsorption occurs followed by protein unfolding and aggregation. Spectroscopic...
Mercury (Hg) is a global environmental pollutant that affects human and ecosystem health. With the aim of exploring the Hg-induced protein modifications, intact human erythrocytes were exposed to HgCl2 (1–60 µM) and cytosolic and membrane...
This Special Issue provides an update for the rapidly developing technology known as “optogenetics” that is the use of genetically encoded light-sensitive molecular elements (usually derived from lower organisms) to control or report vari...
Entamoeba histolytica is an invasive, pathogenic parasite causing amoebiasis. Given that proteins involved in transmembrane (TM) transport are crucial for the adherence, invasion, and nutrition of the parasite, we conducted a genome-wide bioinformati...
Ca2+ binding to the ubiquitous Ca2+ sensing protein calmodulin (CaM) activates the intermediate conductance Ca2+-activated SK4 channel. Potential hydrophilic pockets for CaM binding have been identified at the intracellular HA and HB helices in the C...
The concerted function of the large number of ion channels expressed in excitable cells, including brain neurons, shapes diverse signaling events by controlling the electrical properties of membranes. It has long been recognized that specific groups...
Nitric oxide is a diatomic gas that has traditionally been viewed, particularly in the context of chemical fields, as a toxic, pungent gas that is the product of ammonia oxidation. However, nitric oxide has been associated with many biological roles...
In plants, rapid and reversible biological responses to environmental cues may require complex cellular reprograming. This is enabled by signaling molecules such as the cyclic nucleotide monophosphates (cNMPs) cAMP and cGMP, as well as Ca2+. While th...
Three-finger toxins (3FTxs) are the largest group of nonenzymatic toxins found in snake venoms. Among them, neurotoxins that target nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are the most well-studied ligands. In addition to the classical neurotoxins, several...
Glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3) is a multifaceted serine/threonine (S/T) kinase expressed in all eukaryotic cells. GSK3β is highly enriched in neurons in the central nervous system where it acts as a central hub for intracellular signali...
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) lack a well-defined 3D structure. Their disordered nature enables them to interact with several other proteins and to fulfil their vital biological roles, in most cases after coupled folding and binding. In th...
Venoms are comprised of diverse mixtures of proteins, peptides, and small molecules. Identifying individual venom components and their target(s) with mechanism of action is now attainable to understand comprehensively the effectiveness of venom cockt...
Solvation effects play a key role in chemical and biological processes. The microscopic properties of water near molecular surfaces are radically different from those in the bulk. Furthermore, the behavior of water in confined volumes of a nanometer...
Several intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are capable to adopt stable structures without interacting with a folded partner. When the folding of all interacting partners happens at the same time, coupled with the interaction in a synergistic ma...
Arterial hypertension is a key trigger for all major, life-threatening cardiovascular events such as arrhythmia, stroke, cardiac infarction and heart failure. Ethanol consumption has been identified as a critical risk factor, which promotes hypertens...
Calcium (Ca2+) signalling is a fundamental cellular process, essential for a wide range of physiological functions. It is regulated by various mechanisms, including a diverse family of Ca2+-binding proteins (CaBPs), which are structurally and functio...
Pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (pLGICs) play a leading role in synaptic communication, are implicated in a variety of neurological processes, and are important targets for the treatment of neurological and neuromuscular disorders. Endogenous li...
Membrane chromatography (MC) is an emerging bioseparation technology combining the principles of membrane filtration and chromatography. In this process, one type of molecule is adsorbed in the stationary phase, whereas the other type of molecule is...
Cyclodextrins, representing a versatile family of cyclic oligosaccharides, have extensive pharmaceutical applications due to their unique truncated cone-shaped structure with a hydrophilic outer surface and a hydrophobic cavity, which enables them to...
Proteins play crucial roles in the transportation and distribution of therapeutic substances, including metal ions in living systems. Some metal ions can strongly associate, while others show low affinity towards proteins. Consequently, in the presen...
Ions play significant roles in biological processes—they may specifically bind to a protein site or bind non-specifically on its surface. Although the role of specifically bound ions ranges from actively providing structural compactness via coo...
Mechanosensitive ion channels are widely expressed in the cardiovascular system. They translate mechanical forces including shear stress and stretch into biological signals. The most prominent biological signal through which the cardiovascular physio...
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