Protein and Peptide Letters - Volume 20, Issue 1, 2013

The synthesis and analysis of nanostructures in the cavities of protein molecules is a promising research field in the industry of nanosystems. In this study, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been used to evaluate the properties of CdS quantum dots synthesized in the tunnel cavities of R-phycoerythrin, a 290 kDa water-soluble pigment protein responsible for light harvesting in red algae. It has been shown that R-phycoeryt Read More

Neurospora crassa has been widely used as a model organism and contributed to the development of biochemistry and molecular biology by allowing the identification of many metabolic pathways and mechanisms responsible for gene regulation. Nuclear proteins are synthesized in the cytoplasm and need to be translocated to the nucleus to exert their functions which the importin-α receptor has a key role for the classi Read More

The current study was aimed at analyzing putative protein sequences of the protamine-like proteins of 12 Drosophila species based on the reference sequences of two protamine-like proteins (Mst35Ba and Mst35Bb) found in Drosophila melanogaster sperm nuclei. Protamine-like proteins belong to a larger group of proteins that are involved in DNAbinding known as sperm nuclear basic proteins (SNBPs). SNBPs pla Read More

Recently, the cloning of the ORF Dr0930 from Deinococcus radiodurans displaying, as primary activity, a lactonase activity and a promiscuous phosphotriesterase activity was reported. The crystal structure of the resulting recombinant enzyme has been solved, and many mutants have been generated in order to increase the phosphotriesterase activity, with the aim to reach the level of activity of the related pPTE from Read More

PepX is a X-prolyl dipeptidyl aminopeptidase of S15 family that cleaves dipeptides from the N-terminus of polypeptides having a proline or alanine residue at the second position. Involved in bacterial nutrition and in peptide maturation, this serine exopeptidase, counterpart of the mammalian DDP-4, has been proposed to play a role in pathogenicity for Streptococci and to be a promising target against trypanosomes. Searchin Read More

OG2 is a modified antimicrobial peptide of Palustrin-OG1 (OG1), which is derived from Odorrana grahami frog. OG2 has shown much higher selective antimicrobial activity and lower hemolytic activity than OG1, indicating OG2 may be a promising antimicrobial agent. In this study, we investigated three fusion partners, including thioredoxin, Mxe GyrA intein, and small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO), each fused with OG2 Read More

Kidney cells of animals including human and marine invertebrates contain high amount of the protein denaturant, urea. Methylamine osmolytes are generally believed to offset the harmful effects of urea on proteins in vitro and in vivo. In this study we have investigated the possibility of glycine to counteract the effects of urea on three proteins by measuring thermodynamic stability, ΔGD o and functional activity parameters (Km a Read More

Protein methylation is an important and reversible post-translational modification which regulates diverse protein properties. Many methylation sites on arginine and lysine have been identification through experiments. However, experimental identification without prior knowledge is laborious and costly. Hence, there is interest in the development of computational methods for reliable prediction of methylation sites. Prediction Read More

Copepods are the most abundant multicellular animal group and are often most important component of zooplankton and indicators of local and global climate change. Among this broad group of animals, Calanus sinicus holds an important role in the ecosystems of The East China Sea, The Korea Strait, and The East Sea. By comparing the response of their proteomes to ecologically viable environment changes, this study tri Read More

Obtaining soluble proteins in sufficient concentrations helps increase the overall success rate in various experimental studies. Protein solubility is an individual trait ultimately determined by its primary protein sequence. Exploring the interconnection between the protein solubility and the compositions of protein sequence is instrumental for setting priorities on targets in large scale proteomics projects. In this paper, amino Read More

Human transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1) is expressed on malignant cells at levels several fold higher than those on normal cells and its expression can be correlated with tumor stage or cancer progression. It is a potentially rational target for drug delivery. To identify novel ligands which can recognize the TfR1 specifically, a random phage displayed 12-mer peptide library was screened and two consensus motifs of the peptid Read More

The propensity to catalysis of transglycosylation of the β-glucosidase Tmβgly is higher than for Sfβgly. Moreover the propensity to catalysis of transglycosylation is directly proportional to the substrate concentration for Tmβgly, whereas for Sfβgly it is constant. For instance, 60% of a Tmβgly sample catalyzes transglycosylation reactions at 40 mM p-nitrophenyl β-glucoside, whereas only 40% is engaged in hydrolysis of Read More

Sequence alignments and homology modeling of Pyrococcus furiosus thermostable glycosidase (PFTG) showed that the residue 150 is conserved as tryptophan in β-glycosidase and in other related enzymes such as β- mannosidase and β-galactosidase. To elucidate the relationship between the substrate size and geometric shape of the catalytic site of thermophilic β-glycosidase and category of PFTG, the Q77, Q150 and D206 lo Read More