Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lavi S. Bigman, Junji Iwahara, Yaakov Levy
Summary: Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of proteins have a high fraction of charged residues, but their overall net charge and organization differ. This study analyzed the charge properties of IDRs in human, mouse, and yeast proteomes to explore the sequence-function relationship. Negatively charged IDRs were found to be longer and have a higher net charge per residue compared to positively charged IDRs. D/E repeats were longer and more prevalent than K/R repeats, especially in nucleic acid-related proteins.
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xi Wang, Lavi S. Bigman, Harry M. Greenblatt, Binhan Yu, Yaakov Levy, Junji Iwahara
Summary: This study investigates the mechanism by which D/E repeats in DNA/RNA-binding proteins accelerate the target search process, using experimental and simulation approaches.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Biology
Ravi Yadav, Srinivas Govindan, Courtney Daczkowski, Andrew Mesecar, Srinivas Chakravarthy, Nicholas Noinaj
Summary: Lactoferrin-binding protein B (LbpB) is a lipoprotein on the surface of Neisseria that plays dual roles in iron acquisition from lactoferrin and protection against cationic antimicrobial peptides. Structures of LbpB from N. meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae in complex with holo-Lf reveal interactions and preferences, shedding light on how LbpB captures and preserves lactoferrin for iron piracy and antimicrobial defense evasion.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xiaolei Shen, Dan Li, Pengfei Zhuang, Yang Yu, Zuqiang Shi, Xifan Mei, Chang Liu
Summary: PVP-M stabilized gold nanoclusters show significant effects in protecting cardiac mitochondria, stabilizing mitochondrial membrane potential, and inhibiting overexpressed mitochondrial ROS. They also have a protective effect in cardiomyopathy cell models. These findings suggest the potential therapeutic efficacy of PVP-M in the treatment of cardiovascular disease in diabetic patients.
NEW JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Rima El-Dirany, Hawraa Shahrour, Zeinab Dirany, Fadi Abdel-Sater, Gustavo Gonzalez-Gaitano, Klaus Brandenburg, Guillermo Martinez de Tejada, Paul A. Nguewa
Summary: Anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) are small biologically active molecules produced by organisms through their innate immune system, with diverse mechanisms of action and potential for clinical applications in treating various diseases, including their anti-leishmanial effects. AMPs show promise as a new therapeutic alternative with broad-spectrum activity against microorganisms.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mohammad Javad Taghipour, Hamid Ezzatpanah, Mohammad Ghahderijani
Summary: This study isolated camel milk protein fractions and hydrolyzed them using enzymes, finding peptides with anticancer and antibacterial activities. Two promising peptides, P3 and P5, showed low binding energy and inhibition constant, making them potential drug candidates.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Muhammad Zahoor Khan, Jianxin Xiao, Yulin Ma, Jiaying Ma, Shuai Liu, Adnan Khan, Jamal Muhammad Khan, Zhijun Cao
Summary: Camel milk is a rich source of vitamin C, lactic acid bacteria, and various proteins, showing antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties. Components like lactoferrin, alpha-lactalbumin, and immunoglobulins have beneficial effects on diseases.
Article
Materials Science, Paper & Wood
Kaan Demirel, Ozan Yilmaz, Dogan Akbulut, Serhan Turkyilmaz
Summary: Spherical materials capable of binding to negatively charged biomembrane bearing species have various applications in the removal of bacterial cells from liquids, such as in blood for the diagnosis and treatment of bacteremia, as well as in aqueous foodstuffs, pharmaceutical formulations, and wastewater discharges. The study demonstrates the preparation of BDPA-bearing nonporous cellulose microspheres for the sequestration of negatively charged biomembrane bearing species and their high binding capacities for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. These materials show potential for future applications in the sequestration of bacterial cells and similar membrane properties from liquids.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Tien Duy Vo, Christoph Spahn, Mike Heilemann, Helge B. Bode
Summary: The study investigated the production of PAX in entomopathogenic bacteria and its protective effect against antimicrobial peptides from insects, suggesting a repulsive force due to the positive charge at the bacterial cell wall induced by PAX.
ACS CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sandra Rocha, Ranjeet Kumar, Bengt Norden, Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede
Summary: The study reveals that alpha-synuclein binds to negatively charged vesicles and reorients its helix structure under shear flow, tilting into the vesicle membrane. The presence of flow accelerates the reorientation dynamics of the protein, suggesting a potential flow catalysis mechanism to overcome steric barriers.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Izamar G. Arredondo-Beltran, Diana A. Ramirez-Sanchez, Jesus R. Zazueta-Garcia, Adrian Canizalez-Roman, Uriel A. Angulo-Zamudio, Jorge A. Velazquez-Roman, Jan G. M. Bolscher, Kamran Nazmi, Nidia Leon-Sicairos
Summary: Liver cancer and leukemia are major causes of cancer-related deaths, and current cancer treatments have limitations. This study investigated the potential anticancer effect of bovine lactoferrin (bLF) and LF peptides on liver cancer and leukemia cells. The results showed that bLF and LF peptides inhibited cell viability, induced damage and morphological changes, and activated apoptosis in these cells. Additionally, they synergistically interacted with cisplatin and etoposide.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Soumya Basu, Sahil Mandar Joshi, Sudha Ramaiah, Anand Anbarasu
Summary: The global healthcare concern of anti-microbial resistance (AMR) necessitates the exploration of therapeutic alternatives. Recent evidence of increasing resistance to membrane-acting anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) by ESKAPE pathogens has led to the design of novel AMPs as potential therapeutic candidates. In this study, a library of 60 AMPs, including natural AMPs and their mutants, was constructed using in-silico methods. The AMPs were evaluated for their physico-chemical properties and subjected to molecular docking against major beta-lactamases in Gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens. One of the AMP mutants, Lactoferricin B-Mutant (M4), showed high affinity to the key enzymes with energies ranging from -842.0Kcal/mol to -1103.3Kcal/mol. Coarse-grained clustering and flexibility analysis further confirmed the stable configurations of the protein-peptide complexes. The study highlights the potential of AMPs as therapeutic agents against drug-resistant pathogens and encourages further experimental validations and similar approaches.
PROBIOTICS AND ANTIMICROBIAL PROTEINS
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jose Villalain
Summary: COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is a global pandemic that has infected over 600 million people and caused more than 6 million deaths so far. Understanding the molecular details of the fusion mechanism will lead to the development of effective antiviral strategies.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jisub Hwang, Bomi Kim, Min Ju Lee, Eun Jae Kim, Sung Mi Cho, Sung Gu Lee, Se Jong Han, Kitae Kim, Jun Hyuck Lee, Hackwon Do
Summary: This study investigates the role of the head capping region in the stabilization and hyper-TH activity of FfIBP using molecular dynamics simulation. The findings show that residues on the ice-binding site are immobilized and the disulfide bond in the head region is crucial for protein stabilization and hyper-TH activity.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Alessandra Pino, Tommaso Mazza, Maura-Ann H. Matthews, Stefano Castellana, Cinzia Caggia, Cinzia L. Randazzo, Gary A. Gelbfish
Summary: Gardnerella species are key players in the development and recurrence of Bacterial Vaginosis (BV), often showing high resistance to antibiotics. Bovine lactoferrin may be a potential candidate for treating Gardnerella species infection.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)