Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Camila Campos-Escamilla, Dritan Siliqi, Luis A. Gonzalez-Ramirez, Carmen Lopez-Sanchez, Jose Antonio Gavira, Abel Moreno
Summary: The conformational changes of iron-free and iron-loaded transferrin at different pH values were studied using Macromolecular X-ray Crystallography and Small Angle X-ray Scattering techniques. While apo-Tf remained mostly globular in solution, holo-Tf showed a more elongated and flexible shape with co-existing closed, partially open, and open conformations.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Gabriel Javitt, Alisa Kinzel, Nava Reznik, Deborah Fass
Summary: Zymogen granule membrane protein 16 (ZG16) is a protein produced in organs that secrete enzymes and other proteins into the digestive tract, with the ability to bind microbial pathogens. The CXXC motif on ZG16 contributes to its activity, and can be oxidized by specific enzymes to engage in redox reactions.
Article
Microbiology
Jose A. Manso, Arturo Carabias, Zsuzsa Sarkany, Jose M. de Pereda, Pedro Jose Barbosa Pereira, Sandra Macedo-Ribeiro
Summary: The ability of Candida albicans to switch between yeast and hyphal forms is important for its pathogenicity, with CaRas1 playing a key role in this process. This study provides insights into the structure and activation of CaRas1, and identifies a synthetic peptide that can specifically inhibit its activation. These findings open up new possibilities for combating Candida albicans infections.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Abris Adam Bendes, Petri Kursula, Inari Kursula
Summary: Apicomplexan parasites rely on the glideosome for motility and host cell invasion; actin filament capping proteins (CPs) play a crucial role in regulating actin dynamics; this study presents the crystal structure of CP from the malaria parasite and reveals differences compared to canonical heterodimers.
CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR LIFE SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Catia Barria, Diogo Athayde, Guillem Hernandez, Leonor Fonseca, Jorge Casinhas, Tiago N. Cordeiro, Margarida Archer, Cecilia M. Arraiano, Jose A. Brito, Rute G. Matos
Summary: Ribonucleases play a crucial role in RNA regulation by processing, degrading, and quality controlling cellular transcripts. Campylobacter jejuni, the main cause of human gastroenteritis, relies on the exoribonuclease PNPase (CjPNP) for low-temperature survival, virulence factor synthesis, and swimming, cell adhesion/invasion, and chick colonization abilities. The crystallographic structure of CjPNP, along with SAXS analysis, confirms its trimeric arrangement and provides insight into domain arrangement and flexibility. Mutations in highly conserved residues reveal unexpected RNA degradation activity even under conditions favoring polymerization. These findings have significant implications for the development of strategies to combat C. jejuni infections.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Michael Wagener, Stephan Foerster
Summary: The scattering of various types of radiation by matter is widely used for structural characterization. With the advancement of beam sources and detectors, scattering patterns can now be acquired quickly and at large sizes. However, the slow analysis of these patterns has become a bottleneck. In this study, an algorithm based on hypergeometric functions is introduced, providing a significant increase in computational speed compared to current methods. This algorithm enables real-time experiment feedback, analysis of large scattering datasets, and generation of training data for machine learning.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Badri Narayanan Narasimhan, Alexander W. Dixon, Bradley Mansel, Andrew Taberner, Jitendra Mata, Jenny Malmstrom
Summary: This study investigates hydrogels made with semi-interpenetrating networks of oligomerized polyphenol tannic acid and poly(acrylamide). The presence of micron-sized hydrogen bonded clusters in the hydrogels and the breaking of these clusters above a critical solution temperature are observed using small angle X-ray scattering and small and ultra-small angle neutron scattering. Polarized optical microscopy shows enhanced anisotropy for gels with oligomerized tannic acid, and rheological studies reveal self-healing behavior of the gels. The findings from this study contribute to the rational design of hydrogels for biomedical applications.
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Gabriela Guedez, Gabriele Loers, Cy M. Jeffries, Sandra Kozak, Rob Meijers, Dmitri I. Svergun, Melitta Schachner, Christian Loew
Summary: The cell adhesion molecule L1 plays crucial roles in neural development, regeneration, synaptic plasticity, and tumor cell migration. L1 is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily and consists of Ig-like domains and fibronectin type III homologous repeats. The second Ig-like domain is involved in cell binding, and the fibronectin type III homologous repeats contribute to signal transduction.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
J. S. Park, J. D. Almer, K. C. James, L. J. Natanson, S. R. Stock
Summary: Members of subclass Elasmobranchii possess bioapatite mineralization in their cartilage skeletons, which has similar crystallography to bone but exhibits some differences. The mineral phase in shark centra has larger nanocrystallite sizes and is associated with less microstrain compared to bone.
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Kakeru Obayashi, Kazutaka Kamitani, Chien-Wei Chu, Ryosuke Kawatoko, Chao-Hung Cheng, Atsushi Takahara, Ken Kojio
Summary: The internal structure of polyurethane adhesive undergoes changes during lap shear deformation, with an increase in the spacing of hard segment domains and the merging of tilt angle with the stretching direction. These findings are of great significance for the practical design of adhesives.
ACS APPLIED POLYMER MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Richard G. Haverkamp, Katie H. Sizeland, Hannah C. Wells, Christina Kamma-Lorger
Summary: This study demonstrates that dehydration causes structural changes in type I collagen fibrils, resulting in a shortening of fibril length through an increase in the gap region and a decrease in the overlap region. Only with further dehydration does the length of collagen fibrils decrease.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
(2022)
Article
Virology
Francine C. A. Gerard, Jean-Marie Bourhis, Caroline Mas, Anais Branchard, Duc Duy Vu, Sylvia Varhoshkova, Cedric Leyrat, Marc Jamin
Summary: This study reconstituted a soluble heterodimeric complex between the nucleoprotein and phosphoprotein of rabies virus and solved the crystal structure of the complex. The results showed that the chaperone module undergoes a disordered-order transition during assembly and that the chaperone module and RNA-mediated polymerization reduce the ability of the RNA binding cavity to open and close.
Article
Energy & Fuels
J. Jennings, D. J. Growney, H. Brice, O. O. Mykhaylyk, S. P. Armes
Summary: Asphaltenes, complex carbon-rich molecules found in crude oil, have a strong tendency to aggregate and phase separate. This causes issues in crude oil extraction, refining, and application. Understanding the morphology and mechanisms of asphaltene aggregation and designing stabilizers to prevent phase separation have been the focus of research. Imaging techniques and light scattering provide limited structural information, while small-angle scattering and X-ray diffraction offer a wealth of information about asphaltene structure.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Surendra Singh, M. A. Basha, Harsh Bhatt, Yogesh Kumar, M. Gupta
Summary: Rare-earth/transition metal ferromagnetic heterostructures with competing interfacial coupling and Zeeman energy provide a rich ground to study different phase states. We investigated the interface morphology driven structure and magnetic properties of a Gd/Co multilayer and found that changes in the interface morphology strongly influence the macroscopic magnetic properties of the system.
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Mutsumi Takano, Koudai Takamatsu, Hiromu Saito
Summary: A high-strength elastomer can be obtained by heat elongation of a thermoplastic polyurethane film with a high content of crystalline hard segments. The densification of the stacked HS domains during elongation enhances the material and prevents fracture.