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Search results for: protein stability
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Anticancer imidazoacridinone C-1311 inhibits hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and angiogenesis
PublicationAntitumor imidazoacridinone C-1311 is a DNA-reactive topoisomerase II and FLT3 receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Here, we demonstrate the mechanism of C-1311 inhibitory action on novel targets: hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), vascular-endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and angiogenesis. In a cell-free system, C-1311 prevented HIF-1α binding to an oligonucleotide encompassing a canonical hypoxia-responsive element (HRE),...
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An optimal designed experiment for the alkaline hydrolysis of feather keratin
PublicationFeathers, burdensome waste from the poultry industry, can be a cheap source of keratin, a protein with excellent physico- chemical, biological, and mechanical properties. Acid and alkaline hydrolyses are usually adopted for isolation of keratin from its natural resources. This study aimed at assessing the statistically significant effect of input variables in the alkaline hydrolysis of keratin from chicken feathers on the process...
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An MTA-phosphorylase gene discovered in the metagenomic library derived from Antarctic top soil during screening for lipolytic active clones confers strong pink fluorescence in the presence of rhodamine B.
PublicationIn this work, we present the construction of a metagenomic library in Escherichiacoli using the pUC19 vector and environmental DNA directly isolated fromAntarctic topsoil and screened for lipolytic enzymes. Unexpectedly, the screeningon agar supplemented with olive oil and rhodamine B revealed one unusual pinkfluorescent clone (PINKuv) out of 85 000 clones. This clone harbored a plasmid,pPINKuv, which has an insert of 8317 bp that...
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A cryptic ribosome binding site, false signals in reporter systems and avoidance of protein translation chaos
PublicationThe expression of reporter gene may be induced by activation of cryptic signalling sequences, as we found while constructing the mutS-lacZ fusion gene. We cloned the Escherichia coli lacZ gene encoding beta-galactosidase into a plasmid vector carrying the Thermus thermophilus mutS gene. The clones expected to produce beta-galactosidase as the C-terminal fusion were selected for the complementation of beta-galactosidase activity...
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A rapid-response ultrasensitive biosensor for influenza virus detection using antibody modified boron-doped diamond
PublicationAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost 2 billion people each year are infected worldwide with flu-like pathogens including influenza. This is a contagious disease caused by viruses belonging to the family Orthomyxoviridae. Employee absenteeism caused by flu infection costs hundreds of millions of dollars every year. To successfully treat influenza virus infections, detection of the virus during the initial development...
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Crystal structures of the DsbG disulfide isomerase reveal an unstable disulfide
PublicationDsb proteins control the formation and rearrangement of disulfide bonds during the folding of secreted and membrane proteins in bacteria. DsbG, a member of this family, has disulfide bond isomerase and chaperone activity. Here, we present two crystal structures of DsbG at 1.7- and 2.0-Angstrom resolution that are meant to represent the reduced and oxidized forms, respectively. The oxidized structure, however, reveals a mixture...
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Fatty acyl benzamido antibacterials based on inhibition of DnaK-catalyzed protein folding
PublicationWe have reported that the hsp70 chaperone DnaK from Escherichia coli might assist protein folding by catalyzing the cis/trans isomerization of secondary amide peptide bonds in unfolded or partially folded proteins. In this study a series of fatty acylated benzamido inhibitors of the cis/trans isomerase activity of DnaK was developed and tested for antibacterial effects in E. coli MC4100 cells. Nα-[Tetradecanoyl-(4-aminomethylbenzoyl)]-l-asparagine...
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Regulation of the First Committed Step in Lipopolysaccharide Biosynthesis Catalyzed by LpxC Requires the Essential Protein LapC (YejM) and HslVU Protease
PublicationWe previously showed that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) assembly requires the essential LapB protein to regulate FtsH-mediated proteolysis of LpxC protein that catalyzes the first committed step in the LPS synthesis. To further understand the essential function of LapB and its role in LpxC turnover, multicopy suppressors of ΔlapB revealed that overproduction of HslV protease subunit prevents its lethality by proteolytic degradation...
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Cloning, expression in Komagataella phaffii, and biochemical characterization of recombinant sequence variants of Pseudomonas sp. S9 GDSL-esterase
PublicationTwo recombinant Komagataella phaffii (formerly Pichia pastoris) yeast strains for production of two sequential variants of EstS9 esterase from psychrotolerant bacterium Pseudomonas sp. S9, i.e. αEstS9N (a two-domain enzyme consisting of a catalytic domain and an autotransporter domain) and αEstS9Δ (a single-domain esterase) were constructed. However, only one of recombinant K. phaffii strains, namely Komagataella phaffii X-33/pPICZαestS9Δ,...
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c-Myc Protein Level Affected by Unsymmetrical Bisacridines Influences Apoptosis and Senescence Induced in HCT116 Colorectal and H460 Lung Cancer Cells
PublicationUnsymmetrical bisacridines (UAs) are highly active antitumor compounds. They contain in their structure the drugs previously synthesized in our Department: C-1311 and C-1748. UAs exhibit different properties than their monomer components. They do not intercalate to dsDNA but stabilize the G-quadruplex structures, particularly those of the MYC and KRAS genes. Since MYC and KRAS are often mutated and constitutively expressed in cancer...
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Immunological response of sheep to injections of plasmids encoding Toxoplasma gondii SAG1 and ROP1 genes
PublicationInfection with the intracellular protozoan parasite Toxo¬plasma gondii (T. gondii) causes health problems to both humans and livestock and has a large economic impact worldwide. The immune response in sheep following infection with T. gondii was evaluated using six different combinations of plasmid DNA, recombinant antigen and adjuvant. Sheep were generally vaccinated twice by intramuscular injection with plasmid DNA containing...
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In vitro affinity of Deinococcus radiodurans MutS towards mismatched DNA exceeds that of its orthologues from Escherichia coli and Thermus thermophilus
PublicationThe mismatch binding protein MutS is responsible for the recognition of mispaired and unpaired bases, which is the initial step in DNA repair. Among the MutS proteins most extensively studied in vitro are those derived from Thermus thermophilus, Thermus aquaticus and Escherichia coli. Here, we present the first report on the in vitro examination of DNA mismatch binding activity of MutS protein from Deinococcus radiodurans and confront...
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The bile salt content of human bile impacts on simulated intestinal proteolysis of β-lactoglobulin
PublicationThe gastrointestinal hydrolysis of food proteins has been portrayed in scientific literature to predominantly depend on the activity and specificity of proteolytic enzymes. Human bile has not been considered to facilitate proteolysis in the small intestine, but rather to assist in intestinal lipolysis. However, human bile can potentially influence proteins that are largely resistant to gastric digestion, and which are mainly hydrolysed...
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Synthesis of Trehalose by the Erythritol-Producing Yeast Yarrowia lipolytica Co-Displaying Maltooligosyltrehalose Synthase and Maltooligosyltrehalose Trehalohydrolase
PublicationIndustrial trehalose production faces economic challenges with costly enzyme preparations, prompting the exploration of eco-friendly alternatives. Here, we established a coupled functional sugar production line leveraging erythritolproducing cells as an innovative enzyme preparation for trehalose synthesis. The erythritol-producing Yarrowia lipolytica was modified to express a fusion protein consisting of maltooligosyltrehalose synthase...
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Implementing fermentation technology for comprehensive valorisation of seafood processing by-products: A critical review on recovering valuable nutrients and enhancing utilisation
PublicationFermentation technology is a biorefining tool that has been used in various industrial processes to recover valuable nutrients from different side streams. One promising application of this technique is in the reclamation of nutritional components from seafood side streams. Seafood processing generates significant amounts of waste, including heads, shells, and other side streams. These side streams contain high quantities of valued...
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How water mediates the long-range interactions between remote protein molecules
PublicationThe high crowding of macromolecules in the cytoplasm affects the processes that occur inside a living cell. It can, for example, promote the forming of various loosely connected structures of proteins. It also means that bulk water is, essentially, not present there. The relatively thin layer of solvent that separates macromolecules may be able to participate in the long-range interactions between them and make them respond to...
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The possibility of use keratin products in various branches of industry
PublicationBird's feather, the main by-product of the poultry industry, are not enough utilized and negatively influencing the environment. They contain large amount of keratin, the protein with high cystine content. The aim of our work was to obtain hydrolysates and isolates of keratin, which can be used in various areas of food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical industry and as animal feed. Keratin can be hydrolyzed and extracted from feather after...
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Keep It Flexible: Driving Macromolecular Rotary Motions in Atomistic Simulations with GROMACS
PublicationWe describe a versatile method to enforce the rotation of subsets of atoms, e.g., a protein subunit, in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In particular, we introduce a “flexible axis” technique that allows realistic flexible adaptions of both the rotary subunit as well as the local rotation axis during the simulation. A variety of useful rotation potentials were implemented for the GROMACS 4.5 MD package. Application to the...
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Boron-doped carbon nanowalls for fast and direct detection of cytochrome C and ricin by matrix-free laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry
PublicationDetecting proteins via surface assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS) method is still highly challenging, and only few examples of nanomaterials have been demonstrated to perform such detection so far. In this study, carbon nanowalls (CNWs), vertically aligned graphene sheet-based materials, presenting specific morphology, dimensions, and boron doping levels have shown improved performances for both qualitative...
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Enhanced susceptibility of SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD protein assay targeted by cellular receptors ACE2 and CD147: Multivariate data analysis of multisine impedimetric response
PublicationSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) enters the cells through the binding of spike protein to the host cell surface-expressing angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) or by endocytosis mediated by extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (CD147). We present extended statistical studies of the multisine dynamic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (DEIS) revealing interactions between Spike RBD and...
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IFI16 Impacts Metabolic Reprogramming during Human Cytomegalovirus Infection
PublicationCellular lipid metabolism plays a pivotal role in human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection, as increased lipogenesis in HCMV-infected cells favors the envelopment of newly synthesized viral particles. As all cells are equipped with restriction factors (RFs) able to exert a protective effect against invading pathogens, we asked whether a similar defense mechanism would also be in place to preserve the metabolic compartment from HCMV...
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Multicopy Suppressor Analysis of Strains Lacking Cytoplasmic Peptidyl-Prolyl cis/trans Isomerases Identifies Three New PPIase Activities in Escherichia coli That Includes the DksA Transcription Factor
PublicationConsistent with a role in catalyzing rate-limiting step of protein folding, removal of genes encoding cytoplasmic protein folding catalysts belonging to the family of peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans isomerases (PPIs) in Escherichia coli confers conditional lethality. To address the molecular basis of the essentiality of PPIs, a multicopy suppressor approach revealed that overexpression of genes encoding chaperones (DnaK/J and GroL/S),...
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Ultrasensitive electrochemical determination of the cancer biomarker protein sPD-L1 based on a BMS-8-modified gold electrode
PublicationThis work describes the modification of a gold electrode with the BMS-8 compound that interacts with the Programmed Death-Ligand 1 (PD-L1), an immune checkpoint protein. The results show that we can confirm the presence of the sPD-L1 in the concentration range of 10−18 to 10−8 M using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) with a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.87 × 10−14 M for PD-L1 (S/N = 3.3) and at a concentration of 10−14...
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Nutrients and Bioactive Components of Human Milk After one Year of Lactation. Implication for Human Milk Banks
PublicationObjective: Specifying the nutrient content and bioactive compounds in milk from long-term lactation for the purpose of finding additional sources of donors’ milk for HMBs. Method: Human milk samples were collected from 43 mothers of term infants (term infant human milk, TIHM) (3–6 weeks of lactation) and 50 mothers who have breastfed for over a year (long-nursing human milk, LNHM). The milk collection time was 24 hours. The analyses...
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A new B-D-galactosidase with a low temperature optimum isolated from the Antarctic Arthrobacter sp. 20B: gene cloning, purification and characterization.
PublicationA psychrotrophic bacterium producing a coldadaptedB-galactosidase upon growth at low temperatureswas classiWed as Arthrobacter sp. 20B. A genomic DNAlibrary of strain 20B introduced into Escherichia coliTOP10F' and screening on X-Gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-B-D-galactopyranoside)-containing agar plates ledto the isolation of B-galactosidase gene. The B-galactosidasegene (bgaS) encoding a protein of 1,053 amino acids,with a...
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A vector-enzymatic DNA fragment amplification-expression technology for construction of artificial, concatemeric DNA, RNA and proteins for novel biomaterials, biomedical and industrial applications
PublicationA DNA fragment amplification/expression technology for the production of new generation biomaterials for scientific, industrial and biomedical applications is described. The technology enables the formation of artificial Open Reading Frames (ORFs) encoding concatemeric RNAs and proteins. It recruits the Type IIS SapI restriction endonuclease (REase) for an assembling of DNA fragments in an ordered head-to-tail-orientation. The...
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Expression of a GDSL esterase from Pseudomonas sp. S9 in Pichiapastoris
PublicationCold active lipolytic enzymes are promising to replace the conventional enzymes processes of biotechnological industries. One of the most important feature of the cold-active lipases and esterases is that they offer economic benefits through energy saving. In general, they exhibit high activity at low temperatures and low thermostability at moderate temperatures. Lipolytic enzyme EstS9 was isolated from Pseudomonas sp. S9. A multiple...
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Unraveling the Interplay between DNA and Proteins: A Computational Exploration of Sequence and Structure-Specific Recognition Mechanisms
PublicationMy PhD dissertation focused on DNA-protein interactions and the recognition of specific DNA sequences and structures. I discovered that acidic amino acid residues (Asp/Glu) play a crucial role by exhibiting a preference for cytosine. Their contribution to binding affinity depends on nearby cytosines, balancing electrostatic repulsion with specific interactions. Acidic residues act as negative selectors, discouraging non-cytosine...
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Enzyme Conjugation - A Promising Tool for Bio-catalytic and Biotransformation Applications – A Review
PublicationEnzymes have revolutionized conventional industrial catalysts as more efficient, eco-friendly, and sustainable substitutes that can be used in different biotechnological processes, food, and pharmaceutical industries. Yet, the enzymes from nature are engineered to make them adapt and enhance their durability in the industrial environment. One promising approach involves the combined use of multiple enzymes that catalyze highly...
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Organic solvents aggregating and shaping structural folding of protein, a case study of the protease enzyme
PublicationLow solubility of reactants or products in aqueous solutions can result in the enzymatic catalytic reactions that can occur in non-aqueous solutions. In current study we investigated aqueous solutions containing different organic solvents / deep eutectic solvents (DESs) that can influence the protease enzyme's activity, structural, and thermal stabilities. Retroviral aspartic protease enzyme is responsible for the cleavage of the...
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Molecular mechanism and energetics of coupling between substrate binding and product release in the F 1 -ATPase catalytic cycle
PublicationF1-ATPase is a motor protein that couples the rotation of its rotary γ subunit with ATP synthesis or hydrolysis. Single-molecule experiments indicate that nucleotide binding and release events occur almost simultaneously during the synthesis cycle, allowing the energy gain due to spontaneous binding of ADP to one catalytic β subunit to be directly harnessed for driving the release of ATP from another rather than being dissipated...
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Chicken feather keratin as a source of bioactive peptides useful in prevention of metabolic disorders – in silico and in vitro hydrolysis
PublicationProtein derived bioactive peptides not only serve as nutrients but can also exert drug-like activity, e.g. antidiabetic, antihypertensive, or antimicrobial, to name a few. Most biopeptides have beneficial effects on health that make them attractive for nutraceutical applications. The majority of bioactive peptides have been obtained from food proteins, but protein-rich by-products generated by agriculture...
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Simplified AutoDock force field for hydrated binding sites
Publicationhas been extracted from the Protein Data Bank and used to test and recalibrate AutoDock force field. Since for some binding sites water molecules are crucial for bridging the receptor-ligand interactions, they have to be included in the analysis. To simplify the process of incorporating water molecules into the binding sites and make it less ambiguous, new simple water model was created. After recalibration of the force field on...
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Dehydration converts DsbG crystal diffraction from low to high resolution
PublicationDiffraction quality crystals are essential for crystallographic studies of protein structure, and the production of poorly diffracting crystals is often regarded as a dead end in the process. Here we show a dramatic improvement of poorly diffracting DsbG crystals allowing high-resolution diffraction data measurement. Before dehydration, the crystals are fragile and the diffraction pattern is streaky, extending to 10 Å resolution....
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New PCR test for detection of Candida glabrata based on the molecular target chosen by the RAPD technique
PublicationRapid, reliable diagnosis is a necessary condition for the successful treatment of infections. Such diagnostic assays are continually being developed. #e paper presents a method for selecting the molecular target for PCR-based diagnostics based on the comparison of RAPD patterns. A sequence encoding Candida glabrata CBS138 hypothetical protein was selected. The limit of detection for PCR and real-time PCR reactions with DNA extracted...
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Coarse-grained simulation - an efficient approach for studying motions of large proteins
PublicationOne of the most important challenges in performing Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations of large protein complexes is to accommodate the model accuracy and the simulation timescale. Hitherto, for the most relevant dynamics of protein aggregates in an explicit aqueous environment, the timescale reachable for the all-atoms simulations is of hundreds of nanoseconds. This range is four to six orders of magnitude smaller than processes...
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Sequence variants of p21 gene of the MRL/MpJ mouse: a possible association with the deficit of p21 protein and regenerative phenotype.
PublicationThe MRL/MpJ mouse is known for its enhanced regeneration abilities that manifested themselves by scarless ear-hole wound closure. The deficit of p21 found in the MRL is associated with the regenerative capacity as the p21 gene knockout in a mouse strain unrelated to the MRL mouse results in an ear-hole closure effect, similar to that observed in the MRL mouse. Cdkn1a gene encodes p21 protein, a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor,...
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Prediction of protein assemblies, the next frontier: The CASP14‐CAPRI experiment
PublicationWe present the results for CAPRI Round 50, the 4th joint CASP-CAPRI protein assembly prediction challenge. The Round comprised a total of 12 targets, including 6 dimers, 3 trimers, and 3 higher-order oligomers. Four of these were easy targets, for which good structural templates were available either for the full assembly, or for the main interfaces (of the higher-order oligomers). Eight were difficult targets for which only distantly...
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Modeling protein structures with the coarse-grained UNRES force field in the CASP14 experiment
PublicationThe UNited RESidue (UNRES) force field was tested in the 14th Community Wide Experiment on the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP14), in which larger oligomeric and multimeric targets were present compared to previous editions. Three prediction modes were tested (i) ab initio (the UNRES group), (ii) contact-assisted (the UNRES- contact group), and (iii) template-assisted (the UNRES-template...
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Karaś P., Kochanowicz K., Pitek M., Domański P., Obuchowski I., Tomiczek B., Liberek K.: Evolution towards simplicity in bacterial small heat shock protein system// eLife -, (2023), s.1-21
PublicationEvolution can tinker with multi-protein machines and replace them with simpler single-protein systems performing equivalent functions in an equally efficient manner. It is unclear how, on a molecular level, such simplification can arise. With ancestral reconstruction and biochemical analysis, we have traced the evolution of bacterial small heat shock proteins (sHsp), which help to refold proteins from aggregates using either...
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CYP3A4 overexpression enhances apoptosis induced by anticancer agent imidazoacridinone C-1311, but does not change the metabolism of C-1311 in CHO cells
PublicationWe examine whether CYP3A4 overexpression influences the rate and pattern of antitumor imidazoacridinone C-1311 metabolism, in relation to the impact of this overexpression on cell cycle progression and final cellular response of CHO cells following C-1311 treatment. Methods: Three CHO cell lines: CHO-WT, wild type, CHO-HR, overexpressing cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) and CHO-HR-3A4, coexpressing CPR and CYP3A4 were applied....
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Density functional theory calculations on entire proteins for free energies of binding: Application to a model polar binding site
PublicationIn drug optimization calculations, the molecular mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann surface area (MM-PBSA) method can be used to compute free energies of binding of ligands to proteins. The method involves the evaluation of the energy of configurations in an implicit solvent model. One source of errors is the force field used, which can potentially lead to large errors due to the restrictions in accuracy imposed by its empirical nature....
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Two bacterial small heat shock proteins, IbpA and IbpB, form a functional heterodimer
PublicationSmall heat shock proteins (sHsps) are a conserved class of ATP-independent chaperones which in stress conditions bind to unfolded protein substrates and prevent their irreversible aggregation. Substrates trapped in sHsps-containing aggregates are efficiently refolded into native structures by ATP-dependent Hsp70 and Hsp100 chaperones. Most γ-proteobacteria possess a single sHsp (IbpA), while in a subset of Enterobacterales, as...
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Alphitobius diaperinus larvae (lesser mealworm) as human food – An approval of the European Commission – A critical review
PublicationDue to the increasing threat of climate change and the need for sustainable food sources, human consumption of edible insects or entomophagy has gained considerable attention globally. The larvae of Alphitobius diaperinus Panzer (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), also known as the lesser mealworm, have been identified as a promising candidate for mass-rearing as a food source based the on evaluation on several aspects such as the production...
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Identification of antigen Ag43 in uropathogenic Escherichia coli Dr+ strains and defining its role in the pathogenesis of urinary tract infections
PublicationUrinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) are among the most common bacterial infectious diseases in the developed world. The urovirulence of UPEC is mainly associated with the surface-exposed fimbrial adhesins and adhesins of the autotransporter (AT) family. The best studied of theses proteins is antigen 43 (Ag43) mediating cell aggregation, adhesion and biofilm development as the causes of...
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Impact of AlphaFold on structure prediction of protein complexes: The CASP15‐CAPRI experiment
PublicationWe present the results for CAPRI Round 54, the 5th joint CASP-CAPRI protein assembly prediction challenge. The Round offered 37 targets, including 14 homodimers, 3 homo-trimers, 13 heterodimers including 3 antibody–antigen complexes, and 7 large assemblies. On average 70 CASP and CAPRI predictor groups, including more than 20 automatics servers, submitted models for each target. A total of 21 941 models submitted by these groups...
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Edible Lepidoptera as human foods – a comprehensive review
PublicationAs the global population continues to grow, traditional protein sources like meat and fish are becoming increasingly unsustainable due to their environmental impact. Edible insects, on the other hand, are highly nutritious, require minimal resources to produce, and emit significantly fewer greenhouse gases than traditional livestock. Lepidoptera, one of the most diverse insect orders, contains some popular edible species that have...
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Evolution towards simplicity in bacterial small heat shock protein system
PublicationEvolution can tinker with multi-protein machines and replace them with simpler single-protein systems performing equivalent functions in an equally efficient manner. It is unclear how, on a molecular level, such simplification can arise. With ancestral reconstruction and biochemical analysis, we have traced the evolution of bacterial small heat shock proteins (sHsp), which help to refold proteins from aggregates using either two...
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In vitro studies of polyphenols, antioxidants and other dietary indices in kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa)
PublicationOpisano wyniki badań poziomu protein oraz potencjału przeciwutleniającego w próbkach owoców kiwi, przechowywanych i dojrzewających w atmosferze etylenu ( w ciągu pierwszych 10 dni). Próbki owoców kiwi podzielono (w sposób przypadkowy) na dwie grupy:-próbki nie poddawane obróbce,-próbki poddawane obróbce (dojrzewanie w atmosferze etylenu).W próbkach oznaczano między innymi: wolne cukry, proteiny, polifenole oraz zdolność przeciwutleniającą....
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In silico design of telomerase inhibitors.
PublicationTelomerase is a reverse transcriptase enzyme involved in DNA synthesis at the end of linear chromosomes. Unlike in most other cells, telomerase is reactivated most cancerous cells and, therefore, has become a promising new anticancer target. Despite extensive research, direct telomerase inhibitors have yet not been introduced to the clinics because of the complexity of this enzyme. Structures of this protein from simple organisms...