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Search results for: ab initio molecular dynamics
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Ipertrofan Revisited—The Proposal of the Complete Stereochemistry of Mepartricin A and B
PublicationBeing a methyl ester of partricin, the mepartricin complex is the active substance of a drug called Ipertrofan (Tricandil), which was proven to be useful in treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and chronic nonbacterial prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Nevertheless, no direct structural evidence on the stereochemistry of its components has been presented to date. In this contribution, we have conducted detailed, NMR-driven...
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Structural, functional, and stability change predictions in human telomerase upon specific point mutations,
PublicationOverexpression of telomerase is one of the hallmarks of human cancer. Telomerase is important for maintaining the integrity of the ends of chromosomes, which are called telomeres. A growing number of human disease syndromes are associated with organ failure caused by mutations in telomerase (hTERT or hTR). Mutations in telomerase lead to telomere shortening by decreasing the stability of the telomerase complex, reducing its accumulation,...
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Central-force decomposition of spline-based modified embedded atom method potential
PublicationCentral-force decompositions are fundamental to the calculation of stress fields in atomic systems by means of Hardy stress. We derive expressions for a central-force decomposition of the spline-based modified embedded atom method (s-MEAM) potential. The expressions are subsequently simplified to a form that can be readily used in molecular-dynamics simulations, enabling the calculation of the spatial distribution of stress in...
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Mechanochemical Energy Transduction during the Main Rotary Step in the Synthesis Cycle of F1-ATPase
PublicationF1-ATPase is a highly efficient molecular motor that can synthesize ATP driven by a mechanical torque. Its ability to function reversibly in either direction requires tight mechanochemical coupling between the catalytic domain and the rotating central shaft, as well as temporal control of substrate binding and product release. Despite great efforts and significant progress, the molecular details of this synchronized and fine-tuned...
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Hyaluronan-Chondroitin Sulfate Anomalous Crosslinking Due to Temperature Changes
PublicationGlycosaminoglycans are a wide class of biopolymers showing great lubricating properties due to their structure and high affinity to water. Two of them, hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate, play an important role in articular cartilage lubrication. In this work, we present results of the all-atom molecular dynamics simulations of both molecules placed in water-based solution. To mimic changes of the physiological conditions,...
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Entropy of water calculated from harmonic approximation: estimation of the accuracy of method
PublicationSome molecular dynamics simulations were performed for liquid TIP4P and SPC water at a constant density (1.00 g/cm(3)) and within the temperature range of 5-90 degrees C. By using harmonic approximation, both the entropy of water S-H and the specific heat c(v) were calculated, and the results were compared to literature data. It was found that harmonic approximation overestimates absolute entropy of TIP4P water by 5.6 J/mol K (similar...
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Comparative molecular modelling of biologically active sterols
PublicationMembrane sterols are targets for a clinically important antifungal agent – amphotericin B. The relatively specific antifungal action of the drug is based on a stronger interaction of amphotericin B with fungal ergosterol than with mammalian cholesterol. Conformational space occupied by six sterols has been defined using the molecular dynamics method to establish if the conformational features correspond to the preferential interaction...
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Interactions of telomeric proteins with nucleic acids: sequence recognition on intact and oxidatively damaged telomeres
PublicationTelomeres are complex nucleoprotein assemblies that play a vital role in the maintenance of functional ends of linear chromosomes. Telomeric DNA, composed of tandem repeats of the 5'-TTAGGG-3' motif, solves the so-called end replication problem: as chromosomes shorten with each cell division, no information is lost, and the telomere can be re-extended. In the cell, many protein factors regulate telomere length, nuclear positioning...
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Molecular basis and quantitative assessment of TRF1 and TRF2 protein interactions with TIN2 and Apollo peptides
PublicationShelterin is a six-protein complex (TRF1, TRF2, POT1, RAP1, TIN2, and TPP1) that also functions in smaller subsets in regulation and protection of human telomeres. Two closely related proteins, TRF1 and TRF2, make high-affinity contact directly with double-stranded telomeric DNA and serve as a molecular platform. Protein TIN2 binds to TRF1 and TRF2 dimer-forming domains, whereas Apollo makes interaction only with TRF2. To elucidate...
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Molecular Recognition in Complexes of TRF Proteins with Telomeric DNA
PublicationTelomeres are specialized nucleoprotein assemblies that protect the ends of linear chromosomes. In humans and many other species, telomeres consist of tandem TTAGGG repeats bound by a protein complex known as shelterin that remodels telomeric DNA into a protective loop structure and regulates telomere homeostasis. Shelterin recognizes telomeric repeats through its two major components known as Telomere Repeat-Binding Factors, TRF1...
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Water-mediated long-range interactions between the internal vibrations of remote proteins
PublicationIt is generally acknowledged that the mobility of protein atoms and the mobility of water molecules in the solvation layer are connected. In this article, we answer the question whether a similar interdependence exists between the motions of atoms of proteins separated by the hydration layers of variable thickness. The system consisted of a kinesin catalytic domain and a tubulin dimer. It was studied using molecular dynamics simulations....
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Folding‐upon‐repair DNA nanoswitches for monitoring DNA repair enzymes activity
PublicationWe demonstrate here a new class of DNA‐based nanoswitches that, upon enzymatic repair, could undergo a conformational change mechanism leading to a change in fluorescent signal. Such folding‐upon‐repair DNA nanoswitches are synthetic DNA sequences containing O6‐methyl‐guanine (O6‐MeG) nucleobases and labelled with a fluorophore/quencher optical pair. The nanoswitches are rationally designed so that only upon enzymatic demethylation...
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Dominant Pathways of Adenosyl Radical-Induced DNA Damage Revealed by QM/MM Metadynamics
PublicationBrominated nucleobases sensitize double stranded DNA to hydrated electrons, one of the dominant genotoxic species produced in hypoxic cancer cells during radiotherapy. Such radiosensitizers can therefore be administered locally to enhance treatment efficiency within the solid tumor while protecting the neighboring tissue. When a solvated electron attaches to 8-bromoadenosine, a potential sensitizer, the dissociation of bromide...
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Enhancing colloidal stability of nanodiamond via surface modification with dendritic molecules for optical sensing in physiological environments
PublicationPre-treatment of diamond surface in low-temperature plasma for oxygenation and in acids for carboxylation was hypothesized to promote the branching density of the hyperbranched glycidol polymer. This was expected to increase the homogeneity of the branching level and suppress interactions with proteins. As a result, composite nanodiamonds with reduced hydrodynamic diameters that are maintained in physiological environments were...
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Long-range, water-mediated interaction between a moderately active antifreeze protein molecule and the surface of ice
PublicationUsing molecular dynamics simulations, we show that a molecule of moderately active antifreeze protein (type III AFP, QAE HPLC-12 isoform) is able to interact with ice in an indirect manner. This interaction occurs between the ice binding site (IBS) of the AFP III molecule and the surface of ice, and it is mediated by liquid water which separates these surfaces. As a result, the AFP III molecule positions itself at a specific orientation...
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Non-ergodic fragmentation upon collision-induced activation of cysteine–water cluster cations
PublicationCysteine–water cluster cations Cys(H2O)3,6 + and Cys(H2O)3,6H+ are assembled in He droplets and probed by tandem mass spectrometry with collision-induced activation. Benchmark experimental data for this biologically important system are complemented with theory to elucidate the details of the collisioninduced activation process. Experimental energy thresholds for successive release of water are compared to water dissociation energies...
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Specific Binding of Cholesterol to the Amyloid Precursor Protein: Structure of the Complex and Driving Forces Characterized in Molecular Detail
PublicationC99 is the C-terminal membrane-bound fragment of the amyloid precursor protein that is cleaved by γ-secretase to release Aβ peptides, the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Specific interactions of C99 with cholesterol have been proposed to underlie the recognized role of cholesterol in promoting amyloidogenesis. By using molecular dynamics simulations, we studied cholesterol binding to C99 in a lipid bilayer. We determined...
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Structural and dynamic properties of water within the solvation layer around various conformations of the glycine-based polypeptide
PublicationSeveral conformations of the solvated glycine-based polypeptides were investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. Some properties of water in the neighbouring space around these molecules were investigated. It was found, that water forms a well-defined layer - the first solvation shell - around the peptide molecule, and thickness of this layer is independent of the peptide structure, and it equals to approximately 0.28 nm....
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Establishing the allosteric mechanism in CRISPR‐Cas9
PublicationAllostery is a fundamental property of proteins, which regulates biochemical information transfer between spatially distant sites. Here, we report on the critical role of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in discovering the mechanism of allosteric communication within CRISPR‐Cas9, a leading genome editing machinery with enormous promises for medicine and biotechnology. MD revealed how allostery intervenes during at least three...
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Targeting Spike‐ACE2 Interface of SARS‐CoV‐2 and its Omicron Variant: A Comparative Screening of Potential Inhibitors for Existing and Anticipating Variants Using Molecular Modelling Approach
PublicationThe recent COVID pandemic has shown major impact on public health and economic crisis. Despite the development of many vaccines and drugs against the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus 2, the pandemic still persists. The continued spread of the virus is largely driven by the emergence of viral variants such as α, β, γ, delta, epsilon spike, omicron and its subvariants (BA.1,2,3) which can evade the current vaccines...
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Hydration of Simple Model Peptides in Aqueous Osmolyte Solutions
PublicationThe biology and chemistry of proteins and peptides are inextricably linked with water as the solvent. The reason for the high stability of some proteins or uncontrolled aggregation of others may be hidden in the properties of their hydration water. In this study, we investigated the effect of stabilizing osmolyte–TMAO (trimethylamine N-oxide) and destabilizing osmolyte–urea on hydration shells of two short peptides, NAGMA (N-acetyl-glycine-methylamide)...
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A novel hierarchically-porous diamondized polyacrylonitrile sponge-like electrodes for acetaminophen electrochemical detection
PublicationA novel composite electrode material consisting of tangled fibrous polyacrylonitrile-based hierarchically-struc- tured nanocomposites has been produced by wet-spinning, carbonized and decorated with a carbon nano- architecture by microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and investigated as a metal-free electrode for the enhanced electrochemical detection of acetaminophen. Surprisingly, the hierarchical fiber ar- chitecture...
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A coarse‐grained approach to NMR ‐data‐assisted modeling of protein structures
PublicationThe ESCASA algorithm for analytical estimation of proton positions from coarse-grained geometry developed in our recent work has been implemented in modeling protein structures with the highly coarse-grained UNRES model of polypeptide chains (two sites per residue) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data. A penalty function with the shape of intersecting gorges was applied to treat ambiguous distance restraints, which automatically...
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Refined theoretical study of radiative association: Cross sections and rate constants for the formation of SiN
PublicationRadiative association of silicon mononitride (SiN) in its two lowest molecular electronic states is studied through quantum and classical dynamics. Special attention is paid to the behavior of the cross section at high collision energies. A modified expression for the semiclassical cross section is presented which excludes transitions to continuum states. This gives improved agreement with quantum mechanical perturbation theory...
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Anharmonic Infrared Spectroscopy through the Fourier Transform of Time Correlation Function Formalism in ONETEP
PublicationDensity functional theory molecular dynamics (DFT-MD) provides an efficient framework for accurately computing several types of spectra. The major benefit of DFTMD approaches lies in the ability to naturally take into account the effects of temperature and anharmonicity, without having to introduce any ad hoc or a posteriori corrections. Consequently, computational spectroscopy based on DFT-MD approaches plays a pivotal role in...
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Study of Icosahedral Clusters in Close-packed Simple Liquids
PublicationThe local structure of liquid copper was determined using Steinhardt order parameters, with particular attention paid to icosahedral clusters. The positions of atoms were obtained from three sets of molecular dynamics simulations, with the forces obtained from: the Sutton-Chen (SC) potential, the Naval Research Laboratory total energy tight-binding (NRL-TB) method and the divide-and-conquer learn-on-the-fly (DCLOTF) method, respectively....
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Why is TASK Quarterly a Significant Journal to Publish Your Article? —A Bibliometric Analysis of a Scientific and Technical Journal
PublicationA bibliometric analysis of TASK Quarterly in the years 1997-2021 in terms of various bibliometric indicators was performed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the publication of the first issue of the journal. The number of publications and citations increased over the mentioned span of years. The leading countries in terms of the greatest number of papers published in TASK Quarterly are Poland, Italy, Germany, Ukraine, USA and...
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Highly Conserved Homotrimer Cavity Formed by the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein: A Novel Binding Site
PublicationAn important stage in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) life cycle is the binding of the spike (S) protein to the angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) host cell receptor. Therefore, to explore conserved features in spike protein dynamics and to identify potentially novel regions for drugging, we measured spike protein variability derived from 791 viral genomes and studied its properties by molecular...
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Structural and Dynamic Properties of Water within the Solvation Layer around Various Conformations of the Glycine-based Polypeptide
PublicationSeveral conformations of the solvated glycine-based polypeptides were investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. Some properties of water in the neighboring space around these molecules were investigated. It was found that water forms a well-defined layer—the first solvation shell—around the peptide molecule, and thickness of this layer is independent of the peptide structure and is equal to approximately 0.28 nm. Within...
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Hybrid quantum-classical approach for atomistic simulation of metallic systems
PublicationThe learn-on-the-fly (LOTF) method [G. Csanyi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 175503 (2004)] serves to seamlessly embed quantum-mechanical computations within a molecular-dynamics framework by continual local retuning of the potential's parameters so that it reproduces the quantum-mechanical forces. In its current formulation, it is suitable for systems where the interaction is short-ranged, such as covalently bonded semiconductors....
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Role of cholesterol in substrate recognition by -secretase
Publication-Secretase is an enzyme known to cleave multiple substrates within their transmembrane domains, with the amyloid precursor protein of Alzheimer’s Disease among the most prominent examples. The activity of -secretase strictly depends on the membrane cholesterol content, yet the mechanistic role of cholesterol in the substrate binding and cleavage remains unclear. In this work, we used all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to examine...
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Theoretical studies of fragmentation processes of neutral and ionized furan molecule
PublicationThis PhD thesis focuses on the fragmentation mechanism of the furan molecule in the gas phase. The approach taken in this work comprised of three theoretical methodologies considering the dynamical, energetical and entropic aspects of the studied process. First, molecular dynamics simulations were performed. Next, the potential energy surfaces were explored at the DFT/B3LYP level of theory. Finally, a new statistical Microcanonical...
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Optimization of parallel implementation of UNRES package for coarse‐grained simulations to treat large proteins
PublicationWe report major algorithmic improvements of the UNRES package for physics-based coarse-grained simulations of proteins. These include (i) introduction of interaction lists to optimize computations, (ii) transforming the inertia matrix to a pentadiagonal form to reduce computing and memory requirements, (iii) removing explicit angles and dihedral angles from energy expressions and recoding the most time-consuming energy/force terms...
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Thermophysical study of the binary mixtures of triethyl phosphate with N-methylformamide, N,N-dimethylformamide and N,N-dimethylacetamide – Experimental and theoretical approach
PublicationDensities at (293.15, 298.15, 303.15 and 308.15) K, and viscosities and ultrasonic velocities at 298.15 K of binary liquid mixtures of triethyl phosphate with N-methylformamide, N,N-dimethylformamide and N,N-dimethylacetamide have been measured over the entire range of composition at p = 0.1 MPa. From the experimental data, values of excess molar volume, excess isentropic compressibility, viscosity deviation and excess Gibbs energy...
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The ONETEP linear-scaling density functional theory program
PublicationWe present an overview of the ONETEP program for linear-scaling density functional theory (DFT) calculations with large basis set (planewave) accuracy on parallel computers. The DFT energy is computed from the density matrix, which is constructed from spatially localized orbitals we call Non-orthogonal Generalized Wannier Functions (NGWFs), expressed in terms of periodic sinc (psinc) functions. During the calculation, both the...
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Unveiling the electron-induced ionization cross sections and fragmentation mechanisms of 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran
PublicationThe interactions of electrons with molecular systems under various conditions are essential to interdisciplinary research fields extending over the fundamental and applied sciences. In particular, investigating electron-induced ionization and dissociation of molecules may shed light on the radiation damage to living cells, the physicochemical processes in interstellar environments, and reaction mechanisms occurring in combustion...
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Utilizing pulse dynamics for non-invasive Raman spectroscopy of blood analytes
PublicationNon-invasive measurement methods offer great benefits in the field of medical diagnostics with molecular-specific techniques such as Raman spectroscopy which is increasingly being used for quantitative measurements of tissue biochemistry in vivo. However, some important challenges still remain for label-free optical spectroscopy to be incorporated into the clinical laboratory for routine testing. In particular, non-analyte-specific...
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Closer look into the structures of tetrabutylammonium bromide–glycerol-based deep eutectic solvents and their mixtures with water
PublicationIn recent years, deep eutectic solvents (DES) and it’s mixture with water have become more and more attention as green solvents used in chemistry. However, there are only a few theoretical studies on the mechanisms of pure DES and DES-water complex formation. Therefore, the structural properties of tetrabutylammonium bromide–glycerol-based deep eutectic solvents and their mixtures with water have been investigated by means of Molecular...
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ESCASA : Analytical estimation of atomic coordinates from coarse‐grained geometry for nuclear‐magnetic‐resonance ‐assisted protein structure modeling. I. Backbone and Hβ protons
PublicationA method for the estimation of coordinates of atoms in proteins from coarse-grained geometry by simple analytical formulas (ESCASA), for use in nuclear-magnetic-resonance (NMR) data-assisted coarse-grained simulations of proteins is proposed. In this paper, the formulas for the backbone Hα and amide (HN) protons, and the side-chain Hβ protons, given the Cα-trace, have been derived and parameterized, by using the interproton distances...
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Guanosine Dianions Hydrated by One to Four Water Molecules
PublicationIntermolecular interactions such as those present in molecule···water complexes may profoundly influence the physicochemical properties of molecules. Here, we carried out an experimental–computational study on doubly deprotonated guanosine monophosphate···water clusters, [dGMP – 2H]2–·nH2O (n = 1–4), using a combination of negative anion photoelectron spectroscopy (NIPES) with molecular dynamics (MD) and quantum chemical (QM) calculations....
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Performance of electrochemical immunoassays for clinical diagnostics of SARS-CoV-2 based on selective nucleocapsid N protein detection: Boron-doped diamond, gold and glassy carbon evaluation
PublicationThe 21st century has already brought us a plethora of new threats related to viruses that emerge in humans after zoonotic transmission or drastically change their geographic distribution or prevalence. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first spotted at the end of 2019 to rapidly spread in southwest Asia and later cause a global pandemic, which paralyzes the world since then. We have designed novel...
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Membrane Sterols Modulate the Binding Mode of Amphotericin B without Affecting Its Affinity for a Lipid Bilayer
PublicationMembrane-active antibiotics are known to selectively target certain pathogens based on cell membrane properties, such as fluidity, lipid ordering, and phase behavior. These are in turn modulated by the composition of a lipid bilayer and in particular by the presence and type of membrane sterols. Amphotericin B (AmB), the golden standard of antifungal treatment, exhibits higher activity toward ergosterol-rich fungal membranes, which...
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Molecular hydrogen solvated in water – A computational study
PublicationThe aqueous hydrogen molecule is studied with molecular dynamics simulations at ambient temperature and pressure conditions, using a newly developed flexible and polarizable H2 molecule model. The design and implementation of this model, compatible with an existing flexible and polarizable force field for water, is presented in detail. The structure of the hydration layer suggests that first-shell water molecules accommodate the...
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Computational Study of Molecular Interactions in ZnCl2(urea)2 Crystals as Precursors for Deep Eutectic Solvents
PublicationDeep eutectic solvents (DESs) are now enjoying an increased scientific interest due to their interesting properties and growing range of possible applications. Computational methods are at the forefront of deciphering their structure and dynamics. Type IV DESs, composed of metal chloride and a hydrogen bond donor, are among the less studied systems when it comes to their understanding at a molecular level. An important example...
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Telomere uncapping by common oxidative guanine lesions: Insights from atomistic models
PublicationOxidative damage to DNA is widely known to contribute to aging and disease. This relationship has been extensively studied for telomeres – structures that cap chromosome ends – due to their role in cell proliferation and senescence, and exceptional susceptibility to oxidation. Indeed, the repetitive telomeric DNA sequence contains the 5′-GGG-3′ motif that has the lowest ionization potential of all trinucleotides. Accordingly, experiments...
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Deep eutectic solvents – Ideal solution for clean air or hidden danger?
PublicationThe industrial sector is one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gases, due to its excessive energy consumption to meet the rapidly growing demand for energy-intensive products. The use of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) has been studied extensively in order to cope with these harmful gases, but their usage can be an issue in respect to ecological reasons. Do deep eutectic solvents harm the atmosphere? Yes, these solvents...
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Autocorrelation function for the chosen effective potential of the diatomic silver anion
Open Research DataThe process of a two-channel decay of the diatomic silver anion (Ag2-), namely the spontaneous electron ejection giving Ag2 + e- and the dissociation leading to Ag- + Ag is theoretically studied. The ground state potential energy curves (PECs) of the neutral silver dimer and anionic silver diatomic molecule are calculated using the single reference...
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Non-adiabatic coupling elements between the diatomic silver anion and neutral silver dimer plus continuum electron
Open Research DataThe process of a two-channel decay of the diatomic silver anion (Ag2-), namely the spontaneous electron ejection giving Ag2 + e- and the dissociation leading to Ag- + Ag is theoretically studied. The ground state potential energy curves (PECs) of the neutral silver dimer and anionic silver diatomic molecule are calculated using the single reference...
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Extracting functional groups of ALLINI to design derivatives of FDA‐approved drugs: Inhibition of HIV‐1 integrase
PublicationHIV‐1 integrase (IN) is crucial for integration of viral DNA into the host genome and a promising target in development of antiretroviral inhibitors. In this work, six new compounds were designed by linking the structures of two different class of HIV‐1 IN inhibitors (active site binders and allosteric IN inhibitors (ALLINIs)). Among newly designed compounds, INRAT10b was found most potent HIV‐1 IN inhibitor considering different...
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Thermodynamics and kinetics of amphotericin B self-association in aqueous solution characterized in molecular detail
PublicationAmphotericin B (AmB) is a potent but toxic drug commonly used to treat systemic mycoses. Its efficiency as a therapeutic agent depends on its ability to discriminate between mammalian and fungal cell membranes. The association of AmB monomers in an aqueous environment plays an important role in drug selectivity, as oligomers formed prior to membrane insertion – presumably dimers – are believed to act differently on fungal (ergosterol-rich)...