Publications by authors named "E N Poliakov"
SARS-CoV-2 has accumulated many mutations since its emergence in late 2019. Nucleotide substitutions leading to amino acid replacements constitute the primary material for natural selection. Insertions, deletions, and substitutions appear to be critical for coronavirus's macro- and microevolution.
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- The study demonstrates that SARS-CoV-2 enters ARPE-19 ocular cells primarily through caveolae-mediated endocytosis via the LDL receptor (LDLR), rather than through the ACE2 receptor as previously thought.
- Blocking cholesterol homeostasis with agents like 25-hydroxycholesterol can impede virus entry, but this effect is not due to changes in cholesterol biosynthesis or LXR receptor activation.
- Inhibition experiments with dynamin and caveolin-1 reveal their critical role in the viral entry process, while clathrin- and flotillin-dependent pathways do not seem to contribute significantly.
The visual cycle is a complex biological process that involves the sequential action of proteins in the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and photoreceptors to modify and shuttle visual retinoids. A majority of the visual cycle proteins are membrane proteins, either integral or peripheral membrane proteins. Despite significant progress in understanding their physiological function, very limited structural information is available for the visual cycle proteins.
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- RPE65 retinol isomerase is essential for vision by facilitating the visual cycle in the retina, but how it interacts with membranes remains unclear.
- Recent studies reveal that specific amino acid residues (107-125) in RPE65 can change structure upon binding to membranes, transitioning from a flexible loop to an α-helical form, especially when palmitoylated at C112.
- The α-helical structure enhances RPE65's ability to associate with membranes and perform its isomerization function, suggesting that palmitoylation plays a crucial role in its membrane recognition and binding.