Residue packing in globular and intrinsically disordered proteins.

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs)/regions do not have well-defined secondary and tertiary structures, however, they are functional and it is critical to gain a deep understanding of their residue packing. The shape distributions methodology, which is usually utilized in pattern recognition, clustering, and classification studies in computer science, may be adopted to study the residue packing of the proteins. In this study, shape distributions of the globular proteins and IDPs were obtained to shed light on the residue packing of their structures.

Analysis of a mathematical model of apoptosis: individual differences and malfunction in programmed cell death.

Apoptosis is an important area of research because of its role in keeping a mature multicellular organism's number of cells constant, hence, ensuring that the organism does not have cell accumulation that may transform into cancer with additional hallmarks. Firstly, we have carried out sensitivity analysis on an existing mathematical mitochondria-dependent apoptosis model to find out which parameters have a role in causing monostable cell survival, which may, in turn, lead to malfunction in apoptosis. We have then generated three base parameter sets that represent healthy cells.

Inflammatory modulation of hepatocyte apoptosis by nitric oxide: in vivo, in vitro, and in silico studies.

Nitric oxide (NO*) and its reaction products are key players in the physiology and pathophysiology of inflammatory settings such as sepsis and shock. The consequences of the expression of inducible NO* synthase (iNOS, NOS-2) can be either protective or damaging to the liver. We have delineated two distinct hepatoprotective actions of NO*: the stimulation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate and the inhibition of caspases by S-nitrosation.