Structural adaptations of octaheme nitrite reductases from haloalkaliphilic Thioalkalivibrio bacteria to alkaline pH and high salinity.

Bacteria Tv. nitratireducens and Tv. paradoxus from soda lakes grow optimally in sodium carbonate/NaCl brines at pH range from 9.

Human EGF-derived direct and reverse short linear motifs: conformational dynamics insight into the receptor-binding residues.

Short linear motifs (SLiMs) have been recognized to perform diverse functions in a variety of regulatory proteins through the involvement in protein-protein interactions, signal transduction, cell cycle regulation, protein secretion, etc. However, detailed molecular mechanisms underlying their functions including roles of definite amino acid residues remain obscure. In our previous studies, we demonstrated that conformational dynamics of amino acid residues in oligopeptides derived from regulatory proteins such as alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA), and pregnancy specific β1-glycoproteins (PSGs) contributes greatly to their biological activities.

Intramolecular hydrogen bonding in the polyextremophilic short-chain dehydrogenase from the archaeon Thermococcus sibiricus and its close structural homologs.

The short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase from the archaeon Thermococcus sibiricus (TsAdh319) exhibits adaptation to different kinds of stress: high temperature, high salinity, and the presence of organic solvents and denaturants. Previously a comparison of TsAdh319 with close structural homologs revealed an abnormally large number of charged residues on the surface of TsAdh319 tetramer. We further focused on the analysis of hydrogen bonding of TsAdh319 and its structural homologs from thermophilic and mesophilic organisms as a structural factor of adaptation to extreme environment.

Interaction of zervamicin IIB with lipid bilayers. Molecular dynamics study.

In this work we have studied the interaction of zervamicin IIB (ZrvIIB) with the model membranes of eukaryotes and prokaryotes using all-atom molecular dynamics. In all our simulations zervamicin molecule interacted only with lipid headgroups but did not penetrate the hydrophobic core of the bilayers. During the interaction with the prokaryotic membrane zervamicin placed by its N-termini towards the lipids and rotated at an angle of 40° relatively to the bilayer surface.