The approach described in this paper on the prediction of folding nuclei in globular proteins with known three dimensional structures is based on a search of the lowest saddle points through the barrier separating the unfolded state from the native structure on the free-energy landscape of protein chain. This search is performed by a dynamic programming method. Comparison of theoretical results with experimental data on the folding nuclei of two dozen of proteins shows that our model provides good phi value predictions for proteins whose structures have been determined by X-ray analysis, with a less limited success for proteins whose structures have been determined by NMR techniques only. Consideration of a full ensemble of transition states results in more successful prediction than consideration of only the transition states with the minimal free energy. In conclusion we have predicted the localization of folding nuclei for three dimensional protein structures for which kinetics of folding is studied now but the localization of folding nuclei is still unknown.
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Biochem Soc Trans
January 2025
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas, 75080, USA.
Nucleosomes, the building block of chromatin, are responsible for regulating access to the DNA sequence. This control is critical for essential cellular processes, including transcription and DNA replication and repair. Studying chromatin can be challenging both in vitro and in vivo, leading many to use a mono-nucleosome system to answer fundamental questions relating to chromatin regulators and binding partners.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNucleic Acids Res
January 2025
Department of Medicine, UofL Health Brown Cancer Center, University of Louisville, Louisville KY, 505 S Hancock St, Louisville, KY 40202, United States.
Time-resolved small-angle X-ray experiments are reported here that capture and quantify a previously unknown rapid collapse of the unfolded oligonucleotide as an early step in the folding of hybrid 1 and hybrid 2 telomeric G-quadruplex structures. The rapid collapse, initiated by a pH jump, is characterized by an exponential decrease in the radius of gyration from 24.3 to 12.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: A significant proportion of individuals maintain healthy cognitive function despite having extensive Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology, known as cognitive resilience. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that protect these individuals can identify therapeutic targets for AD dementia. This study aims to define molecular and cellular signatures of cognitive resilience, protection and resistance, by integrating genetics, bulk RNA, and single-nucleus RNA sequencing data across multiple brain regions from AD, resilient, and control individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancers (Basel)
January 2025
Department of Pathology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 1X5, Canada.
Calreticulin (CRT) is a 46 kDa highly conserved protein initially identified as calregulin, a prominent Ca-binding protein of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Subsequent studies have established that CRT functions in the ER's protein folding response and Ca homeostatic mechanisms. An ER retention signal on the carboxyl terminus of CRT suggested that CRT was restricted to the ER.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNucleic Acids Res
January 2025
Laboratory of Structural and Functional Organization of Chromosomes, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 34/5 Vavilov St., 119334 Moscow, Russia.
Dictyostelium discoideum is a unicellular slime mold, developing into a multicellular fruiting body upon starvation. Development is accompanied by large-scale shifts in gene expression program, but underlying features of chromatin spatial organization remain unknown. Here, we report that the Dictyostelium 3D genome is organized into positionally conserved, largely consecutive, non-hierarchical and weakly insulated loops at the onset of multicellular development.
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