| 1. |
- Camunas-Soler, Joan, 1984
(författare)
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Integrating single-cell transcriptomics with cellular phenotypes: cell morphology, Ca2+ imaging and electrophysiology
- 2024
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Ingår i: BIOPHYSICAL REVIEWS. - 1867-2450 .- 1867-2469. ; 16:1, s. 89-107
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- I review recent technological advancements in coupling single-cell transcriptomics with cellular phenotypes including morphology, calcium signaling, and electrophysiology. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) has revolutionized cell type classifications by capturing the transcriptional diversity of cells. A new wave of methods to integrate scRNAseq and biophysical measurements is facilitating the linkage of transcriptomic data to cellular function, which provides physiological insight into cellular states. I briefly discuss critical factors of these phenotypical characterizations such as timescales, information content, and analytical tools. Dedicated sections focus on the integration with cell morphology, calcium imaging, and electrophysiology (patch-seq), emphasizing their complementary roles. I discuss their application in elucidating cellular states, refining cell type classifications, and uncovering functional differences in cell subtypes. To illustrate the practical applications and benefits of these methods, I highlight their use in tissues with excitable cell-types such as the brain, pancreatic islets, and the retina. The potential of combining functional phenotyping with spatial transcriptomics for a detailed mapping of cell phenotypes in situ is explored. Finally, I discuss open questions and future perspectives, emphasizing the need for a shift towards broader accessibility through increased throughput.
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| 2. |
- Christiansen, Alexander, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of macromolecular crowding agents on protein folding in vitro and in silico
- 2013
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Ingår i: Biophysical Reviews. - : Springer. - 1867-2450 .- 1867-2469. ; 5:2, s. 137-145
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Proteins fold and function inside cells which are environments very different from that of dilute buffer solutions most often used in traditional experiments. The crowded milieu results in excluded-volume effects, increased bulk viscosity and amplified chances for inter-molecular interactions. These environmental factors have not been accounted for in most mechanistic studies of protein folding executed during the last decades. The question thus arises as to how these effects-present when polypeptides normally fold in vivo-modulate protein biophysics. To address excluded volume effects, we use synthetic macromolecular crowding agents, which take up significant volume but do not interact with proteins, in combination with strategically selected proteins and a range of equilibrium and time-resolved biophysical (spectroscopic and computational) methods. In this review, we describe key observations on macromolecular crowding effects on protein stability, folding and structure drawn from combined in vitro and in silico studies. As expected based on Minton's early predictions, many proteins (apoflavodoxin, VlsE, cytochrome c, and S16) became more thermodynamically stable (magnitude depends inversely on protein stability in buffer) and, unexpectedly, for apoflavodoxin and VlsE, the folded states changed both secondary structure content and, for VlsE, overall shape in the presence of macromolecular crowding. For apoflavodoxin and cytochrome c, which have complex kinetic folding mechanisms, excluded volume effects made the folding energy landscapes smoother (i. e., less misfolding and/or kinetic heterogeneity) than in buffer.
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| 3. |
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| 5. |
- dos Remedios, C. G., et al.
(författare)
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The Sydney Heart Bank : improving translational research while eliminating or reducing the use of animal models of human heart disease
- 2017
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Ingår i: Biophysical Reviews. - : Springer Nature. - 1867-2450 .- 1867-2469. ; 9:4, s. 431-441
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Sydney Heart Bank (SHB) is one of the largest human heart tissue banks in existence. Its mission is to provide high-quality human heart tissue for research into the molecular basis of human heart failure by working collaboratively with experts in this field. We argue that, by comparing tissues from failing human hearts with age-matched non-failing healthy donor hearts, the results will be more relevant than research using animal models, particularly if their physiology is very different from humans. Tissue from heart surgery must generally be used soon after collection or it significantly deteriorates. Freezing is an option but it raises concerns that freezing causes substantial damage at the cellular and molecular level. The SHB contains failing samples from heart transplant patients and others who provided informed consent for the use of their tissue for research. All samples are cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen within 40 min of their removal from the patient, and in less than 5–10 min in the case of coronary arteries and left ventricle samples. To date, the SHB has collected tissue from about 450 failing hearts (>15,000 samples) from patients with a wide range of etiologies as well as increasing numbers of cardiomyectomy samples from patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The Bank also has hearts from over 120 healthy organ donors whose hearts, for a variety of reasons (mainly tissue-type incompatibility with waiting heart transplant recipients), could not be used for transplantation. Donor hearts were collected by the St Vincent’s Hospital Heart and Lung transplantation team from local hospitals or within a 4-h jet flight from Sydney. They were flushed with chilled cardioplegic solution and transported to Sydney where they were quickly cryopreserved in small samples. Failing and/or donor samples have been used by more than 60 research teams around the world, and have resulted in more than 100 research papers. The tissues most commonly requested are from donor left ventricles, but right ventricles, atria, interventricular system, and coronary arteries vessels have also been reported. All tissues are stored for long-term use in liquid N or vapor (170–180 °C), and are shipped under nitrogen vapor to avoid degradation of sensitive molecules such as RNAs and giant proteins. We present evidence that the availability of these human heart samples has contributed to a reduction in the use of animal models of human heart failure.
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| 6. |
- Estigoy, Colleen, et al.
(författare)
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Intercalated discs : multiple proteins perform multiple functions in non-failing and failing human hearts
- 2009
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Ingår i: Biophysical Reviews. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1867-2469 .- 1867-2450. ; 1:1, s. 43-49
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The intercalated disc (ICD) occupies a central position in the transmission of force, electrical continuity and chemical communication between cardiomyocytes. Changes in its structure and composition are strongly implicated in heart failure. ICD functions include: maintenance of electrical continuity across the ICD; physical links between membranes and the cytoskeleton; intercellular adhesion; maintenance of ICD structure and function; and growth. About 200 known proteins are associated with ICDs, 40% of which change in disease. We systemically reviewed cardiac immunohistochemical data on the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) web site, ExPASy protein binding data and published papers on ICDs. We identified 43 proteins not previously reported, and confirmed 37 proteins that have previously been described. In addition, 102 proteins not present on the HPA web site but were described in ICDs in the literature. We group these into clusters that demonstrate functionally interactive groups of proteins demonstrating that ICDs play a key role in cardiomyocyte function.
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| 7. |
- Haftbaradaran Esfahani, P, et al.
(författare)
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Cell shape: effects on gene expression and signaling
- 2020
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Ingår i: Biophysical reviews. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1867-2450 .- 1867-2469. ; 12:4, s. 895-901
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The perception of biophysical forces (mechanosensation) and their conversion into chemical signals (mechanotransduction) are fundamental biological processes. They are connected to hypertrophic and atrophic cellular responses, and defects in these processes have been linked to various diseases, especially in the cardiovascular system. Although cardiomyocytes generate, and are exposed to, considerable hemodynamic forces that affect their shapes, until recently, we did not know whether cell shape affects gene expression. However, new single-cell trapping strategies, followed by single-cell RNA sequencing, to profile the transcriptomes of individual cardiomyocytes of defined geometrical morphotypes have been developed that are characteristic for either normal or pathological (afterload or preload) conditions. This paper reviews the recent literature with regard to cell shape and the transcriptome and provides an overview of this newly emerging field, which has far-reaching implications for both biology, disease, and possibly therapy.
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| 8. |
- Li, Chun-Biu, et al.
(författare)
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Efficiencies of Molecular Motor : A Comprehensible Overview
- 2020
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Ingår i: Biophysical Reviews. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1867-2450 .- 1867-2469. ; 12, s. 419-423
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many biological molecular motors can operate specifically and robustly at the highly fluctuating nano-scale. How these molecules achieve such remarkable functions is an intriguing question that requires various notions and quantifications of efficiency associated with the operations and energy transduction of these nano-machines. Here we give a short review of some important concepts of motor efficiencies, including the thermodynamic, Stokes, and generalized and transport efficiencies, as well as some implications provided by the thermodynamic uncertainty relations recently developed in nonequilibrium physics.
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| 9. |
- Linke, Heiner, et al.
(författare)
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Synthetic biology approaches to dissecting linear motor protein function : towards the design and synthesis of artificial autonomous protein walkers
- 2020
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Ingår i: Biophysical Reviews. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1867-2450 .- 1867-2469. ; 12:4, s. 1041-1054
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Molecular motors and machines are essential for all cellular processes that together enable life. Built from proteins with a wide range of properties, functionalities and performance characteristics, biological motors perform complex tasks and can transduce chemical energy into mechanical work more efficiently than human-made combustion engines. Sophisticated studies of biological protein motors have provided many structural and biophysical insights and enabled the development of models for motor function. However, from the study of highly evolved, biological motors, it remains difficult to discern detailed mechanisms, for example, about the relative role of different force generation mechanisms, or how information is communicated across a protein to achieve the necessary coordination. A promising, complementary approach to answering these questions is to build synthetic protein motors from the bottom up. Indeed, much effort has been invested in functional protein design, but so far, the “holy grail” of designing and building a functional synthetic protein motor has not been realized. Here, we review the progress made to date, and we put forward a roadmap for achieving the aim of constructing the first artificial, autonomously running protein motor. Specifically, we propose to break down the task into (i) enzymatic control of track binding, (ii) the engineering of asymmetry and (iii) the engineering of allosteric control for internal communication. We also propose specific approaches for solving each of these challenges.
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| 10. |
- Linse, Sara
(författare)
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Monomer-dependent secondary nucleation in amyloid formation
- 2017
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Ingår i: Biophysical Reviews. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1867-2450 .- 1867-2469. ; 9:4, s. 329-338
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Secondary nucleation of monomers on the surface of an already existing aggregate that is formed from the same kind of monomers may lead to autocatalytic amplification of a self-assembly process. Such monomer-dependent secondary nucleation occurs during the crystallization of small molecules or proteins and self-assembled materials, as well as in protein self-assembly into fibrous structures. Indications of secondary nucleation may come from analyses of kinetic experiments starting from pure monomers or monomers supplemented with a low concentration of pre-formed aggregates (seeds). More firm evidence requires additional experiments, for example those employing isotope labels to distinguish new aggregates arising from the monomer from those resulting from fragmentation of the seed. In cases of amyloid formation, secondary nucleation leads to the formation of toxic oligomers, and inhibitors of secondary nucleation may serve as starting points for therapeutic developments. Secondary nucleation displays a high degree of structural specificity and may be enhanced by mutations or screening of electrostatic repulsion.
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