| 1. |
- Friedman, Ran, et al.
(författare)
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Understanding Conformational Dynamics of Complex Lipid Mixtures Relevant to Biology
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Membrane Biology. - : Springer. - 0022-2631 .- 1432-1424. ; 251:5-6, s. 609-631
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- This is a perspective article entitled "Frontiers in computational biophysics: understanding conformational dynamics of complex lipid mixtures relevant to biology" which is following a CECAM meeting with the same name.
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| 2. |
- Wijma, Hein J, et al.
(författare)
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Enantioselective enzymes by computational design and in silico screening
- 2015
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Ingår i: Angewandte Chemie International Edition. - : Wiley. - 1433-7851 .- 1521-3773. ; 54:12, s. 3726-3730
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Computational enzyme design holds great promise for providing new biocatalysts for synthetic chemistry. A strategy to design small mutant libraries of complementary enantioselective epoxide hydrolase variants for the production of highly enantioenriched (S,S)-diols and (R,R)-diols is developed. Key features of this strategy (CASCO, catalytic selectivity by computational design) are the design of mutations that favor binding of the substrate in a predefined orientation, the introduction of steric hindrance to prevent unwanted substrate binding modes, and ranking of designs by high-throughput molecular dynamics simulations. Using this strategy we obtained highly stereoselective mutants of limonene epoxide hydrolase after experimental screening of only 37 variants. The results indicate that computational methods can replace a substantial amount of laboratory work when developing enantioselective enzymes.
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| 3. |
- Smeets, Cleo J. L. M., et al.
(författare)
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Altered secondary structure of Dynorphin A associates with loss of opioid signalling and NMDA-mediated excitotoxicity in SCA23
- 2016
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Ingår i: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 25:13, s. 2728-2737
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 23 (SCA23) is caused by missense mutations in prodynorphin, encoding the precursor protein for the opioid neuropeptides alpha-neoendorphin, Dynorphin (Dyn) A and Dyn B, leading to neurotoxic elevated mutant Dyn A levels. Dyn A acts on opioid receptors to reduce pain in the spinal cord, but its cerebellar function remains largely unknown. Increased concentration of or prolonged exposure to Dyn A is neurotoxic and these deleterious effects are very likely caused by an N-methyl-D-aspartate-mediated non-opioidmechanism as Dyn A peptides were shown to bind NMDA receptors and potentiate their glutamate-evoked currents. In the present study, we investigated the cellular mechanisms underlying SCA23-mutant Dyn A neurotoxicity. We show that SCA23 mutations in the Dyn A-coding region disrupted peptide secondary structure leading to a loss of the N-terminal alpha-helix associated with decreased kappa-opioid receptor affinity. Additionally, the altered secondary structure led to increased peptide stability of R6W and R9C Dyn A, as these peptides showed marked degradation resistance, which coincided with decreased peptide solubility. Notably, L5S Dyn A displayed increased degradation and no aggregation. R6W and wt Dyn A peptides were most toxic to primary cerebellar neurons. For R6W Dyn A, this is likely because of a switch from opioid to NMDA-receptor signalling, while for wt Dyn A, this switch was not observed. We propose that the pathology of SCA23 results from converging mechanisms of loss of opioid-mediated neuroprotection and NMDA-mediated excitotoxicity.
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| 4. |
- Ollila, O H Samuli, et al.
(författare)
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3D pressure field in lipid membranes and membrane-protein complexes
- 2009
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 102:7, s. 078101-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We calculate full 3D pressure fields for inhomogeneous nanoscale systems using molecular dynamics simulation data. The fields represent systems with increasing level of complexity, ranging from semivesicles and vesicles to membranes characterized by coexistence of two phases, including also a protein-membrane complex. We show that the 3D pressure field is distinctly different for curved and planar bilayers, the pressure field depends strongly on the phase of the membrane, and that an integral protein modulates the tension and elastic properties of the membrane.
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