| 1. |
- Aguiló, Francesca, et al.
(författare)
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Transcriptional regulation of the human acetoacetyl-CoA synthetase gene by PPARgamma.
- 2010
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Ingår i: Biochemical Journal. - 0264-6021 .- 1470-8728. ; 427:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the cytosol of lipogenic tissue, ketone bodies are activated by AACS (acetoacetyl-CoA synthetase) and incorporated into cholesterol and fatty acids. AACS gene expression is particularly abundant in white adipose tissue, as it is induced during adipocyte differentiation. In order to elucidate the mechanism controlling the gene expression of human AACS and to clarify its physiological role, we isolated the human promoter, characterized the elements required to initiate transcription and analysed the expression of the gene in response to PPARgamma (peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor gamma), an inducer of adipogenesis. We show that the human AACS promoter is a PPARgamma target gene and that this nuclear receptor is recruited to the AACS promoter by direct interaction with Sp1 (stimulating protein-1).
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| 2. |
- Birkholtz, Lyn-Marie, et al.
(författare)
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Polyamine homoeostasis as a drug target in pathogenic protozoa: peculiarities and possibilities
- 2011
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Ingår i: Biochemical Journal. - London : The Biochemical Society. - 0264-6021 .- 1470-8728. ; 438, s. 229-244
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- New drugs are urgently needed for the treatment of tropical and subtropical parasitic diseases, such as African sleeping sickness. Chagas' disease, leishmaniasis and malaria. Enzymes in polyamine biosynthesis and thiol metabolism, as well as polyamine transporters, are potential drug targets within these organisms. In the present review, the current knowledge of unique properties of polyamine metabolism in these parasites is outlined. These properties include prozyme regulation of AdoMetDC (S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase) activity in trypanosomatids, co-expression of ODC (ornithine decarboxylase) and AdoMetDC activities in a single protein in plasmodia, and formation of trypanothione, a unique compound linking polyamine and thiol metabolism in trypanosomatids. Particularly interesting features within polyamine metabolism in these parasites are highlighted for their potential in selective therapeutic strategies.
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| 3. |
- Birve, Simon, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Secondary structure of NADPH : protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase examined by circular dichroism and prediction methods
- 1996
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Ingår i: Biochemical Journal. - 0264-6021 .- 1470-8728. ; 317:2, s. 549-555
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To study the secondary structure of the enzyme NADPH:protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (PCOR), a novel method of enzyme isolation was developed. The detergent isotridecyl poly(ethylene glycol) ether (Genapol X-080) selectively solubilizes the enzyme from a prolamellar-body fraction isolated from wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The solubilized fraction was further purified by ion-exchange chromatography. The isolated enzyme was studied by fluorescence spectroscopy at 77 K, and by CD spectroscopy. The fluorescence-emission spectra revealed that the binding properties of the substrate and co-substrate were preserved and that photo-reduction occurred. The CD spectra of PCOR were analysed for the relative amounts of the secondary structures, alpha-helix, beta-sheet, turn and random coil. The secondary structure composition was estimated to be 33% alpha-helix, 19% beta-sheet, 20% turn and 28% random coil. These values are in agreement with those predicted by the Predict Heidelberg Deutschland and self-optimized prediction method from alignments methods. The enzyme has some amino acid identity with other NADPH-binding enzymes containing the Rossmann fold. The Rossmann-fold fingerprint motif is localized in the N-terminal region and at the expected positions in the predicted secondary structure. It is suggested that PCOR is anchored to the interfacial region of the membrane by either a beta-sheet or an alpha-helical region containing tryptophan residues. A hydrophobic loop-region could also be involved in membrane anchoring.
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| 4. |
- Brännström, Kristoffer, et al.
(författare)
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Ca2+ enhances Aβ polymerization rate and fibrillar stability in a dynamic manner
- 2013
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Ingår i: Biochemical Journal. - : Portland Press. - 0264-6021 .- 1470-8728. ; 450, s. 189-197
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Identifying factors that affect the self-assembly of the amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) is of utmost importance in the quest to understand the molecular mechanisms causing Alzheimer's disease (AD). Ca2+ has previously been shown to accelerate both Aβ fibril nucleation and maturation, and a dysregulated Ca2+ homeostasis frequently correlates with development of AD. The mechanisms regarding Ca2+ binding as well as its effect on fibril kinetics are not fully understood. Using a polymerization assay we show that Ca2+ in a dynamic and reversible manner enhances both the elongation rate and fibrillar stability, where specifically the "dock and lock" phase mechanism is enhanced. Through NMR analysis we found that Ca2+ affects the fibrillar architecture. In addition, and unexpectedly, we found that Ca2+ does not bind the free Aβ monomer. This implies that Ca2+ binding requires an architecture adopted by assembled peptides, and consequently is mediated through intermolecular interactions between adjacent peptides. This gives a mechanistic explanation to the enhancing effect on fibril maturation and indicates structural similarities between prefibrillar structures and mature amyloid. Taken together we expose how Ca2+ levels affect the delicate equilibrium between the monomeric and assembled Aβ and how fluctuations in vivo may contribute to development and progression of the disease.
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| 5. |
- Chevreuil, O, et al.
(författare)
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Heparin-decasaccharides impair the catabolism of chylomicrons.
- 1996
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Ingår i: Biochemical Journal. - 0264-6021 .- 1470-8728. ; 320 ( Pt 2), s. 437-44
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- On intravenous injection to rats, decasaccharides gave rise to a short-lived peak of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity, whereas octa- and hexasaccharides caused only marginal increases. In isolated hearts perfused by a single pass, decasaccharides released LPL more efficiently than conventional heparin on a mass basis. Octa- and hexasaccharides were much less efficient. Similar results were obtained for hepatic lipase, which was studied both in vivo and by liver perfusion. In the intact rat, the heparin fragments themselves disappeared rapidly from the circulating blood. The decay of hepatic lipase activity after the early peak roughly paralleled the decay of decasaccharide concentration, but for LPL the decay was faster, presumably because the liver extracted this lipase from plasma. To assess the lipase activities remaining in contact with blood a large dose of conventional heparin was injected at a series of times after the decasaccharides. LPL was decreased by 40% after 1 h. At that time, the LPL activity that could be released from isolated hearts by single-pass perfusion with heparin for 2 min ("functional LPL') was decreased by 75%. Chylomicrons labelled in vivo with [14C]oleic acid (primarily in triacylglycerols, providing a tracer for lipolysis) and [3H]retinol (primarily in ester form, providing a tracer for the particles) were injected intravenously to explore the effects of the LPL depletion on lipoprotein metabolism. Triacylglycerol lipolysis and particle clearance was markedly delayed from 30 min to 2 h after injection of decasaccharides. After 1 h the fractional catabolic rate was only one-third of the control value and the catabolism of chylomicron triacylglycerols by perfused hearts was delayed to a similar extent. Thus injection of decasaccharides leads to accelerated turnover of LPL with loss of functional LPL from extrahepatic tissues. This in turn leads to a period of delayed lipolysis and removal of chylomicron particles.
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| 6. |
- de Veer, Simon J., et al.
(författare)
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Engineered protease inhibitors based on sunflower trypsin inhibitor-1 (SFTI-1) provide insights into the role of sequence and conformation in Laskowski mechanism inhibition
- 2015
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Ingår i: Biochemical Journal. - 0264-6021 .- 1470-8728. ; 469:2, s. 243-253
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Laskowski inhibitors regulate serine proteases by an intriguing mode of action that involves deceiving the protease into synthesizing a peptide bond. Studies exploring naturally occurring Laskowski inhibitors have uncovered several structural features that convey the inhibitor's resistance to hydrolysis and exceptional binding affinity. However, in the context of Laskowski inhibitor engineering, the way that various modifications intended to fine-tune an inhibitor's potency and selectivity impact on its association and dissociation rates remains unclear. This information is important as Laskowski inhibitors are becoming increasingly used as design templates to develop new protease inhibitors for pharmaceutical applications. In this study, we used the cyclic peptide, sunflower trypsin inhibitor-1 (SFTI-1), as a model system to explore how the inhibitor's sequence and structure relate to its binding kinetics and function. Using enzyme assays, MD simulations and NMR spectroscopy to study SFTI variants with diverse sequence and backbone modifications, we show that the geometry of the binding loop mainly influences the inhibitor's potency by modulating the association rate, such that variants lacking a favourable conformation show dramatic losses in activity. Additionally, we show that the inhibitor's sequence (including both the binding loop and its scaffolding) influences its potency and selectivity by modulating both the association and the dissociation rates. These findings provide new insights into protease inhibitor function and design that we apply by engineering novel inhibitors for classical serine proteases, trypsin and chymotrypsin and two kallikrein-related peptidases (KLK5 and KLK14) that are implicated in various cancers and skin diseases.
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| 7. |
- Dejardin, A, et al.
(författare)
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Sugar/osmoticum levels modulate differential abscisic acid-independent expression of two stress-responsive sucrose synthase genes in Arabidopsis
- 1999
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Ingår i: Biochemical Journal. - 0264-6021 .- 1470-8728. ; 344, s. 503-509
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sucrose synthase (Sus) is a key enzyme of sucrose metabolism. Two Sus-encoding genes (Sus1 and Sus2) from Arabidopsis thaliana were found to be profoundly and differentially regulated in leaves exposed to environmental stresses (cold stress, drought or O-2 deficiency). Transcript levels of Sus1 increased on exposure to cold and drought, whereas Sus2 mRNA was induced specifically by O-2 deficiency. Both cold and drought exposures induced the accumulation of soluble sugars and caused a decrease in leaf osmotic potential, whereas O-2 deficiency was characterized by a nearly complete depletion in sugars. Feeding abscisic acid (ABA) to detached leaves or subjecting Arabidopsis ABA-deficient mutants to cold stress conditions had no effect on the expression profiles of Sus1 or Sus2, whereas feeding metabolizable sugars (sucrose or glucose) or non-metabolizable osmotica [poly(ethylene glycol), sorbitol or mannitol] mimicked the effects of osmotic stress on Sus1 expression in detached leaves. By using various sucrose/mannitol solutions, we demonstrated that Sus1 was up-regulated by a decrease in leaf osmotic potential rather than an increase in sucrose concentration itself. We suggest that Sus1 expression is regulated via an ABA-independent signal transduction pathway that is related to the perception of a decrease in leaf osmotic potential during stresses. In contrast, the expression of Sus2 was independent of sugar/osmoticum effects, suggesting the involvement of a signal transduction mechanism distinct from that regulating Sus1 expression. The differential stress-responsive regulation of Sus genes in leaves might represent part of a general cellular response to the allocation of carbohydrates during acclimation processes.
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| 8. |
- Dufe, Veronica T, et al.
(författare)
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A structural insight into the inhibition of human and Leishmania donovani ornithine decarboxylases by 1-amino-oxy-3-aminopropane.
- 2007
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Ingår i: Biochem J. - 1470-8728. ; 405:2, s. 261-268
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The critical role of polyamines in key processes such as cell growth, differentiation and macromolecular synthesis makes the enzymes involved in their synthesis potential targets in the treatment of certain types of cancer and parasitic diseases. Here we present a study on the inhibition of human and Leishmania donovani ODC (ornithine decarboxylase), the first committed enzyme in the polyamine biosynthesis pathway, by APA (1-amino-oxy-3-aminopropane). The present study shows APA to be a potent inhibitor of both human and L. donovani ODC with a K(i) value of around 1.0 nM. We also show that L. donovani ODC binds the substrate, the co-enzyme pyridoxal 5'-phosphate and the irreversible inhibitor alpha-difluoromethylornithine (a curative agent of West African sleeping sickness) with less affinity than human ODC. We have also determined the three-dimensional structure of human ODC in complex with APA, which revealed the mode of the inhibitor binding to the enzyme. In contrast with earlier reports, the structure showed no indication of oxime formation between APA and PLP (pyridoxal 5'-phosphate). Homology modelling suggests a similar mode of binding of APA to L. donovani ODC. A comparison of the ODC-APA-PLP structure with earlier ODC structures also shows that the protease-sensitive loop (residues 158-168) undergoes a large conformational change and covers the active site of the protein. The understanding of the structural mode of APA binding may constitute the basis for the development of more specific inhibitors of L. donovani ODC.
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| 9. |
- Eberth, Alexander, et al.
(författare)
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A BAR domain-mediated autoinhibitory mechanism for RhoGAPs of the GRAF family
- 2009
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Ingår i: Biochemical Journal. - 0264-6021 .- 1470-8728. ; 417:1, s. 371-377
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The BAR (Bin/amphiphysin/Rvs) domain defines an emerging superfamily of proteins implicated in fundamental biological processes by sensing and inducing membrane curvature. We identified a novel autoregulatory function for the BAR domain of two related GAPs' (GTPase-activating proteins) of the GRAF (GTPase regulator associated with focal adhesion kinase) subfamily. We demonstrate that the N-terminal fragment of these GAPs including the BAR domain interacts directly with the GAP domain and inhibits its activity. Analysis of various BAR and GAP domains revealed that the BAR domain-mediated inhibition of these GAPs' function is highly specific. These GAPs, in their autoinhibited state, are able to bind and tubulate liposomes in vitro, and to generate lipid tubules in cells. Taken together, we identified BAR domains as cis-acting inhibitory elements that very likely mask the active sites of the GAP domains and thus prevent down-regulation of Rho proteins. Most remarkably, these BAR proteins represent a dual-site system with separate membrane-tubulation and GAP-inhibitory functions that operate simultaneously.
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| 10. |
- Elle, Ida C, et al.
(författare)
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Tissue- and paralogue-specific functions of acyl-CoA-binding proteins in lipid metabolism in Caenorhabditis elegans
- 2011
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Ingår i: Biochemical Journal. - 0264-6021 .- 1470-8728. ; 437:2, s. 231-241
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- ACBP (acyl-CoA-binding protein) is a small primarily cytosolic protein that binds acyl-CoA esters with high specificity and affinity. ACBP has been identified in all eukaryotic species, indicating that it performs a basal cellular function. However, differential tissue expression and the existence of several ACBP paralogues in many eukaryotic species indicate that these proteins serve distinct functions. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans expresses seven ACBPs: four basal forms and three ACBP domain proteins. We find that each of these paralogues is capable of complementing the growth of ACBP-deficient yeast cells, and that they exhibit distinct temporal and tissue expression patterns in C. elegans. We have obtained loss-of-function mutants for six of these forms. All single mutants display relatively subtle phenotypes; however, we find that functional loss of ACBP-1 leads to reduced triacylglycerol (triglyceride) levels and aberrant lipid droplet morphology and number in the intestine. We also show that worms lacking ACBP-2 show a severe decrease in the β-oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids. A quadruple mutant, lacking all basal ACBPs, is slightly developmentally delayed, displays abnormal intestinal lipid storage, and increased β-oxidation. Collectively, the present results suggest that each of the ACBP paralogues serves a distinct function in C. elegans.
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