Protein States as Symmetry Transitions in the Correlation Matrices

The oxygen-oxygen distance of water in crystallographic data sets

Water is a key component of cellular biochemistry and numerous water molecules are visible in crystallographic structures. Here we report a series of data sets of crystallographic water: a high resolution data set, a cytochrome c oxidase (subunit I) data set and a carbonic anhydrase data set. These data support the evidence that short distance water molecule pairs are present both at the surface and inside the cavities of proteins. These data are related to article entitled “Oxygen-oxygen distances in protein-bound crystallographic water suggest the presence of protonated clusters” (Palese, 2020) [1].

A New Look at the Structures of Old Sepsis Actors by Exploratory Data Analysis Tools

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that accounts for numerous deaths worldwide, usually complications of common community infections (i.e., pneumonia, etc), or infections acquired during the hospital stay. Sepsis and septic shock, its most severe evolution, involve the whole organism, recruiting and producing a lot of molecules, mostly proteins. Proteins are dynamic entities, and a large number of techniques and studies have been devoted to elucidating the relationship between the conformations adopted by proteins and what is their function. Although molecular dynamics has a key role in understanding these relationships, the number of protein structures available in the databases is so high that it is currently possible to build data sets obtained from experimentally determined structures. Techniques for dimensionality reduction and clustering can be applied in exploratory data analysis in order to obtain information on the function of these molecules, and this may be very useful in immunology to better understand the structure-activity relationship of the numerous proteins involved in host defense, moreover in septic patients. The large number of degrees of freedom that characterize the biomolecules requires special techniques which are able to analyze this kind of data sets (with a small number of entries respect to the number of degrees of freedom). In this work we analyzed the ability of two different types of algorithms to provide information on the structures present in three data sets built using the experimental structures of allosteric proteins involved in sepsis. The results obtained by means of a principal component analysis algorithm and those obtained by a random projection algorithm are largely comparable, proving the effectiveness of random projection methods in structural bioinformatics. The usefulness of random projection in exploratory data analysis is discussed, including validation of the obtained clusters. We have chosen these proteins because of their involvement in sepsis and septic shock, aimed to highlight the potentiality of bioinformatics to point out new diagnostic and prognostic tools for the patients.

Translational control mechanisms in cutaneous malignant melanoma: the role of eIF2α

BACKGROUND

Melanoma cells develop adaptive responses in order to cope with particular conditions of tumor microenvironment, characterized by stress conditions and deregulated proliferation. Recently, the interplay between the stress response and the gene expression programs leading to metastatic spread has been reported.

METHODS

We evaluated levels and localization of eIF2α/peIF2α in V600BRAF and wtBRAF metastatic melanoma cell lines by means of western blot and confocal microscopy analyses. Furthermore, we performed a sequence analyses and structure and dynamics studies of eIF2α protein to reveal the role of eIF2α and its correlations in different pathways involved in the invasive phase of melanoma.

RESULTS

We found peIF2α both in cytoplasm and nucleus. Nuclear localization was more represented in V600BRAF melanoma cell lines. Our studies on eIF2α protein sequence indicated the presence of a predicted bipartite NLS as well as a nuclear export signal NES and an S1 domain, typical of RNA interacting proteins. Furthermore, we found high levels of transcription factor EB (TFEB), a component of the MiT/TFE family, and low β-catenin levels in V600BRAF cells.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on our results, we suggest that peIF2α nuclear localization can be crucial in ER stress response and in driving the metastatic spread of melanoma, through lysosomal signaling and Wnt/β-catenin pathway. In conclusion, this is the first evidence of nuclear localization of peIF2α, representing a possible target for future therapeutic approaches for metastatic melanoma.

Cytochrome c oxidase structures suggest a four-state stochastic pump mechanism

A simple stochastic model for a cytochrome c oxidase proton pump.

A random version of principal component analysis in data clustering

Principal component analysis (PCA) is a widespread technique for data analysis that relies on the covariance/correlation matrix of the analyzed data. However, to properly work with high-dimensional data sets, PCA poses severe mathematical constraints on the minimum number of different replicates, or samples, that must be included in the analysis. Generally, improper sampling is due to a small number of data respect to the number of the degrees of freedom that characterize the ensemble. In the field of life sciences it is often important to have an algorithm that can accept poorly dimensioned data sets, including degenerated ones. Here a new random projection algorithm is proposed, in which a random symmetric matrix surrogates the covariance/correlation matrix of PCA, while maintaining the data clustering capacity. We demonstrate that what is important for clustering efficiency of PCA is not the exact form of the covariance/correlation matrix, but simply its symmetry.

Conformations of the HIV-1 protease: A crystal structure data set analysis

The HIV protease is an important drug target for HIV/AIDS therapy, and its structure and function have been extensively investigated. This enzyme performs an essential role in viral maturation by processing specific cleavage sites in the Gag and Gag-Pol precursor polyproteins so as to release their mature forms. This 99 amino acid aspartic protease works as a homodimer, with the active site localized in a central cavity capped by two flexible flap regions. The dimer presents closed or open conformations, which are involved in the substrate binding and release. Here the results of the analysis of a HIV-1 protease data set containing 552 dimer structures are reported. Different dimensionality reduction methods have been used in order to get information from this multidimensional database. Most of the structures in the data set belong to two conformational clusters. An interesting observation that comes from the analysis of these data is that some protease sequences are localized preferentially in specific areas of the conformational landscape of this protein.

Rationally Designed Peptides and Peptidomimetics as Inhibitors of Amyloid-β (Aβ) Aggregation: Potential Therapeutics of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with no clinically accepted treatment to cure or halt its progression. The worldwide effort to develop peptide-based inhibitors of amyloid-β (Aβ) aggregation can be considered an unplanned combinatorial experiment. An understanding of what has been done and achieved may advance our understanding of AD pathology and the discovery of effective therapeutic agents. We review here the history of such peptide-based inhibitors, including those based on the Aβ sequence and those not derived from that sequence, containing both natural and unnatural amino acid building blocks. Peptide-based aggregation inhibitors hold significant promise for future AD therapy owing to their high selectivity, effectiveness, low toxicity, good tolerance, low accumulation in tissues, high chemical and biological diversity, possibility of rational design, and highly developed methods for analyzing their mode of action, proteolytic stability (modified peptides), and blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability.