• Molecules and Cells
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.673-680
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• 2009

Conversion of the normal soluble form of prion protein, PrP ($PrP^C$), to proteinase K-resistant form ($PrP^{Sc}$) is a common molecular etiology of prion diseases. Proteinase K-resistance is attributed to a drastic conformational change from ${\alpha}$-helix to ${\beta}$-sheet and subsequent fibril formation. Compelling evidence suggests that membranes play a role in the conformational conversion of PrP. However, biophysical mechanisms underlying the conformational changes of PrP and membrane binding are still elusive. Recently, we demonstrated that the putative transmembrane domain (TMD; residues 111-135) of Syrian hamster PrP penetrates into the membrane upon the reduction of the conserved disulfide bond of PrP. To understand the mechanism underlying the membrane insertion of the TMD, here we explored changes in conformation and membrane binding abilities of PrP using wild type and cysteine-free mutant. We show that the reduction of the disulfide bond of PrP removes motional restriction of the TMD, which might, in turn, expose the TMD into solvent. The released TMD then penetrates into the membrane. We suggest that the disulfide bond regulates the membrane binding mode of PrP by controlling the motional freedom of the TMD.

• Proceeding of EDISON Challenge
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• 2014.03a
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• pp.63-74
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• 2014

Predicting protein loop structures is an important modeling problem since protein loops are often involved in diverse biological functions by participating in enzyme active sites, ligand binding sites, etc. However, loop structure prediction is difficult even when structures of homologous proteins are known due to large sequence and structure variability among loops of homologous proteins. Therefore, an ab initio approach is necessary to solve loop modeling problems. One of the difficulties in the development of ab initio loop modeling method is to derive an accurate scoring function that closely approximates the true free energy function. In particular, entropy as well as energy contribution have to be considered adequately for loops because loops tend to be flexible compared to other parts of protein. In this study, the contribution of conformational entropy is considered in scoring loop conformations by employing "colony energy" which was previously proposed to estimate the free energy for an ensemble of conformations. Loop conformations were generated by using two EDISON_Chem programs GalaxyFill and GalaxySC, and colony energy was designed for this sampling by tuning relevant parameters. On a test set of 40 loops, the accuracy of predicted loop structure improved on average by scoring with the colony energy compared to scoring by energy alone. In addition, high correlation between colony energy and deviation from the native structure suggested that more extensive sampling can further improve the prediction accuracy. In another test on 6 ligand-binding loops that show conformational changes by ligand binding, both ligand-free and ligand-bound states could be identified by using colony energy when no information on the ligand-bound conformation is used.

• BMB Reports
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.352-355
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• 1997

The surface adsorbed protein conformations onto the vaccine adjuvants were observed with a Raman spectroscopy by using the maximum adsorption conditions described previously. The adsorbed state Raman vibrational spectra and subsequent spectral analysis display no conformational changes for BSA or IgG relative to their native species in solution.

• Proceedings of the Zoological Society Korea Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.232.2-233
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• 2000

No Abstract, See Full Text

• Proceedings of the Zoological Society Korea Conference
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• 1999.10b
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• pp.219.1-219
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• 1999

No Abstract, See Full Text

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.186-188
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• 1994

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.69-71
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• 1989

Effects of SDS and temperature on the conformational changes of bacteriorhodopsin were studied using a, b, c bands of bacteriorhodopsin. In the SDS denaturation, bacteriorhodopsin in purple membrane was more labile than bacteriorhodopsin reconstituted into PC vesicles. These rather interesting results may be understood by effective SDS concentration in lipid layer.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.87-93
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• 1984

The effects of ionic strength and pH on the binding of cefazolin to bovine serum albumin (BSA) were studied by UV difference spectrophotometry. As ionic strength at constant pH and temperature increases, the apparent bining constant decreased but the number of binding sites remained almost constant at 2. The constancy of the number of binding sites with increasing the ionic strength suggests that purely electrostatic forces between BSA and drug do not have great importance in the drug binding, even though there is a decrease in the apparent binding constant. Thus, the effect of ionic strength on the interaction between drug and BSA may be explained by the changes in ionic atmosphere of the aggregated BSA molecules and competitive inhibition by phosphate ions. In addition, the higher apparent binding constant at high ionic strength is explained by conformational changes of BSA from its aggregate forms into subunits. The pH effects on the afinity of interactions indicated that the binding affinity of cefazoline is higher in the neutral region than in the alkaline region. An d at high pH value, the number of binding sites decreased from 2 to 1 because of the conformational change of BSA in the alkaline region.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.3241-3246
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• 2010

NHERF ($Na^+/H^+$ exchanger regulatory factor) and E3KARP (NHE3 kinase A regulatory protein) play important roles in membrane targeting, trafficking and sorting of ion channels, transmembrane receptors and signaling proteins in many tissues. Each of these proteins contains two PDZ (PSD-95/Dlg-1/ZO-1) domains, which mediate the assembly of transmembrane and cytosolic proteins into functional signal transduction complexes. The interaction between NHERF and E3KARP was investigated by surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy (BIAcore), fluorescence measurement, His-tagged pull-down experiment, and size-exclusion column (SEC) chromatography. BIAcore experiments revealed that NHERF bound to E3KARP with an apparent $K_D$ of 7 nM. Fluorescence emission spectra of the NHERF-E3KARP complex suggested that the tight interaction between these proteins was accompanied by significant conformational changes in one or both. The CD spectra of NHERF and E3KARP show that the conformational changes of these proteins were dependent on pH and temperature. These results implicate that the NHERF-E3KARP complex allows intracellular signaling complexes to form through PDZ-PDZ interactions.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.52-56
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• 2002

This study was conducted to evaluate the possibility of gamma radiation for reducing egg allergies through the observation of conformational and allergenic changes of egg ovomucoid (OM) in basic pH conditions. An OM solution of 2.0 mg/mL was individually prepared with different pH conditions, pH 7.0, 9.0 or 10.0, and was irradiated with the absorbed dose of 10 kGy. Irradiated OM solutions were tested by Ci-ELISA formatted with egg-hypersensitive patients'IgE. Binding abilities of IgE to OM in irradiated solution decreased with the increase of pH. Turbidity of the solution highly increased by irradiation and the increase of pH. A yellowish color was observed in the irradiated OM solution of basic condition. Coagulation of OM by irradiation decreased with the increase of pH, when observed by SDS-PAGE.