• Journal of applied mathematics & informatics
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• 제12권1_2호
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• pp.155-164
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• 2003

A method is proposed to predict the distances between given residue pairs (between C$\sub$${\alpha}$/ atoms) of a protein using a sequence to structure mapping by indefinite quadratic approximation. The prediction technique requires a data fitting in three dimensional space with coordinates of the residues of known structured proteins and leads to a numerical ref resentation of 20 amino acids by minimizing a large least norm iteratively. These approximations are used in distance prediction for given residue pairs. Some computational experience on a test set of small proteins from Brookhaven Protein Data Bank are given.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.111-121
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• 2009

Cell membrane proteins play crucial roles in the cell's molecular interaction with its environment and within itself. They consist of membrane-bound proteins and many types of transmembrane (TM) proteins such as receptors, transporters, channel proteins, and enzymes. Membrane proteomes of cellular organisms reveal some characteristics in their global topological distribution according to their evolutionary positions, and show their own information transfer complexity. Predicted transmembrane segments (TMSs) in membrane proteomes with HMMTOP showed near power-law distribution and frequency characteristics in 6-TMS and 7-TMS proteins in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, respectively. This reaffirms the important roles of membrane receptors in cellular communication and biological evolutionary history.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.26-31
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• 2009

Heat shock proteins are a class of molecular chaperones that can be found in nearly all organisms from Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya domains. Heat shock proteins experience increased transcription during periods of heat induced osmotic stress and are involved in protein disaggregation and refolding as part of a cell's danger signaling cascade. Heat shock protein, Hsp20 is a small molecular chaperone that is approximately 20kDa in weight and is hypothesized to prevent aggregation and denaturation. Hsp20 can be found in several strains of Proteobacteria, which comprises the largest phyla of the Bacteria domain and also contains several medically significant bacterial strains. Genomic analyses were performed to determine a common evolutionary pattern among Hsp20 sequences in Proteobacteria. It was found that Hsp20 shared a common ancestor within and among the five subclasses of Proteobacteria. This is readily apparent from the amount of sequence similarities within and between Hsp20 protein sequences as well as phylogenetic analysis of sequences from proteobacterial and non-proteobacterial species.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.26-30
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• 2015

nc886 (=vtRNA2-1, pre-miR-886, or CBL3) is a newly identified non-coding RNA (ncRNA) that represses the activity of protein kinase R (PKR). nc886 is transcribed by RNA polymerase III (Pol III) and is intriguingly the first case of a Pol III gene whose expression is silenced by CpG DNA hypermethylation in several types of cancer. PKR is a sensor protein that recognizes evading viruses and induces apoptosis to eliminate infected cells. Like viral infection, nc886 silencing activates PKR and induces apoptosis. Thus, the significance of the nc886:PKR pathway in cancer is to sense and eliminate pre-malignant cells, which is analogous to PKR's role in cellular innate immunity. Beyond this tumor sensing role, nc886 plays a putative tumor suppressor role as supported by experimental evidence. Collectively, nc886 provides a novel example how epigenetic silencing of a ncRNA contributes to tumorigenesis by controlling the activity of its protein ligand.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제7권4호
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• pp.217-219
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• 2009

The primary clue for locating protein-coding regions is the open reading frame and the determination of ORFs (Open Reading Frames) is the first step toward the gene prediction, especially for prokaryotes. In this respect, we have developed a web-based ORF search tool called ORF Miner. The ORF Miner is a graphical analysis utility which determines all possible open reading frames of a selectable minimum size in an input sequence. This tool identifies all open reading frames using alternative genetic codes as well as the standard one and reports a list of ORFs with corresponding deduced amino acid sequences. The ORF Miner can be employed for sequence annotation and give a crucial clue to determination of actual protein-coding regions.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.224-229
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• 2013

Receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE) is a multi-ligand receptor that is able to bind several different ligands, including advanced glycation endproducts, high-mobility group protein (B)1 (HMGB1), S-100 calcium-binding protein, amyloid-${\beta}$-protein, Mac-1, and phosphatidylserine. Its interaction is engaged in critical cellular processes, such as inflammation, proliferation, apoptosis, autophagy, and migration, and dysregulation of RAGE and its ligands leads to the development of numerous human diseases. In this review, we summarize the signaling pathways regulated by RAGE and its ligands identified up to date and demonstrate the effects of hyper-activation of RAGE signals on human diseases, focused mainly on renal disorders. Finally, we propose that RAGE and its ligands are the potential targets for the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of numerous renal diseases.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.2.1-2.12
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• 2019

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease, featured by airflow obstruction. Recently, a comprehensive analysis of the transcriptome in lung tissue of COPD patients was performed, but the heterogeneity of the sample was not seriously considered in characterizing the mechanistic dysregulation of COPD. Here, we established a new transcriptome analysis pipeline using a deconvolution process to reduce the heterogeneity and clearly identified that these transcriptome data originated from the mild or moderate stage of COPD patients. Differentially expressed or co-expressed genes in the protein interaction subnetworks were linked with mitochondrial dysfunction and the immune response, as expected. Computational protein localization prediction revealed that 19 proteins showing changes in subcellular localization were mostly related to mitochondria, suggesting that mislocalization of mitochondria-targeting proteins plays an important role in COPD pathology. Our extensive evaluation of COPD transcriptome data could provide guidelines for analyzing heterogeneous gene expression profiles and classifying potential candidate genes that are responsible for the pathogenesis of COPD.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.47.1-47.13
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• 2022

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a gram-negative bacterium that is known for causing infection in nosocomial settings. As reported by the World Health Organization, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, a category that includes K. pneumoniae, are classified as an urgent threat, and the greatest concern is that these bacterial pathogens may acquire genetic traits that make them resistant towards antibiotics. The last class of antibiotics, carbapenems, are not able to combat these bacterial pathogens, allowing them to clonally expand antibiotic-resistant strains. Most antibiotics target essential pathways of bacterial cells; however, these targets are no longer susceptible to antibiotics. Hence, in our study, we focused on a hypothetical protein in K. pneumoniae that contains a DNA methylation protein domain, suggesting a new potential site as a drug target. DNA methylation regulates the attenuation of bacterial virulence. We integrated computational-aided drug design by using a bioinformatics approach to perform subtractive genomics, virtual screening, and fingerprint similarity search. We identified a new potential drug, koenimbine, which could be a novel antibiotic.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제46권8호
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• pp.513-525
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• 2023

Orange carotenoid protein (OCP) of photosynthetic cyanobacteria binds to ketocarotenoids noncovalently and absorbs excess light to protect the host organism from light-induced oxidative damage. Herein, we found that mutating valine 40 in the α3 helix of Gloeocapsa sp. PCC 7513 (GlOCP1) resulted in blue- or red-shifts of 6-20 nm in the absorption maxima of the lit forms. We analyzed the origins of absorption maxima shifts by integrating X-ray crystallography, homology modeling, molecular dynamics simulations, and hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations. Our analysis suggested that the single residue mutations alter the polar environment surrounding the bound canthaxanthin, thereby modulating the degree of charge transfer in the photoexcited state of the chromophore. Our integrated investigations reveal the mechanism of color adaptation specific to OCPs and suggest a design principle for color-specific photoswitches.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• 제65권1호
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• pp.33-41
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• 2022

Esculetin (also known as 6, 7-dihydroxycoumarin) a type of coumarin, has been exhibited anti-inflammatory and anti-aging effects. Biorenovation is the microbe-mediated enhancement of biological efficacies and structurally diversified compounds relative to their substrate compounds. The production of different kinds of esculetin derivatives using Bacillus sp. JD3-7 and their effects on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-triggered inflammatory response in RAW 26.7 cells were assessed. One of the biorenovation products, identified as esculetin 6-O-phosphate (ESP), at concentrations of 1.25, 2.5, and 5 μM inhibited the LPS-stimulated production of inflammation markers of nitric oxide synthase 2 and cyclooxygenase 2 as well as their respective enzymatic reaction products of nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2 in the order of increasing concentrations (1.25, 2.5, and 5 μM). Additionally, ESP treatment suppressed the LPS-stimulated secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor- α. Furthermore, these anti-inflammatory effect of ESP was associated with the downregulation of mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling, that is, extracellular signal-regulated kinase, c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase, and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways. This study would therefore provide interesting insights into the biorenovation-assisted generation of a novel anti-inflammatory compound. ESP may be used to develop treatments for inflammatory disorders.