• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.770-774
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• 2012

Protein loops are often involved in diverse biological functions, and some functional loops show conformational changes upon ligand binding. Since this conformational change is directly related to ligand binding pose and protein function, there have been numerous attempts to predict this change accurately. In this study, we show that it is plausible to obtain meaningful ensembles of loop conformations for flexible, ligand-binding protein loops efficiently by applying a loop modeling method. The loop modeling method employs triaxial loop closure algorithm for trial conformation generation and conformational space annealing for global energy optimization. When loop modeling was performed on the framework of ligand-free structure, loop structures within $3\AA$ RMSD from the crystal loop structure for the ligand-bound state were sampled in 4 out of 6 cases. This result is encouraging considering that no information on the ligand-bound state was used during the loop modeling process. We therefore expect that the present loop modeling method will be useful for future developments of flexible protein-ligand docking methods.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.85-105
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• 1998

Prions cause neurodegenerative diseases in animals and humans. The scrapie prion protein (PrPSc) is the major-possibly only-component of the infectious prion and is generated from the cellular isoform (PrPC) by a conformational change. Limited proteolysis of PrPSc produces an polypeptide comprised primarily of residues 90 to 231, which retains infectivity. The three-dimensional structure of rPrP(90-231), a recombinant protein resembling PrPC with the Syrian hamster (SHa) sequence, was solved using multidimensional NMR. Low-resolution structures of rPrP(90-231), synthetic peptides up to 56 residues, a longer (29-231, full-length) protein with SHa sequence, and a short here further structure refinement of rPrP(90-231) and dynamic features of the protein. Consideration of these features in the context of published data suggests regions of conformational heterogeneity, structural elements involved in the PrPC\longrightarrowPrPSc transformation, and possible structural features related to a species barrier to transmission of prion diseases.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.823-826
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• 2013

A low-${\varepsilon}$ solid-state NMR(Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) probe was developed for the spectroscopic analysis of two-dimensional $^{15}N-^1H$ heteronuclear dipolar coupling in dilute membrane proteins oriented in hydrated and dielectrically lossy lipid environments. The system employed a 800 MHz narrow-bore magnet. A solenoid coil strip shield was used to reduce deleterious RF sample heating by minimizing the conservative electric fields generated by the double-tuned resonator at high magnetic fields. The probe's design, construction, and performance in solid-state NMR experiments at high magnetic fields are described here. Such high-resolution solid-state NMR spectroscopic analysis of static oriented samples in hydrated phospholipid bilayers or bicelles could aid the structural analysis of dilute biological membrane proteins.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.413-417
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• 2005

Fluorescence of green fluorescent protein mutant, 2-5 GFP is observed during denaturation by guanidine. The fluorescence intensity decreases exponentially but the fluorescence lifetime does not change during denaturation. The fluorescence lifetime of the denatured protein is shorter than that of native form. As the protein structure is modified by guanidine, solvent water molecules penetrate into the protein barrel and protonate the chromophore to quench fluorescence. Most fluorescence quenchers do not affect the fluorescence of native form but accelerate the fluorescence intensity decay during denaturation. Based on the observations, a simple model is suggested for the structural change of the protein molecule during denaturation.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.1503-1507
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• 2013

The two major symptoms characterizing Alzheimer's disease are the formation of amyloid-${\beta}$ extracellular deposits in the form of senile plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) that consist of pathological hyperphosphorylated tau protein aggregated into insoluble paired helical filaments (PHFs). Neurons of the central nervous system have appreciable amounts of tau protein, a microtubule-associated protein. To maintain an optimal operation of nerves, the microtubules are stabilized, which is necessary to support cell structure and cellular processes. When the modified tau protein becomes dysfunctional, the cells containing misfolded tau cannot maintain cell structure. One of the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease is hyperphosphorylated tau protein. This paper shows that the small heat shock protein from humans (Hsp27) reduces hyperphosphorylated tau and prevents hyperphosphorylated tau-induced cell death of the human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.1765-1768
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• 2012

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.723-724
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• 2013

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.1275-1277
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• 2013

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.31-32
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• 2011

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1303-1304
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• 2004