94,617 research outputs found
Definition of a consensus integrin adhesome and its dynamics during adhesion complex assembly and disassembly
Integrin receptor activation initiates the formation of integrin adhesion complexes (IACs) at the cell membrane that transduce adhesion-dependent signals to control a multitude of cellular functions. Proteomic analyses of isolated IACs have revealed an unanticipated molecular complexity; however, a global view of the consensus composition and dynamics of IACs is currently lacking. Here, we have integrated several IAC proteomes and generated a 2,412-protein integrin adhesome. Analysis of this dataset reveals the functional diversity of proteins in IACs and establishes a consensus adhesome of 60 proteins. The consensus adhesome likely represents a core cell adhesion machinery, centred around four axes comprising ILK-PINCH-kindlin, FAK-paxillin, talin-vinculin and α-actinin-zyxin-VASP, and includes underappreciated IAC components such as Rsu-1 and caldesmon. Proteomic quantification of IAC assembly and disassembly detailed the compositional dynamics of the core cell adhesion machinery. The definition of this consensus view of integrin adhesome components provides a resource for the research community
CABS-flex predictions of protein flexibility compared with NMR ensembles
Motivation: Identification of flexible regions of protein structures is
important for understanding of their biological functions. Recently, we have
developed a fast approach for predicting protein structure fluctuations from a
single protein model: the CABS-flex. CABS-flex was shown to be an efficient
alternative to conventional all-atom molecular dynamics (MD). In this work, we
evaluate CABS-flex and MD predictions by comparison with protein structural
variations within NMR ensembles.
Results: Based on a benchmark set of 140 proteins, we show that the relative
fluctuations of protein residues obtained from CABS-flex are well correlated to
those of NMR ensembles. On average, this correlation is stronger than that
between MD and NMR ensembles. In conclusion, CABS-flex is useful and
complementary to MD in predicting of protein regions that undergo
conformational changes and the extent of such changes
Mean-Field Theory of Meta-Learning
We discuss here the mean-field theory for a cellular automata model of
meta-learning. The meta-learning is the process of combining outcomes of
individual learning procedures in order to determine the final decision with
higher accuracy than any single learning method. Our method is constructed from
an ensemble of interacting, learning agents, that acquire and process incoming
information using various types, or different versions of machine learning
algorithms. The abstract learning space, where all agents are located, is
constructed here using a fully connected model that couples all agents with
random strength values. The cellular automata network simulates the higher
level integration of information acquired from the independent learning trials.
The final classification of incoming input data is therefore defined as the
stationary state of the meta-learning system using simple majority rule, yet
the minority clusters that share opposite classification outcome can be
observed in the system. Therefore, the probability of selecting proper class
for a given input data, can be estimated even without the prior knowledge of
its affiliation. The fuzzy logic can be easily introduced into the system, even
if learning agents are build from simple binary classification machine learning
algorithms by calculating the percentage of agreeing agents.Comment: 23 page
Alvira : comparative genomics of viral strains
The Alvira tool is a general purpose multiple sequence alignment viewer with a special emphasis on the comparative analysis of viral genomes. This new tool has been devised specifically to address the problem of the simultaneous analysis of a large number of viral strains. The multiple alignment is embedded in a graph that can be explored at different levels of resolution
Coevolution, Dynamics and Allostery Conspire in Shaping Cooperative Binding and Signal Transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein with Human Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2
Binding to the host receptor is a critical initial step for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to enter into target cells and trigger virus transmission. A detailed dynamic and energetic view of the binding mechanisms underlying virus entry is not fully understood and the consensus around the molecular origins behind binding preferences of SARS-CoV-2 for binding with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) host receptor is yet to be established. In this work, we performed a comprehensive computational investigation in which sequence analysis and modeling of coevolutionary networks are combined with atomistic molecular simulations and comparative binding free energy analysis of the SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor binding domains with the ACE2 host receptor. Different from other computational studies, we systematically examine the molecular and energetic determinants of the binding mechanisms between SARS-CoV-2 and ACE2 proteins through the lens of coevolution, conformational dynamics, and allosteric interactions that conspire to drive binding interactions and signal transmission. Conformational dynamics analysis revealed the important differences in mobility of the binding interfaces for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that are not confined to several binding hotspots, but instead are broadly distributed across many interface residues. Through coevolutionary network analysis and dynamics-based alanine scanning, we established linkages between the binding energy hotspots and potential regulators and carriers of signal communication in the virus–host receptor complexes. The results of this study detailed a binding mechanism in which the energetics of the SARS-CoV-2 association with ACE2 may be determined by cumulative changes of a number of residues distributed across the entire binding interface. The central findings of this study are consistent with structural and biochemical data and highlight drug discovery challenges of inhibiting large and adaptive protein–protein interfaces responsible for virus entry and infection transmission
Communicability Angles Reveal Critical Edges for Network Consensus Dynamics
We consider the question of determining how the topological structure
influences a consensus dynamical process taking place on a network. By
considering a large dataset of real-world networks we first determine that the
removal of edges according to their communicability angle -an angle between
position vectors of the nodes in an Euclidean communicability space- increases
the average time of consensus by a factor of 5.68 in real-world networks. The
edge betweenness centrality also identifies -in a smaller proportion- those
critical edges for the consensus dynamics, i.e., its removal increases the time
of consensus by a factor of 3.70. We justify theoretically these findings on
the basis of the role played by the algebraic connectivity and the
isoperimetric number of networks on the dynamical process studied, and their
connections with the properties mentioned before. Finally, we study the role
played by global topological parameters of networks on the consensus dynamics.
We determine that the network density and the average distance-sum -an
analogous of the node degree for shortest-path distances, account for more than
80% of the variance of the average time of consensus in the real-world networks
studied.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure
In vivo evidence for quasispecies distributions in the bovine respiratory syncytial virus genome
We analyzed the genetic evolution of bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) isolate W2-00131, from its isolation in bovine turbinate (BT) cells to its inoculation in calves. Results showed that the BRSV genomic region encoding the highly variable glycoprotein G remains genetically stable after virus isolation and over 10 serial infections in BT cells, as well as following experimental inoculation in calves. This remarkable genetic stability led us to examine the mutant spectrum of several populations derived from this field isolate. Sequence analysis of molecular clones revealed an important genetic heterogeneity in G coding region of each population, with mutation frequencies ranging from 6.8 to 10.1 10-4 substitutions/nucleotide. The non-synonymous mutations of the mutant spectrum mapped preferentially within the two variable antigenic regions of the ectodomain or close to the highly conserved domain. These results suggest that RSV populations may evolve as complex and dynamic mutant swarms, despite apparent genetic stability
A Computational Algebra Approach to the Reverse Engineering of Gene Regulatory Networks
This paper proposes a new method to reverse engineer gene regulatory networks
from experimental data. The modeling framework used is time-discrete
deterministic dynamical systems, with a finite set of states for each of the
variables. The simplest examples of such models are Boolean networks, in which
variables have only two possible states. The use of a larger number of possible
states allows a finer discretization of experimental data and more than one
possible mode of action for the variables, depending on threshold values.
Furthermore, with a suitable choice of state set, one can employ powerful tools
from computational algebra, that underlie the reverse-engineering algorithm,
avoiding costly enumeration strategies. To perform well, the algorithm requires
wildtype together with perturbation time courses. This makes it suitable for
small to meso-scale networks rather than networks on a genome-wide scale. The
complexity of the algorithm is quadratic in the number of variables and cubic
in the number of time points. The algorithm is validated on a recently
published Boolean network model of segment polarity development in Drosophila
melanogaster.Comment: 28 pages, 5 EPS figures, uses elsart.cl
- …