Why is the Land Green and the Ocean Red?

Fossil evidence suggests that during the Paleozoic Era, green algae dominated eu-karyotic phytoplankton taxa. One branch of this originally aquatic clade colonized terrestrial ecosystems to form what would become a green hegemony on land – with few exceptions, terrestrial plants are green. In contrast to land plants, con-temporary oceanic phytoplankton are represented by relatively few species that are phylogenetically deeply branching. Since the Triassic Period, the major taxa of eukaryotic phytoplankton preserved in the fossil record have been dominated by organisms containing plastids derived from the “red”, chlorophyll c containing al-gal clade. The ocean became “red ” sometime during the Triassic or early Jurassic periods. The evolutionary success of the red line in Mesozoic and younger oceans appears related to changing oceanic conditions. In this chapter, we briefly explore the evolutionary processes and ecological traits that potentially led to the success of the red line in the oceans

Interrogating Regulatory Mechanisms in Signaling Proteins by Allosteric Inhibitors and Activators: A Dynamic View Through the Lens of Residue Interaction Networks

Computational studies of allosteric interactions have witnessed a recent renaissance fueled by the growing interest in modeling of the complex molecular assemblies and biological networks. Allosteric interactions in protein structures allow for molecular communication in signal transduction networks. In this chapter, we discuss recent developments in understanding of allosteric mechanisms and interactions of protein systems, particularly in the context of structural, functional, and computational studies of allosteric inhibitors and activators. Computational and experimental approaches and advances in understanding allosteric regulatory mechanisms are reviewed to provide a systematic and critical view of the current progress in the development of allosteric modulators and highlight most challenging questions in the field. The abundance and diversity of genetic, structural, and biochemical data underlies the complexity of mechanisms by which targeted and personalized drugs can combat mutational profiles in protein kinases. Structural and computational studies of protein kinases have generated in recent decade significant insights that allowed leveraging knowledge about conformational diversity and allosteric regulation of protein kinases in the design and discovery of novel kinase drugs. We discuss recent developments in understanding multilayered allosteric regulatory machinery of protein kinases and provide a systematic view of the current state in understanding molecular basis of allostery mediated by kinase inhibitors and activators. In conclusion, we highlight the current status and future prospects of computational biology approaches in bridging the basic science of protein kinases with the discovery of anticancer therapies.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/scs_books/1049/thumbnail.jp