13 research outputs found
Internal force field in selected proteins
The fuzzy oil drop model suggests that the tertiary conformation of a protein – particularly a globular one - can
be likened to a spherical micelle. During the folding process, hydrophilic residues are exposed on the surface,
while hydrophobic residues are retained inside the protein. The resulting hydrophobicity distribution can be
mathematically modeled as a 3D Gaussian. The fuzzy oil
drop model is strikingly effective in explaining the properties of type II antifreeze proteins and fast-folding proteins, as well as a vast majority of autonomous protein
domains. This work aims to determine whether similar
mechanisms apply to other types of nonbonding interactions. Our analysis indicates that electrostatic and van
der Waals forces do not conform to the Gaussian pattern. The study involves a reference protein (titin) which
shows a high agreement between the observed distribution of hydrophobicity and the theoretical (Gaussian)
distribution, a selection of amyloid structures derived
from the Protein Data Bank, as well as transthyretin - a
protein known for its susceptibility to amyloid transformation
Different synergy in amyloids and biologically active forms of proteins
Protein structure is the result of the high synergy of all amino acids present in the protein.
This synergy is the result of an overall strategy for adapting a specific protein structure. It is a
compromise between two trends: The optimization of non-binding interactions and the directing of
the folding process by an external force field, whose source is the water environment. The geometric
parameters of the structural form of the polypeptide chain in the form of a local radius of curvature
that is dependent on the orientation of adjacent peptide bond planes (result of the respective Phi and
Psi rotation) allow for a comparative analysis of protein structures. Certain levels of their geometry
are the criteria for comparison. In particular, they can be used to assess the differences between
the structural form of biologically active proteins and their amyloid forms. On the other hand,
the application of the fuzzy oil drop model allows the assessment of the role of amino acids in the
construction of tertiary structure through their participation in the construction of a hydrophobic core.
The combination of these two models-the geometric structure of the backbone and the determining
of the participation in the construction of the tertiary structure that is applied for the comparative
analysis of biologically active and amyloid forms - is presented
The structure of amyloid versus the structure of globular proteins
The issue of changing the structure of globular proteins into an amyloid form is in the focus
of researchers' attention. Numerous experimental studies are carried out, and mathematical models
to define the essence of amyloid transformation are sought. The present work focuses on the issue of
the hydrophobic core structure in amyloids. The form of ordering the hydrophobic core in globular
proteins is described by a 3D Gaussian distribution analog to the distribution of hydrophobicity in a
spherical micelle. Amyloid fibril is a ribbon-like micelle made up of numerous individual chains,
each representing a flat structure. The distribution of hydrophobicity within a single chain included
in the fibril describes the 2D Gaussian distribution. Such a description expresses the location of polar
residues on a circle with a center with a high level of hydrophobicity. The presence of this type of
order in the amyloid forms available in Preotin Data Bank (PDB) (both in proto- and superfibrils) is
demonstrated in the present work. In this system, it can be assumed that the amyloid transformation
is a chain transition from 3D Gauss ordering to 2D Gauss ordering. This means changing the globular
structure to a ribbon-like structure. This observation can provide a simple mathematical model for
simulating the amyloid transformation of proteins
Alternative Hydrophobic Core in Proteins - The Effect of Specific Synergy
Proteins with a high degree of sequence similarity representing different structures provide a key to understand how protein sequence codes for 3D structure. An analysis using the fuzzy oil drop model was carried out on two pairs of proteins with different secondary structures and with high sequence identities. It has been shown that distributions of hydrophobicity for these proteins are approximated well using single 3D Gaussian function. In other words, the similar sequences fold into different 3D structures, however, alternative structures also have symmetric and monocentric hydrophobic cores. It should be noted that a significant change in the helical to beta-structured form in the N-terminal section takes places in the fragment much preceding the location of the mutated regions. It can be concluded that the final structure is the result of a complicated synergy effect in which the whole chain participates simultaneously
The status of edge strands in ferredoxin-like fold
There is an opinion in professional literature that edge-strands in β-sheet are critical to the processes of amyloid transformation. Propagation of fibrillar forms mainly takes place on the basis of β-sheet type interactions. In many proteins, the edge strands represent only a partially matched form to the β-sheet. Therefore, the edge-strand takes slightly distorted forms. The assessment of the level of arrangement can be carried out based on studying the secondary structure as well as the structure of the hydrophobic core. For this purpose, a fuzzy oil drop model was used to determine the contribution of each fragment with a specific secondary structure to the construction of the system being the effect of a certain synergy, which results in the construction of a hydrophobic core. Studying the participation of β-sheets edge fragments in the hydrophobic core construction is the subject of the current analysis. Statuses of these edge fragments in β-sheets in ferredoxin-like folds are treated as factors that disturb the symmetry of the system
Filamentous aggregates of tau proteins fulfil standard amyloid criteria provided by the fuzzy oil drop (FOD) model
Abnormal filamentous aggregates that are formed by tangled tau protein turn out to be classic amyloid fibrils, meeting all the criteria defined under the fuzzy oil drop model in the context of amyloid characterization. The model recognizes amyloids as linear structures where local hydrophobicity minima and maxima propagate in an alternating manner along the fibril’s long axis. This distribution of hydrophobicity differs greatly from the classic monocentric hydrophobic core observed in globular proteins. Rather than becoming a globule, the amyloid instead forms a ribbonlike (or cylindrical) structure
Implementation of selected statistical methods for the analysis of microarray data
W celu zrozumienia danych uzyskanych z mikromacierzy potrzebne jest zastosowanie szeregu różnych metod statystycznych. Pozwoli to na lepszą interpretacje uzyskanych wyników, odczytanie zależności wśród badanego zestawu danych oraz ilustracje uzyskanych wyników. Dlatego praca ma na celu przegląd wybranych metod statystycznych służących analizie danych uzyskiwanych w oparciu o technologię mikromacierzową oraz ich implementacje w środowisku R.In order to understand data acquired from microarrays variousstatistical methods are needed. It will allow for better interpretation ofobtained study results, finding dependencies in the data set, as well asillustrating the results. This is why this thesis focuses on selectedstatistical methods that are used in analyzing data acquired with the helpof microarray technology, as well as implementing them in the Renvironment