Nanodisc films are a promising approach to study the equilibrium conformation of membrane bound proteins in native-like environment. Here we compare nanodisc formation for NADPH-dependent cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (POR) using two different scaffold proteins, MSP1D1 and MSP1E3D1. Despite the increased stability of POR loaded MSP1E3D1 based nanodiscs in comparison to MSP1D1 based nanodiscs, ...

Changes in neuronal activity modify the structure of dendritic spines and alter the function and protein composition of synapses. Regulated degradation of postsynaptic density (PSD) proteins by the ubiquitin-proteasome system is believed to play an important role in activity-dependent synaptic remodeling. Stimulating neuronal activity in vitro and in vivo induces the ubiquitination and degradat...

The sympathetic nervous system regulates cardiac output by activating adrenergic receptors (ARs) in cardiac myocytes. The predominant cardiac ARs, β(1)- and β(2)AR, are structurally similar but mediate distinct signaling responses. Scaffold protein-mediated compartmentalization of ARs into discrete, multiprotein complexes has been proposed to dictate differential signaling responses. To test th...

Bacteriophage phi 29 of Bacillus subtilis packages its double-stranded DNA into a preformed prohead during morphogenesis. The prohead is composed of the scaffold protein gp7, the capsid protein pg8, the portal protein gp10, and the dispensable head fiber protein gp8.5. Our objective was to elucidate the phi 29 prohead assembly pathway and to define the factors that determine prohead shape and s...

Scaffold proteins of the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway recruit protein kinase cascades to confer context-specificity to cellular signaling. Varying concentrations of scaffold proteins determine different aspects of signaling outputs. However, regulatory mechanisms of scaffold proteins are poorly understood. Sur8, a scaffold protein in the Ras-MAPK pathway, is known to be invol...

The growing field of biotechnology is in constant need of proteins that can function as recognition tools for separational, analytical and therapeutic purposes. Different molecular engineering approaches are applied on natural proteins in order to create variants with desired properties. This thesis is based on five original papers that deal with selection, characterisation and application of n...

Scaffold proteins organize signaling proteins into pathways and are often viewed as passive assembly platforms. We found that the Ste5 scaffold has a more active role in the yeast mating pathway: A fragment of Ste5 allosterically activated autophosphorylation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase Fus3. The resulting form of Fus3 is partially active-it is phosphorylated on only one of two key ...

Regulated exocytosis by secretory organelles is important for malaria parasite invasion and egress. Many parasite effector proteins, including perforins, adhesins, and proteases, are extensively proteolytically processed both pre- and postexocytosis. Here we report the multistage antiplasmodial activity of the aspartic protease inhibitor hydroxyl-ethyl-amine-based scaffold compound 49c. This sc...

Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are involved in a variety of intracellular events such as gene expression, cell proliferation, and programmed cell death. MAPKs are activated by dual phosphorylation on threonine and tyrosine residues through sequential activation of protein kinases. Recent studies have shown that the protein kinases involved in MAPK signal transductions might be organi...

Graphene oxide (GO) consisting of a carbon monolayer has been widely investigated for tissue engineering platforms because of its unique properties. For this study, we fabricated a GO-applied scaffold and assessed the cellular and tissue behaviors in the scaffold. A preclinical test was conducted to ascertain whether the GO scaffold promoted bone induction in dog tooth extraction sockets. For t...