Ribonuclease (RNase) A can be endowed with cytotoxic activity by enabling it to evade the cytosolic ribonuclease inhibitor protein (RI). Enhancing its conformational stability can increase further its cytotoxicity. Herein, the A4C/K41R/G88R/V118C variant of RNase A was created to integrate four individual changes that greatly decrease RI affinity (K41R/G88R) and increase conformational stabilit...

Force chains, the primary load-bearing structures in dense granular materials, rearrange in response to applied stresses and strains. These self-organized grain columns rely on contacts from weakly stressed grains for lateral support to maintain and find new stable states. However, the dynamics associated with the regulation of the topology of contacts and strong versus weak forces through such...

The Entropic Landscape Analysis was applied to the prion protein sequences of various mammals in order to detect potential sites of variants that would be responsible for the susceptibility of prion disease infection. Among familiar mammals, canines including dogs have been demonstrating strong resistance to prion diseases. Among the canine specific substitutions the entropic landscape analysis...

The belactosin A analog 2a, having the unnatural cis-cyclopropane structure instead of the trans-cyclopropane structure in belactosin A, is a much more potent proteasome inhibitor than belactosin A. However, its cell growth inhibitory effect is rather lower than that expected from its remarkable proteasome inhibitory effect, probably due to its instability under cellular conditions. We hypothes...

Force chains, the primary load-bearing structures in dense granular materials, rearrange in response to applied stresses and strains. These self-organized grain columns rely on contacts from weakly stressed grains for lateral support to maintain and find new stable states. However, the dynamics associated with the regulation of the topology of contacts and strong-versus-weak forces through such...