Odorant binding proteins (OBPs) transport hydrophobic odor molecules across the sensillar lymph to trigger a neuronal response. Herein, the Minus-C OBP (DhelOBP21) was characterized from Dastarcus helophoroides, the most important natural parasitic enemy insect that targets Monochamus alternatus. Homology modeling and molecular docking were conducted on the interaction between DhelOBP21 and 17 ...

Both turn sequence and interstrand hydrophobic side-chain–sidechain interaction have been suggested to be important determinants of -hairpin stability. However, their roles in controlling the folding dynamics of -hairpins have not been clearly determined. Herein, we investigated the structural stability and folding kinetics of a series of tryptophan zippers by static IR and CD spectroscopies an...

By a number of measures, alanine is poised at the threshold between those amino acids that promote the membrane integration of transmembrane alpha-helices and those that do not. We have measured the preference of alanine to partition into the lipid-water interface region over the central acyl chain region of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane both by its ability to promote the formation of...

We present an overview of the recent progress that has been made in understanding the origin of hydrophobic interactions. We discuss the different character of the solvation behaviour of apolar solutes at small and large length scales. We emphasize that the crossover in the solvation behaviour arises from a collective effect, which means that implicit solvent models should be used with care. We...

Kinetic hydrophobic measurements were performed by confronting 40 mutans streptococci from thirty 10- to 20-year-old patients with 200 ml hexadecane (Sigma). Fourteen patients had high dental caries risk (Group A), dmft + DMFT > 5 with 3 or more active caries, and 16 had low dental caries risk (Group B), dmft + DMFT < 3 without active caries. Twenty bacteria from Group A and 20 bacteria from Gr...