Search results

Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) is involved in endometrial menstrual breakdown, regulation of vascularization and the inflammatory response. MMP-2 contains a number of distinct domains: a prodomain that is cleaved upon activation; a catalytic domain containing the zinc binding site; a fibronectin like domain believed to have a role in substrate targeting; and a carboxyl terminal (hemopexin like) domain containing 2 N-linked glycosylation. The MMP-2 can degrade an extensive array of substrates including type IV, V, VII and X collagens as well as gelatin type I. In addition, MMP-2 interacts with THBS2, TIMP2, Thrombospondin 1, CCL7 and TIMP4. MMP-2 autocatalytic cleavage in the C-terminal generates the anti-angiogenic peptide, PEX. This process seems to be made possible by binding integrinv/beta3. Defects in the MMP-2 are the cause of Torg-Winchester syndrome (TWS), aka multicentric osteolysis nodulosis and arthropathy (MONA).

EDF1 controls endothelial cell differentiation. EDF1 has a role as a bridging protein that interconnects regulatory proteins and the basal transcriptional machinery, thus modulating the transcription of genes that take part in endothelial differentiation. EDF1 binds calmodulin through its IQ domain and controls nitric oxide synthase activity via calmodulin sequestration in the cytoplasm. EDF1 is localized in adult liver, heart, adipose tissues, intestine and pancreas.

Adiponectin (247amino acids) is adipocyte complement-related protein of 30 kDa and exclusively expressed in differentiated adipocytes. APM-1 (Acrp30 Mouse) is a member of the complement factor C1q family and consists of signal sequence, Non-homologous sequence, collagen domain and domain (gAcrp30).
Adiponectin expression is reduced in a variety of obese and insulin-resistant states in human, monkeys and mice. Injection of Acrp30 Mouse (247aa) or gAcrp30 (globular domain) lowers serum glucose and free fatty acid level in mice.

Protein Kinase, AMP-Activated, Alpha 1 (PRKAA1) is a protein coding gene which is the catalytic subunit of AMPK. AMPK is an energy sensor protein kinase which regulates cellular energy metabolism. AMPK adjusts the activity of various important metabolic enzymes by direct phosphorylation. Among its other features, AMPK protects cells from stresses that cause ATP depletion by switching off ATP-consuming biosynthetic pathways.

UBE2W receives ubiquitin from the E1 complex and catalyzes its covalent attachment to other proteins. In vitro, UBE2W catalyzes monoubiquitination and 'Lys-11'-linked polyubiquitination. UBE2W is broadly expressed, particularly at highest levels in the testis.

Chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 2 (CXCL2) is a small cytokine belonging to the CXC chemokine family that is also called macrophage inflammatory protein 2-alpha (MIP2-alpha), Growth-regulated protein beta (Gro-beta) and Gro oncogene-2 (Gro-2). CXCL2 is 90% identical in amino acid sequence as a related chemokine, CXCL1. This chemokine is secreted by monocytes and macrophages and is chemotactic for polymorphonuclear leukocytes and hematopoietic stem cells. The gene for CXCL2 is located on human chromosome 4 in a cluster of other CXC chemokines. CXCL2 mobilizes cells by interacting with a cell surface chemokine receptor called CXCR2.

Glycogenin-1 (GYG1) is an enzyme involved in glycogen biosynthesis. GYG1 is the chief enzyme involved in glycogen polymerisation. Glycogenin-1 is vital for the function of self-glucosylates, using an inter-subunit mechanism, to form an oligosaccharide primer which acts as substrate for glycogen synthase. In addition, GYG1 has a role in regulating glycogen metabolism and the achievement of maximal glycogen levels in skeletal muscle. GYG1 mRNA and protein content and activity increase in the muscle during recovery from prolonged and exhaustive exercise. GYG1 is inactivated with glycogen catabolism which concurs with an increase in glycogenin gene expression as exercise and glycogenolysis advance. Glycogenin will remain covalently attached to the reducing end of the glycogen molecule.

Reticulocalbin 3 (RCN3) belongs to the CREC (cab45/reticulocalbin/ ERC45/calumenin) family. RCN3 contains 5 Arg-Xaa-Xaa-Arg motifs, which function as target sequences of SPCs (subtilisin-like proprotein convertases), which is a family of serine endoproteases that proteolytically activate proproteins. The synthesis of PACE4 is induced by association and coexpression with RCN3.

Cyclophilin-D is a member of the peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase (PPIase) family. PPIases catalyze the cis-trans isomerization of proline imidic peptide bonds in oligopeptides and speeds up the protein folding. Cyclophilin-D possess PPIase activity and binds to the immunosuppressant cyclosporin-A. Cyclophilin-D is very well known that its overexpression suppresses the apoptosis in cancer cell. Cyclophilin-D suppresses apoptotic cell death by the use of mitochondrial hexokinase-2 dependent mechanism in cancer cells.

DNA Cytosine-5--Methyltransferase 3-Like (DNMT3L) is a nuclear protein with similarity to DNA methyltransferases, but is not believed to act as a DNA methyltransferase since it doesn’t contain the amino acid residues needed for methyltransferase activity. Nevertheless, DNMT3L stimulates de novo methylation by DNA cytosine methyltransferase 3 alpha and is assumed to be required for the formation of maternal genomic imprints. DNMT3L also mediates transcriptional repression as a result of interaction with histone deacetylase 1. DNMT3L is a catalytically inactive regulatory factor of DNA methyltransferases, which is vital for the function of DNMT3A and DNMT3B. DNMT3L activates DNMT3A and DNMT3B by binding to their catalytic domain. Furthermore, DNMT3L accelerates the binding of DNA and AdoMet to the methyltransferases and dissociates from the complex after DNA binding to the methyltransferases.

5'-AMP-activated protein kinase subunit beta-1 (PRKAB1) hinders protein, carbohydrate and lipid biosynthesis, in addition to cell growth and proliferation. AMPK is a heterotrimer comprised of an alpha catalytic subunit, and non-catalytic beta and gamma subunits. AMPK acts via direct phosphorylation of metabolic enzymes, and longer-term effects by phosphorylation of transcription regulators. PRKAB1 is a regulator of cellular polarity by remodeling the actin cytoskeleton; most likely by indirectly activating myosin. Beta non-catalytic subunit acts as a scaffold on which the AMPK complex compiles, through its C-terminus that joins alpha (PRKAA1 or PRKAA2) and gamma subunits (PRKAG1, PRKAG2 or PRKAG3).

The secreted polypeptide noggin, encoded by the NOG gene, binds and inactivates members of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) superfamily signaling proteins, such as bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP4). By diffusing through extracellular matrices more efficiently than members of the TGF-beta superfamily, noggin may have a principal role in creating morphogenic gradients. Noggin appears to have pleiotropic effect, both early in development as well as in later stages. It was originally isolated from Xenopus based on its ability to restore normal dorsal-ventral body axis in embryos that had been artificially ventralized by UV treatment. The results of the mouse knockout of noggin suggest that it is involved in numerous developmental processes, such as neural tube fusion and joint formation. Recently, several dominant human NOG mutations in unrelated families with proximal symphalangism (SYM1) and multiple synostoses syndrome (SYNS1) were identified; both SYM1 and SYNS1 have multiple joint fusion as their principal feature, and map to the same region (17q22) as NOG. All NOG mutations altered evolutionarily conserved amino acid residues. The amino acid sequence of human noggin is highly homologous to that of Xenopus, rat and mouse.

Adiponectin, also known as Acrp30, AdipoQ and GBP-28, is a 244 amino acid protein, the product of the apM1 gene, which is physiologically active and specifically and highly expressed in adipose cells (Adipokine). Adiponectin is a part of the soluble defense collagen super family; it has a collagen-like domain structurally homologous with collagen VIII and X and complement factor C1q-like globular domain. APM-1 forms homotrimers, which are the building blocks for higher order complexes found circulating in serum.

NHP2L1 is a member of the ribosomal protein L7Ae family. NHP2L1 protein limited to the nucleus, primarily focused in the dense fibrillar component of the nucleolus. NHP2L1 directly binds to the 5' stem-loop of U4 snRNA and has a vital part in the late stage of spliceosome assembly, prior to step I of splicing catalysis.

Nudix Type Motif 4 (NUDT4) regulates the turnover of diphosphoinositol polyphosphates. The turnover of these high-energy diphosphoinositol polyphosphates exemplifies a molecular switching activity with significant regulatory consequences. Molecular switching by diphosphoinositol polyphosphates may be a factor in regulating intracellular trafficking.

PGAM1 is part of the phosphoglycerate mutase family. PGAM1 is an essential component of glucose and 2,3-BPGA (2,3-bisphosphoglycerate) metabolism and catalyzes the reversible reaction of 3-phosphoglycerate (3-PGA) to 2-phosphoglycerate (2-PGA) in the glycolytic pathway. PGAM1 is a dimeric enzyme containing, in different tissues, different proportions of a slow-migrating muscle (MM) isozyme, a fast-migrating brain (BB) isozyme, and a hybrid form (MB). PGAM1 mutations lead to muscle phosphoglycerate mutase deficiency, a.k.a. glycogen storage disease X.

Celiac disease is an enteropathy that is characterized by intestinal lesions of variable severity. Tissue-type transglutaminase (tTG) is believed to be the predominant autoantigen for celiac disease and the corresponding autoantibodies show higher sensitivity and specificity than anti-gliadin antibodies. Highly pure recombinant human tTG is now available to replace the traditionally used tTG fraction from guinea pig.
Tissue-type transglutaminase antigens have been specifically modified for improved handling: exchange of an active site amino acid eliminates the protein cross-linking activity of the enzyme, while maintaining the native three-dimensional structure and the enzyme's secondary GTPase activity. This engineering assures reproducible properties of the antigen preparations through the absence of variable and ill-defined covalent aggregates of tTG antigen and host cell proteins.

Ubiquitin-like modifier activating enzyme 5 (UBA5) is a member of the ubiquitin-activating E1 family and UBA5 subfamily. Ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like proteins are recognized as covalently conjugated to various cellular substrates by a three-step enzymatic pathway. The ubiquitin-activating enzyme (E1) has a vital role in the first step of ubiquitination pathway to activate ubiquitin or ubiquitin-like proteins. UBA5 activates an ubiquitin-like protein, ubiquitin-fold modifier 1 (Ufm1), by forming a high-energy thioester bond. UBA5 is located primarily in cytoplasm, while it generally localizes to the nucleus in presence of SUMO2.

WHSC2 (NELF-A) is a protein factor required for DRB-sensitive transcription. WHSC2 is one of the 5 components of the multisubunit NELF complex which cooperates with DSIF to repress RNA polymerase II elongation. The Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome is a multiple malformation syndrome characterized by mental and developmental defects resulting from a hemizygous deletion of the distal short arm of chromosome 4 (4p16.3).

MECP2 is the key modificator of eukaryotic genomes and has a crucial part in mammalian development.
Human proteins MECP2, MBD1, MBD2, MBD3, and MBD4 form a family of nuclear proteins linked by the existence in each of a methyl-CpG binding domain (MBD). Each one of these proteins, with the exception of MBD3, can bind specifically to methylated DNA. In addition, MECP2, MBD1 and MBD2 can inhibit transcription from methylated gene promoters. Unlike other MBD family members, MECP2 is X-linked and subject to X inactivation. MECP2 is expendable in stem cells, but is vital for embryonic development. MECP2 gene mutations are the cause of most cases of Rett syndrome, a progressive neurologic developmental disorder and one of the most common reasons of mental retardation in females.

Mammalian mitochondrial ribosomal proteins are encoded by nuclear genes and assist in protein synthesis within the mitochondrion. Mitochondrial ribosomes (mitoribosomes) consist of a small 28S subunit and a large 39S subunit (MRPL13 is a 39S subunit protein) and have an estimated 75% protein to rRNA composition compared to prokaryotic ribosomes, where this ratio is reversed. An additional difference between mammalian mitoribosomes and prokaryotic ribosomes is that the second contain a 5S rRNA. Among various species, the proteins comprising the mitoribosome differ greatly in sequence, and sometimes in biochemical properties, which prevents easy recognition by sequence homology.

Neuron-specificenolase also caled NSE is a glycolytic isoenzyme which is situated in central and peripheral neurons and neuroendocrine cells. Enolase-2 is released into the CSF when neural tissue is injured. Neoplasms derived from neural or neuroendocrine tissue release Enolase-2 into the blood. Enolase-2 is a useful substance that has been detected in patients with certain tumors, such as neuroblastoma, small cell lung cancer, medullary thyroid cancer, carcinoid tumors, pancreatic endocrine tumors, and melanoma. ENO2 is 1 of the 3 enolase isoenzymes found in mammals. ENO2 isoenzyme, is found in mature neurons and cells of neuronal origin. An exchange from alpha enolase to gamma enolase occurs in neural tissue during development in rats and primates.

Streptavidin is a tetrameric protein secreted by Streptomyces avidinii which binds firmly to biotin. Streptavidin is widely used in molecular biology through its unique high affinity for the vitamin biotin. The dissociation constant (Kd) of the biotin-streptavidin complex is about ~10-15 mol/L. The strong affinity recognition of biotin and biotinylated molecules has made streptavidin one of the most important components in diagnostics and laboratory kits. The streptavidin/biotin system has one of the biggest free energies of association of yet observed for noncovalent binding of a protein and small ligand in aqueous solution (K_assoc = 10**14). The complexes are also extremely stable over a wide range of temperature and pH.