Structural information has been a major concern for biological and pharmaceutical studies for its intimate relationship to the function of a protein. Three-dimensional representation of the positions of protein atoms is utilized among many structural information repositories that have been published. The reliability of the torsional system, which represents the native processes of structural change in the structural analysis, was partially proven with previous structural alignment studies. Here, a web server providing structural information and analysis based on the backbone torsional representation of a protein structure is newly introduced. The web server offers functions of secondary structure database search, secondary structure calculation, and pair-wise protein structure comparison, based on a backbone torsion angle representation system. Application of the implementation in pair-wise structural alignment showed highly accurate results. The information derived from this web server might be further utilized in the field of ab initio protein structure modeling or protein homology-related analyses.
Databases, Protein ; Protein Structure, Secondary

Twenty-seven ERF transcription factor family genes were isolated from Arnebia euchroma, with an average size of 1,010 bp, each gene encoded a 212 amino acids on average. The gene structure and expression of physicochemical properties, subcellular localization, signal peptides, senior structural domains and conservative forecasting, and analysis of A. euchroma were studied comparing with ERF gene gi261363612 of Lithospermum erythrorhizon, and phylogenetic analysis of A. euchroma ERF family was carried out. The results showed the existence of three conserved domains in this family, the senior structure based on random coil and it clustered into CBF/DREB and ERF subfamilies.
Amino Acid Motifs ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Boraginaceae ; genetics ; Cloning, Molecular ; Computational Biology ; Genome, Plant ; genetics ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Multigene Family ; Phylogeny ; Plant Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; Plants, Medicinal ; Protein Structure, Secondary ; Protein Structure, Tertiary ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Transcription Factors ; chemistry ; genetics ; Transcriptome

Databases, Protein ; Protein Structure, Secondary ; Proteins ; chemistry

The PE_PGRS family of proteins unique to mycobacteria is demonstrated to contain multiple calcium-binding and glycine-rich sequence motifs GGXGXD/NXUX. This sequence repeat constitutes a calcium-binding parallel beta-roll or parallel beta-helix structure and is found in RTX toxins secreted by many Gram-negative bacteria. It is predicted that the highly homologous PE PGRS proteins containing multiple copies of the nona-peptide motif could fold into similar calcium-binding structures. The implication of the predicted calcium-binding property of PE PGRS proteins in the light of macrophage-pathogen interaction and pathogenesis is presented.
Amino Acid Motifs ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Antigens, Bacterial ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Bacterial Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Base Sequence ; Binding Sites ; genetics ; Calcium ; metabolism ; DNA, Bacterial ; genetics ; Membrane Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Models, Molecular ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; genetics ; metabolism ; Protein Structure, Secondary

MRG proteins are conserved during evolution in fungi, flies, mammals and plants, and they can exhibit diversified functions. The animal MRGs were found to form various complexes to activate gene expression. Plant MRG1/2 and MRG702 were reported to be involved in the regulation of flowering time via binding to H3K36me3-marked flowering genes. Herein, we determined the crystal structure of MRG701 chromodomain (MRG701). MRG701 forms a novel dimerization fold both in crystal and in solution. Moreover, we found that the dimerization of MRG chromodomains is conserved in green plants. Our findings may provide new insights into the mechanism of MRGs in regulation of gene expression in green plants.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Arabidopsis ; genetics ; metabolism ; Arabidopsis Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Binding Sites ; Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cloning, Molecular ; Crystallography, X-Ray ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Gene Expression ; Histones ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Models, Molecular ; Oryza ; genetics ; metabolism ; Peptides ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Protein Binding ; Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs ; Protein Isoforms ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Protein Multimerization ; Protein Structure, Secondary ; Recombinant Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Sequence Alignment ; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid ; Viridiplantae ; genetics ; metabolism

Pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 component subunit beta-1 (PDHB-1) is a gene encoding the β-subunit of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, which plays an important role in fruit acid accumulation. The aim of this study was to investigate the evolution characteristics of apple PDHB-1 family and its expression in apples with different acid contents. Bioinformatics analysis was performed using databases including NCBI, Pfam and software including ClustalX, MEGA, and TBtools. By combining titratable acid content determination and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), the expression of this family genes in the peel and pulp of apple 'Asda' and 'Chengji No.1' with different acid content were obtained, respectively. The family members were mainly located in chloroplast, cytoplasm and mitochondria. α-helix and random coil were the main factors for the formation of secondary structure in this family. Tissue-specific expression profiles showed that the expression of most members were higher in fruit than in other tissues. qRT-PCR results showed that the expression profile of most members was consistent with the profile of titratable acid contents. In the peel, the expression levels of 14 members in 'Asda' apples with high acid content were significantly higher than that in 'Chengji No.1' apples with low acid content, where the expression difference of MdPDHB1-15 was the most significant. In the pulp, the expression levels of 17 members in 'Asda' apples were significantly higher than that in 'Chengji No.1' apples, where MdPDHB1-01 was the most highly expressed. It was predicted that PDHB-1 gene family in apple plays an important role in the regulation of fruit acidity.
Malus/metabolism* ; Fruit/genetics* ; Protein Structure, Secondary

Id (Inhibitor of Differentiation) proteins belong to a family of transcriptional modulators that are characterized by a helix loop helix (HLH) region but lack the basic amino acid domain. Id proteins are known to interact with basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors and function as their negative regulators. The negative role of Id proteins has been well demonstrated in muscle development and some in neuronal cells. In this study, we investigated the effect of Id on the function of BETA2/NeuroD, a bHLH transcription factor responsible for neuron and endocrine cell specific gene expression. cDNAs of several Id isoforms were isolated by yeast two-hybrid system using the bHLH domain of E47, a ubiquitous bHLH partner as a bait. Id proteins expressed in COS M6 cells, were found in both cytosolic and nuclear fractions. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay showed that coexpression of Id2 proteins inhibited BETA2/ NeuroD binding to its target sequence, E-box. Id2 inhibited E-box mediated gene expression in a dose dependent manner in BETA2/NeuroD expressing HIT cells. Id coexpressed with BETA2/NeuroD in HeLa cells, inhibited the stimulatory activity of BETA2/NeuroD. These results suggest that Id proteins may negatively regulate tissue specific gene expression induced by BETA2/NeuroD in neuroendocrine cells and the inhibitory role of Id proteins during differentiation may be conserved in various tissues.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Base Sequence ; Binding Sites ; Cells, Cultured ; DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics/*metabolism ; E-Box Elements ; Gene Expression Regulation/physiology ; Helix-Loop-Helix Motifs ; Human ; Islets of Langerhans/cytology/metabolism ; Mice ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Nerve Tissue Proteins/genetics/*metabolism ; Neurons/cytology/metabolism ; Organ Specificity ; Transcription Factors/genetics/*metabolism ; Two-Hybrid System Techniques

This paper proposes a method based on quaternion for characterization a helix of proteins. The method defines the parameter called Quaternion Helix Axis Spherical Distance (QHASD) on the basis of mapping protein Cα frames' helical axis onto a unit sphere, and uses QHASD to characterize the a helix of the protein secondary structure. Application of this method has been verified based on the PDBselect database, with an a helix characterization accuracy of 91.7%. This method possesses significant advantages of high detection accuracy, low computation and clear geometric significance.
Algorithms ; Databases, Protein ; Models, Molecular ; Protein Structure, Secondary ; Proteins ; chemistry

To study the effect of physiological conditions on spidroins, we analyzed NTR1SR2CT module secondary structure, aggregation and silk-formation influenced by different salts (in different concentration intervals). According to the full-length Araneus ventricosus MiSp sequence, NTR1SR2CT module was constructed and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3), and the recombinant proteins were purified by denaturation method mediated by 8 mol/L urea. Random coil and helix are the main secondary structures of NTR1SR2CT and could be induced into beta-sheet by drying natively and lyophilization, where methanol can be used as a promoter. Furthermore, potassium and phosphate cations can cause significant NTR1SR2CT protein aggregation and silk-formation. The results could be a basis for the determination of silk-formation mechanism, and also useful for industrialized generation of high performance spider silk-like fibers.
Animals ; Fibroins ; chemistry ; Protein Structure, Secondary ; Salts ; chemistry ; Spiders

There are at least three conserved protein folds shared by ion channel-targeted neurotoxins and antimicrobial defensins, including cysteine-stabilized α-helix and β-sheet fold (CSαβ), inhibitor cystine knot fold (ICK) and β-defensin fold (BDF). Based on a combined data of sequences, structures and functions, it has been proposed that these neurotoxins could originate from related ancient antimicrobial defensins by neofunctionalization. This provides an ideal system to study how a novel function emerged from a conserved structural scaffold during evolution. The elucidation of functional novelty of proteins not only has great significance in evolutionary biology but also will be helpful in guiding rational molecular design. This review describes recent progresses in origin of neurotoxins, focusing on the three conserved protein scaffolds.
Defensins ; chemistry ; Evolution, Molecular ; Neurotoxins ; chemistry ; Protein Structure, Secondary