Hanudatta S. Atreya

Insulin-Like Growth Factor System in Cancer: Novel Targeted Therapies

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are essential for growth and survival that suppress apoptosis and promote cell cycle progression, angiogenesis, and metastatic activities in various cancers. The IGFs actions are mediated through the IGF-1 receptor that is involved in cell transformation induced by tumour. These effects depend on the bioavailability of IGFs, which is regulated by IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs). We describe here the role of the IGF system in cancer, proposing new strategies targeting this system. We have attempted to expand the general viewpoint on IGF-1R, its inhibitors, potential limitations of IGF-1R, antibodies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and IGFBP actions. This review discusses the emerging view that blocking IGF via IGFBP is a better option than blocking IGF receptors. This can lead to the development of novel cancer therapies.

Rapid NMR data collection

Rapid data collection is an area of intense research in biomolecular NMR spectroscopy, in particular for high-throughput structure determination in structural genomics. NMR data acquisition and processing protocols for rapidly obtaining high-dimensional spectral information aim at avoiding sampling limited data collection and are reviewed here with emphasis on G-matrix Fourier transform NMR spectroscopy.

Amide Functionalized Microporous Organic Polymer (Am-MOP) for Selective CO2 Sorption and Catalysis

We report the design and synthesis of an amide functionalized microporous organic polymer (Am-MOP) prepared from trimesic acid and p-phenylenediamine using thionyl chloride as a reagent. Polar amide (-CONH-) functional groups act as a linking unit between the node and spacer and constitute the pore wall of the continuous polymeric network. The strong covalent bonds between the building blocks (trimesic acid and p-phenylenediamine) through amide bond linkages provide high thermal and chemical stability to Am-MOP. The presence of a highly polar pore surface allows selective CO2 uptake at 195 K over other gases such as N2, Ar, and O2. The CO2 molecule interacts with amide functional groups via Lewis acid-base type interactions as demonstrated through DFT calculations. Furthermore, for the first time Am-MOP with basic functional groups has been exploited for the Knoevenagel condensation reaction between aldehydes and active methylene compounds. Availability of a large number of catalytic sites per volume and confined microporosity gives enhanced catalytic efficiency and high selectivity for small substrate molecules.

NMR studies of preimplantation embryo metabolism in human assisted reproductive techniques: a new biomarker for assessment of embryo implantation potential.

There has been growing interest in understanding energy metabolism in human embryos generated using assisted reproductive techniques (ART) for improving the overall success rate of the method. Using NMR spectroscopy as a noninvasive tool, we studied human embryo metabolism to identify specific biomarkers to assess the quality of embryos for their implantation potential. The study was based on estimation of pyruvate, lactate and alanine levels in the growth medium, ISM1, used in the culture of embryos. An NMR study involving 127 embryos from 48 couples revealed that embryos transferred on Day 3 (after 72 h in vitro culture) with successful implantation (pregnancy) exhibited significantly (p < 10‐5) lower pyruvate/alanine ratios compared to those that failed to implant. Lactate levels in media were similar for all embryos. This implies that in addition to lactate production, successfully implanted embryos use pyruvate to produce alanine and other cellular functions. While pyruvate and alanine individually have been used as biomarkers, the present study highlights the potential of combining them to provide a single parameter that correlates strongly with implantation potential. Copyright

A fast NMR method for resonance assignments: application to metabolomics.

We present a new method for rapid NMR data acquisition and assignments applicable to unlabeled (12C) or 13C-labeled biomolecules/organic molecules in general and metabolomics in particular. The method involves the acquisition of three two dimensional (2D) NMR spectra simultaneously using a dual receiver system. The three spectra, namely: (1) G-matrix Fourier transform (GFT) (3,2)D [13C, 1H] HSQC–TOCSY, (2) 2D 1H–1H TOCSY and (3) 2D 13C–1H HETCOR are acquired in a single experiment and provide mutually complementary information to completely assign individual metabolites in a mixture. The GFT (3,2)D [13C, 1H] HSQC–TOCSY provides 3D correlations in a reduced dimensionality manner facilitating high resolution and unambiguous assignments. The experiments were applied for complete 1H and 13C assignments of a mixture of 21 unlabeled metabolites corresponding to a medium used in assisted reproductive technology. Taken together, the experiments provide time gain of order of magnitudes compared to the conventional data acquisition methods and can be combined with other fast NMR techniques such as non-uniform sampling and covariance spectroscopy. This provides new avenues for using multiple receivers and projection NMR techniques for high-throughput approaches in metabolomics.

Identification of C-terminal neighbours of amino acid residues without an aliphatic 13Cγ as an aid to NMR assignments in proteins

We propose a methodology that uses GFT (3,2)D CB(CACO)NNH experiment to rapidly collect the data and readily identify six amino acid residue types (Ala, Asn, Asp, Cys, Gly and Ser) in any given protein. Further, the experiment can distinguish the redox state of Cys residues. The proposed experiment in its two forms will have wide range of applications in resonance assignment strategies and structure determination of proteins.

Spontaneous self-assembly of designed cyclic dipeptide (Phg-Phg) into two-dimensional nano- and mesosheets

In this study, we present the spontaneous self-assembly of designed simplest aromatic cyclic dipeptides of (l-Phg-l-Phg) and (d-Phg-l-Phg) to form highly stable two-dimensional (2D) nano- and mesosheets with large lateral surface area. Various microscopy data revealed that the morphology of 2D mesosheets resembles the hierarchical natural materials with layered structure. Solution and solid-state NMR studies on cyclo(l-Phg-l-Phg) revealed the presence of strong (N–H–O) hydrogen-bonded molecular chains supported by aromatic π–π interactions to form 2D mesosheets. Interestingly, cyclo(d-Phg-l-Phg) self-assembles to form single-crystalline as well as non-crystalline 2D rhomboid sheets with large lateral dimension. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the stacking of (N–H–O) hydrogen-bonded molecular layers along c-axis supported by aromatic π–π interactions. The thermogravimetric analysis shows two transitions with overall high thermal stability attributed to layered hierarchy found in 2D mesosheets.

NMR solution structure of Thermotoga maritima protein TM1509 reveals a Zn-metalloprotease-like tertiary structure.

The 150-residue protein TM1509 is encoded in gene YF09_THEMA of Thermotoga maritima. TM1509 has so far no functional annotation and belongs to protein family UPF0054 (PFAM accession number: PF02130) which contains at least 146 members. The NMR structure of TM1509 reveals an α+β fold comprising a four stranded β-sheet with topology A(↑), B(↑), D(↑), C(↓) as well as five α-helices I–V. The structures of most members of family PF02130 can be reliably constructed using the TM1509 NMR structure, demonstrating high leverage for exploration of fold space. A multiple sequence alignment of TM1509 with homologues of family UPF0054 shows that three polypeptide segments, as well as a putative zinc-binding consensus motif HGXLHLXGYDH located at the C-terminal end of α-helix IV, are highly conserved. The spatial arrangement of the three His residues of this UPF0054 consensus motif is similar to the arrangement found for the His residues in the HEXXHXXGXXH zinc-binding consensus motif of matrix metallo-proteases (MMPs). Moreover, the other conserved polypeptide segments form a large cavity which encloses the putative Zn-binding pocket and might confer specificity during catalysis. However, TM1509 and the other members of the UPF0054 family do not have the crucial Glu residue in position 2 of the MMP consensus motif. Intriguingly, the TM1509 structure indicates that the Asp in the UPF0054 consensus motif (Asp 111 in TM1509) may overtake the catalytic role of the Glu. This suggests that protein family UPF0054 might contain members of a hitherto uncharacterized class of metalloproteases.

Enhanced stability and activity of an antimicrobial peptide in conjugation with silver nanoparticle

The conjugation of nanoparticles with antimicrobial peptides (AMP) is emerging as a promising route to achieve superior antimicrobial activity. However, the nature of peptide-nanoparticle interactions in these systems remains unclear. This study describes a system consisting of a cysteine containing antimicrobial peptide conjugated with silver nanoparticles, in which the two components exhibit a dynamic interaction resulting in a significantly enhanced stability and biological activity compared to that of the individual components. This was investigated using NMR spectroscopy in conjunction with other biophysical techniques. Using fluorescence assisted cell sorting and membrane mimics we carried out a quantitative comparison of the activity of the AMP-nanoparticle system and the free peptide. Taken together, the study provides new insights into nanoparticle-AMP interactions at a molecular level and brings out the factors that will be useful for consideration while designing new conjugates with enhanced functionality.

NMR structure of the 18 kDa protein CC1736 from Caulobacter crescentus identifies a member of the START domain superfamily and suggests residues mediating substrate specificity.

Yang Shen, Sharon Goldsmith-Fischman, Hanudatta S. Atreya, Thomas Acton, LiChung Ma, Rong Xiao, Barry Honig, Gaetano T. Montelione, and Thomas Szyperski* Department of Chemistry, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, Buffalo, New York Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, New York Center of Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine and Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey Northeast Structural Genomics Consortium