Yuya Asanomi

Design of Potent Inhibitors of Human RAD51 Recombinase Based on BRC Motifs of BRCA2 Protein: Modeling and Experimental Validation of a Chimera Peptide

We have previously shown that a 28-amino acid peptide derived from the BRC4 motif of BRCA2 tumor suppressor inhibits selectively human RAD51 recombinase (HsRad51). With the aim of designing better inhibitors for cancer treatment, we combined an in silico docking approach with in vitro biochemical testing to construct a highly efficient chimera peptide from eight existing human BRC motifs. We built a molecular model of all BRC motifs complexed with HsRad51 based on the crystal structure of the BRC4 motif-HsRad51 complex, computed the interaction energy of each residue in each BRC motif, and selected the best amino acid residue at each binding position. This analysis enabled us to propose four amino acid substitutions in the BRC4 motif. Three of these increased the inhibitory effect in vitro, and this effect was found to be additive. We thus obtained a peptide that is about 10 times more efficient in inhibiting HsRad51−ssDNA complex formation than the original peptide.

Drastic Effects on Fibril Formation of Amyloid-β Peptides by the Addition of Amino Acid Residue Units to the Termini

We report that the addition of amino acids to the amyloid peptide dramatically affected the structure and the rate of formation of amyloid fibrils. The attachment of three lysines to Abeta(10-35) gave the formation of remarkably long fibrils, while three glutamates resulted in a faster formation rate of the fibrils.