Mechanosensing in plants is thought to be governed by sensory complexes containing a Ca2+-permeable, mechanosensitive channel. The plasma membrane protein MCA1 and its paralog MCA2 from Arabidopsis thaliana are involved in mechanical stress-induced Ca2+ influx and are thus considered as candidates for such channels or their regulators. Both MCA1 and MCA2 were functionally expressed in Sf9 cells using a baculovirus system in order to elucidate their molecular natures. Because of the abundance of protein in these cells, MCA2 was chosen for purification. Purified MCA2 in a detergent-solubilized state formed a tetramer, which was confirmed by chemical cross-linking. Single-particle analysis of cryo-electron microscope images was performed to depict the overall shape of the purified protein. The three-dimensional structure of MCA2 was reconstructed at a resolution of 26 Å from 5,500 particles and appears to comprise a small transmembrane region and large cytoplasmic region.
Denaturation of protein is a biological phenomenon in which a protein loses its native shape due to the breaking or disruption of
weak chemical bonds and interactions which makes the protein biologically inactive. It is the process where properly folded proteins
formed under physiological conditions is transformed to an unfolded protein under non-physiological conditions. The process of denaturation of proteins can occur under different physiological and chemical conditions. Denaturation can be reversible or
irreversible. Denaturation mostly takes places when the protein is subjected under external elements like inorganic solutes, organic
solvents, acids or bases, and by heat or irradiations. The denaturing agents or denaturants widely used in protein folding or unfolding
experiments are urea and guanidinium chloride (GdmCl). In denaturation, the alpha-helix structure and beta sheets structure of the native protein are disrupted and unfolds it into any random shape. We can also say that denaturation occurs due to the disruption of bonding interactions which are responsible for secondary structure and the tertiary structure of the proteins.
The design of any antagonist or inhibitor for any enzyme requires the knowledge of structurefunction relationship of the protein and the optimum conformational states for maximum and minimum activities. Furthermore, designing of the inhibitors or drugs against an enzyme becomes easier if there is information available about various well characterized intermediate conformation of the molecule. In vivo folding pathway of any recombinant protein is an important parameter for understanding its ability to fold by itself inside the cell, which always dictates the downstream processing for the purification. In the present manuscript we have discussed about the in vivo and in vitro folding, and structure-function relationship of Dihydrofolate reductase enzyme. This is an important enzyme involved in the cell growth and hence inhibition or inactivation of the enzyme may reduce the cell growth. It was observed that the equilibrium unfolding transition of DHFR proceeds through the formation of intermediates having higher exposed surface hydrophobicity, unchanged enzymatic activity and minimum changes in the secondary structural elements. Because of enhanced surface hydrophobicity, and unchanged enzymatic activity, these intermediates could be a nice target for designing drugs against DHFR.
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