Ab initio structure of human seminal plasma prostatic inhibin gives significant insight into its biological functions

<div>Understanding the nature of the interatomic interactions present within the pores of metal-organic frameworks</div><div>is critical in order to design and utilize advanced materials</div><div>with desirable applications. In ZIF-8 and its cobalt analogue</div><div>ZIF-67, the imidazolate methyl-groups, which point directly</div><div>into the void space, have been shown to freely rotate - even</div><div>down to cryogenic temperatures. Using a combination of ex-</div><div>perimental terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, low-frequency</div><div>Raman spectroscopy, and state-of-the-art ab initio simulations,</div><div>the methyl-rotor dynamics in ZIF-8 and ZIF-67 are fully charac-</div><div>terized within the context of a quantum-mechanical hindered-</div><div>rotor model. The results lend insight into the fundamental</div><div>origins of the experimentally observed methyl-rotor dynamics,</div><div>and provide valuable insight into the nature of the weak inter-</div><div>actions present within this important class of materials.</div>

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Human Epididymis Protein 4 Quantification and Interaction Network Analysis in Seminal Plasma

Protein and Peptide Letters ◽

10.2174/0929866526666190327124919 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 26 (6) ◽

pp. 458-465

Author(s):

Krishna Kant ◽

Anil K. Tomar ◽

Pankaj Sharma ◽

Bishwajit Kundu ◽

Sarman Singh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Seminal Plasma ◽

Binding Proteins ◽

Interaction Network ◽

Prostatic Acid Phosphatase ◽

Regulatory Subunit ◽

Plasma Samples ◽

Human Seminal Plasma ◽

Human Epididymis Protein 4 ◽

Human Epididymis ◽

Core Proteins

Background: A well-known tissue marker of ovarian cancer, Human Epididymis protein 4 (HE4) is the member of whey acidic four-disulfide core proteins family. Purified from human seminal plasma and characterized as a cross-class protease inhibitor, HE4 was proposed to shield spermatozoa against proteolytic factors. However, its exact biological function is unknown. Proteins usually function in conjunction with other proteins in the system and thus, identification and analysis of protein networks become essential to decode protein functions. Objective: This study was performed to explore possible role(s) of HE4 in reproductive physiology via identification of its interactome in human seminal plasma. Methods: HE4 binding proteins were identified through co-immunoprecipitation and MALDITOF/ MS analysis. Also, HE4 was quantified by ELISA in fertile and infertile human seminal plasma samples. Results: Ten HE4 binding proteins were identified, viz. protein phosphatase 1 regulatory subunit 21, protein kinase CLK3, Ankyrin repeat domain-containing protein36A, prostatic acid phosphatase, KIF5C, Spectrin repeat containing, nuclear envelope 1, isoform CRAf, tropomyosin 4, vezatin, utrophin and fibronectin1. This interaction network suggests that HE4 plays multiple roles, specifically in capacitation, sperm motility and maturation. Further, HE4 concentration in human seminal plasma samples was determined by Elisa. Higher HE4 expression in normozoospermia compared to azoospermia and asthenozoospermia affirms its importance in fertilization. Conclusion: Based on identified interactome, it is plausible that HE4 plays a crucial role in fertilization, specifically in sperm maturation, motility and capacitation.

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Detecting and Profiling Endogenous RNA G-Quadruplexes in the Human Transcriptome

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms22158012 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (15) ◽

pp. 8012

Author(s):

Rongxin Zhang ◽

Yajun Liu ◽

Xingxing Zhang ◽

Ke Xiao ◽

Yue Hou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bioinformatics Analysis ◽

Biological Functions ◽

Bioinformatics Pipeline ◽

The Real ◽

Human Transcriptome ◽

Gene Sets ◽

Nucleic Acid Structures ◽

Regulatory Functions ◽

Whole Transcriptome ◽

Insight Into

G-quadruplexes are the non-canonical nucleic acid structures that are preferentially formed in G-rich regions. This structure has been shown to be associated with many biological functions. Regardless of the broad efforts on DNA G-quadruplexes, we still have limited knowledge on RNA G-quadruplexes, especially in a transcriptome-wide manner. Herein, by integrating the DMS-seq and the bioinformatics pipeline, we profiled and depicted the RNA G-quadruplexes in the human transcriptome. The genes that contain RNA G-quadruplexes in their specific regions are significantly related to immune pathways and the COVID-19-related gene sets. Bioinformatics analysis reveals the potential regulatory functions of G-quadruplexes on miRNA targeting at the scale of the whole transcriptome. In addition, the G-quadruplexes are depleted in the putative, not the real, PAS-strong poly(A) sites, which may weaken the possibility of such sites being the real cleaved sites. In brief, our study provides insight into the potential function of RNA G-quadruplexes in post-transcription.

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Endogenous Retroviruses Drive Resistance and Promotion of Exogenous Retroviral Homologs

Annual Review of Animal Biosciences ◽

10.1146/annurev-animal-050620-101416 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Elliott S. Chiu ◽

Sue VandeWoude

Keyword(s):

Immune Modulation ◽

Viral Infections ◽

Viral Evolution ◽

Endogenous Retroviruses ◽

Annual Review ◽

Publication Date ◽

Biological Functions ◽

Self Tolerance ◽

Vertebrate Hosts ◽

Insight Into

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) serve as markers of ancient viral infections and provide invaluable insight into host and viral evolution. ERVs have been exapted to assist in performing basic biological functions, including placentation, immune modulation, and oncogenesis. A subset of ERVs share high nucleotide similarity to circulating horizontally transmitted exogenous retrovirus (XRV) progenitors. In these cases, ERV–XRV interactions have been documented and include ( a) recombination to result in ERV–XRV chimeras, ( b) ERV induction of immune self-tolerance to XRV antigens, ( c) ERV antigen interference with XRV receptor binding, and ( d) interactions resulting in both enhancement and restriction of XRV infections. Whereas the mechanisms governing recombination and immune self-tolerance have been partially determined, enhancement and restriction of XRV infection are virus specific and only partially understood. This review summarizes interactions between six unique ERV–XRV pairs, highlighting important ERV biological functions and potential evolutionary histories in vertebrate hosts. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Animal Biosciences, Volume 9 is February 16, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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