Assembly and Function

With remarkable accuracy, Democritus in the fifth century B.C. set the stage for modem chemistry. His atomic theory of matter, which he formulated without experimental verification, still stands, more or less intact, and encapsulates the profound truth that nature s stunning wealth boils down to atoms and molecules. As science uncovers the mysteries of the world around us, we stand ever more in awe of nature s ingenious molecular designs and biological systems nucleic acids, saccharides, proteins, and secondary metabolites are four classes of wondrous molecules that nature synthesizes with remarkable ease, and uses with admirable precision in the assembly and function of living systems. 

The expansion of our knowledge of the structure and function of Na,K-ATPase is reflected in a rapid succession of reviews on Na,K-ATPase genes and regulation of expression [17], subunit assembly and functional maturation [20], the isozymes of Na,K-ATPase [18], and the stability of a subunit isoforms during evolution [21], physiological aspects and regulation of Na,K-ATPase [22], reconstitution and cation exchange [23], chemical modification [24], and occlusion of cations [25]. Other valuable sources are the review articles [26] and recent developments [27] reported at the International Na,K-pump Conference in September 1990. 

Figure 1.6 Schematic of the main stages of sensor assembly and functioning, demonstrated by an immunoglobulin test. (Reprinted with permission from Ref [28]. 1999 American Chemical Society.)...

Giese, K., Kingsley, C., Kirshner, J.R., and Grosschedl, R. (1995) Assembly and function of a TCRu enhancer complex is dependent on LEF-l-induced DNA bending and multiple protein-protein interactions. Genes Dev. 9, 995-1008. 

The mechanism of action of Catharanthus alkaloids undoubtedly relates to their effect on tubulin aggregation and consequent microtubule assembly and function. As microtubular function is intracellular, the alkaloids have to enter cells and remain within them to be effective. 

In this chapter, we review the current knowledge of the structure, assembly and function of the 20S proteasome and its regulators in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. 

Class 2 includes those munitions that have become lost or discarded during military operations or transport. Major quantities of ordnance are lost when ships are sunk or blow up. When munition storage areas are attacked, some munitions are ejected to substantial distances. These munitions may be fully assembled and functional, as when an aircraft ejects them. Others may be incomplete, likely unfuzed. 

Brittle bone disease, or osteogenesis imperfecta (01), is caused by mutations or absence of one of the genes encoding type I collagen chains, which interferes with assembly and function of the triple helix. 

Deamer, D. W., Harang-Mahon, E., and Bosco, G. (1994). Self-assembly and function of primitive membrane structures. In Early Life on Earth. Nobel Symposium No. 84, ed. S. Bengston. Columbia University Press, pp. 107-123. 

Chebolu, S. and Daniell, H. (2009). Chloroplast-derived vaccine antigens and biopharmaceuticals expression, folding, assembly, and functionality. Curr. 

A functional uricase was obtained by expression in E. coli of a soybean N-35 cDNA driven by the bacterial lacZ promoter (Suzuki Verma, 1991). The uricase activity was mainly found in the cytoplasmic fraction of E. coli and had the same pH optimum and apparent Km values as in the nodules. That N-35 is able to assemble into a functional, tetrameric holoenzyme in E. coli indicates that post-translational modifications, or the presence of peroxisomes, is not essential for its proper assembly and function in this organism. However, N-35 is not active and does not accumulate to any significant levels when it is expressed in transgenic tobacco under the control of the CaMV-35S promoter (our unpublished data). 

It is evident that specific residue-related features observed in the rod domain of one particular IF chain type are frequently not observed in the same place (if at all) in the other chain types and, of course, the large differences in head and tail structure and sequence between chain types preclude identical roles from occurring there as well. The highly specialized sequence characteristics thus define unique structural assemblies and functions, while still maintaining a high degree of structural uniformity, particularly in the manner of rod domain assembly. Even in this case, small but important differences in the An, A22, and A12 modes occur. Distinct IF structures have been identified for (1) unoxidized trichocyte keratin and epidermal keratin (2) oxidized trichocyte keratin (3) Type III and IV IF proteins and (4) the nuclear lam ins. 

Zawel, L. and Reinberg, D. (1995) Common themes in assembly and function of eukaryotic transcription complexes. Annu. Rev. Biochem., 64, 533-561. 

Makoto Fujita Cairns, Australia Self-assembly and Function of Metal-linked Macrocyclic and Cage-like Molecular Frameworks... 

Tracy PB, Eide LL, Mann KG. Human prothrombinase complex assembly and function on isolated peripheral blood cell populations,] Biol Chem 1985 260 21 19-2124. 

Mineralization is a biological process as cells are intimately involved in almost all aspects. The basic question that arises from the fact that the mineralization process itself occurs in a confined space is how remote the cellular control is from the active sites of mineralization. It can be assumed that the more remote the control is, the more know-how is built into the macromolecules that need to self-assemble and function, and the greater dependence there is on exerting control through the microenvironment of mineralization. 

Haenggi T, Fritschi J-M. 2006. Role of dystrophin and utro-phin for assembly and function of the dystrophin glycoprotein complex in non-muscle tissue. Cell Mol Life Sci 63 1614-1631. 

Graham, L. A., Brandt, U., Sargent, J. S., and Trumpower, B. L., 1992, Mutational analysis of assembly and function of the iron-suUur protein of the cytochrome fcc, complex in saccharomyces cerevisiae, J. Bioenerg. Biomembr. 25 245n257. 

The primary aims of mutagenesis are to identify those amino acid residues that control the assembly and functioning of the Mn4Cai Ox clnster and the reactivity of D1 Tyrz 161. 

A specialized cell-matrix contact point, which is stracturaUy distinct from focal adhesion complexes. See Linder, S. and Aepfelbacher, M., Podo-somes adhesion hot-spots of invasive cells. Trends Cell Biol. 13, 376-385, 2003 McNiver, M.A., Baldassarre, M., and Buccione, R., The role of dynamin in the assembly and function of podosomes and invadopodia. Front. Biosci. 9, 1944-1953, 2004 Linder, S., and Kopp, R, Podosomes at a glance, J. Cell Sci. 118, 2079-2082, 2005. 

The reconstitution of bacterial ribosomal subunits from the separated rRNAs and proteins, first announced in 1968, provides a potent tool to investigate such essential aspects of ribosome structure and evolution as the subunits assembly pathway [92,93], the locations and neighbourhoods of the subunit proteins [94,95], the roles of the individual proteins in both assembly and function [92,93,96], and the degree of exchangeability of ribosomal components both within and across domain boundaries [97,98]. 

McKsyBS, AnnisDS, HondaS, et al. Molecularrequirementsfor assembly and function of a minimized human integrin alphallbbeta3. J Biol Chem 19% 271 30544-30547. 

---