Mx proteins are large GTPases, which play a pivotal role in the interferon type I-mediated response against viral infections. The human MxA inhibits the replication of several RNA viruses and is organized in oligomeric structures. Using two different experimental approaches, the mammalian two-hybrid system and an interaction dependent nuclear translocation approach, three domains in the carboxy...

We used Monte Carlo simulations and biophysical measurements to study the interaction of NKCS, a derivative of the antimicrobial peptide NK-2, with a 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (POPE) membrane. The simulations showed that NKCS adsorbed on the membrane surface and the dominant conformation featured two amphipathic helices connected by a hinge region. We designed two mu...

Apolipoprotein glutamine I (apoLP-Gln-I or apoA-I) is the major protein constituent of the human plasma high density lipoproteins. Cleavage of this protein with cyanogen bromide yields four fragments, designated in the order of elution from Bio-Gel P-30 as CNBr I, II, III, and IV. In the first paper in this series, the amino acid sequence of the NH2-terminal fragment, CNBr II, is reported. In t...

A group of proteins with cell membrane remodeling properties is also able to change dramatically the morphology of liposomes in vitro, frequently inducing tubulation. For a number of these proteins, the mechanism by which this effect is exerted has been proposed to be the embedding of amphipathic helices into the lipid bilayer. For proteins presenting BAR domains, removal of an N-terminal amphi...

The homotypic fusion of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes is mediated by atlastin (ATL), which consists of an N-terminal cytosolic domain containing a GTPase module and a three-helix bundle followed by two transmembrane (TM) segments and a C-terminal tail (CT). Fusion depends on a GTP hydrolysis-induced conformational change in the cytosolic domain. Here, we show that the CT and TM segments ...

The recruitment of corepressors by DNA-bound repressors is likely to be a critical rate-limiting step in the transcriptional regulation of many genes. An excellent paradigm for such an interaction is the association of the basic helix-loop-helix zipper protein Mad1 with the corepressor mSin3A. When bound together, the Sin3 interaction domain (SID) of Mad1 forms extensive hydrophobic contacts wi...

Membrane curvature sensors have diverse structures and chemistries, suggesting that they might have the intrinsic capacity to discriminate between different types of vesicles in cells. In this paper, we compare the in vitro and in vivo membrane-binding properties of two curvature sensors that form very different amphipathic helices: the amphipathic lipid-packing sensor (ALPS) motif of a Golgi v...

BAR (Bin/Amphiphysin/Rvs) domains and amphipathic alpha-helices (AHs) are believed to be sensors of membrane curvature thus facilitating the assembly of protein complexes on curved membranes. Here, we used quantitative fluorescence microscopy to compare the binding of both motifs on single nanosized liposomes of different diameters and therefore membrane curvature. Characterization of members o...

In this paper, we study B-focal curves of biharmonic B -general helices according to Bishop frame in the Heisenberg group Heis   Finally, we characterize the B-focal curves of biharmonic B- general helices in terms of Bishop frame in the Heisenberg group Heis