Interaction of the mu-opioid receptor with GPR177 (Wntless) inhibits Wnt secretion: potential implications for opioid dependence

Background  

Opioid agonist drugs produce analgesia. However, long-term exposure to opioid agonists may lead to opioid dependence. The analgesic and addictive properties of opioid agonist drugs are mediated primarily via the mu-opioid receptor (MOR). Opioid agonists appear to alter neuronal morphology in key brain regions implicated in the development of opioid dependence. However, the precise role of the MOR in the development of these neuronal alterations remains elusive. We hypothesize that identifying and characterizing novel MOR interacting proteins (MORIPs) may help to elucidate the underlying mechanisms involved in the development of opioid dependence.     

Tightening of knots in proteins

We perform theoretical studies of stretching of 20 proteins with knots within a coarse-grained model. The knot's ends are found to jump to well defined sequential locations that are associated with sharp turns, whereas in homopolymers they diffuse around and eventually slide off. The waiting times of the jumps are increasingly stochastic as the temperature is raised. Knots typically do not return to their native locations when a protein is released after stretching.     

Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of nanopatterning with multivalent inks

A coarse-grained molecular dynamics (MD) model is developed to study the multivalent, or multisite, binding of small functionalized dendrimer molecules to beta-cyclodextrin-terminated self-assembled monolayers, the so-called "molecular printboards" used to print "ink" molecules on surfaces with a high degree of positional control and specificity. Some current and future bionanotechnology applications are in the creation of nanoparticle assemblies, directed protein assembly, platforms for biosensing, and cell:surface attachment. The coarse-grained model allows us to probe up to microsecond timescales and model ink diffusion, crucial for the application of the printboard in, for example, medical diagnostics. Recent all-atom MD simulations identified and quantified the molecular strain limiting the stability of nanopatterns created with small dendrimer inks, and explained the different patterns obtained experimentally with different dendrimer inks. In the present work, the all-atom simulations are "scaled up" to longer timescales via coarse graining, without incurring significant additional computational expense, and, crucially, without significant loss in atom-scale detail, the coarse-grained MD simulations yielding properties similar to those obtained from the all-atom simulations. The anchoring of the ink molecules to the monolayer is of multivalent nature and the degree of multivalency shows a sharp dependence on temperature, control of temperature thus providing a further operational "switch" for directed molecular assembly. The computational protocol developed can, in principle, be extended to model any multivalent assembly, for example, virus-cell complexation.     

Proteins in a shear flow

The conformational dynamics of a single protein molecule in a shear flow is investigated using Brownian dynamics simulations. A structure-based coarse grained model of a protein is used. We consider two proteins, ubiquitin and integrin, and find that at moderate shear rates they unfold through a sequence of metastable states-a pattern which is distinct from a smooth unraveling found in homopolymers. Full unfolding occurs only at very large shear rates. Furthermore, the hydrodynamic interactions between the amino acids are shown to hinder the shear flow unfolding. The characteristics of the unfolding process depend on whether a protein is anchored or not, and if it is, on the choice of an anchoring point.     

Simple models of proteins with repulsive non-native contacts

The Go model is extended to the case when the non-native contact energies may be either attractive or repulsive. The folding temperature is found to increase with the energy of non-native contacts. The repulsive non-native contact energies may lead to folding at T=0 for some unusual two-dimensional sequences and to reduction in complexity of disconnectivity graphs for local energy minima. Received 10 May 1999 and Received in final form 13 October 1999     

High precision delta(17)O isotope measurements of oxygen from silicates and other oxides: method and applications

The use of infrared laser-assisted fluorination to release oxygen from milligram quantities of silicates or other oxide mineral grains is a well-established technique. However, relatively few studies have reported the optimisation of this procedure for oxygen-17 isotope measurements. We describe here details of an analytical system using infrared (10 μm) laser-assisted fluorination, in conjunction with a dual inlet mass spectrometer of high resolving power ( approximately 250) to provide (17)O and (18)O oxygen isotope measurements from 0.5-2 mg of silicates or other oxide mineral grains. Respective precisions (1) of typically 0.08 and 0.04 per thousand are obtained for the complete analytical procedure. Departures from the mass-dependent oxygen isotope fractionation line are quantified by Delta(17)O; our precision (1) of such measurements on individual samples is shown to be +/-0.024 per thousand. In turn, this permits the offset between parallel, mass-dependent fractionation lines to be characterised to substantially greater precision than has been possible hitherto. Application of this system to investigate the (17)O versus (18)O relationship for numerous terrestrial whole-rock and mineral samples, of diverse geological origins and age, indicates that the complete data set may be described by a single, mass-dependent fractionation line of slope 0.5244+/- 0.00038 (standard error). Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Protein folding in a force clamp

Kinetics of folding of a protein held in a force clamp are compared to an unconstrained folding. The comparison is made within a simple topology-based dynamical model of ubiquitin. We demonstrate that the experimentally observed variations in the end-to-end distance reflect microscopic events during folding. However, the folding scenarios in and out of the force clamp are distinct.     

Test of bell’s inequality using the one-atom micromaser

We examine a local realist bound in the case of a one-atom micromaser. It is shown that such a bound is violated using a simplified treatment of the micromaser. We consider the effect of dissipation in a proposed experiment with the real micromaser. It is seen that the magnitude of violation of a Bell-type inequality depends significantly on the cavity parameters.