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Function of Magnesium Ions in the Formation of Biologically-Active Nucleic Acids Structures
Espinoza Herrera, Shirly Josefina ; Štěpánek, Josef (advisor) ; Mašek, Vlastimil (referee) ; Setnička, Vladimír (referee)
ESPINOZA HERRERA S.J. - DOCTORAL THESIS - FUNCTION OF MAGNESIUM IONS IN THE FORMATION OF BIOLOGICALLY-ACTIVE NUCLEIC ACIDS STRUCTURES ____________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Interaction of magnesium ions, the divalent ions with the highest concentration inside living cells, with the key biomolecules of nucleic acids was studied with aim to find out structural details of the interaction mechanism and effect of the magnesium ions presence on the nucleic-acid structure and structural transitions. Raman spectroscopy was chosen as the main experimental method, some complementary measurements of UV absorption spectra were also performed. Basic analyses of the spectral series obtained as a function of temperature and/or for various concentrations of Mg2+ ions were done by means of factor analysis. Where possible the factor analysis outputs were used for fits of appropriate thermodynamic equations. For the studies, various nucleic-acid molecular models were employed, in particular complementary RNA homopolynucleotides polyA and polyU, DNA homopolynucleotides polydA and polydT and RNA 14-mer oligonucleotide representing the apical hairpin of the TAR segment of HIV-1 genomic RNA. We have confirmed via Raman spectroscopy that magnesium ions added to a solution of polyA-polyU...
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Study of protein structure and dynamics by means of optical spectroscopy
Pazderka, Tomáš ; Kopecký, Vladimír (advisor) ; Kaminský, Jakub (referee) ; Setnička, Vladimír (referee)
Title: Study of protein structure and dynamics by means of optical spectroscopy Author: Tomáš Pazderka Institute: Institute of Physics of Charles University Supervisor: RNDr. Vladimír Kopecký, Ph.D., Institute of Physics of Charles University Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to improve understanding of protein structure and dynamics and extend experimental setup and data processing for such stud- ies. We focus on the extension of experimental feasability of vibrational optical activity (VOA). We have demonstrated a usability of intensity calibration in the field of Raman optical activity. Advantages for measurements on multiple instru- ments and/or using different configurations have been shown. A new instrumental setup has been developed for microsampling measurements of vibrational circular dichroism spectra with a spatial resolution of 1 mm. Using this technique, spatial inhomogeneities in a sample of protein fibrils have been observed. Model com- pounds for amide nonplanarity have been investigated utilizing several methods of optical spectroscopy and key spectral features for determination of amide non- planarity and the absolute configuration have been identified. A comprehensive set of Raman spectra of proteinogenic amino acids has been measured. Sample concentration dependencies and consequent...
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Biologically important non-canonical structures of nucleic acids in complexes with cationic porphyrins
Palacký, Jan ; Mojzeš, Peter (advisor) ; Setnička, Vladimír (referee) ; Víglaský, Viktor (referee)
Guanine quadruplexes are a class of unusual nucleic acids conformations based on stacked planar guanine tetrads stabilized via Hoogsteen pairing and cation coordination. They are implicated in numerous cellular processes including replication, recombination or transcription. Guanine quadruplexes are widespread within the human genome but their occurrence is highest in the single stranded guanine-rich regions at telomeres. Telomeric guanine quadruplexes are gaining growing interest due to their ability to inhibit the activity of the telomerase enzyme, which is responsible for the proliferation of tumor cells. Specifically, we investigated the conformational polymorphism of the human core telomeric sequence G3(TTAG3)3 conditioned by the concentration of DNA, metal cations (K+ , Na+ ) and/or annealing. Raman spectroscopy was employed as the primary method for this study because, unlike common spectroscopic methods, it allowed us to monitor the quadruplex structure at very high DNA concentrations mimicking molecular crowding conditions in the cell. We demonstrate that the G3(TTAG3)3 quadruplex switch between the antiparallel and parallel strand alignment as a function of nucleoside and potassium concentration. In addition, we demonstrate that cationic porphyrins can be used as sensitive probes of the quadruplex...
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Study of protein structure and dynamics by means of optical spectroscopy
Pazderka, Tomáš ; Kopecký, Vladimír (advisor) ; Kaminský, Jakub (referee) ; Setnička, Vladimír (referee)
Title: Study of protein structure and dynamics by means of optical spectroscopy Author: Tomáš Pazderka Institute: Institute of Physics of Charles University Supervisor: RNDr. Vladimír Kopecký, Ph.D., Institute of Physics of Charles University Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to improve understanding of protein structure and dynamics and extend experimental setup and data processing for such stud- ies. We focus on the extension of experimental feasability of vibrational optical activity (VOA). We have demonstrated a usability of intensity calibration in the field of Raman optical activity. Advantages for measurements on multiple instru- ments and/or using different configurations have been shown. A new instrumental setup has been developed for microsampling measurements of vibrational circular dichroism spectra with a spatial resolution of 1 mm. Using this technique, spatial inhomogeneities in a sample of protein fibrils have been observed. Model com- pounds for amide nonplanarity have been investigated utilizing several methods of optical spectroscopy and key spectral features for determination of amide non- planarity and the absolute configuration have been identified. A comprehensive set of Raman spectra of proteinogenic amino acids has been measured. Sample concentration dependencies and consequent...
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Theory and application of optical spectroscopic methods for structural molecular studies
Hudecová, Jana ; Bouř, Petr (advisor) ; Setnička, Vladimír (referee) ; Valenta, Jan (referee)
Title: Theory and application of optical spectroscopic methods for structural molecular studies Author: RNDr. Jana Hudecová Department / Institute: Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry Supervisor of the doctoral thesis: Prof. RNDr. Petr Bouř, DSc. Abstract: In the thesis, methods of the chiroptical spectroscopy (Raman optical activity, electronic and vibrational circular dichroism, circularly polarized luminescence) were utilized to obtain information on structure of chiral molecules. In four main projects, we focused on improving accuracy of quantum-chemical computations used for interpretation of experimental spectra by including anharmonic effects, solvent, molecular flexibility and dynamics. In the first project, the normal mode geometry optimization method was investigated and a suitable frequency limit providing realistic vibrational band broadening was found. Then the ability of harmonic and anharmonic computational approaches to describe the C-H stretching vibrations was explored for three terpene molecules and four spectroscopic methods. In the third project, we estimated the role of dispersion forces and different organic solvents for conformer equilibria and dynamics of cyclic dipeptides containing tryptophan. In the last project, circularly polarized luminiscence spectra, which were...
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Structure and dynamics of peptides and proteins in solution: application of Raman optical activity
Profant, Václav ; Baumruk, Vladimír (advisor) ; Kapitán, Josef (referee) ; Setnička, Vladimír (referee)
The thesis inquires the specific and advantageous applications of Raman optical activity (ROA) in wide range of diverse structural and conformational studies of biomolecules and other biologically important molecules. Our investigation was focused on several interconnected topics covering the fields of methodology, basic and applied research. The combination of experimental and theoretical approaches facilitated deeper understanding of studied phenomena, and allowed for the effects of solute-solvent interactions. High-quality spectra of model molecules in the C-H stretching region, acquired as a result of successful extension of ROA measurements to the whole region of fundamental molecular vibrations, enabled verification and further development of methods for ROA spectra simulations encompassing anharmonic corrections. Utilizing spirodilactams with highly nonplanar amide groups, we have traced the specific ROA spectral manifestations of amide nonplanarity. In case of antimicrobial peptide lasiocepsine, we have successfully simulated ROA signals of S-S stretching vibrations which contrary to current belief do not seem to reflect sense of the S-S group torsion. In larger molecular systems, we have better understood the process of the formation of stable polyproline II conformation and proved that ROA may...
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Development and applications of molecular dynamics for molecular spectroscopy
Kessler, Jiří ; Bouř, Petr (advisor) ; Bludský, Ota (referee) ; Setnička, Vladimír (referee)
This Thesis deals with simulations of chiroptical spectra using a combination of molecular dynamics and quantum chemistry. Molecular dynamics was used to explore conformational behaviour of studied systems (proteins), quantum chemistry for calculation of spectral prop- erties. The Quantum chemical methods are limited to relatively small systems. We overcome this problem mostly by a fragmentation of studied systems, when smaller, computationally feasible, fragments are created and used for the quantum chemical calculations. Calculated properties were then transferred to the big molecule. Vibrational Optical Activity (VOA) spectra of poly-L-glutamic acid fibrils (PLGA), insulin prefibrillar form and native globular proteins were studied. The simulated spectra provided satisfactory agreement with the experiment and were used for its interpretation. Experimental Vibrational Circular Dichroism (VCD) spectra of poly-L-glutamic acid fibrils were only qualitatively reproduced by the simulation. We could reproduce the major amide I band and a smaller negative band associated with the side chain carboxyl group. Our simulation procedure was then extended to a set of globular proteins and their Raman Optical Activity (ROA) spectra. Here we achieved an exceptional precision. For example, we were able to reproduce...
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Biologically important non-canonical structures of nucleic acids in complexes with cationic porphyrins
Palacký, Jan ; Mojzeš, Peter (advisor) ; Setnička, Vladimír (referee) ; Víglaský, Viktor (referee)
Guanine quadruplexes are a class of unusual nucleic acids conformations based on stacked planar guanine tetrads stabilized via Hoogsteen pairing and cation coordination. They are implicated in numerous cellular processes including replication, recombination or transcription. Guanine quadruplexes are widespread within the human genome but their occurrence is highest in the single stranded guanine-rich regions at telomeres. Telomeric guanine quadruplexes are gaining growing interest due to their ability to inhibit the activity of the telomerase enzyme, which is responsible for the proliferation of tumor cells. Specifically, we investigated the conformational polymorphism of the human core telomeric sequence G3(TTAG3)3 conditioned by the concentration of DNA, metal cations (K+ , Na+ ) and/or annealing. Raman spectroscopy was employed as the primary method for this study because, unlike common spectroscopic methods, it allowed us to monitor the quadruplex structure at very high DNA concentrations mimicking molecular crowding conditions in the cell. We demonstrate that the G3(TTAG3)3 quadruplex switch between the antiparallel and parallel strand alignment as a function of nucleoside and potassium concentration. In addition, we demonstrate that cationic porphyrins can be used as sensitive probes of the quadruplex...
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Function of Magnesium Ions in the Formation of Biologically-Active Nucleic Acids Structures
Espinoza Herrera, Shirly Josefina ; Štěpánek, Josef (advisor) ; Mašek, Vlastimil (referee) ; Setnička, Vladimír (referee)
ESPINOZA HERRERA S.J. - DOCTORAL THESIS - FUNCTION OF MAGNESIUM IONS IN THE FORMATION OF BIOLOGICALLY-ACTIVE NUCLEIC ACIDS STRUCTURES ____________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Interaction of magnesium ions, the divalent ions with the highest concentration inside living cells, with the key biomolecules of nucleic acids was studied with aim to find out structural details of the interaction mechanism and effect of the magnesium ions presence on the nucleic-acid structure and structural transitions. Raman spectroscopy was chosen as the main experimental method, some complementary measurements of UV absorption spectra were also performed. Basic analyses of the spectral series obtained as a function of temperature and/or for various concentrations of Mg2+ ions were done by means of factor analysis. Where possible the factor analysis outputs were used for fits of appropriate thermodynamic equations. For the studies, various nucleic-acid molecular models were employed, in particular complementary RNA homopolynucleotides polyA and polyU, DNA homopolynucleotides polydA and polydT and RNA 14-mer oligonucleotide representing the apical hairpin of the TAR segment of HIV-1 genomic RNA. We have confirmed via Raman spectroscopy that magnesium ions added to a solution of polyA-polyU...
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