Miklós Bodanszky Award Lecture: Selective chalcogen chemistry to study protein science

In recent decades, chemical protein synthesis and the development of chemoselective reactions—including ligation reactions—have led to significant breakthroughs in protein science. Among them are a better understanding of protein structure‐function relationships, the study of protein posttranslational modifications, exploration of protein design, unnatural amino acid incorporation, and the study of therapeutic proteins and protein folding. Chalcogen chemistry, especially that of sulfur and selenium, is quite rich, and we have witnessed continuous progress in this field in recent years. In this short review, we will instead summarize three stories that we have recently presented on chalcogen chemistry and its impact on protein science, which was presented in the Miklós Bodanszky Award Lecture at the 35th European Peptide Society Meeting in Dublin, Ireland, 26 August 2018.     

Miklós Bodanszky Award Lecture: Advances in the selective targeting of protein phosphatase‐1 and phosphatase‐2A with peptides

Protein phosphatase‐1 and phosphatase‐2A are two ubiquitously expressed enzymes known to catalyze the majority of dephosphorylation reactions on serine and threonine inside cells. They play roles in most cellular processes and are tightly regulated by regulatory subunits in holoenzymes. Their misregulation and malfunction contribute to disease development and progression, such as in cancer, diabetes, viral infections, and neurological as well as heart diseases. Therefore, targeting these phosphatases for therapeutic use would be highly desirable; however, their complex regulation and high conservation of the active site have been major hurdles for selectively targeting them in the past. In the last decade, new approaches have been developed to overcome these hurdles and have strongly revived the field. I will focus here on peptide‐based approaches, which contributed to showing that these phosphatases can be targeted selectively and aided in rethinking the design of selective phosphatase modulators. Finally, I will give a perspective on www.depod.org , the human dephosphorylation database, and how it can aid phosphatase modulator design. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Peptide Science published by European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Revisione delle specie: Actinomyces albus,A. chromogenus,A. odorifer,A. thermophylus,A. viridis,A. viridochromogenes,A. hominis,A. innominatus

Riassunto Lo studio comprende una revisione critico-sperimentale della specie Actinomyces albus, della quale vengono considerati come sinonimi circa 30 nomi speeifici, fra i quale A. chromogenus, A. odorifer, A. thermophylus p.p.; della specie é data una diagnosi ed una particolareggiata descrizione.Sono inoltre studiate le specie A. viridis, (= A. viridochromogenus) e A. innominatus, n. nomen. Quest'ultima é preceduta da una breve discussione sulla specie A. homini.

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Summary Twenty-six strains of Actinomyces albus are studied redescribed from morphological, cultural and biochemical standpoints. Many biological activities of A. chromogenus, A. odorifer and A. thermophilus are in common with other species of the same genus, so that they may be considered for sub-specific, (not specific) differentiation. A discussion on A. farcinicus, A. albidoflavus and A. aureus has been originated from mislabeling as A. albus; the group including the two last named species (flavus group) must be revised. A few strains classified A. farcinicus are in no doubt true A. albus, but this real specific entity remains to be revised from Nocard's strain. A. viridis, for the first time described by Lombardo-Pellegrino, has been redescribed three times as a new species under the same binomial, and the fourth as A. viridochromogenes. A. hominis Bostroem is an uncorrect determination for the species originally described by Waksmann and Curtiss, and it is renamed A. innominatus, the binomial A. (Streptothrix) hominis Auct. being a nomen ambiguum. In conclusion, 30 bionmial are appended in sinonimy to A. albus, including Cladothrix dichotoma Macé (1888) non Cohn, G. invulnerabilis Acosta et G. Rossi, C. odorifera Rullm. Actinomyces chromogenus Gasp., A. thermophilus Auct., p.p., A. (Streptothrix) Sanninii (Cif.) Westerd., A. Almquisti Duché, A. Gougeroti Duché, and so on.

     

Hybridization and recombination in the yeasts Pichia alni, P. bimundalis, P. finlandica, P. glucozyma, P. henricii, P. hostii, P. minuta var. nonfermentans, P. muscicola

A collection of genetic lines in 8 reproductively isolated Pichia species has been created. The above data have permitted realizing intraspecific hybridization and showing normal meiotic segregation of auxotrophic markers.