Browsing by Author "Fuhrmann, Jakob"

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    Chemical and Biological Methods to Detect Post-Translational Modifications of Arginine
    Slade, Daniel J.; Subramanian, Venkataraman; Fuhrmann, Jakob; Thompson, Paul R. (2014-02)
    Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) of protein embedded arginines are increasingly being recognized as playing an important role in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic biology, and it is now clear that these PTMs modulate a number of cellular processes including DNA binding, gene transcription, protein-protein interactions, immune system activation, and proteolysis. There are currently four known enzymatic PTMs of arginine ( i.e., citrullination, methylation, phosphorylation, ADP-ribosylation), and two non-enzymatic PTMs (i.e., carbonylation, advanced glycation end-products (AGEs)). Enzymatic modification of arginine is tightly controlled during normal cellular function, and can be drastically altered in response to various second messengers and in different disease states. Non-enzymatic arginine modifications are associated with a loss of metabolite regulation during normal human aging. This abnormally large number of modifications to a single amino acid creates a diverse set of structural perturbations that can lead to altered biological responses. While the biological role of methylation has been the most extensively characterized of the arginine PTMs, recent advances have shown that the once obscure modification known as citrullination is involved in the onset and progression of inflammatory diseases and cancer. This review will highlight the reported arginine PTMs and their methods of detection, with a focus on new chemical methods to detect protein citrullination.
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    Protein Arginine Deiminase 2 Binds Calcium in an Ordered Fashion: Implications for Inhibitor Design
    Slade, Daniel J.; Fang, Pengfei; Dreyton, Christina J.; Zhang, Ying; Fuhrmann, Jakob; Rempel, Don; Bax, Benjamin D.; Coonrod, Scott A.; Lewis, Huw D.; Guo, Min; Gross, Michael L.; Thompson, Paul R. (American Chemical Society, 2015-04-01)
    Protein arginine deiminases (PADs) are calcium-dependent histone-modifying enzymes whose activity is dysregulated in inflammatory diseases and cancer. PAD2 functions as an Estrogen Receptor (ER) coactivator in breast cancer cells via the citrullination of histone tail arginine residues at ER binding sites. Although an attractive therapeutic target, the mechanisms that regulate PAD2 activity are largely unknown, especially the detailed role of how calcium facilitates enzyme activation. To gain insights into these regulatory processes, we determined the first structures of PAD2 (27 in total), and through calcium-titrations by X-ray crystallography, determined the order of binding and affinity for the six calcium ions that bind and activate this enzyme. These structures also identified several PAD2 regulatory elements, including a calcium switch that controls proper positioning of the catalytic cysteine residue, and a novel active site shielding mechanism. Additional biochemical and mass-spectrometry-based hydrogen/deuterium exchange studies support these structural findings. The identification of multiple intermediate calcium-bound structures along the PAD2 activation pathway provides critical insights that will aid the development of allosteric inhibitors targeting the PADs.