Università della Svizzera italiana

Insights into the effect of the G245S single point mutation on the structure of p53 and the binding of the protein to DNA

Lepre, Marco Gaetano ; Omar, Sara Ibrahim ; Grasso, Gianvito ; Morbiducci, Umberto ; Deriu, Marco Agostino ; Tuszynski, Jack A.

In: Molecules, 2017, vol. 22, no. 8, p. 1358

The transcription factor p53 is a potent tumor suppressor dubbed as the “guardian of the genome” because of its ability to orchestrate protective biological outputs in response to a variety of oncogenic stresses. Mutation and thus inactivation of p53 can be found in 50% of human tumors. The majority are missense mutations located in the DNA binding region. Among them, G245S is known to be...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Conformational dynamics and stability of U-shaped and S-shaped amyloid β assemblies

Grasso, Gianvito ; Rebella, Martina ; Muscat, Stefano ; Morbiducci, Umberto ; Tuszynski, Jack ; Danani, Andrea ; Deriu, Marco A.

In: International journal of molecular sciences, 2018, vol. 19, no. 2, p. 571

Alzheimer’s disease is the most fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the aggregation and deposition of Amyloid β (Aβ) oligomers in the brain of patients. Two principal variants of Aβ exist in humans: Aβ1–40 and Aβ1–42. The former is the most abundant in the plaques, while the latter is the most toxic species and forms fibrils more rapidly. Interestingly, fibrils of...