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24. Oligomeric fragments distribution, structure and functionalities upon ruthenium-catalyzed technical lignin depolymerizationTina Ročnik, Erika Bartolomei, Anthony Dufour, Sébastien Leclerc, Philippe Arnoux, Blaž Likozar, Edita Jasiukaityte, Miha Grilc, Yann Le-Brech, 2024, original scientific article Published in DiRROS: 07.02.2024; Views: 127; Downloads: 56 Full text (4,79 MB) This document has many files! More... |
25. TXM peptides inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection, syncytia formation, and lower inflamatory consequencesTea Govednik, Duško Lainšček, Urška Kuhar, Marva Lachish, Sandra Janežič, Malan Štrbenc, Uroš Krapež, Roman Jerala, Daphne Atlas, Mateja Manček Keber, 2024, original scientific article Abstract: After three years of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the search and availability of relatively low-cost benchtop therapeutics for people not at high risk for a severe disease are still ongoing. Although vaccines and new SARS-CoV-2 variants reduce the death toll, the long COVID-19 along with neurologic symptoms can develop and persist even after a mild initial infection. Reinfections, which further increase the risk of sequelae in multiple organ systems as well as the risk of death, continue to require caution. The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 is an important target for both vaccines and therapeutics. The presence of disulfide bonds in the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein is essential for its binding to the human ACE2 receptor and cell entry. Here, we demonstrate that thiol-reducing peptides based on the active site of oxidoreductase thioredoxin 1, called thioredoxin mimetic (TXM) peptides, can prevent syncytia formation, SARS-CoV-2 entry into cells, and infection in a mouse model. We also show that TXM peptides inhibit the redox-sensitive HIV pseudotyped viral cell entry. These results support disulfide targeting as a common therapeutic strategy for treating infections caused by viruses using redox-sensitive fusion. Furthermore, TXM peptides exert anti-inflammatory properties by lowering the activation of NF-κB and IRF signaling pathways, mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cytokines in mice. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of the TXM peptides, which also cross the blood-brain barrier, in combination with prevention of viral infections, may provide a beneficial clinical strategy to lower viral infections and mitigate severe consequences of COVID-19. Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, Disulfides, Thiol-reacting compound, Spike, Anti-inflammatory activity Published in DiRROS: 06.02.2024; Views: 132; Downloads: 59 Full text (7,11 MB) This document has many files! More... |
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27. A sodium/potassium switch for G4-prone G/C-rich sequencesYu Luo, Martina Lenarčič Živković, Jiawei Wang, Jan Ryneš, Silvie Foldynová-Trantírková, Lukáš Trantírek, Daniela Verga, Jean-Louis Mergny, 2024, original scientific article Published in DiRROS: 16.01.2024; Views: 176; Downloads: 78 Full text (2,17 MB) This document has many files! More... |
28. Exploration of macromolecular phenotype of human skeletal muscle in diabetes using infrared spectroscopyBarbara Zupančič, Chiedozie Kenneth Ugwoke, Mohamed Elwy Abdelmonaem, Armin Alibegović, Erika Cvetko, Jože Grdadolnik, Anja Šerbec, Nejc Umek, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: Introduction: The global burden of diabetes mellitus is escalating, and more efficient investigative strategies are needed for a deeper understanding of underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. The crucial role of skeletal muscle in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism makes it one of the most susceptible tissues to diabetes-related metabolic disorders. In tissue studies, conventional histochemical methods have several technical limitations and have been shown to inadequately characterise the biomolecular phenotype of skeletal muscle to provide a holistic view of the pathologically altered proportions of macromolecular constituents. Materials and methods: In this pilot study, we examined the composition of five different human skeletal muscles from male donors diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and non-diabetic controls. We analysed the lipid, glycogen, and collagen content in the muscles in a traditional manner with histochemical assays using different staining techniques. This served as a reference for comparison with the unconventional analysis of tissue composition using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy as an alternative methodological approach. Results: A thorough chemometric post-processing of the infrared spectra using a multi-stage spectral decomposition allowed the simultaneous identification of various compositional details from a vibrational spectrum measured in a single experiment. We obtained multifaceted information about the proportions of the different macromolecular constituents of skeletal muscle, which even allowed us to distinguish protein constituents with different structural properties. The most important methodological steps for a comprehensive insight into muscle composition have thus been set and parameters identified that can be used for the comparison between healthy and diabetic muscles. Conclusion: We have established a methodological framework based on vibrational spectroscopy for the detailed macromolecular analysis of human skeletal muscle that can effectively complement or may even serve as an alternative to histochemical assays. As this is a pilot study with relatively small sample sets, we remain cautious at this stage in drawing definitive conclusions about diabetes-related changes in skeletal muscle composition. However, the main focus and contribution of our work has been to provide an alternative, simple and efficient approach for this purpose. We are confident that we have achieved this goal and have brought our methodology to a level from which it can be successfully transferred to a large-scale study that allows the effects of diabetes on skeletal muscle composition and the interrelationships between the macromolecular tissue alterations due to diabetes to be investigated. Keywords: diabetes mellitus, skeletal muscle, metabolism, macromulecular composition, infrared spectroscopy, multivariate analysis, histochemical assays Published in DiRROS: 11.01.2024; Views: 200; Downloads: 75 Full text (1,71 MB) This document has many files! More... |
29. Biorefining twin transition : digitalisation for bio-based chemicals/materials - discovery, design and optimisationMatej Žula, Miha Grilc, Andrii Kostyniuk, Giorgio Tofani, Edita Jasiukaityte, Tina Ročnik, Ramesh Kumar Chowdari, Žan Lavrič, Janvit Teržan, Brigita Hočevar, Ana Jakob, Emilija Rakić, Brett Pomeroy, Miša Mojca Cajnko, Filipa A. Vicente, Dana Marinič, Ana Oberlintner, Uroš Novak, Davide Benedetto Tiz, Matej Huš, Blaž Likozar, 2023, original scientific article Published in DiRROS: 10.01.2024; Views: 155; Downloads: 71 Full text (917,66 KB) This document has many files! More... |
30. A second glass transition observed in single-component homogeneous liquids due to intramolecular vitrificationBen A. Russell, Mario González-Jiménez, Nikita V. Tukachev, Laure-Anne Hayes, Tajrian Chowdhury, Uroš Javornik, Gregor Mali, Manlio Tassieri, Joy H. Farnaby, Hans Martin Senn, Klaas Wynne, 2023, original scientific article Published in DiRROS: 09.01.2024; Views: 138; Downloads: 70 Full text (2,60 MB) This document has many files! More... |