Every tissue, cell, and organelle has specific electrochemical properties resulting from differences in concentrations of protons, small ions, and charged macromolecules. Delivering proteins to these different environments can trigger functionally relevant structural rearrangements, which we refer to as conformational switching. A notable example is the transition of specific soluble proteins into lipid membranes. This phenomenon is prominent in many physiological and pathogenic processes, including the regulation of apoptosis by the Bcl-2 family of proteins, critical for cancer treatment. Our ability to target or manipulate these processes can be beneficial for human health. For example, membrane insertion of the pH Low Insertion Peptide (pHLIP) has recently been used to target drugs to cancer cells. While these processes are of fundamental biomedical importance, basic knowledge of the mechanism of conformational switching is often lacking, impeding our ability to predict protein-lipid interactions under physiological conditions. Here we present our progress applying various experimental and computational approaches rn deciphering complex interactions on membrane interfaces and establishing the role of lipid composition and divalent cations (1′. e, Ca2• and Mg2+) in modulating important physiological processes
About the speaker
The University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS U. S. A. Institute of Biochemistry, Kylv, Ukraine
