The paper was written on the invitation of the editors of the Annual Reviews of Biophysics and Biomolecular Structure and represents the review of our studies of the aqueous solvation. Using a simple two-dimensional water model we managed to explain the hydrophobic interaction, the influence of ions to the water structure and the Hofmeister series, which is the basis for the protein precipitation from water solutions. The aim of our work is to develop and apply simple models, which can be used to study hydration in biological systems.
COBISS.SI-ID: 26692357
In bacteria the cell death is programmed through the genetic systems known as toxin-antitoxin modules which enable the cell to take that decision at certain physiological conditions. The paper gives a most detailed review of studies of the molecular mechanisms that program bacterial cell death. Our contribution was to determine the structure of the molecules and the thermodynamics of their folding and recognition. This is of extreme importance for understating the bacterial cell death at the molecular level which will enable the development of the new generation of antibiotics in the future.
COBISS.SI-ID: 27110405
In this study small-angle X-ray scattering and dynamic light scattering techniques were used to explore the structural properties of nonionic surfactant Brij 35 in water and in various primary alcohols. Analysis of the experimental data revealed the size, shape and inner structure of the aggregates resulting from self-organization of Brij 35 molecules in water and in alcohols. Results of this study had significant impact to further structural investigations of more complicated Brij 35/water/alcohol(s) ternary systems, which can be used as reaction media in biocatalytic synthesis of aldehydes.
COBISS.SI-ID: 25964293
Structural properties of complexes between poly(acrylate) anion and cationic surfactants (S) were investigated by SAXS at various degrees of neutralization of the polyion (PE) and at a fixed surfactant to PE molar ratio. One broad or several sharp peaks were observed in scattering curves that point to a high degree of order in complexes. The fundamental type of organization of S is in the form of polymer-induced micelles, which can be further arranged in a Pm3n cubic lattice. The type of ordering and the characteristic distance in complexes depend on S chain-length and on PE charge density.
COBISS.SI-ID: 25294853
Existing evidences on polymorphism of G-quadruplexes have shown that the formation of a number of these structures is a kinetically controlled process. By combining structural, thermodynamic and kinetic information we have developed a novel kinetic model that successfully describes experimentally monitored folding/unfolding transitions of G-quadruplexes formed from d(G4T4G4) and d(G4T4G3) strands in the presence of Na+ ions and gives positive activation energies for all elementary steps, including those describing association of two single strands into bimolecular quadruplex structures.
COBISS.SI-ID: 29937669