1. A 5-mer peptide derived from hinge region of hFSHR can function as positive allosteric modulator in vivo
Kaushiki S Prabhudesai, Muthu Sankar Aathi, Vikas Dighe, Susan Idicula-Thomas Biochim Biophys Acta Biomembr. 2021 Jan 1;1863(1):183492. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2020.183492. Epub 2020 Oct 13.
Interaction of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) with its cognate receptor (FSHR) is critical for maintaining reproductive health. FSHR has a large extracellular domain (ECD), composed of leucine rich repeats (LRRs) and hinge region, a transmembrane domain (TMD) and a short C-terminal domain (CTD). In this study, we have identified a short peptidic stretch in the hinge region (hFSHR(271-275)), through extensive computational modeling, docking and MD simulations, that is capable of independently interacting with the extracellular loops of FSHR(TMD). In vitro studies revealed that FSHR(271-275) peptide increased binding of [125I]-FSH to rat Fshr as well as FSH-induced cAMP production. Administration of FSHR(271-275) peptide in immature female rats significantly increased FSH-mediated ovarian weight gain and promoted granulosa cell proliferation. In summary, the results demonstrate that the synthetic peptide corresponding to amino acids 271-275 of hFSHR-hinge region stimulates FSH-FSHR interaction and behaves as positive allosteric modulator of FSHR. The study also lends evidence to the existing proposition that hinge region maintains the receptor in an inactive conformation in the absence of its ligand by engaging in intramolecular interactions with extracellular loops of TMD.
3. Peptide retention time prediction
Luminita Moruz, Lukas Käll Mass Spectrom Rev. 2017 Sep;36(5):615-623. doi: 10.1002/mas.21488. Epub 2016 Jan 22.
Most methods for interpreting data from shotgun proteomics experiments are to large degree dependent on being able to predict properties of peptide-ions. Often such predicted properties are limited to molecular mass and fragment spectra, but here we put focus on a perhaps underutilized property, a peptide's chromatographic retention time. We review a couple of different principles of retention time prediction,and their applications within computational proteomics. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Mass Spec Rev 36:615-623, 2017.
