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ABSTRACT:We use molecular dynamics simulations to study the water structure and dynamics around the winter flounder antifreeze protein (AFP) and its two mutant forms in which the four key threonine residues of the winter flounder AFP are mutated to alanines and serines, respectively. The TIP4P-Ew water model is used to better describe the water interactions and water structure; all simulations are performed at 245.5 K, a temperature near the freezing point of the TIP4P-Ew water model. Analysis of structural and dynamic properties of the water around the threonines in the winter flounder AFP reveals that the water structure is ordered around the threonine residues, especially in the second-solvation shell. Alanine and serine mutations instead promote water hydration in the first-solvation shell. Also our calculations show that in the close vicinity of the threonine residues of the wild-type AFP, the mobility of water molecules is substantially decreased. A smaller effect is observed for the weakly active alanine-substituted mutant, and no effect is observed for the inactive serine-substituted mutant. The results of this study suggest that water ordering and immobilization play important roles in the recognition and adsorption of the antifreeze protein to ice.

Mit der Spitze eines Rasterkraftmikroskops, die mit dem Protein Amelogenin (Amel) funktionalisiert ist, kann die Freie Energie der Bindung einzelner Amel‐Moleküle an verschiedene Flächen von kristallinem Hydroxyapatit direkt bestimmt werden (siehe Bild). Die experimentellen Werte stimmen gut mit Ergebnissen aus Moleküldynamiksimulationen überein; somit konnten die Schlüsselwechselwirkungen für die flächenspezifische Bindung identifiziert werden.

Quantitative assessment of cellular forces and motion advanced considerably over the last four decades. These advancements provided the framework to examine insightful mechanical signaling processes in cell culture systems. However, the field currently faces three problems: lack of quality standardization of the acquired data, technical errors in data analysis and visualization, and perhaps most importantly, the technology remains largely out of reach for common cell biology laboratories. To overcome these limitations, we developed a new experimental platform -Integrative Toolkit to Analyze Cellular Signals (iTACS). iTACS consists of two components: Acquisition and Training Module (AcTrM) and Analysis and Visualization Module (AnViM). AcTrM is based on µManager -an NIH-ImageJ-based microscope control software -and facilitates user self-training and automation of common image acquisition protocols. AnViM is based on NIH-ImageJ and facilitates user-friendly automation of data analysis and insightful visualization of results. These experiments involve culturing adherent cells on hydrogels, imaging fiducial markers embedded in the hydrogel, and finally extracting from these images a comprehensive mechanical characterization of the cells. Currently, iTACS enables the user to analyze and track a wide array of properties, including morphology, motion, cytoskeletal forces, and fluorescence of individual cells and their neighboring region. The quality standardization issue was addressed in AcTrM with, a reference image-guided refocusing technique. The technical issues in data analysis were addressed in AnViM with a multi-pronged image segmentation procedure, a user-friendly approach to identify boundary conditions, and a novel cellular property-based data visualization. AcTrM is designed to facilitate the