Fundación Instituto Leloir

About: Fundación Instituto Leloir is a facility organization based out in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Dentate gyrus & Neurogenesis. The organization has 702 authors who have published 1052 publications receiving 39299 citations.

Epigenetic accounting of a previous harvest.

Abstract: Fil: Hoijemberg, Mauro Ezequiel. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquimicas de Buenos Aires. Fundacion Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquimicas de Buenos Aires; Argentina

Crystal structures of peanut lectin in the presence of synthetic β-N- and β-S-galactosides disclose evidence for the recognition of different glycomimetic ligands

Abstract: Carbohydrate-lectin interactions are involved in important cellular recognition processes, including viral and bacterial infections, inflammation and tumor metastasis. Hence, structural studies of lectin-synthetic glycan complexes are essential for understanding lectin-recognition processes and for the further design of promising chemotherapeutics that interfere with sugar-lectin interactions. Plant lectins are excellent models for the study of the molecular-recognition process. Among them, peanut lectin (PNA) is highly relevant in the field of glycobiology because of its specificity for β-galactosides, showing high affinity towards the Thomsen-Friedenreich antigen, a well known tumor-associated carbohydrate antigen. Given this specificity, PNA is one of the most frequently used molecular probes for the recognition of tumor cell-surface O-glycans. Thus, it has been extensively used in glycobiology for inhibition studies with a variety of β-galactoside and β-lactoside ligands. Here, crystal structures of PNA are reported in complex with six novel synthetic hydrolytically stable β-N- and β-S-galactosides. These complexes disclosed key molecular-binding interactions of the different sugars with PNA at the atomic level, revealing the roles of specific water molecules in protein-ligand recognition. Furthermore, binding-affinity studies by isothermal titration calorimetry showed dissociation-constant values in the micromolar range, as well as a positive multivalency effect in terms of affinity in the case of the divalent compounds. Taken together, this work provides a qualitative structural rationale for the upcoming synthesis of optimized glycoclusters designed for the study of lectin-mediated biological processes. The understanding of the recognition of β-N- and β-S-galactosides by PNA represents a benchmark in protein-carbohydrate interactions since they are novel synthetic ligands that do not belong to the family of O-linked glycosides.

A report on the “International Society for Computational Biology - Latin America (ISCB-LA)” Bioinformatics Conference 2016

Abstract: The fourth edition of the “International Society for Computational Biology - Latin America (ISCB-LA)” Bioinformatics Conference, jointly organised with the Argentine Association for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (A 2 B 2 C), was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on November 2016. The ISCB-LA 2016 conference aimed at showcasing the latest findings in the field from researchers at all career levels in the region and beyond, and promoting collaborations to further develop Bioinformatics and Computational Biology in Latin America. Here we present a brief report on the main activities held during the Conference and their successful outcomes.