Halle, Wittenberg, Universiẗat, Diss., 2004.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-159).

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Physiology & Developmental Biology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 30-34).

No description available.

Münster (Westfalen), Universiẗat, Diss., 2008 (Nur beschränkt für den Austausch).

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Physiology and Developmental Biology, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 17-21).

Univ., Diss.--Münster, 2005.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Physiology and Developmental Biology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 30-39).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Brian J. Bahnson, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Includes bibliographical references.

The goal of the present study is to explore the functional involvement of the N-terminal region in the biological activity of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) enzyme. Native PLA2 from the venoms of Naja naja atra and Bungarus multicinctus and N-terminally mutated N. naja atra PLA2, i.e. an additional Met before Asn-1(M-PLA2), substitution of Asn-1 with Met-1(PLA2(N1M)) and removal of N-terminal seven residues (PLA2(¡µN7)), were employed in this study. Mutations on the N-terminal region insignificantly perturbed the binding ability of PLA2 for Ca2+ and ANS, but the enzymatic activity of mutants drastically decreased. Moreover, an alteration in the secondary structure was observed as revealed by CD spectra. Compared to other mutants, the fine structure of Ca2+-binding site within PLA2(¡µN7)) changed. Additionally, removal of the N-terminal region caused significant alternation in the structures of active site and substrate-binding site as evidenced by the results of fluorescence measurement, chemical modification and denaturation with detergents. In all N-terminal mutants, substituting Ans-1 with Met-1 affected the NNA-PLA2 structure to a least extent. The membrane-damage activity of PLA2(N1M) and M-PLA2 was 89% and 34% that of NNA-PLA2, respectively. PLA2(¡µN7) did not exhibit the membrane-damage activity. Studies on the biological activities of chemically modified N. naja atra PLA2 reflected a dissociation of the enzymatic activity from membrane-damage activity, and suggested the involvement of Trp-18, Trp-61, Lys-65, Tyr-3 and Tyr-63 in membrane-damage activity. Collectively, our data indicate that the intact N-terminus was crucial for maintaining of the functional conformation of PLA2 in the manifestation of the enzymatic activity and membrane-damage activity, and the enzymatic activity of PLA2 is in aid of but not exclusively essential for the membrane-damage effect.