Browsing by Author "Zaki, Urfa"

Cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor (CDNF) belongs to the the family of neurotrophic factors that are evolutionary conserved, having a unique structure, with two domains: C-terminal domain and the N-terminal domain, and a cysteine bridge. It is known to be involved in the repair of the dopaminergic neurons when studied in the animal models of PD, which shows their different mode of action as compared to other neurotrophic factors, highlighting their therapeutic potential. Analysis of the crystal structure shows that CDNF and MANF consist of two domains: the saposin-like N-terminal domain with five α-helices stabilized by three disulphide bridges, and presumably unstructured C-terminal domain with a disulphide bridge. Characteristic feature of saposin-like proteins is their ability to interact with membranes or lipids. The lipid interaction may be crucial for the activity of CDNF and MANF proteins. In the first part of this project, the binding of CDNF was tested with several oxidized lipids, using two methods; Co-sedementation assay and lipid fluorescence assay;with two different types of probes. According to the results, CDNF seemed to show binding with POVPC. The second part of the project involved testing the binding and internalization of CDNF to mouse myoblast cells in the presence of oxidized lipid; POVPC. It was observed that CDNF seemed to show binding to the cell surface of the mouse myoblast cells (C2C12) and is also observed to be internalized to the cells as well. However, as these are the preliminary results, so we need to further test the binding between the protein and other lipids and devise more precise protocols for the testing the internalization to the cells.