Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

1-1-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S. in Chemistry

Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

First Advisor

Susan Pedigo

Second Advisor

Michael Mossing

Third Advisor

Robert J. Doerksen

Relational Format

dissertation/thesis

Abstract

Neural and epithelial cadherin are adhesion proteins intensely studied by our lab. Although the sequence, structure, and conformation are similar for the two cadherins, there are several physical properties that differ: dimerization affinity, dimerization kinetics, intermediate structure, and critical residues for dimerization. In the presence of calcium, cadherins are in equilibrium between monomeric and dimeric states, and the scope of this thesis focuses on monomeric cadherin. These molecular dynamics evaluations are based on the testing of specific hypotheses regarding the intramolecular interactions of neural and epithelial cadherin. We particularly focus on interactions involving critical residues at the N-terminus of the proteins, the hydrophobic core residues, and the ionic surface area.

Included in

Chemistry Commons

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