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Using electron paramagnetic resonance to study iron binding sites with alpha-synuclein, a protein marker for Parkinson's disease


EMSL Project ID
43193

Abstract

In Parkinson's disease, the brains of affected patients were found to contain aggregated alpha-synuclein (a-syn) protein and high levels of iron (Fe2+ and Fe3+). Iron was found to binding a-syn, but the binding sites are still not clearly resolved. With the use of low-temperature continuous-wave (cw) electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR), we could identify the possible binding modes of iron to the wild type and the phosphorylated a-syn at Ser129, which is a post-translational modification found to affect a-syn structure, oligomerization, and toxicity. This will help to understand the role of iron in the pathology of Parkinson's disease

Project Details

Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2011-03-03
End Date
2012-03-04
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Feimeng Zhou
Institution
California State University, Los Angeles

Team Members

Gian Paola Grant
Institution
California State University, Los Angeles