Biology subjects

Ozcan, O.

Publications and source records attributed to Ozcan, O..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

TW68, Cryptochromes stabilizer, regulates fasting blood glucose level in ob/ob and fat-induced diabetic mice

Cryptochromes (CRYs), transcriptional repressors of the circadian clock in mammals, inhibit cAMP production when glucagon activates G-protein coupled receptors. Therefore, molecules that modulate CRYs have the potential to regulate gluconeogenesis. In this study, we discovered a new molecule called TW68 that interacts with the primary pockets of mammalian CRY1/2, leading to reduced ubiquitination levels and increased stability. In cell-based circadian rhythm assays using U2OS:Bmal1-dLuc cells, TW68 extended the period length of the circadian rhythm. Additionally, TW68 decreased the transcriptional levels of two genes, Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 1 (PCK1) and Glucose-6-phosphatase (G6PC), which play crucial roles in glucose biosynthesis during glucagon-induced gluconeogenesis in HepG2 cells. Oral administration of TW68 in mice showed good tolerance, a good pharmacokinetic profile, and remarkable bioavailability. Finally, when administered to fasting ob/ob and fat-induced diabetic animals, TW68 reduced blood glucose levels by enhancing CRY stabilization and subsequently decreasing the transcriptional levels of Pck1 and G6pc. These findings collectively demonstrate the antidiabetic efficacy of TW68 in vivo, suggesting its therapeutic potential for controlling fasting glucose levels in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Determination of secretion type associated motifs from pathogenic protein sequences

Currently, potential vaccine candidates are determined using protein localization predictors to identify surface or secreted protein sequences. The pathogenic bacterial sequences constitute only a tiny percentage of this database. They search for general motifs found in bacteria and miss out on pathogen-specific motifs, which is crucial for identifying vaccine candidates. We developed a motif search algorithm derived from pathogenic bacterial sequences in this work. Using this method, we identified secretion motifs of pathogenic bacteria for six different secretion pathways and non-specific secretion motifs. To this end, we established a database of immunogenic sequences from patented vaccine sequences, AntigenDb, and PUB-MED. The motifs are filtered out according to their presence in a cytoplasmic dataset to keep motifs that are present only in secreted sequences. These sequences are validated on newly identified novel vaccine candidates from 20 pathogenic bacterial immunoproteomics data.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2020

SARS-CoV-2 Isolation and Propagation from Turkish COVID-19 patients

The novel coronavirus pneumonia, which was named later as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), is caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, namely SARS-CoV-2. It is a positive-strand RNA virus that is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans. The COVID-19 outbreak presents enormous challenges for global health behind the pandemic outbreak. The first diagnosed patient in Turkey has been reported by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health on March 11, 2020. Today, over ninety thousand cases in Turkey, and two million cases around the world have been declared. Due to the urgent need for vaccine and anti-viral drug, isolation of the virus is crucial. Here, we report one of the first isolation and characterization studies of SARS-CoV-2 from nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal specimens of diagnosed patients in Turkey. This study provides an isolation and replication methodology, and cell culture tropism of the virus that will be available to the research communities. Article SummaryScientists have isolated virus from Turkish COVID-19 patients. The isolation, propagation, and plaque and immune response assays of the virus described here will serve in following drug discovery and vaccine testing.

microbiology↗