Publications

21. X. Sun*, J. A. Ferguson*, K. Yang*, R. L. Stanfield, H. J. Dyson, P. E. Wright. Mispacking of the F87 sidechain drives aggregation-promoting conformational fluctuations in the subunit interfaces of the transthyretin tetramer, Prot. Sci., 2024, 33(9), e5101 (*: equal contribution).

20. B. I. Leach, J. A. Ferguson, G. J. Morgan, X. Sun, G. J. A. Kroon, D. Oyen, H. J. Dyson, P. E. Wright. Conformational dynamics of an amyloidogenic intermediate of transthyretin: implications for structural remodeling and amyloid formation, J. Mol. Biol., 2024, 436(16), 168673.

19. X. Sun, J. A. Ferguson, B. I. Leach, R. L. Stanfield, H. J. Dyson, P. E. Wright. Probing the dissociation pathway of a kinetically labile transthyretin mutant, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2024, 146(1), 532–542. 

• JACS Spotlights: Exploring Protein Dissociation under a Wider Range of Conditions.

18. X. Sun, J. Alfermann, H. Li, M. B. Watkins, Y. T. Chen, T. E. Morrell, F. Mayerthaler, C. Y. Wang, T. Komatsuzaki, J. W. Chu, N. Ando, H. D. Mootz, H. Yang. Subdomain dynamics enable chemical chain reactions in non-ribosomal peptide synthetases, Nat. Chem., 2024, 16(2), 259–268.

17. X. Sun, H. J. Dyson, P. E. Wright, Role of conformational dynamics in pathogenic protein aggregation. Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol., 2023, 73, 102280 [review].

16. X. Sun, J. A. Ferguson, H. J. Dyson, P. E. Wright, A transthyretin monomer intermediate undergoes local unfolding and transient interaction with oligomers in a kinetically concerted aggregation pathway. J. Biol. Chem., 2022, 298(8), 102162.

15. F. Mayerthaler, A.-L. Feldberg, J. Alfermann, X. Sun, W. Steinchen, H. Yang, H. D. Mootz. Intermediary conformations linked to the directionality of the aminoacylation pathway of nonribosomal peptide synthetases, RSC Chem. Biol., 2021, 2(3), 843–854.

14. J. A. Ferguson, X. Sun, H. J. Dyson, P. E. Wright, Thermodynamic stability and aggregation kinetics of EF helix and EF loop variants of transthyretin. Biochemistry, 2021, 60(10), 756–764.

13. X. Sun, H. J. Dyson, P. E. Wright, A phosphorylation-dependent switch in the disordered p53 transactivation domain regulates DNA binding. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2021, 118(1), e2021456118.

12. X. Sun, M. Jaeger, J. W. Kelly, H. J. Dyson, P. E. Wright, Mispacking of the F87 side chain reduces the kinetic stability of human transthyretin. Biochemistry, 2018, 57(51), 6919–6922.

11. X. Sun, H. J. Dyson, P. E. Wright, Kinetic analysis of the multistep aggregation pathway of human transthyretin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2018, 115(27), E6201–E6208.

10. X. Sun, H. J. Dyson, P. E. Wright, Fluorotryptophan incorporation modulates the structure and stability of transthyretin in a site-specific manner. Biochemistry, 2017, 56(41), 5570–5581.

9. J. Alfermann, X. Sun, F. Mayerthaler, T. E. Morrell, E. Dehling, G. Volkmann, T. Komatsuzaki, H. Yang, H. D. Mootz, FRET monitoring of a nonribosomal peptide synthetase. Nat. Chem. Biol., 2017, 13(9), 1009–1015.

8. X. Sun, T. E. Morrell, H. Yang, Extraction of protein conformational modes from distance distributions using structurally imputed Bayesian data augmentation. J. Phys. Chem. B, 2016, 120(40), 10469–10482.

7. X. Sun, H. Li, J. Alfermann, H. D. Mootz, H. Yang, Kinetics profiling of gramicidin S synthetase A, a member of nonribosomal peptide synthetases. Biochemistry, 2014, 53(50), 7983–7989.

6. X. Sun, D. Montiel, H. Li, H. Yang, “Plug-and-go” strategy to manipulate streptavidin valencies. Bioconjug. Chem., 2014, 25(8), 1375–1380.

5. W. H. Wu*, Q. Liu*, X. Sun*, J. S. Yu, D. S. Zhao, Y. P. Yu, J. J. Luo, J. Hu, Z. W. Yu. Y. F. Zhao, Y. M. Li, Fibrillar seeds alleviate amyloid-β cytotoxicity by omitting formation of higher-molecular-weight oligomers. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 2013, 439(3), 321–326 (*: equal contribution).

4. Q. Liu, W. H. Wu, C. L. Fang, R. W. Li, P. Liu, P. Lei, J. Hu, X. Sun, Y. Z. Zheng, Y. F. Zhao, Y. M. Li, Mapping ApoE/Αβ binding regions to guide inhibitor discovery. Mol. BioSyst., 2011, 7(5), 1693–1700. 

3. C. L. Fang, W. H. Wu, Q. Liu, X. Sun, Y. Ma, Y. F. Zhao, Y. M. Li, Dual functions of β-amyloid oligomer and fibril in Cu(II)-induced H2O2 production. Regul. Pept., 2010, 163(1–3), 1–6.

2. X. Sun, W. H. Wu, Q. Liu, M. S. Chen, Y. P. Yu, Y. Ma, Y. F. Zhao, Y. M. Li, Hybrid peptides attenuate cytotoxicity of β-amyloid by inhibiting its oligomerization: Implication from solvent effects. Peptides, 2009, 30(7), 1282–1287.

1. W. H. Wu, X. Sun, Y. P. Yu, J. Hu, L. Zhao, Q. Liu, Y. F. Zhao, Y. M. Li, TiO2 nanoparticles promote β-amyloid fibrillation in vitro. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 2008, 373(2), 315–318.