Selected Publications

  1.   Rodova M., Ankilova V., Safro, M. (1999),
    Human phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase: cloning, characterization of the deduced amino acid sequences in terms of the structural domains and coordinately regulated expression of the α; and ß subunits in chronic myeloid leukemia cells.
    Bioch. Biophys. Res. Commun. 255, 758-763, (1999).
  2.   Bochkareva, E., Safro, M., Girshovich, A. (1999),
    Interaction of 4,4�- dithiodipyridine with Cys458 triggers dissassembly of GroEL�
    J. Biol. Chem., 274, 20756-20758.
  3.   Kogan, O., Yarden, A., Gimona, M., Geiger, B., Safro, M. (2000),
    Crystallographic study of turkey gizzard vinculin.
    Acta Crystallographica, D, 8, 502-505, (2000).
  4.   Yakobson, E., Shemesh, P., Winkler, E., Lassam, N., Hogg, D., Brookes, D., Peters, G., Lotem, M., Zlotogorski, A., Landau, M., Safro, M., Peretz, H.(2000),
    Two p16 (CDKN2A) germline mutations in 30 Israeli melanoma families.
    European Journal of Human Genetics, 8, 590-596, (2000).
  5.   Fishman, R., Ankilova, V., Moor, N., Safro, M.,(2001),
    Crystal structure at 2.6� resolution of phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase complexed with phenylalanyl-adenylate in the presence of manganese.
    Acta Crystallographica, D57, 1534-1544, (2001).
  6.   Moor, N., Linshiz, G., Safro, M.,(2002),
    Cloning and expression of human phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase in E. coli. Comparative study of purified recombinant enzymes.
    Protein expression and purification, 24, 260-267, (2002).
  7.   Tworowski, D., Safro, M.,
    The electrostatic long-range interactions provide the primary association of reactants in tRNA-aaRS complexes.
    Protein Science, 12, 1247-1251 (2003).
  8.   Moor N.A., Vasil�eva I.A, Lavrik O.I., Favre A., Safro M. (2003),
    Two subunits of human phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase are involved in the binding of tRNAPhe 3�-CCA sequence.
    Biochemistry, 42, 10697-10708 (2003).
  9.   Yakobson, E., Shemesh, P., Winkler, E., Safro, M., Sobolev, V., Peretz, H. (2003),
    A single Mediterranian, possibly Jewish origin for the Val59Gly CDKN2A mutation in four melanoma prone families.
    European Journal of Human Genetics 11, 288-296 (2003).
  10.   Safro, M. (2003) ,
    Expression Prokaryotic Phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase Inhibitors, Methods of Identifying Same, and Uses Thereof to Treat Prokaryotic infections.
    Patent 2003-026, (2003).
  11.   Klipcan, L., Safro, M. (2004),
    Amino acid�s biogenesis, evolution of the genetic code and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases.
    J. Theor. Biology, 228, 389-396, (2004).
  12.   Safro, M., Lavrik, O., Moor, N. (2004),
    Phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase. In "The Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases".
    Landes Bioscience, Edited by M.Ibba, C. Francklyn and S. Cusack, 250-265, (2004).
  13.   Tworowski, D., Feldman A. and Safro M. ,
    Electrostatic potential of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase navigates tRNA on its pathway to the binding site.
    J. Mol. Biol., 350, 866-882 (2005).
  14.   Kotik-Kogan, O., Moor, N., Tworowski, D., Safro M.,
    Structural basis for discrimination of L-phenylalanine from L-tyrosine by phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase.
    Structure, 13, 1799-1807, (2005).
  15.   Klipcan, L., Safro, I., Temkin, B., Safro, M.,
    Optimal growth temperature of prokaryotic organisms biased by class II amino acid composition.
    FEBS Letters, 580, 1672-1676 (2006).
  16.   Safro M., Tworowski, D., Feldman A.
    How are charged residues distributed among functionally distinct structural domains of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases?
    Proceeding of the Conference on Bioinformatics of Genome Regulation and Structure, BGRS�2006, eds. Kolchanov, N., Hofest�dt, Vol.1, 310-314, (2006).
  17.   Moor, N., Kotik-Kogan, O., Tworowski, D., Sukhanova M, Safro, M.
    The Crystal Structure of the Ternary Complex of Phenylalanyl-tRNA Synthetase with tRNAPhe and a Phenylalanyl-adenylate Analogue Reveals a Conformational Switch of the CCA End.
    Biochemistry, 45, 10572-10583 (2006).
  18.   Vasil�eva I., Kotik-Kogan O., Sukhanova M., Favre A., Safro M., Moor N.
    Productive binding of the tRNA Phe acceptor end by phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase is controlled by low-molecular-weight substrates.
    Proceeding of the International Conference �Physico-Chemistry and Biology�, Novosibirsk, 145-146, (2006).
  19.   Levin, I., Moor, N., Kessler, N., Spremuli, L., Safro, M.
    Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic studies on human mitochondrial phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase.
    Acta Crystallographica, F63, 761-764, (2007).
  20.   Owszarek, A., Safro, M., Wolfson, A.
    Enzymatic tRNA acylation by acid and α-hydroxy acid analogs of amino acids.
    Biochemistry, 47, (2007), 301-307
  21.   Klipcan, L., Frenkel-Morgenstern, M., Safro, M.
    tRNA-dependent pathway of cysteine biosynthesis is accompanied by increase of cysteine content in methanogenic Archaea.
    Trends in Genetics, 24, 59-63, (2008).
  22.   Klipcan, L. Levin, I., Moor N., Finarov, I., Safro M.
    Crystal structure of human mitochondrial phenylalanine-tRNA synthetase at 2.2 � resolution.
    Structure, 16, 1095-1104, (2008).
  23.   Safro M., Moor N..
    Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases: 50 years after.
    Molecular Biology (Moscow), 43, 1-13 (2009).
  24.   Finarov, I., Moor, N., Safro M.
    Crystallization and Molecular Replacement Studies of Human Cytoplasmic Phenylalanyl-tRNA Synthetase.
    Acta Crystallographica, F65 (2009).
  25. Klipcan, L., Moor, N., Kessler, N.,Safro M.
    Eukaryotic cytosolic and mitochondrial phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetases catalyze the charging of tRNA with themeta-Tyrosine.
    PNAS,106, 11045-11048 (2009).
  26. Frenkel-Morgenstern, M., Klipcan, L., Tworowski, D.,Safro, M.
    Intra-protein compensatory mutations analysis highlights the tRNA recognition regions in aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases.
    Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics, 27(2),115-127,(2009).