User:Bhagyashree subramaniam/sandbox

What it does (standard) in natural state
Desmosine is an amino acid derivative that is produced by elastin in crosslinked fiber assembly when four lysine molecules come together to form a pyridinium ring. Elastin, a protein in the extracellular matrix, provides elasticity and is a soluble precursor to tropoelastin. When Elastin cross links it produces Desmosine and Isodesmosine. When Desmosine is mentioned, it is usually grouped with Isodesmosine, the other tetrafunctional amino acid that is specific to elastin.

Demosine can not only be found in elastin, but also in urine, plasma, sputum, and there are different ways to identify and measure these quantities. This means that it is used as a biomarker for elastin degradation which can be a detection for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseas e (COPD). Desmosine is a potential biomarker for matrix degradation

Desmosine and Isodesmosine are unable to be differentiated thus far because of the lack of technology. The differentiation would be helpful in order to understand Desmosine and its properties better. Currently, Mass Spectrometry is used and aids in the release of characteristic fragments which would help with differentiation, especially in larger peptides.

Material properties and how it helps certain processes
The molecular weight of this rare amino acid that is found in Elastin is 526.611 g/mol. The Desmosine pyridinium ring has three allysyl side chains and one unaltered lysyl side chain. It has been tested to show that the pyridinium core of Desmosine remains intact even at very high collision energies.

Current usage in Medical Field
Desmosine is currently used as a biomarker in the medical field. It is measured in order to monitor elastin breakdown.Since it is connected to the degradation of Elastin, it can be used to identify COPD. Desmosine is one of the oldest biomarkers and was developed in the 1960s, but the first time it was correlated to lung elastin content was in the 80s through urinary excretion. Biomarkers are judged un 6 ways :


 * 1) it must be central to the pathophysiological process
 * 2) thus, it must be a ‘‘true’’ surrogate end-point
 * 3) it must be stable and vary only with events related to disease progression
 * 4) its concentration should be directly related to the severity of the condition
 * 5) it must predict progression
 * 6) it must reflect changes induced by effective treatment.

Even though Desmosine can check-off the first three it cannot check off the rest. And this is why research is being done to further the validation of using Desmoine as a biomarker for certain diseases like COPD.

Bonding in elastin/collagen
Demosine is found to have a Hydrogen bond donor count of eight and a Hydrogen bond acceptor count of twelve.