Martina Lenarčič Živković

Ph.D.

martina.lenarcic@ki.si

(01) 47-60-353

Martina Lenarčič Živković was born on January 18, 1986, in Sinj, Croatia. She received her B.Sc. degree in biochemistry at University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology in 2009 with thesis entitled: “Structure determination of protein serine proteinase inhibitor from waxmoth Galleria mellonella by NMR spectroscopy”. She was working as a Ph.D. student at the Slovenian NMR Centre, National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana under supervision of Prof. Dr. Janez Plavec from 2009 to 2014. She received her Ph. D. degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Medicine in 2014 with thesis entitled: "Structural studies of human S100A1 protein". Her scientific work was focused on establishing the influence of S-nitrosylation on structure and function of human apo-S100A1 protein with the use of NMR spectroscopy. The results of study suggest that S-nitrosylation causes important structural changes of the protein that increase Ca²⁺-binding affinity. Moreover, she showed that the transduction of S-NO signal is a result of interaction between two conserved residues, which are connected in so called Cys/Phe conformational switch. In 2012, she won the Best Poster award at 3^rd Annual East-NMR User Meeting. After 2014 she spread her research field on structural studies of nucleic acids with the use of NMR spectroscopy. She is a co-author of 4 publications published in scientific journals with international peer-review system. She participated in the organization of several scientific meetings and is working with undergraduate students as their working supervisor.

Research interest:
• protein NMR spectroscopy
• 3D structure determination
• structure determination of homodimers
• saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR
• Ca2+-binding proteins
• Protein-peptide interaction studies with NMR spectroscopy
• Structural studies of nucleic acids with G-rich repeating sequences

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

D. Makuc, M. Lenarcic, G. W. Bates, P. A. Gale and J. Plavec
Anion-induced conformational changes in 2,7-disubstituted indole-based receptors
Org. Biomol. Chem. 2009, 7 (17), 3505-3511.

M. Lenarcic Zivkovic, M. Zaręba-Kozioł, L. Zhukova, J. Poznański, I. Zhukov and A. Wysłouch-Cieszyńska
Aleksandra. Post-translational S-nitrosylation is an endogenous factor fine tuning the properties of human S100A1 protein
J. Biol. Chem. 2012, 7 (17), 3505-3511.

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

2021

M. Lenarčič Živković, M. Gajarsky, K. Bekova, P. Stadlbauer, L. Vicherek, M. Petrova, R. Fiala, I. Rosenberg, J. Sponer, J. Plavec and L. Trantirek
Insight into formation propensity of pseudocircular G-hairpins
Nucleic Acids Res. 2021, 49 (4), 2317-2332.
Web access at Oxford Journals

2020

M. Lenarčič Živković, J. Rozman and J. Plavec
Structure of a DNA G-quadruplex related to osteoporosis with a G-A bulge forming a pseudo-loop
Molecules 2020, 25 (20), 4867.
Web access at MDPI

2018

M. Lenarcic Zivkovic, J. Rozman and J. Plavec
Adenine-driven structural switch from two- to three-quartet DNA G-quadruplex
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57 (47), 15395-15399.
Web access at Wiley Online Library
Angew. Chem. 2018, 130 (47), 15621–15625.
Web access at Wiley Online Library

S. Bozic Abram, M. Marusic, M. Lenarcic Zivkovic, J. Brcic and J. Plavec
Non-canonical structures in promoter modulate gene expression in Escherichia coli
Croat. Chem. Acta 2018, 91(2), 163-170.
Web access at CCA

M. Kozorog, M.-A. Sani, M. Lenarcic Zivkovic, G. Ilc, V. Hodnik, F. Separovic, J. Plavec and G. Anderluh
¹⁹F NMR studies provide insights into lipid membrane interactions of listeriolysin O, a pore forming toxin from Listeria monocytogenes
Sci. Rep. 2018, 8, article number: 6894.
Web access at nature.com

2017

M. Gajarsky, M. Lenarcic Zivkovic, P. Stadlbauer, B. Pagano, R. Fiala, J. Amato, L. Tomaska, J. Sponer, J. Plavec and L. Trantírek
Structure of a Stable G-Hairpin
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139 (10), 3591-3594.
Web access at ACS Publications

2016

A. Kotar, T. Tomasic, M. Lenarcic Zivkovic, G. Jug, J. Plavec and M. Anderluh
STD NMR and molecular modelling insights into interaction of novel mannose-based ligands with DC-SIGN
Org. Biomol. Chem. 2016, 14 (3), 862-875.
Web access at RSC Publishing.

2014

E. Kopera, W. Bal, M. Lenarcic Zivkovic, A. Dvornyk, B. Kludkiewicz, K. Grzelak, I. Zhukov, W. Zagórski-Ostoja, M. Jaskolski, S. Krzywda
Aleksandra. Post-translational S-nitrosylation is an endogenous factor fine tuning the properties of human S100A1 protein
PLoS ONE, 2014, 9 (9): e106936

2012

2009

D. Makuc, M. Lenarcic, G. W. Bates, P. A. Gale and J. Plavec
Anion-induced conformational changes in 2,7-disubstituted indole-based receptors
Org. Biomol. Chem. 2009, 7 (17), 3505-3511.