Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is one of the most important genetic risk factors for late-onset sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD). APOE is a 35 kDa glycoprotein and ligand known to bind to members of the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) family...
Ubiquitin conjugating E2 enzymes are a set of ~40 proteins that play a central role in the ubiquitination cascade. They transfer ubiquitin from an E1 enzyme to substrates with the help of an E3 enzyme. The members of the E2 family share structural...
The innate immune sensor PKR for double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) is critical for antiviral defense, but its aberrant activation by cellular dsRNA is linked to various diseases. The dsRNA-binding protein PACT plays a critical yet controversial role in this...
B cell somatic hypermutation (SHM) and selection in germinal centers (GCs) enhance antibody affinity for antigen. Here, we investigated whether SHM-based antibody evolution is restricted to specificities established through V(D)J recombination in the...
me biosensors is critical for advancing non-invasive point-of-care diagnostics. Allosteric transcription factors (aTFs) innately regulate gene expression in microbes by binding DNA in response to the presence or absence of small molecule ligands. Hormones...
Transcription factors (TFs) have been a focal point of molecular biology research for decades, with evolving methodologies offering progressively deeper insights into their critical roles in gene regulation. Recent advancements in experimental and...
Four nanobodies (VHH1-4) that target the yeast SUMO protein Smt3p were isolated and characterized. VHH1-4 bind to Smt3p and Smt3p-tagged proteins with high affinity (Kd: low nM). NMR analysis shows that the four nanobodies all bind near the C-terminus of...
The cell’s capacity for protein folding can be controlled by transcriptional regulation of genes encoding chaperones. These factors recognize unfolded proteins to shield them from aggregation or actively assist their folding process. Protein synthesis is...
Despite common descent, enzymes often rescue poorly when expressed across domains of life. Causes include factors external to the enzyme, such as differences in codon usage, sensitivity to proteases, and transcriptional or post-translational regulatory...
Oncogenic mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) promote tumorigenesis by stabilizing active or pre-active receptor conformations. Most EGFR-driven cancers are characterized by kinase domain mutations that directly activate the receptor...
Protein-peptide interactions underlie key biological processes and are commonly utilized in biomedical research and therapeutic discovery. It is often desirable to identify peptide sequence properties that confer high-affinity binding to a target protein...
The DEAD-box family of ATPases plays a critical role in nearly all stages of RNA metabolism, from transcription to degradation, and serves as a major regulator of biomolecular condensates. Dysregulation of DEAD-box proteins is well-established in a...