Current Protein and Peptide Science - Volume 11, Issue 4, 2010

Cyclodextrins are oligosaccharides, specifically cyclic α-1,4-D-glucose oligomers, that possess a cone-like shape resulting in a hydrophobic inner cavity capable of forming complexes with several guest molecules in a hydrophilic matrix. This capability has led to an extensive investigation into cyclodextrin applications in several different substrates with the purpose of overcoming limitations, such as solubility issues, physical deg Read More

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are produced by a wide range of organisms and serve as their natural defenses against infection caused by bacteria, viruses and fungi. Because of the positively charge and amphipathic structure, AMPs kill target cells through diverse and complex mechanisms once in a target membrane and these special mechanisms are considered to be the critical factors for the less tendency of drug resiste Read More

Transcriptional repressors and activators are principal control elements in bacterial gene expression. They are involved in the regulation of metabolic pathways, cell division, response to environmental signals, sporulation, replication, to name only a few. Whereas the discovery of these regulators was often fortuitous, a number of molecular, biochemical and biophysical methods have been established that allow to invest Read More

Mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation deficiency is accompanied by various down-stream, adaptive responses which play a key role in the varied phenotypes observed when mitochondrial dysfunction occurs. These responses are often accompanied by the induction of genes involved in defense mechanisms against oxidative stress. Among these responses, metallothioneins (MTs) has been identified to be responsive to mi Read More

Incorporation of nonnatural amino acids into proteins has exerted great effects on many fields. In recent years, the engineering of translation apparatus facilitates the boom of this field. The modifications on tRNAs, tRNA synthetases, ribosomes, elongation factors and release factors efficiently broaden the repertoire of amino acids and largely increase the efficiency of incorporation. In addition, deep understanding of Read More