Current Protein and Peptide Science - Volume 13, Issue 3, 2012

The continuing problem of the emergence of multidrug resistance in pathogens has resulted in renewed efforts to identify novel antimicrobials that could be used in clinical settings. Lantibiotics are bacterially produced gene encoded antimicrobial peptides which have been the focus of extensive investigation in recent years because of their broad spectrum of activity. Lantibiotics (lanthionine-containing antibiotics), which have trad Read More

For quite a long period of time in history, many intense efforts have been made to determine the 3D (threedimensional) structure of the M2 proton channel. The reason why the M2 proton channel has attracted so many attentions is because (1) it is the key for really understanding the life cycle of influenza viruses, and (2) it is indispensable for conducting rational drug design against the flu viruses. Recently, the long-sough 3D str Read More

Indiscriminate use of antibiotics has led to a rapid increase of antibiotic resistance among microbes which has increased the need to develop novel antimicrobial agents to fight various infectious diseases. Peptide antibiotics signify a novel class of therapeutic agents and have been isolated from a wide variety of multi-cellular organisms. Peptide antibiotics have shown broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and they not only kill diff Read More

The process of oxidative folding in the intermembrane mitochondrial space (IMS) is an exciting field of research because folding is simultaneously coupled to protein translocation and functional regulation. Contrary to the endoplasmatic reticulum ER where several chaperones of the disulfide isomerase family exist, oxidative folding in the IMS is exclusively catalyzed by the oxoreductase Mia40 that recognizes a group of protein Read More

The atomic force microscope (AFM) is widely used in biological sciences due to its ability to perform imaging experiments at high resolution in a physiological environment, without special sample preparation such as fixation or staining. AFM is unique, in that it allows single molecule information of mechanical properties and molecular recognition to be gathered. This review sets out to identify methodological applicati Read More

Here we review the present state of structural and functional studies of the Sac10b protein family, a class of highly conserved 10 kDa nucleic acid-binding proteins in archaea. Based on biochemical and structural studies, these proteins were originally assigned a role in the structural organization of chromatin; Sac10b proteins of hyperthermophilic archaea, for example, showed tight, unspecific DNA binding. More rece Read More

Many naturally occurring bioactive peptides bind to biological membranes. Studying and elucidating the mode of interaction is often an essential step to understand their molecular and biological functions. To obtain the complete orientation and immersion depth of such compounds in the membrane or a membrane-mimetic system, a number of methods are available, which are separated in this review into four main class Read More