Current Protein and Peptide Science - Volume 14, Issue 2, 2013

Lanthipeptides are ribosomally synthesized and posttranslationally modified peptides produced by microorganisms. The name lanthipeptide is derived from lanthionine, a thioether–bridged amino acid installed by dedicated modification enzymes. Serines and threonines are dehydrated and subsequently coupled to cysteines, thus forming intramolecular lanthionine rings. A well–known subclass of lanthipeptides are lantibiotics Read More

Autophagy and endocytosis are two evolutionarily conserved catabolic processes that comprise vesicle trafficking events for the clearance of the sequestered intracellular and extracellular cargo. Both start differently but end in the same compartment, the lysosome. Mounting evidences from the last years have established the involvement of proteins sensitive to intracellular Ca2+ in the control of the early autophagic steps an Read More

Defining the minimal protein determinants of enzymic reactions, biological interactions, and immune recognition is at the core of biochemistry, pathology and therapeutics. Indeed, short peptide sequences are involved in physiological processes such as cell growth and apoptosis, and in pathological phenomena such as amyloid protein fibrillogenesis and tumor cell migration. An active peptide may exert more powerful ac Read More

Intra–molecular interactions within complex systems play a pivotal role in the biological function. They form a major challenge to computational structural proteomics. The network paradigm treats any system as a set of nodes linked by edges corresponding to the relations existing between the nodes. It offers a computationally efficient tool to meet this challenge. Here, we review the recent advances in the use of network th Read More

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and malignant primary brain tumor in adults. Despite several advances, little is known about GBM–specific aberrant signalling processes. The hedgehog (Hh) signalling pathway plays a central role in GBM pathogenesis and tumor progression. Its activation is mediated by sonic hedgehog (Shh), which binds to its receptor patched, PTCH, promoting Gli1 activation. Gli1 is a memb Read More

Conformational Protein Diseases (CPDs) comprise over forty clinically and pathologically diverse disorders in which specific altered proteins accumulate in cells or tissues of the body. The most studied are Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, prion diseases, inclusion body myopathy, and the systemic amyloidoses. They are characterised by three dimensional conform Read More