Current Protein and Peptide Science - Volume 14, Issue 6, 2013

It is well established in the scientific literature that only a small fraction of microorganisms can be cultured by conventional microbiology methods. The ever cheaper and faster DNA sequencing methods, together with advances in bioinformatics, have improved our understanding of the structure and functional behavior of microbial communities in many complex environments. However, the metagenomics approach alon Read More

The Renin-Angiotensin-System (RAS) molecular network has been widely studied, especially with attention to angiotensin II, the main effector peptide among RAS. The relation of Ang II to hypertension pathogenesis has led to research being extended to other molecules from the RAS, such as angiotensin III and IV, angiotensin (1-5), and angiotensin (1-9). Moreover, great pharmacologic advances have been made in hyperte Read More

Coronary artery disease (CAD) arising from atherosclerosis remains the most common cause of death and morbidity worldwide, although its risk factors, such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes, have been individually treated with increasingly improved outcomes. Therefore, it is important to develop diagnostic and therapeutic windows for CAD. Many classical vasoactive hormones, inflammatory cytokines, and oxi Read More

Lectins are a group of proteins which could recognize different sugar structures and specifically initiate reversible binding with them. Lectins are universally expressed in different organisms and undertake important biological roles. Understanding of their inherent roles and mechanisms that they employ has inspired researches with new ideas and applications. For example, along with the revelation of their anti-insect function Read More

This review mainly summarizes results of recent studies on the anticancer activity of the multifunctional protein lactoferrin (Lf) and its derived peptide lactoferricin (Lfcin). The basic information on Lf and Lfcin, such as their sources, structures, and biological properties which favor their antitumor activity is introduced. The major anticancer mechanisms of Lf and Lfcin including cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, anti-angiogenesi Read More

Living organisms are in perpetual contact with pathogenic microbes, and in encounter with parasites and predators. In order to protect themselves, they produce a variety of antimicrobial proteins and peptides. One family of such protective or defensive proteins is known as defensins, characterized by a cationic character, a low molecular mass, and an abundance of cysteine residues. Defensins from mammals and pla Read More

Cyclotides and conotoxins are two classes of disulfide-rich peptides that occur in plants and animals respectively and are the major focus of study in our laboratory. In the last three years there has been significant progress in studies of these two classes of compounds and in this article we provide an overview of the findings from our laboratory in this period. Highlights include the discovery of cyclotides in the Fabaceae and Read More