Protein and Peptide Letters - Volume 27, Issue 5, 2020

The identification of Drug-Target Interactions (DTIs) is an important process in drug discovery and medical research. However, the tradition experimental methods for DTIs identification are still time consuming, extremely expensive and challenging. In the past ten years, various computational methods have been developed to identify potential DTIs. In this paper, the identification methods of DTIs are summarized Read More

Protein-related interaction prediction is critical to understanding life processes, biological functions, and mechanisms of drug action. Experimental methods used to determine proteinrelated interactions have always been costly and inefficient. In recent years, advances in biological and medical technology have provided us with explosive biological and physiological data, and deep learning-based algorithms have shown great pro Read More

Understanding the interaction mechanism of proteins and nucleic acids is one of the most fundamental problems for genome editing with engineered nucleases. Due to some limitations of experimental investigations, computational methods have played an important role in obtaining the knowledge of protein-nucleic acid interaction. Over the past few years, dozens of computational tools have been used for identificati Read More

In recent years, more and more evidence indicates that long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) plays a significant role in the development of complex biological processes, especially in RNA progressing, chromatin modification, and cell differentiation, as well as many other processes. Surprisingly, lncRNA has an inseparable relationship with human diseases such as cancer. Therefore, only by knowing more about the function of lnc Read More

Self-Interacting Proteins (SIPs), whose two or more copies can interact with each other, have significant roles in cellular functions and evolution of Protein Interaction Networks (PINs). Knowing whether a protein can act on itself is important to understand its functions. Previous studies on SIPs have focused on their structures and functions, while their whole properties are less emphasized. Not surprisingly, identifying SIPs is one Read More

Enzymes are among the most studied biological molecules because better understanding enzymes structure and activity will shed more light on their biological processes and regulation; from a biotechnological point of view there are many examples of enzymes used with the aim to obtain new products and/or to make industrial processes less invasive towards the environment. Enzymes are known for their high specificity in Read More

Background: microRNAs (miRNAs) are a small, endogenous non-coding RNAs that are involved in post-transcriptional gene regulation of many biological processes, including embryo implantation and placental development. In our previous study, miR-146a-5p was found expressed higher in the serum exosomes of pregnant sows than non-pregnant. The research on miR-146a-5p has been mainly related to human diseases, b Read More

Background: Insulin is a peptide hormone used for regulating blood glucose levels. Human insulin market is projected to grow at a rate of 12.5% annually. To meet the needs of patients, a cost effective insulin manufacturing strategy has to be developed. This can be achieved by selecting a competent host, ideal fusion tag and streamlined downstream process. Objective: In this article, we have demonstrated that selecting a Read More

Background: Intermediate Filaments (IFs) are major constituents of the cytoskeletal systems in animal cells. Objective: To gain insights into the structure-function relationship of invertebrate cytoplasmic IF proteins, we characterized an IF protein from the platyhelminth, Dugesia japonica, termed Dif-1. Methods: cDNA cloning, in situ hybridization, immunohistochemical analysis, and IF assembly experiments in vitro using re Read More