A BW Reporter System for Studying Receptor-Ligand Interactions

Ligand-receptor Interactions

The formation and dissociation of specific noncovalent interactions between a variety of macromolecules play a crucial role in the function of biological systems. During the last few years, three main lines of research led to a dramatic improvement of our understanding of these important phenomena. First, combination of genetic engineering and X ray cristallography made available a simultaneous...

Reporter assays for studying quadruplex nucleic acids.

DNA and RNA G-quadruplexes have gained increasing attention due to their potential role in a wide range of biological functions. The majority of functional studies characterize the influence of quadruplexes in gene expression including transcription and translation. Many of these studies have used reporter assays to elucidate the effect of quadruplexes at certain positions in promoters and untr...

Analysis of Receptor-Ligand Interactions.

A biosensor assay for studying ligand-membrane receptor interactions: binding of antibodies and HIV-1 Env to chemokine receptors.

The HIV envelope (Env) protein mediates entry into cells by binding CD4 and an appropriate coreceptor, which triggers structural changes in Env that lead to fusion between the viral and cellular membranes. The major HIV-1 coreceptors are the seven transmembrane domain chemokine receptors CCR5 and CXCR4. The type of coreceptor used by a virus strain is an important determinant of viral tropism a...

A ligand-reversible dimerization system for controlling protein-protein interactions.

Chemically induced dimerization provides a general way to gain control over intracellular processes. Typically, FK506-binding protein (FKBP) domains are fused to a signaling domain of interest, allowing crosslinking to be initiated by addition of a bivalent FKBP ligand. In the course of protein engineering studies on human FKBP, we discovered that a single point mutation in the ligand-binding s...