Inorganic polyphosphates in biology: structure, metabolism, and function.

Inorganic polyphosphates in biology: structure, metabolism, and function.

Correction: The new world of inorganic polyphosphates.

Figure 1 Model of two independent PTMs, serine-pyrophosphorylation and lysine-polyphosphorylation Protein pyrophosphorylation is the transfer of the b-phosphate group of the pyrophosphate moiety of IP7 on to a pre-phosphorylated serine residue (left) [16,17]. Conversely, protein polyphosphorylation is the covalent attachment of a chain of inorganic polyP on to a lysine residue dependent on the ...

Leptin: structure, function and biology.

Leptin is an adipocyte-derived hormone that acts as a major regulator for food intake and energy homeostasis. Leptin deficiency or resistance can result in profound obesity, diabetes, and infertility in humans. Since its discovery, our understanding of leptin's biological functions has expanded from anti-obesity to broad effects on reproduction, hematopoiesis, angiogenesis, blood pressure, bone...

Cancer/Testis genes in relation to sperm biology and function

Cancer testis antigens (CTAs), a large family of tumor-associated and immunogenic antigens expressed in human tumors of various histological origins, are highly restricted to the testis and trophoblast. CTAs have been identified as potent targets for tumor-specific immunotherapeutic advances and have immensely lead to the development of different clinical trials of CTA-based vaccine therapy bec...

Inorganic molecular capsules: from structure to function.

The assembly of nanoscale capsules or cages using metal coordination represents one of the most interesting and challenging areas of chemical nanoscience. These high-symmetry capsules are invariably comprised of many metal–ligand components, which often selfassemble rapidly and in high yield into a single gigantic species—sometimes even protein-sized. However, the interest in these systems goes...