ABSTRACT Integrin-mediated cell–extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions play crucial roles in a broad range of physiological and pathological processes. Kindlins are important positive regulators integrin activation. The FERM-domain-containing kindlin family comprises three members, kindlin-1, kindlin-2 kindlin-3 (also known as FERMT1, FERMT2 FERMT3), which share high sequence similarity (ident...

Jimmi Cording, Johanna Berg, Nadja Käding, Christian Bellmann, Christian Tscheik, Julie K. Westphal, Susanne Milatz, Dorothee Günzel, Hartwig Wolburg, Jörg Piontek, Otmar Huber and Ingolf Ernst Blasig* Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie, Robert-Rössle-Str. 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany Institute of Biochemistry II, Jena University Hospital, Nonnenplan 2, 07743 Jena, Germany Institut für ...

Protein self-association is a key feature that can modulate the physiological role of proteins or lead to deleterious effects when uncontrolled. Protein oligomerization is a simple way to modify the activity of a protein, as the modulation of binding interfaces allows for self-activation or inhibition, or variation in the selectivity of binding partners. As such, dimerization and higher order o...

Hantaviruses are enveloped, negative-strand RNA viruses which can be lethal to humans, causing either a hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome or a hantaviral pulmonary syndrome. The viral genomes consist of three RNA segments: the L segment encodes the viral polymerase, the M segment encodes the viral surface glycoproteins G1 and G2, and the S segment encodes the nucleocapsid (N) protein. The N...

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been classically described as monomeric entities that function by binding in a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio to both ligand and downstream signalling proteins. However, in recent years, a growing number of studies has supported the hypothesis that these receptors can interact to form dimers and higher order oligomers although the molecular basis for these int...

Oligomerization is a general characteristic of cell membrane receptors that is shared by G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) together with their G protein partners. Recent studies of these complexes, both in vivo and in purified reconstituted forms, unequivocally support this contention for GPCRs, perhaps with only rare exceptions. As evidence has evolved from experimental cell lines to more re...

A hallmark of inflammasome activation is the ASC speck, a micrometre-sized structure formed by the inflammasome adaptor protein ASC (apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD), which consists of a pyrin domain (PYD) and a caspase recruitment domain (CARD). Here we show that assembly of the ASC speck involves oligomerization of ASC(PYD) into filaments and cross-linking of these f...

High throughput screening (HTS) of a 205 member Schiff base salicylaldimine ligand library derived from salicylaldehydes bearing bulky ortho-substituents, i.e., 9-anthracenyl, 1,4,5,8-tetramethylanthracenyl or triptycenyl, reacted in-situ with (p-tolyl)CrCl2(thf)3, identified two new classes of highly active chromium based systems for the oligomerization and polymerization of ethylene, respecti...