Biological membrane fusion is dependent on protein catalysts to mediate localized restructuring of lipid bilayers. A central theme in current models of protein-mediated membrane fusion involves the sequential refolding of complex homomeric or heteromeric protein fusion machines. The structural features of a new family of fusion-associated small transmembrane (FAST) proteins appear incompatible ...

The pro-inflammatory cytokine, TNF-α, which plays a major role in the development and persistence of inflammatory diseases, is the basis for the use of anti-TNF-α therapies. The neutralization of TNF-α or blockage of its binding to the corresponding receptor has mainly served as a therapeutic strategy against some diseases. This study aimed to investigate the production of a humanized single ch...

BACKGROUND Recombinant proteins produced for use as biopharmaceuticals need to harbor their native N-terminus. A drawback in expression of recombinant fusion with an affinity fusion-tag is that enzymatic or chemical processing required trim the artificial tag and release true protein interest. In many cases, however, this step generates incorrect RESULTS Human fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) ...

background: enterotoxigenic escherichia coli (etec) strains are the major causes of diarrheal disease in humans and animals. colonization factors and enterotoxins are the major virulence factors in etec pathogenesis. for the broad-spectrum protection against etec, one could focus on colonization factors and non-toxic heat labile as a vaccine candidate. methods: a fusion protein is composed of a...

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) entry into host cells is mediated by the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and fusion (F) glycoproteins. We previously showed that production of free thiols in F protein is required for membrane fusion directed by F protein (S. Jain et al., J. Virol. 81:2328-2339, 2007). In the present study we evaluated the oxidation state of F protein in virions and virus-like par...