Since immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography (IMAC) was first reported, several modifications have been developed. Among them, Ni(2+) immobilized by chelation with nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) bound to a solid support has become the most common method for the purification of proteins carrying either a C- or N-terminal histidine (His) tag. Despite its broad application in protein purificat...

Pendred's syndrome is defined as a triad of congenital perceptive hearing loss, goiter, and abnormal perchlorate test. Three brothers with Pendred's syndrome [P.S.] are reported. The oldest brother has hearing loss (he has been deaf and mute since childhood) and has a large goiter. A thyroid scan revealed euthyroid multinodular goiter and a perchlorate test was performed, and reported abno...

An important goal is to identify the direct activation domain (AD)-interacting components of the transcriptional machinery within the context of native complexes. Toward this end, we first demonstrate that the multisubunit TFIID, SAGA, mediator, and Swi/Snf coactivator complexes from transcriptionally competent whole-cell yeast extracts were all capable of specifically interacting with the prot...

RATIONALE Bunyaviruses have become a major threat to both humans and livestock in Europe and the Americas. The nucleocapsid (N) protein of these viruses is key to the replication cycle and knowledge of the N oligomerisation state is central to understanding the viral lifecycle and for development of therapeutic strategies. METHODS Bunyamwera virus and Schmallenberg virus N proteins (BUNV-N an...

Rhp14 of Schizosaccharomyces pombe is homologous to human XPA and Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rad14, which act in nucleotide excision repair of DNA damages induced by ultraviolet light and chemical agents. Cells with disrupted rhp14 were highly sensitive to ultraviolet light, and epistasis analysis with swi10 (nucleotide excision repair) and rad2 (Uve1-dependent ultraviolet light damage repair pat...

Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira. The whole-genome sequence of L. interrogans serovar Copenhageni together with bioinformatics tools represent a great opportunity to search for novel antigen candidates that could be used as subunit vaccine against leptospirosis. We focused on six genes encoding for conserved hypothetical proteins predicted to be exported to ...

Intracellular delivery of functional macromolecules using peptide transduction domains (PTDs) is an exciting technology with both experimental and therapeutic applications. Recent data indicate that PTD-mediated transduction occurs via fluid-phase macropinocytosis involving an intracellular pH drop to approximately 5. Nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA)-coordinated metals avidly bind hexahistidine-tagg...