Peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs), which have been identified in most animals, are pattern recognition molecules that involve antimicrobial defense. Resulting from extraordinary expansion of innate immune genes, the amphioxus encodes many PGRPs of diverse functions. For instance, three isoforms of PGRP encoded by Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense, termed BbtPGRP1~3, are fused with a ...

Chitin is a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine that is abundant and widely found in the biological world. It is an important constituent of the cuticular exoskeleton that plays a key role in the insect life cycle. To date, the study of chitin deposition during cuticle formation has been limited by the lack of a method to detect it in living organisms. To overcome this limitation, we have developed ...

Cellulose-binding protein A (CbpA), a component of the cellulase complex of Clostridium cellulovorans, contains a unique sequence which has been demonstrated to be a cellulose-binding domain (CBD). The DNA coding for this putative CBD was subcloned into pET-8c, an Escherichia coli expression vector. The protein produced under the direction of the recombinant plasmid, pET-CBD, had a high affinit...

Abbreviations: Abl, Abelson protein tyrosine kinase; CBD, chitin-binding domain; EPL, expressed protein ligation; GPCR, G-protein-coupled receptor; IPL, intein-mediated protein ligation; MBP, maltosebinding protein; NCL, native chemical ligation; NMR, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance; Npu, Nostoc punctiforme; PDB, Protein Data Bank; PTB, polypyrimidine tract binding protein; SH2 and SH3, src homology...

Mouse acidic mammalian chitinase (AMCase) plays important physiological roles in defense and nutrition. AMCase is composed of an N-terminal catalytic domain (CatD) and a C-terminal chitin-binding domain (CBD). We expressed CatD of mouse AMCase as a recombinant fusion protein with Protein A and V5-His in Escherichia coli (Protein A-CatD-V5-His), evaluated its functional properties and compared t...

We identified four new family 19 chitinases in Oi:yza sativa L. cv. Nipponbare: one class I (OsChiald), two clftss II (OsChia2a nd OsChia2b), and Qne class IV (OsChia4a). OsChia2a resembled (about 60% identity) the catalytic domains of class I chitinases, but OsChia2b was almost identical (95% identity) to tbat of the class IV enzyme. OsChialc, OsChialcACBD (a deJetion of OsChialc lacking a chi...

The Clostridium paraputrificum chiB gene, encoding chitinase B (ChiB), consists of an open reading frame of 2,493 nucleotides and encodes 831 amino acids with a deduced molecular weight of 90,020. The deduced ChiB is a modular enzyme composed of a family 18 catalytic domain responsible for chitinase activity, two reiterated domains of unknown function, and a chitin-binding domain (CBD). The rei...

Development requires fertilization by a single sperm. In Caenorhabditis elegans, fertilization occurs in a sperm-filled spermatheca, implying the barrier to polyspermy is generated in this compartment. Eggshell chitin synthesis is initiated at fertilization, and chitin is deposited before the zygote exits the spermatheca. Whereas polyspermy is very rare in wild-type, here we report an incidence...

Background: Enterocin-P of Enterococcus faecium P13 (EntP) is of great interest as a food preservative and medicine due to its non-toxicity and broad antimicrobial spectrum in various pH, as well as its excellent thermal stability. However, recombinant production of EntP is still in laboratory because of low productivity and complex purification process. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to ...