The Bet v 1 fold: an ancient, versatile scaffold for binding of large, hydrophobic ligands

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The major birch pollen allergen, Bet v 1, is a member of the ubiquitous PR-10 family of plant pathogenesis-related proteins. In recent years, a number of diverse plant proteins with low sequence similarity to Bet v 1 was identified. In addition, determination of the Bet v 1 structure revealed the existence of a large superfamily of structurally related proteins. In this study, we aimed to identify and classify all Bet v 1-related structures from the Protein Data Bank and all Bet v 1-related sequences from the Uniprot database.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Structural comparisons of representative members of already known protein families structurally related to Bet v 1 with all entries of the Protein Data Bank yielded 47 structures with non-identical sequences. They were classified into eleven families, five of which were newly identified and not included in the Structural Classification of Proteins database release 1.71. The taxonomic distribution of these families extracted from the Pfam protein family database showed that members of the polyketide cyclase family and the activator of Hsp90 ATPase homologue 1 family were distributed among all three superkingdoms, while members of some bacterial families were confined to a small number of species. Comparison of ligand binding activities of Bet v 1-like superfamily members revealed that their functions were related to binding and metabolism of large, hydrophobic compounds such as lipids, hormones, and antibiotics. Phylogenetic relationships within the Bet v 1 family, defined as the group of proteins with significant sequence similarity to Bet v 1, were determined by aligning 264 Bet v 1-related sequences. A distance-based phylogenetic tree yielded a classification into 11 subfamilies, nine exclusively containing plant sequences and two subfamilies of bacterial proteins. Plant sequences included the pathogenesis-related proteins 10, the major latex proteins/ripening-related proteins subfamily, and polyketide cyclase-like sequences.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The ubiquitous distribution of Bet v 1-related proteins among all superkingdoms suggests that a Bet v 1-like protein was already present in the last universal common ancestor. During evolution, this protein diversified into numerous families with low sequence similarity but with a common fold that succeeded as a versatile scaffold for binding of bulky ligands.</p

Austrian Academy Corpus Digital Resources and Textual Studies

The Austrian Academy Corpus (AAC) is a newly founded institution based at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. It was designed to set up a text corpus and to conduct research in the field of electronic text corpora. The electronic text collections established at the AAC so far and its future projects will mainly focus on electronic representations not only of literary texts, literary magazines, journals and newspapers but also on a carefully considered selection of texts from many cultural and social domains. The aim of the proposed paper is to investigate the potential of digital resources for textual studies in various fields of the humanities. The paper will consider the advance of new systems of digital representation and its implications for the study of language, literature and cultural history. The paper will show the range of interests pursued in the AAC research group. It will be concerned with the general organisational structures of the AAC, the specific selection criteria for the great variety of texts which will form the AAC, and finally, examine practical issues in digitising the magazine "Die Weltbühne", giving special attention to the applicability of XML Schemas in literary computing.Hosted by the Scholarly Text and Imaging Service (SETIS), the University of Sydney Library, and the Research Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (RIHSS), the University of Sydney

Traditionelle Lehrstellenwahl von jungen Frauen

Dem schulischen Berufsorientierungsunterricht kommt hinsichtlich der direkten Einflussnahme im Rahmen des Berufsfindungsprozesses von jungen Frauen eine große Bedeutung zu, da die Schule diesen begleitet, indem sie bezüglich der sich widersprechenden Situation von jungen Frauen Aufschluss geben, sowie einen Rahmen schaffen kann, in dem Mädchen ihre Eindrücke der Wirklichkeit diskutieren, prüfen und Handlungsoptionen bilden können (vgl. Lemmermöhle 1993, S. 2f). In der AMS Studie 38 des Jahres 2004 „Berufsorientierung und Berufseinstieg von Mädchen in einen geteilten Arbeitsmarkt“, verfasst von Bergmann, Gutknecht-Gmeiner, Wieser u.a. wurde der hohe Stellenwert des Berufsorientierungsunterrichts für die befragten SchülerInnen und, dass es seitens der LehrerInnen im Rahmen des Berufsorientierungsunterrichts nur sehr selten zu einer Thematisierung der geschlechtsspezifischen Berufswahlthematik kommt bzw. dies stark von ihrem Interesse abhängig ist, aufgezeigt (vgl. Bergmann u.a. 2004, S. 57). Folglich dieser Erkenntnisse stellen im Zuge dieses Forschungsvorhabens nicht SchülerInnen bzw. ArbeitsmarktexpertInnen, sondern LehrerInnen des Faches Berufsorientierung an Haupt- bzw. Polytechnischen Schulen die Zielgruppe der Befragung dar. Zielsetzung dieser Arbeit ist es, neben der Darstellung des theoretischen Hintergrundes, durch eine Befragung der HauptakteurInnen und zugleich Verantwortlichen deren Bewusstseinsstand darzustellen.Particular importance is being attached to career guidance classes at schools with reference to WHO exerts direct influence on young women within the framework of career development. Schools accompany this kind of process by informing about the contradictory situation of young women, as well as by providing a frame within the scope of which girls can discuss and verify their impressions of reality and can eventually come forward with different action alternatives (compare Lemmermöhle 1993, p. 2f). In the AMS study 38 of 2004 "Girls' Guidance and Entrance into Pro-fessional Life on a Sex-Specific Labour Market" written by Bermann, Gutknecht-Gmeiner, Wieser et al, the importance of career guidance classes for female students interviewed in the study was made a subject of discussion; it was also pointed out that within the framework of career guidance classes it was hardly ever the case that female teachers broached the issue of a sex-specific choice of profession but rather made it dependent on their own interests (compare Bergman et al 2004, p. 57). Due to these findings it is not female students and experts on the job market, but female teachers of career guidance classes at secondary and politechnic secondary schools that made up the target group. The objective of the study is both presenting a theoretical background as well as revealing the status quo of the target group which is at the same timed responsible for young women's career development

Specific IgE Response to Purified and Recombinant Allergens in Latex Allergy

Background In recent years, allergy to natural rubber latex has emerged as a major allergy among certain occupational groups and patients with underlying diseases. The sensitization and development of latex allergy has been attributed to exposure to products containing residual latex proteins. Although improved manufacturing procedures resulted in a considerable reduction of new cases, the potential risk for some patient groups is still great. In addition the prevalent cross-reactivity of latex proteins with other food allergens poses a major concern. A number of purified allergens and a few commercial kits are currently available, but no concerted effort was undertaken to evaluate them. Methods We studied 11 purified latex allergens, Hev b 1 to Hev b 10, and Hev b 13 along with several crude allergen extracts and two commercial ImmunoCAP assays to evaluate specific IgE antibody in the sera from latex allergic patients and controls. Health care workers and spina bifida patients with clinical symptoms of latex allergy, spina bifida patients without latex allergy, and non-atopic health care workers have been studied. Results The results suggest that Hev b 2, 5, 6, and 13 together identified over 80 percent health care workers with latex allergy, while Hev b 6 along with Hev b 1 or 3 detected specific IgE antibody in all sera studied from patients with spina bifida and latex allergy. The ImmunoCAP results using both Hev b 5 amplified and non-amplified closely agreed with the clinical diagnosis of latex allergy in health care workers and in spina bifida. Conclusion Although the purified allergens and crude extracts reacted diversely with IgE from different patient groups, the results indicated that use of certain combinations of purified recombinant antigens will be useful in commercial kits or in in-house assays for detecting specific IgE antibody in the sera. The results suggest that a combination of Hev b 2, 3, 5, 6, and 13 together detected specific IgE in 80% of the sera from latex allergic patients. Both ImmunoCAPs correctly identified over 95% of latex allergic patients, however, showed reactivity with a few normal control subject

Specificity of Mimotope-Induced Anti-High Molecular Weight-Melanoma Associated Antigen (HMW-MAA) Antibodies Does Not Ensure Biological Activity

Vaccines based on peptide mimics (mimotopes) of conformational tumor antigen epitopes have been investigated for a variety of human tumors including breast cancer, tumors expressing the carcinoembryonic antigen, B cell lymphoma, neuroblastoma, and melanoma. In our previous work, we designed a vaccine based on a mimotope of the high molecular weight-melanoma associated antigen (HMW-MAA) that elicited HMW-MAA-specific antibodies (Abs) with anti-tumor activity in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we aimed to identify mimotopes of additional distinct HMW-MAA epitopes, since they could be used to construct a polymimotope melanoma vaccine. For this purpose, random peptide phage libraries were screened with the anti-HMW-MAA monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) VT80.12 and VF1-TP43 yielding one peptide ligand for each mAb. Both peptides inhibited the binding of the corresponding mAb to the HMW-MAA. Furthermore, when coupled to the carrier protein keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), both HMW-MAA mimotopes elicited peptide-specific Abs in rabbits or BALB/c mice, but only the mimotope isolated with the mAb VT80.12 elicited HMW-MAA-specific Abs and only in mice. However, the latter Abs had no detectable effect on HMW-MAA expressing human melanoma cells in vitro. These results describe limitations related to the phage display technique and emphasize the need to characterize the functional properties of the mAb utilized to isolate mimotopes of the corresponding epitopes