Identification and Structural Characterization of a New Three-Finger Toxin Hemachatoxin from Hemachatus haemachatus Venom

10.1371/journal.pone.0048112PLoS ONE710

United States Geological Survey Reports

From Abstract: Niobium (columbium) and titanium occur in several minerals and rocks of the Magnet Cove and Potash Sulphur Springs areas. Niobium is in demand for use in high-temperature and noncreep steels; titanium metal is becoming an important structural material. The Magnet Cove and Potash Sulphur Springs areas are in central Arkansas between the communities of Malvern and Hot Springs. They are underlain by similar alkalic igneous complexes consisting of nepheline syenite, more basic alkalic rocks, and calcite rock or carbonatite. The igneous rocks transect sedimentary rocks of Paleozoic age and were truncated by erosion of Late Cretaceous age

Chimeric Vitronectin : Insulin-like Growth Factor Proteins Enhance Cell Growth and Migration through Co-Activation of Receptors

Complexes comprised of IGF-I, IGF-binding proteins and the ECM protein vitronectin (VN) stimulate cell migration and growth and can replace the requirement for serum for the ex vivo expansion of cells, as well as promote wound healing in vivo. Moreover, the activity of the complexes is dependent on co-activation of the IGF-I receptor and VN-binding integrins. In view of this we sought to develop chimeric proteins able to recapitulate the action of the multiprotein complex within a single molecular species. We report here the production of two recombinant chimeric proteins, incorporating domains of VN linked to IGF-I, which mimic the functions of the complex. Further, the activity of the chimeric proteins is dependent on co-activation of the IGF-I- and VN-binding cell surface receptors. Clearly the use of chimeras that mimic the activity of growth factor:ECM complexes, such as these, offer manufacturing advantages that ultimately will facilitate translation to cost-effective therapies