Monomeric TonB and the Ton Box Are Required for the Formation of a High-Affinity Transporter–TonB Complex

The energy-dependent uptake of trace nutrients by Gram-negative bacteria involves the coupling of an outer membrane transport protein to the transperiplasmic protein TonB. In the present study, a soluble construct of Escherichia coli TonB (residues 33–239) was used to determine the affinity of TonB to the outer membrane transporters BtuB, FecA and FhuA. Using fluorescence anisotropy, TonB(33–239) was found to bind with high-affinity (tens of nM) to both BtuB and FhuA; however, no high-affinity binding was observed to FecA. In BtuB, the high affinity binding of TonB(33–239) was eliminated by mutations in the Ton box, which yield transport-defective protein, or by the addition of a Colicin E3 fragment, which stabilizes the Ton box in a folded state. These results indicate that transport requires a high-affinity transporter-TonB interaction that is mediated by the Ton box. Characterization of TonB(33–239) using double electron-electron resonance (DEER) demonstrates that a significant population of TonB(33–239) exists as a dimer; moreover, interspin distances are in approximate agreement with interlocked dimers observed previously by crystallography for shorter TonB fragments. When bound to the outer membrane transporter, DEER shows that the TonB(33–239) dimer is converted to a monomeric form, suggesting that a dimer-monomer conversion takes place at the outer membrane during the TonB-dependent transport cycle

Alternative splicing in the ENCODE protein complement

An accurate description of current scientific developments in the field of bioinformatics and computational implementation is presented by research of the BioSapiens Network of Excellence. Bioinformatics is essential for annotating the structure and function of genes, proteins and the analysis of complete genomes and to molecular biology and biochemistry. Included is an overview of bioinformatics, the full spectrum of genome annotation approaches including; genome analysis and gene prediction, gene regulation analysis and expression, genome variation and QTL analysis, large scale protein annotation of function and structure, annotation and prediction of protein interactions, and the organization and annotation of molecular networks and biochemical pathways. Also covered is a technical framework to organize and represent genome data using the DAS technology and work in the annotation of two large genomic sets: HIV/HCV viral genomes and splicing alternatives potentially encoded in 1% of the human genome

Alternative splicing in the ENCODE protein complement

An accurate description of current scientific developments in the field of bioinformatics and computational implementation is presented by research of the BioSapiens Network of Excellence. Bioinformatics is essential for annotating the structure and function of genes, proteins and the analysis of complete genomes and to molecular biology and biochemistry. Included is an overview of bioinformatics, the full spectrum of genome annotation approaches including; genome analysis and gene prediction, gene regulation analysis and expression, genome variation and QTL analysis, large scale protein annotation of function and structure, annotation and prediction of protein interactions, and the organization and annotation of molecular networks and biochemical pathways. Also covered is a technical framework to organize and represent genome data using the DAS technology and work in the annotation of two large genomic sets: HIV/HCV viral genomes and splicing alternatives potentially encoded in 1% of the human genome