Out but Not In: The Large Transmembrane β-Barrel Protein FhuA Unfolds but Cannot Refold via β-Hairpins

Predicting giant transmembrane β-barrel architecture

MOTIVATION The β-barrel is a ubiquitous fold that is deployed to accomplish a wide variety of biological functions including membrane-embedded pores. Key influences of β-barrel lumen diameter include the number of β-strands (n) and the degree of shear (S), the latter value measuring the extent to which the β-sheet is tilted within the β-barrel. Notably, it has previously been reported that the ...

Down but not out

By his mid-forties, Darwin had established his scientific reputation, was married with a young family and had built on the solid connections that came with his and his wife's well-known middle class families. 'He was one of the kindest and truest men that it was ever my good fortune to know,' said his influential scientific colleague, Thomas Huxley. With no need to seek employment, Darwin took ...

"Down but not out".

Out but not down

his research partner Nico Forraz. He plans to open the world's biggest institute devoted to cord blood and adult stem cells. McGuckin has been a leader of researchers working in the UK on stem cells derived from babies' umbilical cord blood. The method is less controversial than embryo-derived stem cells as no embryo is destroyed in the process. He told the Times Higher Education that France ha...

BOCTOPUS: improved topology prediction of transmembrane β barrel proteins

MOTIVATION Transmembrane β barrel proteins (TMBs) are found in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, chloroplast and mitochondria. They play a major role in the translocation machinery, pore formation, membrane anchoring and ion exchange. TMBs are also promising targets for antimicrobial drugs and vaccines. Given the difficulty in membrane protein structure determination, computational ...