The NH2-terminal peptide of myelin basic protein (MBP) bound to the class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) protein I-Au is an immunodominant epitope in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a murine model of multiple sclerosis. However, the MBP-I-Au complex is very unstable. To investigate this, we performed site-directed mutagenesis of the I-Au MHC protein and the MBP peptide. Bi...

The MB1 regulatory sequence of the myelin basic protein (MBP) gene spanning between nucleotides -14 to -50 with respect to the transcription start site is critical for cell type-specific transcription of the MBP gene, which encodes the major protein component of myelin sheath in cells derived from the central nervous system (CNS). This regulatory sequence has the ability to interact with a deve...

Mannose-binding proteins (MBPs), members of the collectin family, have been implicated as lectin opsonins for various viruses and bacteria. Two distinct but related MBPs, MBP-A and MBP-C, with approximately 55% identity at the amino acid level, have been previously characterized from rodents. In humans, however, only one form of MBP has been characterized. In this paper we report studies elucid...

Mannose-binding proteins have been isolated from the liver of rats and humans and subsequently been found in the serum of rats, rabbits, and humans. We report the isolation of cDNA clones isolated from a human liver cDNA library that encodes a human mannose-binding protein. The primary structure has three domains: (a) an NH2-terminal cysteine-rich segment of 19 amino acids which appears to be i...

Hepatitis G virus (HGV) nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) contains amino acid sequence motifs typical of ATPase and RNA helicase proteins. In order to examine the RNA helicase activity of the HGV NS3 protein, the NS3 region (amino acids 904 to 1580) was fused with maltose-binding protein (MBP), and the fusion protein was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified with amylose resin and anion-exchan...

Eosinophil granule major basic protein (MBP) is expressed exclusively in eosinophils and basophils in hematopoietic cells. In our previous study, we demonstrated a major positive regulatory role for GATA-1 and a negative regulatory role for GATA-2 in MBP gene transcription. Further analysis of the MBP promoter region identified a C/EBP (CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein) consensus binding site 6 b...

Chemotaxis allows bacteria to detect specific compounds and move accordingly. This pathway involves signal detection by chemoreceptors (MCPs). Attributing a chemoreceptor ligand is difficult because there lot of redundancy in the MCPs that recognize single ligand. We propose methodology define which bind given First, an MCP overproduced increase sensitivity ligand(s) it recognizes, thus promoti...

Chicken egg yolk contains a mannose-binding protein that could be purified with a modification of the procedure of affinity chromatography and gel filtration used for chicken serum mannose-binding protein. The yolk protein was indistinguishable from the serum protein with respect to apparent molecular masses (169 +/- 7 kDa), subunits (74 kDa and 27 kDa, in approximately 1:1 ratio) produced afte...

Acanthamoeba keratitis is a sight-threatening corneal infection. In a recent study, the saccharide mannose has been shown to inhibit the binding of Acanthamoeba organisms to the epithelium of the cornea (L. D. Morton, G. L. McLaughlin, and H. E. Whiteley, Infect. Immun. 59:3819-3822, 1991). In an attempt to determine the molecular mechanism by which acanthamoebae adhere to the surface of the co...