Pore-forming toxins (PFT) are water-soluble proteins that possess the remarkable ability to self-assemble on the membrane of target cells, where they form pores causing cell damage. Here, we elucidate the mechanism of action of the haemolytic protein fragaceatoxin C (FraC), a α-barrel PFT, by determining the crystal structures of FraC at four different stages of the lytic mechanism, namely the ...

The detection of analytes and the sequencing DNA using biological nanopores have seen major advances over recent years. analysis proteins peptides with nanopores, however, is complicated by complex physicochemical structure polypeptides lack understanding mechanism capture recognition nanopores. In this work, we show that introducing aromatic amino acids at precise positions within lumen α-heli...

Objective(s): Current therapeutic strategies for cancer are associated with side effects and lack of specificity in treatments. Biological therapies including monoclonal antibodies and immune effectors have been the subject of multiple research projects. Pore-forming proteins may become the other biological strategy to overcome the problems associated with current treatments. But detailed mecha...

Pore-forming toxins (PFTs) are cytolytic proteins belonging to the molecular warfare apparatus of living organisms. The assembly of the functional transmembrane pore requires several intermediate steps ranging from a water-soluble monomeric species to the multimeric ensemble inserted in the cell membrane. The non-lytic oligomeric intermediate known as prepore plays an essential role in the mech...

OBJECTIVES A newly-introduced protein toxin from a sea anemone, namely fragaceatoxin C is a protein with molecular weight of 20 kDa and pore-forming capability against cell membranes has recently grasped great attentions for its function. In this study, its coding sequence cloned as a fusion protein with His-tag for simple production and rapid purification. MATERIALS AND METHODS After PCR amp...