ArachnoServer 3.0: an online resource for automated discovery, analysis and annotation of spider toxins.

Summary: ArachnoServer is a manually curated database that consolidates information on the sequence, structure, function and pharmacology of spider-venom toxins. Although spider venoms are complex chemical arsenals, the primary constituents are small disulfide-bridged peptides that target neuronal ion channels and receptors. Due to their high potency and selectivity, these peptides have been developed as pharmacological tools, bioinsecticides and drug leads.

Performance benchmarking of four cell-free protein expression systems.

Over the last half century, a range of cell-free protein expression systems based on pro- and eukaryotic organisms have been developed and have found a range of applications, from structural biology to directed protein evolution. While it is generally accepted that significant differences in performance among systems exist, there is a paucity of systematic experimental studies supporting this notion. Here, we took advantage of the species-independent translation initiation sequence to express and characterize 87 N-terminally GFP-tagged human cytosolic proteins of different sizes in E.

Integrative visual analysis of the effects of alternative splicing on protein domain interaction networks.

Proteins and their interactions are essential for the functioning of all organisms and for understanding biological processes. Alternative splicing is an important molecular mechanism for increasing the protein diversity in eukaryotic cells. Splicing events that alter the protein structure and the domain composition can be responsible for the regulation of protein interactions and the functional diversity of different tissues.