Cell-Penetrating Milk-Derived Peptides with a Non-Inflammatory Profile.

Milk-derived peptides are known to confer anti-inflammatory effects. We hypothesised that milk-derived cell-penetrating peptides might modulate inflammation in useful ways. Using computational techniques, we identified and synthesised peptides from the milk protein Alpha-S1-casein that were predicted to be cell-penetrating using a machine learning predictor.

Peptides derived from cadherin juxtamembrane region inhibit platelet function.

The juxtamembrane domains (JMD) of transmembrane proteins are rich in critical peptide sequences that participate in dynamic cell signalling events. Synthetic JMD peptides derived from cadherin cell adhesion proteins have previously been shown to modulate platelet function. In this study, we aimed to develop functional bioactive agents from bioinformatically identified critical peptide sequences.

Design and evaluation of antimalarial peptides derived from prediction of short linear motifs in proteins related to erythrocyte invasion.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the blood stage of the malaria causing parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, to predict potential protein interactions between the parasite merozoite and the host erythrocyte and design peptides that could interrupt these predicted interactions. We screened the P. falciparum and human proteomes for computationally predicted short linear motifs (SLiMs) in cytoplasmic portions of transmembrane proteins that could play roles in the invasion of the erythrocyte by the merozoite, an essential step in malarial pathogenesis.

Cadherin juxtamembrane region derived peptides inhibit TGFβ1 induced gene expression.

Bioactive peptides in the juxtamembrane regions of proteins are involved in many signaling events. The juxtamembrane regions of cadherins were examined for the identification of bioactive regions. Several peptides spanning the cytoplasmic juxtamembrane regions of E- and N-cadherin were synthesized and assessed for the ability to influence TGFβ responses in epithelial cells at the gene expression and protein levels.

Protein disorder and short conserved motifs in disordered regions are enriched near the cytoplasmic side of single-pass transmembrane proteins.

Intracellular juxtamembrane regions of transmembrane proteins play pivotal roles in cell signalling, mediated by protein-protein interactions. Disordered protein regions, and short conserved motifs within them, are emerging as key determinants of many such interactions. Here, we investigated whether disorder and conserved motifs are enriched in the juxtamembrane area of human single-pass transmembrane proteins.

Influence of the habitat altitude on the (proto)hypericin and (proto)pseudohypericin levels of hypericum plants from Crete.

Environmental factors are known to influence strongly the accumulation of secondary metabolites in plant tissues. In a previous paper, we studied the contents of (pseudo)hypericin and its immediate precursors in wild populations of various HYPERICUM species on the island of Crete, Greece, in dependence on their developmental stage. In this study, we investigated the effect of the habitat altitude on the total hypericins content of the plants, which is defined as the sum of protohypericin, hypericin, protopseudohypericin and pseudohypericin.