Unnatural Tripeptides as Potent Positive Allosteric Modulators of T1R2/T1R3.

T1R2/T1R3 belongs to G protein coupled receptors, which recognizes diverse natural and synthetic sweeteners. A novel class of positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of T1R2/T1R3 was identified through high-throughput screening campaign. Comparing the structure of the potent compound with previously known PAM, we classified the structure of known PAM into three parts, defined as "head", "linker", and "tail".

Immobilization of proteins onto microbeads using a DNA binding tag for enzymatic assays.

A novel DNA-binding protein tag, scCro-tag, which is a single-chain derivative of the bacteriophage lambda Cro repressor, has been developed to immobilize proteins of interest (POI) on a solid support through binding OR consensus DNA (ORC) that is tightly bound by the scCro protein. The scCro-tag successfully bound a transglutaminase 2 (TGase 2) substrate and manganese peroxidase (MnP) to microbeads via scaffolding DNA. The resulting protein-coated microbeads can be utilized for functional analysis of the enzymatic activity using flow cytometry.