559 results about "Function proteins" patented technology

The invention relates, in part, to the improved analysis of carbohydrates. In particular, the invention relates to the analysis of carbohydrates, such as N-glycans and O-glycans found on proteins. Improved methods, therefore, for the study of glycosylation patterns on cells, tissue and body fluids are also provided. Information regarding the analysis of glycans, such as the glycosylation patterns on cells, tissues and in body fluids, can be used in diagnostic and treatment methods as well as for facilitating the study of the effects of glycosylation/altered glycosylation on protein function. Such methods are also provided. Methods are also provided to assess protein production processes, to assess the purity of proteins produced, and to select proteins with the desired glycosylation.

The present inventors succeeded in constructing bispecific antibodies, which bind to both the blood coagulation factor IX/activated blood coagulation factor IX and blood coagulation factor X, and functionally substitute for blood coagulation factor VIII/activated blood coagulation factor VIII which enhances the enzymatic reaction.

The invention provides chimeric proteins having at least two functional protein units, each containing the dimerization domain of a member of the steroid/thyroid hormone nuclear receptor superfamily. The chimeric proteins can fold under crystallization conditions to form functional entities. The functional entities optionally contain a novel flexible peptide linker of variable lengths between at least two of the protein units. In a preferred embodiment, the linker is designed to be increased in increments of 12 amino acids each to aid in preparation of variant chimeric proteins. The DNA binding characteristics of the invention functional entities differ from those of wild-type complexes formed between “monomeric” receptors and their binding partners. Some functional entities, e.g. dimers expressed as fusion proteins, transactivate responsive promoters in a manner similar to wild-type complexes, while others do not promote transactivation and function instead essentially as constitutive repressors. The invention further provides nucleotide sequences encoding the invention chimeric proteins, cells containing such nucleotide sequences, and methods for using the invention chimeric proteins to modulate expression of one or more exogenous genes in a subject organism. In addition, isolated protein crystals suitable for x-ray diffraction analysis and methods for obtaining putative ligands for the invention chimeric proteins are provided.

Elucidating the function of proteins in mammalian cells is particularly challenging due to the inherent complexity of these systems. Methods to study protein function in living cells ideally perturb the activity of only the protein of interest but otherwise maintain the natural state of the host cell or organism. Ligand-dependent inteins offer single-protein specificity and other desirable features as an approach to control protein function in cells post-translationally. Some aspects of this invention provide second-generation ligand-dependent inteins that splice to substantially higher yields and with faster kinetics in the presence of the cell-permeable small molecule 4-HT, especially at 37° C., while exhibiting comparable or improved low levels of background splicing in the absence of 4-HT, as compared to the parental inteins. These improvements were observed in four protein contexts tested in mammalian cells at 37° C., as well as in yeast cells assayed at 30° C. or 37° C. The newly evolved inteins described herein are therefore promising tools as conditional modulators of protein structure and function in yeast and mammalian cells.

Methods using gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry for the rapid, quantitative analysis of proteins or protein function in mixtures of proteins derived from two or more samples in one unit operation are disclosed. In one embodiment the method includes (a) preparing an extract of proteins from each of at least two different samples; (b) providing a set of substantially chemically identical and differentially isotopically labeled protein reagents; (c) reacting the extract of proteins from different samples of step (a) with a different isotopically labeled reagent from the set of step (b) to provide two or more sets of isotopically differentially labeled proteins; (d) mixing each of the two or more sets of isotopically labeled proteins to form a single mixture of isotopically differentially labeled proteins; (e) electrophoresing the mixture of step (d) by an electrophoresing method capable of separating proteins within the mixture; (f) digesting at least a portion of one or more separated proteins of step (e) and (g) detecting the difference in the expression levels of the proteins in the two samples by mass spectrometry based on one or more peptides in the sample of labeled peptides. The analytical method can be used for qualitative and particularly for quantitative analysis of global protein expression profiles in cells and tissues, i.e. the quantitative analysis of proteomes.

Methods and compositions for the rapid and reversible destabilizing of specific proteins using cell-permeable, synthetic molecules are described. Stability-affecting proteins, e.g., derived from FKBP and DHFR proteins are fused to a protein of interest and the presence or absence of the ligand is used to modulate the stability of the fusion protein.

The invention discloses a four-gene-deletion weak-toxin strain for African swine fever viruses. The weak-toxin strain is the four-gene-deletion weak-toxin strain for an African swine fever virus SY18separation strain, and the following gene function protein is deleted: CD2v gene coding products and three multigene family genes( MGF360-12L, MGF360-13L and MGF360-14L ) coding products. The invention further discloses an application of the weak-toxin strain of the African swine fever viruses to preparation of vaccines for preventing or treating African swine fever. The weak-toxin strain of the African swine fever viruses can provide complete immunoprotection effect on attack of ASFV parent toxin strains, is high in safety, and is suitable for being used as vaccine candidate strains for preventing the African swine fever.

The present invention provides RNA-based systems that are capable of silencing expression of a gene in a cell. Also provided are pharmaceutical compositions, cells, and kits that include the systems; cultures of primary cells that have been contacted with the systems; use of the systems in methods of studying protein function in one or more cells; and use of the systems in methods of studying interactions between neurons in culture; and use of the systems in a method of studying the function of mRNA. The present invention further provides methods for silencing expression of a gene in a cell, and methods for determining the function of a gene in a cell. Additionally, the present invention provides systems for use in genetic screening, and methods for performing genetic screening.

Post-translational modification, including protein methylation, plays an important role in regulating protein function. The present invention provides a novel assay for evaluating demethylase activity and the discovery of a family of protein demethylases comprising a novel demethylase motif.

This disclosure relates to TGF-beta family protein fusions that display substantial native TGF-beta family protein function while also having an additional functionality conveyed by the addition of a functionalizing peptide domain. Such functionalizing peptide domain can be a tag peptide (e.g., an epitope tag, a purification tag, a molecular size differentiation tag, etc.) or a passenger or targeting protein. Also provided are methods of making these fusions, as well as methods of using them for diagnosis and diagnosis of various conditions, in measuring and monitoring levels of the fusion molecule in experimental systems and subjects, and in measuring and detecting receptor proteins.

The invention discloses a method for identifying protein functions based on a protein-protein interaction network and network topological structure features. Firstly, a node and side-weighted protein-protection interaction network is established, wherein the node represents protein while the edge represents the interaction; then the nodes and the sides in the network are weighted by protein first-grade structural description and protein-protein interaction trust scoring; protection functional annotation data is collected to establish a data set, and a new protein with overall and local information network topological structure features is provided based on a graph theory; and finally, the protein functions are predicated by choosing features through adopting a minimum-redundancy maximum-correlation method and by modeling through a support vector machine. The protein function predication method is greatly better than the prior art, and has robustness on sequence similarity and sampling; and meanwhile, information of three-dimensional structure and the like of protein is not required, so that the method is simple, rapid, accurate and efficient, and the method is expected to be applied in the research fields of proteomics and the like.

The present invention relates to a class of indolylquinone compounds that inhibit GRB-2 adaptor protein function, pharmaceutical compositions comprising these compounds, and methods for ameliorating the symptoms of cell proliferative disorders associated with GRB-2 adaptor protein function using these compounds. The present invention further relates to methods for treating insulin-related disorders, such as diabetes, insulin resistance, insulin deficiency and insulin allergy, and for ameliorating the symptoms of insulin-related disorders, using certain indolylquinone compounds and pharmaceutical compositions thereof. The present invention also relates to novel synthetic methods for the preparation of mono- and bis-indolylquinone compounds.

The computerized method, software, and product of this invention implements a process for computationally designing proteins and/or associated molecular targets with desired quantitative stability/flexibility relationships (QSFR). QSFR is an innovative, high dimensional metric calculated using an improved Distance Constraint Model (DCM). This invention includes three distinct aspects: (i.) utilizing QSFR in computational molecular design of protein sequences, or variations of molecular structures, to have specific stability and flexibility relationships deemed important for biochemical function for specified thermodynamic and solvent conditions; (ii.) utilizing QSFR to optimize thermodynamic and/or solvent conditions necessary for a specified molecular system to exhibit protein function characteristics, such as improved catalytic efficiency; and (iii.) utilizing QSFR to computationally screen or design small molecules and/or design its putative receptor so as to exhibit a desired affect on protein function.

Methods and compositions for the rapid and reversible destabilizing of specific proteins in vivo using cell-permeable, synthetic molecules are described.

The present invention relates to methods of conducting assays for enzymatic activity on microarrays useful for the large-scale study of protein function, screening assays, and high-throughput analysis of enzymatic reactions. The invention relates to methods of using protein chips to assay the presence, amount, activity and/or function of enzymes present in a protein sample on a protein chip. In particular, the methods of the invention relate to conducting enzymatic assays using a microarray wherein a protein and a substance are immobilized on the surface of a solid support and wherein the protein and the substance are in proximity to each other sufficient for the occurrence of an enzymatic reaction between the substance and the protein. The invention also relates to microarrays that have an enzyme and a substrate immobilized on their surface wherein the enzyme and the substrate are in proximity to each other sufficient for the occurrence of an enzymatic reaction between the enzyme and the substrate.