| 1. |
- Percec, V., et al.
(författare)
-
Self-assembly of amphiphilic dendritic dipeptides into helical pores
- 2004
-
Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 430:7001, s. 764-768
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Natural pore-forming proteins act as viral helical coats(1) and transmembrane channels(2-4), exhibit antibacterial activity(5) and are used in synthetic systems, such as for reversible encapsulation(6) or stochastic sensing(7). These diverse functions are intimately linked to protein structure(1-4). The close link between protein structure and protein function makes the design of synthetic mimics a formidable challenge, given that structure formation needs to be carefully controlled on all hierarchy levels, in solution and in the bulk. In fact, with few exceptions(8,9), synthetic pore structures capable of assembling into periodically ordered assemblies that are stable in solution and in the solid state(10-13) have not yet been realized. In the case of dendrimers, covalent(14) and non- covalent(15) coating and assembly of a range of different structures(15-17) has only yielded closed columns(18). Here we describe a library of amphiphilic dendritic dipeptides that self-assemble in solution and in bulk through a complex recognition process into helical pores. We find that the molecular recognition and self-assembly process is sufficiently robust to tolerate a range of modifications to the amphiphile structure, while preliminary proton transport measurements establish that the pores are functional. We expect that this class of self-assembling dendrimers will allow the design of a variety of biologically inspired systems with functional properties arising from their porous structure.
|
|
| 2. |
- Laitinen, T, et al.
(författare)
-
Characterization of a common susceptibility locus for asthma-related traits
- 2004
-
Ingår i: Science (New York, N.Y.). - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 1095-9203 .- 0036-8075. ; 304:5668, s. 300-304
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Susceptibility to asthma depends on variation at an unknown number of genetic loci. To identify susceptibility genes on chromosome 7p, we adopted a hierarchical genotyping design, leading to the identification of a 133-kilobase risk-conferring segment containing two genes. One of these coded for an orphan G protein–coupled receptor named GPRA (G protein–coupled receptor for asthma susceptibility), which showed distinct distribution of protein isoforms between bronchial biopsies from healthy and asthmatic individuals. In three cohorts from Finland and Canada, single nucleotide polymorphism–tagged haplotypes associated with high serum immunoglobulin E or asthma. The murine ortholog of GPRA was up-regulated in a mouse model of ovalbumin-induced inflammation. Together, these data implicate GPRA in the pathogenesis of atopy and asthma.
|
|
