SAXS exploration of protein long-legs and holes from the complement system
Gregers Rom Andersen, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Denmark
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iNANO AUD (1593-012), Gustav Wieds Vej 14, 8000 Aarhus C
Gregers Rom Andersen, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Denmark
SAXS exploration of protein long-legs and holes from the complement system
The complement system is a tightly regulated proteolytic cascade, central to the innate immune system. It is involved in the detection, phagocytosis and killing of invading pathogens, as well as clearance of immune complexes. Activation of the cascade depends on recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns or danger-associated molecular patterns on activators such as pathogen and apoptotic host cells. The pattern recogntion molecules and their complexes with serine protease are highly elongated and non-globular proteins. These molecules are not suitable for high resolution crystallography and single-particle electron microscopy. We have taken an integrative approach including SAXS, crystallography, and EM to describe these unusual structures. These structures have challenged a long standing dogma concerning the initiation of the complement cascade and allowed us to describe the structural basis for regulation of the most important proteolytic enzyme in the complement cascade.
The lecture is part of the symposium Recent progress in small-angle scattering from soft matter and biological systems on the occasion of Professor Jan Skov Pedersen's 60th birthday.