Crystal Structure of the TLR1-TLR2 Heterodimer Induced by Binding of a Tri-Acylated Lipopeptide

Receptors of the innate immune system detect conserved determinants of microbial and viral origin. Activation of these receptors initiates signaling events that culminate in an effective immune response. Recently, the view that innate immune signaling events rely on and operate within a complex cellular infrastructure has become an important framework for understanding the regulation of innate immunity. Compartmentalization within this infrastructure provides the cell with the ability to assign spatial information to microbial detection and regulate immune responses. Several cell biological processes play a role in the regulation of innate signaling responses; at the same time, innate signaling can engage cellular processes as a form of defense or to promote immunological memory. In this review, we highlight these aspects of cell biology in pattern-recognition receptor signaling by focusing on signals that originate from the cell surface, from endosomal compartments, and from within the cytosol.

http://kaganlab.com/pdfs/2014_Kagan_Bonham_Brubaker_Zanoni.pdf

Innate immune pattern recognition: a cell biological perspective.

Crystal Structure of the TLR4-MD-2 Complex with Bound Endotoxin Antagonist Eritoran

The majority of disease resistance genes in plants encode nucleotide-binding site leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) proteins. This large family is encoded by hundreds of diverse genes per genome and can be subdivided into the functionally distinct TIR-domain-containing (TNL) and CC-domain-containing (CNL) subfamilies. Their precise role in recognition is unknown; however, they are thought to monitor the status of plant proteins that are targeted by pathogen effectors.

/pdf/plant-nbs-lrr-proteins-adaptable-guards-2ljt7jwego.pdf

Plant NBS-LRR proteins: adaptable guards

Economical and environmental aspects are the main motivation for research on energy efficient processes and the search for environment friendly materials for CO2 capture. Currently, CO2 capture is dominated by amine-based (e.g., monoethanolamine) technologies, which are very energy intensive and less attractive from an environmental point of view due to emissions of the used volatile solvent components. Ionic liquids have been proposed as a promising alternative to the conventional volatile solvents, because of their low volatility and other interesting properties. This remarkable interest has led to a rapid growth of literature on this specific subject. The aim of the present review paper is to provide a detailed overview of the achievements and difficulties that has been encountered in finding a suitable ionic liquid for CO2 capture from flue-gas streams. A major part of this review includes an overview of the experimental data of CO2 solubility, selectivity, and diffusivity in different ionic liquids. ...

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ie3003705

State-of-the-Art of CO2 Capture with Ionic Liquids

Solubility measurement and prediction of carbon dioxide in ionic liquids

Crystal structure of CD14 and its implications for lipopolysaccharide signaling.

Lactic acid bacteria play important roles in various fermented foods in Asia. Besides being the main component in kimchi and other fermented foods, they are used to preserve edible food materials through fermentation of other raw-materials such as rice wine/beer, rice cakes, and fish by producing organic acids to control putrefactive microorganisms and pathogens. These bacteria also provide a selective environment favoring fermentative microorganisms and produce desirable flavors in various fermented foods. This paper discusses the role of lactic acid bacteria in various non-dairy fermented food products in Asia and their nutritional and physiological functions in the Asian diet.

/pdf/importance-of-lactic-acid-bacteria-in-asian-fermented-foods-45x7fpnghw.pdf

Importance of lactic acid bacteria in Asian fermented foods

Environmental vineyard conditions can affect the chemical composition or metabolites of grapes and their wines. Grapes grown in three different regions of South Korea were collected and separated into pulp, skin, and seed. The grapes were also vinified after crushing. (1)H NMR spectroscopy with pattern recognition (PR) methods was used to investigate the metabolic differences in pulp, skin, seed, and wines from the different regions. Discriminatory compounds among the grapes were Na, Ca, K, malate, citrate, threonine, alanine, proline, and trigonelline according to PR methods of principal component analysis (PCA) or partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Grapes grown in regions with high sun exposure and low rainfall showed higher levels of sugar, proline, Na, and Ca together with lower levels of malate, citrate, alanine, threonine, and trigonelline than those grown in regions with relatively low sun exposure and high rainfall. Environmental effects were also observed in the complementary wines. This study demonstrates that (1)H NMR-based metabolomics coupled with multivariate statistical data sets can be useful for determining grape and wine quality.

Cherl-Ho Lee

Papers

Solubility measurement and prediction of carbon dioxide in ionic liquids

Crystal structure of CD14 and its implications for lipopolysaccharide signaling.

Importance of lactic acid bacteria in Asian fermented foods

Metabolomic studies on geographical grapes and their wines using 1H NMR analysis coupled with multivariate statistics

Measurement and prediction of phase equilibria for water + methane in hydrate forming conditions