August 2021: Ben-Tal: Discovery of proteins with multiple beta-barrel domains
A study led by Edmond J. Safra member Prof. Nir Ben-Tal used state-of-the-art sequence and structure analysis tools and discovered more than 30 multi-barrel architectures.
Outer-membrane beta-barrel proteins are the dominant class of proteins in the outer membrane of certain bacteria and organelles, where they pay important roles. They were assumed to always contain exactly one membrane-barrel domain.
A study led by Edmond J. Safra member Prof. Nir Ben-Tal (Life Sciences), his student Ron Solan and colleagues, used state-of-the-art sequence and structure analysis tools and discovered more than 30 multi-barrel architectures. Additional analysis suggested that they provide functional benefits under many circumstances.
The discovery opens new horizons when studying the emergence of new functionalities where multi-barrels are advantageous.
See article here.
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