CELLULOSOMAL PROTEINS. GLYCAN-PROTEIN AND PROTEIN-PROTEIN INTERACTIONS

We have used X-ray crystallography, associated to other biophysical methods, to study big molecular assemblies that function like nanomachines. X-ray diffraction, cryo-EM and SAXS data have been crucial to characterize protein modular systems, like cellulosomes. Furthermore, glycans are molecules involved in many recognition and communication processes at the cellular and molecular levels and X-ray data, associated to Glycan Microarrays information, allows to "view" molecular interactions with atomic detail, which is helpful to understand how different molecules behave and recognize partners in the cellular environment.

• Stability and Ligand Promiscuity of Type A Carbohydrate-binding Modules Are Illustrated by the Structure of Spirochaeta thermophila StCBM64C. Pires, V. M. R., Pereira, P. M., Brás, J. L. A., Correia, M., Cardoso, V., Bule, P., Alves, V. D., Najmudin, S., Venditto, I., Ferreira, L. M. A., Romão, M. J., Carvalho, A. L., Fontes, C. M. G. A. & Prazeres, D. M., 24 Mar 2017, In : Journal of Biological Chemistry. 292, 12, p. 4847-4860 14 p.
• Diverse specificity of cellulosome attachment to the bacterial cell surface. Brás, J. L. A., Pinheiro, B. A., Cameron, K., Cuskin, F., Viegas, A., Najmudin, S., Bule, P., Pires, V. M. R., Romão, M. J., Bayer, E. A., Spencer, H. L., Smith, S. P., Gilbert, H. J., Alves, V. D., Carvalho, A. L. & Fontes, C. M. G. A., 7 Dec 2016, In : Scientific Reports. 6, p. 38292
• Novel Clostridium thermocellum type I cohesin-dockerin complexes reveal a single binding mode. Brás, J. L. A., Alves, V. D., Carvalho, A. L., Najmudin, S., Prates, J. A. M., Ferreira, L. M. A., Bolam, D. N., Romão, M. J., Gilbert, H. J. & Fontes, C. M. G. A., 28 Dec 2012, In : Journal of Biological Chemistry. 287, 53, p. 44394-44405 12 p.
• Structural insights into a unique cellulase fold and mechanism of cellulose hydrolysis. Brás, J. L. A., Cartmell, A., Carvalho, A. L. M., Verzé, G., Bayer, E. A., Vazana, Y., Correia, M. A. S., Prates, J. A. M., Ratnaparkhe, S., Boraston, A. B., Romão, M. J., Fontes, C. M. G. A. & Gilbert, H. J., 17 May 2011, In : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 108, 20, p. 8525