Dissecting the Chemistry of Protein Splicing and Its Applications.
Protein splicing, the protein equivalent of RNA splicing, is a newly discovered posttranslational process that proceeds through a branched protein intermediate and produces two separate polypeptides from one gene. The experimental data used to distinguish among the proposed protein-splicing mechanisms are presented along with the progress made towards fully describing the mechanism. Numerous protein engineering applications using modified inteins have been developed, including the generation of alpha-thioesters in proteins, which circumvent the limits of solid-phase peptide synthesis.
Noren
CJ
New England BioLabs, Inc. 32 Tozer Road, Beverly, MA 01915 (USA).
Wang
J
Perler
FB