The diverse structures and functions of surfactant proteins

Marieke Schor; Jack L. Reid; Cait E. MacPhee; Nicola Stanley-Wall

doi:10.1016/j.tibs.2016.04.009

The diverse structures and functions of surfactant proteins

Marieke Schor, Jack L. Reid , Cait E. MacPhee (Lead / Corresponding author), Nicola Stanley-Wall (Lead / Corresponding author)

Molecular Microbiology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

28 Citations (Scopus)

235 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Surface tension at liquid-air interfaces is a major barrier that needs to be surmounted by a wide range of organisms; surfactant and interfacially-active proteins have evolved for this purpose. Although these proteins are essential for a variety of biological processes, our understanding of how they elicit their function has been limited. However, with the recent determination of high resolution 3D structures of several examples, we have gained insight into the distinct shapes and mechanisms that have evolved to confer interfacial activity. It is now a matter of harnessing this information, and these systems, for biotechnological purposes.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	610-620
Number of pages	11
Journal	Trends in Biochemical Sciences
Volume	41
Issue number	7
Early online date	27 May 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibs.2016.04.009
Publication status	Published - Jul 2016

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10.1016/j.tibs.2016.04.009Licence: CC BY

Final Published Version
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Final published version, 2.55 MBLicence: CC BY

Biology and Physics at the Biofilm Surface (Joint with University of Edinburgh)
Stanley-Wall, N. (Investigator) & van Aalten, D. (Investigator)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
31/03/14 → 30/03/17
Project: Research
How to Build a Biofilm
Stanley-Wall, N. (Investigator) & van Aalten, D. (Investigator)
1/01/12 → 30/04/15
Project: Research

Cite this

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The diverse structures and functions of surfactant proteins

Abstract

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Projects

Biology and Physics at the Biofilm Surface (Joint with University of Edinburgh)

How to Build a Biofilm

Cite this