Department home Homepage Institute Disclaimer Site Map Research Projects Gallery Publications Staff Jobs PhD programs Teaching & Conferences Downloads Contact Special Systems     / home / Research Projects / Special Systems / Mechanical energy transduction in F1-ATPase ATP synthase is believed to be a rotatory engine driven by proton- or sodium-motive force and thus the smallest molecular motor known. The proton flow through the membrane portion F0 drives the synthesis of ATP in the three active sites of the headpiece, ... [more] Differential peptide dynamics is linked to MHC polymorphism The presentation of peptides by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules is the primary event of immune responses. Peptidic fragments of self or non-self proteins are loaded on MHC class I molecules in the endoplasmatic reticulum, followed by transport to the ... [more] Conformational Flexibility of Prions According to the `protein only hypothesis', several neurodegenerative diseases - e.g., BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, and scrapie in sheep - is triggered by a structurally (i.e., not chemically) modified version of prion ... [more] Photoswitching mechanism of the fluorescent protein asFP595 The discovery of green fluorescent protein (GFP) in the early 1960s ultimately heralded a new era in cell biology. GFP can be tagged to subcellular structures, and the readout of its fluorescence emission with an optical microscope enables to monitor cellular processes ... [more] Systematic Search for a "Back Door" in Acetylcholinesterase Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is an enzyme that terminates the signal transmission at the cholinergic synapses of neurons by rapid hydrolysis of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. The active site, a catalytic triade (SER 200, GLU 327 and HIS 440), is nearly centered in ... [more] Spontaneous closing of the exportin Cse1p The transport of proteins and RNA through the nuclear pore complex is a key process in eukaryotic cells. It is mainly mediated by the superfamily of β-karyopherins, to which the exportin CAS (whose yeast homolog is Cse1p) belongs. During the transport cycle the exportin ... [more] Inhibition of Water Transport in Human Aquaporin-4 The aquaglyceroporin superfamily consists of membrane proteins that primarily facilitate the passive diffusion of water and other small neutral molecules (e.g. glycerol). Members of this family are found throughout nature, in species ranging from bacteria to humans, and ... [more] Ligand Release Pathways and Discrimination in Bombyx mori Pheromone Binding Protein The olfactory system of insects is one of the best biosensors known. It is both extraordinarily selective and sensitive to the female sex pheromone bombykol. To reach the pheromone receptor at the neuronal membrane the hydrophobic bombykol needs to be tranferred through ... © 2012, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen