Binding secret behind protein ‘superglue’ uncovered

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore have pinpointed how a special class of plant-derived enzymes, known as peptide ligases, work to join proteins together.

Peptide ligases are a useful tool in biotechnological and biomedical applications such as protein labelling, imaging and tracking proteins in the body.

The NTU Singapore scientists have shown that the secret to a peptide ligase’s ‘superglue’ property lies in two specific regions of the enzyme that give it the ability to attach itself to other molecules.

The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).