BME professor publishes cell-free approach for identifying binding hotspots in plant immune receptors
Casim Sarkar and team demonstrated the utility of an optimized ribosome display method using tomato recognition of Trichoderma viride ethylene-inducing xylanase (EIX) as a case study.
January 13, 2022 — Department of Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Casim Sarkar has investigated an alternative approach for studying the biochemical determinants of target recognition in recalcitrant plant immune receptors.
The cell-free method ribosome display (RD) enables expression of recalcitrant proteins by keeping each nascent polypeptide chain tethered to its ribosome, which can enhance protein folding by virtue of the ribosome’s size and solubility.
In a study published in Scientific Reports, Sarkar and team demonstrate how this optimized RD method can elucidate plant immune receptor binding determinants, even when the protein itself cannot be heterologously expressed.