Recent Posts

Overcoming barriers to bioengineering new disease resistance

Bentham, De la Concepcion et al. fine-tuned a plant immune receptor pair to allow for engineering new specificities while avoiding autoactivation. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad204 Adam R Bentham, Mark J Banfield Department of Biochemistry and Metabolism, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research…

Structural and biochemical analyses of concanavalin A circular permutation (Plant Cell)

If you have heard of concanavalin A (ConA), it probably is because it is a widely-used reagent in carbohydrate science and medical research. ConA is a lectin derived from jackbean (Canavalia ensiformis, hence the name) that binds assorted carbohydrates. It is also a fascinating protein that assembles…