Characterization of calcium-binding proteins from parasitic worms

Abstract

Parasitic diseases caused by helminths (worms) represent a major burden on humanity with hundreds of millions of people infected worldwide. However, there are relatively few drugs to treat these diseases, and resistance is emerging to some of these. Therefore, there is a pressing need to characterize proteins from helminths as potential drug targets. Calcium signalling proteins represent attractive targets due to the vital nature of properly regulated calcium-mediated signalling and the presence of unusual calcium-binding proteins in helminths. Here we present methods to characterize these proteins in terms of their ion-binding properties, drug-binding properties, and oligomeric state, including a method to correct for the effects of non-spherical proteins in analytical gel filtration. In addition we present an overview of their recombinant expression and purification and methods to predict their structures.