Low-dose in situ prelocation of protein microcrystals by 2D X-ray phase-contrast imaging for serial crystallography

Animal-derived food allergen: A review on the available crystal structure and new insights into structural epitope

Immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated food allergy is a rapidly growing public health problem. The interaction between allergens and IgE is at the core of the allergic response. One of the best ways to understand this interaction is through structural characterization. This review focuses on animal-derived food allergens, overviews allergen structures determined by X-ray crystallography, presents an update on IgE conformational epitopes, and explores the structural features of these epitopes. The structural determinants of allergenicity and cross-reactivity are also discussed. Animal-derived food allergens are classified into limited protein families according to structural features, with the calcium-binding protein and actin-binding protein families dominating. Progress in epitope characterization has provided useful information on the structural properties of the IgE recognition region. The data reveals that epitopes are located in relatively protruding areas with negative surface electrostatic potential. Ligand binding and disulfide bonds are two intrinsic characteristics that influence protein structure and impact allergenicity. Shared structures, local motifs, and shared epitopes are factors that lead to cross-reactivity. The structural properties of epitope regions and structural determinants of allergenicity and cross-reactivity may provide directions for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of food allergies. Experimentally determined structure, especially that of antigen-antibody complexes, remains limited, and the identification of epitopes continues to be a bottleneck in the study of animal-derived food allergens. A combination of traditional immunological techniques and emerging bioinformatics technology will revolutionize how protein interactions are characterized.

Application of Nanometer Heavy-duty Coating in the Optimization of Process Parameters for Power Generation Machinery

In order to solve the optimization problem of process parameters for power generation machinery, an anticorrosive method based on the nanometer heavy-duty coating is proposed. In this method, the system and preparation process of new heavy-duty coating are used. The final formula and preparation process are preliminarily determined by the orthogonal experiment with the help of the existing technical means. The composition preparation of the heavy-duty coating for the special environment requirements of offshore wind power is investigated and verified by the experiments. The experimental results show that the wear resistance of the coating can be improved obviously by the wear test of 2%-3% of nanometer silica concentrate, and the wear quantity is only 33 mg. It is concluded that nanometer heavy-duty coatings can improve the anticorrosion degree greatly and improve the internal environment air-tightness and surface anticorrosion ability of the marine wind turbine.