Stelter, M., Fandrich, U., Franzke, K., Schierhorn, A., Breithaupt, C., Parthier, C., Stubbs, M.T. (2013). High level expression of the Drosophila Toll receptor ectodomain and crystallization of its complex with the morphogen Spätzle.  Biol. Chem. 394(8): 1091--1096.

FBrf0221951

Research paper

Drosophila Toll receptors are involved in embryonic development and in the immune response of adult flies. In both processes, the Toll receptor ligand is the NGF-like cystine knot protein Spätzle. Here we present the expression of Toll receptor ectodomain in Schneider cells at high yields and demonstrate a high affinity interaction with the refolded and trypsin-processed Spätzle cystine knot domain dimer. Poorly and anisotropically diffracting crystals of the complex could be improved by deglycosylation and dehydration, paving the way for structural analyses of the Toll-Spätzle interaction.