1.

A second binding site for double-stranded RNA in TLR3 and consequences for interferon activation

TLR3 receptor recognizes stranded RNA, which is characteriostic for replication stage of several viruses. It is activated only through binding of dsRNA longer than 21 base pairs. Tertiary structure of TLR3 ectodomain has been determined previously as well as RNA binding site near the C-terminal segment of ectodomain. We have discovered the existence of additional RNA binding site at N-terminus. TLR3 dimerization is thus requires binding of RNA to both binding sites which are separated by 50 A, which dictates the recognition of only longer segments of dsRNA.

COBISS.SI-ID: 3954714

2.

TLR3 as the molecular ruler for selective activation by dsRNA of different length

We presented the results of research identifying the mechanism of dsRNA via TLR3 at the conference Toll2008. The first author of the presentation Nina Pirher received a special award by the magazine Nature Reviews Immunology.

COBISS.SI-ID: 4047386