Lipid-binding serum glycoprotein Lipid-binding serum glycoprotein In molecular biology, the lipid-binding serum glycoproteins family, also known as the BPI/LBP/Plunc family or LBP/BPI/CETP family represents a family which includes mammalian lipid-binding serum glycoproteins. Members of this family include: These proteins consist of N- and C-terminal domains, which share a similar two-layer alpha/beta structure, but show little sequence identity to each other. Bactericidal permeability-increasing protein (BPI) is a potent antimicrobial protein of 456 amino acids that binds to and neutralises lipopolysaccharides from the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. BPI contains two domains that adopt the same structural fold, even though they have little sequence similarity.
Mucus improve the odds of pregnancy. It is also proposed as a method to avoid pregnancy. Mucus is able to absorb water or dehydrate through pH variations. The swelling capacity of mucus stems from the bottlebrush structure of mucin within which hydrophilic segments provide a large surface area for water absorption. Moreover, the tunability of swelling effect is controlled by polyelectrolyte effect. Polymers with charged molecules are called polyelectrolytes. Mucins, a kind of polyelectrolyte proteoglycans, are the main component of mucus, which provides the polyelectrolyte effect in mucus. The process of inducing this effect comprises two steps: attraction of counter-ions and