Immunophilins were initially discovered in animals as the protein
targets of immunosuppressive drugs like cyclosporin and FK506. We
were the first to publish on cyclophilins (targets of cyclosporin)
from higher plants
(Gasser et al.,
1992). Following our initial isolation of cyclophilin genes, we
continued to study the nature and function of plant cyclophilin and
FK506-binding protein. We demonstrated chloroplast localization of
one form of Arabidopsis cyclophilin
(Lippuner et al.
1994) We identified a gene encoding a novel high molecular weight
form of FKBP (Vucich and
Gasser, 1996). We performed a comprehensive analysis of the
phylogenetic relationships among all known cyclophilins
(Chou and Gasser,
1997). In an offshoot of this research we identified two
different Arabidopsis zinc-finger transcription factors that could
confer salt tolerance on yeast
(Lippuner et al.
1996).
If you have the Chime plug-in installed for your browser (available from MDL Information Systems, Inc) you can click here to view a fully interactive model of human cyclophilin A.
