Carob or St. John’s Bread

Carob is the large bean-like pod of a handsome evergreen tree of the same name. Containing 40% sugar and 6% protein, it is chiefly used for stock food and is manufactured into various forms of human food. From the seeds comes a valuable gum, in increasing demand in commerce. Carob trees thrive in parts of California without irrigation.     

A genetically selected cyclic peptide inhibitor of BCL6 homodimerization

We report an inhibitor of the homodimeric protein-protein interaction of the BCL6 oncoprotein, identified from a genetically encoded SICLOPPS library of 3.2 million cyclic hexapeptides in combination with a bacterial reverse two-hybrid system. This cyclic peptide is shown to bind the BTB domain of BCL6, disrupts its homodimerization, and subsequent binding of the SMRT2 corepressor peptide.