In this brief, Vladimir Uversky discusses the paradigm-shifting phenomenon of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and hybrid proteins containing ordered domains and functional IDP regions (IDPRs). Beginning with an introduction to the concept of protein intrinsic disorder, Uversky then goes on to describe the peculiar amino acid sequences of IDPs, their structural heterogeneity, typical functions and disorder-based binding modes. In the final sections, Uversky discusses IDPs in human diseases and as potential drug targets. This volume provides a snapshot to researchers entering the field...

This Brief summarizes the current research on the novel BRICHOS domain, which is a chaperone domain found in a variety of proteins and is shown to exhibit anti-amyloidogenic chaperone-like functions. The BRICHOS domain is defined from sequence similarities, lacks established physiological function(s) and is found about 10 distantly related pro-protein families, several of which are associated with human disease. In this work, the authors review the mechanism by which BRICHOS inhibits Aβ aggregation and examine recent results from in vivo experiments where BRICHOS inhibits Aβ...