Model peptide studies of Ag+ binding sites from the silver resistance protein SilE

Using model peptides, each of the nine MX2H or HXnM (n = 1, 2) motifs of the silver resistance protein SilE has been shown to coordinate to one Ag+ ion by its histidine and methionine residues with K-d in the mu M range. This suggests an Ag+ buffering role for SilE in the case of high Ag+ overload.