Figure 1

Identification of the active site of adiponectin. A) Effects of adiponectin fragments encompassing the active site on the growth of MCF7 cells. The activity of the entire globular domain of adiponectin (gAd) is included for comparison. The data are averages from 3 different assays and represent average results +/- SE and were analyzed by Student t-test, p < 0.05. The sequences of all tested peptides are listed in Additional file 1. B) High-resolution structure of the adiponectin monomer with the peptide 25 and active site amino acid side-chains colored. Conservative substitutions of residues marked in green could be made without loss of biological activity; residues marked with red could not be substituted.