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

Using model peptides, each of the nine MX₂H or HX_nM (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 μM range. This suggests an Ag⁺ buffering role for SilE in the case of high Ag⁺ overload.