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Summary: In this Special Issue, we aim to represent the vibrant state of protein structure studies at the end of 2021. Recent decades have brought significant changes to the protein structure research field. Thanks to the genome projects and advances in structure determination methods, the number of solved protein structures has increased significantly. Protein structure research is experiencing a new renaissance, and in 2020 the number of deposited structures in the PDB database reached a new record. An assortment of many new frontiers are presented in this collection. A single Special Issue cannot give a comprehensive overview of a large field such as proteins science, but we aim to give a broad overview of current research.

Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) is a plasma protein with an important role in the innate immune system. MBL recognizes pathogens through carbohydrate structures present on the surface of a range of pathogenic organisms including viruses, bacteria, fungi and protozoans. These structures may be referred to as pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). After binding to PAMPs, MBL promotes C1- and antibody-independent activation of complement, leading to complement-mediated killing and/or phagocytosis. MBL is also known to modulate the secretion of cytokines from macrophages and to mediate the clearance of apoptotic cells as such playing a role in the inflammatory response. This book summarizes the actual understanding of human MBL biology and introduces the general aspects of the structure, function and genetics of MBL, as well as an analysis of the role of MBL in the predisposition to clinically relevant diseases.