Ec1-LoPE (Fig. 1) was produced and characterized as described previously (38 (link)). To confirm the identity, the molecular weight of the protein was determined using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (Impact II instrument, Bruker Corp.). The spectrometer worked on line with Dionex UltiMate 3000 ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) system (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) equipped with a ProSwift RP-4H column (1×50 mm, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.). The chromatographic system used two solvents: Solvent A (3% acetonitrile, 0.1% formic acid in water) and solvent B (95% acetonitrile, 0.1% formic acid in water), and the flow rate was 200 µl/min. The following gradient profile was used: 4% solvent B for 2 min, 4–90% solvent B within 6 min, 90% solvent B for 2 min, 90–4% solvent B within 1 min followed by 4% solvent B for 4 min. The found molecular weight (43,061 kDa) was in excellent agreement with the calculated molecular weight (43,061 kDa) (Fig. 2A). According to HPLC analysis, the purity of Ec1-LoPE was >99% (Fig. 2B).