Binding assays were performed as described (28 (link), 40 (link)). Briefly, 96-well plates (Nunc) were preadsorbed with Vn-HX (5 μg/ml), Vn (5 μg/ml; Sigma), or gelatin (20 μg/ml; Sigma), then blocked with tris-buffered saline (TBS) containing 3% milk, and washed with TBS supplemented with 0.05% Tween 20. Recombinant C-terminal His-tagged Ail (Ail-His) was purified, refolded, and concentrated to 80 μg/ml in buffer with 4 mM decylphosphocholine and then added in decreasing concentrations to the preadsorbed wells. After incubating overnight at 4°C, bound Ail-His was detected with mouse anti-His monoclonal antibody (Qiagen), secondary goat anti-mouse antibody conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (Sigma), and the horseradish peroxidase substrate o-phenylenediamine (Pierce).