**2. From amino acid sequence homology to functional mimicry of the anorexigenic pathway**

In the beginning, the bacterium encountered to study ClpB was *E. coli* K12, the standard model used in biotechnology. *In silico* sequence alignments allowed to identify a 6-amino acid sequence homology between a bacterial protein, *E. coli* K12 ClpB, and alpha-MSH [11]. The properties of the *E. coli* K12 ClpB sequence explain its folded shape, exposing the epitope and thus making it a specific conformational mimetic of alpha-MSH [9, 11].

### **Figure 1.** *Adapted from Sergueï Fetissov,* nature reviews *2016.*
