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Facile generation of biepitopic antibodies with intrinsic agonism for activating tumor necrosis factor receptors Cell Chem. Bio. (IF 8.6) Pub Date : 2024-04-22 Harkamal S. Jhajj, John S. Schardt, Namir Khalasawi, Emily L. Yao, Timon S. Lwo, Na-Young Kwon, Ryen L. O’Meara, Alec A. Desai, Peter M. Tessier
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UFL1 triggers replication fork degradation by MRE11 in BRCA1/2-deficient cells Nat. Chem. Biol. (IF 14.8) Pub Date : 2024-04-22 Tian Tian, Junliang Chen, Huacun Zhao, Yulin Li, Feiyu Xia, Jun Huang, Jinhua Han, Ting Liu
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Why Japan lacks a vibrant biotech industry Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-22 Mark Kessel, Chris Vickrey
Recent analysis of the biopharmaceutical industry in Japan has emphasized that the lack of a thriving biotech ecosystem in that country is largely due to tight controls on drug pricing1. However, this is only one part of the explanation, and any strategy to promote Japanese biotech must acknowledge the full complexity of the problem. Japan has long punched above its weight in innovative research in
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Biochemical and structural impact of two novel missense mutations in cystathionine β-synthase gene associated with homocystinuria Biochem. J. (IF 4.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-24 Al-Sadeq, Duaa W., Conter, Carolina, Thanassoulas, Angelos, Al-Dewik, Nader, Safieh-Garabedian, Bared, Martínez-Cruz, Luis Alfonso, Nasrallah, Gheyath K., Astegno, Alessandra, Nomikos, Michail
Homocystinuria is a rare disease caused by mutations in the CBS gene that results in a deficiency of cystathionine β-synthase (CBS). CBS is an essential pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme in the transsulfuration pathway, responsible for combining serine with homocysteine to produce cystathionine, whose activity is enhanced by the allosteric regulator S-adenosylmethionine (SAM). CBS also
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AMP-activated protein kinase can be allosterically activated by ADP but AMP remains the key activating ligand Biochem. J. (IF 4.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-24 Hawley, Simon A., Russell, Fiona M., Hardie, D. Grahame
The AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a sensor of cellular energy status. When activated by increases in ADP:ATP and/or AMP:ATP ratios (signalling energy deficit), AMPK acts to restore energy balance. Binding of AMP to one or more of three CBS repeats (CBS1, CBS3, CBS4) on the AMPK-γ subunit activates the kinase complex by three complementary mechanisms: (i) promoting α-subunit Thr172 phosphorylation
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Strategies of bacterial detection by inflammasomes Cell Chem. Bio. (IF 8.6) Pub Date : 2024-04-17 Jordan B. Jastrab, Jonathan C. Kagan
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Meet the authors: Lori Emert-Sedlak and Tom Smithgall Cell Chem. Bio. (IF 8.6) Pub Date : 2024-04-18 Lori Emert-Sedlak, Tom Smithgall
In an interview with Samantha Nelson, a scientific editor of Cell Chemical Biology, the first and corresponding authors of the research article entitled “PROTAC-mediated degradation of HIV-1 Nef efficiently restores cell-surface CD4 and MHC-I expression and blocks HIV-1 replication” share insights on their paper and life as scientists.
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Meet the Authors: Christopher R. Mansfield and Emily R. Derbyshire Cell Chem. Bio. (IF 8.6) Pub Date : 2024-04-18 Christopher R. Mansfield, Emily R. Derbyshire
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Dual-action compounds unleash a one-two punch against tuberculosis Cell Chem. Bio. (IF 8.6) Pub Date : 2024-04-18 Wendy Le Mouëllic, Yannick Poquet, Olivier Neyrolles
In this issue of Cell Chemical Biology, Gries et al.1 employ an innovative screening approach to identify anti-tuberculosis compounds with dual modes of action: anti-virulence against the type VII secretion system ESX-1 and enhanced ethionamide efficacy. These compounds hold promise for developing multi-target tuberculosis drugs with potential clinical applications.
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METTL3: Melting the tumor microenvironment for improved immunotherapy Cell Chem. Bio. (IF 8.6) Pub Date : 2024-04-18 Longfei Gao, Lei Ding
The tumor microenvironment (TME) dictates the outcome of cancer immunotherapy. In this issue of Cell Chemical Biology, Yu et al.1 report that targeting Mettl3 leads to a more inflamed, “hot” TME and effective anti-PD-1 therapy. This study points to a new target in remodeling the TME for improved immunotherapy.
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SARS-CoV-2 resistance to monoclonal antibodies and small-molecule drugs Cell Chem. Bio. (IF 8.6) Pub Date : 2024-04-18 Sho Iketani, David D. Ho
Over four years have passed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The scientific response has been rapid and effective, with many therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and small molecules developed for clinical use. However, given the ability for viruses to become resistant to antivirals, it is perhaps no surprise that the field has identified resistance to nearly all of these compounds. Here,
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A peptide dehydratase with core strength Nat. Chem. Biol. (IF 14.8) Pub Date : 2024-04-19 Daniel Richter, Anna Lisa Vagstad
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Forced rewiring of RTK signaling Nat. Chem. Biol. (IF 14.8) Pub Date : 2024-04-18 Ahsan Ausaf Ali, Mahmoud Amouzadeh Tabrizi, Mingxu You
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Discovery of potent inhibitors of α-synuclein aggregation using structure-based iterative learning Nat. Chem. Biol. (IF 14.8) Pub Date : 2024-04-17 Robert I. Horne, Ewa A. Andrzejewska, Parvez Alam, Z. Faidon Brotzakis, Ankit Srivastava, Alice Aubert, Magdalena Nowinska, Rebecca C. Gregory, Roxine Staats, Andrea Possenti, Sean Chia, Pietro Sormanni, Bernardino Ghetti, Byron Caughey, Tuomas P. J. Knowles, Michele Vendruscolo
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Customized molecular glue complexes with desired properties Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17 Iris Marchal
Degron tags can trigger rapid and temporally controlled degradation of proteins using small molecules known as molecular glues. These molecular glues induce or stabilize protein interactions between a target protein and a ubiquitin ligase. As research tools, molecular glue complexes are limited by the large size of degron tags, which prevents integration in endogenous protein-coding genes. In a study
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World’s priciest drug treats MLD Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first therapy for metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), a rare fatal genetic disorder. The lysosomal storage disease affects about 40 children each year in the USA. It is caused by a mutation in the gene encoding the arylsulfatase enzyme that leads to progressive demyelination and progressive loss of motor and cognitive functions. There were previously
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Saving Cavendish Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17
Farmers have a green light to grow the first genetically modified banana. The wilt-proof strain of the Cavendish banana developed by researchers from the Queensland University of Technology is resistant to Panama disease (Fusarium wilt), a devastating fungus. The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator in Australia gave the go-ahead on 12 February to allow the genetically modified banana to be grown
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Prime editing Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17
Recent patents relating to methods and compositions for prime editing.
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FDA approves first MASH drug Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17
The first drug to treat fatty liver disease due to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) has been given a green light by the US Food and Drug Administration. Madrigal Pharmaceuticals’ Rezdiffra (resmetirom) received an accelerated approval to treat the disease, previously known as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In this progressive liver condition fat buildup triggers inflammation
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Biotech news from around the world Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17
The Ministry of Health and Welfare selects Johnson & Johnson’s JLABS to operate the country’s global accelerator platform. JLABS will engage with various local incubators and collaborators in the startup ecosystem to offer venture development programs, stimulate employment and encourage commercialization to enhance the global competitiveness of Korea’s life sciences sector. Costa Rica revises its biotech
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First gene-edited pig kidney transplant Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17
Surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital have transplanted a pig kidney into a living person for the first time. On 16 March, a 62-year old man with end-stage kidney disease received a kidney from a genome-edited pig developed by eGenesis. The humanized pig organ was taken from a genetically engineered Yucatan miniature pig carrying a total of 69 gene edits designed to increase compatibility between
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RoseTTAFold expands to all-atom for biomolecular prediction and design Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17 Iris Marchal
Deep learning methods enable the structural prediction of proteins with high accuracy but are unable to model non-protein molecules that are essential for a protein’s biological function. Writing in Science, Krishna et al. introduce RoseTTAFold All-Atom (RFAA) to model the structure of full biological assemblies containing proteins, nucleic acids, small molecules, metals and covalent modifications
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Mapping the landscape of host–microbiome interactions Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17 Iris Marchal
The human body hosts countless microorganisms that play diverse roles in health and disease. However, the lack of tools capable of investigating these host–microbiota interactions at large scale has left many of them undiscovered. Writing in Nature, Sonnert et al. developed and validated a tool, named BASEHIT, to map the broad interplay between bacteria and human proteins. BASEHIT identified an extensive
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Prime editing deal flurry to nail down patent rights Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17
The prime editing field is booming, with companies making strategic decisions to avoid an IP showdown.
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Startups probe hidden viruses in the ‘dark genome’ to treat disease Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17
Drug hunters are finding that ancient virus-like artifacts in the human genome could offer new avenues to treat neurodegeneration, cancer, autoimmunity and even aging with antibodies, vaccines and antiretroviral agents.
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Video game unleashes millions of citizen scientists on microbiome research Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17
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Five questions with César de la Fuente Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17 Michael Francisco
A pioneer in the emerging fields of AI for antibiotic discovery and molecular de-extinction describes his transdisciplinary background and lifelong passion to understand biology.
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People Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17
Recent moves of note in and around the biotech and pharma industries.
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Mapping the global landscape for induced pluripotent stem cells from patents and clinical trials Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17 Liyang Lyu, Ye Feng, Borong Huang, Ren-He Xu, Yuanjia Hu
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Sharing best practices for educational programs on venture creation and commercialization Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-17 Jordan Eidlisz, Zachary Hill-Whilton, Gabriel Vizgan, Daniel Cobos, Sadhana Chitale, Colleen Gillespie, Nabil Dib, Gabrielle Gold-von Simson
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Improving microbial phylogeny with citizen science within a mass-market video game Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-15 Roman Sarrazin-Gendron, Parham Ghasemloo Gheidari, Alexander Butyaev, Timothy Keding, Eddie Cai, Jiayue Zheng, Renata Mutalova, Julien Mounthanyvong, Yuxue Zhu, Elena Nazarova, Chrisostomos Drogaris, Kornél Erhart, Amélie Brouillette, Gabriel Richard, Randy Pitchford, Sébastien Caisse, Mathieu Blanchette, Daniel McDonald, Rob Knight, Attila Szantner, Jérôme Waldispühl
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Bringing chemistry to medicine to redefine the undruggable Nat. Chem. Biol. (IF 14.8) Pub Date : 2024-04-12 Caitlin D. Deane, Marcus Fischer, Anang A. Shelat
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Inferring gene regulatory networks from single-cell multiome data using atlas-scale external data Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-12 Qiuyue Yuan, Zhana Duren
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Activin E is a transforming growth factor β ligand that signals specifically through activin receptor-like kinase 7 Biochem. J. (IF 4.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-10 Vestal, Kylie A., Kattamuri, Chandramohan, Koyiloth, Muhasin, Ongaro, Luisina, Howard, James A., Deaton, Aimee M., Ticau, Simina, Dubey, Aditi, Bernard, Daniel J., Thompson, Thomas B.
Activins are one of the three distinct subclasses within the greater Transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) superfamily. First discovered for their critical roles in reproductive biology, activins have since been shown to alter cellular differentiation and proliferation. At present, members of the activin subclass include activin A (ActA), ActB, ActC, ActE, and the more distant members myostatin and GDF11
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Correction: Proteasome and thiol involvement in quality control of glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor addition Biochem. J. (IF 4.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-10 Wilbourn, Barry, Nesbeth, Darren N., Wainwright, Linda J., Field, Mark C.
The authors of the original article “Proteasome and thiol involvement in quality control of glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor addition” DOI: 10.1042/bj3320111: Wilbourn et al., Biochem. J.332, 111–118 (1998) would like to correct Figure 5 of this article. After publication, a reader identified that Figure 5 contained a duplicated Western blot image in panel ‘B’ between the “28” and “29” experimental
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Expression of Concern: Protease-activated receptor-2 promotes kidney tubular epithelial inflammation by inhibiting autophagy via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling pathway Biochem. J. (IF 4.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-10 Du, Chunyang, Zhang, Tao, Xiao, Xia, Shi, Yonghong, Duan, Huijun, Ren, Yunzhuo
The Editorial Office has been made aware of potential issues surrounding the scientific validity of this paper, hence has issued an expression of concern to notify readers whilst the Editorial Office investigates. It has been noted that there seems to be a partial duplication between Figure 4C PAR2-OE control panel and Figure 4E Si-NC MHY1485 panel, as well as a duplication between Figure 7B Sham and
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Heterogeneity of tethered agonist signaling in adhesion G protein-coupled receptors Cell Chem. Bio. (IF 8.6) Pub Date : 2024-04-11 Andrew N. Dates, Daniel T.D. Jones, Jeffrey S. Smith, Meredith A. Skiba, Maria F. Rich, Maggie M. Burruss, Andrew C. Kruse, Stephen C. Blacklow
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Genome engineering with Cas9 and AAV repair templates generates frequent concatemeric insertions of viral vectors Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-08 Fabian P. Suchy, Daiki Karigane, Yusuke Nakauchi, Maimi Higuchi, Jinyu Zhang, Katja Pekrun, Ian Hsu, Amy C. Fan, Toshinobu Nishimura, Carsten T. Charlesworth, Joydeep Bhadury, Toshiya Nishimura, Adam C. Wilkinson, Mark A. Kay, Ravindra Majeti, Hiromitsu Nakauchi
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Identification of an inhibitory pocket in falcilysin provides a new avenue for malaria drug development Cell Chem. Bio. (IF 8.6) Pub Date : 2024-04-08 Grennady Wirjanata, Jianqing Lin, Jerzy Michal Dziekan, Abbas El Sahili, Zara Chung, Seth Tjia, Nur Elyza Binte Zulkifli, Josephine Boentoro, Roy Tham, Lai Si Jia, Ka Diam Go, Han Yu, Anthony Partridge, David Olsen, Nayana Prabhu, Radoslaw M. Sobota, Pär Nordlund, Julien Lescar, Zbynek Bozdech
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Peptide vaccines get an OS update Nat. Chem. Biol. (IF 14.8) Pub Date : 2024-04-05 Martin Zacharias, Sebastian Springer
Peptide vaccines use antigenic peptide fragments to induce an immune response but are problematic because of the short half-life of peptides. A study now reports thioamide substitution in the peptide backbone as a strategy to enhance resistance to proteolysis and promote binding to the MHC I complex for T cell activation.
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Gene trajectory inference for single-cell data by optimal transport metrics Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-05 Rihao Qu, Xiuyuan Cheng, Esen Sefik, Jay S. Stanley III, Boris Landa, Francesco Strino, Sarah Platt, James Garritano, Ian D. Odell, Ronald Coifman, Richard A. Flavell, Peggy Myung, Yuval Kluger
Single-cell RNA sequencing has been widely used to investigate cell state transitions and gene dynamics of biological processes. Current strategies to infer the sequential dynamics of genes in a process typically rely on constructing cell pseudotime through cell trajectory inference. However, the presence of concurrent gene processes in the same group of cells and technical noise can obscure the true
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Genetically encoding colors and images into bioengineered microbial materials Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-02
Using synthetic biology, we engineered a cellulose-producing bacterium that can produce eumelanin and respond to light, so that it is possible to grow a microbial leather material that is colored black or contains projected black patterns.
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Capturing and modeling cellular niches from dissociated single-cell and spatial data Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-02
Cells interact with their local environment to enact global tissue function. By harnessing gene–gene covariation in cellular neighborhoods from spatial transcriptomics data, the covariance environment (COVET) niche representation and the environmental variational inference (ENVI) data integration method model phenotype–microenvironment interplay and reconstruct the spatial context of dissociated single-cell
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Self-pigmenting textiles grown from cellulose-producing bacteria with engineered tyrosinase expression Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-02 Kenneth T. Walker, Ivy S. Li, Jennifer Keane, Vivianne J. Goosens, Wenzhe Song, Koon-Yang Lee, Tom Ellis
Environmental concerns are driving interest in postpetroleum synthetic textiles produced from microbial and fungal sources. Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a promising sustainable leather alternative, on account of its material properties, low infrastructure needs and biodegradability. However, for alternative textiles like BC to be fully sustainable, alternative ways to dye textiles need to be developed
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The potential of DAOs for funding and collaborative development in the life sciences Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-02 Simone Fantaccini, Laura Grassi, Andrea Rampoldi
VitaDAO funds longevity research through a blockchain-based decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), showcasing the potential of collaborative, transparent and alternative systems while also highlighting the challenges of coordination, regulation, biases and skepticism in reshaping traditional research financing methods.
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Long-range electron proton coupling in respiratory complex I — insights from molecular simulations of the quinone chamber and antiporter-like subunits Biochem. J. (IF 4.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-10 Djurabekova, Amina, Lasham, Jonathan, Zdorevskyi, Oleksii, Zickermann, Volker, Sharma, Vivek
Respiratory complex I is a redox-driven proton pump. Several high-resolution structures of complex I have been determined providing important information about the putative proton transfer paths and conformational transitions that may occur during catalysis. However, how redox energy is coupled to the pumping of protons remains unclear. In this article, we review biochemical, structural and molecular
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A light-controlled phospholipase C for imaging of lipid dynamics and controlling neural plasticity Cell Chem. Bio. (IF 8.6) Pub Date : 2024-04-05
Abstract not available
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Antivenom slithers back to life Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-03
Snakebite treatment still relies on antivenom, a 130-year old technology, but biotech is on the job.
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The covariance environment defines cellular niches for spatial inference Nat. Biotechnol. (IF 46.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-02 Doron Haviv, Ján Remšík, Mohamed Gatie, Catherine Snopkowski, Meril Takizawa, Nathan Pereira, John Bashkin, Stevan Jovanovich, Tal Nawy, Ronan Chaligne, Adrienne Boire, Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis, Dana Pe’er
A key challenge of analyzing data from high-resolution spatial profiling technologies is to suitably represent the features of cellular neighborhoods or niches. Here we introduce the covariance environment (COVET), a representation that leverages the gene–gene covariate structure across cells in the niche to capture the multivariate nature of cellular interactions within it. We define a principled
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DoUBLing up: ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like proteases in genome stability Biochem. J. (IF 4.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-10 Foster, Benjamin M., Wang, Zijuan, Schmidt, Christine K.
Maintaining stability of the genome requires dedicated DNA repair and signalling processes that are essential for the faithful duplication and propagation of chromosomes. These DNA damage response (DDR) mechanisms counteract the potentially mutagenic impact of daily genotoxic stresses from both exogenous and endogenous sources. Inherent to these DNA repair pathways is the activity of protein factors
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Structural analysis of the SAM domain of the Arabidopsis mitochondrial tRNA import receptor J. Biol. Chem. (IF 5.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-04 Bence Olasz, Luke Smithers, Genevieve L. Evans, Anandhi Anandan, Monika W. Murcha, Alice Vrielink
Mitochondria are membrane-bound organelles of endosymbiotic origin with limited protein-coding capacity. The import of nuclear-encoded protein and nucleic acids is required and essential for maintaining organelle mass, number, and activity. As plant mitochondria do not encode all the necessary tRNA types required, the import of cytosolic tRNA is vital for organelle maintenance. Recently, two mitochondrial
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LPS gets a fresh trim Nat. Chem. Biol. (IF 14.8) Pub Date : 2024-04-01 Gemma Banister, Dave Boucher
Detection of intracellular lipolysaccharide (LPS) activates an immune response initiated by the non-canonical inflammasome. ATGL has now been identified as a negative regulator of this pathway that dampens inflammation by removing LPS’ acyl chains, preventing the activation of inflammatory caspases and cytokines.
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Making a living off the rainbow’s edge: How phycobilisomes adapt structurally to absorb far-red light J. Biol. Chem. (IF 5.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-03 Matthew S. Kimber
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Mst4, a novel cardiac STRIPAK complex–associated kinase, regulates cardiomyocyte growth and survival and is upregulated in human cardiomyopathy J. Biol. Chem. (IF 5.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-03 Matthias Eden, Marius Leye, Justus Hahn, Emanuel Heilein, Marcin Luzarowski, Bill Völschow, Christin Tannert, Samuel Sossalla, Carlota Lucena-Porcel, Derk Frank, Norbert Frey
Myocardial failure is associated with adverse remodeling, which includes apoptotic loss of cardiomyocytes, hypertrophy, as well as alterations in cell–cell contacts. Striatin-interacting phosphatase and kinase (STRIPAK) complexes and their kinase mammalian STE20-like kinase 4 (Mst4) have been linked to the development of different diseases. The role and targets of Mst4 in cardiomyocytes have not been
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Interplay of RAP2 GTPase and the cytoskeleton in Hippo pathway regulation J. Biol. Chem. (IF 5.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-02 Chenzhou Wu, Xiaomin Cai, Ying Wang, Carlos D. Rodriguez, Giorgia Zoaldi, Lydia Herrmann, Chun-Yuh Huang, Xiaoqiong Wang, Viraj R. Sanghvi, Rongze O. Lu, Zhipeng Meng
The Hippo signaling is instrumental in regulating organ size, regeneration, and carcinogenesis. The cytoskeleton emerges as a primary Hippo signaling modulator. Its structural alterations in response to environmental and intrinsic stimuli control Hippo signaling pathway activity. However, the precise mechanisms underlying the cytoskeleton regulation of Hippo signaling are not fully understood. RAP2
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Receptor-activated transcription factors and beyond: multiple modes of Smad2/3-dependent transmission of TGF-β signaling J. Biol. Chem. (IF 5.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-02 Keiji Miyazawa, Yuka Itoh, Hao Fu, Kohei Miyazono
Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) is a pleiotropic cytokine that is widely distributed throughout the body. Its receptor proteins, TGF-β type I and type II receptors, are also ubiquitously expressed. Therefore, the regulation of various signaling outputs in a context-dependent manner is a critical issue in this field. Smad proteins were originally identified as signal-activated transcription factors
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Nesprin-2 is a novel scaffold protein for telethonin and FHL-2 in the cardiomyocyte sarcomere J. Biol. Chem. (IF 5.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-02 Chen Li, Derek T. Warren, Can Zhou, Shanelle De Silva, Darren G.S. Wilson, Mitla Garcia-Maya, Mathew A. Wheeler, Peter Meinke, Greta Sawyer, Elisabeth Ehler, Manfred Wehnert, Li Rao, Qiuping Zhang, Catherine M. Shanahan
Nesprins comprise a family of multi-isomeric scaffolding proteins, forming the linker of nucleoskeleton-and-cytoskeleton complex with lamin A/C, emerin and SUN1/2 at the nuclear envelope. Mutations in nesprin-1/-2 are associated with Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) with conduction defects and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). We have previously observed sarcomeric staining of nesprin-1/-2 in cardiac
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In silico prediction of heme binding in proteins J. Biol. Chem. (IF 5.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-02 Noa A. Marson, Andrea E. Gallio, Suman K. Mandal, Roman A. Laskowski, Emma L. Raven
The process of heme binding to a protein is prevalent in almost all forms of life to control many important biological properties, such as O-binding, electron transfer, gas sensing or to build catalytic power. In these cases, heme typically binds tightly (irreversibly) to a protein in a discrete heme binding pocket, with one or two heme ligands provided most commonly to the heme iron by His, Cys or
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Structure-function analysis of plant G-protein regulatory mechanisms identifies key Gα-RGS protein interactions J. Biol. Chem. (IF 5.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-01 Maria Daniela Torres-Rodriguez, Soon Goo Lee, Swarup Roy Choudhury, Rabindranath Paul, Balaji Selvam, Diwakar Shukla, Joseph M. Jez, Sona Pandey
Heterotrimeric GTP-binding protein alpha subunit (Gα) and its cognate regulator of G-protein signaling (RGS) protein transduce signals in eukaryotes spanning protists, amoeba, animals, fungi, and plants. The core catalytic mechanisms of the GTPase activity of Gα and the interaction interface with RGS for the acceleration of GTP hydrolysis seem to be conserved across these groups; however, the gene
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Engineered interleukin-6-derived cytokines recruit artificial receptor complexes and disclose CNTF signaling via the OSMR J. Biol. Chem. (IF 5.5) Pub Date : 2024-04-01 Puyan Rafii, Patricia Rodrigues Cruz, Julia Ettich, Christiane Seibel, Giacomo Padrini, Christoph Wittich, Alexander Lang, Patrick Petzsch, Karl Köhrer, Jens M. Moll, Doreen M. Floss, Jürgen Scheller
Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) activates cells the non-signaling α-receptor CNTF receptor (CNTFR) and the two signaling β-receptors glycoprotein 130 (gp130) and leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR). The CNTF derivate, Axokine, was protective against obesity and insulin resistance, but clinical development was halted by the emergence of CNTF antibodies. The chimeric cytokine IC7 used the framework