Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Chih-Chia Su, Meinan Lyu, Christopher E. Morgan, Jani Reddy Bolla, Carol V. Robinson, Edward W. Yu
Summary: The development of the Build and Retrieve (BaR) method allows for the identification and determination of cryo-EM structures of various inner and outer membrane proteins from heterogeneous protein samples, demonstrating the potential of cryo-EM in systems structural proteomics.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Leonardo Salicari, Antonio Trovato
Summary: Researchers investigated the presence of entangled motifs in membrane protein structures and found that they occur at a similar frequency as in general proteins. However, the chirality bias of double-winding motifs is reversed in membrane proteins compared to general proteins. These observations may be explained by the differences in co-translational folding mechanisms between membrane and globular proteins.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bojian Ding, Sheng Yang, Matthias Schaks, Yijun Liu, Abbigale J. Brown, Klemens Rottner, Saikat Chowdhury, Baoyu Chen
Summary: In this study, the structures of WRC, both alone and bound to Rac1, were investigated using cryogenic-electron microscopy. The findings reveal that Rac1 binds to WRC at two distinct sites, and binding to the A site activates the complex. Activation involves conformational changes that result in the release of sequestered WCA polypeptide, stimulating actin polymerization by the Arp2/3 complex. These structural insights, combined with biochemical and cellular analyses, provide a novel understanding of the regulation of the Rac1-WRC-Arp2/3-actin signaling axis in various biological processes and diseases.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Editorial Material
Chemistry, Physical
Ziyi Chen, David Morris, Peng Zhang
Summary: A library of catalysts spanning 37 elements was created to uncover unified principles for catalyst design, showing great promise for the design of atomically dispersed catalysts.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yu-Chen Yen, Christopher T. Schafer, Martin Gustaysson, Stefanie A. Eberle, Pawel K. Dominik, Dawid Deneka, Penglie Zhang, Thomas J. Schall, Anthony A. Kossiakoff, John J. G. Tesmer, Tracy M. Handel
Summary: This study presents cryo-EM structures of ACKR3 in complex with CXCL12, a more potent CXCL12 variant, and a small-molecule agonist. The binding poses of these chemokines are different from those established for CXCR4 and observed in other receptor-chemokine complexes. These structures, together with functional studies, provide insights into the ligand-binding promiscuity of ACKR3, its inability to couple to G proteins, and its bias towards beta-arrestin, laying the foundation for understanding the physiological interplay of ACKR3 with other GPCRs.
Book Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alexandra Witze
Summary: Human activities, such as atmospheric nuclear testing and the US Dust Bowl, have led to a harmful accumulation of particulate pollution that persists today.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Patrick D. Bosshart, David Kalbermatter, Sara Bonetti, Dimitrios Fotiadis
Summary: L-lactate plays crucial roles in health and disease, with its transport across biological membranes mediated by MCTs. Potential inhibitors can interfere with monocarboxylate transport, and SfMCT serves as a model for studying inhibitors and potential drugs.
COMMUNICATIONS CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yidan Xu, Tingting Li, Zixuan Zhou, Jingjing Hong, Yulin Chao, Zhini Zhu, Ying Zhang, Qianhui Qu, Dianfan Li
Summary: This study reveals the structural features underlying the broad specificity of GPI-T and a fidelity mechanism that involves the synergistic binding of substrate regions with individually weak specificity.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Vasyl Bondarenko, Marta M. Wells, Qiang Chen, Tommy S. Tillman, Kevin Singewald, Matthew J. Lawless, Joel Caporoso, Nicole Brandon, Jonathan A. Coleman, Sunil Saxena, Erik Lindahl, Yan Xu, Pei Tang
Summary: In this study, using a combination of experiments and computational methods, the full-length intracellular domain (ICD) structure of the human alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in a resting state was determined. It was found that a significant portion of the ICD residues are located in highly flexible regions, with a large loop (loop L) contributing to its stability by anchoring onto the MA helix. Known motifs for cytoplasmic binding, regulation, and signaling were observed in both helices and disordered flexible regions, highlighting the important role of ICD conformational plasticity in orchestrating various biological processes.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Jacob S. Jordan, Zijie Xia, Evan R. Williams
Summary: Nanoelectrospray ionization emitters with submicron tip diameters have significant advantages in native mass spectrometry, including the ability to produce resolved charge-state distributions for proteins and macromolecular complexes from standard biochemical buffers containing high concentrations of nonvolatile salts, and to prevent nonspecific aggregation.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MASS SPECTROMETRY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Seu-Na Lee, Hwa-Jin Cho, Hyeongseop Jeong, Bumhan Ryu, Hyuk-Joon Lee, Minsoo Kim, Jejoong Yoo, Jae-Sung Woo, Hyung Ho Lee
Summary: Cx36, responsible for signal transmission in electrical synapses, forms interneuronal gap junctions. Cryo-EM structures of Cx36 reveal a closed state with obstructed channel pores and excluded N-terminal helices, and an open state with acidic pore and weakened protomer-protomer interaction. Lipids may play a potential role in Cx36 channel gating.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Wei Zhang, Jiangshan Yu, Qingqiang He, Nan Zhang, Nan Guan
Summary: The proposed TICK client utilizes AVL hash tree to store unspent outputs, resolving the issue of traditional lightweight clients struggling to verify new transactions. TICK can update AVL hash tree within 1 second and generate proofs in O(log(NU)) time, making verification more efficient and fast.
IEEE INTERNET OF THINGS JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Heejin Kook, Chanhyuk Park
Summary: Wastewater treatment plants are significant contributors to the release of microplastics into the aquatic environment. This study investigates potential microplastic treatment technologies and the behavior of microplastics in membrane filtration. The findings suggest that ceramic membranes are more effective at removing microplastics compared to polymeric membranes, but the pore size measurement is a crucial factor affecting the removal efficiency.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ping Li, Amber L. Hendricks, Yong Wang, Rhiza Lyne E. Villones, Karin Lindkvist-Petersson, Gabriele Meloni, J. A. Cowan, Kaituo Wang, Pontus Gourdon
Summary: This study utilizes cryo-EM to reveal the structure of Atm1 transporter and proposes its molecular mechanism in the maturation of iron-sulfur proteins. These findings are of significant importance for understanding the transport mechanism of eukaryotic ABCB7-type proteins.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yuqi Wu, Bingqian Lin, Yinzhu Lu, Liang Li, Kunyue Deng, Suhui Zhang, Huiming Zhang, Chaoyong Yang, Zhi Zhu
Summary: Recently, lysosome targeting chimeras (LYTACs) have been developed to degrade extracellular and membrane proteins through a lysosomal degradation pathway. To overcome the challenges of complex and time-consuming preparation of chimeras, the first aptamer-based LYTAC (Apt-LYTAC) was developed by conjugating aptamers to tri-GalNAc. The Apt-LYTACs efficiently and quickly degrade the extracellular protein PDGF and the membrane protein PTK7, expanding the usage of aptamers and providing a new dimension for targeted protein degradation.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2023)
