Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Vandita Dwivedi, Karina Yaniv, Michal Sharon
Summary: Evidence from clinical studies show that functional 20S proteasome complexes circulate in plasma, with elevated levels in patients with various diseases. The levels of circulating c20S correlate positively with treatment efficacy and survival rates, indicating a potential role in pathophysiology.
BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-MOLECULAR BASIS OF DISEASE
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Silvia Bucci, Antonio D'Innocente, Yujun Liao, Fabio Maria Carlucci, Barbara Caputo, Tatiana Tommasi
Summary: Human adaptability relies on learning from both supervised and unsupervised tasks, and this approach can be applied to object recognition across domains. A multi-task method combining supervised and self-supervised knowledge provides competitive results.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PATTERN ANALYSIS AND MACHINE INTELLIGENCE
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yi Zhang, Yiao Wang, Safak Uslu, Sneha Venkatachalapathy, Mohammad Rashidian, Jonas Schaefer, Andreas Pluckthun, Mark D. Distefano
Summary: A novel method for the conjugation of genetically modified proteins with fluorescent dyes or cell-killing agents.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lukas Schloesser, Carsten Sachse, Harry H. Low, Dirk Schneider
Summary: Structural and evolutionary studies have shown that cyanobacterial phage shock protein A (PspA) and inner membrane-associated protein of 30 kDa (IM30) belong to the conserved endosomal sorting complex required for trans-port-III (ESCRT-III) superfamily. This article examines the structures of bacterial ESCRT-III-like proteins and compares them with their eukaryotic counterparts, discussing the conservation of interactions and key hinge regions involved in self-assembly and oligomer ultrastructure versatility. The article also addresses the differences in nomenclature and suggests a common naming system for the ESCRT-III superfamily.
TRENDS IN BIOCHEMICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Review
Microbiology
Hao Zhang, Gang Lin
Summary: Proteasomes are ATP-dependent, N-terminal nucleophile hydrolases that are essential for intracellular protein turnover and present in all biological kingdoms. Inhibiting proteasomes can be harmful to cell viability, but proteasome inhibitor drugs have revolutionized the treatment of multiple myeloma. Efforts are being made to develop inhibitors selective for microbial proteasomes, with promising progress in targeting pathogenic microbes for diseases like leishmaniasis and Chagas disease.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Mateusz Chwastyk, Marek Cieplak
Summary: The study revealed differences in the geometry of the exit tunnel of ribosomes from different domains of life, leading to varying behaviors of proteins within them. One protein, bacterial YibK, showed knotting in its native state, with the highest probability observed in bacterial ribosomes. Relaxing the rigidity condition of ribosomes could enhance proper folding and avoid trapping.
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Claudia Alvarez-Carreno, Petar Penev, Anton S. Petrov, Loren Dean Williams
Summary: The SH3 and OB domains are the simplest, oldest, and most common protein domains in the translation system. These domains share a common core region with significant structure and sequence similarity, suggesting they share a common ancestor. The OB domain likely evolved from duplication and adaptation of the SH3 domain core, or vice versa, in a simple and probable transformation.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Psychiatry
Ivan J. Torres, Ceren Hidiroglu, Sylvia A. Mackala, Sharon Ahn, Lakshmi N. Yatham, Eysegul Ozerdem, Erin E. Michalak
Summary: Individuals with bipolar disorder demonstrate inaccuracies in rating their cognitive functioning and cognitive task performance, mainly underestimating their cognitive ability. These metacognitive inaccuracies are also related to quality of life, indicating that further understanding of cognitive self-appraisals in persons with bipolar disorder has significant clinical relevance.
EUROPEAN PSYCHIATRY
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Chenchen Su, Mengqi Jin, Wenhua Zhang
Summary: The universal t(6)A modification in tRNAs plays a crucial role in stabilizing structural configurations, promoting codon-anticodon pairing, and ensuring translational accuracy. Pathogenic mutations in genes involved in t(6)A biosynthesis are linked to various mitochondrial and neurological diseases, emphasizing the importance of further research in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying t(6)A-related disorders.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Giuseppina Mariano, Tim R. Blower
Summary: Bacteria have evolved various defence systems to protect themselves from bacteriophages, including the replication prevention of phages and other mobile genetic elements. These systems are often encoded together in genomic loci called defence islands, and recent discoveries have revealed over 100 new antiphage systems. Similar protein domains have been found in different combinations within distinct antiphage systems, and this article discusses the discovery and predicted domain composition of these novel antiphage systems. The potential evolutionary advantages behind the independent acquisition of these domains are also examined.
MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Carolina T. Orozco, Matthew J. Edgeworth, Paul W. A. Devine, Alistair R. Hines, Owen Cornwell, Christopher Thompson, Xiangyang Wang, Jonathan J. Phillips, Peter Ravn, Sophie E. Jackson, Nicholas J. Bond
Summary: Antibody-drug conjugates have emerged as one of the most actively developed drug classes, combining the specificity of antibodies with the potency of cytotoxic compounds. Recent advancements in engineering antibody-drug conjugate scaffolds focus on achieving controlled drug to antibody ratios by inserting cysteines. A study found that an engineered antibody scaffold with an inserted cysteine unexpectedly formed a disulfide bridge during the manufacturing process, leading to significant changes in stability and structural dynamics.
BIOCONJUGATE CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Linghan Mei, Fabiana Zappala, Andrew Tsourkas
Summary: Bispecific antibodies are capable of binding two antigens simultaneously, leading to unique biological effects. Two methods are introduced for rapid assembly of Bispecific antibodies from any two off-the-shelf IgG antibodies, allowing for low-cost, high-throughput production and validation.
BIOCONJUGATE CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Xiong-Hui Xiao, Hui Fu
Summary: Passion plays a crucial role in entrepreneurial activity and has a positive spillover effect on the family and community domains. The entrepreneur's perceived personal control moderates the spillover effect. Entrepreneurs with higher passion experience higher subjective wellbeing in family relationships and have a higher likelihood of engaging in prosocial behaviors.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Samuel L. Scinto, Tyler R. Reagle, Joseph M. Fox
Summary: This study demonstrates a new method for site-selective functionalization of proteins using pyridyl-tetrazine tags, allowing for direct affinity purification on commonly used nickel-iminodiacetate (Ni-IDA) resins. The method is also applicable for protein purification from complex mixtures.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2022)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Aditya Ardana, Saikat Ghosh, Pie Huda, Nicholas L. Fletcher, Kristofer J. Thurecht, Charlotte C. Williams
Summary: Covalent conjugation of a biologically stable polymer to a therapeutic protein, such as an antibody, can enhance its stability, improve tumor targeting, and ensure reproducibility in manufacturing. By using stable reactive groups and site-selective conjugation methods, high-purity conjugates can be obtained, preserving the efficacy and specificity of the protein.
MOLECULAR PHARMACEUTICS
(2023)
Review
Microbiology
Jennifer Berglund, Rafaela Gjondrekaj, Ellen Verney, Julie A. Maupin-Furlow, Mariola J. Edelmann
MICROBIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
(2020)
Editorial Material
Genetics & Heredity
Rafael Montalvo-Rodriguez, Julie A. Maupin-Furlow
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Mamta Rawat, Julie A. Maupin-Furlow
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Beichen Jiang, Zachary Adams, Shannon Moonah, Honglian Shi, Julie Maupin-Furlow, Jackob Moskovitz
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Stefan Schulze, Zachary Adams, Micaela Cerletti, Rosana De Castro, Sebastien Ferreira-Cerca, Christian Fufezan, Maria Ines Gimenez, Michael Hippler, Zivojin Jevtic, Robert Knueppel, Georgio Legerme, Christof Lenz, Anita Marchfelder, Julie Maupin-Furlow, Roberto A. Paggi, Friedhelm Pfeiffer, Ansgar Poetsch, Henning Urlaub, Mechthild Pohlschroder
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2020)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Lakshmi Kasirajan, Julie A. Maupin-Furlow
Summary: Lignocellulosic biofuels and chemicals hold promise in reducing fossil fuel dependence and mitigating air pollution. Haloarchaea and their enzymes, capable of sustaining catalytic activity under extreme conditions, are being explored as ideal resources for biofuel production and value-added products.
BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOENGINEERING
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Priyadharshini Ramachandran, J. Beslin Joshi, Julie A. Maupin-Furlow, Sivakumar Uthandi
Summary: Plant pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria evade the host plant immune system by secreting Type III and Type IV effector proteins, which mimic components of the ubiquitin-265 proteasome system to control plant cellular activities and establish pathogenicity.
MICROBIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Haolin Zhang, Xuemei Gong, Qianqian Zhao, Takahito Mukai, Oscar Vargas-Rodriguez, Huiming Zhang, Yuxing Zhang, Paul Wassel, Kazuaki Amikura, Julie Maupin-Furlow, Yan Ren, Xun Xu, Yuri Wolf, Kira S. Makarova, Eugene Koonin, Yue Shen, Dieter Soll, Xian Fu
Summary: This study identified two mutually orthogonal PyIRS/tRNA(Pyl) pairs in a halophilic methanogen,and demonstrated that they can simultaneously decode different codons for the incorporation of distinct non-canonical amino acids.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Paula Mondragon, Sungmin Hwang, Lakshmi Kasirajan, Rebecca Oyetoro, Angelina Nasthas, Emily Winters, Ricardo L. Couto-Rodriguez, Amy Schmid, Julie A. Maupin-Furlow
Summary: This study identifies a TrmB-like protein (OxsR) that functions as a thiol-based transcriptional regulator in response to oxidative stress, particularly hypochlorite stress. OxsR binds to specific regions of DNA during hypochlorite stress, which are proximal to oxidative stress operons. Further analysis reveals that OxsR acts as both a transcriptional activator and repressor during hypochlorite stress. The presence of a conserved cysteine residue and a CG-rich motif in the promoter region suggests a widespread redox signaling mechanism in archaea.
Article
Education, Scientific Disciplines
Marisa S. Egan, Karen Hogan, Julie Maupin-Furlow, Mechthild Pohlschroder
JOURNAL OF MICROBIOLOGY & BIOLOGY EDUCATION
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ricardo L. Couto-Rodriguez, Jin Koh, Sixue Chen, Julie A. Maupin-Furlow
Summary: Oxidative stress adaptation strategies are important for cell function and are associated with cardiac, neurodegenerative disease, and cancer. The halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii is used as a model organism due to its extreme tolerance to oxidants and close evolutionary relationship with eukaryotes. A study on H. volcanii reveals the association of lysine acetylation with oxidative stress responses, and the dynamic changes in the lysine acetylome in response to hypochlorite. These findings provide insights into the role of lysine acetylation in key biological processes and PTM crosstalk in Archaea.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ulrike Johnsen, Marius Ortjohann, Andreas Reinhardt, Jonathan M. Turner, Caleb Stratton, Katherine R. Weber, Karol M. Sanchez, Julie Maupin-Furlow, Christopher Davies, Peter Schoenheit
Summary: In this study, a novel transcriptional regulator called GfcR was identified, which acts as an activator in the degradation of both D-glucose and D-fructose. GfcR activates multiple enzymes involved in the catabolism of these sugars and directly binds to the promoters of regulated genes. Furthermore, specific intermediates of the degradation pathways were found to induce the activity of GfcR.
MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Huiyong Jia, Swathi Dantuluri, Shae Margulies, Victoria Smith, Rebecca Lever, Thorsten Allers, Jin Koh, Sixue Chen, Julie A. Maupin-Furlow
Summary: A newly identified dynamic type of nuclease complex has been found in the archaeon Haloferax volcanii, which lacks the canonical RNA exosome. The complex, composed of RecJ3, RecJ4, and aRNase J, primarily functions as a 3'-5' exonuclease and was discovered through its ATP-dependent association with SAMP1 and Cdc48a. RecJ3/4 appears to modulate the nuclease activities of aRNase J. While aRNase J is essential for growth, RecJ3/4, Cdc48a, and SAMPs are important for DNA damage recovery.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Mar Martinez Pastor, Saaz Sakrikar, Sungmin Hwang, Rylee K. Hackley, Andrew L. Soborowski, Julie A. Maupin-Furlow, Amy K. Schmid
Summary: Maintaining intracellular iron homeostasis is crucial for cellular metabolic needs and reducing oxidative stress. The transcriptional regulatory networks (TRNs) involved in iron response were studied in two haloarchaea, showing variations in regulatory complexity and metal specificity among different strains, likely influenced by environmental conditions and iron availability.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2023)
Meeting Abstract
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Cuper De Jesus Ramirez, Matthew Hauserman, Shiyun Cao, Julie A. Maupin-Furlow