MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
One of the world's leading research institutes, our scientists are working to advance understanding of biological processes at the molecular level - providing the knowledge needed to solve key problems in human health.
DNA and RNA both have a highly negatively charged backbone and it was widely believed that such a charged structure is essential for their function as information storage molecules. Philipp Holliger’s group, in the LMB’s PNAC Division, in collaboration with researchers at NIH in the USA and at IRB in Barcelona, have challenged this conjecture by producing a DNA-like genetic polymer that is both uncharged and can store and transfer genetic information.
The process of reading the genetic code of DNA to produce proteins involves an intermediate molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA). Initially mRNA contains sequences that won’t form part of the new protein, termed introns, as well as protein-coding sequences known as exons. Removal of introns and joining together of exons is called splicing and is performed by the spliceosome, a large molecular machine in eukaryotes that plays an essential role in the control of gene expression.
Life is based around a complex system of information storage in DNA and conversion of that information into the RNA and proteins that perform the functions to allow our cells and us to survive. Understanding the origin of life requires identification of plausible mechanisms by which the chemical building blocks of this system might have arisen on early Earth.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with repeated blows to the head, particularly in relation to contact sports, such as American football and boxing. Understanding of the disease is limited and there is no available treatment. Definitive diagnosis currently depends on examination of the brain after death.
Cerebral organoids, also sometimes called mini-brains or brain organoids, have become an important and useful tool in understanding human brain development and disease. They have the potential to model brain functions, such as information transfer between neurons, but restrictions in their growth have so far limited this. Now, Madeline Lancaster’s group in the LMB’s Cell Biology Division, have for the first time demonstrated that cerebral organoids can direct muscle movement.
AMPA receptors are among the most commonly found receptor in the nervous system and play an important role during memory formation and learning. They are composed of four subunits with various possible combinations. Although AMPA receptors act predominantly as heteromeric complexes, structural studies to date have focused on assemblies made from four copies of the same subunit.