Jason Chin’s group in the LMB’s PNAC Division have, for the first time, synthesised the entire genome of a commonly used model organism, the bacterium E. coli. There has only been one previous example of synthesis of an entire genome: for the Mycoplasma bacterial genome, which consists of approximately 1 million bases. Over the last 5 […]
Insight on Research
How tighter ligand binding in drug target cell-surface receptors is achieved
Much of the communication in cells is dependent on the presence of cell-surface receptors that detect signals in the form of messenger molecules called ligands. One large family of receptors are G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). This family includes a number of important drug targets, so understanding their structure and function are important. Their name derives […]
How eating feeds into the body clock
We are regularly reminded that a balanced diet is key to staying healthy and preventing disease. What is less well known is that the time at which we eat may also be an essential to long-term health. Central to this are circadian rhythms – commonly referred to as ‘body clocks’. These are endogenous daily rhythms that […]
Uncharged DNA-like molecules can store genetic information and function like antibodies
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 […]
Snapshot of a pre-catalytic spliceosome reveals how the exon-intron junction is introduced into the active site
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 […]
Prebiotic chemistry shows how DNA building blocks might have arisen at the origin of life
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 […]