Many of our cells can engulf solid particles and liquid droplets to ingest (swallow) them. Phagocytes ingest invading bacteria and dead cells during infections in the same way that our single-celled distant ancestors engulfed food that they needed for growth. A core group of genes is found within these ancient organisms that is also important […]
Insight on Research
hiCLIP : New method finds structures of mRNA molecules
The structures of many proteins have been extensively studied, however it has proved extremely difficult to investigate the structures of the mRNA molecules that carry the genetic information for these proteins. Jernej Ule and his group, while working in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, developed a groundbreaking new method for studying the secondary structure of […]
Common origins of RNA, proteins and lipids on earth
How did life first originate on this planet? Even the most minimal cell needs three subsystems: to convey information, to create compartments, and to catalyse metabolic reactions. But did these all arise together at the origin of life? Or did one form first? How could the molecules that create these subsystems assemble in the first […]
Dynactin complex structure revealed by electron cryo-microscopy
Dynactin is a protein complex that activates the dynein motor protein, enabling intracellular transport. It is extremely flexible and has proved very difficult to study by conventional crystallography methods. Now for the first time, research carried out by Andrew Carter and his group in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, has revealed the structure of this […]
Unfinished proteins: how to find a needle in the haystack
A research team from the LMB’s Cell Biology division, working with colleagues from the Structural Studies division, has revealed how cells are able to find and tag for degradation the partially synthesised proteins generated when ribosomes occasionally stall. Cells make more than a hundred thousand new proteins every minute. Once in a while, one of […]
Insight into bacterial cell division: Architecture of the FtsZ ring
When a bacterial cell divides, the cell membrane and cell envelope have to pinch together in the middle of the cell to separate it into two daughter cells. A ring of proteins called the divisome constricts, cleaving the cell in two. The protein FtsZ is a crucial component of this ring and many FtsZ subunits […]