The structure of the actin-like protein ParM in different states has been revealed by Tanmay Bharat and Jan Löwe in collaboration with Garib Murshudov from the LMB and Carsten Sachse from the EMBL. Using electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) they determined the structure of ParM to almost atomic resolution and revealed how this protein carries out the […]
Insight on Research
New strategy for treating tuberculosis – inhibition of the DNA replication proofreader
In their latest research on the DNA replication machinery from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Ulla Lang in Meindert Lamers’ group in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division and collaborators at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, have revealed the existence of a novel exonuclease that proofreads new DNA as it is synthesised. This newly discovered proofreader […]
Discovering the origins of biological timekeeping
The existence of an endogenous daily clock in humans is well known: it is what drives the 24-hour sleep/wake rhythm to match the daily cycle of night and day. That this biological circadian rhythm occurs in individual cells, and that they continue to ‘tick’ in a petri dish is now well-accepted scientifically, but the mechanism […]
First step in preventing neurodegenerative diseases
The deposition of misfolded proteins is a defining feature of many age-dependent human diseases, including the increasingly prevalent neurodegenerative diseases. Why this happens is unclear. Cells normally strive to ensure that proteins are correctly folded by using powerful and sophisticated mechanisms to maintain protein homeostasis under adverse conditions. However, with age, the cellular defence systems […]
Neurofibromin controls food uptake by hungry amoebae
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 […]
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 […]