An unexpected finding from Julian Sale’s group in the LMB’s PNAC Division has revealed that a specialised histone protein called H3.3 is needed for packaging UV-damaged DNA during replication. Use of this histone may act as a flag to help the cell find and repair the damage once replication has been completed, potentially reducing the […]
Insight on Research
New mechanism of antiviral immunity discovered
Research from the LMB’s PNAC Division has revealed a new mechanism that cells use to fight infection. Jerry Tam and other members of Leo James’s group have discovered that the protein complement C3, which covalently labels viruses and bacteria in the bloodstream, activates a potent immune response upon cell invasion. Molecular biologists chemically modify proteins […]
mRNA on the move – localisation can affect cell signalling and regulation
New research from Madan Babu’s group in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, in collaboration with Toby Gibson from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, has shown that the targeted movement of mRNA molecules to allow proteins to be synthesised in specific locations has important implications in cell signalling and development. Proteins have many different […]
The mother’s role in protecting the fetal genome from aldehyde damage is revealed.
Whilst a mother’s metabolism provides essential nutrients to enable embryonic development, both mother and embryo can also produce reactive metabolites that can damage DNA. Research undertaken by Nina Oberbeck in KJ Patel’s group, in the LMB’s PNAC Division, has uncovered how the embryo is protected from these genotoxins. Birth defects are common and are a […]
How cells adapt proteasome assembly under stress conditions
Research carried out by Anne Bertolotti’s group in the LMB’s Neurobiology Division has identified a novel protein, named Adc17, that acts as an inducible chaperone to help cells make more proteasome when needed. Cells and organisms constantly need to adapt to maintain protein homeostasis under adverse stress conditions in order to avoid cell death. Cells […]
Revealing the secrets of human gamma-secretase by cryo-EM
The latest advances in cryo-electron microscopy have enabled Sjors Scheres’ group, from the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, together with collaborators from Beijing in China, to solve the structure of human gamma-secretase, a membrane protein complex that has an important role in Alzheimer’s disease. Gamma-secretase is made up of four different proteins which are all embedded […]