Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Elife 2021 Apr 13;10. Epub 2021 Apr 13.

Bionanoscience Department, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands.

Septins are conserved cytoskeletal proteins that regulate cell cortex mechanics. The mechanisms of their interactions with the plasma membrane remain poorly understood. Here we show by cell-free reconstitution that binding to flat lipid membranes requires electrostatic interactions of septins with anionic lipids and promotes the ordered self-assembly of fly septins into filamentous meshworks. Read More

J Biol Chem 2021 Apr 9:100653. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Laboratory of Transcription, Center for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Inner Ring Road, Uppal, Hyderabad-39, India. Electronic address:

The transcription terminator Rho regulates many physiological processes in bacteria, such as antibiotic sensitivity, DNA repair, RNA-remodeling, etc, and hence, is a potential antimicrobial target, which is unexplored. The bacteriophage P4 capsid protein, Psu, moonlights as a natural Rho antagonist. Here, we report the design of novel peptides based on the C-terminal region of Psu using phenotypic screening methods. Read More

J Biol Chem 2021 Apr 8:100649. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

Departments of Pathology and Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Electronic address:

Cyclase-associated protein (CAP) is a conserved actin-binding protein that regulates multiple aspects of actin dynamics, including polymerization, depolymerization, filament severing, and nucleotide exchange. CAP has been isolated from different cells and tissues in an equimolar complex with actin, and previous studies have shown that a CAP-actin complex contains six molecules each of CAP and actin. Intriguingly, here, we successfully isolated a complex of Xenopus cyclase-associated protein 1 (XCAP1) with actin from oocyte extracts which contained only four molecules each of XCAP1 and actin. Read More

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021 Mar;118(11)

School and Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Kanagawa 226-8503, Japan;

The Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1 complex (MRN) is important for repairing DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) by homologous recombination (HR). The endonuclease activity of MRN is critical for resecting 5'-ended DNA strands at DSB ends, producing 3'-ended single-strand DNA, a prerequisite for HR. This endonuclease activity is stimulated by Ctp1, the homolog of human CtIP. Read More

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021 Mar;118(11)

Department of Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065;

Neurotransmitter release during synaptic transmission comprises a tightly orchestrated sequence of molecular events, and Munc13-1 is a cornerstone of the fusion machinery. A forward genetic screen for defects in neurotransmitter release in identified a mutation in the Munc13-1 ortholog UNC-13 that eliminated its unique and deeply conserved C-terminal module (referred to as HC2M) containing a Ca-insensitive C2 domain flanked by membrane-binding helices. The HC2M module could be functionally replaced in vivo by protein domains that localize to synaptic vesicles but not to the plasma membrane. Read More

Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol 2021 Apr 30;77(Pt 4):522-533. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory (LNBio), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), Campinas-SP 13083-100, Brazil.

The plant-specific class XI myosins (MyoXIs) play key roles at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels, engaging diverse adaptor proteins to transport cargoes along actin filaments. To recognize their cargoes, MyoXIs have a C-terminal globular tail domain (GTD) that is evolutionarily related to those of class V myosins (MyoVs) from animals and fungi. Despite recent advances in understanding the functional roles played by MyoXI in plants, the structure of its GTD, and therefore the molecular determinants for cargo selectivity and recognition, remain elusive. Read More

Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol 2021 Apr 30;77(Pt 4):510-521. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

National Institute of Immunology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110 067, India.

Biotin protein ligase catalyses the post-translational modification of biotin carboxyl carrier protein (BCCP) domains, a modification that is crucial for the function of several carboxylases. It is a two-step process that results in the covalent attachment of biotin to the ϵ-amino group of a conserved lysine of the BCCP domain of a carboxylase in an ATP-dependent manner. In Leishmania, three mitochondrial enzymes, acetyl-CoA carboxylase, methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase and propionyl-CoA carboxylase, depend on biotinylation for activity. Read More

Dev Comp Immunol 2021 Apr 2:104092. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Liaoning Key Laboratory of Marine Animal Immunology, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China; Laboratory of Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Process, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266235, China; Liaoning Key Laboratory of Marine Animal Immunology and Disease Control, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China; Dalian Key Laboratory of Aquatic Animal Disease Prevention and Control, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China. Electronic address:

DNA methyltransferase, a key enzyme mediating DNA methylation, is involved in numerous processes including genomic imprinting, X chromosome inactivation, transposable element suppression, and immune defense in vertebrates. In the present study, a DNA cytosine-5-methyltransferase 3 was identified from oyster Crassostrea gigas (designed as CgDNMT3). There were a PWWP domain, a PHD domain and a DNA-methylase domain in the deduced amino acid sequences of CgDNMT3, and the conserved motifs I, IV, VI, Ⅷ, IX and X were identified in its C-terminal catalytic DNA-methylase domain. Read More

Dev Comp Immunol 2021 Apr 2;121:104093. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Liaoning Key Laboratory of Marine Animal Immunology & Disease Control, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China; Southern Laboratory of Ocean Science and Engineering, Guangdong, Zhuhai, 519000, China; Laboratory of Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266235, China; Liaoning Key Laboratory of Marine Animal Immunology, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China; Dalian Key Laboratory of Aquatic Animal Disease Prevention and Control, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China. Electronic address:

Beclin 1 and LC3 are important autophagy regulation proteins involved in vesicle nucleation and extension stage, respectively. In the present study, a Beclin 1 and a LC3 were identified from Yesso scallop Patinopecten yessoensis (PyBeclin 1 and PyLC3). The open reading frame (ORF) of PyBeclin 1 was of 1335 bp encoding a putative polypeptide of 444 amino acid residues with an N-terminal BCL-2 homology 3 (BH3) domain, a central coiled-coil domain (CCD), and a C-terminal evolutionarily conserved domain (ECD). Read More

J Biol Chem 2021 Jan 7;296:100228. Epub 2021 Jan 7.

Department of Physiology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Electronic address:

The conserved C-terminal end segment of troponin I (TnI) plays a critical role in regulating muscle relaxation. This function is retained in the isolated C-terminal 27 amino acid peptide (residues 184-210) of human cardiac TnI (HcTnI-C27): When added to skinned muscle fibers, HcTnI-C27 reduces the Ca-sensitivity of activated myofibrils and facilitates relaxation without decreasing the maximum force production. However, the underlying mechanism of HcTnI-C27 function is unknown. Read More

Mol Biol Rep 2021 Apr 3. Epub 2021 Apr 3.

School of Life Sciences, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, 61005, Republic of Korea.

Mammalian spermatogenesis is a highly organized process with successive mitotic, meiotic, and postmeiotic phases. This unique developmental process is characterized by the involvement of spermatogenic cell-specific genes. In this study, we identified and investigated testis expressed gene 13 (Tex13) family genes, consisting of Tex13a, Tex13b, Tex13c1, and Tex13d, in mice. Read More

Cells 2021 Mar 5;10(3). Epub 2021 Mar 5.

Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland.

The superfamily of nuclear receptors (NRs), composed of ligand-activated transcription factors, is responsible for gene expression as a reaction to physiological and environmental changes. Transcriptional machinery may require phase separation to fulfil its role. Although NRs have a similar canonical structure, their C-terminal domains (F domains) are considered the least conserved and known regions. Read More

Plant J 2021 Apr 1. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.

Nonspecific phospholipase C (NPC) is involved in plant growth, development and stress responses. To elucidate the mechanism by which NPCs mediate cellular functions, here we show that NPC4 is S-acylated at the C-terminus and the acylation determines its plasma membrane (PM) association and function. The acylation of NPC4 was detected using NPC4 isolated from Arabidopsis and reconstituted in vitro. Read More

Structure 2021 Mar 25. Epub 2021 Mar 25.

Cancer Research UK DNA Repair Enzymes Group, Genome Damage and Stability Centre, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RQ, UK. Electronic address:

CHK1 is a protein kinase that functions downstream of activated ATR to phosphorylate multiple targets as part of intra-S and G2/M DNA damage checkpoints. Its role in allowing cells to survive replicative stress has made it an important target for anti-cancer drug discovery. Activation of CHK1 by ATR depends on their mutual interaction with CLASPIN, a natively unstructured protein that interacts with CHK1 through a cluster of phosphorylation sites in its C-terminal half. Read More

Mol Biol Cell 2021 Mar 31:mbcE20100645. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

Integrative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.

The Histone Locus Body (HLB) is an evolutionarily conserved nuclear body that regulates the transcription and processing of replication-dependent (RD) histone mRNAs, which are the only eukaryotic mRNAs lacking a poly-A tail. Many nuclear bodies contain distinct domains, but how internal organization is related to nuclear body function is not fully understood. Here, we demonstrate using structured illumination microscopy that HLBs have a "core-shell" organization in which the internal core contains transcriptionally active RD histone genes. Read More

Elife 2021 Mar 31;10. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, United States.

The evolutionarily conserved TRanscript-EXport (TREX) complex plays central roles during mRNP (messenger ribonucleoprotein) maturation and export from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. In yeast, TREX is composed of the THO sub-complex (Tho2, Hpr1, Tex1, Mft1, and Thp2), the DEAD box ATPase Sub2, and Yra1. Here we present a 3. Read More

Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2021 Mar 22;553:92-98. Epub 2021 Mar 22.

State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Protein Science, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, 94 Weijin Road, Tianjin, 300071, China. Electronic address:

NF2/Merlin is an upstream regulator of hippo pathway, and it has two states: an auto-inhibited "closed" state and an active "open" form. Previous studies showed that Drosophila Merlin adopts a more closed conformation. However, the molecular mechanism of conformational regulation remains poorly understood. Read More

Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2021 Mar 20;553:51-57. Epub 2021 Mar 20.

Univ. Lille, CNRS, INSERM, UMR9020-UMR-S1277 - Canther - Cancer Heterogeneity, Plasticity and Resistance to Therapies, F-59000, Lille, France. Electronic address:

The tumor suppressor gene HIC1 (Hypermethylated in Cancer 1) encodes a transcriptional repressor involved in the DNA-damage response. A SUMOylation increase on HIC1 Lysine314 favors the direct transcriptional repression of SIRT1 and thus the P53-dependent apoptotic response to irreparable DNA double strand breaks (DSBs). HIC1 is also essential for DSBs repair but in a SUMOylation-independent manner. Read More

J Biol Chem 2021 Mar 19:100567. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, Houston, TX, USA. Electronic address:

Molecular chaperones maintain proteostasis by ensuring the proper folding of polypeptides. Loss of proteostasis has been linked to numerous neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's disease. Hsp110 is related to the canonical Hsp70 class of protein folding molecular chaperones and interacts with Hsp70 as a nucleotide exchange factor (NEF). Read More

Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2021 May 20;552:191-195. Epub 2021 Mar 20.

Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmacology, 753-8515, Yamaguchi, Japan.

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved intracellular degradation system and is regulated by various signaling pathways including the Beclin 1/Vacuolar protein sorting 34 (Vps34) complex. Protein phosphatase 6 (PP6) is an essential serine/threonine phosphatase that regulates various biological processes. Recently, we found that PP6 protein is degraded by p62-dependent selective autophagy. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 Mar 9;11(1):5462. Epub 2021 Mar 9.

Department of Bacteriology-I, National Institute of Infectious Disease, Toyama 1-23-1, Shinjuku, Tokyo, 162-8640, Japan.

Borrelia miyamotoi, a member of the tick-borne relapsing fever spirochetes, shows a serum-resistant phenotype in vitro. This ability of B. miyamotoi may contribute to bacterial evasion of the host innate immune system. Read More

Front Cell Dev Biol 2021 4;9:622302. Epub 2021 Mar 4.

Institute of Molecular Medicine, National Tsing Hua University, HsinChu City, Taiwan.

Cilia, which either generate coordinated motion or sense environmental cues and transmit corresponding signals to the cell body, are highly conserved hair-like structures that protrude from the cell surface among diverse species. Disruption of ciliary functions leads to numerous human disorders, collectively referred to as ciliopathies. Cilia are mechanically supported by axonemes, which are composed of microtubule doublets. Read More

Phytochemistry 2021 Mar 18;186:112727. Epub 2021 Mar 18.

Laboratory for Protein Functional and Structural Biology, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, Yokohama, 230-0045, Japan. Electronic address:

The acylation of anthocyanins contributes to their structural diversity. Aromatic acylation is responsible for the blue color of anthocyanins and certain flowers. Aromatic acyltransferase from Gentiana triflora Pall. Read More

Nat Commun 2021 03 19;12(1):1746. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Girona Dr. Josep Trueta (IDIBGI), Parc Hospitalari Martí i Julià de Salt, Catalunya, Spain.

Origin licensing ensures precise once per cell cycle replication in eukaryotic cells. The Origin Recognition Complex, Cdc6 and Cdt1 load Mcm2-7 helicase (MCM) into a double hexamer, bound around duplex DNA. The complex formed by ORC-Cdc6 bound to duplex DNA (OC) recruits the MCM-Cdt1 complex into the replication origins. Read More

Cell Microbiol 2021 Mar 18:e13327. Epub 2021 Mar 18.

Institute of Biology, Department of Genetics, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany.

The Gram-negative bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria is the causal agent of bacterial spot disease on pepper and tomato plants. Pathogenicity of X. Read More

Biochem Biophys Rep 2021 Jul 5;26:100975. Epub 2021 Mar 5.

Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Norway.

The activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc) is important for synaptic plasticity and the normal function of the brain. Arc interacts with neuronal postsynaptic proteins, but the mechanistic details of its function have not been fully established. The C-terminal domain of Arc consists of tandem domains, termed the N- and C-lobe. Read More

Front Plant Sci 2021 25;12:630644. Epub 2021 Feb 25.

Chinese Education Ministry's Key Laboratory of Western Resources and Modern Biotechnology, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology Shaanxi Province, College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, China.

Arabidopsis cyclophilin38 (CYP38) is a thylakoid lumen protein critial for PSII assembly and maintenance, and its C-terminal region serves as the target binding domain. We hypothesized that four conserved residues (R290, F294, Q372, and F374) in the C-terminal domain are critical for the structure and function of CYP38. In yeast two-hybrid and protein pull-down assays, CYP38s with single-sited mutations (R290A, F294A, Q372A, or F374A) did not interact with the CP47 E-loop as the wild-type CYP38. Read More

J Virol 2021 Mar 17. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

Institute for Medical Virology and Epidemiology of Viral Diseases, University Hospital Tuebingen, University of Tuebingen, D72076 Tuebingen, Germany

The E2 protein encoded by human papillomaviruses (HPV) is a sequence-specific DNA-binding protein that recruits viral and cellular proteins. Bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) is a highly conserved interactor for E2 proteins that has been linked to E2's functions as transcription modulator, activator of viral replication and segregation factor for viral genomes. In addition to BRD4, a short form of BRD4 (BRD4S) is expressed from the gene which lacks the C-terminal domain of BRD4. Read More

IUBMB Life 2021 Mar 16. Epub 2021 Mar 16.

Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.

Despite sharing conserved substrate-binding residues, members of 3-hydroxyisobutyrate dehydrogenase (HIBADH) superfamily show remarkable differences in substrate preference. Cysteine residues were identified within a radius of 6 Å surrounding both the active site and the substrate entry site of HIBADH enzyme from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MtHIBADH). Chemical modification with thiol-modifying reagents, pCMB and DTNB, abrogated the dehydrogenase activity of the enzyme. Read More