When Three is not a Crowd: A formation of a Tri-Organelle contact mediate mitochondria morphology
Mitochondria are essential organelles regulating a myriad of cellular processes ranging from cell death to various signaling pathways. Vital to mitochondrial functions is their ability to modulate their shape via two opposing processes: fusion and fission. Fission, characterized by the division of one mitochondrion in two daughter mitochondria, is a complex process involving the participation of multiple organelles such as the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and lysosomes. In this manuscript, research […]
Co-produced synergistic metabolites from bacteria hold hope for tackling antimicrobial resistance
Bacterial specialized metabolites may more commonly be produced and act in combination than previously appreciated. In a new review for Nature Microbiology, postdoctoral fellow Kirsten Meyer and Professor Justin Nodwell discuss the biology and applications of combination metabolites with synergistic antimicrobial activity. Bacteria from diverse phyla and environments produce synergistic metabolite combinations. Despite this diversity, there are conserved genetic and biosynthetic strategies for production of the combinations. The metabolite combinations […]
An open-source platform to quantify subnuclear foci and protein colocalization in response to replication stress
Nuclear reorganization, including the localization of proteins into discrete subnuclear foci, is a hallmark of the cellular response to DNA damage and replication stress. These foci are thought to represent transient environments or repair factories, in which the lesion is sequestered with molecules and co-factors that catalyze repair. For example, nuclear foci contain signaling proteins that recruit transducer proteins. One important class of transducers is the structure-selective endonucleases, such as […]
Highlights of Dr. Nana Lee’s 2021 Course on Design Thinking for Scientists (DTS)
Dr. Nana Lee and judges congratulate all eight PhD students: Audrey Kassardjian (Immunology), Marim Barghash (Biochemistry), Krithika Muthuraman (Biochemistry), Paraskevi Massara (Nutritional Sciences), Shimon Rosenthal (Molecular Genetics), Shelley He (Biochemistry), Fernando Valencia (Cell and Systems Biology), Avinash Mukkala (Institute of Medical Sciences) for their brilliant creations for social innovations for the scientific world and their awesome pitch presentations! Honorable […]
A homogeneous split-luciferase assay for rapid and sensitive detection of anti-SARS CoV-2 antibodies
The Stagljar lab has developed an innovative and cost-effective COVID-19 serological called SATiN (for Serological Assay based on split Tripart Nanoluciferase).
SATiN is an example of an innovative, Canadian-made COVID-19 serological test with the potential to make a significant contribution to the fight against COVID-19. It has excellent sensitivity, specificity, operability and quantifiability, as well as great scientific and commercial possibilities. The assay is performed directly in the liquid phase of patient sera, making […]
Functional cooperativity between the trigger factor chaperone and the ClpXP proteolytic complex
Rizzolo K, Yu AYH, Ologbenla A, Kim SR, Zhu H, Ishimori K, Thibault G, Leung E, Zhang YW, Teng M, Haniszewski M, Miah N, Phanse S, Minic Z, Lee S, Caballero JD, Babu M, Tsai FTF, Saio T, Houry WA.
In this manuscript, Walid A. Houry’s group identified a potential co-translational degradation pathway in Gram negative bacteria. A functional association […]
Development of antibiotics that dysregulate the Neisserial ClpP protease
In this highly collaborative effort, the groups of Walid A. Houry, Emil F. Pai, Robert A. Batey, and Scott D. Gray-Owen describe the generation and characterization of novel antibiotics targeting the bacterial ClpP protease.
Evolving antimicrobial resistance has motivated the search for novel targets and alternative therapies. Caseinolytic protease (ClpP) has emerged as an enticing new target since its function is conserved and […]
New Tricks for Phages
In the latest issue of Molecular Cell, the Maxwell, Davidson and Moraes labs identify and characterize Aqs1, a multi-purpose DMS3 phage protein. Aqs1 binds and inhibits LasR, which is required for quorum sensing and the release of several anti-phage defenses in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. But that’s not all. Aqs1 also binds PilB, and thereby blocks pilus assembly. Since the bacterial pilus helps phage to infect, Aqs1 prevents further […]
Phase separation of macromolecules in health and disease
It is very hard to understand the effects of disease mutations that are prevalent in intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDRs). In a Perspective published in the December 23, 2020 issue of Cell, a collaborative Toronto team from the groups of Julie Forman-Kay, Alan Moses and Steve Scherer put forward both general and specific hypotheses for how IDR mutations lead to pathology in complex diseases, particularly in autism spectrum […]
The Evolution of Biological Complexity from Junk
What if we told you that you have a brain not because of natural selection, but in spite of it?
In the latest issue of Cell, Professor Alex Palazzo and his collaborator, Eugene Koonin from the NIH, have advanced a new theory on how biological complexity evolves. Most scientists assume that novel genes evolve as a direct consequence of natural selection, but Palazzo and Koonin present evidence […]