Author: Nati Infante

Un estudi liderat per David Reverter, investigador de l’IBB i del Departament de Bioquímica i de Biologia Molecular de la UAB, ha identificat un nou mecanisme de regulació d’un enzim que controla la vida mitjana de les proteïnes cel·lulars. L’estudi ha estat publicat a la prestigiosa revista Nature Communications. 26/11/2018 El control del temps de vida de les proteïnes cel·lulars és un mecanisme essencial per regular la seva activitat i perquè funcioni correctament el cicle cel·lular. Aquest cicle permet que les cèl·lules puguin dividir-se i així fer que els teixits creixin i es regenerin. El control de les diferents etapes del cicle cel·lular està exercit per diferents tipus de proteïnes que es van substituint a mesura que avança el cicle. Les cèl·lules han dissenyat un mecanisme

  https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02525/full  Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are important for raising innate immune responses in both invertebrates and vertebrates. Amphioxus belongs to an ancient chordate lineage which shares key features with vertebrates. The genomic research on TLR genes in Branchiostoma floridae and Branchiostoma belcheri reveals the expansion of TLRs in amphioxus. However, the repertoire of TLRs in Branchiostoma lanceolatum has not been studied and the functionality of amphioxus TLRs has not been reported. We have identified from transcriptomic data 30 new putative TLRs in B. lanceolatum and all of them are transcribed in adult amphioxus. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the repertoire of TLRs consists of both non-vertebrate and vertebrate

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1742706118306299 Abstract Nanostructured protein materials show exciting biomedical applications, since both structure and function can be genetically programmed. In particular, self-assembling histidine-rich proteins benefit from functional plasticity that allows the generation of protein-only nanoparticles for cell targeted drug delivery. However, the rational development of constructs with improved functions is limited by a poor control of the oligomerization process. By exploring cross-interactions between histidine-tagged building blocks, we have identified a critical architectonic role of divalent cations. The obtained data instruct about how histidine-rich protein materials can be assembled, disassembled and reassembled within t...

FEMS Microbiology Reviews, fuy038, https://doi.org/10.1093/femsre/fuy038 Published: 24 October 2018 Abstract Understanding the structure, functionalities and biology of functional amyloids is an issue of emerging interest. Inclusion bodies, namely protein clusters formed in recombinant bacteria during protein production processes, have emerged as unanticipated, highly tunable models for the scrutiny of the physiology and architecture of functional amyloids. Based on an amyloidal skeleton combined with varying amounts of native or native-like protein forms, bacterial inclusion bodies exhibit an unusual arrangement that confers mechanical stability, biological activity and conditional protein release, being thus exploitable as versatile biomateri...