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https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.biomac.0c01103   Abstract Natural selection has endorsed proteins with amazing structures and functionalities that cannot be matched by synthetic means, explaining the exponential interest in developing protein-based materials. Protein self-assembly allows fabricating complex supramolecular structures from relatively simple building blocks, a bottom-up strategy naturally employed by amyloid fibrils. However, the design of amyloid inspired materials with biological activity is inherently difficult. Here we exploit a modular procedure to generate functional amyloid nanostructures with tight control of their mesoscopic properties. The soft amyloid core of a yeast prion was fused to dihydrofolate reductase through flexible linkers of different s...

Published:August 06, 2020DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2020.06.008 Highlights The mammalian Y chromosome has been proposed to be a wimp with impending demise should it lose sex-determining function. Changes in sex-determining switches are common in non-mammalian vertebrates, so an alternative explanation is required to explain Y chromosome persistence. The Y chromosome bears executioner genes that are essential for male meiosis, but must themselves also be subjected to meiotic silencing because they are pachytene lethal. The only heritable location that executioner genes can transpose to is the X chromosome (just 5% of the genome), where they remain subject to appropriate meiotic silencing. Transposition of executioner genes away from the Y chromoso...

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibs.2020.08.003 Highlights Divalent cations are essential agents in life with myriads of molecular functions and lesser known structural roles, acting as glue-like agents. By exploiting the architectonic properties of Zn 2+ and others, novel protein materials are generated, including particles, fibers, matrices, and a diversity of ordered and amorphous clusters. These materials result from the controlled coordination of divalent cations, at physiological concentrations, with histidine-rich proteins. Among them, soluble self-assembling oligomers serve as protein-only nanomedicines or nanocarriers for intravenous administration. Amyloidal protein clusters mimic the function of endocrine secretory granules, releasing protein dr

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-020-02875-6 Abstract The resistance of microorganisms to heavy metals in polluted environments is mediated by genetically determined mechanisms. One such mechanism includes the intracellular sequestration of heavy metals in polyphosphate (polyP) inclusions. In Cr(III) contaminated mediums, Ochrobactrum anthropi DE2010 is able to bind and sequester Cr(III) in polyP inclusions. In order to further study the relationship between Cr(III) tolerance and polyP production in O. anthropi DE2010, we carried out whole genomic sequencing, analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), polyP chemical quantification, and determination of the relative abundance and morphometry of polyP inclusions. In the O. anthropi DE2010 genome, six polyP and pyrophosphate (PPi

  Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(16), 5814; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21165814 Santos, J.; Iglesias, V.; Pintado, C.; Santos-Suárez, J.; Ventura, S. DispHred: A Server to Predict pH-Dependent Order–Disorder Transitions in Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21, 5814. Abstract The natively unfolded nature of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) relies on several physicochemical principles, of which the balance between a low sequence hydrophobicity and a high net charge appears to be critical. Under this premise, it is well-known that disordered proteins populate a defined region of the charge–hydropathy (C–H) space and that a linear boundary condition is sufficient to distinguish between folded and disordered proteins, an approach widely applied for the

        Abstract Growth factors are required for cell proliferation and differentiation under physiological conditions but especially in the context of regenerative medicine. The time-prolonged administration of those factors has been explored using different sustained drug delivery systems. These platforms include natural materials such as bacterial inclusion bodies (IBs) that contain chaperones and other bacterial components that might favour protein release. Being successful from a functional point of view, IBs pose regulatory concerns to clinical applications because of the mentioned presence of bacterial cell components, including endotoxins. We have here explored the release and activity of the human fibroblast growth factor-2 (hFGF-2) from a novel synthetic material

https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EN00553C https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/EN/d0en00553c#!divAbstract FULL TEXT   Abstract The presence of small-sized plastic particles in marine and freshwater environments is a global problem but their long-term impact on ecosystems and human health is still far from being understood. Nanoplastics (<1000 nm) could pose a real and uncontrolled ecological challenge due to their smaller size and sharp ability to penetrate living organisms at any trophic level. Few studies evaluate the impact of nanoplastics in vivo on the immune system of aquatic organisms, while most of them assessed the impact on indirect markers of immune response such as regulation of gene expression, ROS production or DNA genotoxicity, among others. Moreover, th

El Ministeri de Ciència i Innovació ha publicat recentment l'informe amb els resultats provisionals de la participació espanyola en Horitzó 2020 (2014-2019). En les convocatòries adjudicades en aquest període les entitats espanyoles han aconseguit captar 4.761,6 milions d'euros per desenvolupar activitats de recerca i innovació, aconseguint un retorn de l'10,1% UE-28, consolidant Espanya com el quart país en subvencions rebudes,  darrere d'Alemanya, Regne Unit i França. 11.000 espanyoles entitats han participat fins al moment en 50.113 propostes, ascendint a 80.424 el nombre total de les seves participacions. Un total de 6.719 propostes han estat finançades, de les quals 3.328 coordinades, representant una taxa d’èxit del 13,4%. Catalunya es posiciona com la primera comunitat autònoma e

Cells 2020, 9(7), 1663; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9071663 Yilmaz, O.; Chauvigné, F.; Ferré, A.; Nilsen, F.; Fjelldal, P.G.; Cerdà, J.; Finn, R.N. Unravelling the Complex Duplication History of Deuterostome Glycerol Transporters. Cells 2020, 9, 1663. Abstract Transmembrane glycerol transport is an ancient biophysical property that evolved in selected subfamilies of water channel (aquaporin) proteins. Here, we conducted broad level genome (>550) and transcriptome (>300) analyses to unravel the duplication history of the glycerol-transporting channels (glps) in Deuterostomia. We found that tandem duplication (TD) was the major mechanism of gene expansion in echinoderms and hemichordates, which, together with whole genome duplications (WGD) in the chordate lineage, continued

L'IBB ha reprès la seva activitat per tirar endavant els projectes de recerca i donar servei als investigadors a través dels serveis científicotècnics.  Però ara, a més a més, investigadors i serveis de l'IBB han iniciat una col·laboració amb altres grups de recerca de la universitat, hospitals i centres de recerca del campus per desenvolupar una estratègia vacunal contra el SARS-CoV-2. Les activitats ja s'han iniciat i s'estan recaptant recursos a través d'una iniciativa de micromecenatge de la UAB".    Ràdio onda cero -  campanya de crowdfunding