News

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213231718309789 AnitaCarijaabFranciscaPinheiroabJordiPujolsabInês C.BráscDiana FernandesLázarocCarloSantambrogiodRitaGrandoridTiago F.OuteirocefSusannaNavarroabSalvadorVentura Abstract The aggregation of α-synuclein (α-syn) into amyloid fibrils is a major pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD) and other synucleinopathies. The mechanisms underlying the structural transition of soluble and innocuous α-syn to aggregated neurotoxic forms remains largely unknown. The disordered nature of α-syn has hampered the use of structure-based protein engineering approaches to elucidate the molecular determinants of this transition. The recent 3D structure of a pathogenic α-syn fibril provides a template for this kind of studies. Th

https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/47/D1/D1080/5134333 Abstract Since the migrations that led humans to colonize Earth, our species has faced frequent adaptive challenges that have left signatures in the landscape of genetic variation and that we can identify in our today’s genomes. Here, we (i) perform an outlier approach on eight different population genetic statistics for 22 non-admixed human populations of the Phase III of the 1000 Genomes Project to detect selective sweeps at different historical ages, as well as events of recurrent positive selection in the human lineage; and (ii) create PopHumanScan, an online catalog that compiles and annotates all candidate regions under selection to facilitate their validation and thoroughly analysis. Well-known examples of human genetic

Investigadors de la UAB han trobat evidències genètiques d'adaptacions a 2.859 regions del genoma, incloses algunes conegudes com les responsables de la tolerància a la llet o de l'adaptació a l’altitud. Les dades són fruit del projecte PopHumanScan, un catàleg de regions que mostren evidències de la selecció natural en el genoma humà. Un estudi del grup de recerca Bioinformàtica de la Diversitat Genòmica (IBB-UAB), publicat a la revista Nucleic Acids Research, incrementa en un 40% el total dels senyals de selecció natural en el genoma humà detectades fins ara. Els investigadors han aconseguit sumar un total de 873 noves regions del genoma humà com a fermes candidates d'haver estat el blanc de la selecció natural en algun moment des del sorgiment de la nostra espècie fins al presen

Proteins are organic macromolecules essential in life but exploited, mainly in recombinant versions, as drugs or vaccine components, among other uses in industry or biomedicine. In oncology, individual proteins or supramolecular complexes have been tailored as small molecular weight drug carriers for passive or active tumor cell-targeted delivery, through the de novo design of appropriate drug stabilizing vehicles, or by generating constructs with different extents of mimesis of natural cell-targeted entities, such as viruses. In most of these approaches, a convenient nanoscale size is achieved through the oligomeric organization of the protein component in the drug conjugate. Among the different taken strategies, highly cytotoxic proteins such as microbial or plant toxins have been conven...

Resumen Ppz Ser/Thr protein phosphatases are found only in fungi and have been proposed as potential antifungal targets. In this work, Zhang and coworkers investigate the structure and function of the Ppz1 protein phosphatase (CnPpz1) from the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, and of two putative Ppz1 regulators (CnHal3a and CnHal3b). They found that CnPpz1 is relatively alike to Ppz1 phosphatases from other fungi, but that is not involved in virulence. CnHal3a and CnHal3b display a function in CoA biosynthesis but none of them regulate CnPpz1 and, therefore, in contrast to S. cerevisiae and C. albicans, these are not moonlighting proteins. Remarkably, CnHal3b, whose 3D structure has been solved in this work, is important for virulence in C. neoformans. These findings might pro...

El passat dimecres 16 de gener, la Prof. Agustina Garcia, juntament amb la Dra. Maria Antonia Baltrons van fer el seu comiat de l’Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina.  La Prof. García, Cap del grup de Neuroimmunologia, després d’una llarga i exitosa vida profesional dedicada a la recerca en neurociències, deixa la ciència per començar una nova etapa de la seva vida i ha volgut celebrar-ho amb els companys i amics de l’institut. Volem destacar que la Prof. Agustina García va ser sotsdirectora de l’IBB i que va posar en marxa el Servei de Cultius, sent-ne directora durant els primers anys. La Dra. Baltrons que treballava juntament amb la Prof. García seguirà la seva vida professional al Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular de la Facultat de Medicina. Des de l’IBB els desi

http://engine.scichina.com/publisher/scp/journal/SCMs/doi/10.1007/s40843-018-9391-y?slug=fulltext Abstract Cytotoxic proteins have a wide applicability in human therapies, especially in those conditions that require efficient and selective cell killing, such as cancer [1]. Chlorotoxin (CTX) is a small (4 kDa) basic peptide from the venom of the yellow scorpion Leiurus quinquestriatus [2], which blocks small-conductance chloride channels [3] thus paralyzing the scorpion prey. Being not extremely potent as a cytotoxin (for instance when compared with ribosome-inactivating proteins), it has gained interest as a targeting agent, as the peptide shows a preferential binding to glioma cells mediated by the cell surface matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and the annexin-2. The expression...

El programa NanoEduca, amb participació de la UAB, ha guanyat el Premi Nacional de Comunicació Científica 2018 atorgat pel Govern de la Generalitat i la Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca i la Innovació (FCRi) per "la seva tasca d’introduir la nanociència i la nanotecnologia entre l’alumnat i professorat de secundària i batxillerat". El Govern de la Generalitat i la Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca i la Innovació (FCRi) han atorgat el Premi Nacional de Comunicació Científica 2018 al programa NanoEduca, una iniciativa conjunta de la Universitat de Barcelona, l’Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) i el Centre de Recursos Pedagògics Específics de Suport a la Innovació i la Recerca Educativa (CESIRE), amb l’objectiu de

https://elifesciences.org/articles/35774 Abstract Glutamate receptors are divided in two unrelated families: ionotropic (iGluR), driving synaptic transmission, and metabotropic (mGluR), which modulate synaptic strength. The present classification of GluRs is based on vertebrate proteins and has remained unchanged for over two decades. Here we report an exhaustive phylogenetic study of GluRs in metazoans. Importantly, we demonstrate that GluRs have followed different evolutionary histories in separated animal lineages. Our analysis reveals that the present organization of iGluRs into six classes does not capture the full complexity of their evolution. Instead, we propose an organization into four subfamilies and ten classes, four of which have never been previously described. Furthe...

http://engine.scichina.com/publisher/scp/journal/SCMs/doi/10.1007/s40843-018-9391-y?slug=abstract Abstract The controlled oligomerization of functional proteins at the nanoscale offers the possibility to design and produce, by recombinant DNA technologies, improved materials and drugs. A recombinant version of the scorpion toxin chlorotoxin (CTX), which has attracted interest due to its ability to preferentially bind cancer cells, has been engineered to self-assemble as regular 12 nm-nanoparticles that penetrate cultured cells with the same receptor-specificity than the natural toxin. These materials, that appear as promising, biocompatible and biodegradable drug carriers for cell-targeted therapy of glioma also exhibit a mild but still significant cytotoxic activity associated to th...