Publications by authors named "Jonas Vlasak"
Article Synopsis
- - MICAL proteins are essential for controlling actin filaments in cells, affecting important processes such as cell shape, division, and nerve growth, but their activity needs careful regulation to avoid harmful changes in cell structure.
- - Previous research hinted that MICAL proteins are kept inactive (autoinhibited) and need specific proteins (Rab proteins) to activate, but the exact details weren't clear until now.
- - The study unveils the structure of MICAL1, revealing how its activation relies on internal interactions within the protein and connections with other protein domains, highlighting a similar mechanism across different MICAL proteins.
The precise assembly of a functional nervous system relies on axon guidance cues. Beyond engaging their cognate receptors and initiating signaling cascades that modulate cytoskeletal dynamics, guidance cues also bind components of the extracellular matrix, notably proteoglycans, yet the role and mechanisms of these interactions remain poorly understood. We found that secreted semaphorins bind specifically to glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains of proteoglycans, showing a preference based on the degree of sulfation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF