Publications by authors named "Leon Babl"
Article Synopsis
- Liquid-liquid phase separation is a key process in live cells, influencing how structures like bacterial chromatin are organized over time and space.
- This study focuses on using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) as a method to measure partition coefficients in these systems, providing advantages over traditional microscopy techniques.
- The protocol outlined includes steps for preparing in vitro condensates, acquiring FCS data, and analyzing results, while also addressing common issues in measuring partition coefficients.
Article Synopsis
- Focal adhesions are assemblies formed around activated integrin receptors, and the study investigates how these structures maintain their flexible, liquid-like properties in the cell.
- Researchers reconstitute focal adhesion components, observing that proteins like talin and vinculin undergo liquid-liquid phase separation, particularly when interacting with specific membrane lipids.
- The findings suggest that lipid binding activates these proteins, leading to their clustering on membranes, which helps early focal adhesions stay organized yet dynamic, allowing for quick assembly and disassembly.
Article Synopsis
- * The authors propose a new method for screening ML-generated proteins using both computational models and experimental techniques, focusing on proteins that can create structured patterns within cells.
- * Their study demonstrates that a top candidate protein can effectively replace a natural gene in Escherichia coli, suggesting potential for future use of ML-designed proteins in synthetic biology.
Membraneless organelles, or biomolecular condensates, enable cells to compartmentalize material and processes into unique biochemical environments. While specific, attractive molecular interactions are known to stabilize biomolecular condensates, repulsive interactions, and the balance between these opposing forces, are largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate that repulsive and attractive electrostatic interactions regulate condensate stability, internal mobility, interfaces, and selective partitioning of molecules both in vitro and in cells.
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- Molecular machines like ATPases and motor proteins use the energy from chemical reactions to change shape and perform motion, primarily by hydrolyzing nucleotide triphosphates.
- The aim of nanotechnology is to create nanomachines that can replicate similar functions, speed, and precision as biological molecular machines.
- By merging DNA nanotechnology for precision with fast chemical reaction cycles from systems chemistry, researchers are developing DNA devices that can control their conformational states and perform specific functions.
Article Synopsis
- Liquid-liquid phase separation is crucial for organizing cell interiors, but the relationship between protein condensates and lipid membranes is not well understood.
- This study focuses on the bacterial nucleoid occlusion protein Noc, revealing that its phase separation is regulated by binding to CTP, a nucleoside triphosphate.
- The research proposes a model where Noc's ability to form condensates on membranes plays a role in recruiting other proteins like FtsZ, indicating a complex interplay between protein condensation and membrane dynamics.
The ParABS system is supposed to be responsible for plasmid partitioning and chromosome segregation in bacteria. ParABS ensures a high degree of fidelity in inheritance by dividing the genetic material equally between daughter cells during cell division. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the assembly of the partition complex, representing the core of the ParABS system, are still far from being understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSelf-organized protein patterns are of tremendous importance for biological decision-making processes. Protein patterns have been shown to identify the site of future cell division, establish cell polarity, and organize faithful DNA segregation. Intriguingly, several key concepts of pattern formation and regulation apply to a variety of different protein systems.
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- The study focused on developing an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to accurately detect antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, which is crucial for monitoring the pandemic and informing public health strategies.
- The ELISA utilized specific components of the virus (receptor-binding domain and spike ectodomain) and showed high specificity (99.3%) and sensitivity for different antibody types (IgM, IgA, IgG) in patient serum samples.
- The results indicated that this test can reliably assess immune response after infection and vaccination, making it valuable for understanding protective immunity in the population.