Structural insights into the coupling between VCP, an essential unfoldase, and a deubiquitinase.

Proteostasis involves degradation and recycling of proteins from organelles, membranes, and multiprotein complexes. These processes can depend on protein extraction and unfolding by the essential mechanoenzyme valosin-containing protein (VCP) and on ubiquitin chain remodeling by ubiquitin-specific proteases known as deubiquitinases (DUBs). How the activities of VCP and DUBs are coordinated is poorly understood.

Elastic Characterization of Acrylate-Based Liquid Crystal Elastomers.

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are innovative materials best known for their reversible shape and optical property changes in response to external stimuli such as heat, light, and mechanical forces. These unique features position them as promising candidates for applications in emerging technologies. The determination of the mechanical properties of these materials is important for the study of the interaction between orientational and mechanical deformations of LCEs.

Epidermal ZBP1 stabilizes mitochondrial Z-DNA to drive UV-induced IFN signaling in autoimmune photosensitivity.

Photosensitivity is observed in numerous autoimmune diseases and drives poor quality of life and disease flares. Elevated epidermal type I interferon (IFN) production primes for photosensitivity and enhanced inflammation, but the substrates that sustain and amplify this cycle remain undefined. We show that IFN-induced Z-DNA binding protein 1 (ZBP1) stabilizes ultraviolet (UV) B-induced cytosolic Z-DNA derived from oxidized mitochondrial DNA.

The generation game: Toward the generational genetic stability of continuous culture.

Fed-batch bioprocesses are typically deployed to convert renewable feedstocks to bio-based products using metabolically engineered microorganisms. However, for low-value chemicals, fed-batch cultures provide insufficient volumetric productivity to yield commercially viable products. The greater overall volumetric productivity of continuous culture holds techno-economic promise, but the genetic instability of engineered strains has prevented commercial deployment.

In vitro characterization of the yeast DEAH/RHA RNA helicase Dhr1.

In eukaryotic ribosome biogenesis, the small subunit (SSU) Processome is a meta-stable intermediate in the assembly of the small (40S) subunit. In the SSU Processome, the ribosomal RNA domains are splayed open by the intervention of assembly factors as well as U3 snoRNA. A critical step during the transition from the SSU Processome to the nearly mature pre-40S particle is the removal of the U3 snoRNA to allow the formation of the central pseudoknot (CPK), a universally conserved structure which connects all domains of the subunit and contributes to its dynamic nature during translation.