Kinetic principles of chemical cross-link formation for protein-protein interactions.

Proteins play a central role in most biological processes within the cell, and deciphering how they interact is key to understand their function. Cross-linking coupled with mass spectrometry is an essential tool for elucidating protein-protein interactions (PPIs). Despite its importance, we still know surprisingly little about the principles that underlie the process of chemical cross-link formation itself and how it is influenced by different physicochemical factors.

AlignScape, displaying sequence similarity using self-organizing maps.

The current richness of sequence data needs efficient methodologies to display and analyze the complexity of the information in a compact and readable manner. Traditionally, phylogenetic trees and sequence similarity networks have been used to display and analyze sequences of protein families. These methods aim to shed light on key computational biology problems such as sequence classification and functional inference.

Assembly of a unique membrane complex in type VI secretion systems of Bacteroidota.

The type VI secretion system (T6SS) of Gram-negative bacteria inhibits competitor cells through contact-dependent translocation of toxic effector proteins. In Proteobacteria, the T6SS is anchored to the cell envelope through a megadalton-sized membrane complex (MC). However, the genomes of Bacteroidota with T6SSs appear to lack genes encoding homologs of canonical MC components.