This article provides guidelines for selecting optimal calorimetric instrumentation for applications in biochemistry and biophysics. Applications include determining thermodynamics of interactions in non-covalently bonded structures, and determining function through measurements of enzyme kinetics and metabolic rates. Specific examples illustrating current capabilities and methods in biological calorimetry are provided. Commercially available calorimeters are categorized by application and by instrument characteristics (isothermal or temperature-scanning, reaction vessel volume, heat rate detection limit, fixed or removable reaction vessels, etc.). Advantages and limitations of commercially available calorimeters are listed for each application in biochemistry, biophysics, and physiology.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12013-007-0049-y | DOI Listing |
Nat Cell Biol
January 2025
Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Mitochondria are central to myriad biochemical processes, and thus even their moderate impairment could have drastic cellular consequences if not rectified. Here, to explore cellular strategies for surmounting mitochondrial stress, we conducted a series of chemical and genetic perturbations to Saccharomyces cerevisiae and analysed the cellular responses using deep multiomic mass spectrometry profiling. We discovered that mobilization of lipid droplet triacylglycerol stores was necessary for strains to mount a successful recovery response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Cell Biol
January 2025
Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.
Plasticity is needed during development and homeostasis to generate diverse cell types from stem and progenitor cells. Following differentiation, plasticity must be restricted in specialized cells to maintain tissue integrity and function. For this reason, specialized cell identity is stable under homeostatic conditions; however, cells in some tissues regain plasticity during injury-induced regeneration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Struct Mol Biol
January 2025
Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
Following transcript release during intrinsic termination, Escherichia coli RNA polymerase (RNAP) often remains associated with DNA in a post-termination complex (PTC). RNAPs in PTCs are removed from the DNA by the SWI2/SNF2 adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) RapA. Here we determined PTC structures on negatively supercoiled DNA and with RapA engaged to dislodge the PTC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Aging
January 2025
Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
The abnormal deposition of amyloid β (Aβ), produced by proteolytic cleavage events of amyloid precursor protein involving the protease γ-secretase and subsequent polymerization into amyloid plaques, plays a key role in the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here we show that ErbB3 binding protein 1 (EBP1)/proliferation-associated 2G4 (PA2G4) interacts with presenilin, a catalytic subunit of γ-secretase, inhibiting Aβ production. Mice lacking forebrain Ebp1/Pa2g4 recapitulate the representative phenotypes of late-onset sporadic AD, displaying an age-dependent increase in Aβ deposition, amyloid plaques and cognitive dysfunction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNature
January 2025
Case Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Nutrition, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA.
The oestrogen receptor (ER or ERα), a nuclear hormone receptor that drives most breast cancer, is commonly activated by phosphorylation at serine 118 within its intrinsically disordered N-terminal transactivation domain. Although this modification enables oestrogen-independent ER function, its mechanism has remained unclear despite ongoing clinical trials of kinase inhibitors targeting this region. By integration of small-angle X-ray scattering and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy with functional studies, we show that serine 118 phosphorylation triggers an unexpected expansion of the disordered domain and disrupts specific hydrophobic clustering between two aromatic-rich regions.
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