It doesn’t take much to disrupt our sleep. Whilst we are aware of environmental factors that can disturb our circadian rhythms, the precise mechanisms that control molecular time cues have remained elusive. Beesley and co-workers demonstrate that diseases associated with cytoplasmic crowding affect the sleep-wake cycle. They also pinpoint a precise time-limiting step in the trafficking of the pacemaker protein PERIOD.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01445-8 | DOI Listing |
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
The crowded bacterial cytoplasm is composed of biomolecules that span several orders of magnitude in size and electrical charge. This complexity has been proposed as the source of the rich spatial organization and apparent anomalous diffusion of intracellular components, although this has not been tested directly. Here, we use biplane microscopy to track the 3D motion of self-assembled bacterial genetically encoded multimeric nanoparticles (bGEMs) with tunable size (20 to 50 nm) and charge (-3,240 to +2,700 e) in live cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFbioRxiv
January 2025
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis; Davis, CA, USA.
Understanding how cells control their biophysical properties during development remains a fundamental challenge. While cytoplasmic macromolecular crowding affects multiple cellular processes in single cells, its regulation in living animals remains poorly understood. Using genetically encoded multimeric nanoparticles for rheology, we discovered that tissues maintain distinct cytoplasmic biophysical properties that differ from those observed across diverse systems, including bacteria, yeast species, and cultured mammalian cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAngew Chem Int Ed Engl
January 2025
Edinburgh Cancer Research, Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Crewe Road South, Edinburgh, EH4 2XR, UK.
Beyond their classical role as cytotoxics, Platinum (Pt) coordination complexes recently joined the selected group of transition metals capable of performing bioorthogonal reactions in living environments. To minimize their reactivity towards nucleophiles, which limit their catalytic performance, we investigated the use of Pt(0) with different forms, sizes and surface functionalization. We report herein the development of PEGylated Pt nanodendrites with the capacity to activate prodyes and prodrugs in cell culture and in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Biol
January 2025
Department of Developmental Biology and Cancer Research, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Medicine, Ein-Kerem Campus, Jerusalem 9112102, Israel; Institute for Medical Research, Israel-Canada (IMRIC), Ein-Kerem Campus, Jerusalem 9112102, Israel. Electronic address:
Vertebrate oocyte polarity has been observed for two centuries and is essential for embryonic axis formation and germline specification, yet its underlying mechanisms remain unknown. In oocyte polarization, critical RNA-protein (RNP) granules delivered to the oocyte's vegetal pole are stored by the Balbiani body (Bb), a membraneless organelle conserved across species from insects to humans. However, the mechanisms of Bb formation are still unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Struct Funct
January 2025
Department of Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Tokushima University.
The motility of biological molecular motors has typically been analyzed by in vitro reconstitution systems using motors isolated and purified from organs or expressed in cultured cells. The behavior of biomolecular motors within cells has frequently been reported to be inconsistent with that observed in reconstituted systems in vitro. Although this discrepancy has been attributed to differences in ionic strength and intracellular crowding, understanding how such parameters affect the motility of motors remains challenging.
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