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Development of inhibitory RNA aptamers using ultrahigh-throughput screening to fight antibiotic resistance. – DIRA
The increase of antibiotic resistance is becoming a serious health threat worldwide, but the number of newly released antibiotics remains low. One way to address this problem is to target resistance proteins to restore the efficacy of antibiotics. ß-lactams are the most successful class of antibioti
The pleiotropic cellular function of phosphatidic acid in the secretory pathway deciphered by a novel PA-toolbox – PA-Box
Despite increasing evidence that lipids play key cellular functions and are involved in an increasing number of human diseases, little information is available on their exact function. This is especially the case for phosphatidic acid (PA) that has been shown to be involved in many normal and pathol
Ionome and metabolic remodeling in the persistence and wake up of quiescent Salmonella – PERIOMET
The entry into a non-actively growing/quiescent state is a common strategy used by bacteria to survive under stressful conditions, including antibiotic treatment. Understanding quiescence is thus an important fundamental question, with relevance in the medical and environmental fields. However, our
Deciphering the mechanisms involved in the hyperaccumulation of alkaline earth metals by cyanobacteria – HARLEY
Cyanobacteria are environmentally important photosynthetic organisms that use solar energy to fix atmospheric CO2 thereby making up a huge biomass that sustains a large part of the food chain of our planet. As recently discovered, some cyanobacteria form intracellular amorphous calcium carbonates (i
Role of molecular CHAPerones During COPper Stress in bacteria – ChapCop
Prokaryotes have evolved sophisticated strategies to regulate intra-cellular copper concentration since it is essential for cell survival to import copper and incorporate it at the active site of key enzymes, but a higher intra-cellular concentration is toxic. These copper-concentration regulation m
Overcoming the limitations of existing ion channel high-throughput screening and analysis methods by using Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer – CANALBRET
Ion channels are pore-forming membrane proteins that allow ions to pass through the channel pore. Widely regarded as attractive drug targets for many therapeutic applications, ion channels represent the third largest class of targets in drug discovery after G-protein coupled receptors and kinases, a
Dissecting ER redox metabolism in ER physiology – ERRed2
During endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, a complex interplay opposes the ER thiol oxidation and reduction pathways, with concurrent cellular production of H2O2, which together with UPR (Unfolded Protein Response) signaling, dictate the ability of the cell to adapt to ER stress or to undergo cell de
Deciphering retinol metabolic and signaling pathways using bioorthogonal chemistry-based strategies – ROLinMAP
Vitamin A (retinol) is a micronutrient critical for normal development and physiology in vertebrates. Both vitamin A deficiency or excessive exposure to retinoids (i.e., natural and synthetic analogues of retinol and its metabolites) are threats to human health and are either causal factors or contr
Screen for efflux Pump Inhibitors and Chemical Engineering to upraise antibiotic efficiency – SpiceUp
The need to overcome antibiotic resistance in common Gram-negative pathogens remains unmet and represents a challenging aspect of the research in the field of antimicrobials. Among the various resistance mechansims developped by bacteria, efflux pumps are on the front line. They consist of membrane
O2-independent hydroxylation and the anaerobic biosynthesis of ubiquinone – O2-taboo
Isoprenoid quinones are central for cellular physiology since they act as electrons and protons shuttles in energy-generating respiratory chains and in various processes like haem and uracil biosynthesis or disulfide bond formation. Escherichia coli and many proteobacteria possess two types of isopr
Circuits of modifications in tRNAs: networks enabling dynamic regulation of modifications – CiMoDyMo
Maturation of RNAs involves post-transcriptional chemical modifications of its nucleotides. Among the different RNA families, transfer RNAs (tRNAs) display not only the highest variety of chemical modifications, but also the highest density of modification per transcript. While a simple model would
Exploring Probes & Inhibitors Designed to Engage hsTY: a Route to Melanogenesis In vivo Suppression – EPIDERMIS
Human tyrosinase (hsTY) is a metalloenzyme involved in the synthesis of the main skin pigments, melanins, and especially in the two key steps of this biosynthetic pathway: the successive oxidations of L-tyrosine and L-DOPA. An uncontrolled production of melanins is associated with several pathologie
Deciphering the interactions of CycloDipeptide Synthases with their aminoacyl-tRNA substrates for generating engineered enzymes – Flex-Pep
Understanding the functioning of enzymes involved in natural product biosynthesis improve making informed decision regarding enzyme engineering for producing molecules with therapeutic value. Cyclodipeptide synthases (CDPSs) constitute a family of tRNA-dependent enzymes involved in the biosynthesis
New selective Inhibitors for deciphering Lipid metabolism and virulence in M. tb – LipInTB
Tuberculosis (TB) caused by the pathogenic bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb), is the deadliest infectious disease worldwide. Infection with M. tb leads to the formation of granulomas in the lung, where some of the infected macrophages accumulate lipids in lipid bodies (LB) giving the cells
Harnessing RNA helicase activity for synthetic (ribo)regulation – HELISWITCH
Synthetic biology (SynBio) aims at the rational engineering of new biological functions or systems and their purposeful applications in industry, agriculture, environmental monitoring, defense, and healthcare. Synbio is a rapidly expanding segment of the bioeconomy with a global market share already
REgulators of Membrane INteracting Domains in Toxoplasma gondii – REMIND
Apicomplexa include life-threatening intracellular parasites such as those causing malaria and toxoplasmosis. These parasites have unique secretory organelles that are essential for host infection. Our knowledge of the biochemical mechanisms underlying the biogenesis of such organelles remains quite
Immunoglobulin G characterization for diagnosis of congenital diseases – IgName
Postnatal diagnosis of congenital toxoplamosis infection, caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii is imperative to ensure optimal medical care. Thus, the early identification of specific antibodies developed by the newborn is of crucial importance. This is a challenge because of the joint presence
Regulation of Peptidoglycan Synthesis in Escherichia coli – RegOPepS
Peptidoglycan (PG) is the major constituent of the bacterial wall and the target of a large number of antibiotics, particularly the ß-lactams. These antibiotics inhibit the last cross-linking step of PG polymerization by irreversibly binding to the penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs). Until recently,
Control of interorganelle membrane contact formation – CO-CON
Eukaryotic cells are compartmentalized in distinct organelles, each of them hosting specialized functions. They are not isolated from each other but physically and transiently connected, through the formation of membrane contact sites (MCS). The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the most connected organ
Genome-wide mapping of G4-ligand binding sites at single-base resolution – NEMESES
Oligonucleotides containing runs of three or four adjacent guanines may spontaneously arrange into four-stranded DNA supramolecular structures called G-quadruplexes (G4s). These non-canonical structures are likely to form in G-rich regions throughout the genome suggesting possible functional roles i