News
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EU invests 10 million euro in unlocking technologies for key research in structural biology
To enable researchers from European institutes to extend innovative structural biology research, the EU has invested 10 million euro to iNEXT-Discovery, through its Horizon 2020 program.
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EMBL has become a member of Instruct-ERIC
European Molecular Laboratory (EMBL) is a pioneering research institution and Europe's flagship laboratory for the life science. Funded by public research funds from its member countries, the EMBL is involved in molecular biology resarch, training and services.
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Newsletter of Large Research Infrastructure of the Czech Republic agenda
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports has published a newsletter on the agenda of large research infrastructures where you can find the most important news of the last three months in this area.
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UP CIISB Kick-Off Meeting, Monday, December 2, 2019
UP CIISB Kick-Off Meeting will gather the CIISB Core Facility Heads, Executive Committee members, and administration staff of CEITEC and BIOCEV to discuss the starting OP VVV investment project UP CIISB.
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Petr Sedmera Prize 2020 - Call for Nominations Announced
The Petr Sedmera Prize is awarded for best published work in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance and is dedicated to the memory of a leading expert who has been instrumental in the development of NMR in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic.
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What’s ahead of us - A growing number of research agencies is assigning money randomly
Using lottery as a fairer and more open system in awarding grants? Read an interesting Nature’s article about a new trend.
Highlights of Coronavirus Structural Studies
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Structural basis for the recognition of SARS-CoV-2 by full-length human ACE2
Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the cellular receptor for severe acute respiratory syndrome– coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that is causing the serious coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic. The Science article by Qiang Zhou et. al. presents cryo–electron microscopy structures of full-length human ACE2 in the presence of the neutral amino acid transporter B0AT1 with or without the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the surface spike glycoprotein (S protein) of SARS-CoV-2, both at an overall resolution of 2.9 angstroms, with a local resolution of 3.5 angstroms at the ACE2-RBD interface. The ACE2-B0AT1 complex is assembled as a dimer of heterodimers, with the collectrin-like domain of ACE2 mediating homodimerization. The RBD is recognized by the extracellular peptidase domain
of ACE2 mainly through polar residues. These findings provide important insights into the molecular basis for coronavirus recognition and infection. -
Crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 main protease provides a basis for design of improved a-ketoamide inhibitors Crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 main protease provides a basis for design of improved a-ketoamide inhibitors
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome– coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global health emergency. An attractive drug target among coronaviruses is the main protease (Mpro, also called 3CLpro) because of its essential role in processing the polyproteins that are translated from the viral RNA. Rolf Hingenfeld et. al. report in Science the x-ray structures of the unliganded SARS-CoV-2 Mpro and its complex with an a-ketoamide inhibitor. This was derived from a previously designed inhibitor but with the P3-P2 amide bond incorporated into a pyridone ring to enhance the half-life of the compound in plasma. On the basis of the unliganded structure, they developed the lead compound into a potent inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. The pharmacokinetic characterization of the optimized inhibitor reveals a pronounced lung tropism and suitability for administration by the inhalative route.
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Structure, Function, and Antigenicity of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in >90,000 infections and >3,000 deaths. Coronavirus spike (S) glycoproteins promote entry into cells and are the main target of antibodies. We show that SARS-CoV-2 S uses ACE2 to enter cells and that the receptor-binding domains of SARS-CoV-2 S and SARS-CoV S bind with similar affinities to human ACE2, correlating with the efficient spread of SARS-CoV-2 among humans. We found that the SARS-CoV-2 S glycoprotein harbors a furin cleavage site at the boundary between the S1/S2 subunits, which is processed during biogenesis and sets this virus apart from SARS-CoV and SARS-related CoVs. In the study published in Cell, David Veesler with coworkers determined cryo-EM structures of the SARS-CoV-2 S ectodomain trimer, providing a blueprint for the design of vaccines and inhibitors of viral entry. Finally, they demonstrate that SARS-CoV S murine polyclonal antibodies potently inhibited SARS-CoV-2 S mediated entry into cells, indicating that cross-neutralizing antibodies targeting conserved S epitopes can be elicited upon vaccination.
Newsletters
Reader's Corner Archive
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Essay on Biomembrane Structure
Christoph Gerle provides historical outline of how we arrived at our current understanding of biomembranes and the models we use to describe them in Essay on Biomembrane Structure. A selection of direct experimental findings on the nano-scale structure of biomembranes is taken up to discuss their physical nature, and special emphasis is put on the surprising insights that arise from atomic scale descriptions.
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Role of integrative structural biology in understanding transcriptional initiation
Role of integrative structural biology in understanding transcriptional initiation is discussed by Philip Robinson et. al. in a review, which presents a general background to integrative structural biology, describes of how it should be practically implemented, and shows how it has furthered our understanding of the biology of large transcriptional assemblies.
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Frontiers in Cryo Electron Microscopy of Complex Macromolecular Assemblies
In this publication Sriram Subramaniam et. al. report on structural studies of G protein–coupled receptors, spliceosomes, and fibrillar specimens and illustrate the progress made by advanced cryo-EM methods.
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The evolution of solution state NMR pulse sequences through the ‘eyes’ of triple-resonance spectroscopy
Lewis Kay in The evolution of solution state NMR pulse sequences through the ‘eyes’ of triple-resonance spectroscopy highlights how pulse sequence ‘engineering’ has evolved during past decades with the focus on liquid state NMR applications.
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Principles for Integrative Structural Biology Studies
Guru of integrative structural biology computation Andrej Sali and Michale P. Rout summarize in the recent Cell Primer Principles for Integrative Structural Biology Studies.
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Visualization of biological macromolecules at near-atomic resolution: cryo-electron microscopy comes of age
The topical review by Alok K. Mitra recapitulates developments and transformational advances of cryo-EM technology.
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The expanding toolkit for structural biology: synchrotrons, X-ray lasers and cryo-EM
Samar Hasnain et. al. describe the steadily-expanding methodologies for atomic resolution studies in The expanding toolkit for structural biology: synchrotrons, X-ray lasers and cryo-EM. Of note is the following statistics: Despite the wealth of structures in the Protein Data Bank, a closer examination reveals that 89% of the structures, i.e. 126 994, are of proteins or complexes with a molecular weight of less than 160 kDa. Furthermore, only 4% of the deposited structures have a molecular weight in excess of 300 kDa.