Development of the fluorescent probe CenSpark for labeling centrioles and cilia - Nature Chemical Biology CenSpark is a dual-ligand fluorescent probe binding simultaneously inner and outer microtubule sites, a configuration unique to doublet and triplet microtubules, enabling selective live imaging of cen...

Very cool probe to label doublet MTs and therefore centrioles across different species and set ups (from live imaging, STED and expansion)!😍

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I am so excited to share our new findings with you! We provide the structural evidence for a direct protein-to-DNA information pathway, showing how a bacterial enzyme 'reads' its own structure to 'write' DNA. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I am delighted to be among this years winners awards from the Biochemical Society! The Early Career Award recognises the work I did during my PhD and postdoc, and hopefully signals a bright start for my new lab within the @astbury-bsl.bsky.social at the University of Leeds 💫

MATCAP1 preferentially binds an expanded tubulin conformation to generate detyrosinated and ΔC2 α-tubulin - The EMBO Journal Microtubules are cytoskeletal filaments with critical roles in cell division, cell motility, intracellular trafficking, and cilium function. In cells, subsets of microtubules are selectively marked by...

The metallopeptidase MATCAP1 preferentially binds microtubules with an expanded tubulin conformation to generate detyrosinated and ΔC2 α-tubulin
@kjverhey1.bsky.social, Puck Ohi and collaborators
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

It’s done!! Molecular architecture of the ciliary base in mammalian multiciliated cells! A study 13 years in the making 👴, thanks to collab with @stearnslab.bsky.social + @centriolelab.bsky.social & visionary work by @computingcaitie.bsky.social, who integrated native #cryoET with #XLMS & #UExM 🧪🧶🧬🔬

Beautiful work from @computingcaitie.bsky.social and colleagues, showing the power of combining multiple approaches to studying complex in situ cell biology!

The cartwheel was first visualized ~70 years ago in the symbiont Trichonympha in the wood termite gut. We’ve discovered the cartwheel’s secret: a unique zigzag stacking of SAS-6 tetramers that facilitates the iconic 9-fold symmetry of cilia.

#cellbiology #teamtomo #SAS6 #cartwheel

Congrats to the @biochemsoc.bsky.social 2027 Award winners, including @helenfoster.bsky.social who has won an Early Career Research Award.
Helen was a PhD student in Andrew Carter’s group in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, and is now a Group Leader at the University of Leeds.
#LMBalumni

Figure showing that TEM and vEM reveal mitochondrial ultrastructure and organelle interactions.

Also in Issue 6:
- Research Highlights on kinesin-1, Capicua & endosomal fission
- Editorial on publishing costs
- JCS-David Stephens Prize
- Helene Knævelsrud interview
- Microscopy in mitochondrial research
- Review on microtubules in cardiac mechanobiology
journals.biologists.com/jcs/issue/13...

65 years after Peter Mitchell’s chemiosmotic theory, we report an association between ATP synthase and the electron transport chain. In the preprint led by @longzhou88.bsky.social, we describe a large supercomplex and show how the supramolecular organization contribute to oxidative phosphorylation 🧵

They are all gorgeous! but I have a soft spot for Isambard Kitten Brunel 😂

Beautiful new study from @dyneinassembly.bsky.social lab on cilia recycling.

Happy to share our latest work spearheaded by super talented PhD student Muyang Ren now out as a bioRxiv preprint.

'Motile ciliophagy promotes ciliary recycling under stress'

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I am excited to share our most recent work collaborating with @centriolelab.bsky.social and @stearnslab.bsky.social to look at the ciliary base of mammalian multiciliated cells w/ cryo-ET, XL/MS, and U-ExM www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Some live movies to show to show surface cilia and internalised ciliary rings

Some live movies to show to show surface cilia and internalised ciliary rings

Please re-skeet. Any/all community feedback/constructive criticisms + ways to improve our work would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks to the Winey lab and the Tetrahymena Stock Center who generously provided the strains used.

Our work poses some interesting questions about cellular homeostasis and the control of motile cilia biogenesis under stress. It would appear that in Tetrahymena – ‘if you like it (and need to re-use it) then you shoulda put a ring on it!’

Amazingly, our lung cells resorb cilia too under coronavirus attack (image from a cool study by Afzelius 1994).

Could ciliary internalisation be a stress response in addition to being a recycling mechanism? We think so.

Uni/bi-flagellates resorb + reuse the one or two cilia they have under physiological contexts and under various stresses. We show that ciliary resorption applies to multiciliated cells too.

We then found that the motile ciliary rings get packaged and processed by the autophagy machinery. We term this process as ‘motile ciliophagy’ and suggest that it allows for the re-utilization of precious ciliary building blocks to re-make lost cilia.

Over a series of elegant imaging studies, Muyang found that these ciliary rings lose their tubulin code over time likely priming them for disassembly.

But the internalised ciliary rings go deep within the cytoplasm and can be seen whizzing about.

Normally, motile cilia beat vigorously on the cell surface, just like they do on our lung cells to keep us healthy.

It started with an interesting (weird) observation (to us)! under a very unique calcium perturbation we found that
the unicellular protist Tetrahymena thermophila internalizes cilia whole into rings! We haven’t seen anything like this and at this scale before. If you have please reach out.

Happy to share our latest work spearheaded by super talented PhD student Muyang Ren now out as a bioRxiv preprint.

'Motile ciliophagy promotes ciliary recycling under stress'

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Molecular architecture of the ciliary base in mammalian multiciliated cells www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04...

Park, Liu, Sun, Roll-Mecak et al. present the crystal structure of an RPGR–TTLL5 co-complex, which reveals TTLL recognition paradigms for non-tubulin substrates and sheds light on disease mechanism for retinal dystrophies caused by TTLL5 and RPGR mutations. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#Cilia

Rising Talent Fellowship | MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Rising Talent Fellowship In 2024 the LMB launched the first round of a three-year fully funded fellowship for scientists from Black heritage backgrounds. Wh ...

#BlackInNeuro, #BlackInSTEM? Heads up that this fantastic postdoc opportunity opens for applications this month (closing date 17th May). Come and join us at @mrclmb.ac.uk!
mrclmb.ac.uk/careers-and-...

Looking to get back into research after a career break? Come and join us!