Newly discovered receptor influences gut development in fruit flies

Adhesion GPCRs are a group of G protein-coupled receptors associated with many bodily functions and diseases in humans. Scientists at Leipzig University have discovered a new receptor – which they have named “mayo” – and found that it influences the development of the small intestine and heart function in fruit flies, and that these phenomena may also be relevant in humans. Their findings have now been published in the journal Cell Reports.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Neu entdeckter Rezeptor beeinflusst Entwicklung des Darms bei Fruchtfliegen

Adhäsions-GPCRs sind eine Gruppe von G-Protein-gekoppelten Rezeptoren, die mit vielen Körperfunktionen und Krankheiten des Menschen in Verbindung gebracht werden. Wissenschaftler:innen der Universität Leipzig haben einen neuen Rezeptor namens Mayo entdeckt und herausgefunden, dass dieser die Entwicklung des Dünndarms sowie die Herzfunktion bei Fruchtfliegen beeinflusst und diese Phänomene auch beim Menschen relevant sein könnten. Die Ergebnisse sind in der Fachzeitschrift „Cell Reports“ veröffentlicht worden.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Transgender scientists shed light on the hurdles they face in academia

In a first-of-its-kind commentary published March 14, 2024, in the journal Cell, 24 transgender scientists and their family members openly share their experiences in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine) fields. The landmark commentary is featured in a sex- and gender-focused issue of Cell that covers a range of topics, including gender equity, the history of sex and gender research, and ways to improve the quality of research by incorporating more rigorous sex-related variables.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Protection from an unexpected source

Contrary to common belief, not all viruses are harmful to their hosts. Sometimes viruses can even protect their hosts from infection by other viruses. Scientists at the Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg and their collaborators have now demonstrated that this is the case for so-called endogenous virophages: small DNA viruses that are mostly found inserted into the genomes of single-cell eukaryotes – organisms whose cells have a membrane-bound nucleus. Moreover, the scientists show that virophages are highly specific towards giant viruses, focusing on the CroV type in the present study.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Diabetes: New technology opens up improved opportunities for research

More than seven million people in Germany suffer from diabetes. Drug research is still difficult. Scientists led by Peter Loskill from the NMI and the University of Tübingen have developed a technique that significantly improves the view on the molecular and cell biological level in the pancreas.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Automated high-throughput sorting of living cells using laser light and AI

Tests on living cell cultures are becoming increasingly important for personalized medicine, drug development and clinical research. The Aachen-based Fraunhofer Institutes for Laser Technology ILT and for Production Technology IPT have developed an AI-assisted high-throughput process that now makes it possible to automatically isolate specific cell types. Using a so-called LIFTOSCOPE, laboratories can localize, identify and analyze dozens of living cells per second in order to transfer them to microtiter plates with laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT).

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Microalgae with unusual cell biology

A globally distributed single-celled organism that occurs in harmful algal blooms has been found to exhibit an unusual organisation of photosynthesis. Researchers at the University of Oldenburg (Germany) have taken a closer look at the unusual cell biology of the species Prorocentrum cordatum from the group of dinoflagellates. The results of their study, published in the journal Plant Physiology, could help to better understand the role of the species in the environment and the increased occurrence of algal blooms at higher water temperatures.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Rising Focus on ‚Inceptor‘ as a Type 2 Diabetes Therapeutic Target

Research targeting the insulin-inhibitory receptor, called inceptor, unveils promising avenues for beta cell protection, offering hope for causal diabetes therapy. A novel study in mice with diet-induced obesity demonstrates that the knock-out of inceptor enhances glucose regulation, prompting its further exploration as a drug target for type 2 diabetes treatment. These findings, led by Helmholtz Munich in collaboration with the German Center for Diabetes Research, the Technical University of Munich, and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, drive advancements in diabetes research.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Hijacking in the immune system

HCMV reprograms cellular defence mechanisms

The human cytomegalovirus, HCMV for short, lies dormant unnoticed in the body of most people for their entire lives. In immunocompromised individuals, however, the virus can cause life-threatening infections. It infects dendritic cells, a specific type of cell in the immune system. Although the majority of them are infected, only a few of them immediately execute the virus’s genetic programme. Researchers at TWINCORE, Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, have now been able to show which signalling pathways of the innate immune system the virus is targeting in order to have itself produced by the host cells.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Biomolecular condensates – regulatory hubs for plant iron supply

Botany: Publication in the Journal of Cell Biology

Iron is a micronutrient for plants. Biologists from the Institute of Botany at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) describe in a study, which has now been published in the Journal of Cell Biology, that regulatory proteins for iron uptake behave particularly dynamically in the cell nucleus when the cells are exposed to blue light – an important signal for plant growth. They found that the initially homogeneously distributed proteins relocated together into “biomolecular condensates” in the cell nucleus shortly after this exposure.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Biomolekulare Kondensate – Schaltzentralen für die pflanzliche Eisenversorgung

Botanik: Veröffentlichung im Journal of Cell Biology

Eisen ist ein Mikronährstoff für Pflanzen. Biologinnen und Biologen vom Institut für Botanik der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf (HHU) beschreiben in einer Studie, die nun im Journal of Cell Biology erschien, dass sich regulatorische Proteine für die Eisenaufnahme im Zellkern besonders dynamisch verhalten, wenn die Zellen mit blauem Licht, einem wichtigen Signal für das Pflanzenwachstum, bestrahlt werden. Sie fanden, dass sich die zunächst homogen verteilten Proteine kurze Zeit nach der Bestrahlung eng aneinanderlegten und sich im Zellkern zu „biomolekularen Kondensaten“ vereinten.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

New mechanism for regulating cell division in the bacterial pathogen Klebsiella uncovered

Klebsiella pneumoniae is one of the most common and most dangerous bacterial pathogens impacting humans, causing infections of the gastrointestinal tract, pneumonia, wound infections and even blood poisoning. With the aim of discovering therapeutically exploitable weaknesses in Klebsiella, a research team from the Balance of the Microverse Cluster of Excellence at the University of Jena, Germany has taken a close look at the molecular biology of the bacteria and was able to uncover the importance of a small, non-coding ribonucleic acid (sRNA for short) for the gene regulation of K. pneumoniae. They report their findings in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Adaptation through symbiosis, sixty-two million years of it

Brightly coloured beetles that feed on a wide range of plants possess robust metabolic capabilities, thanks to bacteria residing in specialised organs in their digestive tract. The bacterium Stammera provides essential enzymes enabling Cassidinae beetles to digest plant cell wall components efficiently. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology in Tübingen discovered the ancient origin of this specialised relationship. They found symbiotic leaf beetles exhibit greater species diversity than their non-symbiotic relatives. These findings, exposing the timing of symbiosis dating back sixty-two million years and its pivotal role in adaptation, are published in Current Biology.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Ways to achieve a peaceful co-existence with genomic parasites

Transposable elements are mobile genetic elements that can relocate within the genome and disrupt the normal function of genes, but are at the same time a source of evolutionary diversity. The lab of Tugce Aktas at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics has identified a novel pathway that keeps the activity of transposons in somatic cells in check after they have been transcribed. Their findings have now been published in Nature. The work is a collaboration with the labs of Zachary D. Smith (Yale Stem Cell Center, USA) and Franz-Josef Müller (Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Germany)

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Wege zur friedlichen Koexistenz mit genomischen Parasiten

Transposons sind mobile genetische Elemente, die sich innerhalb des Genoms bewegen und die normale Funktion von Genen stören können, gleichzeitig aber auch eine Quelle evolutionärer Vielfalt sind. Das Labor von Tugce Aktas am Max-Planck-Institut für molekulare Genetik hat einen neuen Mechanismus identifiziert, der die Aktivität von Transposons in somatischen Zellen nach ihrer Transkription kontrolliert. Ihre Ergebnisse wurden jetzt in der Fachzeitschrift Nature veröffentlicht. Die Arbeit entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit den Labors von Zachary D. Smith (Yale Stem Cell Center, USA) und Franz-Josef Müller (Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Deutschland).

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

New strategy for safer CAR T cell therapy in lymphomas

Scientists from University Hospital Cologne have developed a procedure in the laboratory that effectively fights the affected cells in lymphoma cancer, but does not damage healthy immune cells, which is often the case with comparable therapies / publication in ‘Cell Reports Medicine’

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Neue Strategie für sicherere CAR-T-Zell-Therapie bei Lymphdrüsenkrebs entwickelt

Kölner Wissenschaftler*innen haben im Labor ein Verfahren entwickelt, das bei Lymphdrüsenkrebs die betroffenen Zellen effektiv bekämpft, gesunde Immunzellen aber nicht schädigt, was bei vergleichbaren Therapien oft der Fall ist / Veröffentlichung in „Cell Reports Medicine“

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

New insights into the cell’s labeling machine

Ubiquitin is a small protein with a big impact. From yeast fungi to humans, it serves as a molecular tag that regulates many cellular processes. Ubiquitin ligases are indispensable labeling machines in this tagging process: They attach ubiquitin to target proteins. If this tagging fails, processes in the cell can be pathologically altered. A team led by Sonja Lorenz at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences has now visualized the ubiquitin ligase HACE1 bound to an important target protein in 3D. The researchers were thus able to elucidate how HACE1 recognizes proteins and how this process is regulated.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Pharmacological Inhibitor Protects Nerve Cells in ALS Disease

A new pharmacological inhibitor can intervene in a central cell death mechanism that is responsible for the death of motor neurons and hence important for the progression of the motor neuron disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A research team led by Prof. Dr Hilmar Bading, neurobiologist at Heidelberg University, examined a neuroprotective molecule that belongs to a novel drug class. It is able to inhibit the interactions of certain proteins and has been successfully tested in a mouse model of ALS and in brain organoids of ALS patients.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Study: How do plants adapt to cold ambient temperatures and frost?

As plants are sessile organisms, they must be highly flexible in their ability to adapt to a wide range of environmental conditions in order to survive. Researchers from the Department of Plant Physiology at the RPTU Kaiserslautern are investigating plant adaptation mechanisms, particularly to abiotic stress factors such as light intensity or temperature. They have now reached a new milestone: PhD student Annalisa John has used the model plant thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) in her research work to decode which cellular mechanisms that plants use to adapt to cold temperatures and frost. The results of the study have been published in the renowned scientific journal “The Plant Cell”.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Studie: Wie passen sich Pflanzen an kalte Umgebungstemperaturen und Frost an?

Pflanzen haben in der Regel einen festen Standort. Sie müssen anpassungsfähig sein, um auch bei herausfordernden Bedingungen zu überleben. Welche Strategien sie nutzen, um auf schnell wechselnde Umweltbedingungen optimal zu reagieren, untersuchen Forschende vom Fachgebiet Pflanzenphysiologie an der RPTU. Dabei haben sie einen neuen Meilenstein erreicht: Doktorandin Annalisa John hat in ihrer Forschungsarbeit anhand der Modellpflanze Acker-Schmalwand (Arabidopsis thaliana) entschlüsselt, welche zellulären Mechanismen die Pflanze nutzt, um sich an kalte Umgebungstemperaturen und Frost anzupassen. Die Ergebnisse der Studie sind in der renommierten Fachzeitschrift „The Plant Cell“ erschienen.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

New T-FINDER Platform Provides Deep Insights Into T Cell Responses Against Novel Cancer Vaccine

Researchers at the BioMed X Institute and the Universitätsmedizin Mannheim just published the results of their collaboration around a new neoepitope vaccine in diffuse midline glioma in Science Advances.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

An infectious gibbon ape leukaemia virus is colonising a rodent’s genome in New Guinea

A research team catches a glimpes of a rare recent case of retrovirus integration. Retroviruses are viruses that multiply by incorporating their genes into the genome of a host cell. If the infected cell is a germ cell, the retrovirus can then be passed on to the next generation as an “endogenous” retrovirus (ERV) and spread as part of the host genome in that host species. In vertebrates, ERVs are ubiquitous and sometimes make up 10 per cent of the host genome. However, most retrovirus integrations are very old, already degraded and therefore inactive – their initial impact on host health has been minimised by millions of years of evolution.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Bielefelder Biotechnologen entschlüsseln Q10-Biosynthese

CeBiTec-Forschende mit Studie im Fachmagazin Molecular Cell

Das Coenzym Q10 ist für den menschlichen Stoffwechsel essenziell. Es ist mit Vitaminen verwandt – muss aber von gesunden Menschen nicht über die Nahrung aufgenommen werden, sondern wird vom Körper selbst produziert. Wie das Coenzym gebildet wird, war bisher nur für Bakterien bekannt. Für andere Zellen, zum Beispiel von Menschen oder Pflanzen, fehlte ein entscheidender Schritt. Wissenschaftlern des Centrums für Biotechnologie (CeBiTec) der Universität Bielefeld ist es gelungen, diese Lücke zu schließen.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Aktueller Themenband zu Gen- und Zelltherapien der AG Gentechnologiebericht

Die Arbeitsgruppe Gentechnologiebericht am Berlin Institute of Health in der Charité (BIH) hat eine aktuelle Übersicht zu Gen- und Zelltherapien herausgegeben. Die umfangreiche Publikation, die in Kooperation mit der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Gentherapie (DG-GT) und dem German Stem Cell Network (GSCN) entstanden ist, richtet sich an ein breites Publikum. Der Bedarf an sachkundigen Informationen über Entwicklungen der Gentechnologie ist groß. Hierbei sind Transparenz und ein verantwortungsvoller Umgang mit neuen Technologien unbedingt erforderlich.

Quelle: IDW Informationsdienst Wissenschaft