Mastodawn

Ross Cloney Jan 13, 2023

Good morning everyone! Let's start off with this gene drive paper from Gerard Terradas and co at UCSD Biosciences on the genetic conversion of a split-drive into a full-drive

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35044-4

Genetic conversion of a split-drive into a full-drive element - Nature Communications

CRISPR-based gene-drives can carry the Cas9 and guide RNA (gRNA) components in a single-linked cassette or in separate elements inserted into different genomic loci. Here the authors genetically transform and compare full versus split drives, with the former performing less efficiently than predicted.

Nature

Ross Cloney Jan 6, 2023

Happy new year everyone! Starting the new year off with some exciting news - I'm hiring!

My team is looking for someone with experience in bioelectronics who fancies a career in editorial.

https://careers.springernature.com/job/London-Associate-or-Senior-Editor-(Bioelectronics),-Nature-Communications/887611501/

Associate or Senior Editor (Bioelectronics), Nature Communications

Ross Cloney Dec 8, 2022

Waking up and reading about putting a photosynthetic system in mice was a pleasant surprise.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05499-y

A plant-derived natural photosynthetic system for improving cell anabolism - Nature

Proof of concept of the viability of a plant-derived photosynthetic system based on nanothylakoid units encapsulated in a chondrocyte membrane to enhance cell anabolism in chondrocytes is demonstrated.

Nature

Ross Cloney Dec 2, 2022

And to wrap up today, from William Bradshaw, Kevin Esvelt, Ethan Alley and co, the analysis of the Genetic Engineering Attribution Challenge - a public data-science competition to advance attribution techniques.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35032-8

Analysis of the first genetic engineering attribution challenge - Nature Communications

Identifying the designers of engineered biological sequences would help promote biotechnological innovation while holding designers accountable. Here the authors present the winners of a 2020 data-science competition which improved on previous attempts to attribute plasmid sequences.

Nature

Ross Cloney Dec 2, 2022

From the Fussenegger lab, synthetic receptors that reside in the cytoplasm, ER, and plasma membrane for orthogonal signalling in mammalian cells

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35161-0

Engineering receptors in the secretory pathway for orthogonal signalling control - Nature Communications

Artificial receptors targeted to the secretory pathway often fail to exhibit the expected activity due to post-translational modifications and/or improper folding. Here, the authors engineer diverse synthetic receptors that reside in the cytoplasm, inside the endoplasmic reticulum, or on the plasma membrane through orientation adjustment of the receptor parts and by elimination of dysfunctional PTMs sites.

Nature

Ross Cloney Dec 2, 2022

The Rinehart lab uses genetically encoded phosphothreonine to access and assess the human phosphoproteome

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34980-5

Enhanced access to the human phosphoproteome with genetically encoded phosphothreonine - Nature Communications

Protein phosphorylation is a ubiquitous post-translational modification used to regulate cellular processes and proteome architecture by modulating protein-protein interactions. Here the authors optimize genetically encoded phosphothreonine to study the regulation of CHK2 kinase using large-scale DNA arrays that enable phosphoproteome expression techniques to identify sitespecific overlap between CHK2 substrates and 14-3-3 interactions.

Nature

Ross Cloney Dec 2, 2022

DeepPROTAC uses a deep learning approach to design potent PROTAC molecules

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34807-3

DeepPROTACs is a deep learning-based targeted degradation predictor for PROTACs - Nature Communications

The rational design of PROTACs is difficult due to their obscure structure-activity relationship. Here the authors present a deep neural network model - DeepPROTACs - for predicting the degradation capacity of a proposed PROTAC molecule.

Nature

Ross Cloney Dec 2, 2022

The labs of Omar Akbari and Luke Alphey use a CRISPR gene drive to reveal mechanisms of inheritance bias

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34739-y

A CRISPR endonuclease gene drive reveals distinct mechanisms of inheritance bias - Nature Communications

CRISPR/Cas gene drives can bias transgene inheritance through different mechanisms. Here the authors use gene linkage to show that in males inheritance bias of wGDe did not occur by homing, rather through increased propagation of the donor drive element.

Nature

Ross Cloney Dec 2, 2022

Good morning everyone! A whole bundle of papers for you bright and early today so let's get started.

Ross Cloney Dec 1, 2022

The combined powers of fermentation and refrigeration meant that the kimchi I found in the back of my fridge - from a batch I made in May - was perfectly fine to eat.

Well, fine by my standards. I'm not sure anyone else would have gone near it.