Vaccination of Nonhuman Primates Elicits a Broadly Neutralizing Antibody Lineage Targeting a Quaternary Epitope on the HIV-1 Env Trimer

Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Life Sciences, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Immunology, Microbiology,
Nonhuman Primates   HIV-1 Env Trimer   Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies   Quaternary Epitope   Vaccination  

1. Research Background The envelope glycoprotein (Env) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is the primary target of neutralizing antibodies, but its high variability poses challenges for vaccine development. Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) are rare in natural infections and typically require years to emerge. Although Env trimer m...

DDX24 Spatiotemporally Orchestrates VEGF and Wnt Signaling During Developmental Angiogenesis

Medicine, Life Sciences, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Immunology, Genetics,
angiogenesis   endothelial cells   spatial transcriptomics   VEGF   DDX24  

Research Background Vascular system development is a highly precise regulatory process involving two key stages: vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. Although the VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) and Wnt signaling pathways have been confirmed to regulate vascular development in the peripheral and central nervous systems (CNS), respectively, th...

VCP's Nuclear Journey: Initiated by Interacting with KPNB1 to Repair DNA Damage

Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Medicine, Oncology, Life Sciences, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Immunology, Genetics,
DNA damage repair   VCP   KPNB1   nuclear translocation   Withaferin A  

Academic Background DNA damage repair (DDR) is a core mechanism for maintaining genome stability, and its dysfunction is closely associated with cancer development. Valosin-containing protein (VCP/p97), a member of the AAA+ ATPase family, plays a critical role in DDR by recognizing ubiquitinated proteins and recruiting repair factors (e.g., 53BP1, ...

Coupling Between Electrons' Spin and Proton Transfer in Chiral Biological Crystals

Physics, Quantum Physics, Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Life Sciences, Biochemistry, Biophysics,
proton transfer   electron spin   chiral-induced spin selectivity   lysozyme crystals   proton-coupled electron transfer  

Academic Background Proton transfer plays a central role in biological energy conversion (e.g., ATP synthesis) and signal transduction. Traditional theory posits that protons move via a “hopping mechanism” through water chains or amino acid side chains, while the recently proposed “proton-coupled electron transfer” (PCET) hypothesis suggests that e...

Molecular Insights into De Novo Small-Molecule Recognition by an Intron RNA Structure

Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Life Sciences, Biochemistry, Biophysics,
RNA targeting   small-molecule recognition   cryoEM   splicing inhibitor   RNA-ligand interactions  

Academic Background RNA, as a carrier of genetic information and functional molecule, has long been considered an “undruggable” target. In recent years, with advances in RNA structural biology, scientists have begun exploring the development of small-molecule drugs targeting RNA. However, this field faces three core challenges: (1) lack of systemat...

Structural Insights into the Ubiquitin-Independent Midnolin-Proteasome Pathway

Medicine, Oncology, Life Sciences, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Immunology, Biophysics,
proteasome   ubiquitin-independent degradation   Midnolin   cryo-EM   B-cell malignancies  

Academic Background Protein homeostasis (proteostasis) is a core mechanism for maintaining normal cellular function, with the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) responsible for degrading approximately 80% of abnormal proteins. Traditionally, proteins were thought to require ubiquitination for recognition and degradation by the 26S proteasome. Howeve...