Living in a bubble
In our cells, proteins assemble into amazingly dynamic macromolecular machines whose function and regulation underlie life’s essential processes. A perfect example is gene expression, in which cells depend on versatile biomolecular machines to harness the information in DNA.
Understanding the inner workings of these intricate assemblies is among the great challenges in the biomedical sciences. Knowledge was, until recently, severely limited by their sizes and complexity.
Therefore, our field has been greatly excited by the incredible advances in cryo-electron microscopy and its “resolution revolution,” which we will feature in our symposia at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology annual meeting, Discover BMB, in Seattle in March.
A contrast to the highly structured protein complexes lies in the often underappreciated structurally disordered protein regions, which also will be in in the limelight during our symposia. Recent studies have shown that, far from being useless, these disordered regions can cause liquid–liquid phase separation — an omnipresent phenomenon in eukaryotic cells underpinning the formation of membraneless organelles.
Localization of protein machines within membraneless organelles allows them to work more efficiently or achieve necessary regulatory interactions. Conversely, condensate disruption compromises the function of the protein machines within, leading to human diseases.
Keywords: Protein complexes, gene expression, genome maintenance, intrinsically disordered regions, lipid–lipid phase separation, computational biology, cancer, neurodegeneration.
Who should attend: Anyone who works with proteins with ordered or disordered regions. (Well, isn’t that everybody?)
Theme song: “With a Little Help from My Friends” by the Beatles. (The protein machines work so efficiently with the help of the condensates formed by disordered regions of the proteins.)
This session is powered by structured proteins (yang) and droplets (yin).
Speakers
Protein machines at the intersection of genome maintenance and gene regulation
Jessie Zhang (chair), University of Texas at Austin
Ivaylo Ivanov, Georgia State University
Huilin Li, Van Andel Institute
Tanya Paull, University of Texas at Austin
Yuan He, Northwestern University
Methodology investigating disordered proteins and condensates
Ivaylo Ivanov (chair), Georgia State University
Jeetain Mittal, Texas A&M University
Jessie Zhang, University of Texas at Austin
Xavier Darzacq, University of California, Berkeley
Simon Alterti, Technische Universität Dresden
Disordered protein in diseases
James Shorter, University of Pennsylvania
Hao Jiang, University of Virginia
Pinglong Xu, Zhejiang University
Rebecca Page (chair), University of Connecticut
The complete list
Learn about all 11 symposia planned for Discover BMB 2023:- Protein Machines and Disorder
- Regulation of RNA
- Organelles, Mechanisms and Phase Properties of Cellular Quality Control
- Lipid Dynamics and Signals in Membrane and Protein Structure
- Frontiers in Carbohydrate Synthesis and Recognition
- Bias In, Bias Out in Data Science
- Cell Signaling — New Tools and Emerging Concepts
- Education and Professional Development
- Biochemistry of Elemental Cycling
- Advances in Organismal and Cellular Metabolism
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Structural Biology, Drug Design and Systems Biology
Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?
Become a member to receive the print edition monthly and the digital edition weekly.
Learn moreGet the latest from ASBMB Today
Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.
Latest in Science
Science highlights or most popular articles
There’s more than one way to be good
Researchers find a new role for HDL cholesterol in the immune system.
ASBMB names 2024 JBC/Tabor Award winners
The five awardees are first authors of standout papers published in 2023 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Breaking down fat byproducts could lead to healthier aging
Researchers have identified a key enzyme, ADH-1, that decreases glycerol levels in mice and people.
Guengerich proposes a paradigm shift in enzyme biochemistry
His lab probed the mechanism used by a P450 enzyme to catalyze a critical, three-step reaction in sterol biosynthesis: the metabolism of lanosterol.
From the journals: JBC
Cap-snatching viruses. Membrane makeup facilitates fusion. A disordered region promotes scaffold activity. Read about recent papers on these topics.
Proteomics study isolates drug targets
Researchers screen thousands of compounds in myeloid-derived suppressor cells, which suppress immune activities and promote a variety of diseases.