Behind the Paper
The real stories behind the latest research papers, from conception to publication, the highs and the lows
A natural variant in uORF underlying phenotypic diversity
To dissect natural genetic variation in crops facilitates molecular breeding. To date, most published causal variants underlying phenotypic diversity are involved in either gene expression or protein sequence polymorphisms. Natural variation at post-transcriptional level remains elusive in plants.
Aerosol’s Fingerprint on Clouds: Increases in Cloud Cover appear to dominate the cooling effect
A new approach has been shown to successfully distinguish the fingerprint of aerosol’s climate influence in clouds from natural variability. This shows that aerosol climate cooling effect is dominated by increasing cloud cover, rather than enhancing cloud albedo as previously believed.
Intrinsic suppression of lung innate lymphoid cells by RNA-binding protein, RBM3, through CysLTR1
Cytokine production from lung innate lymphoid cells plays a critical role in inflammatory diseases; however, little is known about how RBPs regulate ILC function. In this paper, we demonstrate the cell-intrinsic effect of RBM3 in dampening the production of type 2 and 17 cytokines in lung ILCs.
Plasminogen-Apple-Nematode (PAN) domain: A new target to modulate the HGF/c-MET signaling in cancers.
Our newly published paper suggests that four cysteine residues at the core of the HGF PAN domain are essential for its binding with the proto-oncogenic receptor c-MET and the subsequent activation of the downstream signaling cascade. Debjani Pal, Kuntal De, and Wellington Muchero.
Cells shift shapes to crawl faster in gooey fluids than in watery ones
By staring at movies of cell migration for hours, we realized cells have a mechanosensor, membrane ruffles, to test viscosity and trigger adaptation
Prying into biomolecular condensates using single-droplet surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
We introduce a highly sensitive methodology that captures key vibrational signatures using surface-engineered, plasmonic, metal nanoparticles spontaneously encapsulated into protein liquid droplets allowing us to unveil the inner workings of biomolecular condensates in a droplet-by-droplet manner.
Body weight index indicates the responses of the fecal microbiota, metabolome and proteome to beef/chicken-based diet alterations in Chinese volunteers
This work highlighted the role of BMI as an important factor predicting changes in gut homeostasis in response to meat consumption. Compared with the chicken-based diet, the beef-based diet may induce more allergic and inflammation-related responses in high- and middle- BMI Chinese.
