Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Clausen Lab @clausenlab.bsky.social · 1d

congrats marco!! best of luck in the best of cities!

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Kresten Lindorff-Larsen @lindorfflarsen.bsky.social · 1d

The proteasome-substrate-shuttle protein UBQLN2 contains—like other quality control system proteins—a long region devoid of lysine (a lysine desert)

Martin Grønbæk-Thygesen (from @rhp-lab.bsky.social) et al show that introducing K here causes ubiquitylation and degradation

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Fig. 1 – UBQLN2 is a conserved lysine-depleted protein. (A) Sequence comparison of
UBQLN2 orthologs in the indicated species. Intrinsically disordered regions in human
UBQLN2 based on MobiDB are shown as a blue bar. The domain organization based on the
SMART database is marked. Lysine residues are marked as black squares. (B) ESM-2
predictions of all possible single amino acid substitutions of human UBQLN2 presented as a
heat map. The wild-type residues are marked in blue. ESM-2 scores close to zero (light
yellow colors) indicate that the amino acid substitution is compatible with the ESM-2
language model, whereas negative scores (dark orange colors) indicate that the variant is
incompatible with the ESM-2 model. The domain organization (based on SMART) is aligned
above the map. Note that substitutions to lysine or cysteine in general appear detrimental, in
particular downstream of the UBL domain. (C) The AlphaFold2 predicted structured of
human UBQLN2 (AF-Q9UHD9-F1) (left panel). The UBL domain is colored blue, and the
UBA domain is colored orange and the STI1 regions green. Zoom in on the UBL domain
(right panel) with the lysine residues highlighted as stick representations and colored based
on the relative accessible surface area (rASA, dark red exposed; grey, buried).

2 10 31

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Mark Dawson @mafdawson.bsky.social · 1d

Science has lost a GIANT and the world has lost one of the kindest most inspiring people I had the pleasure of knowing. Just an extraordinary man whose curiosity was infectious and whose dry wit will always be memorable- RIP John

www.cam.ac.uk/research/new...

Nobel Laureate Professor Sir John Gurdon dies aged 92

It is with great sadness that the University shares the news of the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon, founder of the Gurdon Institute.

www.cam.ac.uk

1 19

Reposted by Clausen Lab

The EMBO Journal @embojournal.org · 9d

Allosteric control of the bacterial ClpC/ClpP protease and its hijacking by antibacterial peptides
Axel Mogk, Marta Carroni et al
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

1 4 9

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Lorenz Lab @sonjalorenzlab.bsky.social · 14d

Allosteric activation of a ubiquitin ligase by an internal kinase domain! Congratulations to our team member Thornton Fokkens for this fascinating discovery in a neglected disease area with strong therapeutic need. Many thanks to all our great collaborators!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A Leishmania virulence factor harnesses an allosteric kinase switch to regulate its ubiquitin ligase activity

Stringent control of ubiquitylation is a central requirement of signaling specificity in eukaryotes. Here, we discover a domain module integrating pro…

www.sciencedirect.com

12 30

Reposted by Clausen Lab

André Nadler @nadlerlab.bsky.social · 23d

Spectacular work. Absolutely spectacular. Go check out the paper. It truly is #lipidtime now

Itay Budin @ibudin.bsky.social · 23d

Very excited to share new work out today in @natchembio.nature.com on a new approach - FACES - for selectively imaging of phospholipids and other biomolecules at spatial resolutions down to individual membrane leaflets (1/n) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Leaflet-specific phospholipid imaging using genetically encoded proximity sensors - Nature Chemical Biology

An approach combining bioorthogonal chemistry with genetically encoded fluorogen-activating proteins enables subcellular imaging of phospholipids and glycans, as well as the visualization of lipid tra...

www.nature.com

4 24

Clausen Lab @clausenlab.bsky.social · 26d

so well deserved

Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation @laskerfdn.bsky.social · 27d

Congratulations to Dirk Görlich and Steven L. McKnight, 2025 #LaskerAward winners! - “for discoveries that exposed the structures and functions of low-complexity domains within protein sequences” 🧪
@mpi-nat.bsky.social
#Lasker2025 #LaskerLaureate #structuralbiology #phaseseparation

5

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Antoni Wrobel @agwrobel.bsky.social · Sep 8

Dear scientific community,

I am looking for two postdoctoral structural biologists to join my group at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford.

my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

2 30 29

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Vienna BioCenter Scientific Training @vbcscitraining.bsky.social · Sep 5

The Vienna BioCenter PhD program in Molecular BioSciences will offer 20+ fully-funded positions in the Autumn Call which is now open. Please share. Further details: www.vbcphd.at

1 19 14

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Stephan Gruber @gruberlab.bsky.social · Sep 5

Our Wadjet-II paper by @roisnehamelinf.bsky.social is out in polished form: www.cell.com/structure/fu...

With a great preview by @kevincorbett.bsky.social & @amardeeep.bsky.social highlighting the potential of Wadjets:

Wadjet—Keeping a watchful eye on circular DNA.

www.cell.com/structure/fu...

1 19 48

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Dr Ino Agrafioti @inoagrafioti.bsky.social · Sep 4

WARM congratulations to: Tom DENDOOVEN, @martinpacesa.bsky.social, @mschuhmacher.bsky.social , @lfmilles.bsky.social, @preinerin.bsky.social,Markus Hopfler, @charleneboumendil.bsky.social, Gergo Gogl, @shifralansky.bsky.social, @alexanderbelyy.bsky.social,Erik Benson, @dbojar.bsky.social! 🤩 #ERCStG

European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · Sep 4

📣 The ERC Starting Grant call results are out!

Find out which early-career researchers will receive funding this year, what they will be investigating, where they will be based... plus lots of other #ERCStG facts & figures for 2025!

➡️ buff.ly/IsafuFh

#FrontierResearch 🇪🇺#EUfunded #HorizonEurope

2 3 20

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Frederica Theodoulou @freddietheodoulou.bsky.social · Sep 3

Job opportunity: come join the excellent and friendly #ProteostasisUK community!

delladavid-lab.bsky.social @delladavid-lab.bsky.social · Sep 2

Exciting news📣: #ProteostasisUK is hiring a network manager to help drive an ambitious, #BBSRC funded initiative connecting and expanding #Proteostasis research across the UK. Position initially for 3 years. Deadline September 28th. More info: tinyurl.com/f83rp673 & proteostasisuk.co.uk Please RT

hireful.

tinyurl.com

2 5

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Jeremy Baskin @jeremybaskin.bsky.social · Aug 31

I’ve already highlighted this landmark #lipidtime paper by @nadlerlab.bsky.social & colleagues, but ICYMI, do read André’s thread — this study is a huge leap forward in understanding the logic of intracellular lipid flux & is a phenomenal example of #chembio probes 🤝 quantitative imaging 🤝 modeling!

André Nadler @nadlerlab.bsky.social · Aug 21

Out today in @nature.com: Together with the Honigmann, Shevchenko, Drobot and Hof labs, we present a general workflow for imaging the localization and transport of individual lipids in cells and mapping their metabolism.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

2 5 25

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Dan Grabarczyk @dangrabarczyk.bsky.social · Aug 27

Happy to share our work on the structure and function of the unusual E3 ligase ZNFX1 @cp-cell.bsky.social. It uses a nucleic acid-activated transthiolation mechanism, ubiquitinating and clustering RNA to protect cells in an immune response. @clausenlab.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

A split-site E3 ligase mechanism enables ZNFX1 to ubiquitinate and cluster single-stranded RNA into ubiquitin-coated nucleoprotein particles

Grabarczyk et al. show the structure and mechanism of a non-canonical ubiquitin ligase, which is activated through nucleic-acid-induced oligomerization and is critical for cell survival during immune ...

www.cell.com

6 40 85

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Ahmad Jomaa @jomaalab.bsky.social · Aug 26

Want to know how lipidation of some nascent chains takes place by NMT2-- Check our latest work on how NAC couples Protein Synthesis with Nascent Polypeptide Myristoylation on the Ribosome out today @embojournal.org‬: www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

2 21 42

Reposted by Clausen Lab

dave dougan @douganlab.bsky.social · Aug 24

Co-translational ribosome pairing enables native assembly of misfolding-prone subunits. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Co-translational ribosome pairing enables native assembly of misfolding-prone subunits - Nature Communications

Protein complexes are essential for cell function. Here, authors show that paired ribosomes can help each other’s nascent chains fold correctly, enabling proper dimer assembly and preventing misfoldin...

www.nature.com

2 5

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Kranzusch Lab @kranzuschlab.bsky.social · Aug 22

The beautiful, ever-expanding universe of viral proteins targeting nucleotide immune signals!

Paper by @reneechang.bsky.social in @cp-molcell.bsky.social on a nucleotide sponge www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

and preprint by @doudna-lab.bsky.social on viral nucleases www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A widespread family of viral sponge proteins reveals specific inhibition of nucleotide signals in anti-phage defense

Chang et al. discover anti-CBASS 4 (Acb4), a family of viral sponges that inhibits bacterial immunity by sequestering nucleotide immune signals. Acb4 homologs in phages that infect hosts across all ma...

www.cell.com

19 48

Clausen Lab @clausenlab.bsky.social · Aug 21

:) agreed!!

2

Clausen Lab @clausenlab.bsky.social · Aug 21

big one! a decade in the making. nadler & team develop tools to track lipid transport in living cells at single-species resolution. turns out non-vesicular, asymmetry-driven transport is the main architect of organelle identity. feels like the dawn of a golden era for lipid biology. rdcu.be/eBGJv

Quantitative imaging of lipid transport in mammalian cells

Nature - Directional, non-vesicular lipid transport is responsible for fast, species-selective lipid sorting into organelle membranes.

rdcu.be

1 21 58

Clausen Lab @clausenlab.bsky.social · Aug 21

wow - what amazing tools and fantastic work. era of lipid biology ahead. big congratulations to the whole team.

1 1

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Jenny Sachweh @jennysachweh.bsky.social · Aug 18

My PhD paper is in press @cellpress.bsky.social and now online: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...!

Contents: weird #NPCs in yeast and flies, #CLEM, in situ #cryoET and more!

Made possible by the amazing @becklab.bsky.social team at @mpibp.bsky.social and collaborators! #TeamTomo

The small GTPase Ran defines nuclear pore complex asymmetry

Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) bridge across the nuclear envelope and mediate nucleocytoplasmic exchange. They consist of hundreds of nucleoporin build…

www.sciencedirect.com

6 28 120

Clausen Lab @clausenlab.bsky.social · Aug 5

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

beautiful work. big congrats.

Cryo-EM structures of Egl-BicD-RNA complexes reveal how diverse mRNAs are selected for subcellular localization

Localization of mRNAs is a widespread mechanism for controlling where proteins operate in cells and underpins many fundamental processes, from embryonic patterning to synaptic plasticity. This spatial...

www.biorxiv.org

2

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Carter Lab @carter-lab.bsky.social · Aug 5

Excited to share our latest work with @simonbullock11.bsky.social! We looked at how diverse mRNAs get selected for subcellular localization and it turns out that a single protein can recognize different RNA elements using shared features that weren’t apparent before.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

4 45 140

Reposted by Clausen Lab

Sjors Scheres @sjorsscheres.bsky.social · Aug 5

Fantastic work by the group of @matteoall.bsky.social : a SUN5:Nesprin3 complex at the head:tail junction of sperm cells. 🤯 #teamtomo

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

In-cell structure of a LINC complex reveals the molecular basis for membrane remodelling and head-to-tail coupling in sperm cells

In eukaryotic cells, LINC complexes physically bridge the two nuclear membranes to cytoskeletal filaments, transmitting mechanical forces to the nucleus. Due to their dynamic and membrane-embedded nat...

www.biorxiv.org

1 18 40

Clausen Lab @clausenlab.bsky.social · Aug 1

thank you so much, marcin, for the warm welcome in orleans. it was a pleasure to visit the CBM institute, get inspired by your science and share memorable time with family and friends. already looking forward to the next time.

3