A team of MIT geochemists has unearthed new evidence in very old rocks suggesting that some of the first animals on Earth were likely ancestors of the modern sea sponge.

Graphics processing unit-accelerated MMseqs2 offers tremendous speedups for homology retrieval from metagenomic databases, query-centered multiple sequence alignment generation for structure predictio...

We inserted small light-interacting domains at various locations in the stator complex to see what sites were amenable for labeling and how these affected flagellar rotation and switching. We observe...

Phylogenetic studies examining the origins, emergence, and spread of viruses have arguably been one of the most active and successful areas of evolutionary biology and form the bedrock of the flourishing field of genomic epidemiology. This, in part, reflects the ability of viruses, particularly those with RNA genomes, to evolve at rates much greater than their cellular counterparts (1). The rapid rate at which viruses evolve and accumulate mutations enables evolutionary signals to be identified through comparative genomics at short timescales relevant for outbreak investigation and response. The integration of phylogenetics and epidemiology, known as phylodynamics, has become a vital tool in response to numerous viral outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics, including Ebola (2), Zika (3), and, more recently, COVID-19 (4) and mpox (5).

Abstract. Protein folds are structural units defined by the number, type, arrangement, and orientation of their core secondary structural elements. The uni

Flagellar motility allows bacteria to propel themselves and direct movement according to environmental conditions. It plays a key role in bacterial pathogenicity and survival. We investigated the molecular and structural diversity of the stator motor proteins that provide the ion motive force to power flagellar rotation. This study uses a comparative approach that integrates phylogenetics, 3D protein structure, motility assays, and ancestral state reconstruction (ASR) to provide insights into the structural mechanisms that first powered the flagellar motor. We provide the first phylogenetic and structural characterization and classification of MotAB and relatives.

The ten eukaryotic COMMD proteins are core components of the Commander complex, with central roles in endosomal membrane trafficking and signalling. Each protein has an α-helical N-terminal (HN) domai...