Jamie Blaza

Figure 1. Cryo-EM of abundant protein complexes in native membranes.

Figure 2. Cryo-EM of membrane proteins in vesicles.

Figure 3. 3D reconstruction of V-ATPase in native synaptic vesicle membranes.

Figure 4. Generation of membrane vesicles for structure determination of proteins in their native lipid bilayer.

I've written a review on what I think is an extremely exciting direction in cryo-EM:

Cryo-EM of endogenous membrane proteins in their native lipid bilayer

Open access in Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics:
doi.org/10.1017/S003...

An unconventional Rubisco small subunit underpins the CO2-concentrating organelle in land plants In many algae, photosynthesis is boosted by biophysical CO2-concentrating mechanisms, which pack the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco into liquid-like organelles called pyrenoids. Engineering C3 crops with a...

Our work on #hornwort #pyrenoids is finally out in @science.org! 🎉 We uncovered how hornworts pack their Rubisco into pyrenoids and successfully recreated them in Arabidopsis. A key step toward engineering more efficient photosynthesis in crops @btiscience.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Do you like it when weird organisms do silly things?? Then you're going to love this!

Beautiful and solid work on trehalose monomycolate synthesis in mycobacteria by @figlegend.bsky.social lab. Check it out folks. Also, for the non-enzymologists, product inhibition is a thing, and actually does matter. 😜

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

New preprint! We propose "anergiobiosis" to describe microbial life at thermodynamic limits as a way of separating the physiological state from questions about aeonophilic extremophile specialization. ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
#Microbiology #Extremophiles #SubsurfaceMicrobiology #MicroSky

To understand what is happening in UK science policy you need to understand a bit of history.

Which also helps understand why people are making arguments in particular directions.

A little thread.

Effective laser phase plates should be transformational for cryo-EM and this proof of principle study shows a pulsed system successfully intergrated in a SEM. A powerful step towards functional systems in a cryo-TEM

Please spread the word: the Structural Studies Division @mrclmb.bsky.social is looking for a new tenure-track, independent group leader with an exciting plan in any area of Structural (Molecular & Cell) biology, in discovery biology and/or methods development. 🥳

mrc.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/...

Membrane-associated effluxosomes coordinate multi-metal resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis - The EMBO Journal Bacterial pathogens must withstand metal-induced stress during infection, yet the mechanisms by which they sense and respond to toxic metal ions remain incompletely understood. Here, we uncover a prev...

🎉 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐎 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥!

After 8 months of revision, our work is now online: shorturl.at/WHmFq

We uncover a previously unrecognized way that 𝑀𝑦𝑐𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑡𝑢𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑠 survives toxic metal stress during infection.
...

Mosquitoes like Aedes aegypti spread viruses that cause major global diseases. We decided to have a closer look at a family of mosquito carbohydrate-binding proteins involved in infecting these vector species. We found some unexpected things 😁

Preprint out now 🦟🦟🦟

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

How could a simple self-replicating system emerge at the origins of life? RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but existing ones are so large that their self-replication seems impossible. Could they be smaller?

Excited to share our latest work in @science.org on a new small polymerase.
1/n

Work by spearheaded by Mattia Bertinelli, @rupeshjayachandran.bsky.social, @jackwh18.bsky.social

I had exactly the same thought before seeing your comment! It reads as if straight out of LinkedIn

[PERF] Replace np.column_stack with np.vstack().T by crabby-rathbun · Pull Request #31132 · matplotlib/matplotlib This PR addresses issue #31130 by replacing specific safe occurrences of np.column_stack with np.vstack().T for better performance. IMPORTANT: This is a more targeted fix than originally proposed. ...

holy shit

PR from an ‘agent’ gets closed so it writes a blog post with a personal takedown

Some interesting comments from the maintainers too

Slop machine go brr, dead internet theory x1000

github.com/matplotlib/m...

How do diatom cells maintain a constant supply of carbon for photosynthesis? Our microelectrode measurements of the phycosphere around individual diatom cells show that diatoms can rapidly switch between distinct carbon acquisition pathways. @thembauk.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Long in the making, but happy to present the Chlamydomonas chlororibosome!
Cryo-ET🔬reveals a large new domain on the small subunit, built from multiple extensions in conserved ribosomal proteins.
bioRxiv 📖: shorturl.at/q44tG
This suggests greater chlororibosome diversity than expected!
1/n 🧵

Very happy to say that our work on how axonemes are generated is now available on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... - if you’ve ever wondered how the incredibly beautiful, complex structures within motile #cilia are constructed then this is for you!

Cartoon representing the mycobacterial oxidative phosphorylation system, including cytochromes, NDH-2, and ATP synthase. Taken from Figure 1 of the article.

#Microbiology

The anti-tuberculosis drug bedaquiline targets the mycobacterial ATP synthase, but how that leads to bacterial death is unclear

Here the authors clarify how bedaquiline works

@jnblab.bsky.social @morwan.me
#TBSky #antibiotics #AMR

http://dlvr.it/TQjZ0W

The bureaucracy of science has grown so much, the system is collapsing upon itself:

Scientists have become administrators of grants rather than spending time on science.

Paid administrators are demanding even more administrative work from scientists.

Administrators are eating the science budget.

Exciting #postdoc opportunity in #biocatalysis and #oligonucleotide synthesis in my group at the University of York. Check out the details at jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/post...

Last date to apply is 8th March. Reach out to me if interested.

Bacteriocin biophysics: From protein-protein interaction models to navigators of the bacterial cell envelope Bacteriocins are toxins deployed by bacteria to kill their competitors. Here, I reflect on my laboratory’s work on protein bacteriocins and their immunity proteins from Gram-negative bacteria. We unco...

A gift of an article from the inimitable Colin Kleanthous as he says a moving farewell to his laboratory. A brave, unrepentant and scientifically brilliant journey is described - please have a read, friends.

www.jbc.org/article/S002...

Exactly this

How does molecular valency shape condensate assembly and function? We used the CO2-fixing organelle in algae—the pyrenoid—to find out… 🧵

Preprint here!:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

@cellarchlab.com @phaips.vd.st @biologyatyork.bsky.social
#Rubisco #PhaseSeparation #Condensates #Pyrenoid

Quick science policy thread 1

Changes in the governance of UK science since the mid 1980s make it extremely hard to be strategic (that was the point), in terms of both process (dropped) and capability (hollowed out).

Leaks everywhere and finally we get an official statement, one that somehow manages to say a lot while; No timelines. No clarity. No acknowledgement of impact on ECRs whose careers depend UKRI funding.

“Later this year” isn’t a plan. And the sector deserves better than reassurance without detail.

Some initial reactions to the 'published on a Sunday afternoon' letter from the CEO of UKRI. 🧵

www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

Open letter from Ian Chapman to research and innovation community UKRI Chief Executive outlines changes to UKRI investment approach, addressing concerns about research funding and the financial position of STFC.

Hot off the press - a letter from the Exec Chair of @ukri.org explaining his plans and in particular the financial position of STFC. It notes curiosity driven research is protected and will make up around half of UKRI spend over the coming period
www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

Ligand occupancy in crystal structure of β1-adrenergic G protein–coupled receptor - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Ligand occupancy in crystal structure of β1-adrenergic G protein–coupled receptor

It's those (supposed to be)'s that worry me! This is my favorite example in MX of where things can go wrong

www.nature.com/articles/nsm...

If you've worked hard to get a great map then show it!

Interestingly when I reviewed a crystallographic paper I said exactly this and was told it was not the 'norm' but they did do it and the electron density was good. Maybe with historically higher resolution it was needed less in MX but it can't hurt