Brief notes from day 1 of ComBio 2007. I’ve provided links where possible so you can go off in search of some new science.
PLE-SUN-02
More than 40 years of membrane proteins: how about the role of lipids?
Widmar Tanner Home page | PubMed search
An entertaining talk on the history of membrane transporter research, with some nice GFP imagery of heterogenously-distributed membrane transporters. Keywords: lipid rafts, eisosomes.
SYM-05-01
Structural insight into ion channel function and regulation.
Dan Minor Home page | PubMed search
Some interesting structural data from calcium channels and voltage-gated potassium channels. Keywords: KChIP, SAXS, cruciform.
SYM-05-02
Crystal structure of a thermally-stable rhodopsin mutant.
Jorg Standfuss Home page | PubMed search
Engineered stability using introduced disulphide bonds. Nice example of how to get diffraction data from a 5 micron crystal (a 5 micron beamline helps). Keywords: GPCR, N2C, D282C, microfocus beamline.
SYM-05-03
New insights into receptor signalling.
Michael Parker Home page | PubMed search
A talk on cytokine receptors and signalling. 2000 crystallisation trials, 200 crystals tried for a 3.3 Å result! Keywords: GM-CSF, IL3, IL5.
PLE-SUN-04
A dynamic scaffold: cytoskeletal organisation of cellulose synthase and plant cell shape.
David Ehrhardt Home page | PubMed search
More great imaging of cellulose synthase complex migrating in real-time. Central thesis is that cellulose synthase movement and so cellulose fibre growth is microtubule-associated. Keywords: CESA, YFP, trans-golgi network, hypocotyl.
SYN-09-01
The enzyme breathing theory: insight into the evolution of quaternary structure of an essential bacterial enzyme.
Matt Perugini Home page | PubMed search
The enzyme is DHDPS (dihydrodipicolinate synthase). Nice structural biology story on how tetramerisation maintains activity and allosteric regulation. Keywords: DHDPS, ultracentrifugation, convergent evolution.
SYN-09-02
BAFF: an important factor in autoimmunity identified through genomic data mining.
Fabienne Mackay Home page | PubMed search
Awful lot of immunological detail in this talk, not much genomic data mining. Keywords: BAFF, TNF/TNF-R, B-cell maturation.
SYN-09-03
Microarrays and bioinformatics for selection of targets for inflammatory diseases.
Charles Mackay Home page | PubMed search
Take-home message: strongly differentially-expressed genes often have a disease phenotype, but not always the expected one. Keywords: CXCR7, aP2, C5alphaR, PAC-1.
PLE-SUN-05
Function prediction at different scales.
Peer Bork Home page | PubMed search
Great overview of protein functional prediction, from single sequences to metagenomes. Keywords: TAP tag, metagenomics.
