MP

Cryo-EM of human P-glycoprotein reveals an intermediate occluded conformation during active drug transport. 

Culbertson AT, Liao M.

Nat Commun. 2025 Apr 16;16(1):3619. 

doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-58561-4. 

PMID: 40240353.

Cryo-EM structure of human P-gp in an occluded conformation during drug transport. 

=> key intermediate states that bridge the IF and OF forms.

The C-terminus of the multi-drug efflux pump EmrE prevents proton leak by gating transport.

Merissa Brousseau, Da Teng, Nathan Thomas, Gregory A Voth, and Katherine A Henzler-Wildman.

bioRxiv posted 16 April 2025. 

doi:10.1101/2024.11.21.624706

The C-terminal tail of EmrE plays a crucial role in controlling proton leakage during substrate transport. 

MD and experiments => Cter tail acts as a gate, stabilizing specific conformations. 

Mutations in this region increase unwanted proton leak.

Molecular basis of pyruvate transport and inhibition of the human mitochondrial pyruvate carrier. 

Sichrovsky M, Lacabanne D, Ruprecht JJ, Rana JJ, Stanik K, Dionysopoulou M, Sowton AP, King MS, Jones SA, Cooper L, Hardwick SW, Paris G, Chirgadze DY, Ding S, Fearnley IM, Palmer SM, Pardon E, Steyaert J, Leone V, Forrest LR, Tavoulari S, Kunji ERS. 

Sci Adv. 2025 Apr 18;11(16):eadw1489. 

doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adw1489. Epub 2025 Apr 18. 

PMID: 40249800.

Structure of the human mitochondrial pyruvate carrier.

Inhibitors block a central cavity critical for pyruvate translocation. 

Mutations affecting this cavity impair transport and are linked to metabolic diseases.

The LptC transmembrane helix undergoes a rigid body movement upon LptB2FG cavity collapse.

Cina NP, Klug CS.

Protein Sci. 2025 May;34(5):e70133. doi: 10.1002/pro.70133.

PMID: 40260908.

Structural changes in LptC associated with the functional cycle of the LptB2FG transporter. Upon cavity collapse, LptC’s TM helix undergoes a rigid-body movement that likely facilitates lipid extraction from the IM. 

Single-particle cryogenic electron microscopy structure determination for membrane proteins. 

Chien CT, Maduke M, Chiu W.

Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2025 Apr 13;92:103047. 

doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2025.103047. Epub ahead of print. 

PMID: 40228430.

Review discussing recent advancements in SP cryo-EM applied to MPs: challenges such as sample preparation, preferred orientation, and heterogeneity. 

The authors highlight methodological innovations improving resolution and throughput. 

McGowen K, Funck T, Wang X, Zinga S, Wolf ID, Akusobi C, Denkinger CM, Rubin EJ, Sullivan MR.

PLoS Pathog. 2025 Apr 10;21(4):e1013027. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1013027. eCollection 2025 Apr.

PMID: 40208857.

Efflux pumps and low membrane permeability = major factors in Mycobacterium abscessus’s antibiotic resistance. 

Genetic and chemical inhibition of efflux pumps sensitized the bacteria to several antibiotics. 

Membrane permeability assays revealed significant intrinsic barriers to drug entry.

Membrane

Lithium fine tunes lipid membranes through phospholipid binding.

Bunel L, Adrien V, Coleman J, Heo P, Pincet F.

Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 17;15(1):13366. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-97828-0.

PMID: 40246965.

Lithium ions were found to specifically bind to PL headgroups, subtly altering membrane properties. 

=> Lithium increases membrane order without disrupting bilayer integrity. This effect may influence signaling pathways and protein / lipid interactions. 

These findings provide a mechanistic basis for lithium’s cellular effects in mood regulation and beyond.

Exploration and analytical techniques for membrane curvature-sensing proteins in bacteria.

Komikawa T, Okochi M, Tanaka M.

J Bacteriol. 2025 Apr 17;207(4):e0048224. 

doi: 10.1128/jb.00482-24. Epub 2025 Mar 26.

PMID: 40135904.

Review focusing on how bacterial proteins sense and respond to mb curvature. 

Various biophysical techniques are discussed, including fluorescent reporters and reconstitution systems. The authors categorize curvature sensors and their functional implications in bacterial physiology.

Influence of Alcohols on the Bending Rigidity and the Thickness of Phospholipid Membranes: The Role of Chain Length Mismatch. 

Suryabrahmam B, Chodnicki P, Sappati S, Jurkowski M, Agrawal A, Czub J, Raghunathan VA.

J Phys Chem B. 2025 Apr 24;129(16):3988-3997. 

doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.4c04282. Epub 2025 Apr 15. 

PMID: 40233353.

Investigation how different alcohols influence membrane mechanics depending on their chain length. Alcohols with mismatched chain lengths significantly alter bending rigidity and bilayer thickness. 

Simulations and experiments => mismatch creates local packing defects. These findings help explain how alcohols affect membrane protein function and fluidity.

Hydrodynamics of molecular rotors in lipid membranes.

Vinny Chandran Suja, Naomi Oppenheimer, and Howard A. Stone.

Phys. Rev. Fluids 10, L041101.

Study modelling the relaxation dynamics of molecular rotors embedded in membranes after photoexcitation. Refines the use of molecular rotors for probing membrane biophysics.

Synaptophysin accelerates synaptic vesicle fusion by expanding the membrane upon neurotransmitter loading.

Preobraschenski J, Kreutzberger AJB, Ganzella M, Münster-Wandowski A, Kreutzberger MAB, Oolsthorn LHM, Seibert S, Kiessling V, Riedel D, Witkowska A, Ahnert-Hilger G, Tamm LK, Jahn R.

Sci Adv. 2025 Apr 25;11(17):eads4661. 

doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ads4661. Epub 2025 Apr 23.

PMID: 40267188.

Synaptophysin (= vesicle membrane protein) shown to facilitate synaptic vesicle fusion by altering membrane tension. Upon neurotransmitter loading, synaptophysin induces lateral expansion of the membrane. This expansion primes vesicles for rapid fusion during exocytosis. 

Methods

Fine-tuning the yeast GAL10 promoter and growth conditions for efficient recombinant membrane protein production and purification.

Moussa R, Gellé F, Masscheleyn S, Pozza A, Le Bon C, Moncoq K, Bonneté F, Miroux B.

Protein Sci. 2025 May;34(5):e70125. 

doi: 10.1002/pro.70125.

PMID: 40260971.

Optimization of the yeast GAL10 promoter system to enhance MP expression. Adjustments in promoter strength and culture conditions significantly improve yield and quality. 

The work provides practical guidelines for large-scale production and purification.

✅  Certified BPM Qualität™ 

A single vesicle fluorescence microscopy platform to quantify phospholipid scrambling.

Sarina Veit, Grace I Dearden, Kartikeya M Menon, Faria Noor, Anant K Menon, and Thomas Gúnther Pomorski.

bioRxiv posted 23 April 2025. 

doi:10.1101/2025.04.17.649308.

Fluorescence microscopy assay to monitor PL scrambling in individual vesicles. Their platform quantifies translocation events with high sensitivity and temporal resolution => enables the study of scramblase activity under various conditions.

CryoVIA: An image analysis toolkit for the quantification of membrane structures from cryo-EM micrographs.

P. Schönnenbeck, B. Junglas, and C. Sachse.

Structure. 2025 Apr 3;33(4):808-819.e4. 

doi: 10.1016/j.str.2025.01.013. Epub 2025 Feb 6. 

PMID: 39919734.

CryoVIA = computational toolkit designed to quantify membrane curvature and organization from cryo-EM images. It automates feature extraction, segmentation, and statistical analysis. 

AF2: Predicting protein side-chain rotamer distributions with AlphaFold2.

Matteo Cagiada, F. Emil Thomasen, Sergey Ovchinnikov, Charlotte Deane, and Kresten Lindorff-Larsen.

bioRxiv posted 17 April 2025. 

doi:10.1101/2025.04.16.649219.

Extension of AF2’s capabilities to accurately predict side-chain rotamer distributions. 

=> improves atomic-level modeling, especially important for protein–ligand and protein–membrane interactions. Predictions correlate strongly with experimental rotamer libraries.

TS2CG as a membrane builder.

Fabian Schuhmann, Jan A Stevens, Neda Rahmani, Isabell Lindahl, Chelsea May Brown, Christopher Brasnett, Dimitrios Anastasiou, Adrià Bravo Vidal, Beatrice J. Geiger, Siewert-Jan Marrink, and Weria Pezeshkian.

bioRxiv posted 17 April 2025. 

doi:10.1101/2025.04.16.649160.

TS2CG = new computational tool that constructs membrane models by combining coarse-grained and atomistic representations. 

Allows users to simulate large membrane systems with realistic composition. The builder supports various lipid types and complex geometries.

Understanding, inhibiting, and engineering membrane transporters with high-throughput mutational screens. 

Miller ST, Macdonald CB, Raman S. 

Cell Chem Biol. 2025 Apr 17;32(4):529-541. 

doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2025.03.003. Epub 2025 Mar 31. 

PMID: 40168989.

Review discussing how HT mutagenesis and screening methods unravel transporter function. Applications include inhibitor discovery, transporter engineering, and mechanistic elucidation. 

Recent technological advances => unprecedented functional mapping at the amino acid level, crucial for drug development and synthetic biology.

Fast Single-Particle Tracking of Membrane Proteins Combined with Super-Resolution Imaging of Actin Nanodomains. 

Mazloom-Farsibaf H, Kanagy WK, Lidke DS, Lidke KA.

Sci Data. 2025 Apr 3;12(1):562. 

doi: 10.1038/s41597-025-04782-7. 

PMID: 40181024.

Method combining SP tracking of MPs with super-resolution imaging of the actin cytoskeleton. Achieves high temporal and spatial resolution.

GPCRchimeraDB: A database of chimeric G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to assist their design.

Crauwels C, Díaz A, Vranken W.

J Mol Biol. 2025 Apr 21:169164. 

doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2025.169164. Online ahead of print.

PMID: 40268234.

Miscellaneous

Novel color via stimulation of individual photoreceptors at population scale. 

Fong J, Doyle HK, Wang C, Boehm AE, Herbeck SR, Pandiyan VP, Schmidt BP, Tiruveedhula P, Vanston JE, Tuten WS, Sabesan R, Roorda A, Ng R.

Sci Adv. 2025 Apr 18;11(16):eadu1052. 

doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adu1052. Epub 2025 Apr 18. 

PMID: 40249825.

Five lucky people have been able to perceive a colour that no one else has ever seen. Researchers used lasers and tracking technology to selectively activate certain cells in their retinas with precise doses of light, to spoof the signals the brain uses to interpret colour. The new shade — named ‘olo’ by the team — is a blue-greenish hue similar to peacock blue or teal. “But the level of saturation is off-the-charts,” says computer scientist Ren Ng, who was a co-author of the study and one of the test participants.

Exclusive: a Nature analysis signals the beginnings of a US science brain drain. 

Udesky L, Leeming J.

Nature. 2025 Apr 22. doi: 10.1038/d41586-025-01216-7. Epub ahead of print. 

PMID: 40263623.

An analysis of Springer Nature’s jobs-board data suggests that US scientists are looking abroad as the country’s scientific enterprise reels from the impact of President Donald Trump’s administration. For example, applications by US scientists to jobs in Europe increased by 32% in March compared with the same month a year earlier. By contrast, applications to US institutions from researchers in Europe dropped by 41%. But many researchers outside the US say their countries aren’t equipped to capitalize on the opportunity, with low salaries, job security and lackluster funding among their concerns.

A broad-spectrum lasso peptide antibiotic targeting the bacterial ribosome.

Jangra M, Travin DY, Aleksandrova EV, Kaur M, Darwish L, Koteva K, Klepacki D, Wang W, Tiffany M, Sokaribo A, Coombes BK, Vázquez-Laslop N, Polikanov YS, Mankin AS, Wright GD. 

Nature. 2025 Apr;640(8060):1022-1030. 

doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-08723-7. Epub 2025 Mar 26. 

PMID: 40140562.

Discovery of a new lasso peptide antibiotic that binds to the bacterial ribosome and inhibits protein synthesis. 

Structural studies => the peptide locks the ribosome in a nonfunctional state by interacting with critical RNA elements. 

Broad-spectrum activity against diverse bacterial pathogens, including resistant strains.

Punic people were genetically diverse with almost no Levantine ancestors. 

Ringbauer H, et al.

Nature. 2025 Apr 23. 

doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-08913-3. Epub ahead of print. 

The Phoenicians, an ancient civilization that originated in the Middle East, spread their culture far and wide — but not their DNA. Phoenician city-states across the Mediterranean shared languages, religious practices and maritime trading economies. But an analysis of DNA from the remains of around 200 people from Phoenician archaeological sites reveals that people from Mediterranean outposts of Phoenician culture shared no ancestry with ancient Middle Easterners. Instead, their ancestry profiles resemble those of ancient inhabitants of Greece and Sicily, and North African ancestry entered the mix over time.

Genomic and genetic insights into Mendel’s pea genes. 

Feng C, et al.

Nature. 2025 Apr 23. 

doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-08891-6. Epub ahead of print. 

PMID: 40269167.

Mendel’s pea mystery finally solved.

Scientists have pinpointed the genes that drive the last three of the seven inherited traits in the garden pea (Pisum sativum) first identified by Gregor Mendel over a century ago. The group sequenced nearly 700 pea genomes, selectively bred pea plants and probed each genome for single base-pair differences in their DNA sequence. They found that a gene that disrupts chlorophyll biosynthesis controls whether a pea pod is green or yellow, identified two genes that help to control pod shape by influencing cell-wall thickness and discovered that a deletion in a final gene can change how the plant’s flowers are clustered.

These are the most-cited research papers of all time. 

Van Noorden R.

Nature. 2025 Apr;640(8059):591. 

doi: 10.1038/d41586-025-01124-w. 

PMID: 40234578.