MP
A coiled-coil domain triggers oligomerization of MmpL10, the mycobacterial transporter of trehalose polyphleate precursor.
Couston J, Feuillard J, Ancelin A, Lai-Kee-Him J, Brodolin K, Chalut C, Gourdon P, Blaise M.
FEBS Lett. 2025 Jun;599(12):1682-1697.
doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.70085. Epub 2025 Jun 4.
PMID: 40468558.
A coiled-coil domain in MmpL10 found to trigger its oligomerization (critical for the transport of trehalose polyphleate precursors).
cryo-EM + crosslinking + biochemical assays => disruption of oligomerization impaired lipid transport, pointing to a regulatory role for the coiled-coil in transporter assembly.
Cryo-EM structures of the E. coli Ton and Tol motor complexes.
Celia H, Botos I, Ghirlando R, Duché D, Beach BM, Lloubes R, Buchanan SK.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 1;16(1):5506.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-61286-z.
PMID: 40595649.
Cryo-EM structures of the Ton and Tol systems => distinct architectural features that differentiate the two systems and offer insights into their activation and interaction with outer membrane transporters.
P-type ATPase magnesium transporter MgtA acts as a dimer.
Zeinert R, Zhou F, Franco P, Zöller J, Madni ZK, Lessen H, Aravind L, Langer JD, Sodt AJ, Storz G, Matthies D.
Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2025 Jun 23.
doi: 10.1038/s41594-025-01593-7. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40550995.
MgtA (P-type ATPase responsible for magnesium transport in bacteria), was shown to function as a dimer based on cryo-EM, crosslinking, and MD.
Dimerization (conserved and functionally significant) = affects the conformational cycle and regulatory properties of the transporter.
Insights into G-protein coupling preference from cryo-EM structures of Gq-bound PTH1R.
Sano FK, Shimizume K, Kobayashi K, Awazu T, Kawakami K, Akasaka H, Kobayashi TA, Tanaka T, Okamoto HH, Hirano H, Kusakizako T, Shihoya W, Kise Y, Itoh Y, Ishitani R, Okada Y, Sako Y, Yanagawa M, Inoue A, Nureki O.
Nat Chem Biol. 2025 Jun 26.
doi: 10.1038/s41589-025-01957-6. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40571720.
Cryo-EM structures of the parathyroid hormone receptor 1 (PTH1R) bound to Gq proteins.
=> structural determinants of G-protein coupling selectivity. A key loop region identified as essential for Gq preference.
Molecular contacts in self-assembling clusters of membrane proteins.
Mandala VS, Fu Z, MacKinnon R.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Jul;122(26):e2507112122.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2507112122. Epub 2025 Jun 23.
PMID: 40549920.
Paper studying how MPs self-assemble into clusters => specific molecular contacts that mediate lateral associations.
Cryo-EM and XL MS show these contacts occur even in the absence of defined protein-protein interaction domains.
=> suggests a general mechanism for protein clustering in membranes, could influence membrane signaling and protein diffusion.
Electron Transport Across Bacterial Cell Envelopes.
Burton JAJ, Edwards MJ, Richardson DJ, Clarke TA.
Annu Rev Biochem. 2025 Jun;94(1):89-109.
doi: 10.1146/annurev-biochem-052621-092202. Epub 2025 Mar 17.
PMID: 40096216.
Review on mechanisms of electron transport across bacterial cell envelopes, focusing on how redox-active proteins and cofactors facilitate this process.
Recent structural insights into key components like cytochromes and porins + how bacteria optimize electron flow under diverse environmental conditions.
In-situ structures of the Legionella Dot/Icm T4SS identify the DotA-IcmX complex as the gatekeeper for effector translocation.
Jian Yue, Samira Heydari, Donghyun Park, David Chetrit, Shoichi Tachiyama, Wangbiao Guo, Jack M. Botting, Shenping Wu, Craig R. Roy, Jun Liu.
bioRxiv 2025.06.23.660953;
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.23.660953.
Cryo-EM structures of the Legionella Dot/Icm type IV secretion system (T4SS) in situ reveal a critical subcomplex, DotA-IcmX = gatekeeper for effector translocation.
Gate appears to control passage of substrates from the IM channel to the OM complex.
Supports a model where this gate coordinates timing and specificity of secretion.
Dynamic Relocalization and Divergent Expression of a Major Facilitator Carrier Subfamily in Diatoms.
Liu S, Powell V, Yang SM, Lam F, Bowler C, Obornik M, Dorrell RG.
Physiol Plant. 2025 May-Jun;177(3):e70355.
doi: 10.1111/ppl.70355.
PMID: 40546076.
Diatoms express a subfamily of MFS with dynamic subcellular relocalization and divergent expression patterns.
Light and nutrient availability alter their expression and membrane targeting.
Phylogenetic analysis suggests lineage-specific expansion of this subfamily.
= Regulatory adaptation of solute transport in marine microalgae ?
Membrane
Allosteric coupling between a lipid bilayer and a membrane protein.
Fourel C, Gautier Y, Pozza A, Giraud F, Point E, Le Bon C, Moncoq K, Stirnemann G, Hénin J, Lescop E, Catoire LJ.
Biophys J. 2025 Jun 27:S0006-3495(25)00410-2.
doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2025.06.033. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40581816.
MP undergoes allosteric conformational changes due to coupling with lipid bilayer properties.
NMR and MD => membrane tension and curvature modulate protein dynamics.
The protein acts as a mechanosensor embedded in the lipid environment.
highlighted in the following Biophys. J. editorial
The Membrane Properties Determine Protein Function – A New Aspect of Allosteric Modulation.
Biophys J. 2025 Jul 22:S0006-3495(25)00454-0.
doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2025.07.019. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 40702730.
Membrane properties control the ATPase activity of the ABC transporter BmrA.
Osten V, Schneider D.
Biochim Biophys Acta Biomembr. 2025 Jun 17:184430.
doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2025.184430. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40553783.
Activity of BmrA is modulated by membrane environment.
Various lipid compositions and biophysical assays => membrane fluidity and charge influence ATPase activity (changes likely affect transporter conformation and dynamics).
Temperature-dependence of membrane protein-lipid interactions in membranes.
Kumar S, Downing J, Lynn M, Stover L, Lantz C, Russell DH, Laganowsky A.
Chem Commun (Camb). 2025 Jul 24;61(61):11429-11432.
doi: 10.1039/d5cc01576f.
PMID: 40576626.
MP-lipid interactions are often temperature-sensitive.
Here: variable-temperature ESI MS to investigate the temperature dependence of protein-lipids interactions from membranes.
=> specific lipid binding, and in some cases metal ion binding, to MP is significantly enhanced at elevated temperatures.
Lipopolysaccharide nanoparticles, a biomimetic platform to study bacterial surface.
Abbas M, Micciulla S, Teulon JM, Maalej M, Trembley M, Marchetti R, Molinaro A, Thépaut M, Fieschi F, Pellequer JL, Laguri C.
Biophys J. 2025 Jun 27:S0006-3495(25)00413-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2025.06.036. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 40581814.
LPS-based nanoparticles developed as biomimetic tools to probe bacterial surface interactions.
These particles retain key features of bacterial OM, including antigenicity and charge properties.
=> fine-tuned control of membrane mimicry, versatile platform to study host-pathogen interactions or drug targeting.
In situ NMR reveals a pH sensor motif in an outer membrane protein that drives bacterial vesicle production.
Wood NA, Kraft A, Shin K, Gopinath T, Marassi FM.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Jul;122(26):e2501638122.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2501638122. Epub 2025 Jun 24.
PMID: 40553494.
in situ ssNMR => conserved pH-sensing motif in a bacterial OM protein involved in vesicle formation.
pH-induced conformational changes in this motif appear to regulate membrane curvature and budding.
Connects local chemical cues to membrane remodeling and givse insights into the molecular basis of OM vesiculation.
An integrative modelling approach to the mitochondrial cristae.
Brown CM, Westendorp MSS, Zarmiento-Garcia R, Stevens JA, Bruininks BMH, Rouse SL, Marrink SJ, Wassenaar TA.
Commun Biol. 2025 Jul 1;8(1):972.
doi: 10.1038/s42003-025-08381-5.
PMID: 40596661.
An integrative modeling study => new insights into the ultrastructure of mitochondrial cristae.
Cryo-ET data + MD to reconstruct crista morphology and membrane organization => protein crowding and lipid composition affect crista curvature.
A Membrane-Disruptive Action of VBIT-4 Challenges Its Role as a Widely Used VDAC Oligomerization Inhibitor.
Varun Ravishankar, Luis Borges-Araujo, Elodie Lafargue, Deborah Byrne, Nicolas Buzhinsky, Mya Wolfe, Nina Bautista, Bethel Beyene, Motahareh Larimi, Jean-Pierre Duneau, James Sturgis, Megha Rajendran, Sergey Bezrukov, Ignacio Casuso, Tatiana K. Rostovtseva, and Lucie Bergdoll.
bioRxiv posted 3 July 2025.
doi:10.1101/2025.06.30.661942.
VBIT-4 (= small molecule inhibitor widely used to block VDAC oligomerization), shown to non-specifically disrupt membranes.
Biophysical assays revealed that it permeabilizes bilayers and causes membrane leakage.
These findings challenge the specificity of VBIT-4’s action and call for reevaluation of previous conclusions using it.
Spatiotemporally-controlled droplet merging reveals 2D diffusion dynamics of multi-component surfactants.
Jang H, Jeong DW, Oh BC, Lee S, Cho H, Choi S, Hyeon C, Ahn CW, Lee HS, Choi MC.
J Colloid Interface Sci. 2025 Jun 21;699(Pt 2):138176.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2025.138176. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40544614.
A droplet-based system was developed to investigate the 2D diffusion of surfactants on membrane surfaces. Controlled droplet merging allowed time-resolved tracking of component redistribution.
=> multicomponent surfactant behavior under dynamic conditions. This approach could be used to model biological membrane fusion events.
Molecules
An amphipol-stabilized multi-pass transmembrane protein as an immunogen to generate mouse memory B cells against native VMAT2.
Yang J, Liu T, Mai X, Kong S, He J, Wang Z, Shen J, He X, Xing Y, Qian H, Tong P.
FEBS Lett. 2025 Jun 17.
doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.70092. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 40527604.
An amphipol-stabilized VMAT2 multi-pass MP used as an immunogen to generate memory B cells in mice.
This strategy allowed for the preservation of native conformation and antigenicity.
This immunogen elicits specific and durable humoral responses. The method may be applicable for vaccines targeting MPs.
Methods
From Layered Crystals to Permselective Membranes: History, Fundamentals, and Opportunities.
Wang Z, Yang J, Yong M, Zeng X, Tebyetekerwa M, Sun K, Bie C, Xing C, Wang H, Andreeva DV, Novoselov KS, Zhang X.
Chem Rev. 2025 Jun 27.
doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.5c00025. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40577704.
Review covering the evolution of layered materials into permselective membranes, from historical origins to modern applications.
It discusses structural control, fabrication strategies, and transport mechanisms. Special focus on nanomaterial integration and energy-related uses.
Resolving the conformational ensemble of a membrane protein by integrating small-angle scattering with AlphaFold.
Lidbrink SE, Howard RJ, Haloi N, Lindahl E.
PLoS Comput Biol. 2025 Jun 27;21(6):e1013187.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013187. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40577488.
Hybrid approach combining small-angle scattering data with AlphaFold modeling to capture MP conformational ensembles.
=> study of the structural flexibility and equilibrium between distinct conformers.
=> improves resolution of dynamic MPs.
In vitro Reconstitution of Cytoskeletal Networks inside Phase Separated Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (GUVs).
Kanwa, N., Reverte-López, M., Schwille, P.
J. Vis. Exp. (220), e68530,
doi:10.3791/68530 (2025).
Simple one-pot reconstitution of cytoskeletal networks inside phase separated giant vesicles.
Can be generalized and applied to encapsulation or confinement of a wide range of biomolecules.
Miscellaneous
Everyday painkiller made from plastic – by E. coli.
Aksenfeld R.
Nature. 2025 Jun 26. doi: 10.1038/d41586-025-01986-0. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40571701.
An engineered strain of Escherichia coli can help to make the painkiller paracetamol from plastic waste.
If polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic waste is converted into an intermediary material, E. coli could use a chemical reaction never before observed in nature to turn the plastic into a molecule called PABA.
=> With the help of two inserted genes, the bacteria could convert PABA into paracetamol.
From Concepts to Inhibitors: A Blueprint for Targeting Protein-Protein Interactions.
Hong SH, Nguyen T, Ongkingco JF, Nazzaro A, Arora PS.
Chem Rev. 2025 Jun 24.
doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.5c00046. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 40553022.
Strategies for targeting PPIs using small molecules. Authors discuss interface types, druggability, and screening methods for PPI inhibitors. Case studies include successful inhibitors and lessons learned. The review serves as a guide for rational PPI drug discovery.
World first: brain implant lets man speak with expression – and sing.
Naddaf M.
Nature. 2025 Jun 11.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-025-01818-1.
Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 40500369.
A brain implant has enabled a man with paralysis to speak with emotional prosody and even sing, for the first time. The device decodes facial muscle intentions and maps them to vocal tract movement. This major breakthrough brings natural speech restoration closer to reality. It also opens doors for expressive communication technologies.
Cancer cells get power boost by stealing mitochondria from nerves.
Watson T.
Nature. 2025 Jun 25.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-025-01941-z. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 40571709.
Cancer cells turbocharge themselves by stealing mitochondria from nerve cells.
Researchers found that cancer cells can siphon off the neurons’ mitochondria through ultrathin tubes that grow between the two types of cell.
This act of thievery seems to give cancer cells a boost to help them withstand the stress of shooting through blood vessels when they metastasize, or spread to distant organs.
Culture literally changes how we see the world
Nala Rogers
Science, AAAS
https://www.science.org/content/article/culture-literally-changes-how-we-see-world
doi: 10.1126/science.z957ie8