Methods
original paper:
Ångström-resolution imaging of cell-surface glycans.
Masullo LA, Almahayni K, Pachmayr I, Honsa M, Heinze L, Fritsche S, Grabmayr H, Jungmann R, Möckl L.
Nat Nanotechnol. 2025 Jul 28.
doi: 10.1038/s41565-025-01966-5. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 40721874.
Nature News:
Cell’s sugar coating mapped at below-nanometre resolution.
Naddaf M.
Nature. 2025 Jul 29.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-025-02376-2. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 40730930.
Advances in glycan imaging at sub-nm resolution.
=> detailed mapping of the sugar coating that surrounds cells, combines cryo-EM and computational refinements.
CL: Chouquettes everywhere !!!
Photon-by-Photon Fluorescence Lifetime Analysis of Within-Burst State Transitions of Single Proteins in Lipid Membranes.
Wang H, Fu H, Yuan Y, Yang C, Lin Z, Chen T, Xu C, Hu S, Li M, Lu Y.
J Am Chem Soc. 2025 Jul 31.
doi: 10.1021/jacs.5c06452. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40744442.
Photon-by-photon fluorescence lifetime analysis to resolve dynamic conformational changes of single proteins in lipid membranes.
Burst-like photon streams => capture of state transitions with millisecond resolution.
Long-Term Single-Particle Tracking of Membrane Proteins Enabled by Upconversion Alkaline-Earth Nanoprobes.
Ling H, Liu J, Ding F, Zhao F, Chen S, Zhang W, Zhang Y, Liu Q.
Nano Lett. 2025 Jul 29.
doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c01945. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40728248.
The authors present long-term single-particle tracking of MPs using ”upconversion alkaline-earth nanoprobes” (= probes that emit stable fluorescence with minimal photobleaching => tracking over extended periods).
=> dynamic motions of proteins at the single-molecule level.
Concurrent diffusion of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and fluorescent cholesterol disclosed by two-colour sub-millisecond MINFLUX-based single-molecule tracking.
Reina F, Saavedra LA, Eggeling C, Barrantes FJ.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 9;16(1):6336.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-61489-4.
PMID: 40634317.
two-color MINFLUX nanoscopy to track nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and fluorescent cholesterol simultaneously (sub-millisecond resolution and single-molecule precision).
=> concurrent diffusion patterns and nanoscale coordination between proteins and lipids.
Optical Single-Channel Recording via Diffusional Confinement in Membrane Tethers.
Howell MR, Cohen AE.
ACS Nano. 2025 Jul 15.
doi: 10.1021/acsnano.5c07589. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40661060.
Optical single-channel recording by confining ion channels within membrane tethers: bypasses electrical patch-clamp while maintaining single-channel resolution.
Single-molecule tweezers decode hidden dimerization patterns of membrane proteins within lipid bilayers.
Sadongo VW, Kim E, Kim S, Wijesinghe WCB, Lee T, Choi JM, Min D.
Nat Commun. 2025 Aug 9;16(1):7366.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-62852-1.
PMID: 40783402.
Single-molecule tweezers => dimerization of membrane proteins in lipid bilayers: patterns and dynamic transitions not observable in ensemble measurements.
The method shows how lipid membranes influences oligomerization stability.
Solid-state NMR of membrane proteins in situ.
Marassi FM, Pintacuda G.
Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2025 Aug 8;94:103129.
doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2025.103129. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40782689.
Recent advances in ss-NMR for studying MPs in their native environment.
In situ approaches allow direct measurements in intact cells and tissues.
Discussion of technical innovations, including DNP enhancement and fast magic-angle spinning.
Fluorescence-Based Flippase Assay to Monitor Lipid Transport by Drs2-Cdc50.
Van Der Linden IM, Herrera SA, Montigny C, Lenoir G, Pomorski TG, Uzun HD.
Bio Protoc. 2025 Jul 20;15(14):e5393.
doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.5393. eCollection 2025 Jul 20.
PMID: 40741405.
Fluorescence-based assay to monitor lipid translocation by the Drs2-Cdc50 flippase complex (fluorescent lipid analogs, kinetic measurements to quantify ATP-dependent flipping activity in reconstituted proteoliposomes).
It enables discrimination between substrate classes and regulatory factors.
A sensitive split luciferase assay for detecting olfactory receptor response to odorants.
Tanazawa N, Obayashi S, Hinuma S, Kuroda S.
Anal Biochem. 2025 Aug 5:115954.
doi: 10.1016/j.ab.2025.115954. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40774581.
Split luciferase assay to detect olfactory receptor responses to odorants: by reconstituting enzyme activity upon receptor activation, the system generates a sensitive luminescent readout.
A high-sensitivity stopped-flow EPR system to monitor millisecond conformational kinetics in spin-labeled proteins.
Garces AM, Mett RR, Klug CS, Sidabras JW, Lerch MT.
Protein Sci. 2025 Aug;34(8):e70214.
doi: 10.1002/pro.70214.
PMID: 40671309.
A high-sensitivity stopped-flow EPR system to monitor rapid conformational changes in spin-labeled proteins (millisecond kinetic transitions).
Assignment-Free Determination of Ligand Binding Sites in Proteins by Solid-State NMR.
Somberg NH, Sučec I, Hong M.
J Am Chem Soc. 2025 Jul 19.
doi: 10.1021/jacs.5c06493. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40682785.
Assignment‑free ss-NMR workflow => ligand binding sites without full sequential resonance assignments.
13C–19F 2D spectra are recorded by residue classes and fit to known protein structures to triangulate ligand positions.
Application to the small transporter EmrE yields binding poses.
Sonication-assisted protein extraction improves proteomic detection of membrane-bound and DNA-binding proteins from tumor tissues.
Li QK, Lih TM, Clark DJ, Chen L, Schnaubelt M, Zhang H.
Nat Protoc. 2025 Aug;20(8):2083-2099.
doi: 10.1038/s41596-024-01113-9. Epub 2025 Feb 17.
PMID: 39962197.
Addition of a controlled sonication step to tumor‑tissue significantly boosts detection of membrane‑bound and DNA‑binding proteins and phosphopeptides.
The protocol details buffers, sonication cycles, instrument settings, and troubleshooting.
SIMPLEX Enriches Hydrophobic and Lipidated Proteins in Membrane Proteomics Experiments.
Li T, Wenger A, Coman C, Borutzki C, Kreutz MR, Ahrends R.
Proteomics. 2025 Aug 8:e70016.
doi: 10.1002/pmic.70016. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40776855.
SIMPLEX = preprocessing strategy that enriches hydrophobic and lipidated proteins to improve membrane proteomics.
By tailored extraction/partitioning, it increases recovery of low‑solubility species that are often under‑represented.
Illustrative Features and Utilities of MPAD: Thermodynamic Database for Membrane Protein-Protein Complexes.
Ridha F, Gromiha MM.
Methods Mol Biol. 2025;2947:341-354.
doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4662-5_20.
PMID: 40728624.
MPAD = a thermodynamic database dedicated to MP / protein complexes. It catalogs stability, binding affinities, and structural features of experimentally characterized complexes.
The database provides visualization tools, case studies, and benchmarking functions.
A Survey of Current Status in AI-Based Topology Prediction of Transmembrane Proteins.
Bathla D, Mishra R, Ahmad S.
Methods Mol Biol. 2025;2947:109-135.
doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4662-5_6.
PMID: 40728610.
This survey reviews AI-based approaches for predicting MP topology.
It compares deep learning architectures, training datasets, and evaluation benchmarks. Strengths and pitfalls of current predictors are discussed, including performance in multi-pass and atypical topologies.
=> highlights future directions for integrating structure prediction with functional annotation.
Optimized Tangential Flow Filtration for Efficient Isolation of Highly Pure and Bioactive sEVs.
Luo L, Du Y, Niu X, Liu J, Yuan J, Xu H, Wang Y, Li H, Li Q.
Anal Chem. 2025 Jul 31.
doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5c03781. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40746027.
Optimization of TFF to isolate highly pure and bioactive small extracellular vesicles sEVs => improvement of yield, purity, and preservation of vesicle function.
Scalable and compatible with downstream molecular analyses.
Monitoring of Bicelles Spreading into Floating Lipid Bilayers.
Bożek J, Dziubak D, Grempka A, Sek S, Brand I.
Langmuir. 2025 Jul 30.
doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.5c02620. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 40734541.
Electrochemical and spectroscopic approaches => study how bicelles spread into floating lipid bilayers by tracking fusion and reorganization events.
Clear Native Gel Electrophoresis for the Purification of Fluorescently Labeled Membrane Proteins in Native Nanodiscs.
Ezsias B, Goessweiner-Mohr N, Siligan C, Horner A, Vargas C, Keller S, Pohl P.
Anal Chem. 2025 Aug 1.
doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5c01702. Online ahead of print.
PMID: 40748368.
Clear native gel electrophoresis for purifying fluorescently labeled MPs embedded in NDs.
The method preserves protein integrity while separating complexes by size and oligomeric state.
Medical and Nonmedical Applications of Synthetic Transmembrane Anion Transporters.
Rathnaweera UMC, Chowdhury SM, Salam R, Busschaert N.
Chem Rev. 2025 Jul 7.
doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.5c00129. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 40622779.
Synthetic transmembrane anion transporters and their applications: chemical design strategies for selective anion binding and translocation.
Biomedical (anticancer, antibacterial, channel replacement) and non-medical uses (materials, sensors) are discussed.
Miscellaneous methods
Underwater glue shows its sticking power in rubber duck test.
Thompson B, Petrić Howe N.
Nature. 2025 Aug 6.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-025-02500-2. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 40770557.
AI => new type of adhesive that can be used underwater.
Inspired by the grip of creatures such as barnacles, the material is capable of securely fastening objects together even when immersed in salty water.
To test their adhesive, the team used it to glue a rubber duck to a rock on the beach, where it stayed stuck firmly, despite being battered by waves, until they chose to remove it.