A tale of two HUSH complexes: defending cells against invading retroelements
The HUSH complex preserves genome integrity through epigenetic silencing of invasive retroelements. A new study led by Josh Danac in the Tchasovnikarova lab now describes HUSH2, a related complex that instead represses interferon-stimulated genes. The cell exploits competition between HUSH and HUSH2 to couple...
Opening the tightly linked grass cell wall polymer network leads to improved biomass properties
The grass family provides staple foods for billions of people worldwide, feed for animals, and biomass for the production of bioenergy. Plant biomass is primarily composed of lignin and polysaccharides that crosslink and interact with each other, forming complex and tightly knit cell walls. These networks of wall...
New framework to interrogate the dynamics of the transcriptome and proteome at subcellular resolution will reveal insights into the role of RNA and protein localisation dynamics in disease
A paper published in Nature Methods presents the most comprehensive overview to date of RNA and protein subcellular localisation dynamics.
The research groups of Kathryn Lilley in the Biochemistry Department, Cambridge and Anne Willis from the MRC Toxicology Unit together with colleagues in the Structural...
Engineering trees to be a more efficient and sustainable feedstock for biomass conversion
Ground-breaking experiments performed in the Dupree lab by Paul Dupree and Jan Lyczakowski were essential to understanding the ultrastructural effects of callose addition on the engineered wood in a paper published in Nature Plants.
The Dupree Group and their collaborators have identified genes that regulate the properties of pectin, with their mutants causing pectin to gel as jam in the plant cell wall.