One of the key questions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic is how prior immunity to related endemic coronaviruses affects the SARS-CoV-2 immune response. In this study, we provide evidence of immunological imprinting in individuals with fatal outcomes from COVID-19, suggesting an antibody profile consistent with an original antigenic sin type-response. Read the paper hereLink opens in a new window.

Cansu Küey’s PhD work was published this week in eLife. Together with Méghane, Gabrielle and Miguel, she showed that clathrin-coated pits can be made to form on intracellular membranes. This phenomenon allowed us to redefine two key concepts in clathrin-coated vesicle formation. First, a scission molecule is not needed to pinch off vesicles inside the cell. Second, that most of the other proteins found in regular clathrin coats are not essential for vesicle formation.

The GibsonGroup, in collaboration with the Sosso Group (chemistry) are investigating how small molecules can inhibit ice recrystallisation - a property more commonly associated with macromolecules, such as ice binding proteins or some polymers. The challenge of the macromolecules is that sequential modification is challenging, and hence structure-property relationships are often missing. Here the team show that phenyl alanine can inhibit ice recrystallisation and that modulation of the hydrophobic face impacts the magnitude of the activity. This work shows that ’small molecule’ approaches can be taken to probe the complex ice/water interface, with the long term goal of finding new molecules to control ice growth.

Read the paper here.

This work answers the mystery surrounding when in evolution did a key class of membrane remodelling factors arise. The collaborative team comprising Balasubramanian (Warwick), Baum (Cambridge), Lowe (Cambridge), Robinson (Lancaster), and Ettema (Wageningen, Netherlands) worked on proteins encoded by Heimdall archaea, thought to be most related to eukaryotes. They found that, contrary to existing dogma, a complex eukaryote-like ESCRT family of membrane remodelling factors were present in archaea and are therefore not eukaryotic inventions. Warwick post-doctoral fellow and first author Hatano “reconstituted” key steps of the process using purified components helping arrive at the conclusions.
Read the paper hereLink opens in a new window.

Research from the University of Warwick sheds new light on a key cause of cancer formation during cell division (or mitosis), and points towards potential solutions for preventing it from occurring.

When we think about embryo growth, we often focus on tissue growth. However, this is not always the case: for example, the nervous system actually shrinks during parts of development. How do tissues condense in size while maintaining mechanical integrity? In recent work from the Saunders lab, with Spanish collaborators Enrique Martin-Blanco and Jose Munoz, they show that the Drosophila nervous system condenses through alternating waves of contraction from the anterior and posterior ends of the embryo. Further, they use the power of Drosophila genetics to reveal that the glial cells provide an essential mechanical support, effectively acting like a compression sock during condensation. This work opens up new avenues to study the mechanobiology of tissues that shrink – such tissues display behaviour very much distinct from growing tissues. Read the paper here.

During development, many organisms initially undergo multiple rounds of nuclei division before cellularisation occurs. Such systems are known as syncytia. Other processes such as muscle formation – which have multiple nuclei in a single cell – are similar.

In syncytia, nuclei distribute in a regular pattern. Yet, how does this occur? Answering this question is important for understanding how life developments and muscles form. In recent work from the Saunders lab, in collaboration with the Telley lab at the Gulbenkian Institute in Portugal, they used quantitative measurements to unravel how the nuclei regularly position in the fruit fly syncytium. They took advantage of explants – whereby material is removed from the egg and imaged – to reveal that are repulsive interactions between microtubules (rod like structures) in the syncytia. They used modelling and experimental tests to show that these repulsive interactions drive the ordering of the nuclei.

Read the paper here.

In collaboration with groups at UMass Med School, Smith College and Morehouse University, we have developed a reporter mouse generated by modification of a widely expressed and highly rhythmic gene encoding D-site albumin promoter binding protein (Dbp). In this line of mice, firefly luciferase is expressed from the Dbp locus in a Cre recombinase-dependent manner, allowing assessment of bioluminescence rhythms in specific cellular populations. Our studies reveal cell-type-specific characteristics of rhythms among neuronal populations and liver cells. Our model allowed assessment of the rate of recovery from circadian misalignment once animals were provided with food ad libitum. These studies confirm the previously demonstrated circadian misalignment following environmental perturbations and reveal the utility of this model for minimally invasive, longitudinal monitoring of rhythmicity from specific mouse tissues.

Read the paper here.

The Perrier Lab have just published a new study in Angewandte Chemie which shows how polymeric nanotubes can be designed to switch their fluorescence on as they deliver a commercial anticancer drug (doxorubicin), thereby permitting the in-situ visualization of drug release. By this method, we can both treat a cancer tumour and show where the tumour is located. These theranostic systems (from therapeutic and diagnostic) form a new approach to drug delivery.

Read the paper here.