Reporter Mo Rocca explores “strokes of genius” in this episode. Among those he interviews is Jennifer Doudna, faculty scientist in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division. The co-discoverer of the CRISPR gene-editing technology does not consider herself a genius, but rather thinks teams are more productive than individuals. Rocca also interviews internet pioneer Vint Cerf and musician Wynton Marsalis. Watch the episode.
Marqusee Recipient of Protein Society Award
Susan Marqusee, faculty scientist in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, will receive the Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award, sponsored by Genentech, which is granted in recognition of exceptional contributions in protein science that profoundly influence our understanding of biology. Marqusee, a biophysical chemist whose work focuses on protein folding and dynamics, is one of the world’s top experimental scientists in the field of protein folding.
ALS-ENABLE Helps Decode a Calcium-dependent Switch
The Kv7 family of voltage-gated potassium channels control excitability in the heart, brain, and ear, and harbor mutations associated with arrhythmias, epilepsy, and deafness. A recent study, led by Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) faculty scientist Daniel Minor’s group in the Cardiovascular Research Institute at UCSF, used both diffraction and scattering beamlines of ALS-ENABLE to reveal a universal switch mechanism by which the calcium sensor protein calmodulin controls the action of these channels. The findings, reported in the journal Neuron, provide a key link between Kv7 channel activity and cellular signaling pathways. Greg Hura, a research scientist in MBIB, was also a co-author on the paper. Watch a video detailing the work.
Crucial Surface Intermediate for Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction Identified
Catalytic carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction is an important technology for the production of fuels and chemicals. Mechanistic studies have suggested that both electro- and photocatalytic approaches may share a common intermediate: a carbon dioxide radical anion (CO2–) bound to the catalyst’s surface. Now, using rapid-scan Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy in combination with isotopic labelling, Heinz Frei, a senior scientist in Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB), and colleagues have identified a carbon dioxide dimer radical anion (C2O4–) as the crucial surface intermediate during the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 on copper nanoparticles. Although recent electrochemical investigations have suggested the existence of this one-electron surface intermediate, this study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), provides the first direct experimental evidence. Read more in this Nature Catalysis research highlight.
Scientists Engineer Plants to Thrive on 25% Less Water
Krishna Niyogi, a faculty scientist in Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) and chair of the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at UC Berkeley, identified a protein called Photosystem II Subunit S (PsbS) involved in regulating photosynthetic light harvesting and hypothesized that increasing the amount of this protein in a plant might make photosynthesis more efficient. In collaboration with researchers at University of Illinois, Urbana, he put this theory to the test. In field trials, the researchers found that increasing the expression of the gene for PsbS, which is found in all plants, improved crops’ water-use efficiency—the ratio of carbon dioxide entering the plant to water escaping—by 25 percent, without significantly sacrificing photosynthesis or yields. The extra PsbS protein tricks plants into partially closing their stomata, the microscopic pores in the leaf that allow water to escape. The study, published March 6 in Nature Communications, is part of an international research project, Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), supported in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Read more at UC Berkeley News.
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