Biosciences Area researchers and their collaborators have determined how a protein called XPG binds to and reshapes damaged DNA, illuminating its role in averting genetic disease and cancer.
Researchers Create Comprehensive Model of Transcription Preinitiation Complex
Researchers led by Ivaylo Ivanov of Georgia State University have produced a comprehensive model of the human transcription preinitiation complex (PIC), a vital assembly of proteins responsible for regulating gene expression. The new model is the most complete to date and provides mechanistic insights into how mutations affecting one component—human transcription initiation factor IIH, or TFIIH—lead to three inherited genetic diseases. Berkeley Lab Biosciences’ Susan Tsutakawa, a research scientist in Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB), and John Tainer, a professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and visiting faculty in MBIB, were part of the team. Results from this work were recently published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
Berkeley Lab Bioscientists Participate in CASP13
CASP is the Critical Assessment of Protein Structure Predictions, a biannual “competition” to determine which prediction algorithm generates the most accurate model. There are several categories in which models will be assessed, including accuracy, topology, and biological relevance. The SIBYLS beamline is participating to provide small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data for––and judging for the first time––the “data-assisted” category. This CASP competition should lead to improvement in predicting protein-protein interfaces and complex structures.
Researchers ID New Mechanism for Keeping DNA Protein in Line
Using a combination of crystallographic, biochemical, and genetic analyses, Berkeley Lab researchers have shown that the actions of FEN1, an enzyme involved in DNA replication and repair, are guided by electrostatic forces known as phosphate steering. Susan Tsutakawa and John Tainer in the Biosciences Area’s Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Division were the lead and corresponding authors, respectively, on the report published this week in Nature Communications. The work reveals key details of this previously unknown mechanism controlling the specificity of FEN1 in healthy cells and provides new directions for cancer treatment research. Read more from the Berkeley Lab News Center.
WSEC Champions Workplace Improvements
In honor of National Women’s History Month, Berkeley Lab, in this article, looked back at how the Lab’s Women Scientists & Engineers Council (WSEC) got started and what issues it is currently working on. The WSEC is a program of the Lab’s Diversity and Inclusion Office and was founded in 2008 by what longtime members like to call the “founding mothers”—Natalie Roe of the Physics Division, Nancy Brown of the Energy Technologies Area, and Cecilia Aragon, formerly of the Computational Research Division.
At the moment, WSEC board members from Biosciences include Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology Division’s Astrid Terry and Lauren Lui; Susan Tsutakawa of the Molecular Biophysics & Integrative Bioimaging Division currently serves as the committee chair.
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