Heme, an iron-containing cofactor, is synthesized in mitochondria by an eight-enzyme pathway. Although cells were thought to manage heme autonomously, more than 1000 proteins contribute to its product...

Peptidases are indispensable tools in biotechnology and chemical biology. However, the enzyme repertoire for the selective hydrolysis of dl-amide bonds in peptides is small. Here, we describe novel dl...

imageimageMacrophages play critical roles in the homeostatic control systems that maintain vital parameters within physiological ranges. This study characterizes how mouse monocyte-derived macrophages...

Nature Communications - The communication hinge, found in type IV ABC transporters, forms a bidirectional communication between ATP- and substrate-binding sites. This is an unexplored allosteric...

Jaundice is a common presentation of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, which arises from the accumulation of circulating bilirubin. It is not understood whether it represents an adaptive or maladaptive r...

A deep mapping of the human zinc-binding cysteine proteome (ZnCPT) defines thousands of zinc-binding protein cysteines across major domains of biology and discovers glutathione reductase as zinc-targe...

A brief history of the Red Cell Club

Metal ions are essential for all life. In microbial cells, potassium (K+) is the most abundant cation and plays a key role in maintaining osmotic balance. Magnesium (Mg2+) is the dominant divalent cation and is required for nucleic acid structure and as an enzyme cofactor. Microbes typically require the transition metals manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn), although the precise set of metal ions needed to sustain life is variable. Intracellular metal pools can be conceptualized as a chemically complex mixture of rapidly exchanging (labile) ions, complemented by those reservoirs that exchange slowly relative to cell metabolism (sequestered). Labile metal pools are buffered by transient interactions with anionic metabolites and macromolecules, with the ribosome playing a major role. Sequestered metal pools include many metalloproteins, cofactors, and storage depots, with some pools redeployed upon metal depletion. Here, I review the size, composition, and dynamics of intracellular metal pools and highlight the major gaps in understanding.

A Tale of Two Retired Scientists and Some Rope

Iron sustains cancer cell phenotypic and metabolic plasticity, yet it also sensitizes the mesenchymal/drug-tolerant persister phenotype to ferroptosis. This posits that iron compartmentalization must ...

Is Bluesky any better than X? It certainly seems to be better than Threads.