The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) is a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) that covered biological, physical, and social sciences. 

 

Structure matters over sequence for cys-loop cell receptors

Professors Gisela D. Cyme and Claudio Grosman stand side by side in lab.
Cells communicate with each other by sending, receiving, and decoding signals. Signals that cannot cross the cell membrane directly – such as ions, water-soluble small molecules, and peptides – need to be detected by receptor proteins on the cell’s outer surface.

Researchers study how biotin affects mycobacteria growth

John Cronan
Alumni Professor of MicrobiologyJohn E. Cronan at the University of Illinois recently published work on the biotin synthesis pathway and its role in mycobacterium and tuberculosis. Cronan’s lab primarily works on lipid metabolism and fatty acid synthesis. In his recent publication, Cronan takes a...

Protruding actin microspikes mend failing adhesive contacts

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Epithelial cells use an adhesion molecule known as E-cadherin to help build extensive cell-cell adhesive contacts leading to cohesive sheets of cells that separate two different environments. But what happens if the adhesive bonds holding the cells together fail? CDB researchers John Li, Vivian...

New cryo-EM structures of a lipid-sensitive ligand-gated ion channel

New cryo-EM structures of a lipid-sensitive ligand-gated ion channel
In biology, it is generally believed that a protein’s sequence determines its structure, which in turn determines its function. However, in the case of membrane proteins, the reality is more complicated than this simple statement. “In recent years, the importance of a protein’s local environment...