Scientists from Russia, UK, Spain, Brazil, Japan, and Austria discovered the essential set of enzymes that allows glowing fungi to emit light. The bioluminescent system includes a brand- new luciferase and three enzymes that enable biosynthesis of fungal luciferin from a widespread metabolite – caffeic acid – as well as its recycling. The genes encoding this “caffeic acid cycle” make up a unique molecular toolkit that allows to turn any higher organism into a glowing one. The work was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Professor Kurt Wüthrich, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 2002, visited Shemyakin–Ovchinnikov Institute of bioorganic chemistry RAS and took part in the workshop of the Structural biology department of the Institute (headed by Prof. Alexander Arseniev).

The researchers from Laboratory of molecular bases of embryogenesis recently hypothesised that the decrease of limb regeneration capacity in amniotes (reptiles, birds and mammals) could be caused by elimination in evolution of genes, encoding for important regulators of specific wound epithelium and blastema organization, which are used by excellent regenerating anamniotes (fish and amphibia). Using two anamniotic model organisms Danio rerio adult fishes and Xenopus laevis tadpoles the authors have shown the essential role of Ras-dva small GTPases in regulation of these processes, meanwhile their genes are eliminated in a stepwise manner during evolution till total absence in placental mammals. The obtained results support the hypothesis. The investigation is published in Scientific reports.

The meeting will take place on December 13 at 11:00 in the Minor hall. Talks will be presented by scientists from Russia, Canada, Finland, and Germany; the program is available on the IBCh website. Everyone is cordially invited.

Prof. Igor Roninson from University of South Carolina will deliver a lecture entitled «CDK8/19: a druggable mediator of transcriptional reprogramming». Date and time: Mon 17 December 2018 11:00. Location: Conference hall at 3rd floor BON IBCh.

Prof. Zhang Shuguang from MIT will deliver a lecture entitled «The QTY Code: A tool for designing detergent-free membrane proteins». Date and time: Mon 24 December 2018 15:00. Location: Conference hall at 3rd floor BON IBCh.