Institute of
bioorganic chemistry

Researchers from IBCh RAS, as part of an international collaboration, have elucidated how the endogenous polyamine spermine blocks the calcium-selective TRPV6 ion channel, which is hyperactive in prostate, breast, and pancreatic cancers. Using a combination of cryo-EM, molecular modeling, electrophysiology, and site-directed mutagenesis, it was shown that spermine enters the open TRPV6 pore in a stepwise manner and physically occludes it like a “plug”. These findings advance our understanding of calcium homeostasis regulation under both physiological conditions and in cancer. The study was supported by the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education (computational modeling) and published in Nature Communications. Learn more

Researchers from the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry at the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry as part of an international collaboration, have published two papers in The FEBS Journal confirming the role of the CPH enzyme in the fungal bioluminescence pathway. The team showed that this enzyme breaks down oxyluciferin into caffeic and pyruvic acids. Caffeic acid then returns to the bioluminescent system and helps sustain light emission. This metabolite recycling mechanism helps explain how fungi maintain bioluminescence and may reduce the energetic cost of the process. The findings open up new opportunities for developing more efficient autonomous bioluminescent systems, with potential applications in medicine, biotechnology, agriculture, and environmental monitoring. Learn more

Researchers from the Alexander Mishin, Tatiana Mityushkina and Ilia Yampolsky laboratories at the Shemyakin–Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, working in an international collaboration, have introduced a system that makes it possible to non-invasively monitor the activity of two key plant defence signalling pathways in living plants: the salicylic acid and jasmonic acid pathways. The authors created plant lines expressing autoluminescent reporters, allowing the plant to emit light only at the time and in the tissues where defence mechanisms against pathogens and pests are activated. The work was published in Nature Communications. Learn more

Researchers from the Department of Genomics and Postgenomic Technologies at the State Research Center Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Department of Regenerative Medicine at Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University have shown that the ag1 gene, an important regulator of regeneration in amphibians that was lost in all amniotes, including reptiles, birds, and mammals, during evolution, can accelerate skin wound healing when introduced into the mouse genome. Activation of this gene in transgenic mice was found to trigger molecular programs associated with regeneration-biased and scar- reduced tissue repair. These findings open new perspectives for fundamental research in tissue regeneration and repair. The results are published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. Learn more

Viruses often use non-standard mechanisms to translate their mRNAs, which makes it possible to suppress the translation of cellular mRNAs and capture the entire cellular translation apparatus for the synthesis of viral proteins. In a paper published in Nucleic Acids Research, the authors from IBCh and colleagues from the Justus Liebig University (Germany) found that picornaviruses from the genus of cardioviruses (for example, encephalomyocarditis virus, EMCV) have two structures similar to glycyl tRNA in the 5’ and 3’ untranslated regions of mRNA. It has been shown that these elements bind glycyl tRNA synthetase (GARS), and this is necessary for efficient translation of viral mRNA. The interaction of the GARS dimer with 5’ and 3'HTO is likely to cause mRNA cyclization.