Basavraj Khanppnavar

Awesome stuff. Congratulations 🎊

Happy to finally share the amazing results of our long-term collaboration with Karin Reinisch’s lab on how bridge lipid-transfer proteins (BLTPs) cooperate with partner proteins to orchestrate lipid delivery. A quick thread (1/7)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Wonderful stuff. Congratulations 🎊

The best cover🥰, paired cats & paired helical filaments.

CryoET tomogram with the gap junction (green), ribosomes (cyan) and microtubules (pink)

In our latest preprint on bioRxiv, we present the in situ structure of
the human gap junction at 14 Å resolution using cryo-ET.

The structure provides a blueprint for investigating how connexin
regulation shapes intercellular communication in health and disease.

Antibody–Drug Conjugate Stability Probed by Variable-Temperature Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry Antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) are effective anticancer biotherapeutics, often referred to as “magic bullets” due to their high specificity and cytotoxicity. This unique drug class consists of cytoto...

Ever wondered how stable your ADCs are and how their stability is influenced by their drug-load?

Variable-temperature electrospray ionization can help with that!

Jan Fiala’s and my postdoc work in the lab of @hecklab.bsky.social was just published! 🥳🥳🥳

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

1/3

Structures of native SV2A reveal the binding mode for tetanus neurotoxin and anti-epileptic racetams - Nature Communications SV2A, an essential membrane protein in neurotransmission, is known as the receptor of clostridial neurotoxins and target of anti-epileptic drugs. Here the authors show details of the binding site for ...

I am delighted to share our findings on the binding mode of tetanus neurotoxin and the anti-epileptic drug Levetiracetam to SV2A, an essential synaptic vesicle membrane protein of unknown function, now online in @NatComms.bsky.social
 
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#CryoEM #structure of the botulinum neurotoxin A/SV2B complex and its implications for translocation. @NatureComms Check this #membrane #protein in the UniTmp database: https://pdbtm.unitmp.org/entry/9f1r

Credit: Margot Riggi (@margotriggi.bsky.social), Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry (@mpibiochem.bsky.social)

Asgard archaea have actin - but what about microtubules? Where do they come from? 🧐 Our new paper www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... by @xujwet.bsky.social & @florianwollweber.bsky.social, in collaboration with the Schleper & Wieczorek labs, describes tiny Asgard microtubules! #TeamTomo #ArchaeaSky 1/6

Molecular Snapshots Unravel Botox’s Secrets of Nerve Cell Entry - BioPatrika Researcher Spotlight - In our study, we demonstrate for the first time the existence of large conformational changes in Botox and explain their purpose.

Delighted to share #AuthorInterview with @biopatrika.bsky.social were we discuss on recent findings on Botox.
biopatrika.com/academia/res...

Screenshot of 2d ligand environment view, 1x8b 4dfr, 2vtq, 2p4y

Coot 1.1.14 has been released!

Coming to homebrew and flatpak soon!

- Clark & Labute comes to Coot 1, Moorhen & chapi!
(svg, 2D ligand environment view)
- Solid Symmetry (symmetry that you can see!)
- PAE plot for AlphaFold models
#coot
#molmatinf

Awesome stuff 👏

Mutant tau filaments from some inherited frontotemporal dementias show the Alzheimer fold Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Frontotemporal dementias can be caused by mutations in MAPT, which encodes the protein tau; the mutant protein forms harmful aggregates in the brain....

Happy to share our latest publication on
@naturesmb.bsky.social Natural Structure & Molecular Biology, we show tau filaments show Alzheimer fold in mutants V337M and R406W.
thanks @sjorsscheres.bsky.social and Michel Goedert's support. 🥳
rdcu.be/edqzW
rdcu.be/edoGv

Very proud of our new review article on the Beta 1-Adrenergic GPCR now available on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1....
With @saureli.bsky.social @valeriorizzi.bsky.social and Nicola we used OneOPES to fully converge the free energy landscapes associated with B1AR apo/holo activation.

Natural behaviour is learned through dopamine-mediated reinforcement - Nature Studies in zebra finches show that dopamine has a key role as a reinforcement signal in the trial-and-error process of learning that underlies complex natural behaviours.

Nature research paper: Natural behaviour is learned through dopamine-mediated reinforcement

https://go.nature.com/3XMKATn

Bad romance: male octopuses inject deadly venom into their mates The paralysing toxin deployed by the male blue-lined octopus might help to protect him from being eaten.

Male blue-lined octopuses inject females with venom during mating to avoid being eaten by their partners

https://go.nature.com/3FqtOU4

Side view of the structure of a monomer of type II Wadjet.

Happy to share the beautiful structure of a Wadjet SMC complex by @roisnehamelinf.bsky.social, with support from the DCI and @drhonsworth.bsky.social ! This is a type II Wadjet with unique characteristics including a tandem KITE subunit, distinct coiled coil architecture and a deviant hinge.

Well said!!. I totally support this. As a collaborator or teamate and co coauthor, it's also our responsibility to ensure quality of Science in every publication we publish as coauthor. #SaveScienceFromJunk

Hey kiddos. Don’t forget to filter your buffers and samples (any cut off is better than no cutoff) or use an inline filter on your systems!

We have deposited the following mice (all B6/J backcrossed) to @mmrrc.bsky.social
Adgrf5-EGFP-CT-IRES-CRE
GPR123- EGFP-CT-IRES-CRE
GPR124- EGFP-CT-IRES-CRE
GPR125- EGFP-CT-IRES-CRE
Gpr133-EGFP-CT-IRES-CRE
GPR156-IRES-Cre
GPR156-mGL-IRES-Cre
GPR75-IRES-Cre

The paper by @BasurajSK, Oneda Leka, Pal Sushant, @KorkhovLab, and Richard Kammerer (@psich_en), published in @NatureComms provides molecular insights in botulinum neurotoxin recognition and pH-dependent conformational transitions relevant to its mechanism of action. biol.ethz.ch/en/news-and-...

graphical abstracty of the study

Symbiotic #bacteria ride along with single-celled #protists in ocean's upper layer phys.org/news/2025-02...

#Symbionts of predatory protists are widespread in the oceans and related to animal pathogens www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Cryo-EM structure of the botulinum neurotoxin A/SV2B complex and its implications for translocation pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39934119/ #cryoEM

These mechanisms explain why one of the deadliest toxins is also a highly successful therapeutic protein.

After endocytosis, the acidification of the vesicle lumen acts as a signal for Botox to adopt It only adopt translocation-competent state and to enter the host cytosol.

The Botox in free state is highly dynamic, but upon binding to SV2B receptor, it attains an open conformation, preventing premature entry into the host cell.

This work highlights how biological toxins—one of nature’s most finely evolved molecules—function with sophistication and accuracy. They can inspire the development of new innovative tools & therapeutics. #Science #Evolution #Technology

Here is the press release where senior authors (Vladimir & Richard) @KorkhovLab share their insights.
www.sciena.ch/de/research/...
I’m excited to add my personal perspective via this thread below! #Leadership #TeamWork #Opinions

SV2 proteins are fascinating orphan #transporters of the SLC22 family, serving as receptor for antiepileptic #drugs and Botox. One random day, I had a brief chat with Oneda (an expert on Botox), which led to this beautiful collaborative work between the Korkhov and Kammerer groups.

This study builds after our seminal work on OCT3, where we solved the first structure of an #SLC22 transporter. After this work, I became interested in studying other SLC22 family transporters, particularly non-canonical members like SV2.