Luke Chao

Ancestral sequence reconstruction of the Mic60 Mitofilin domain reveals residues supporting respiration in yeast In eukaryotes, cellular respiration takes place in the cristae of mitochondria. The mitochondrial inner membrane protein Mic60, a core component of the mitochondrial contact site and cristae organizi...

Out in print! Using ancestral sequence reconstruction 🦖, in vivo characterization, and 🔬 analysis, we identified key residues in the mitochondrial protein #Mic60 that affect #respiration in #yeast.

Since the preprint, we added some cool findings. 🧵⬇️

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

I’m thrilled to share that I will join @stowersinstitute.bsky.social this fall to explore the evolution and design of bioenergetic membranes in bacteria.

Meet Friederike Benning, PhD, the newest Jim and Virginia Stowers Fellow! Her research dives into the complexity of energy generation in evolution to reveal how bacteria build membranes to survive in extreme environments. 🦠

Learn more: bit.ly/3SCZQiM

Congrats Chen and colleagues (with shoutout to @myfry.bsky.social for connecting our labs)! JCI - SARM1 loss protects retinal ganglion cells in a mouse model of Autosomal Dominant Optic Atrophy www.jci.org/articles/vie...

The aPBP-type cell wall synthase PBP1b plays a specialized role in fortifying the Escherichia coli division site against osmotic rupture A multi-protein system called the divisome promotes bacterial division. This apparatus synthesizes the peptidoglycan (PG) cell wall layer that forms the daughter cell poles and protects them from osmo...

It has been coming a long way... happy to share our latest work with you: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Here, we show the importance of septal fortification by the Class A Penicillin Binding Protein, PBP1b, in E. coli and provide a molecular mechanism for this function. (1/12).

Ancestral sequence reconstruction of the Mic60 Mitofilin domain reveals residues supporting respiration in yeast - preLights In this preprint the structure-function relationship at the site of cellular respiration is under review.

A new #preLight has appeared! ✨🔔

Barbora highlights a preprinted study from the Chao Lab (@lukechao.bsky.social) in which the structure-function relationship at the site of cellular respiration is under review. 👀

Check it out! ⬇️

prelights.biologists.com/highlights/a...

Great summary of our recent preprint by Barbora from @prelights.bsky.social. #mitochondria #cristae #respiration #asr

Ancestral sequence reconstruction of the Mic60 Mitofilin domain reveals residues supporting respiration in yeast In eukaryotes, cellular respiration takes place in the cristae of mitochondria. The mitochondrial inner membrane protein Mic60, a core component of the mitochondrial contact site and cristae organizin...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Loss of SARM1 protects against retinal ganglion cell degeneration in Autosomal Dominant Optic Atrophy Autosomal Dominant Optic Atrophy (ADOA), the most prevalent inherited optic neuropathy, leads to retinal ganglion cell (RGC) degeneration and vision loss. ADOA is primarily caused by mutations in the ...

Excited to share our collaborative work characterizing a pathogenic mutation in Opa1 found in ADOA patients that began when Tom Schwarz
@BostonChildrens
presented a seminar
@MGHMolBio
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@lukechao.bsky.social

Identification of SLC25A46 interaction interfaces with mitochondrial membrane fusogens Opa1 and Mfn2 Mitochondrial fusion requires the sequential merger of four bilayers to two. The outer-membrane solute carrier protein SLC25A46 interacts with both th…

Congrats to Siva Boopathy and team: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Prominin 1 and Tweety Homology 1 both induce extracellular vesicle formation

Happy to see our work out in
@elife.bsky.social ! Lead by Tristan Bell and team. #EVs doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

Helical reconstruction of VP39 reveals principles for baculovirus nucleocapsid assembly - Nature Com... Baculoviruses are used as insecticides, gene therapy tools, and protein production vectors. Here, the authors report the structure of the Autographa californica MNPV nucleocapsid and its fold conserva...

How do baculoviruses protect their genome?

Delighted to present our findings in print!

We use cryo-EM to determine the structure of a baculoviral nucleocapsid. We show how the tiny capsid protein VP39 assembles into a giant nucleocapsid.❄️🔬

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Excited to see Freddy's paper out in print!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Great way to ring in the New Year from Siva Boopathy and colleagues:

Identification of SLC25A46 interaction interfaces with mitochondrial membrane fusogens Mfn2 and Opa1 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...