Alexander Belyy

PhD Student – Structural Biology of Actin Filament Assemblies | Werken bij AVL

Are you excited to uncover the molecular mechanisms of actin filament assemblies that drive cell migration using cryo-EM?

Only 1.5 week to apply for this exciting PhD position in my newly established lab at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam: www.werkenbijavl.nl/vacatures/ph...

In our new article, we show how P. aeruginosa, a major cause of chronic respiratory infections in #cysticfibrosis (CF), uses the Type VI Secretion System #T6SS and specific #toxins to eliminate competing bacteria
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
#cryoEM @dshatskiy.bsky.social @jakecolautti.bsky.social

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Thrilled to be one of 12 awardees of the prestigious #ERCStG from the LS1 panel this year! Over the next five years, we’ll study how intracellular bacterial pathogens #Listeria and #Shigella manipulate #actin to spread infection, with the aim of finding ways to stop them. Exciting times ahead!

We bought a nail dryer from Amazon for 20 euro 🙂

Overview of ADD-tagging including ADP-ribosyl cyclase (ADPRC)-catalysed dinucleotide substrate generation and two step chemoenzymatic labelling of target proteins with the flavin transferase ApbE, followed by click chemistry-based functional group attachment.

🚨 preprint 2️⃣ this month: our (purely experimental🧪) venture into #ChemBio
We prouldy present: ADD-tagging of proteins (or "ADDing") —a super convenient enzymatic technique to install click chemistry handles on proteins.
Led by superstar @wahyuwidodo.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A 🧵👇🏽

If u ever had to depict proteins as schematics in papers, u know the dilemma: how to create a pretty “blob”?
If structure ends up big & central, u’ll render it with PyMol et al, but for a truly schematic depiction u want a biorender-style icon, but for YOUR protein.
Think I’ve finally found a way.

Great work by @jakecolautti.bsky.social @dshatskiy.bsky.social Eileen Bates, Nathan P. Bullen & John C. Whitney

#Pseudomonas aeruginosa destroys other #bacteria using #T6SS and its effectors during infection in #cysticfibrosis patients. Here, we determined the #cryo-EM #structure of the effector Ptx2, which depolarizes target bacterial membranes.

Check it out!

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

Structure of the F-tractin-F-actin complex. A new study by Dmitry Shatskiy, Athul Sivan, Roland Wedlich-Söldner @uni-muenster.de, and Alexander Belyy @alexanderbelyy.bsky.social @unigroningen.bsky.social: https://buff.ly/3EIqAur

#Cytoskeleton #StructuralBiology #Biochemistry #Actin

New: Using F-tractin to visualize #actin in living cells? Dmitry Shatskiy, Athul Sivan, Roland Wedlich-Söldner, and Alexander Belyy @alexanderbelyy.bsky.social determined the F-tractin-F-actin structure and showed that this probe is nearly identical to #Lifeact. https://buff.ly/3EIqAur
#cytoskeleton

Many thanks to @dshatskiy.bsky.social, Athul Sivan, and Roland Wedlich-Söldner for the excellent work!

#Actin #Ftractin #Cytoskeleton #Microscopy #StructuralBiology #CryoEM #Science

Finally, based on the structural data, we designed an optimized version of F-tractin. The result? Great labeling and minimal disturbance to actin dynamics! 🚀

These structural results and the biochemical data show that the previously reported differences between these peptides originate from the flexible areas of F-tractin or from differential expression levels, rather than from fundamentally different modes of interaction with F-actin.

Unexpectedly, this binding site is nearly identical to the one of #Lifeact - the most popular probe for visualization of actin in living cells!

Using cryo-EM 🔬, we determined the structure of the F-tractin–F-actin complex at high resolution. We found its specific binding site, which explained its actin-binding properties!

Check out these structural insights! 📸

F-tractin is a small peptide derived from the rat ITPKA protein that binds F-actin. It’s a go-to tool for actin #cytoskeleton visualization in live cells. But… how does it work at the molecular level? 🤔🔍

Are you doing cell #biology? Then, let me guess, you likely stained #actin!

Our @jcb.org article reveals the structure of the popular actin probe F-tractin in complex with F-actin and introduces an optimized version for better imaging! A thread! 👀👇

rupress.org/jcb/article/...

If you think you know everything about enzymes, check this out, we have a surprise for you 😃