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Protein sensor turns itself inside out and back again

Research

New research has uncovered the molecular details of how bacteria deal with oxidative stress.

None © Mark Buttner, John Innes Centre
Streptomyces colonies

Colin Kleanthous in the Department of Biochemistry, in collaboration with Jennifer Potts at the University of York and colleagues in Oxford, have elucidated the structure and dynamic behaviour of a key protein in a stress-response pathway, revealing a new way in which stress sensors in general may function. Their work has been published in Nature Communications (The anti-sigma factor RsrA responds to oxidative stress by reburying its hydrophobic core. Rajasekar KV, Zdanowski K, Yan J, Hopper JTS, Francis M-LR, Seepersad C, Sharp C, Pecqueur L, Werner JM, Robinson CV, Mohammed S, Potts JR and Kleanthous C. (2016) Nat. Commun. 7:12194 doi:10.1038/ncomms12194).

Read more (Department of Biochemistry website)

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