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Conversion of one-carbon units generally relies on diffusible carrier molecules in methylotrophs. In a recent PNAS paper, the Vorholt group discovered that methylofuran is tightly bound to the enzyme “formyltransferase/hydrolase complex” and transfers formyl units between two active sites.

Researchers led by Tim Keys in the Aebi group (IMB) teamed up with the Hilvert lab (D-CHAB) to produce a variety of glycosylated proteinaceous nanoparticles. The paper in Nature Communications shows how installing protein glycosylation machinery in the bacterial cytoplasm provides biosynthetic access to diverse glycoprotein structures

The mRNA export receptor Mex67 mediates the selective export of large RNA-protein particles from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. In "JCB", Carina Derrer et al. from the Weis/Dultz group now use quantitative fluorescence microscopy techniques to challenge current models of mRNA export.

Soil-borne vascular pathogens, like Fusarium oxysporum, attack virtually all crops and many natural ecosystems on Earth. A recent “EMBO Journal” manuscript by the Sánchez-Rodríguez group sheds light on the influence of pH on plant growth-defence balance.