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News | 2020.03.27
The cooperativity mécanisms between DNA polymerase D and PCNA deciphered
Replicative DNA polymerases have evolved the ability to copy the genome with high processivity and fidelity. In Eukarya and Archaea, their processivity is greatly enhanced by binding to the proliferative cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) that encircles the DNA. By using an integrative approach which combines cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography, the Unit of Structural Dynamics...
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News | 2020.07.16
Gene therapy : Cas9 generates unexpected deletions
Triplet repeat expansions are responsible for more than two dozen neurological and developmental disorders. Shortening these repeats with endonucleases could become a viable option for patients affected with neurodegenerative disorders. Researchers from Institut Pasteur previously showed that a TALEN was very efficient for that use. They now show that Cas9 generates unexpected large chromosomal...
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News | 2020.03.05
The organization of mesenchymal stromal cells elucidated
Cells in vivo organize into 3D structures that underlie the shape and mechanics of tissues, as well as their biological function. Researchers mapped how mesenchymal stromal cells organize into organoids, by building a multiscale description based on massive single-cell data from microfluidic experiments. They found that cells organize into a core-shell structure that couples their level of...
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News | 2021.05.03
New Edition of the Emerging & Re-emerging Viruses MOOC
Free et Self-pacedEmerging and re-emerging viruses are key players among the different pathogens that have caused recent epidemics, as attested by several severe outbreaks affecting humans such as Ebola, chikungunya, influenza, Zika, dengue, SARS and MERS or outbreaks attacking animals such as rabies and bluetongue disease.This MOOC aims to provide a fundamental knowledge about the different...
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News | 2020.10.17
Cancer: Alternative NHEJ, a potential target
Ludovic Deriano’s Unit studied cells mutated for NHEJ, the canonical repair pathway for DNA double-strand break. The researchers showed that those transformed cells rely on alternative repair activities (alternative NHEJ) to survive DNA damage induced, in non-cycling (a state where the cell stops growing and dividing) G1 conditions. This alternative repair pathway represents an attractive target...
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News | 2021.02.22
How is the embryonic thymus microenvironment shaped ?
The Lymphopoiesis Unit identified within the first cells that seed the thymus a unique population of lymphoid progenitors. These cells can generate lymphoid tissue inducer or invariant T cells, two cell types that are critical in the immune system. They are required to ensure thymic medullary epithelial cell maturation and negative selection, at birth. These results highlight the relevance of a...
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News | 2020.03.19
Discovery of numerous potential open reading frames in the Cryptococcus genome
Gene structure, including the transcript leader, is very diverse in fungi. New sequencing data analysis from the RNA Biology of Fungal Pathogens unit revealed that in the pathogenic yeasts Cryptococcus, the transcript leader sequence are rich in potential upstream Open Reading Frames, which regulate both gene expression and protein diversity.Pathogenic Cryptococcus species are responsible for...
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News | 2020.10.24
GABAA receptors undergo asymmetric motions
α1β2γ2 GABAA receptors mediate most inhibitory synaptic transmission in the brain, and are the target of widely used therapeutic drugs such as benzodiazepines. Upon activation by the neurotransmitter, they undergo activation and desensitization transitions. Researchers from the Channel Receptors Unit showed that they undergo asymmetric motions during desensitization, with potential implications...
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News | 2020.08.04
Malaria: parasite resistance to artemisinin now found in Africa
Resistance to artemisinin, the main component of current antimalarial treatments recommended by WHO, is widespread in South-East Asia, but has not been described in Africa. In a study published in 2020, scientists from the Institut Pasteur, in collaboration with the NMCP in Rwanda, the WHO and Columbia University provided for the first time evidence of the de novo emergence of Pfkelch13-mediated...
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News | 2020.02.08
Exposure of Anopheles mosquitoes to trypanosomes reduces reproductive fitness and enhances susceptibility to Plasmodium
In nature, female mosquitoes take successive blood meals during which they are exposed to a variety of microbes present in the host. In Africa, Trypanosoma parasites, causing trypanosomiases, are sympatric with the malaria parasites. In recent work, we showed that pre-exposure of Anopheles mosquitoes to Trypanosoma enhances their vector competence to malaria parasites, reduces their reproductive...
