Cell Dynamics

Introduction

A microtubule motor protein is important for the organisation of the actin cytoskeleton in the Drosophila female germline. Aberrant "blobs" of filamentous actin can be found in oocytes without the motor protein Kinesin-1. Each Z section is colour coded

Chromosome Biology and Cytoskeletal Networks

Our research is focussed upon fundamental cellular processes that underpin normal cellular homeostasis and are perturbed in specific diseases. Our research questions aim to understand the biophysics of cells during development, the role of nutrition and epigenetics in developmental plasticity and determine the mechanisms by which chromosomes are segregated during cell division.

We also exploit the DNA repair capacity of parasites to aid their eradication and determine the fundamental basis of cellular aging and memory. We have expertise using a wide range of model systems including human cells, drosophila, bees, trypanosomes and yeast and interact with a number of industrial partners including Exscientia™, Carl Zeiss™, MSD™, Sosei Heptares™, Abcam™, Imsol™, SunRegen™ and Singer Instruments™.

Photosynthesis, Bioenergetics and Microbial Physiology

Our research focuses on the chloroplasts of plants, algae and diatoms, their free-living relatives the cyanobacteria, and other prokaryotes. We explore the regulation of photosynthetic light-harvesting and electron transport, light perception and responses and prokaryotic cell biology and physiology. We aim to understand the dynamic processes occurring in bacteria and in eukaryotic organelles using approaches ranging from molecular dynamics simulations to imaging by fluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy, combined with spectroscopy, biochemistry and molecular genetics. We have links with industrial concerns including Opti-Sciences Inc and Heinz Walz GmbH.

Simulation of the interaction of light with a single 3 micron cell of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6803 showing how the cell acts as a microlens

Movement of cells of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6803 in response to light.

Staff
Funding
Publications

Staff

Researcher	Title	Department	Research Interests
Bessant, Prof Conrad	Professor of Bioinformatics	Biochemistry	Bioinformatics, Proteomics, Metabolomics, Software development, Data integration
Draviam, Prof Viji	Professor of Quantitative Cell and Molecular Biology, Director of Industrial Innovation	Biochemistry	Video Microscopy, Cell division, Cancer Biology, Aneuploidy, Human cell biology
Duffy, Dr Christopher	Lecturer in Cellular and Molecular Biology	Biochemistry	Light-harvesting, Photosynthesis, Computational Biology, Molecular physics, Xanthophylls
Engl, Dr Christoph	Lecturer in Microbiology	Biochemistry	Molecular cell biology, Bacterial adaptation, Ribosome function, Bacterial plant-growth promotion, Single-cell & single-molecule imaging
Hanke, Dr Guy	Senior Lecturer in Plant Cell and Molecular Biology	Biochemistry	Photosynthesis, Electron transport, Protein-protein interaction, Cell biology, Synthetic biology
Mullineaux, Prof Conrad	Professor of Microbiology, Head of Cell and Molecular Biology Department	Biochemistry	Photosynthesis, Electron transport, Cyanobacteria, Fluorescence imaging, Membrane dynamics, Bacterial cell biology
Ojkic, Dr Nikola	Lecturer in Microbiology	Biochemistry	Bacterial cell shape and size control, antibiotic resistance
Palacios, Dr Isabel	Lecturer in Cell Biology	Biochemistry	Cell biophysical function of cytoskeletal forces, Proteins during germline development
Ruban, Prof Alexander	Professor in Biophysics	Biochemistry	Photosynthesis, Light harvesting, Light adaptation memory, Structural dynamics, Genetics
Subramanian, Dr Lakxmi	Lecturer in Biochemistry / Physiology	Biochemistry	Centromeres, Chromatin, Chromosome segregation, Kinetochores, Yeast genetics
Thorpe, Dr Peter	Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry	Biochemistry	Yeast genetics, Genomics, Chromosome segregation, Kinetochores

Funding

Our research receives financial support from:

Publications

N. Ojkic, D. Serbanescu, S. Banerjee: “Antibiotic resistance via bacterial cell shape-shifting”, mBio, 13 (3), e00659-22 (2022)

G. Benn, I. Mikheyeva, P. Inns, J. Forster, N Ojkic, C. Bortolini, M. Ryadnov, C. Kleanthous, T. Silhavy, B. Hoogenboom, “Phase separation in the outer membrane of Escherichia coli”, PNAS, 118, 44 (2021)

S. Banerjee, K. Lo, N. Ojkic, R. Stephens, N. F. Scherer, A. R. Dinner, “Mechanical feedback promotes bacterial adaptation to antibiotics”, Nature Phys, 17, 403-409 (2021)

Engl C, Jovanovic G, Brackston RD, Kotta-Loizou I & Buck M. The route to transcription initiation determines the mode of transcriptional bursting in bacteria. Nature Commun 11: 1-11 (2020).

Mahbub M, Hemm L, Yang Y, Kaur R, Carmen H, Engl C, Huokko T, Riediger M, Watanabe S, Liu L-N, Wilde A, Hess W, Mullineaux CW. mRNA localisation, reaction centre biogenesis and thylakoid membrane targeting in cyanobacteria. Nature Plants 6: 1179-1191 (2020).

Schorsch M, Kramer K, Goss T, Eisenhut M, Robinson N, Osman D, Wilde A, Sadaf S, Brückler H, Walder L, Scheibe R, Hase T, Hanke G (2018) A unique ferredoxin acts as a novel player in the low iron response of photosynthetic organisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

Francis D, Chanana B, Fernandez B, Gordon B, Mak T, Palacios IM (2018). YAP/Yorkie in the germline modulates the age-related decline of germline stem cells and niche cells. PLoS One

Wojciechowski M, Lowe R, Maleszka J, Conn D, Maleszka R, Hurd J (2018). Phenotypically distinct female castes in honey bees are defined by alternative chromatin states during larval development. Genome Research

Balevičius V, Fox K, Bricker W, Jurinovich S, Prandi I, Mennucci B, Duffy C (2017). Fine control of chlorophyll-carotenoid interactions defines the functionality of light-harvesting proteins in plants. Scientific Reports

Sacharz J, Giovagnetti V, Ungerer P, Mastrioanni G, Ruban A (2017). The xanthophyll cycle affects reversible PsbS-LHCII interactions to control non-photochemical quenching. Nature Plants

Schlissel G, Krzyzanowski M, Caudron F, Barral Y, Rine J (2017). Aggregation of the Whi3 protein, not loss of heterochromatin, causes sterility in old yeast cells. Science

Drechsler M, Giavazzi F, Cerbino R, Palacios I (2017). Active diffusion and advection in Drosophila oocytes result from the interplay of actin and microtubules. Nature Communications

Shrestha R, Conti D, Tamura N, Braun D, Ramalingam R, Cieslinski K, Ries J, Draviam V (2017). Aurora-B kinase pathway controls the lateral to end-on conversion of kinetochore-microtubule attachments in human cells. Nature Communications

Engl C, Schaefer J, Kotta-Loizou I, Buck M (2016). Cellular and molecular phenotypes depending upon the RNA repair system RtcAB in Escherichia coli. Nucleic Acids Research

Schuergers N, Lenn T, Kampmann R, Meissner M, Esteves T, Temerinac-Ott M, Korvink J, Lowe A, Mullineaux C, Wilde A (2016). Cyanobacteria use micro-optics to sense light direction. eLife

Chmeliov J, Gelzinis A, Songaila E, Augulis R, Duffy C, Ruban A, Valkunas L (2016). The nature of self-regulation in photosynthetic light-harvesting antenna. Nature Plants

Berry L, Ólafsson G, Ledesma-Fernández E, Thorpe P (2016). Synthetic protein interactions reveal a functional map of the cell. eLife

Subramanian L, Medina-Pritchard B, Barton R, Spiller F, Kulasegaran‐Shylini R, Radaviciute G, Allshire R, Jeyaprakash A (2016). Centromere localization and function of Mis18 requires Yippee‐like domain‐mediated oligomerization. EMBO Reports

Aksentijević D, McAndrew D, Karlstädt A, Zervou S, Sebag-Montefiore L, Cross R, Douglas G, Regitz-Zagrosek V, Lopaschuk G, Neubauer S, Lygatea C (2014). Cardiac dysfunction and peri-weaning mortality in malonyl-coenzyme A decarboxylase (MCD) knockout mice as a consequence of restricting substrate plasticity. Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology

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