Seminario Impartido por Eva Nogales, de la UC Berkeley
Structural biology plays a critical role in our mechanistic understanding of cellular processes. The development and use of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is revolutionizing the study of large, flexible, and/or transient complexes, providing invaluable insights into their mode of action. I will summarize the principles behind single particle cryo-EM and illustrate its power with the historical example of the assembly and functioning of the human transcription pre-initiation complex, and with more recent results on the regulation of the epigenetic gene silencer PRC2. Impressive as cryo-EM in its single particle implementation is, certain biological questions requiring structural data escape its reach. I will introduce the principles behind the use of cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET), a sister technique that can tackle the most recalcitrant samples. I will talk about the interplay between cryo-EM and cryo-ET, and finish with examples from the recent literature that illustrate the promise of cryo-ET to create structural depictions of macromolecules inside the cell itself.
Fecha del seminario: 09/07/2024 12:00
Lugar del seminario: salón de actos IQF
Ponente del seminario: Eva Nogales
