Anders Barth

Abstract Nucleocytoplasmic transport occurs via nuclear pore complexes (NPCs), ~40-60 nm wide pores lined with intrinsically disordered proteins that are rich in Phe-Gly motifs (FG-Nups) that form a selective barrier. Molecules larger than ~50 kDa are increasingly blocked for transport unless they are bound to a nuclear transport receptor (NTR). How the amino acid sequence of FG-Nups contribute to this is not fully understood.

Abstract The ParABS system plays a critical role in bacterial chromosome segregation. The key component of this system, ParB, loads and spreads along DNA to form a local protein-DNA condensate known as a partition complex. As bacterial chromosomes are heavily supercoiled due to the continuous action of RNA polymerases, gyrases, and nucleoid-associated proteins, it is important to study the impact of DNA supercoiling on the ParB-DNA partition complex formation.

replying to A. Saurabh et al. Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47733-3 (2024) In their ‘Matters Arising’ manuscript, Saurabh et al. discuss two issues related to single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) experiments: the use of the Gaussian noise approximation and spectral crosstalk.