Cilia alert! Last year Juyeon Hong described a new domain in 9+2 cilia called the EDT, the extreme distal tip. Now, she's found a new protein required for its assembly, but only in non-mammalian vertebrates. A cool evo-cell / protein evolution story in @cellreports.bsky.social tinyurl.com/2xvdskx6
Introducing CsMT: A new CryoSPARC workflow for high-resolution microtubule reconstruction based on novel PF-pair classification! You can reconstruct MTs entirely in CryoSPARC—zero custom scripts needed. Inspired & built through a fantastic collaboration with the Cianfrocco lab! tinyurl.com/kdpm86tw
Made a little plugin for cryoEM map subboxing in ChimeraX: github.com/mgflast/Chim...
📣 Abstract submission and early registration are now OPEN for the 7th European Cilia Conference—an official EMBO workshop! 📅 8–12 March 2027 📍 Stresa, Italy Submit and register: meetings.embo.org/event/27-cilia www.eurocilia.eu #EMBOCilia #Cilia2027
Exciting new work from Elaine Wang, PhD student co-supervised with Natalie Zeytuni! Check out their latest structural insights into native Type V fimbriae from Porphyromonas gingivalis: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Structural tuning of native type V fimbriae shapes mechanical specialization in Porphyromonas gingivalis
Bacterial fimbriae are central to adhesion, colonization, and biofilm formation, yet how related fimbriae systems are structurally and mechanically specialized within the same pathogen remains poorly ...
biorxiv.org
Interested in 3D-printed models of cryo-EM grids, autogrid and cryo-FIB for visual teaching/decoration. Download our model and print: makerworld.com/en/models/30... Designed in Blender by Khan Bao, an undergrad in the lab.
Cryo-EM Grids for Teaching - Free 3D Print Model - MakerWorld
Download this free 3D print file designed by CiliaBuilder. EM Grid Scaled ModelScaled up and simplified 3D model of EM grids and autogrids for demonstration of preparation process and milling. Content...
makerworld.com
Excited to share our paper about copick, a dataset API and toolkit for collaborative annotation and analysis of #cryoET data! Whether you're picking particles or curating segmentations, copick reduces friction and brings #OME-Zarr to cryoET without breaking pipelines. 🧵👇 doi.org/10.1002/pro.70578
The cartwheel was first visualized ~70 years ago in the symbiont Trichonympha in the wood termite gut. We’ve discovered the cartwheel’s secret: a unique zigzag stacking of SAS-6 tetramers that facilitates the iconic 9-fold symmetry of cilia. #cellbiology #teamtomo #SAS6 #cartwheel
3D printing is way too much fun 😄 Just made myself a Titan Krios G5 pen holder 🧊🔬 Now the only thing missing… is McGill getting the real one! 😉
Ever wanted to hold a cilium in your hand? 🧬✨ Here is a look at how I’m using CiliaBuilder in @UCSFChimeraX to generate accurate 3D prints of centrioles and cilia. Perfect for teaching or lab displays! Watch the process: youtu.be/IKnnp3ovptQ #CryoEM #CellBio #ChimeraX
Very happy to say that our work on how axonemes are generated is now available on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... - if you’ve ever wondered how the incredibly beautiful, complex structures within motile #cilia are constructed then this is for you!
biorxiv.org
Cilia alert! Stoked to have the new paper from Juyeon Hong about a new domain at the extreme distal tip of motile cilia! (The EDT, y'all!) It's out now @natcomms.nature.com. Check it out! #cilia www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A protein complex in the extreme distal tip of vertebrate motile cilia controls their organization, length, and function - Nature Communications
Here they combine in vivo imaging with proteomics to characterize a protein complex comprised of Ccdc78 and Ccdc33 that acts at the extreme distal tip of 9 + 2 motile cilia to control tip architecture...
nature.com
CiliaBuilder Video Tutorial www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJHo... If your installation didn't work a few days ago, try again. I've fixed a few things, and let me know if it still doesn't work for you.
ChimeraX CiliaBuilder - Modelling Cilia Basics
YouTube video by Bui Lab
youtube.com
Tired of drawing cilia or centrioles for slides and papers? I feel you. Check out CiliaBuilder for ChimeraX → cxtoolshed.rbvi.ucsf.edu/apps/chimera... Build custom 3D cilia & centriole models (tips + primary cilia included).
Our newest paper is now online in Current Biology. In short, we identified 7 proteins in the tip of the cilia and found SPEF1 is a seam-binding protein and important for cilia stability. Great work from my postdoc Thibault Legal and everyone involved! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Structure of the ciliary tip central pair reveals the unique role of the microtubule-seam binding protein SPEF1
Motile cilia are unique organelles with the ability to move autonomously. The force generated by beating cilia propels cells and moves fluids. The cil…
sciencedirect.com
Very nice preprint from the Wallingford lab. Seems like there is a common theme of tip proteins as these proteins seem to be in the tip of the ciliate cilia too.
John Wallingford@jbwallingford.bsky.social · last yr.Preprint Alert! Juyeon Hong in the lab has dissected the molecular organization of distal tips of vertebrate motile cilia. She even found a new compartment in the extreme distal tip marked by Ccdc78 and Ccdc33. Give it a read! @biorxiv-cellbio.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#TeamTomo What is the open-source and good cryoET deep-picking program?
Cryo-electron tomography of Tetrahymena #cilia by Sam Li, David Agard, Mark Winey provides insights into the intricate spatial organization of basal body inner junctions, compromised by loss of Poc1 www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
We have posted our new #preprint regarding the track recognition mechanism of dynein-2 that works in #cilia on bioRxiv @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social!! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/8 🧵
Dynein-2 is tuned for the A-tubule of the ciliary doublet through tubulin tyrosination
Eukaryotic cilia and flagella are thin structures present on the surface of cells, playing vital roles in signaling and cellular motion. Cilia structures rely on intraflagellar transport (IFT), which ...
biorxiv.org
Excited to share our work on bioRxiv before my thesis defense! Together with my undergraduate mentee Diego, postdocs Wan and Jun, and my advisor Kai, we identified a novel dynein heavy chain subfamily, DNAHX, from sea urchin sperm axoneme. Check out the details here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
DNAHX: a novel, non-motile dynein heavy chain subfamily, identified by cryo-EM endogenously
Ciliogenesis and cilia motility rely on the coordinated actions of diverse dyneins, yet the complexity of these motor proteins in cilia has posed challenges for understanding their specific roles. Tra...
biorxiv.org
Best way to start 2025! Thrilled to share our Nature paper about the structures of axonemal components from sperm flagella and from epithelial cilia of the oviduct and brain ventricles. Great collaboration with Tzviya Zeev-Ben-Mordehai and @alanbrownhms.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I am excited to share some of my PhD work on the motile cilia interactome revealed by XL/MS with @jbwallingford.bsky.social @edwardmarcotte.bsky.social Ophelia Papoulas, Chanjae Lee, David Taylor, and @builab.bsky.social www.cell.com/developmenta...
ChimeraX 1.9 has been released and is available now on our website
Download UCSF ChimeraX
cgl.ucsf.edu
Proudly present our new preprint on my first post here. We performed SPA on the ciliary tip and identify 7 proteins. Among them, we found the conserved protein SPEF1 at the microtubule seam. In vitro assays show that SPEF1 binds to the seam and stablizes microtubules. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The Bui lab Twitter will stop and we are migrating to Mastodon. Anyway, the last post is to thank the @Beck_Laboratory and @jankosinski @aobarska for the new wall art decoration. NPC rules :
Our paper on the T- and N-pilus structure with the @ChristianBaron and @NatalieZeytuni labs is finally online. Great work from Amro Jaafar and @TheRealCSBlack and others. authors.elsevier.com/a/1gElW3SNvc2%…
Taking forever but finally here. We identified close to 40 MIPs in Tetrahymena doublet. Specifically, the MIPs at the outer junction (CFAP77, OJ2 & OJ3). @dynein_awk @TheRealCSBlack @ahmad__khalifa
Just update the subtomo2Chimera withto visualize subtomo from Dynamo. Also, small fixes for relionsubtomo2ChimeraX. now you can also using stl file for visualization for more efficient memory #TeamTomo github.com/builab/subtomo… dynamotable2ChimeraX.py
#TeamTomo Which free software is good for segmentation of cryo-tomograms? Solutions for just 1 tomogram & many tomograms are welcome.
Presenting the cryo-EM structures of T4SS T-pilus and N-pilus in a fruitful collaboration with @ChristianBaron @NatalieZeytuni @TheRealCSBlack and the twitterless Jaafar Amro. My first ever structures/publication on a bacterial protein biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
Cryo-EM structure of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens T-pilus reveals the importance of positive charges in the lumen
Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a natural genetic engineer that transfers DNA into plants and this is the most frequently applied process for the generation of genetically modified plants. DNA transfer is mediated by a type IV secretion system localized in the cell envelope and extracellular T-pili. We here report the cryo-electron microscopic structures of the T-pilus at 3.2Å resolution and that of the related plasmid pKM101-determined N-pilus at 3Å resolution. Both pili contain a main pilus protein (VirB2 in A. tumefaciens and TraM in pKM101) and phospholipids arranged in a 5-start helical assembly. They contain positively charged amino acids in the pilus lumen and the lipids are positively charged in the T-pilus (phosphatidylcholine) conferring overall positive charge to the lumen. Mutagenesis of the lumen-exposed Arg91 residue in VirB2 resulted in protein destabilization and loss of pilus formation. Our results reveal that different phospholipids can be incorporated into type IV secretion system pili and that the charge of the lumen is of functional importance. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
biorxiv.org