The marine bacterium Alcanivorax borkumensis feeds on oil, multiplying rapidly in the wake of oil spills, and thereby accelerating the elimination of the pollution, in many cases. It does this by producing an “organic dishwashing liquid” which it uses to attach itself to oil droplets. Researchers from the University of Bonn, RWTH Aachen University, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and research center Forschungszentrum Jülich have now discovered the mechanism by which this “organic dishwashing liquid” is synthesized. Published in the prominent international journal Nature Chemical Biology, the research findings could allow the breeding of more efficient strains of oil-degrading bacteria.

Patients with spastic paraplegia type 15 develop movement disorders during adolescence that may ultimately require the use of a wheelchair. In the early stages of this rare hereditary disease the brain appears to play a major role by over-activating the immune system, as shown by a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. The study was led by researchers at the University of Bonn and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE). These findings could also be relevant for Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.

People with the hereditary disease familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) have a greatly increased risk of developing a malignant tumor of the duodenum. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 at the University of Bonn have now discovered a mechanism in the local immune system that can drive the development of cancer. They see this as a promising new approach to preventing duodenal carcinoma in people with FAP. The results have now been published in the journal "Nature Communications".

Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) type 2 is a congenital malformation of the cerebral cortex that is often associated with difficult-to-treat epilepsy. In the affected areas, nerve cells and their layer structures are arranged in an atypical manner, which often makes drug therapy more difficult. A research team from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn, in collaboration with the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), has now found evidence of profound changes in the dopamine system in FCD type 2. The results have now been published in the medical journal “Brain”.

The research field of "cellular IRESes" lay dormant for decades, as there was no uniform standard of reliable methods for the clear characterization of these starting points for the ribosome-mediated control of gene expression. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn, in collaboration with Stanford University in California (USA), have now developed a toolbox as a new gold standard for this field. They hope to discover strong IRES elements that are directly relevant for synthetic biology and for application in emerging mRNA therapeutics. The results of their work have been published in The EMBO Journal.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. A promising approach for its treatment is the prevention of inflammatory processes in the brain. An international team of scientists around Dr. Róisín McManus, Prof. Eicke Latz and Prof. Michael Heneka now provide new evidence supporting this approach and potentially contributing to the development of more effective therapies. The results have now been published in the journal “Immunity”.

The identification of genes involved in diseases is one of the major challenges of biomedical research. Researchers at the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) have developed a method that makes their identification much easier and faster: they light up genome sequences in the cell nucleus. In contrast to complex screenings using established methods, the NIS-Seq method can be used to investigate the genetic determinants of almost any biological process in human cells. The study has now been published in Nature Biotechnology.

Bonn researchers use nanobodies to elucidate pore formation by gasdermin D in cell membranesThe formation of pores by a particular protein, gasdermin D, plays a key role in inflammatory reactions. During its activation, an inhibitory part is split off. More than 30 of the remaining protein fragments then combine to form large pores in the cell membrane, which allow the release of inflammatory messengers. As methods for studying these processes in living cells have so far been inadequate, the sequence of oligomerization, pore formation and membrane incorporation has remained unclear. An international research team led by the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn has succeeded in answering this question with the help of antibody fragments, so-called nanobodies, which they have identified. They hope that this will lead to potential therapeutic applications. Their results have now been published in the journal “Nature Communications”.