New kids on the signaling block
Signal relay in eukaryotes enables proper response to chemical or physical signals received by the cell. We now understand how many of the canonical components of signaling pathways exert their functions, including the mode of activation of many kinases and the relationships among receptors, scaffolds and downstream effectors. This understanding has been key to the development of therapeutics targeting signaling components. Yet, from receptors to enzymes such as kinases, phosphatases, ubiquitin ligases and deubiquitinases, the signaling machinery still holds many mysteries.
In this session, we will focus on atypical signaling mechanisms, from the discovery of new catalysis within the kinome superfamily and noncanonical ubiquitination to the role of metals such as copper in signaling. We also discuss the emergence of pseudoenzymes: These allosteric signaling scaffolds are defined by their structural and sequence homology to canonical enzymes such as kinases and phosphatases, but they lack catalytic activity and remain relatively unexplored biologically and as potential drug targets.
We also will discuss how improvements in phosphoproteomics, genetic screens, and affinity and proximity proteomics permit us to globally assess specific aspects of signal transduction and shine new lights on poorly characterized enzymes, scaffolds and substrates.
Keywords: signal transduction, phosphorylation, ubiquitination, post-translational modification, pseudoenzymes, mass spectrometry, CRISPR screens, structural biology, interaction mapping
Who should attend: everyone who likes taking the road less traveled and those interested in good detective stories
Theme song: “Halo” by Beyoncé
This session is powered by ligands and receptors.
Talks
- CRISPR sensors for signaling — Stéphane Angers, University of Toronto
- Tracing copper utilization by kinase signal transduction pathways: Implications for cancer cell processes — Donita Brady, University of Pennsylvania
- How do signaling pseudoenzymes work? — Patrick Eyers, University of Liverpool
- Proximity-dependent sensors for signaling — Anne-Claude Gingras, Mount Sinai Hospital
- Proteome-scale amino-acid resolution footprinting of protein-binding sites in the intrinsically disordered regions — Ylva Ivarsson, Uppsala University
- Structural basis for signaling by the HER3 pseudokinase — Natalia Jura, University of California, San Francisco
- Defining pseudoenzymes in glycosylation pathways — Natarajan Kannan, University of Georgia
- Cell signaling by protein tyrosine phosphatases — Hayley Sharpe, Babraham Institute, Cambridge
- Expanding the kinome — Vinnie Tagliabracci, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
- Pseudoenzyme classification — Janet Thornton, European Molecular Biology Laboratory
- A high-dimensional map of phosphorylation-dependent signaling in budding yeast — Judit Villén, University of Washington
- Noncanonical ubiquitination — Satpal Virdee, University of Dundee
Learn more
Check out all ten thematic symposia planned for the 2022 ASBMB annual meeting:
Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?
Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition weekly.
Learn moreFeatured jobs
from the ASBMB career center
Get the latest from ASBMB Today
Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.
Latest in Science
Science highlights or most popular articles
![From the JBC archives: Madness, indoles and mercury-based cathartics](/getattachment/e26ef62e-685d-450f-b5e4-113430cfb888/JBC-archives-02-11-25-480x270.jpg?lang=en-US&width=480&height=270&ext=.jpg)
From the JBC archives: Madness, indoles and mercury-based cathartics
A 1907 paper sought to resolve an ongoing question of whether indole, a bacterial molecule in the gut, could cause insanity if overproduced.
![From the journals: JBC](/getattachment/05f125e8-aa95-4a9e-bd9c-896b3f72923c/FTJ-JBC-02-07-25-480x270.jpg?lang=en-US&width=480&height=270&ext=.jpg)
From the journals: JBC
Linking modified cysteines to cell migration. Recognizing protein tags for degradation. Disrupting C. difficile toxin production. Read about recent JBC papers on these topics.
![Becoming a scientific honey bee](/getattachment/7cb3cada-2249-4121-a9f5-63aa5bd6f213/Becoming-scientific-honey-bee-480x270.jpg?lang=en-US&width=480&height=270&ext=.jpg)
Becoming a scientific honey bee
At the World Science Forum, a speaker’s call for scientists to go out and “make honey” felt like the answer to a question Katy Brewer had been considering for a long time.
![Mutant RNA exosome protein linked to neurodevelopmental defects](/getattachment/dbfd7c8c-5104-4903-8e97-2c82f9d97262/Mutant-RNA-exosome-protein-480x270.jpg?lang=en-US&width=480&height=270&ext=.jpg)
Mutant RNA exosome protein linked to neurodevelopmental defects
Researchers at Emory University find that a missense mutation impairs RNA exosome assembly and translation and causes neurological disease.
![Study sheds light on treatment for rare genetic disorder](/getattachment/0f757086-65aa-452a-a87e-e2f381aee087/Treatment-for-rare-genitic-disorder-480x270.jpg?lang=en-US&width=480&height=270&ext=.jpg)
Study sheds light on treatment for rare genetic disorder
Aaron Hoskins’ lab partnered with a drug company to understand how RNA-targeting drugs work on spinal muscular atrophy, a disorder resulting from errors in production of a protein related to muscle movement.
![Examining mechanisms of protein complex at a basic cell biological level](/getattachment/f09ff397-048a-494d-9eea-d4b5eae8938d/Munson-480x270.jpg?lang=en-US&width=480&height=270&ext=.jpg)
Examining mechanisms of protein complex at a basic cell biological level
Mary Munson is co-corresponding author on a study revealing functions and mechanisms of the exocyst that are essential to how molecules move across a membrane through vesicles in a cell.