Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica

Though geographically compact, Taiwan is a hot spring of resources. In fact, researching “extreme” organisms from hot springs may help answer fundamental biological questions. This is beautifully illustrated in the work of the Taiwanese research team led by Dr. Chung-I Chang, investigating an energy-dependent proteolytic machine from the Taiwanese microbe Meiothermus taiwanensis, which can survive the high temperatures of the Wu-Rai hot springs.

Previous work was unable to understand the 3D structure of an intact Lon protease, which is required for protein quality control in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Chang’s group at the Institute of Biological Chemistry was able to purify this protease from M. taiwanensis and determine its crystal structure, showing how that structure allows the protease to interact with magnesium and the energy molecules ATP and ADP. Their new discovery, reported in two papers published back-to-back in the May issue of Structure and is covered by Cell’s CrossTalk Blog (http://crosstalk.cell.com/blog/lon-planet-from-the-taipei-basin-to-nanomachines), underscores the power of using native, local resources to answer global questions. (By Cindy Lee)

Updated : 2016.05.03

Illustration: Yi-Chen Chu