Bui Lab @McGill

Bui Lab @McGill

@builab.bsky.social

223 followers159 following166 posts

Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

Introducing CiliaBuilder2, a ChimeraX bundle to generate cilia & centriole assembly from real structures (maps, pdbs). Here's a hybrid sperm cilium (bovine sperm doublet microtubule PDB 9fqr & mouse sperm central pair PDB 9ijj)

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Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

Introducing CiliaBuilder2, a ChimeraX bundle to generate cilia & centriole assembly from real structures (maps, pdbs). Here's a hybrid sperm cilium (bovine sperm doublet microtubule PDB 9fqr & mouse sperm central pair PDB 9ijj)

Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

Our paper on the #CsMT workflow to reconstruct microtubules in #Cryosparc is now online. Fantastic work from several undergrads in the lab and Asuva Arin, and fantastic collaboration with the Cianfrocco lab. Please try it out; it is simple and quick. #OpenScience doi.org/10.1107/S205...

doi.orgCsMT: a robust and streamlined CryoSPARC workflow for cryo-EM reconstruction of microtubulesCsMT is a robust and streamlined CryoSPARC-based workflow to reconstruct undecorated and decorated microtubule maps. By unifying the processing pipeline into a single user-friendly tool, it makes high...
Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

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

Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

It all started when undergrads Tina & Helena set out to solve the structure of SPEF1 on microtubule seams. Designing for users with zero command-line experience pushed us to make CsMT as easy as possible: just import our JSON file into CryoSPARC, and all parameters are preloaded!

Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

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...

biorxiv.orgStructural tuning of native type V fimbriae shapes mechanical specialization in Porphyromonas gingivalisBacterial 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 ...
Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

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.

makerworld.comCryo-EM Grids for Teaching - Free 3D Print Model - MakerWorldDownload 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...

Bui Lab @McGill reposted

Utz Ermel
@uermel.bsky.social

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

Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

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

Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

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

Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

Check out @lee in action, harvesting hindguts from termites! 🐜🔬. Massive credit for pionering work from @centriolelab.bsky.social and others for establishing the isolation of centriole from Trichonympha and earlier model for central hub. We significantly benefit from advances in cryo-ET & STA.

Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

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

Bui Lab @McGill reposted

John Wallingford
@jbwallingford.bsky.social

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...

nature.comA protein complex in the extreme distal tip of vertebrate motile cilia controls their organization, length, and function - Nature CommunicationsHere 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...
Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

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...

sciencedirect.comStructure of the ciliary tip central pair reveals the unique role of the microtubule-seam binding protein SPEF1Motile cilia are unique organelles with the ability to move autonomously. The force generated by beating cilia propels cells and moves fluids. The cil…
Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

In the final version, we included a lot more data and analysis compared to the previous biorxiv version. We achieved a 4.6 Angstrom resolution of the microtubule by subtomogram averaging of MT-SPEF1 complexes.

Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

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

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...

biorxiv.orgMolecular organization of the distal tip of vertebrate motile ciliaThe beating of cilia on multi-ciliated cells (MCCs) is essential for normal development and homeostasis in animals. Unlike basal bodies or axonemes, the distal tips of MCC cilia remain poorly defined....

Bui Lab @McGill reposted

Yoshi Ichikawa
@ichikawa-lab.bsky.social

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 🧵

biorxiv.orgDynein-2 is tuned for the A-tubule of the ciliary doublet through tubulin tyrosinationEukaryotic 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 ...

Bui Lab @McGill reposted

Pengxin Chai
@pengxinchai.bsky.social

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...

biorxiv.orgDNAHX: a novel, non-motile dynein heavy chain subfamily, identified by cryo-EM endogenouslyCiliogenesis 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...
Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

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 :

Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

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

Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

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…

biorxiv.orgCryo-EM structure of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens T-pilus reveals the importance of positive charges in the lumenAgrobacterium 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.
Bui Lab @McGill
@builab.bsky.social

Our lab's first MD preprint, led by my postdoc @dynein_awk . In this preprint, we examined the regulatory mechanism of post-translational modification on dynein-2 stochastic stepping behaviours. biorxiv.org/cgi/content/sh…

biorxiv.orgRegulatory mechanisms of the dynein-2 motility by post-translational modification revealed by MD simulationIntraflagellar transport for ciliary assembly and maintenance is driven by dynein and kinesins specific for the cilia. It has been shown that anterograde and retrograde transports run on different regions of the doublet microtubule, i.e., separate train tracks. However, little is known about the regulatory mechanism of this selective process. Since the doublet microtubule is known to display specific post-translational modifications of tubulins, i.e. “tubulin code”, for molecular motor regulations, we investigated the motility of ciliary specific dynein-2 under different post-translational modification by coarse-grained molecular dynamics. Our setup allows us to simulate the stochastic stepping behaviors of dynein-2 on un-modified, detyrosinated, poly-glutamylated and poly-glycylated microtubules in silico. Our study revealed that poly-glutamylation can play an inhibitory effect on dynein-2 motility. Our result indicates that poly-glutamylation of the B-tubule of the doublet microtubule can be used as an efficient means to target retrograde intraflagellar transport onto the A-tubule. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.