Department of Biology, ETH Zürich, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland.
Laboratory of Biomolecular Research, Division of Biology and Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232, Villigen, Switzerland.
J Membr Biol. 2020 Apr;253(2):81-86. doi: 10.1007/s00232-020-00115-4. Epub 2020 Apr 4.
INTRODUCTION BY ANA-NICOLETA BONDAR, BIOPHYSICS SECTION HEAD EDITOR: This issue of the Journal of Membrane Biology inaugurates Up-and-Coming Scientist, in which investigators at early career stages are invited to present recent research in the broad context of their discipline. We inaugurate Up-and-Coming Scientist with the essay by Dr. Elena Lesca of the ETH Zürich and the Paul Scherrer Institut, Switzerland. Dr. Lesca has completed her doctoral degree at the Technical University München, Germany, in 2014, and pursued postdoctoral research at the ETH Zürich and Paul Scherrer Institut, where she is Senior Assistant since 2019. Two recent papers by Dr. Lesca et al. (references 33 and 39) have used X-ray crystallography and experimental biophysics approaches to shed light on the mechanism of action of a membrane receptor from the G Protein-Coupled Receptor (GPCR) family, Jumping Spider Rhodopsin-1 (JSR-1). JSR-1 is a visual rhodopsin activated upon absorption of light by its covalently bound retinal chromophore. Unlike the better-understood bovine rhodopsin GPCR, which is monostable, JSR-1 is bistable (i.e., in JSR-1 the Schiff base that binds retinal to the protein stays protonated throughout the reaction cycle), and absorption of a second photon resets the retinal ligand to the resting state configuration. In her essay, Dr. Lesca discusses the implications of her work on JSR-1 and, more broadly, GPCR research, for state-of-the-art applications in optogenetics and drug design.
生物物理分部主编安娜-妮可塔·邦达尔博士：本期《膜生物学杂志》推出了崭露头角的科学家，邀请处于职业生涯早期的研究人员在其学科的广泛背景下介绍最近的研究。我们邀请瑞士苏黎世联邦理工学院和保罗谢勒研究所的埃琳娜·莱斯卡博士在崭露头角的科学家栏目中发表文章。莱斯卡博士于 2014 年在德国慕尼黑工业大学完成博士学位，随后在苏黎世联邦理工学院和保罗谢勒研究所从事博士后研究，自 2019 年以来一直担任高级助理。莱斯卡博士等人最近发表的两篇论文（参考文献 33 和 39）使用 X 射线晶体学和实验生物物理学方法揭示了 G 蛋白偶联受体（GPCR）家族膜受体的作用机制，即跳跃蜘蛛视紫红质-1（JSR-1）。JSR-1 是一种视觉视紫红质，在其共价结合的视黄醛发色团吸收光后被激活。与更好理解的单稳定牛视紫红质 GPCR 不同，JSR-1 是双稳定的（即，在 JSR-1 中，结合视蛋白的席夫碱在整个反应循环中保持质子化），吸收第二个光子将视黄醛配体重置为静止状态构型。在她的文章中，莱斯卡博士讨论了她在 JSR-1 以及更广泛的 GPCR 研究方面的工作对光遗传学和药物设计的最先进应用的意义。
