D. Mullins

Sulfolobus acidocaldarius adhesion pili power twitching motility in the absence of a dedicated retraction ATPase

This study shows that Sulfolobus acidocaldarius uses retractable adhesion pili for twitching motility without a PilT ATPase, suggesting an ancestral bifunctional ATPase in LUCA.

Protomer alignment modulates specificity of RNA substrate recognition by Ire1

The paper shows that changing two amino acids in S. cerevisiae Ire1 to their S. pombe counterparts makes it promiscuous, revealing that protomer alignment modulates RNA substrate specificity.

Leading-edge VASP clusters assemble at sites containing lamellipodin and exhibit size-dependent instability

This study shows VASP clusters form on lamellipodin foci in migrating cells and exhibit size-dependent instability due to multivalent interactions.

High-temperature live-cell imaging of cytokinesis, cell motility and cell-cell adhesion in the thermoacidophilic crenarchaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius

The paper develops a high-temperature live-cell imaging system to study cytokinesis, motility, and cell-cell adhesion in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, revealing new insights into its high-temperature biology.

The right microbial stimulus can direct innate immune effector cells to specific organ sites to clear pathology

This paper demonstrates that microbial-based stimuli can direct innate immune effector cells to specific organs to clear pathology, independent of the disease type.