It has been done to death since the 1990s but it is the gift that keeps on giving, as a look back through the archives of New Scientist shows

The quantum story is all brilliant insights, flawed male scientists – and few female ones. To progress, we may need to dump our prejudices, says a new book

The quantum story is all brilliant insights, flawed male scientists – and few female ones. To progress, we may need to dump our prejudices, says a new book

by Diego A. Ramirez-Diaz, Daniela A. García-Soriano, Ana Raso, Jonas Mücksch, Mario Feingold, Germán Rivas, Petra Schwille

FtsZ, the primary protein of the bacterial Z ring guiding cell division, has been recently shown to engage in intriguing treadmilling dynamics along the circumference of the division plane. When coreconstituted in vitro with FtsA, one of its natural membrane anchors, on flat supported membranes, these proteins assemble into dynamic chiral vortices compatible with treadmilling of curved polar filaments. Replacing FtsA by a membrane-targeting sequence (mts) to FtsZ, we have discovered conditions for the formation of dynamic rings, showing that the phenomenon is intrinsic to FtsZ. Ring formation is only observed for a narrow range of protein concentrations at the bilayer, which is highly modulated by free Mg2+ and depends upon guanosine triphosphate (GTP) hydrolysis. Interestingly, the direction of rotation can be reversed by switching the mts from the C-terminus to the N-terminus of the protein, implying that the filament attachment must have a perpendicular component to both curvature and polarity. Remarkably, this chirality switch concurs with previously shown inward or outward membrane deformations by the respective FtsZ mutants. Our results lead us to suggest an intrinsic helicity of FtsZ filaments with more than one direction of curvature, supporting earlier hypotheses and experimental evidence.

Someday you might buy wine in a plastic bottle made from the same grapes. Their skins, stems, and seeds can be used to make plastic that lasts longer

Someday you might buy wine in a plastic bottle made from the same grapes. Their skins, stems, and seeds can be used to make plastic that lasts longer

Someday you might buy wine in a plastic bottle made from the same grapes. Their skins, stems, and seeds can be used to make plastic that lasts longer

The beauty of the skies is on display in this incredible image, the first sent back by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite on its way past the moon

The beauty of the skies is on display in this incredible image, the first sent back by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite on its way past the moon

The beauty of the skies is on display in this incredible image, the first sent back by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite on its way past the moon

One of the great comic book characters of all time, and a pioneer for all women who seek powerful roles, gets a new lease of life

One of the great comic book characters of all time, and a pioneer for all women who seek powerful roles, gets a new lease of life

A company in Kenya has devised a system that uses artificial intelligence to detect a child’s level of malnutrition from a photo, without bulky equipment or examinations

A company in Kenya has devised a system that uses artificial intelligence to detect a child’s level of malnutrition from a photo, without bulky equipment or examinations

A company in Kenya has devised a system that uses artificial intelligence to detect a child’s level of malnutrition from a photo, without bulky equipment or examinations

The latest outbreak of the deadly virus has spread to a city of a million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But hopes are high disaster can be avoided

The latest outbreak of the deadly virus has spread to a city of a million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But hopes are high disaster can be avoided

The latest outbreak of the deadly virus has spread to a city of a million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But hopes are high disaster can be avoided

We thought we knew how molecules worked – but the discovery of an entirely unknown class of reactions has forced us to rethink the basics

Faked pictures can make very powerful propaganda if they get widely shared. A new algorithm aims to weed out doctored images before they spread