Research
C' ing is B' lieving
Redox and Metabolite Signaling visualized
Elucidating precise signaling mechanisms will allow us to manipulate pathways with a wide variety of implications, ranging from increasing stress resistance in plants to identifying therapeutic targets in diseases where aberrant redox signaling plays a role.
Meet the neighbours
Architecture of redox-relay signaling complexes
The molecular details of how H2O2 serves as a signaling molecule are still one big mystery. Human peroxiredoxins, initially described as H2O2 scavengers, have a high cellular abundance, and have been shown to play an important role in redox-relay signaling. Peroxiredoxins (Prdxs) can transfer H2O2-derived oxidative equivalents via a redox-relay to target proteins. While the chemistry is clear, it remains unclear how Prdxs recognize their target proteins as well as how Prdxs structurally position themselves for an effective oxidative transfer. The Messens lab studies the overall composition and the organization of these complexes.
Make the invisible visible
Artificial proteins to trace metabolites
To investigate intracellular signaling by metabolites, it is important to have proper tools to visualize their trafficking in real time in living cells at subcellular resolution, which current mass spectrometry “omics” methods cannot offer. In response to this need, we design protein-based biosensors. They consist of a transcription factor that, by nature, has evolved to be specific for a metabolite and into which we genetically introduce a fluorescent protein as read-out. The Messens lab uses these biosensors in combination with the latest tools for H2O2 detection and manipulation to probe the crosstalk between H2O2 and metabolic pathways.