Understanding the link between synthesis, transport, and function of proteins: Million-Euro funding for RPTU researcher

Proteins are the building materials and machines in the cells of organisms such as humans, animals, plants, and fungi. To organize them, specialized production and transport processes take place inside the cell. These processes themselves have already been scientifically described. Yury Bykov, cell biologist and Junior Professor at RPTU, is now going one step further. Using yeast as a model organism, he aims to investigate how the complex interplay takes place in living cells, which ultimately determines the function of proteins. The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded the work with a Starting Grant, endowed with 1.5 million euros, as well as funding for research equipment.

Cells are the smallest units of life. They contain various distinct and specialized structures, so-called organelles, which perform vital functions. To be properly maintained and able to organize essential workflows and metabolic processes, they need proteins as building materials and machines. With the help of a sophisticated production and logistic systems, cells are therefore able to synthesize the required proteins and transport them to their destination.

“We know a lot about the basic mechanisms that take place during protein biosynthesis and protein transport in cells,” says Bykov. “However, many of the scientific findings to date have been described in vitro, in an artificial environment outside the cell. As a result, the complex interplay that determines the fate of proteins has not yet been fully elucidated.”

Which protein eventually goes to which destination? What influence do the different stages in the life cycle of proteins have on their location in the cell? How are protein production and protein transport connected? Bykov wants to clarify these and further research questions. Yeast, whose cells are comparatively simply organized, serves as a model organism. “We will use genetic tools to mark proteins in order to trace their path or suppress the production of certain proteins in order to draw conclusions about their function – all this in living yeast cells,” explains the cell biologist.

As part of the funding from the European Research Council, in addition to the ERC Starting Grant, he also received half a million in funding for a state-of-the-art high-throughput fluorescence microscope. Using this technique, he will be able to examine the intracellular structures, proteins, and mRNAs in thousands of yeast strains simultaneously. The project aims to combine several cutting-edge approaches. “Another method that we are using as part of a collaboration with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg is cryogenic electron tomography,” adds Bykov. “This is an imaging technique that makes the smallest biological structures in frozen cells visible in three dimensions. We want to take a closer look at what happens with ribosomes – the molecular machines that perform protein biosynthesis.”

Ultimately, shedding more light on the complex interplay of synthesis, transport and function of proteins is the basis for gaining a better understanding of ageing processes and the occurrence of degenerative diseases.

As part of the ERC Starting Grant, Bykov will receive funding over a period of five years. Starting grants support individual researchers that are starting or consolidating their own independent research team or programme, and who can demonstrate the ground-breaking nature, ambition, and feasibility of their scientific proposal. The funding is part of the EU’s programme Horizon Europe. The official title of Yury Bykov's research project is „3-dimensional Organization and Functions of Translation in Organelle Proximity (3DTOP)“.

Contact for questions:

Yury Bykov
Division of Quantitative Cellular Biology / RPTU in Kaiserslautern

Phone: +49 (0)631-205-2885
Email: yury.bykov[at]rptu.de
Web: bio.rptu.de/fgs/quantitative-zellbiologie