State-of-the-art mass spectrometer to be installed at the University’s Advanced Proteomics Facility (APF)

Single-cell long-read RNA sequencing enables the high-fidelity mapping of single-cell expression data from highly sequence-similar transposable elements to unique genomic loci by correcting errors fro...

Research in the DNA replication field is progressing at a remarkable rate. Technological innovations in biochemical reconstitution, structural biology, proteomics and DNA sequencing are helping to rap...

Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes proteins are essential DNA-folding motors that facilitate critical cellular functions, including chromosome segregation and DNA repair. Wadjet systems are prokaryotic SMC complexes specialized in cellular immunity against plasmids. Type I Wadjet systems restrict plasmids via a DNA extrusion-cleavage reaction. Two other Wadjet types (II and III) have also been identified, however, their molecular characteristics are unclear. Here, we reconstituted a representative type II Wadjet system from Neobacillus vireti. We show that this system shares substrate selection and cleavage properties with type I but exhibits distinctive structural features, including a long elbow-distal coiled coil, a channel-less hinge, and a tandem KITE subunit. These features help identify the common and distinguishing architectural elements in the family of Wadjet systems and raise intriguing questions about the evolution of prokaryotic SMC complexes. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

With great sadness, we announce the loss of Professor Béla Novák.

The University of Cologne is one of the oldest and largest universities in Germany. With its six Faculties covering a broad spectrum of disciplines and its i...