molecular biology papers

Molecular biology explores the tiny machinery inside living cells, revealing how genetic instructions are read, copied, and turned into the proteins that keep us alive. This field acts as a bridge between the static code of DNA and the dynamic processes that drive growth, disease, and life itself, offering insights into everything from cellular repair to the development of new medicines.

On Gist.Science, we track every new preprint uploaded to bioRxiv in this category to make these complex discoveries accessible to everyone. Our team processes each submission to provide both clear, plain-language explanations and detailed technical summaries, ensuring you can grasp the core findings without getting lost in dense academic jargon.

Below are the latest molecular biology papers freshly processed from bioRxiv, ready for you to explore and understand.

📄 molecular biology

Perturbing glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchor biosynthesis alters cell wall architecture and modulates fungal morphology

This study demonstrates that perturbing glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchor biosynthesis in *Aspergillus oryzae* alters cell wall composition—specifically by depleting cationic galactosamine and downregulating fusion genes—to induce a dispersed, hyper-branching morphology, offering a novel strategy for optimizing industrial fungal fermentation.

Chu, H. T., Gautam, I., Yenamendra, S. P., Wang, T., Arumugam, P.2026-06-09

📄 molecular biology

Dissection of Poly(A)-binding protein (PABPC) cellular function using degron-mediated depletion with replacement

This study introduces a protein-replacement platform combining rapid auxin-inducible degradation with doxycycline-controlled expression to dissect the cellular functions of PABPC, revealing the essential role of the RRM4 domain in growth, functional divergence among paralogs, and the quantitative relationship between PABPC abundance and global poly(A)-tail lengths.

Muller, R. Y., Wang, K. X., Bartel, D. P.2026-06-06

📄 molecular biology

Studying Effects of PDA Media Strengths on the Growth of Colletotrichum sublineola Using MPLEx-Based Integrative Proteomics and Metabolomics Analyses

Using integrative MPLEx-based proteomics and metabolomics, this study reveals that nutrient limitation on diluted PDA media reprograms *Colletotrichum sublineola* by downregulating central carbon metabolism and upregulating stress adaptation and conidiation pathways, thereby inducing a starvation-adapted state primed for enhanced sporulation and potential virulence.

Dawar, P., Farago, D., Zemaitis, K. J., Thomas, A., Lalli, P. M., Clendinen, C. S., Paurus, V. L., Law, T. F., Bredeweg (…)2026-06-04

📄 molecular biology

Macrocyclic Peptide Tools for Huntingtin-bound HAP40

This study reports the discovery and characterization of a panel of high-affinity macrocyclic peptides that serve as novel tools for selectively targeting, isolating, and investigating the biology of endogenous HAP40 and its interactions with Huntingtin to advance the understanding of Huntington's disease pathogenesis.

Wolf, E. Z., Fanti, R., Ikenoue, T., Leung, R., Chandrasekaran, R., Alteen, M. G., Kieth, B. A., Ackloo, S., Edwards, A. (…)2026-06-02

📄 molecular biology

Affinity Fine-Tuning of Boltz-2: An Open Framework for Protein-Ligand Potency Prediction in Drug Discovery

This paper introduces an open framework for fine-tuning Boltz-2 using project-specific experimental data to significantly enhance its protein-ligand binding affinity prediction capabilities for lead optimization, achieving performance competitive with free energy perturbation methods.

Amini, S., Sciabola, S., Wang, Y.2026-05-27

📄 molecular biology

In vitro-reconstituted Drosophila Arc capsids deliver gene editors to dystrophic muscle

This study demonstrates that an in vitro-reconstituted Drosophila Arc1 capsid, engineered to bind the mammalian receptor SORCS2, efficiently delivers Cas9 gene editors to dystrophic muscle in mdx mice, achieving significant exon skipping and restoration of dystrophin expression.

Lash, B., Strebinger, D., Segel, M., Vo, S., Delong, K., Pham, J., Swan, C., Kumar, P., Zhang, Y., Liu, C., Mok, J., Mac (…)2026-05-25

📄 molecular biology

Cohesin collisions maintain ordered nucleosome architecture at boundaries and promoters

This study reveals that cohesin-mediated loop extrusion collisions, rather than CTCF occupancy alone, actively maintain ordered nucleosome architecture at CTCF sites and transcription start sites.

Raviram, R., Jiang, G., Schippke, T., Cova, G., Skok, J.2026-05-23

📄 molecular biology

De novo designed cyclic MC4R peptide agonist reduces food intake in mice

This study establishes a generalizable end-to-end workflow for de novo peptide drug discovery by using deep learning to design, optimize, and validate a novel cyclic MC4R agonist that achieves high potency and significantly reduces food intake in mice.

Moeller, V. E., Johansen, J. M., Mikkelsen, R. B., Tran, P., Kayed, A., Buch-Maanson, N., Jenkins, T. P., Dalboege, L. S (…)2026-05-22

📄 molecular biology

Divergent RNA structures support accurate splicing of the SF3B1-sensitive MAP3K7 intron

Through high-throughput mutagenesis and SHAPE-MAP analysis of the MAP3K7 intron, this study reveals that while branchpoint mutations are the primary drivers of cryptic splice-site activation in the context of SF3B1 mutations, accurate splicing is maintained by extensive RNA structural variability rather than a single conserved structure, except within specific RNA-binding protein hotspots where structural similarity correlates with splicing outcomes.

Herbert, A., Randazza, A., Hatfield, A., Lackey, L.2026-05-21

📄 molecular biology

Easymode: general pretrained networks for cellular cryo-ET enable flexible approaches to subtomogram averaging

The paper introduces Easymode, a library of pretrained general segmentation networks trained on over 4,000 tilt series that enables flexible, training-free workflows for identifying, extracting, and analyzing macromolecules in cellular cryo-ET, demonstrated by determining the 4.0 Å in situ structure of IMPDH filaments and mapping their cellular environment.

So-Last, M. G. F., Hale, T., Burt, A., Allegretti, M.2026-05-21

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