Prof. Alfredo Torres-Larios (1973-2021). It is with great sadness and with a heavy heart that this email is to notify the scientific community of Crystallography about the tragic passing of Prof. Alfredo Torres-Larios this past September 9th, 2021, in Mexico City, at the early age of 48. .- His students and colleagues would like to share a brief account of his prolific scientific career: .- During his master studies under the supervision of Prof. Lourival D. Possani, he discovered and characterized the Hadrurin, the first antimicrobial peptide ever purified from the venom of a scorpion (Torres�\Larios, A. et al., EJB 2000). .- He completed his doctorate degree in the laboratory of Prof. Dino Moras at the Université Louis Pasteur, IGBMC in Strasbourg (1999-2002), where he conducted structural and functional studies of the threonyl-tRNA synthetases, as well as the first structure of an aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase in complex with a different RNA than tRNA, explaining the translational control by these synthetases (Torres-Larios A., et al., NSMB 2002; Torres-Larios A., et al., JMB 2003) and the first structural studies on the bacterial glycyl-tRNA synthetase. .- During his postdoctoral training (2002-2006) in the laboratory of Prof. Alfonso Mondragón at the Northwestern University in Chicago, Dr Torres-Larios built up a legacy with the elucidation of the crystal structure of the bacterial ribonuclease P (RNase P). RNase P has been posed to be a molecular fossil and, together with the ribosome, a true ribozyme remanent from the ancient world. Dr Torres-Larios pioneer work on the structure of the whole RNA catalytic component of RNase P was published in Nature in 2005 (Torres-Larios, A., et al., Nature 2005) and together with other members of Mondragón Lab, the structure of the complexes of RNase P containing its protein subunit, tRNA and its processed 5’ leader in 2010 (Reiter et al., Nature 2010). He achieved such a stable and functional crystals of the bacterial RNase P by engineering a tetraloop-receptor scaffold between RNA component of RNase P and the tRNA substrate in the anticodon region in order to induce an infinite three-dimensional matrix. This structure was mentioned as ‘a really beautiful structure and really good work’ by Prof. Sidney Altman, who working with the RNase P discovered the catalytic properties of RNA, reason why he was awarded the Nobel prize in 1989. .- He decided to come back to Mexico to support the science in his home country (2006-2021) at the Instituto de Fisiología Celular at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (IFC-UNAM). There, Prof. Torres-Larios performed studies on the function and structure of the bacterial glycyl-tRNA synthetase which offered insights into its molecular evolution, divergent from the eukaryotic version but convergent with the alanyl-tRNA synthetase (Valencia-Sanchez MI., et al., JBC 2016). Solving finally the structure of the whole bacterial glycyl-tRNA synthetase, allowed him to envision its evolutionary relationship with other tRNA-processing protein, the CCA-adding enzyme from archaea (work partially concluded, available as a preprint, Dimas JU., et al., bioRxiv 2021). .- He also contributed elucidating the structural basis of neutralization of antivenin against a Mexican scorpion venom which gave him recognition also from the pharmaceutical industry (Canul-Tec, JC et al., JBC 2011); he developed a fluorescent high-throughput assay to measure RNase P activity and employed it to uncover a new inhibitor with potential antimicrobial activity (Madrigal-Carrillo EA., et al. NAR 2019). He also performed structural studies of the PyrR transcriptional regulator, widely distributed in bacteria (Arreola R., et al., Acta Crys. F 2008), and an extensive structural and functional characterization of the triosephosphate isomerase from human, Trypanosoma cruzi and other organisms (Rodríguez-Almazán C. et al., JBC 2008; Aguirre B., et al., PLoS One 2011; Cabrera, N., et al., BBA 2018; among other publications), alongside the late and outstanding Mexican biochemist Dr. Armando Gómez-Puyou. .- Pioneer, iconoclast, enthusiastic for science and a human being with infinite energy and fierce passion for science, Prof. Torres-Larios inspired his students who, alongside his beloved ones and colleagues, will remember him and will retain his memory, legacy, influence, teachings and wisdom for the rest of our lives. .- --Thank you for crystalizing our dreams. A great mind rests in peace.― .- Signing, Torres-Larios Lab (IFC, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico): Enrique Hernández-García, Aaron Hernández-Cid, Carlos Díaz-Tufinio, Armando Cruz-Rangel, Alejandro Madrigal-Carrillo, Sergio Aguirre-Sampieri, Daniel Rodríguez-Chamorro, Hugo Santamaría-Suárez, Adelaida Díaz-Vilchis, Brian López-Durán, Uriel Dimas-Torres, Eduardo Campos-Chávez, Annia Rodríguez-Hernández, Nancy Ontiveros-Palacios, Roberto Bahena-Cerón, Victoria Godínez-López, Marco Igor Valencia-Sánchez. .- Colleagues: Anne-Catherine Dock-Bregeon (SBR-LBIMM/CNRS-UPMC, France), Amy Osterman (Northwestern University, USA). .- Alejandro Madrigal, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Scientist in Structural Biology |Fesik Cancer Drug Discovery Group Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee | USA .- Marco Igor Valencia-Sánchez, PhD Postdoctoral fellow | Armache Lab Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine | NYU School of Medicine | New York, NY
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