Volume 17 Issue 5, May 2021

Using an interdisciplinary approach, hydrogen-peroxide-induced phase separation in the intrinsically disordered regions of the TERMINATING FLOWER transcription factor proteins was shown to regulate the shoot apical meristem through repression of the floral identity gene called ANANTHA.

Genome mining of Streptococcus mutans clinical samples led to the identification of a structurally unique polyketide/non-ribosomal peptide, mutanofactin-697, that promotes biofilm formation. This study highlights the unexplored functional potential of secondary metabolites and opens new avenues for inhibiting pathogenic processes.

An approach based on enrichment of 5′ hydroxylated RNAs reveals a new self-cleaving ribozyme that maps to a very long non-protein-coding RNA in simians. The ribozyme is active only among hominin sequences, suggesting a recent acquisition of the activity.

Using extensive knowledge about the structures and mechanisms of genetically encoded fluorescent biosensors, this Perspective provides guidelines to aid and accelerate the development of an increasingly broad range of high-performance imaging tools.

In honey bee colonies infested with the mite Varroa destructor, six Varroa-parasitization-specific (VPS) compounds trigger protective behavior in the bees, which are able to distinguish VPS compounds from healthy signals and recognize an infested brood.

A computational design strategy guided by biophysical principles enables engineering of split protein systems to tune their degree of interfacial destabilization, and thus reconstitution propensity, while preserving stability and catalytic activity.

High-performance engineered myosins robustly change speed or direction in response to an optical signal. In living cells, these motors localize to the tips of protrusions when illuminated and deliver molecular cargos.

Plants utilize naturally produced ROS in shoot apical stem cells as a developmental signal to trigger phase separation of TMF. The resulting transcriptional condensates repress expression of the floral identity gene to precisely time flowering.

High mobility and nuclear translocation of the PKA catalytic subunit, PKAcat, relays signals induced by endosomal cAMP generated through endocytosis and signaling from the G-protein-coupled receptor β2-adrenergic receptor.

A selective and potent CDK2 degrader was developed that induced differentiation of acute myeloid leukemia cell lines and primary patient cells.

The mutanofactin family of lipopeptide natural products, produced by strains of cariogenic Streptococcus mutans, promotes biofilm formation via increased cell-surface hydrophobicity and binding to extracellular DNA.

TfuA, YcaO and thiol donor protein, ThiS, collaborate in peptide backbone thioamidation of McrA and during the biosynthesis of certain ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide (RiPP) natural products.

Fusion of a split form of the protein O-GlcNAcase with nanobodies enables the targeted removal of O-GlcNAc protein modifications, providing a tool for probing the functional roles of specific O-GlcNAc modifications in a cellular context.

A genome-wide screen discovers a naturally occurring ribozyme in humans termed hovlinc, which is embedded within a long noncoding RNA and has no apparent relation to known ribozymes.

An agarose hydrogel mimicking cytoskeleton stabilizes protein liquid droplets and enables precise quantification of protein percentage in phase-separated droplets and in the dispersed phases as well as intramolecular distances via NMR and EPR.

Alterations in the interactions driving phase separation of the mRNA decapping complex led to conformational rearrangements in its active site, providing a mechanism to control whether substrate mRNA is stored or decapped in condensates.