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Post-translational modifications define the functional and structural plasticity of proteins in archaea, prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Combining state-of-the-art technologies in molecular cell biology, protein mass spectrometry and bioinformatics, it is now feasible to study the role of distinct protein post-translational modifications.
Polymerizing actin seems to provide the force for deforming and moving membranes at different steps of the endocytic pathway. Live-cell imaging is shedding light on the order and timing of the molecular events and mechanisms of actin function during endocytosis.
The nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway ensures that mRNAs that harbour premature termination, or nonsense, codons are targeted for rapid degradation. New insights into the process of NMD have provided unexpected glimpses of the complexity of translation termination.
Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), a Cl−-ion channel, assembles into dynamic macromolecular complexes. Understanding how these complexes regulate the intracellular trafficking and activity of CFTR provides a unique insight into the aetiology of cystic fibrosis and other diseases.
Different chromatin remodellers affect the nucleosome structure in different ways. However, a model that is based on the fact that all remodellers have a catalytic ATPase subunit that resembles known DNA-translocating motor proteins indicates that remodellers function as directional DNA translocases.
The visualization of protein complexes in living cells enables the investigation of molecular interactions in their native environment. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation analysis has been used to visualize protein interactions and modifications in different cell types and species.
Lipid rafts, if they exist in resting cell membranes, are too small to be resolved by fluorescent microscopy and have no defined ultrastructure. However, recent studies with model membranes, computational modelling and innovative cell-biology techniques have provided new insights into plasma-membrane micro-organization.
