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Volume 14 Issue 4, April 2007

Two GAD isoforms are responsible for GABA synthesis. Whisstock and colleagues solve the structure of the GAD isoforms, finding that a tethered loop in the constitutively active GAD67 is mobile in GAD65 and involved in its auto-activation. The pair of leaves represents the GAD dimer with the curled edge reminiscent of the catalytic loop that protects the active site in GAD67. Artwork by Pascal Ouellet (www.bigoudi.ca). pp 280-286

Volume 14 Issue 4

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  • Sparked by the discovery of LSD1, the first bona fide histone lysine demethylase, a burst of research has opened a new era in understanding how chromatin is regulated, including the identification of the JmjC domain–containing histone demethylases. Now, several independent studies provide evidence that yeast Yjr119Cp, human JARID1 and Drosophila Lid, all members of the JmjC family, demethylate histone H3 trimethyl-Lys4, a mark of transcriptionally active chromatin.

    • Eric Metzger
    • Roland Schüle
    News & Views

  • Two new crystal structures shed light on how a component of the endosomal budding machinery is co-opted by human immunodeficiency virus-1 to facilitate virus budding from the cell surface.

    • Heinrich G Göttlinger
    News & Views

  • In this issue, Nöllmann and colleagues report single-molecule analyses of DNA gyrase action on supercoiled DNA under different levels of strain. Surprisingly, they found that gyrase changes its reaction mechanism in response to changes in DNA strain. This explains the role of ATP in a branching topoisomerase reaction pathway and revisits an old puzzle about gyrase reversibility.

    • N Patrick Higgins
    News & Views

  • microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs from plants are 2′-O-methylated at their 3′ termini. Although miRNAs from animals are not methylated, two studies show that the recently identified mammalian Piwi-interacting RNAs carry a 2′-O-methyl group on the 3′ terminal ribose.

    • Xuemei Chen
    News & Views

  • The functional assembly of a ciliate telomerase requires ordered RNA conformational changes mediated by a La motif–containing protein. This raises new questions about telomerase biogenesis and the evolutionary origin of the telomerase RNA.

    • M Teresa Teixeira
    • Eric Gilson
    News & Views
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