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Volume 11 Issue 1, January 2004

Artistic integration of structural and molecular aspects of the cell. Structures of large complexes such as the nucleosome and ribosome have improved our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of nuclear and cytoplasmic processes. Original painting and cover design by Lewis Long.

Volume 11 Issue 1

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Editorial

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News & Views

  • A recent study reports the RNA sequences that bind to the translational repressor protein GLD-1. The data suggest that a network of developmental genes may be regulated by GLD-1 or related STAR proteins through silencing or alternative splicing.

    • Samuel E Butcher
    • Marvin Wickens
    News & Views

  • A recent study demonstrates that a short insert from alternative splicing in a common protein domain leads to rearrangements of surface loops and domain fold. The results provide a structural basis for the change of functional properties associated with alternative splicing.

    • Bazbek Davletov
    • José L Jiménez
    News & Views

  • The mitochondrial 70 kDa heat shock protein (mtHsp70) drives the import of presequence-containing polypeptides into the matrix of mitochondria. A new essential component of the import motor was discovered that regulates the ATP hydrolysis activity of mtHsp70, thereby timing its binding to the incoming polypeptide chain.

    • Matthias P Mayer
    News & Views

  • A recent paper reports that Spn-A is the Rad51 ortholog in Drosophila melanogaster. This and other findings in this study open the door to genetic analysis of Rad51 functions in a model metazoan.

    • Sarah J Radford
    • Jeff J Sekelsky
    News & Views
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Commentary

  • We know the basic principles of protein, RNA and DNA structure, and we have atomic coordinates of many proteins and RNAs. Structural biology must now expand the range of length and timescales on which we can represent the molecular reality of a cell. Structural molecular biology and structural cell biology must merge into a single discipline, and we must establish a lively intellectual complementarity with the nascent 'systems biology' of the cell.

    • Stephen C Harrison
    Commentary

  • Twenty-first century research in the life sciences is becoming an increasingly interdisciplinary endeavor where teams of scientists use tools and insights from a variety of fields to solve complex biological problems. By and large, our educational system has not kept up with these changes. How can science education and the life sciences curriculum better reflect the way students will do science when they leave the hallowed halls of academia?

    • Andrew L Feig
    Commentary
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