Biochemistry articles within Nature

Featured

  • Research Briefing |

    A broadly applicable method allows selective, rapid and efficient chemical modification of the side chain of tryptophan amino acids in proteins. This platform enables systematic, proteome-wide identification of tryptophan residues, which can form a bond (called cation–π interaction) with positively charged molecules. Such interactions are key in many biochemical processes, including protein-mediated phase separation.

  • Article |

    We propose a model for a sequential, multistep activation mechanism of metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 5, including a series of structures in lipid nanodiscs, from inactive to fully active, with agonist-bound intermediate states.

    • Kaavya Krishna Kumar
    • , Haoqing Wang
    •  & Brian K. Kobilka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Citrate synthase from the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus is shown to self-assemble into Sierpiński triangles, a finding that opens up the possibility that other naturally occurring molecular-scale fractals exist.

    • Franziska L. Sendker
    • , Yat Kei Lo
    •  & Georg K. A. Hochberg

  • Article |

    Glucocorticoids reprogram the mitochondrial metabolism of macrophages, resulting in increased and sustained production of the anti-inflammatory metabolite itaconate and, as a consequence, inhibition of the inflammatory response.

    • Jean-Philippe Auger
    • , Max Zimmermann
    •  & Gerhard Krönke

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cryo-electron microscopy structures of the human Integrator complex in three different functional states shed light on how Integrator terminates RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcription by disengaging Pol II from the DNA template.

    • Isaac Fianu
    • , Moritz Ochmann
    •  & Patrick Cramer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An ensemble of cryo-electron microscopy structures of the KpsMT ABC transporter in complex with the KpsE co-polymerase and a glycolipid substrate reveal how capsular polysaccharides are recognized and translocated across bacterial cell membranes.

    • Jeremi Kuklewicz
    •  & Jochen Zimmer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cryo-electron microscopy structures of human RAD51 in complex with the nucleosome show that RAD51 can adopt two conformations—rings and filaments—and reveal how RAD51 binds to the nucleosome through its N-terminal lobe domain.

    • Takuro Shioi
    • , Suguru Hatazawa
    •  & Hitoshi Kurumizaka

  • Article |

    Monoamines and neurotoxicants share a binding pocket in VMAT1 featuring polar sites for specificity and a wrist-and-fist shape for versatility, and monoamine enrichment in storage vesicles arises from dominant import via favoured lumenal-open transition of VMAT1 and protonation-precluded binding during its cytoplasmic-open transition.

    • Jin Ye
    • , Huaping Chen
    •  & Weikai Li

  • Article |

    Time-resolved cryo-EM is used to capture structural transitions during G-protein activation stimulated by a G-protein-coupled receptor.

    • Makaía M. Papasergi-Scott
    • , Guillermo Pérez-Hernández
    •  & Georgios Skiniotis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Binding of the substrates NAD+ and ATP to the plant Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domain proteins induces phase separation and, thereby, activation of TIR enzymatic and immune signalling activity.

    • Wen Song
    • , Li Liu
    •  & Jijie Chai

  • Review Article |

    This Review describes the various mechanisms of ion-coupled transport across membranes and how the activities of transporter proteins are modulated by the composition of the lipid bilayer.

    • David Drew
    •  & Olga Boudker

  • Technology Feature |

    Imaging and molecular manipulation reveal how biomolecular condensates form and offer clues to the role of phase separation in health and disease.

    • Elie Dolgin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    IL-10 exerts its anti-inflammatory activity in macrophages by increasing the expression of enzymes that promote fatty acid desaturation and downstream regulation of the transcription factor REL.

    • Autumn G. York
    • , Mathias H. Skadow
    •  & Richard A. Flavell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    We find that bile salt hydrolase N-acyltransferase activity can form bacterial bile acid amidates that are positively correlated with the colonization of gut bacteria that assist in the regulation of the bile acid metabolic network.

    • Bipin Rimal
    • , Stephanie L. Collins
    •  & Andrew D. Patterson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cryo-electron microscopy structures of intermediates formed during the degradation of the 30S ribosomal unit shed light on how the 3′ to 5′ exonuclease ribonuclease R controls the ribosomal degradation process.

    • Lyudmila Dimitrova-Paternoga
    • , Sergo Kasvandik
    •  & Helge Paternoga

  • Article |

    A computational model generates conformational ensembles of 28,058 intrinsically disordered proteins and regions (IDRs) in the human proteome and sheds light on the relationship between sequence, conformational properties and functions of IDRs.

    • Giulio Tesei
    • , Anna Ida Trolle
    •  & Kresten Lindorff-Larsen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The E3 ligase SIFI is identified as a dedicated silencing factor of the integrated stress response, a finding that has implications for the development of therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases caused by mitochondrial protein import stress.

    • Diane L. Haakonsen
    • , Michael Heider
    •  & Michael Rapé

  • Article |

    We study the interplay between cohesin and replication by reconstituting a functional replisome using purified proteins, showing how cohesin initially responds to replication and providing a molecular model for the establishment of sister chromatid cohesion.

    • Yasuto Murayama
    • , Shizuko Endo
    •  & Hiroyuki Araki

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dissection of the nuclear pore complex provides a model in which the HIV capsid enters the nucleus through karyopherin mimicry, a mechanism likely to be conserved across other viruses.

    • C. F. Dickson
    • , S. Hertel
    •  & D. A. Jacques

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Latrophilin-3 organizes synapses through a convergent dual-pathway mechanism in which Gαs signalling is activated and phase-separated postsynaptic protein scaffolds are recruited.

    • Shuai Wang
    • , Chelsea DeLeon
    •  & Thomas C. Südhof

  • News & Views |

    LINE-1 DNA elements self-duplicate, inserting the copy into new regions of the genome — a key process in chromosome evolution. Structures of the machinery that performs this process in humans are now reported.

    • Gael Cristofari

  • Research Briefing |

    The strength of the biological carbon pump was estimated using direct measurements of nutrients collected over decades. The findings indicate that ocean waters can capture and store larger amounts of carbon dioxide than previously estimated. This might have implications for climate-change models.

  • Article |

    Enzyme-bound ketyl radicals derived from thiamine diphosphate are selectively generated through single-electron oxidation by a photoexcited organic dye and shown to lead to enantioselective radical acylation reactions.

    • Yuanyuan Xu
    • , Hongwei Chen
    •  & Xiaoqiang Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Human LINE-1 ORF2p relies on upstream single-stranded target DNA to position the adjacent duplex in the endonuclease active site for nicking of the longer DNA strand, with a single nick generating a staggered DNA break.

    • Akanksha Thawani
    • , Alfredo Jose Florez Ariza
    •  & Kathleen Collins

  • Article |

    Structures of human vesicular monoamine transporter 2 in complexes with serotonin and three clinical drugs provide insights into the structural basis for serotonin transport and inhibition of transporter activity by the drugs.

    • Di Wu
    • , Qihao Chen
    •  & Daohua Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A new discovery strategy, ‘reverse metabolomics’, facilitates high-throughput matching of mass spectrometry spectra in public untargeted metabolomics datasets, and a proof-of-concept experiment identified an association between microbial bile amidates and inflammatory bowel disease.

    • Emily C. Gentry
    • , Stephanie L. Collins
    •  & Pieter C. Dorrestein

  • Research Briefing |

    A series of structures of the eukaryotic protein-synthesis machinery are imaged at high resolution in defined states of the elongation phase of protein synthesis. Analysis suggests that there are underlying molecular mechanisms that increase the accuracy of translation of genetic information in eukaryotes.

  • Article |

    The accuracy of eukaryotic ribosome translocation relies on eukaryote-specific elements of the 80S ribosome, elongation factor 2 and transfer RNAs, all of which contribute to the maintenance of the messenger RNA reading frame.

    • Nemanja Milicevic
    • , Lasse Jenner
    •  & Gulnara Yusupova

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Analysis of the group II intron ribonucleoprotein shows the molecular interactions involved in branchpoint adenosine recognition, lariat formation and exon ligation, providing clues to the evolutionary conservation of structural components and catalytic mechanisms in premessenger RNA splicing.

    • Ling Xu
    • , Tianshuo Liu
    •  & Anna Marie Pyle

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