Enzyme mechanisms articles from across Nature Portfolio

Here the authors show that anti-phage signalling in the CBASS immune system is activated by a ubiquitination-like poly-cGASylation mechanism.

Here, Schwartz, Bravo, and Ahsan et al. show how multi-subunit fusion proteins are arranged around a crRNA in a type III CRISPR-Cas effector to cleave target RNA. Structures and molecular dynamics of this complex show three distinct active sites that can be used for programmable RNA cleavage.

Cruz et al. describe the role of Dbp10/DDX54 in remodeling rRNA structure within the immature eukaryotic peptidyl transferase center of the ribosome, coupling energy-dependent catalysis to a post-catalytic role in factor exchange during 60S ribosomal subunit assembly.

Here, the authors characterize an anti-CRISPR protein that prevents protospacer integration by Cas1-Cas2, providing structural insights that may benefit CRISPR-Cas systems research.

Here the authors present the cryo-EM structure of active and inhibited human MTHFR, revealing a dynamic inhibitory mechanism dependent on dual SAM binding. The resulting closed conformation features an autoinhibitory element effectively blocking enzymatic activity.

Selenium is usually incorporated into selenoproteins, with important functions in redox regulation. A new study in Nature Metabolism reveals a previously unappreciated role for selenium-based chemical species as direct electron donors to reduce ubiquinone, thus contributing to redox homeostasis by preventing lipid peroxidation.

Electron transfer flavoprotein dehydrogenase (ETFDH), respiratory chain complex III and the coenzyme Q10 synthesis regulator COQ2 interact as a protein complex that is disrupted in ETFDH deficiency, with potential implications for disease therapy.

Enzymatic pathways control a host of cellular processes, but the complexity of such pathways has made them difficult to predict. Elektrum combines neural architecture search, kinetic models and transfer learning to effectively discover CRISPR–Cas9 cleavage kinetics.

A β-lactone compound — globilactone A — has been discovered through genome mining and heterologous expression of a biosynthetic gene cluster. Biosynthetic investigations unveiled the mechanism of the formation of the cyclopentane-β-lactone core.

CRISPR-Cas9 is a major gene-editing tool that has attracted tremendous interdisciplinary efforts to ameliorate precise genome manipulation. Now, the pivotal structural features behind concerted double-stranded DNA cleavages by the Cas9 endonuclease have been captured through cryo-electron microscopy, laying the groundwork for improved Cas9 engineering.