Proteins articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    N-terminal acetylation is a common protein modification in eukaryotes. Here the authors show that in Arabidopsis, N-terminal acetylation is decreased by drought stress, that abundance of an N-terminal acetyltransferase is reduced by abscisic acid and that constitutive downregulation can confer drought resistance.

    • Eric Linster
    • , Iwona Stephan
    •  & Markus Wirtz

  • Article |

    The GP protein of the Ebola virus is involved in the detachment of infected cells, which eventually leads to vascular leakage and contributes to haemorrhagic fever. Here Hacke et al.show that the membrane-anchored subunit of GP is sufficient to induce cell detachment, and that cholesterol contributes to this process.

    • Moritz Hacke
    • , Patrik Björkholm
    •  & Andreas M. Ernst

  • Article
    | Open Access

    G-quadruplexes formed by four guanine bases in a square planar arrangement in telomeres may prevent extension of this region by telomerase. Here, the authors show that telomerase can localize to and partially unwind and extend G-quadruplexes, suggesting an important biological role for G-quadruplexes.

    • Aaron L. Moye
    • , Karina C. Porter
    •  & Tracy M. Bryan

  • Article |

    PTEN plays multiple roles in genome protection and tumour suppression. Here the authors show that PTEN depletion leads to impairment of replication progression, stalled fork recovery and diminished chromatin loading of Rad51, highlighting the interplay of PTEN with Rad51 in promoting stalled fork restart.

    • Jinxue He
    • , Xi Kang
    •  & Wen H. Shen

  • Article |

    The cause of overactive bladder is largely unknown and there is currently no effective therapy. Gaoet al. show that a membrane protein Pirt controls bladder emptying by inhibiting the neuronal purinergic receptor P2X3 and that treatment with a small Pirt fragment prevents bladder overactivity in mice.

    • Xiao-Fei Gao
    • , Ji-Feng Feng
    •  & Cheng He

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During transcription, replication and repair, DNA-binding proteins must find specific interaction sites hidden within a vast excess of genomic DNA. Here the authors use single-molecule tracking to quantitatively determine the contributions of the different processes that underlie target search in human cells.

    • Davide Normanno
    • , Lydia Boudarène
    •  & Maxime Dahan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Development involves dynamic transcriptional changes. By serial ChIP- and RNA-sequencing, here, the authors show that GtaC, a GATA type transcription factor, exhibits temporally distinctive DNA binding and regulation of gene expression concordant with the development in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum.

    • Balaji Santhanam
    • , Huaqing Cai
    •  & Mariko Katoh-Kurasawa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The synthesis of ribosomes requires the orderly assembly of many proteins and large RNA molecules, a process that involves several assembly factors. Here the authors show that dedicated chaperones capture the N termini of specific nascent ribosomal proteins to promote folding and assembly into maturing ribosomes.

    • Patrick Pausch
    • , Ujjwala Singh
    •  & Dieter Kressler

  • Article |

    ErbB signalling is stimulated by the release of its ligands from the cell surface through metalloproteinase-dependent cleavage. Dombernowsky et al. show that this process is controlled by the sorting protein PACS-2, which enhances ErbB ligand release by regulating trafficking of the metalloprotease ADAM17.

    • Sarah Louise Dombernowsky
    • , Jacob Samsøe-Petersen
    •  & Marie Kveiborg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A soluble factor induced by Plasmodiuminfection promotes hemocyte differentiation and increases mosquitoe resistance to subsequent infections. Here the authors show that this factor consists of a Lipocalin/Lipoxin A4 complex, and that insects can metabolize arachidonic acid to produce lipoxins.

    • Jose Luis Ramirez
    • , Giselle de Almeida Oliveira
    •  & Carolina Barillas-Mury

  • Article |

    Aquaporin-3 (AQP3) mediates cellular uptake of water and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Here, the authors show that TNF-induced H2O2enters keratinocytes via AQP3, eliciting NF-κB activation and the development of psoriasis, and identify AQP3 as a potential therapeutic target for this inflammatory immune-mediated disease.

    • Mariko Hara-Chikuma
    • , Hiroki Satooka
    •  & A. S. Verkman

  • Article |

    Cranial placode progenitors arise from a common precursor field known as the preplacodal region. Here the authors show that transcription factor Zic1 induces the localized production and transport of retinoic acid at the anterior neural plate, which in turn activates a placode developmental programme in neighbouring cells.

    • Maria Belen Jaurena
    • , Hugo Juraver-Geslin
    •  & Jean-Pierre Saint-Jeannet

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chromatin effector proteins often employ multivalent interactions with histone post-translational modifications. Here by using chemically defined nucleosome array and single-molecule microscopy, the authors show that effector multivalency prolongs chromatin retention and accelerates the association rate.

    • Sinan Kilic
    • , Andreas L. Bachmann
    •  & Beat Fierz

  • Article |

    Brg1 is part of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodelling complex that is essential for embryonic development. Here, the authors show that Brg1 is the target of two opposing calcium-regulated molecules involved in myogenesis: calcineurin, which promotes myogenesis, and protein kinase C β (PKCβ), which inhibits it.

    • Brian T. Nasipak
    • , Teresita Padilla-Benavides
    •  & Anthony N. Imbalzano

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Characterizing the cellular stages that lead to induced reprogramming is of much interest and cell surface markers could offer unique advantages for this. Here the authors use surface proteomics and discover CD24 as a marker that tracks reprogramming-responsive cells and enables the analysis and enrichment of transgene-dependent and -independent induced pluriopotent stem cells.

    • Nika Shakiba
    • , Carl A. White
    •  & Peter W Zandstra

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanical properties of the metazoan nucleus can be influenced by the nuclear lamina. Here, Schreiner et al.show that untethering chromatin from the inner nuclear membrane results in highly deformable, softer nuclei, revealing an important role for chromatin in modulating nuclear mechanics.

    • Sarah M. Schreiner
    • , Peter K. Koo
    •  & Megan C. King

  • Article |

    While active and inactive conformations of proteins have been characterised, pathways connecting these states remain largely obscure. Pontiggia et al.find that the inactive state of NtrC represents an ensemble of different conformers that interconvert to the active state via multiple pathways.

    • F. Pontiggia
    • , D.V. Pachov
    •  & D. Kern

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pex1 and Pex6 form a heterohexameric AAA+ ATPase complex with triangular geometry at the peroxisome membrane. Here the authors use electron microscopy to show that the complex undergoes conformational changes upon ATP hydrolysis, and demonstrate inter-domain communication between neighbouring nucleotide-binding domains.

    • Susanne Ciniawsky
    • , Immanuel Grimm
    •  & Petra Wendler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    SUMOylation of the cardiac calcium pump SERCA2a affects its activity and promotes cardiomyocyte contractility. Here the authors identify a small molecule N106 that increases SERCA2 SUMOylation and improves heart function in mice, and propose a promising therapeutic strategy for treatment of heart failure.

    • Changwon Kho
    • , Ahyoung Lee
    •  & Roger J. Hajjar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantitative live cell super-resolution microscopy is currently limited by the time it takes to acquire a well sampled image. Here Stone and Veatch develop a cross-correlation analysis that does not rely on image reconstruction and apply this method to quantify the co-distribution of Lyn kinase and the B-cell receptor during antigen stimulation.

    • Matthew B. Stone
    •  & Sarah L. Veatch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Eukaryotic ribosomal proteins contain nuclear localization signals (NLSs) that their bacterial counterparts lack. Here the authors compare homologous proteins from bacterial and eukaryotic ribosomes to show how NLSs could emerge in the course of evolution, and use this knowledge to identify novel NLSs.

    • Sergey Melnikov
    • , Adam Ben-Shem
    •  & Marat Yusupov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    TFIIIC is a RNA polymerase III-specific general transcription factor complex essential for tRNA synthesis. Here the authors combine chemical crosslinking/mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallography to define the architecture of TFIIIC and suggest a model for the assembly of pre-initiation complexes at tRNA genes.

    • Gary Male
    • , Alexander von Appen
    •  & Christoph W. Müller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The aryl hydrocarbon receptor, AhR, can regulate Oct4, which is often expressed in cancer stem cells and promotes pluripotency and tumorigenesis. Here, in cancer stem cells, AhR is shown to be activated by the tryptophan derivative ITE, which causes transcriptional repression of Oct4 and reduced tumorigenesis.

    • Jie Cheng
    • , Wenxin Li
    •  & Ying-Jie Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The signal recognition particle plays a key role in the co-translational protein targeting of membrane and secretory proteins. Here the authors report a crystal structure of the ternary SRP complex in signal sequence bound and unbound forms, providing insight into how signal sequence binding is coupled to SRP receptor interaction.

    • Tobias Hainzl
    •  & A. Elisabeth Sauer-Eriksson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Loss of the structural microtubule-associated protein 6 (MAP6) leads to neuronal differentiation defects that are independent of MAP6’s microtubule-binding properties. Here the authors establish a functional link between MAP6 and Semaphorin 3E signalling for proper formation of the fornix of the brain.

    • Jean-Christophe Deloulme
    • , Sylvie Gory-Fauré
    •  & Annie Andrieux

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nerve damage can lead to skeletal muscle paralysis. The authors show that localized photostimulation of skeletal muscle expressing the light-sensitive channel Channelrhodopsin-2 generates contraction in the absence of neural impulses and prove that this strategy can be used for optogenetic opening of explanted murine vocal cords.

    • Tobias Bruegmann
    • , Tobias van Bremen
    •  & Philipp Sasse

  • Article
    | Open Access

    TALEs are programmable DNA-binding proteins with practical use in genome engineering and synthetic biology. Here the authors use single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to establish that TALE proteins function using two distinct DNA-interaction modes during sequence-specific target search.

    • Luke Cuculis
    • , Zhanar Abil
    •  & Charles M. Schroeder

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Epithelial sheet migration proceeds via a series of actomyosin contractions, called pulses, that are stabilized, or ratcheted. Here, Xie and Martin develop a computational framework to determine how pulses are coordinated, and show that ratcheting of pulses allows collective migration by preventing competition with neighbouring pulses.

    • Shicong Xie
    •  & Adam C. Martin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fatty acids are ancient lipids with numerous functions, from metabolic processes as a source of energy to structural and signalling roles within cell membranes. Here, the authors present azobenzene-modified fatty acids and their application as photoswitchable agonists of the Vanilloid Receptor 1.

    • James Allen Frank
    • , Mirko Moroni
    •  & Dirk Trauner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Brain-iron elevation is implicated in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but the impact of the metal on disease outcomes has not been analysed in a longitudinal study. Here, the authors examine the association between the levels of ferritin, an iron storage protein, in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of AD patients and show that CSF ferritin levels predict AD outcomes.

    • Scott Ayton
    • , Noel G. Faux
    •  & Ansgar J. Furst

  • Article |

    INO80-C and SWR-C are chromatin remodelling enzymes with roles in transcription pathways. Here, the authors show that they both have similar architectures displaying a ‘tail’ domain and a heterohexameric ‘head’ domain, with conformational changes influencing nucleosomal binding and enzyme activity.

    • Shinya Watanabe
    • , Dongyan Tan
    •  & Craig L. Peterson

  • Article |

    The transcriptional regulation of morphogenetic effectors during eye development is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that transcription of an endocytosis regulator Opois crucial for the neural retina development in zebrafish and activated by the interaction of the transcription factor Vsx2 and retinal enhancer H6_10137.

    • Ines Gago-Rodrigues
    • , Ana Fernández-Miñán
    •  & Juan R. Martinez-Morales

  • Article |

    The NFκB signalling pathway is regulated through the formation of transcription factor dimers but mechanisms controlling their formation are poorly understood. Here, Tsui et al. report that IκBb is a positive regulator of Rel-NFκB dimer formation, using in vitro and in vivoexperiments and mathematical modelling.

    • Rachel Tsui
    • , Jeffrey D. Kearns
    •  & Alexander Hoffmann

  • Article |

    Autoantibodies targeting citrunillated proteins are common in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Here the authors show that vinculin (a human protein) and some microbial proteins are recognized by these antibodies and by CD4+T cells, and this response is absent in patients carrying a protective HLA allele.

    • Jurgen van Heemst
    • , Diahann T. S. L. Jansen
    •  & René E. Toes

  • Article
    | Open Access

    FcγRs are cell-surface receptors for IgGs that play key roles in the humoral and cellular immune response to infection. Here, the authors present a high-resolution crystal structure of the hFcγRI-Fc complex to reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying the high specificity of this important immunological interaction.

    • Masato Kiyoshi
    • , Jose M.M. Caaveiro
    •  & Kouhei Tsumoto

  • Article |

    cAMP is a second messenger that acts in distinct intracellular locations regulating diverse cellular functions. Here the authors design a FRET-based cAMP biosensor and use it to measure in vivodynamics of cAMP concentration changes in the sarcoplasmatic reticulum of mouse cardiomyocytes in health and disease.

    • Julia U. Sprenger
    • , Ruwan K. Perera
    •  & Viacheslav O. Nikolaev

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