Focus
Focus on Telomeres and Ribosomes
The 2009 Nobel Prizes celebrated research on telomeres and ribosomes. Telomeres cap the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes and are maintained by telomerase activity. The study of telomere biology, pioneered by the Nobel Prize recipients Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak, has given insights into aging and cancer. The ribosome is a widely conserved macromolecular complex that translates mRNA with exquisite fidelity and the Nobel committee recognized key contributions to this field from Venki Ramakrishnan, Tom Steitz and Ada Yonath. Structural and functional work from many labs has given us unprecedented insight into the inner workings of a biological machine, how it is regulated and how it can be targeted specifically by antibiotics.
Here we have collected current research papers, Reviews, Perspectives and News & Views from Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, as well as from Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, that give a feel for the diversity of research in these continually evolving and exciting fields.
Telomeres
Current Research
The Hsp82 molecular chaperone promotes a switch between unextendable and extendable telomere states -
Diane C DeZwaan, Oyetunji A Toogun, Frank J Echtenkamp & Brian C Freeman
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 711-716 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1616
TRF2 functions as a protein hub and regulates telomere maintenance by recognizing specific peptide motifs-
Hyeung Kim, Ok-Hee Lee, Huawei Xin, Liuh-Yow Chen, Jun Qin, Heekyung Kate Chae, Shiaw-Yih Lin, Amin Safari, Dan Liu & Zhou Songyang
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 372-379 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1575
Triple-helix structure in telomerase RNA contributes to catalysis-
Feng Qiao & Thomas R Cech
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 634-640 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1420
A mammalian microRNA cluster controls DNA methylation and telomere recombination via Rbl2-dependent regulation of DNA methyltransferases-
Roberta Benetti, Susana Gonzalo, Isabel Jaco, Purificación Muñoz, Susana Gonzalez, Stefan Schoeftner, Elizabeth Murchison, Thomas Andl, Taiping Chen, Peter Klatt, En Li, Manuel Serrano, Sarah Millar, Gregory Hannon & Maria A Blasco
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 268-279 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1399
A proposed OB-fold with a protein-interaction surface in Candida albicans telomerase protein Est3-
Eun Young Yu, Feng Wang, Ming Lei & Neal F Lue
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 985-989 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1471
The Est3 protein associates with yeast telomerase through an OB-fold domain -
Jaesung Lee, Edward K Mandell, Timothy M Tucey, Danna K Morris & Victoria Lundblad
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 990-997 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1472
Telomerase recruitment by the telomere end binding protein-β facilitates G-quadruplex DNA unfolding in ciliates -
Katrin Paeschke, Stefan Juranek, Tomas Simonsson, Anne Hempel, Daniela Rhodes & Hans Joachim Lipps
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 598-604 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1422
Pot1 and cell cycle progression cooperate in telomere length regulation-
Dmitri Churikov & Carolyn M Price
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 79-84 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb1331
TER1, the RNA subunit of fission yeast telomerase -
Jessica Leonardi, Jessica A Box, Jeremy T Bunch & Peter Baumann
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 26-33 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb1343
Identification and characterization of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe TER1 telomerase RNA -
Christopher J Webb & Virginia A Zakian
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 34-42 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb1354
Brief Communication
Mutation in TERT separates processivity from anchor-site function-
Arthur J Zaug, Elaine R Podell & Thomas R Cech
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 870-872 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1462
Editorial
Back to basics-
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 13, 1035 (2006)
doi:10.1038/nsmb1206-1035
Essay
Telomeres in the '80s: a few recollections-
Vicki Lundblad
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 13, 1036-1038 (2006)
doi:10.1038/nsmb1206-1036
News and Views
Stuttering against marginotomy -
Manuel Ares, Jr. & Kausik Chakrabarti
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 18-19 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb0108-18
Perspectives
Telomeric circles: universal players in telomere maintenance? -
Lubomir Tomaska, Jozef Nosek, Juraj Kramara & Jack D Griffith
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 1010-1015 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1660
Cancer and ageing: convergent and divergent mechanisms-
Manuel Serrano & Maria A. Blasco
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 8, 715-722 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nrm2242
Reviews
How telomeres are replicated-
Eric Gilson & Vincent Géli
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 8, 825-838 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nrm2259
Cellular senescence: when bad things happen to good cells-
Judith Campisi & Fabrizio d'Adda di Fagagna
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 8, 729-740 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nrm2233
How stem cells age and why this makes us grow old-
Norman E. Sharpless & Ronald A. DePinho
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 8, 703-713 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nrm2241
The biogenesis and regulation of telomerase holoenzymes-
Kathleen Collins
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 7, 484-494 (2006)
doi:10.1038/nrm1961
Ribosomes
Current Research
Translation factors direct intrinsic ribosome dynamics during translation termination and ribosome recycling -
Samuel H Sternberg, Jingyi Fei, Noam Prywes, Kelly A McGrath & Ruben L Gonzalez Jr
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 861-868 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1622
Insights into substrate stabilization from snapshots of the peptidyl transferase center of the intact 70S ribosome-
Rebecca M Voorhees, Albert Weixlbaumer, David Loakes, Ann C Kelley & V Ramakrishnan
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 528-533 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1577
S16 throws a conformational switch during assembly of 30S 5' domain-
Priya Ramaswamy & Sarah A Woodson
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 438-445 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1585
Tertiary interactions within the ribosomal exit tunnel-
Andrey Kosolapov & Carol Deutsch
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 405-411 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1571
The pathway of hepatitis C virus mRNA recruitment to the human ribosome-
Christopher S Fraser, John W B Hershey & Jennifer A Doudna
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 397-404 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1572
A sequence element that tunes Escherichia coli tRNAAlaGGC to ensure accurate decoding-
Sarah Ledoux, Mikol strokeaj Olejniczak & Olke C Uhlenbeck
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 359-364 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1581
Bases in the anticodon loop of tRNAAlaGGC prevent misreading-
Hiroshi Murakami, Atsushi Ohta & Hiroaki Suga
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 353-358 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1580
Transient ribosomal attenuation coordinates protein synthesis and co-translational folding-
Gong Zhang, Magdalena Hubalewska & Zoya Ignatova
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 274-280 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1554
A new tRNA intermediate revealed on the ribosome during EF4-mediated back-translocation-
Sean R Connell, Maya Topf, Yan Qin, Daniel N Wilson, Thorsten Mielke, Paola Fucini, Knud H Nierhaus & Christian M T Spahn
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 910-915 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1469
Mouse Eri1 interacts with the ribosome and catalyzes 5.8S rRNA processing-
K Mark Ansel, William A Pastor, Nicola Rath, Ariya D Lapan, Elke Glasmacher, Christine Wolf, Laura C Smith, Nikoletta Papadopoulou, Edward D Lamperti, Mamta Tahiliani, Joachim W Ellwart, Yujiang Shi, Elisabeth Kremmer, Anjana Rao & Vigo Heissmeyer
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 523-530 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1417
Signal sequence-independent membrane targeting of ribosomes containing short nascent peptides within the exit tunnel-
Thomas Bornemann, Johannes Jöckel, Marina V Rodnina & Wolfgang Wintermeyer
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 494-499 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1402
Superwobbling facilitates translation with reduced tRNA sets-
Marcelo Rogalski, Daniel Karcher & Ralph Bock
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 192-198 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1370
tRNA-mRNA mimicry drives translation initiation from a viral IRES -
David A Costantino, Jennifer S Pfingsten, Robert P Rambo & Jeffrey S Kieft
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 57-64 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb1351
Crystal structure of the ribosome recycling factor bound to the ribosome-
Albert Weixlbaumer, Sabine Petry, Christine M Dunham, Maria Selmer, Ann C Kelley & V Ramakrishnan
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 14, 733-737 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nsmb1282
Structural basis for aminoglycoside inhibition of bacterial ribosome recycling-
Maria A Borovinskaya1, Raj D Pai, Wen Zhang, Barbara S Schuwirth, James M Holton, Go Hirokawa, Hideko Kaji, Akira Kaji & Jamie H Doudna Cate
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 14, 727-732 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nsmb1271
Mechanism for expanding the decoding capacity of transfer RNAs by modification of uridines-
Albert Weixlbaumer, Frank V Murphy, IV, Agnieszka Dziergowska, Andrzej Malkiewicz, Franck A P Vendeix, Paul F Agris & V Ramakrishnan
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 14, 498-502 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nsmb1242
The antibiotic viomycin traps the ribosome in an intermediate state of translocation-
Dmitri N Ermolenko, P Clint Spiegel, Zigurts K Majumdar, Robyn P Hickerson, Robert M Clegg & Harry F Noller
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 14, 493-497 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nsmb1243
Spontaneous reverse movement of mRNA-bound tRNA through the ribosome-
Andrey L Konevega1, Niels Fischer, Yuri P Semenkov, Holger Stark, Wolfgang Wintermeyer & Marina V Rodnina
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 14, 318-324 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nsmb1221
Brief Communications
A conserved rRNA methyltransferase regulates ribosome biogenesis-
Zhili Xu, Heather C O'Farrell, Jason P Rife & Gloria M Culver
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 534-536 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1408
The exonuclease ERI-1 has a conserved dual role in 5.8S rRNA processing and RNAi-
Harrison W Gabel & Gary Ruvkun
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 531-533 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1411
News and Views
A tipping point for mistranslation and disease -
Paul Schimmel & Min Guo
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 348-349 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nsmb0409-348
Reviews
The ribosome as a platform for co-translational processing, folding and targeting of newly synthesized proteins-
Günter Kramer, Daniel Boehringer, Nenad Ban & Bernd Bukau
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 589-597 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1614
A structural understanding of the dynamic ribosome machine-
Thomas A. Steitz
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 242-253 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nrm2352
The multifunctional nucleolus-
François-Michel Boisvert, Silvana van Koningsbruggen, Joaquín Navascués, Angus I. Lamond
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 8, 574-585 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nrm2184
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