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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.