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This structure of human PTH1R, a key target for the treatment of osteoporosis, reveals the agonist binding mode and molecular details within conserved structural motifs critical for class B GPCR function.
A PxL motif is identified in substrates of yeast phosphatase Cdc14. PxL functions as a docking motif for substrates and contributes to the timing of dephosphorylation during mitotic exit.
Diederichs and colleagues review RNA motifs, focusing on four recent studies identifying nuclear-retention motifs, and discuss the limited specificity of short RNA motifs and the resulting challenge for effective functional prediction.
Cells rely on the synthesis, translocation, folding and turnover of proteins. Owing to complexity, spatiotemporal regulation and surveillance of these processes are vital. Advances in the field were discussed at the international symposium ‘Proteins: From the Cradle to the Grave’ that took place in the wonderful setting of a Buddhist temple located close to Kyoto, Japan. The emerging theme was the interdependence among cellular processes and organelle compartments.
Attempts to develop a method for 3D genome reconstruction of single cells have been frustrated by the inability to distinguish between chromosome homologs. A novel Hi-C workflow uses haplotype imputation to map the nuclear organization of single diploid cells.
Cross-linking mass spectrometry has developed into a robust and flexible tool that provides medium-resolution structural information. This review highlights notable successes of this technique and discusses common pipelines.
SLFN11 sensitizes cancer cells to therapeutic drugs by selectively catalyzing the cleavage of Leu-TAA and Leu-AAG tRNAs in response to camptothecin DDA treatment, thereby inhibiting the translation rate of proteins enriched for these codons.
The lncRNA SAMMSON promotes a balanced increase in rRNA maturation and protein synthesis in the cytosol and mitochondria by modulating the localization of CARF, which affects two rRNA-processing factors.
In this Review, Haoxing Xu and colleagues summarize current knowledge of TRP channels and their roles in the response to environmental and cellular signals, focusing in particular on the least known class, the organellar TRPs.
Baker, Marcos and colleagues analyze β-arches (loops connecting unpaired β-strands) and derive rules used for de novo design of a hyperthermostable jellyroll structure, with eight antiparallel β-strands forming double-stranded β-helices.
The σ1 receptor, an endoplasmic reticulum–resident transmembrane protein, modulates many physiological and pathological processes and binds multiple drugs, but is nonetheless poorly understood. In a recent issue, Kruse and colleagues illustrate structural differences between agonist- and antagonist-bound receptor and propose that agonist binding may impair oligomerization, making a major step in understanding σ1 function. They also use a combination of kinetic and molecular dynamic modeling to explain how ligands access the binding pocket.
A new class of miRNA-recognition elements that function exclusively in protein-coding regions use distinct target-recognition rules and mediate translational repression instead of mRNA destabilization.
A combination of fluorescence approaches that permit conformational changes of SNARE proteins to be visualized in different lipid environments reveals interactions underlying vesicle–membrane fusion.
Crystal structures of the Ku70/80–DNA complex with Ku binding motifs of APLF and XLF reveal distinct interaction sites and an induced conformational change in Ku80 critical for function in NHEJ repair.
Histone variant macroH2A is initially pervasively deposited across the mouse genome and is subsequently selectively evicted from transcriptionally active regions to establish macroH2A chromatin domains.