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Replication of Nipah virus, which causes human encephalitis, requires delivery of viral nucleoprotein N to the viral genome by phosphoprotein chaperone, P. The crystal structure of the N0–P core complex now reveals how the chaperone prevents premature N assembly on RNA and identifies a potential target for antiviral drugs.
The protein Cereblon, part of an ubiquitin E3 ligase complex, is the target for anticancer thalidomide analogs. The crystal structure of human Cereblon-DDB1 with bound lenalidomide reveals how the drug affects E3 substrate recruitment.
A combination of fluorescence and cross-linking assays are used to elucidate the reciprocal effects of RNA polymerase pausing and the secondary structure of the nascent transcript as it emerges from the translocating enzyme's RNA-exit channel.
EF-G catalyzes translocation of tRNA–mRNA in the ribosome. Biochemical and structural analyses of EF-G indicate that EF-G disrupts interactions between the decoding center and the codon–anticodon duplex that constitute the barrier for translocation.
The precursor for miRNA-151 is found to compete with mature forms for target sites on E2f6 mRNA but not on a different mRNA. These findings indicate that miRNA processing can affect individual mRNA targets differently.
Eukaryotic initiation factor 5b (eIF5B) is essential for translation initiation. Spahn and colleagues now report cryo-EM structures of the mammalian 80S initiation complex associated with eIF5B that redefine eIF5B as a tRNA reorientation factor.
Guettou et al. describe structural studies on a bacterial homolog of PepT1 and PepT2 peptide transporters—nutrient transporters responsible for all peptide transport across the plasma membrane—in complex with three di- or tripeptides. The data suggest how the transporter's broad peptide specificity is achieved.
MAP kinases recognize pathway-specific substrates via docking interactions. NMR analyses now reveal that docking interactions also stimulate ATP binding and phosphotransfer activity of p38α via an allosteric mechanism.
A screen identifies 15 genes that modulate CUG-repeat toxicity in C. elegans, including those encoding RNA-export and clearance factors. Toxic RNAs are recognized by the NMD pathway via their 3' UTR GC content.
Structural elucidation of the RNA aptamer 'Spinach' reveals that a new G-quadruplex structure forms the fluorophore-binding site that confers the ability of the RNA to function as a GFP mimic.
Roquin controls T-cell activity through interactions with mRNAs of stimulatory receptors. Structural and functional elucidation of its RNA-binding domain reveals how it interacts with constitutive decay elements in the 3' UTR of its targets to regulate their expression.
Roquin recognizes the CDE element in mRNAs to promote their decay. Crystal structures of human Roquin ROQ domain in complex with RNA reveals two distinct RNA-binding sites for stem-loop RNA and dsRNA.
Eukaryotic DNA replication is carried out by two DNA polymerases, Pol ɛ and Pol δ. An in vitro–replication system reconstituted with purified yeast components identifies the factors that selectively recruit each polymerase for leading- or lagging-strand synthesis.
Mammalian RPRD proteins bind the phosphorylated CTD of RNA pol II with different affinities. Structural elucidation and characterization of their CTD interaction domains reveal the basis of RPRD binding preferences and a role in directing CTD dephosphorylation.
Plk4 regulates centriole duplication. Two centrosomal scaffold proteins, Cep192 and Cep152, are shown to interact with Plk4 in a temporally and spatially regulated manner, and structural analyses reveal that these interactions are mutually exclusive.
A new system to monitor the effects of nucleosome depletion in Xenopus egg extracts reveals that nucleosomes are required for spindle assembly and for recruitment of nuclear pore complex (NPC) components to the nuclear envelope for NPC formation.
The X-ray crystal structure and biochemical analysis of a triple helix formed between the expression and nuclear retention element (ENE) and the 3′ poly(A) tail of the human long noncoding RNA MALAT-1 reveals the basis of its stability and how it confers resistance to degradation.
The first comprehensive analysis of the meiotic translational program of Schizosaccharomyces pombe by deep sequencing of ribosome-protected fragments identifies new translated sequences and highlights differences in the translational changes occurring during sexual differentiation of fission and budding yeasts.
Chang and colleagues report the involvement of a Dicer-microRNA-cMyc signaling axis in the transcriptional regulation of a large set of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). These lncRNAs are specifically dependent on cMyc, as compared to divergently transcribed protein-coding genes.
Cancer-associated mutations in the pseudokinase domain (JH2) of JAK2 lead to constitutive activation of its tandem kinase domain (JH1). Molecular dynamics simulations, supported by mutational analysis, provide a model for JH2-JH1 interactions that explains many of the JAK2-activating disease mutations.