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Chromosome end protection is accomplished by telomeres. How cells cope with spontaneously unprotected telomeres while avoiding cell cycle arrest or cell death is a fascinating question.
Flu viruses package essential functions into a small integral membrane protein known as M2. Such small membrane proteins represent major challenges for structural biology. A new study presented in this issue details the structure and functions of the influenza B M2 protein through the use of functional domain–specific solution NMR spectroscopy.
Ubiquitin chains have critical roles in activating the NF-κB pathway and mediating immune responses. Recent structural work on distinct ubiquitin chains in complexes with selective ubiquitin-binding domains provides an explanation for directionality and specificity in the NF-κB pathway.
Influenza virus binding to host cells and neutrophil trafficking to sites of inflammation are diverse aspects of biology mediated by receptor recognition of sialic acids that terminate glycans on cell surface glycoproteins and glycolipids. The first crystal structure of a mammalian sialyltransferase provides insights into the biosynthesis of the rich spectrum of sialic acid–containing glycans in the mammalian glycome.
A relatively simple but powerful method to measure RNA polymerase II transcription elongation as well as co-transcriptional RNA splicing rates at many genes in vivo is described in this issue. The results demonstrate a rather uniform, and high, elongation rate at large human genes and co-transcriptional pre-mRNA splicing of both U2- and U12-dependent primary transcripts.
A recent study has put together the three-dimensional structures of proteins involved in the central metabolism of one organism, providing insight into the evolution of metabolic networks.
A functional proteomics study reveals that nuclear pore proteins are direct substrates for mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases, leading to a new mechanism for growth factor control of nuclear transport.
Trigger factor is a ribosome-associated chaperone that assists early folding steps of nascent proteins in bacteria. A new study presents the first crystal structure of Trigger factor in complex with a folded protein bound as substrate, challenges the current model for how Trigger factor interacts with substrates and suggests an unexpected role for Trigger factor in protein assembly and ribosome biogenesis.
An important aspect of eukaryotic gene expression is the efficient integration of transcription, pre-mRNA processing and nuclear export. A new study demonstrates that pre-mRNA transcript continuity is an essential component for maintaining productive coupling of transcription and RNA processing events.
The adequate and on-time response of cellular transcription to internal needs and external stimuli is a delicate task. Is the transcriptional regulator p53 on call to permit rapid activation of its target genes? A new study reports interplay of p53 with a previously unidentified regulator, calcineurin-binding protein 1 (Cabin1), and provides evidence for such a mechanism.
Using bioinformatics analysis of previously published global genome deep-sequencing data, two papers now show that DNA sequences associated with nucleosomes are preferentially located in exons. The correlation between nucleosome distribution and the exon-intron organization of genes may have a key role in exon recognition at the pre-mRNA level during co-transcriptional splicing, consistent with previous findings indicating chromatin-mediated regulation of alternative splicing.
Macrodomains function as binding modules for metabolites of NAD+, including poly(ADP-ribose). Three new studies explore how binding of poly(ADP-ribose) by the macrodomains of histone variant macroH2A1.1 and the ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeling protein ALC1 (also called CHD1L) leads to the modulation of chromatin structure, regulating nuclear functions such as DNA-damage detection and repair.
Bacterial antisense RNAs target translation initiation regions (TIRs) to compete with ribosome binding, thus repressing translation and—secondarily—causing degradation of the naked mRNA. A new study reports on an antisense RNA that directly accelerates mRNA decay by targeting a sequence deep within the coding region, far downstream of the TIR.
Male fruitflies upregulate transcription of nearly all genes on their single X chromosome to equalize expression with the two X chromosomes in females. A new study shows that the distribution of the histone acetylation mark associated with this upregulation is much broader than that of the MSL complex responsible for depositing this mark.
It is just as important to shut off a signaling pathway as it is to turn it on. A new study on the tandem Ras-associating (RA) and pleckstrin-homology (PH) domains of Grb10 and Grb14 provides important insight into a multicomponent assembly for downregulating insulin receptor signaling.
The Mre11 protein has well-documented functions in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks via homologous recombination. Now, several new studies reveal that Mre11 also has a role in mammalian DNA double-strand break repair by nonhomologous end joining.
Removal of the poly(A) tail is the initial step in targeting an mRNA for degradation in budding yeast as well as in metazoans. But in fission yeast a new study reveals an additional pathway that adds uridines to the poly(A) tail of mRNA to initiate the degradation pathway.
