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Recognition of nucleic acids is a key strategy of the innate immune system to detect infectious organisms and tissue damage. Toll-like receptor (TLR) 8 was long assumed to be a receptor for single-stranded (ss) RNA. Unexpected findings now suggest that TLR8 recognizes RNA degradation products rather than ssRNA and that synergistic binding of two uridine-containing agonists at distinct sites of the receptor leads to activation of the innate immune response.
The ryanodine receptor (RyR), an ion channel regulating intracellular calcium release in excitable cells, has been challenging for structural analysis because of its colossal proportions compared to most other ion channels. Three independent groups have now used recent technological advancements in single-particle cryo-EM to make giant strides in solving the structure of this elusive protein complex.
Little is currently known about the molecular determinants of energy barriers along enzyme catalytic pathways. Kern and co-workers have studied this question in adenylate kinase (Adk) and now reveal that a single Mg2+ ion can accelerate two distinct steps, thus uncovering an unexpected dual role for this ubiquitous cofactor.
The structural rules governing the curving folds of solenoid proteins, as distilled down to the level of the underlying sequence repeats, provide designers with the tools to reliably fashion new variants with tunable geometries. Bespoke leucine-rich repeat (LRR) scaffolds, as recognition proteins, can now be tailored to better fit their targets.
The ribosome is a complex molecular machine that is central to protein synthesis. This Review highlights the various roles of noncoding RNAs during the different steps of ribosome biogenesis and discusses the consequences for ribosome function.
In this Perspective, Spitale, Chang and Chu discuss recent technological advances that will aid in the functional characterization of long noncoding RNAs, which up to now has posed a substantial challenge.
RNA interference (RNAi) is a process by which small noncoding RNAs direct molecular machinery to silence gene expression. In this Review, Ipsaro and Joshua-Tor discuss the mechanisms and structures that govern RNAi in higher organisms.
