Volume 26 Issue 1, January 2019

Zhou, Gaullier and Luger review insights derived from cutting-edge biophysical and structural approaches applied to the study of nucleosome dynamics and nucleosome-binding factors, with a focus on the experimental advances driving the research.

In this Review, Wiedenheft and colleagues retrace events that led from early endeavours to understand the role of Cas9 in CRISPR-mediated adaptive immunity to current efforts aimed at developing this enzyme for programmable genetic editing.

Shah and Kuriyan highlight how the analysis of sequence variation synergizes with protein structure information, to provide new insights into specificity and allosteric regulation of signaling proteins.

The cryo-EM structure of the N-terminal acetyl transferase NatA in complex with the ribosome shows that NatA is dynamically positioned underneath the ribosomal exit tunnel to facilitate modification of the emerging nascent peptide chain.

Cryo-EM structures of rat TRPV2 reveal the architecture of the full-length pore turret and suggest the regulatory role that the turret and lipid binding have in coupling the lower and upper gates of the channel.

Structures of yeast mitochondrial supercomplexes III₂IV and III₂IV₂ are determined by cryo-EM, revealing the interactions between CIII and CIV and an overall different architecture compared to mammalian assemblies.

Analysis of the relationships between transcription, replication, and stability of large genes associated with common fragile sites suggests that high transcription levels alleviate genome instability by altering replication timing and allowing cells to complete replication before mitosis.

Comparative genome-wide analyses reveal that DNA replication origins fire near the initiation site of highly transcribed genes, ensuring co-directional replication and transcription in highly active regions of the human genome.

The cryo-EM structure of budding yeast supercomplex III₂IV₂ is now presented, providing molecular details of CIV (also known as cytochrome c oxidase) and revealing notable differences with mammalian systems.