Looping in human neurofibromin structures

Cryo-EM reveals that the autoinhibited neurofibromin dimer forms a large loop-shaped scaffold, which provides a molecular explanation for the extreme sensitivity of the NF1 gene to loss-of-function mutations in disease.

See Article by Lupton, Bayly-Jones, D'Andrea et al.

Gearing up for GPCR activation

A new online GPCR structure analysis platform is presented and used to perform a comparative analysis of inactive/active state structures, resulting in detailed molecular mechanistic maps of activation of the major GPCR classes.

See Articles by Kooistra, Munk et al. and Hauser, Kooistra et al.

Ras–Raf signalosome structures

A computationally derived structural model of a membrane-associated K-Ras nanocluster with Raf effectors helps to explain functional properties of the MAPK signaling pathway.

See Article by Mysore, Zhou, Ambrogio et al.

Targeting a SARS-CoV-2 pseudoknot

A cryo-EM structure of the pseudoknot-forming SARS-CoV-2 frameshift stimulation element guides development of antisense oligonucleotides that impair virus replication.

SeeZhang et al.

Tracking SMC complex collisions

Hi-C analyses of engineered Bacillus subtilis strains with defined genomic SMC-loading sites reveal a variety of chromosome folding patterns that require SMC complexes to bypass each other.

See Article by Brandão, Ren et al.

TRP channels feel the heat

Cryo-EM structures of the sensory ion channels TRPV1 and TRPV3 at different temperatures reveal mechanistic principles of heat-dependent gating.

See Kwon et al. and Nadezhdin, Neuberger et al.

Retinoids induce 2CLC reprogramming

Retinoic acid signaling regulates the 2-cell-stage program and is essential for zygotic genome activation and developmental progression of mammalian embryos.

See Iturbide et al.

PDB 50th anniversary: celebrating the future of structural biology

In honour of the 50th anniversary of the Protein Data Bank, we and our colleagues at Nature Methodspresent a special online Collection that celebrates the past and future of structural biology.

See Editorial

Targeted inhibition of AAA proteins

AAA proteins can be specifically targeted using a newly designed small-molecule inhibitor that covalently binds to a genetically introduced cysteine.

See Technical Report by Cupido, Jones et al.

A bottleneck in sphingolipid synthesis

Cryo-EM structures of serine palmitoyltransferase, a large enzyme complex that catalyzes the rate-limiting step in sphingolipid biosynthesis, reveal principles of its regulation and substrate selectivity.

See Article by Li, Xie, Liu et al. and Article by Wang et al.

Proteome imbalance in cataract formation

Analyses of eye lenses from mouse strains that develop cataract due to mutations in α-, β-, or γ-crystallin proteins reveal that the mutant protein levels are largely reduced, whereas other crystallin proteins, including α-crystallins, precipitate.

See Article Schmid et al.

Architecture of the ciliary radial spoke

Structural work reveals the architecture of the radial spoke in unprecedented detail and provides insights into the mechanoregulation of motile cilia.

See Article by Grossman-Haham et al. and Article by Gui et al.