Biophysics articles within Nature

Featured

  • Article |

    Octopus and squid use cephalopod-specific chemotactile receptors to sense their respective marine environments, but structural adaptations in these receptors support the sensation of specific molecules suited to distinct physiological roles.

    • Guipeun Kang
    • , Corey A. H. Allard
    •  & Ryan E. Hibbs

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A structure–function analysis of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator shows its two nucleotide-binding domains dimerize before channel opening, and reveals a mechanism through which conformational changes in the channel regulate chloride conductance.

    • Jesper Levring
    • , Daniel S. Terry
    •  & Jue Chen

  • Article |

    By using in vivo ultrafast TA spectroscopy, extraction of electrons directly from photoexcited PSI and PSII in cyanobacterial cells using exogenous electron mediators is demonstrated.

    • Tomi K. Baikie
    • , Laura T. Wey
    •  & Jenny Z. Zhang

  • Research Briefing |

    Our sense of smell enables us to perceive a universe of odours. Cryo-electron microscopy has provided an atomic-resolution picture of how an odour molecule is recognized by one of the hundreds of odorant receptors encoded in the human genome, providing a first view into the chemical logic of olfaction.

  • Article |

    Through the use of cryo-electron microscopy and molecular dynamics stimulations, mechanistic insight into the binding of an odorant to the human odorant receptor OR51E2 is provided.

    • Christian B. Billesbølle
    • , Claire A. de March
    •  & Aashish Manglik

  • Article |

    Mutations in the sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) cause congenital hypothyroidism, and our results yield insights into how NIS selects, couples and translocates anions, thereby establishing a framework for understanding NIS function.

    • Silvia Ravera
    • , Juan Pablo Nicola
    •  & Nancy Carrasco

  • Research Briefing |

    The enzyme V-ATPase pumps protons into vesicles at the synaptic connections between neuronal cells, and is crucial for neuronal communication. Observations of individual V-ATPase molecules reveal that they randomly switch between proton-pumping, rest and leaking modes, which each last for several minutes, with potential implications for neurotransmission.

  • Article |

    Single-molecule measurements of synaptic vesicles show that V-ATPases do not pump continuously in time but instead stochastically switch between ultralong-lived proton-pumping, inactive and proton-leaky modes.

    • Eleftherios Kosmidis
    • , Christopher G. Shuttle
    •  & Dimitrios Stamou

  • News Feature |

    More than a decade ago, scientists started finding peculiar droplets inside cells. Now researchers are trying to work out how these ubiquitous beads form and what they do.

    • Elie Dolgin

  • Article |

    Electrophysiological, structural and biochemical studies on the bestrophin-2 anion channel reveal asymmetric permeability to glutamate and show that it forms a cooperative machinery in complex with glutamine synthetase for glutamate release.

    • Aaron P. Owji
    • , Kuai Yu
    •  & Tingting Yang

  • Article |

    Cryo-electron microscopy studies of Escherichia coli complex I suggest a conserved mechanism of coupled proton transfers and electrostatic interactions that result in proton ejection from the complex exclusively at the distal NuoL subunit.

    • Vladyslav Kravchuk
    • , Olga Petrova
    •  & Leonid Sazanov

  • News & Views |

    The interior of the cell is organized with the help of dynamic structures that condense like droplets. A timing strategy ensures that cells maintain healthy function by avoiding uncontrolled growth of these condensates.

    • Guillaume Charras
    •  & Martin Lenz

  • News & Views |

    The engineering of cells to express synthetic adhesion molecules creates a simple logic for patterning cell populations with visible boundaries. The approach paves the way for smart living materials and programmable biosensors.

    • Luis Ángel Fernández

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A synthetic cell-cell adhesion logic using swarming E. coli with 4 bits of information is introduced, enabling the programming of interfaces that combine to form universal tessellation patterns over a large scale.

    • Honesty Kim
    • , Dominic J. Skinner
    •  & Ingmar H. Riedel-Kruse

  • News & Views |

    An analysis of chromosomes during mitotic cell division reveals that DNA and associated histone proteins condense through a process called phase transition, which helps them to resist the pushing forces involved in mitosis.

    • Kazuhiro Maeshima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Histone deacetylation at the onset of mitosis induces a chromatin-intrinsic phase transition that endows chromosomes with the physical characteristics necessary for their precise movement during cell division.

    • Maximilian W. G. Schneider
    • , Bryan A. Gibson
    •  & Daniel W. Gerlich

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cryo-electron microscopy structures of IL-25–IL-17RB–IL-17RA and IL-17A–IL-17RC–IL-17RA complexes show a tip-to-tip architecture, which is a key organizing principle of the IL-17 receptor family.

    • Steven C. Wilson
    • , Nathanael A. Caveney
    •  & K. Christopher Garcia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A nanoscale rotary motor made of DNA origami, driven by ratcheting and powered by an external electric field, shows the ability to wind up a spring and has mechanical capabilities approaching those of biological motors.

    • Anna-Katharina Pumm
    • , Wouter Engelen
    •  & Hendrik Dietz

  • News & Views |

    Self-assembling ‘crystals’ of starfish embryos exhibit a curious behaviour termed odd elasticity, which seemingly violates Newton’s laws of classical mechanics. This discovery poses questions for physicists and biologists alike.

    • Jack Binysh
    •  & Anton Souslov

  • Article |

    Small intestinal crypts contain twice as many effective stem cells as large intestinal crypts, and this difference is determined by the degree of Wnt-driven retrograde cell movement—which is largely absent in the large intestine—counteracting conveyor-belt-like upward movement.

    • Maria Azkanaz
    • , Bernat Corominas-Murtra
    •  & Jacco van Rheenen

  • Article |

    Single-molecule spectroscopy and structural studies were used to examine the dynamics of association of eIF1A and eIF5B with the human translation initiation complex and their role in presenting tRNA to the complex to initiate translation.

    • Christopher P. Lapointe
    • , Rosslyn Grosely
    •  & Joseph D. Puglisi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Peptidoglycan stem peptides in the Gram-negative bacterial cell wall regulate the insertion of essential outer membrane proteins, thus representing a potential target for antibiotic design.

    • Gideon Mamou
    • , Federico Corona
    •  & Waldemar Vollmer

  • Article |

    Cryo-electron microscopy and crystal structures of Arabidopsis NPR1—a bird-shaped homodimer—and its complex with the transcription factor TGA3 provide an explanation for a direct role of salicylic acid and enhanceosome assembly in regulating NPR1-dependent gene expression.

    • Shivesh Kumar
    • , Raul Zavaliev
    •  & Pei Zhou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Structural studies of human Na+–taurocholate co-transporting polypeptide in complex with nanobodies reveal mechanisms for bile salts transport and HBV recognition involving an open-pore intermediate state.

    • Kapil Goutam
    • , Francesco S. Ielasi
    •  & Nicolas Reyes

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A method that uses a combination of optical trapping, fluorescence microscopy and microfluidics to analyse the internal structure of chromosomes shows that there is a distinct nonlinear stiffening of the chromosome in response to tension.

    • Anna E. C. Meijering
    • , Kata Sarlós
    •  & Gijs J. L. Wuite

  • News & Views |

    The beating of hair-like structures that enable microorganisms to swim has been replicated in a polymer material that bends and twists with the help of light-sensitive molecular machines.

    • Dhanya Babu
    •  & Nathalie Katsonis

  • News & Views |

    The formation of body segments in vertebrate embryos has long been attributed to the spatio-temporal patterning of molecular signals. But segment length in zebrafish is now found to be adjusted by tissue mechanics.

    • Miki Ebisuya
    •  & Xavier Trepat

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cryo-EM structures of AMPA receptor with the subunit γ2 in non-desensitizing conditions at low glutamate concentrations disprove the one-to-one link between the number of glutamate-bound subunits and ionotropic glutamate receptor conductance.

    • Maria V. Yelshanskaya
    • , Dhilon S. Patel
    •  & Alexander I. Sobolevsky

  • News & Views |

    A general method that quantifies and disentangles the effects of a gene’s mutations on the traits of its protein enables assessments of mutational effects on protein biophysics for many of the proteins of a living organism.

    • Debora S. Marks
    •  & Stephen W. Michnick

  • Article |

    Cryo-electron microscopy structures of the bacterial O-antigen ligase WaaL, combined with genetics, biochemistry and molecular dynamics simulations, provide insight into the mechanism by which WaaL catalyses the biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharide.

    • Khuram U. Ashraf
    • , Rie Nygaard
    •  & Filippo Mancia

  • News & Views |

    A paper published in 1997 brought the thermodynamics of the nineteenth century into the twenty-first century — expanding the physics of transformations involved in the operation of steam engines to the realm of molecular motors.

    • Chase P. Broedersz
    •  & Pierre Ronceray

  • News & Views |

    Adding particles or polymers to a fluid can make bacteria swim straighter — and therefore faster — than they do through water, by inducing a torque that changes their body alignment.

    • Raphaël Jeanneret
    •  & Marco Polin

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