Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Deformation dynamics describes the effect of forces and torques on the shape of a molecule, for instance on biopolymers, such as polynucleotides, polypeptides or polysaccharides.
While the impact of F-actin architecture on stress transmission is well studied, the role of architecture on stress generation remains unclear. Here authors use in vitro model and show that distinct organizations constrain myosin motion.
The mechanism by which circadian clock proteins compensate for changes in temperature to maintain regular operation remains unclear. Here, temperature compensation from the reaction to cell level is explained by large-scale motions inside the clock protein observed via neutron scattering spectroscopy.
A high-throughput assay that introduces mismatched base pairs into the DNA sequence shows that mismatches can increase transcription factor binding affinity by prepaying some of the energetic cost of distorting the DNA.
The rare blood group Dantu is known to protect against severe malaria, and a mechanism is proposed here: Dantu red blood cells have a high membrane tension that prevents invasion by malaria parasites.
