DNA-binding proteins articles from across Nature Portfolio

An autophagy receptor, NDP52, is recruited to the nucleus where it can bind DNA. The authors show this promotes changes in chromatin accessibility which supports transcription initiation, providing a direct link between autophagy and transcription regulation.

The mechanism of replication restart initiation by the bacterial DNA replication restart proteins PriA and PriB is resolved, revealing a switch-like restructuring of PriA triggered by replication fork binding that mediates PriA/PriB complex assembly.

Here, the authors solve a series of cryo-EM structures of the Swi2/Snf2 family transcription regulator Mot1 to show how this remodeler uses energy to displace the transcription initiation factor TBP from its gene promoters.

Using hydrogen-deuterium exchange, the authors propose a model explaining how a classic transcription factor undergoes changes in its conformational ensemble in response to different ligands.

Specific ssDNA binding proteins promote the annealing of complementary strands. Here the authors reveal an intermediate of annealing in which a duplex DNA is bound in an unusual conformation that is highly extended and unwound for the ssDNA binding protein Redβ from bacteriophage λ.

CHD4 is an essential chromatin remodelling enzyme in complex organisms. Here the authors demonstrate that CHD4 activity is regulated both positively and negatively by distinct auxiliary domains, revealing parallels with other chromatin remodellers.