Molecular biology articles within Nature

Featured

  • Article |

    The systematic categorization of human enhancers by their cofactor dependencies provides a conceptual framework to understand the sequence and chromatin diversity of enhancers and their roles in different gene-regulatory programmes.

    • Christoph Neumayr
    • , Vanja Haberle
    •  & Alexander Stark
  • Article |

    A new high-throughput assay applied to 1,000 enhancers and 1,000 promoters in human cells reveals how different classes of enhancers and promoters control RNA expression.

    • Drew T. Bergman
    • , Thouis R. Jones
    •  & Jesse M. Engreitz
  • Article |

    Characterization of Gibbin, encoded by AHDC1, offers insights into the epidermal and mesodermal patterning phenotypes seen in Xia–Gibbs and related syndromes in humans, which derive from abnormal mesoderm maturation as a result of gene-specific DNA methylation decisions.

    • Ann Collier
    • , Angela Liu
    •  & Anthony E. Oro
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-nucleus Hi-C of embryos, polymer simulations and single-molecule imaging collectively reveal that MCM complexes influence genome folding and gene expression by impeding DNA loop extrusion.

    • Bart J. H. Dequeker
    • , Matthias J. Scherr
    •  & Kikuë Tachibana
  • Research Briefing |

    Life on Earth depends on the ability of cells to duplicate their genetic material, encoded in DNA molecules, and pass this information on to the next generation. Elucidation of the molecular mechanism underlying the priming step of this copying process provides insights into how DNA replication begins.

  • Article |

    In Drosophila, there are extensive physical and functional associations of distant paralogous genes, including co-regulation by shared enhancers and co-transcriptional initiation over distances of nearly 250 kilobases.

    • Michal Levo
    • , João Raimundo
    •  & Michael S. Levine
  • Article |

    The molecular determinants for primer synthesis are identified within the catalytic domain of primase-polymerase enzymes, elucidating the mechanisms underlying initiation of primer synthesis.

    • Arthur W. H. Li
    • , Katerina Zabrady
    •  & Aidan J. Doherty
  • Article |

    Herpesvirus microRNAs interfere directly with host cell microRNA processing, thereby disrupting mitochondrial architecture, evading intrinsic host defences and driving the switch from latent to lytic infection.

    • Thomas Hennig
    • , Archana B. Prusty
    •  & Bhupesh K. Prusty
  • Article
    | Open Access

    A study maps neuronal genomic targets of oestrogen receptor-α and shows how they coordinate brain sexual differentiation, concluding that the genome remains responsive to hormonal changes after structural dimorphisms have been established.

    • B. Gegenhuber
    • , M. V. Wu
    •  & J. Tollkuhn
  • News & Views |

    In an impressively thorough study, phosphorylation in the core of a transfer RNA molecule has been described for the first time, and the enzymes that add and remove the phosphate group have been characterized.

    • Mark Helm
    •  & Yuri Motorin
  • Research Briefing |

    A long-standing puzzle in molecular biology is how the enzyme USP14 is activated by the proteasome and regulates protein degradation. Time-resolved cryo-electron microscopy combined with deep learning reveals this mechanism in unprecedented detail.

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Experiments in yeast show that introns have a role in inducing phenotypic heterogeneity and that intron-mediated regulation of ribosomal proteins confers a fitness advantage by enabling yeast populations to diversify under nutrient-scarce conditions.

    • Martin Lukačišin
    • , Adriana Espinosa-Cantú
    •  & Tobias Bollenbach
  • Article |

    Analyses of single-cell whole-genome sequencing data show that somatic mutations are increased in the brain of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease compared to neurotypical individuals, with a pattern of genomic damage distinct from that of normal ageing.

    • Michael B. Miller
    • , August Yue Huang
    •  & Christopher A. Walsh
  • News & Views |

    The inner workings of a family of proteins, known as adhesion G-protein-coupled receptors, have finally been visualized at high resolution — revealing the structural basis of their self-activation mechanism.

    • Antony A. Boucard
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The transcriptional effect of an enhancer depends on its contact probabilities with the promoter through a nonlinear relationship, and enhancer strength determines absolute transcription levels as well as the sensitivity of a promoter to CTCF-mediated transcriptional insulation.

    • Jessica Zuin
    • , Gregory Roth
    •  & Luca Giorgetti
  • 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
  • News & Views |

    A protein complex called the rixosome helps to degrade RNA transcripts that linger after gene expression ceases. This discovery points to distinct roles for the rixosome in regulating chromatin in different species.

    • Michael Uckelmann
    •  & Chen Davidovich
  • Article |

    Integrated structure–function studies show that transcription-coupled DNA repair (TCR)—rather than global genomic repair—is responsible for most chromosomal repair events in bacteria, and that TCR mainly occurs independently of the Mfd translocase.

    • Binod K. Bharati
    • , Manjunath Gowder
    •  & Evgeny Nudler
  • Article
    | Open Access

    A small-molecule inhibitor of TMPRSS2 is effective against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in human lung cells and in donor-derived colonoids, and also shows prophylactic and therapeutic benefits in a mouse model of COVID-19.

    • Tirosh Shapira
    • , I. Abrrey Monreal
    •  & François Jean
  • Technology Feature |

    Researchers are blending tools from developmental biology with technologies such as cell sorting and CRISPR to gain fresh insight into cancer.

    • Jyoti Madhusoodanan
  • Outline |

    The tumour-suppressing protein p53 protects our cells from damage, and its malfunction is associated with a vast array of cancers. There are no drugs to restore p53 function in tumours yet, but several therapies are under development.

  • Research Briefing |

    Proteins adopt unstable, high-energy states that exist for fractions of a second but can have key biological roles. A new method of determining high-resolution structures of such states using a form of nuclear magnetic resonance reveals how small changes in protein shape are essential to their function.

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cryo-electron microscopy structures of Cas9 during mismatch cleavage provide insight into the mechanisms that control off-target effects of Cas9, which will aid in the future design of high-fidelity Cas9 variants with reduced off-target cleavage.

    • Jack P. K. Bravo
    • , Mu-Sen Liu
    •  & David W. Taylor
  • Article |

    A transcriptomics study demonstrates cell-type-specific responses to differentially aged blood and shows young blood to have restorative and rejuvenating effects that may be invoked through enhanced mitochondrial function.

    • Róbert Pálovics
    • , Andreas Keller
    •  & Tony Wyss-Coray
  • News & Views |

    Certain patterns of mutations occur frequently in cancer. The culprit behind one mutational signature is now shown to be a cellular enzyme with the mundane role of relieving stress in supercoiled DNA.

    • Ammal Abbasi
    •  & Ludmil B. Alexandrov