Protein quality control articles from across Nature Portfolio

Neural circuit architecture must be maintained during an animal’s lifetime. Here, the authors show that a protective mechanism combining proteostasis and biomechanics supports the integrity of glial cells to environmental stressors.

The role of methionine aminopeptidase 2 (MAP2) at the ribosome goes beyond N-terminal methionine excision. Klein et al. use cryo-EM to identify a second MAP2 binding site on the ribosome, and describe the dynamic interactions of MAP2 at the ribosome.

The prevalence and conservation of C-degrons across eukaryotes is unclear. Here, the authors perform an unbiased survey of C-degrons in budding yeast and identify a C-degron pathway of broad specificity operated by the SCF^Das1 ubiquitin ligase.

The Lon protease is an important protein degradation machine and is conserved across the three domains of life. Here, the authors describe a small proteotoxic stress-induced protein that functions as an allosteric activator of Lon.