Structural biology articles within Nature

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  • Article |

    Structures of human vesicular monoamine transporter 2 in complexes with serotonin and three clinical drugs provide insights into the structural basis for serotonin transport and inhibition of transporter activity by the drugs.

    • Di Wu
    • , Qihao Chen
    •  & Daohua Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cryogenic electron microscopy structures of amyloid filaments extracted from patient brains reveal that the protein TAF15 forms filaments that characterize certain cases of frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

    • Stephan Tetter
    • , Diana Arseni
    •  & Benjamin Ryskeldi-Falcon

  • Research Briefing |

    A series of structures of the eukaryotic protein-synthesis machinery are imaged at high resolution in defined states of the elongation phase of protein synthesis. Analysis suggests that there are underlying molecular mechanisms that increase the accuracy of translation of genetic information in eukaryotes.

  • News & Views |

    A transcription factor in immune cells forms an unexpectedly ladder-like complex with two DNA molecules, allowing the expression of genes that these cells need to suppress harmful immune responses.

    • Zhi Liu
    •  & Ye Zheng

  • Article |

    The accuracy of eukaryotic ribosome translocation relies on eukaryote-specific elements of the 80S ribosome, elongation factor 2 and transfer RNAs, all of which contribute to the maintenance of the messenger RNA reading frame.

    • Nemanja Milicevic
    • , Lasse Jenner
    •  & Gulnara Yusupova

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A time-resolved cryogenic electron microscopy analysis provides structural information on the processes of primary and secondary nucleation of tau amyloid formation, with implications for the development of new therapies.

    • Sofia Lövestam
    • , David Li
    •  & Sjors H. W. Scheres

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Analysis of the group II intron ribonucleoprotein shows the molecular interactions involved in branchpoint adenosine recognition, lariat formation and exon ligation, providing clues to the evolutionary conservation of structural components and catalytic mechanisms in premessenger RNA splicing.

    • Ling Xu
    • , Tianshuo Liu
    •  & Anna Marie Pyle

  • Article
    | Open Access

    X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM and biochemical analysis provide insight into the assembly of the bacterial Gabija complex, an anti-phage system, and reveal how viruses can evade this defence mechanism.

    • Sadie P. Antine
    • , Alex G. Johnson
    •  & Philip J. Kranzusch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-particle cryo-electron microscopy structures of HIV-1 envelope (Env) trimers bound to one or two CD4 receptors identify intermediate Env conformations that precede host–virus fusion and inform the design of therapeutics to prevent HIV-1 infection.

    • Kim-Marie A. Dam
    • , Chengcheng Fan
    •  & Pamela J. Bjorkman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A protein interaction network constructed with data from high-throughput affinity enrichment coupled to mass spectrometry provides a highly saturated yeast interactome with 31,004 interactions, including low-abundance complexes, membrane protein complexes and non-taggable protein complexes.

    • André C. Michaelis
    • , Andreas-David Brunner
    •  & Matthias Mann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An analysis of the evolutionary distribution of predicted structures for the metamorphic protein KaiB using AF-Cluster reveals that both conformations of KaiB were distributed in clusters across the KaiB family.

    • Hannah K. Wayment-Steele
    • , Adedolapo Ojoawo
    •  & Dorothee Kern

  • News & Views |

    Thick filaments contain the protein myosin that generates the force of every heartbeat. Two studies report how these myosin molecules pack together in thick filaments with other proteins to form a surprisingly complex structure.

    • Peter J. Knight

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A cryo-electron tomography study reports the structure of thick myosin filaments of mouse cardiac muscle in the relaxed state in situ and the MyBP-C links that connect them with the surrounding thin actin filaments.

    • Davide Tamborrini
    • , Zhexin Wang
    •  & Stefan Raunser

  • Article |

    The intricate molecular architecture and interactions of the human cardiac myosin filament offer insights into cardiac physiology, disease and drug therapy.

    • Debabrata Dutta
    • , Vu Nguyen
    •  & Roger Craig

  • News & Views |

    A membrane-transport protein in sperm exchanges sodium and hydrogen ions. Its activations by voltage and by cyclic nucleotide molecules are usually only features of ion channels. Structural data shed light on this protein.

    • John Orlowski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Upon hyperpolarization, the S4 voltage-sensing segment of sea urchin SLC9C1 moves down, removing inhibition caused by an intracellular helix and enabling Na+/H+ exchange, leading to pH-dependent activation of sAC and sperm chemotaxis.

    • Hyunku Yeo
    • , Ved Mehta
    •  & David Drew

  • Technology Feature |

    Linking mass spectrometry with cryo-electron microscopy could transform understanding of complex protein structures — if scientists can show that samples remain intact when they hit their target.

    • Michael Eisenstein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Binding of a sialoglycan-based primary receptor by the spike protein of the common cold human coronavirus HKU1 triggers conformational changes to a state that would allow binding to a second receptor required for cell entry.

    • Matti F. Pronker
    • , Robert Creutznacher
    •  & Daniel L. Hurdiss

  • Review Article |

    Structural studies of amyloid filaments purified from brains of people with neurodegenerative diseases link specific amyloid folds with distinct diseases and provide a basis for the development of models of neurodegenerative disease.

    • Sjors H. W. Scheres
    • , Benjamin Ryskeldi-Falcon
    •  & Michel Goedert

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The exploration of voltage-gated potassium channels using cryo-electron microscopy and electrophysiology identifies a mechanism of inactivation involved in regulating neuron firing.

    • Ana I. Fernández-Mariño
    • , Xiao-Feng Tan
    •  & Kenton J. Swartz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The endoribonuclease PUCH, a trimer of Schlafen-like-domain proteins, initiates piRNA processing in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans through 5′-end piRNA precursor cleavage.

    • Nadezda Podvalnaya
    • , Alfred W. Bronkhorst
    •  & René F. Ketting

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Calcium-permeable GluA1 AMPA glutamate receptors are structurally and functionally distinct from the prototypical GluA2-containing AMPA receptors, impacting their role in signal transmission, synaptic plasticity and learning.

    • Danyang Zhang
    • , Josip Ivica
    •  & Ingo H. Greger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The extent to which the AlphaFold database has structurally illuminated proteins that are challenging to annotate for function or putative biological role using standard homology-based approaches at high predicted accuracy is investigated.

    • Janani Durairaj
    • , Andrew M. Waterhouse
    •  & Joana Pereira

  • Article |

    A biochemical and structural analysis demonstrates that alterations at the substrate-binding pocket of the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 can allow the virus to develop resistance to nirmatrelvir in two distinct ways.

    • Yinkai Duan
    • , Hao Zhou
    •  & Haitao Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phosphoantigen-mediated BTN2A1 association drives BTN3A1 intracellular fluctuations outwards in a thermodynamically favourable manner, thereby enabling BTN3A1 to push off from the BTN2A1 ectodomain to initiate T cell receptor–mediated γδ T cell activation.

    • Linjie Yuan
    • , Xianqiang Ma
    •  & Yonghui Zhang

  • News & Views |

    It is well established that proteins in the TRP family of ion channels assemble from four subunits. But do they always do this? A five-subunit structure has now been observed, and might be involved in channel regulation.

    • Ute A. Hellmich

  • Article |

    High-speed atomic force microscopy single-molecule imaging and cryo-EM analysis discover and reveal the structure of a TRPV3 pentamer, providing evidence for a non-canonical pentameric TRP-channel assembly, laying the foundation for new directions in TRP channel research.

    • Shifra Lansky
    • , John Michael Betancourt
    •  & Simon Scheuring

  • Article |

    Cryo-electron microscopy structures of OPA1, mutations of which are associated with the disease dominant optic atrophy, provide insight into how structural features of OPA1 enable this protein to mediate mitochondrial-membrane fusion and remodelling.

    • Sarah B. Nyenhuis
    • , Xufeng Wu
    •  & Jenny E. Hinshaw

  • Article |

    Human OPA1 embeds itself into cardiolipin-containing membranes through a lipid-binding paddle domain, and OPA1 oligomerization through multiple assembly interfaces promotes the helical assembly of a flexible OPA1 lattice on the membrane, driving mitochondrial fusion in cells.

    • Alexander von der Malsburg
    • , Gracie M. Sapp
    •  & Halil Aydin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Structures of the glucagon receptor bound to β-arrestin 1 are reported, providing further information about the arrestin-mediated modulation of G protein-coupled receptors.

    • Kun Chen
    • , Chenhui Zhang
    •  & Beili Wu

  • Article |

    Structural studies on the complex containing G-protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2), neurotensin receptor 1 (NTSR1), Gαq and the arrestin-biased ligand SBI-553 provide insights into these interactions and a foundation for the design of arrestin-biased ligands for G-protein-coupled receptors.

    • Jia Duan
    • , Heng Liu
    •  & H. Eric Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cryo-electron microscopy structures and mass spectrometry analyses show that TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) forms amyloid filaments with a distinct fold in type A frontotemporal lobar degeneration with TDP-43 pathology (FTLD-TDP) compared with TDP-43 filaments in type B FTLD-TDP and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

    • Diana Arseni
    • , Renren Chen
    •  & Benjamin Ryskeldi-Falcon

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