Nature -Advance Online Publications

Nature Structural aamp; Molecular Biology

A two-helix motif positions the lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase active site for catalysis within the membrane bilayer The crystal structure of Thermotoga maritima lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase reveals a two-helix motif that positions the active site for catalysis within the membrane bilayer. Musashi 1 regulates the timing and extent of meiotic mRNA translational activation by promoting the use of specific CPEs New data reveal how Musashi binding to Xenopus oocyte mRNAs promotes changes in RNA secondary structure that modulate CPEB1 binding and influence polyadenylation and translational efficiency. PAR-TERRA directs homologous sex chromosome pairing New analyses reveal that TERRA transcripts arising from the subtelomeric pseudoautosomal (PAR) region of sex chromosomes nucleate pairing of X alleles in mouse ES cells. Multi-domain utilization by TUT4 and TUT7 in control of let-7 biogenesis Structural analysis of the uridyl transferases TUT4 and TUT7 reveals the use of two functional modules in the switch from monouridylation of pre-let-7, which promotes let-7 expression, to oligouridylation of pre-let-7, which marks it for degradation. Mechanochemical evolution of the giant muscle protein titin as inferred from resurrected proteins Single-molecule spectroscopy analyses of titin fragments from modern animals and reconstructed from the last common ancestors to mammals, sauropsids and tetrapods shed light on the evolution of the mechanical properties of muscle titin from the Paleozoic to our days. Regulator-dependent mechanisms of C3b processing by factor I allow differentiation of immune responses The structure of C3b in complex with factor I and a shortened version of factor H, along with functional analyses, leads to a mechanistic model for how regulators determine sequential cleavage events on C3b. Asparagine endopeptidase cleavesα-synuclein and mediates pathologic activities in Parkinson's disease Asparagine endopeptidase (AEP) cleaves humanα-synuclein at Asn103, yielding a fragment with higher aggregation propensity than that of the full-length protein. Truncatedα-synuclein is also more neurotoxic and leads to dopaminergic neuronal loss and motor impairments in mice.

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