Biochemistry

Double and triple thermodynamic mutant cycles reveal the basis for specific MsbA-lipid interactions

1. Jixing Lyu
2. Tianqi Zhang
3. Michael T Marty
4. David Clemmer
5. David H Russell
6. Arthur Laganowsky

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is an important biophysical study combining native mass spectrometry with mutant cycles to estimate the thermodynamic components of lipid A binding to the ABC transporter MsbA. Solid evidence supports the binding energies for lipid-protein interactions to MsbA using this approach, which could be later applied to other membrane proteins in general.

Reviewed by eLife

The role of RNA in the maintenance of chromatin domains as revealed by antibody-mediated proximity labelling coupled to mass spectrometry

1. Rupam Choudhury
2. Anuroop Venkateswaran Venkatasubramani
3. Jie Hua
4. Marco Borsò
5. Celeste Franconi
6. Sarah Kinkley
7. Ignasi Forné
8. Axel Imhof

Reviewed by Review Commons

Conformation selection by ATP-competitive inhibitors and allosteric communication in ERK2

1. Jake W Anderson
2. David Vaisar
3. David N Jones
4. Laurel M Pegram
5. Guy P Vigers
6. Huifen Chen
7. John G Moffat
8. Natalie G Ahn

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This fundamental study provides compelling evidence to explain how chemical variations within a set of kinase inhibitors drive the selection of specific Erk2 conformations. Conformational selection plays a critical role in targeting medically relevant kinases such as Erk2 and the findings reported here open new avenues for designing small molecule inhibitors that block the active site while also steering the population of the enzyme into active or inactive conformations. Since protein dynamics and conformational ensembles are essential for enzyme function, this work will be of broad interest to those working in drug development, signal transduction, and enzymology.

Reviewed by eLife

Dual recognition of multiple signals in bacterial outer membrane proteins enhances assembly and maintains membrane integrity

1. Edward M Germany
2. Nakajohn Thewasano
3. Kenichiro Imai
4. Yuki Maruno
5. Rebecca S Bamert
6. Christopher J Stubenrauch
7. Rhys A Dunstan
8. Yue Ding
9. Yukari Nakajima
10. XiangFeng Lai
11. Chaille T Webb
12. Kentaro Hidaka
13. Kher Shing Tan
14. Hsinhui Shen
15. Trevor Lithgow
16. Takuya Shiota

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study reports the identification of a new amino acid sequence motif (i.e., "internal beta-signal") on outer membrane proteins, which is recognized by beta-assembly machinery in gram-negative bacteria. The authors carried out rigorous experiments, providing compelling evidence in support of their conclusions. This work significantly advances our understanding of the biogenesis of outer membrane proteins.

Reviewed by eLife

A bioactive peptide from the pearl has dual roles in resisting SARS-CoV-2 infection and its complications

1. Xiaojun Liu
2. Yayu Wang
3. Zehui Yin
4. Qin Wang
5. Xinjiani Chen
6. Bailei Li
7. Liping Yao
8. Zhen Zhang
9. Rongqing Zhang

Reviewed by PREreview

Growth inhibitory factor/metallothionein-3 is a sulfane sulfur-binding protein

1. Yasuhiro Shinkai
2. Yunjie Ding
3. Toru Matsui
4. George Devitt
5. Masahiro Akiyama
6. Tang-Long Shen
7. Motohiro Nishida
8. Tomoaki Ida
9. Takaaki Akaike
10. Sumeet Mahajan
11. Jon M. Fukuto
12. Yasuteru Shigeta
13. Yoshito Kumagai

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides useful evidence that GIF/MT-3 harbors sulfane sulfur, which may play a role in zinc coordination. The study includes a variety of well-designed assays to support the authors' hypothesis, revealing that sulfane sulfur is released from MT-3. The analysis and conclusions could benefit from a more rigorous approach to analyzing sulfur and zinc content in recombinant MT3 protein, leaving the evidence in parts incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

Structural assembly of the bacterial essential interactome

1. Jordi Gómez Borrego
2. Marc Torrent Burgas

Reviewed by Review Commons

Surprising variety in the USP deubiquitinase catalytic mechanism

1. Niels Keijzer
2. Anu Priyanka
3. Yvette Stijf-Bultsma
4. Alexander Fish
5. Malte Gersch
6. Titia K. Sixma

Reviewed by Review Commons

Mapping the architecture of the initiating phosphoglycosyl transferase from S. enterica O-antigen biosynthesis in a liponanoparticle

1. Greg J Dodge
2. Alyssa J Anderson
3. Yi He
4. Weijing Liu
5. Rosa Viner
6. Barbara Imperiali

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment:

  This valuable manuscript provides solid methodologies for utilizing SMALP nanodisks for oligomer characterization. The authors present a platform for capturing and studying native membrane protein oligomerization and subsequent cryoEM analysis. The specific application of the method to WbaP, a membrane-bound phosphoglycosyl transferase, adds to our understanding of glycoconjugate production in bacteria. This manuscript would be of interest to those focusing on native membrane protein studies and antimicrobial resistance.

Reviewed by eLife

Unveiling the domain-specific and RAS isoform-specific details of BRAF kinase regulation

1. Tarah Elizabeth Trebino
2. Borna Markusic
3. Haihan Nan
4. Shrhea Banerjee
5. Zhihong Wang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript describes useful information on the interactions of the BRAF N-terminal regulatory regions (CRD, RBD and BSR) with the C-terminal kinase domain and with the upstream regulators HRAS and KRAS. The authors provide solid evidence that the BRAF BSR domain may negatively regulate RAS binding and propose that the presence of the BSR domain in BRAF provides an additional layer of autoinhibitory constraints. The data will be of interest for researchers in the RAS/RAF and general kinase regulation fields.

Reviewed by eLife