Biochemistry

Purification and biochemical characterization of the DNA binding domain of the nitrogenase transcriptional activator NifA from Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus

1. Heidi G. Standke
2. Lois Kim
3. Cedric P. Owens

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Changes in Active Site Loop Conformation Relate to the Transition toward a Novel Enzymatic Activity

1. Pauline Jacquet
2. Raphaël Billot
3. Amir Shimon
4. Nathan Hoekstra
5. Céline Bergonzi
6. Anthony Jenks
7. Eric Chabrière
8. David Daudé
9. Mikael H. Elias

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Structural and biochemical characterisation of the N-Carbamoyl-β-Alanine Amidohydrolase from Rhizobium radiobacter MDC 8606

1. Ani Paloyan
2. Armen Sargsyan
3. Mariam D. Karapetyan
4. Artur Hambardzumyan
5. Sergey Kocharov
6. Henry Panosyan
7. Karine Dyukova
8. Marina Kinosyan
9. Anna Krüger
10. Cecilia Piergentili
11. Will A. Stanley
12. Arnaud Baslé
13. Jon Marles-Wright
14. Garabed Antranikian

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Utilizing a nanobody recruitment approach for assessing serine palmitoyltransferase activity in ER sub-compartments of yeast

1. Bianca M. Esch
2. Stefan Walter
3. Oliver Schmidt
4. Florian Fröhlich

Reviewed by Review Commons

Structure of the connexin-43 gap junction channel in a putative closed state

1. Chao Qi
2. Silvia Acosta Gutierrez
3. Pia Lavriha
4. Alaa Othman
5. Diego Lopez-Pigozzi
6. Erva Bayraktar
7. Dina Schuster
8. Paola Picotti
9. Nicola Zamboni
10. Mario Bortolozzi
11. Francesco Luigi Gervasio
12. Volodymyr M Korkhov

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Gap junctions, formed from connexins, are important in cell communication, allowing ions and small molecules to move directly between cells. By determining the Cryo EM structure of the structure of connexin 43 in a putative closed state involving lipids, the study makes an important contribution to the development of a mechanistic model for connexin activation. The connexin 43 structure is solid and its presentation will appeal to the channel and membrane protein communities.

Reviewed by eLife

Allosteric activation or inhibition of PI3Kγ mediated through conformational changes in the p110γ helical domain

1. Noah J Harris
2. Meredith L Jenkins
3. Sung-Eun Nam
4. Manoj K Rathinaswamy
5. Matthew AH Parson
6. Harish Ranga-Prasad
7. Udit Dalwadi
8. Brandon E Moeller
9. Eleanor Sheeky
10. Scott D Hansen
11. Calvin K Yip
12. John E Burke

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study presents fundamental new insight into the regulatory apparatus of PI3Kγ, a kinase in signaling pathways that control the immune response and cancer. A suite of biophysical and biochemical approaches provide convincing evidence for new sites of allosteric control over enzyme activity. The rigorous findings provide structure and dynamic information that may be exploited in efforts to control PI3Kγ activity in a therapeutic setting.

Reviewed by eLife

A novel single alpha-helix DNA-binding domain in CAF-1 promotes gene silencing and DNA damage survival through tetrasome-length DNA selectivity and spacer function

1. Ruben Rosas
2. Rhiannon R Aguilar
3. Nina Arslanovic
4. Anna Seck
5. Duncan J Smith
6. Jessica K Tyler
7. Mair EA Churchill

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The important paper describes the structure of a single alpha helix in the large subunit of the Chromatin Assembly Factor 1 (CAF-1) that binds DNA. The single alpha-helix DNA interaction is novel and, combined with the CAF-1 Winged Helix Domain, is required for CAF-1 function in vivo for gene silencing and DNA damage response. The data are convincing, but there are additional analyses that may be considered.

Reviewed by eLife

Proteostasis is differentially modulated by inhibition of translation initiation or elongation

1. Khalyd J Clay
2. Yongzhi Yang
3. Christina Clark
4. Michael Petrascheck

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript is of interest for the fields of ageing, mRNA translation and C. elegans biology, as it provides new insights into the regulation of lifespan by alternate mechanisms that modulate mRNA translation in selected environmental contexts. While overall the main conclusions are supported by the data and of interest, the work would be stronger with control experiments that more fully and more consistently support all the conclusions. Furthermore, data presentation and interpretation need some attention.

Reviewed by eLife

The ER folding sensor UGGT1 acts on TAPBPR-chaperoned peptide-free MHC I

1. Lina Sagert
2. Christian Winter
3. Ina Ruppert
4. Maximilian Zehetmaier
5. Christoph Thomas
6. Robert Tampé

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable study reports a complete in vitro system where different steps and direct interactions between different components of MHCI maturation can be monitored, hence leading to a better mechanistic understanding of MHC I maturation. The evidence supporting the findings is currently incomplete and would benefit from clarification of some key issues. This work will be of interest to immunologists and biochemists.

Reviewed by eLife

Distant sequence regions of JBP1 contribute to J-DNA binding

1. Ida de Vries
2. Danique Ammerlaan
3. Tatjana Heidebrecht
4. Patrick HN Celie
5. Daan P Geerke
6. Robbie P Joosten
7. Anastassis Perrakis

Reviewed by Review Commons