Biochemistry

Structure and evolution of alanine/serine decarboxylases and the engineering of theanine production

1. Hao Wang
2. Biying Zhu
3. Siming Qiao
4. Chunxia Dong
5. Xiaochun Wan
6. Weimin Gong
7. Zhaoliang Zhang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study reports a comparative biochemical and structural analysis of two PLP decarboxylase enzymes from plants. The work is useful because of the potential application of these enzymes in industrial theanine production. The structure provides a solid basis for understanding substrate specificity but some aspects of the work are incomplete. The paper will be of interest to enzymologists studying PLP enzymes and those working on enzyme engineering in plants.

Reviewed by eLife

Cyanobacteria form a procarboxysome-like structure in response to high CO ₂

1. Clair A. Huffine
2. Catherine Fontana
3. Anton Avramov
4. Colin Sempeck
5. Jeffrey C. Cameron

Reviewed by PREreview

Observing one-divalent-metal-ion-dependent and histidine-promoted His-Me family I-PpoI nuclease catalysis in crystallo

1. Caleb Chang
2. Grace Zhou
3. Yang Gao

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Chang et al. have investigated the catalytic mechanism of I-PpoI nuclease, a one-metal-ion dependent nuclease, by time-resolved X-ray crystallography using soaking of crystals with metal ions under different pH conditions. This convincing study revealed that I-PpoI catalyzes the reaction process through a single divalent cation. The study uncovers important details of the roles of the metal ion and the active site histidine in catalysis.

Reviewed by eLife

A substrate-interacting region of Parkin directs ubiquitination of the mitochondrial GTPase Miro1

1. Joanna Koszela
2. Anne Rintala-Dempsey
3. Giulia Salzano
4. Viveka Pimenta
5. Outi Kamarainen
6. Mads Gabrielsen
7. Aasna L. Parui
8. Gary S. Shaw
9. Helen Walden

Reviewed by Review Commons

Cryo-EM structure of the bicarbonate receptor GPR30

1. Shota Kaneda
2. Airi Jo-Watanabe
3. Hiroaki Akasaka
4. Hidetaka S Oshima
5. Takehiko Yokomizo
6. Wataru Shihoya
7. Osamu Nureki

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study resolves a cryo-EM structure of the GPCR, human GPR30, which responds to bicarbonate and regulates cellular responses to pH and ion homeostasis. Understanding the ligand and the mechanism of activation is important to the field of receptor signaling and potentially facilitates drug development targeting this receptor. While the overall structures are solid, the identification of the bicarbonate binding site is only partly supported by the structural data and cell-based functional assays, leaving a major aim of the study incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

Identification of Suitable Target/E3 Ligase Pairs for PROTAC Development using a Rapamycin-induced Proximity Assay (RiPA)

1. Bikash Adhikari
2. Katharina Schneider
3. Mathias Diebold
4. Christoph Sotriffer
5. Elmar Wolf

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The study describes a valuable new technology in the field of targeted protein degradation that allows identification of E3-ubiquitin ligases that target a protein of interest. The presented data are convincing, however, it is unclear whether the proposed system can be successfully used in high throughput applications. This technology will serve the community in the initial stages of developing targeted protein degraders.

Reviewed by eLife

Tryptanthrin Analogs Substoichiometrically Inhibit Seeded and Unseeded Tau4RD Aggregation

1. Ellie I James
2. David W Baggett
3. Edcon Chang
4. Joel Schachter
5. Thomas Nixey
6. Karoline Choi
7. Miklos Guttman
8. Abhinav Nath

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides a valuable contribution to the development of small molecules that inhibit the aggregation of tau, a protein involved in several neurodegenerative diseases. The authors present convincing evidence that analogs of the plant alkaloid tryptanthrin can prevent the formation of larger aggregates by targeting the early stages of tau oligomerization. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to elucidate the precise mechanisms of action and to provide a detailed kinetic analysis. This work will be of interest to biochemists and biophysicists focused on designing small molecules to inhibit fibril formation.

Reviewed by eLife

Allosteric modulation by the fatty acid site in the glycosylated SARS-CoV-2 spike

1. A Sofia F Oliveira
2. Fiona L Kearns
3. Mia A Rosenfeld
4. Lorenzo Casalino
5. Imre Berger
6. Christiane Schaffitzel
7. Andrew D Davidson
8. Rommie E Amaro
9. Adrian J Mulholland

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript focuses on understanding if and how the glycosylation of SARS-CoV2 spike protein affects a putative allosteric network of interactions controlled by the binding of a fatty acid. The main conclusion is that glycans do not significantly affect the network of allosteric interactions. This useful information - albeit mainly consisting of negative results - is based on solid evidence. It will be of interest to scientists focusing on SARS CoV2 protein structure and dynamics.

Reviewed by eLife

Effects of Gallic Acid on Antioxidant Defense System in Mice with Benzene-Induced Myelotoxicity

1. Toba Isaac Olatoye
2. Joseph O. Adebayo

Reviewed by PREreview

Structural basis for CCR6 modulation by allosteric antagonists

1. David Jonathan Wasilko
2. Brian S. Gerstenberger
3. Kathleen A. Farley
4. Wei Li
5. Jennifer Alley
6. Mark E. Schnute
7. Ray J. Unwalla
8. Jorge Victorino
9. Kimberly K. Crouse
10. Ru Ding
11. Parag V. Sahasrabudhe
12. Fabien Vincent
13. Richard K. Frisbie
14. Alpay Dermenci
15. Andrew Flick
16. Chulho Choi
17. Gary Chinigo
18. James J. Mousseau
19. John I. Trujillo
20. Philippe Nuhant
21. Prolay Mondal
22. Vincent Lombardo
23. Daniel Lamb
24. Barbara J. Hogan
25. Gurdeep Singh Minhas
26. Elena Segala
27. Christine Oswald
28. Ian W. Windsor
29. Seungil Han
30. Mathieu Rappas
31. Robert M. Cooke
32. Matthew F. Calabrese
33. Gabriel Berstein
34. Atli Thorarensen
35. Huixian Wu

Reviewed by PREreview