Biophysics

Structural characterization of human RPA70N association with DNA damage response proteins

1. Yeyao Wu
2. Wangmi Fu
3. Ning Zang
4. Chun Zhou

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The replication protein A (RPA) plays a critical role in DNA replication, DNA repair, and recombination by interacting with various proteins. This paper describes the structure of an N-terminus OB-fold of the 70kD subunit of human replication protein A (RPA70N or DNA-binding domain-F) bound to peptides from five different proteins, HELB, ATRIP, BLM, RMI1, and WRN. This paper provides useful knowledge regarding the structural flexibility of RPA70N in the binding to the different interacting peptides. The structural and biochemical analyses of the interaction of RPA70N with the different peptides provide solid evidence for the presented conclusion. The work will be of interest to those studying DNA replication, recombination and repair.

Reviewed by eLife

High-throughput imaging and quantitative analysis uncovers the nature of plasmid positioning by ParABS

1. Robin Köhler
2. Eugen Kaganovitch
3. Seán M Murray

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides new experimental data and detailed modeling of the partitioning of low copy plasmids under the control of the ParABS system in bacteria. The dynamics of the partition complex is tracked over many generations, providing useful data to constrain the models. The authors propose a model which can manifest either regular positioning or oscillations depending on the model parameters. The research will be of interest to biologists and biophysicists interested in cellular dynamics and internal organization in bacteria.

Reviewed by eLife

Structure of the GOLD-domain seven-transmembrane helix protein family member TMEM87A

1. Christopher M Hoel
2. Lin Zhang
3. Stephen G Brohawn

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This work addresses the mechanisms of action of the transmembrane proteins TMEM87A and TMEM87B, which are thought to play a role in protein transport, but have been implicated in other processes as well, such as signaling and acting as mechanosensitive ion channels. The study represents an important advance of the understanding of this poorly characterized family of proteins. While the structure is of low resolution, it is well interpreted, and authors take good advantage of AlphaFold2 to gain insights into potential function. The work is of interest to colleagues studying transporters and ion channels.

Reviewed by eLife

Predictive modeling reveals that higher-order cooperativity drives transcriptional repression in a synthetic developmental enhancer

1. Yang Joon Kim
2. Kaitlin Rhee
3. Jonathan Liu
4. Selene Jeammet
5. Meghan A Turner
6. Stephen J Small
7. Hernan G Garcia

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The work by Kim et al., used synthetic constructs in Drosophila to examine the relationship between regulators (activator/repressor) and transcription initiation. By measuring regulator concentrations and the corresponding RNA polymerase initiation rates in different synthetic constructs and using a thermodynamic model, the authors concluded that that higher-order cooperativities between the repressor on adjacent binding sites, and that between the repressor and RNA polymerase are needed to explain the observed response curves in RNA polymerase loading rate. This work targets a challenging question in eukaryotic transcription regulation, where higher-order cooperativity between different molecular components, in addition to simple transcription factor binding and unbinding, is often necessary to account for observed promoter behaviors when multiple elements (repressors, mediators, activators) exist.

Reviewed by eLife

Sublytic gasdermin-D pores captured in atomistic molecular simulations

1. Stefan L Schaefer
2. Gerhard Hummer

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper will be of interest to cell biologists, structural biologists, and biophysicists studying programmed cell death, membrane transport, and protein-lipid interactions. The simulation data presented offers atomistic detail of how gasdermin-D N-terminal domains assemble on the plasma membrane and trigger the formation of membrane pores which lead to pyroptosis. The study is well designed and the resulting data are rigorously analyzed; however, some clarifications and additional data are required to fully justify the conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

Improved ANAP incorporation and VCF analysis reveal details of P2X7 current facilitation and a limited conformational interplay between ATP binding and the intracellular ballast domain

1. Anna Durner
2. Ellis Durner
3. Annette Nicke

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript constitutes an important foray into the conformational rearrangements throughout various domains of the notoriously difficult-to-study P2X7 receptor, with a focus on the enigmatic intracellular 'ballast' domain. This is of broad interest to those studying the role of enzymatically active intracellular domains of membrane proteins. The authors provide convincing evidence that the ballast domain is unlikely to undergo major conformational changes upon ATP-induced gating, but additional experimental support is required on the facilitation process and to elucidate the consequences exerted by intracellular factors.

Reviewed by eLife

Direct cell extraction of membrane proteins for structure–function analysis

1. Ieva Drulyte
2. Aspen Rene Gutgsell
3. Pilar Lloris-Garcerá
4. Michael Liss
5. Stefan Geschwindner
6. Mazdak Radjainia
7. Jens Frauenfeld
8. Robin Löving

Reviewed by ASAPbio crowd review

Substrate stiffness impacts early biofilm formation by modulating Pseudomonas aeruginosa twitching motility

1. Sofia Gomez
2. Lionel Bureau
3. Karin John
4. Elise-Noëlle Chêne
5. Delphine Débarre
6. Sigolene Lecuyer

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study connects changes in single-cell twitching motility due to substrate stiffness to multicellular phenotypes. It is likely to have a broad impact on those studying microbiology and multicellular communities as it assesses the influence of single-cell behavior on multicellular processes. However, some of the presented data conflict with previously published literature, raising questions about the nature of these differences.

Reviewed by eLife

Phenotyping single-cell motility in microfluidic confinement

1. Samuel A Bentley
2. Hannah Laeverenz-Schlogelhofer
3. Vasileios Anagnostidis
4. Jan Cammann
5. Marco G Mazza
6. Fabrice Gielen
7. Kirsty Y Wan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper reports on the development of an impressive microfluidic platform for the study of motility, and motility transitions, exhibited by single algal cells in circular confinement. Building on previous work that showed a three-state motility repertoire for certain green algae, the present work uses extremely long time series and a variety of physical perturbations to show how those dynamics can be altered by environmental conditions. The work will be of interest to a wide range of scientists studying motility and nonequilibrium dynamics, but its impact would be improved by a more insightful analysis of the voluminous data, with connections to physical principles.

Reviewed by eLife

Direct observation of the conformational states of formin mDia1 at actin filament barbed ends and along the filament

1. Julien Maufront
2. Bérengère Guichard
3. Lu-Yan Cao
4. Aurélie Di Cicco
5. Antoine Jégou
6. Guillaume Romet-Lemonne
7. Aurélie Bertin

Reviewed by Review Commons