Biophysics

SMOG 2 and OpenSMOG: Extending the limits of structure‐based models

1. Antonio B. de Oliveira
2. Vinícius G. Contessoto
3. Asem Hassan
4. Sandra Byju
5. Ailun Wang
6. Yang Wang
7. Esteban Dodero‐Rojas
8. Udayan Mohanty
9. Jeffrey K. Noel
10. Jose N. Onuchic
11. Paul C. Whitford

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Point mutations in SARS-CoV-2 variants induce long-range dynamical perturbations in neutralizing antibodies

1. Dhiman Ray
2. Riley Nicolas Quijano
3. Ioan Andricioaei

Reviewed by ScreenIT

A Tethered Ligand Assay to Probe SARS-CoV-2:ACE2 Interactions

1. Magnus S. Bauer
2. Sophia Gruber
3. Adina Hausch
4. Lukas F. Milles
5. Thomas Nicolaus
6. Leonard C. Schendel
7. Pilar López Navajas
8. Erik Procko
9. Daniel Lietha
10. Rafael C. Bernardi
11. Hermann E. Gaub
12. Jan Lipfert

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Structural insights into the activation of human calcium-sensing receptor

1. Xiaochen Chen
2. Lu Wang
3. Qianqian Cui
4. Zhanyu Ding
5. Li Han
6. Yongjun Kou
7. Wenqing Zhang
8. Haonan Wang
9. Xiaomin Jia
10. Mei Dai
11. Zhenzhong Shi
12. Yuying Li
13. Xiyang Li
14. Yong Geng

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript reveals new molecular details about the human calcium sensing receptor (CaSR), a G protein-coupled receptor that maintains calcium homeostasis and is involved in pathological states. This study, together with other recent structural work on this molecule, will have important implications for the design of molecules that control CaSR activity and treat human disease.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 and Reviewer #2 agreed to share their names with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Conformational changes in twitchin kinase in vivo revealed by FRET imaging of freely moving C. elegans

1. Daniel Porto
2. Yohei Matsunaga
3. Barbara Franke
4. Rhys M Williams
5. Hiroshi Qadota
6. Olga Mayans
7. Guy M Benian
8. Hang Lu

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper will be of interest to mechanobiologists and muscle scientists interested in how contraction of muscle may be linked to mechanical activation of a kinase domain in a large structural protein in a living animal. The study combines imaging of the moving live animal with FRET measurements to detect the structural (and presumably the activation) state of twitchin in C. elegans. The data convincingly shows that this activation is coupled to muscle contraction.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1, Reviewer #2 and Reviewer #3 agreed to share their names with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

The inherent flexibility of receptor binding domains in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

1. Hisham M Dokainish
2. Suyong Re
3. Takaharu Mori
4. Chigusa Kobayashi
5. Jaewoon Jung
6. Yuji Sugita

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Hsp40s play complementary roles in the prevention of tau amyloid formation

1. Rose Irwin
2. Ofrah Faust
3. Ivana Petrovic
4. Sharon Grayer Wolf
5. Hagen Hofmann
6. Rina Rosenzweig

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper addresses the intriguing hypothesis that different molecular chaperones may recognize and bind distinct tau species, and thus may use different mechanisms to prevent tau aggregation. The findings are very interesting and advance our understanding of how chaperones can counteract the deleterious effect of tau amyloidogenesis.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

LRET-derived HADDOCK structural models describe the conformational heterogeneity required for DNA cleavage by the Mre11-Rad50 DNA damage repair complex

1. Marella D Canny
2. Michael P Latham

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This study on the Mre11 and Rad50 proteins is of interest to biologists studying DNA repair. Advances in the understanding of Mre11-Rad50 mechanism, for instance how structural states are linked to DNA end detection and DNA processing as addressed in this study, are of central importance to research on genome stability and DNA repair, with implications in human disease such as cancer and immune disorders. Enzymatically, RAD50 is an ATPase and MRE11 is a nuclease with both exo- and endo-nuclease activities. How all these functions are catalyzed by the complex remains unresolved. This study identifies three conformations of ATP-bound P. furiosus Mre11-Rad50 complex: open, partially open, and closed. The work would benefit from further experiments to clarify the functional difference between the partially open and open conformations.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Piezo1 ion channels inherently function as independent mechanotransducers

1. Amanda H Lewis
2. Jörg Grandl

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The work, when completed, will provide important mechanistic detail on how Piezo channels, the most important and versatile mechanoreceptor molecules, functionally interact in the plane of the plasma membrane. It will be of interest to the field of mechanobiology and sensory mechanotransduction.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

The timing of natural killer cell response in coronavirus infection: a concise model perspective

1. Xiaochan Xu
2. Kim Sneppen

Reviewed by ScreenIT