Inactivation of a multifunctional RNA-binding protein can lead to the acquisition of pro-metastatic phenotypes, possibly by stabilizing large-scale transcriptomic changes that provide a selective advantage during cancer progression.
In fruit flies, maternally deposited RNA-binding proteins are removed during the maternal-to-zygotic transition via a mechanism of translational upregulation of Kondo, the key E2 enzyme, at egg activation.
Zfp106 functions as an RNA binding protein, binds directly to GGGGCC RNA repeats, is required in motor neurons to prevent ALS-like neurodegeneration in mice, and can suppress neurotoxicity in an established fly model of ALS.
The RNA-binding protein MSI1, which is required for stem cell and cancer cell proliferation in the brain and epithelial tissues, also directly senses the concentration of long non-esterified omega-9 fatty acids.
Single-molecule force and fluorescence spectroscopy reveal the structural states and dynamics of E. coli single-stranded DNA binding proteins and the energy landscape of the nucleo–protein complex.
A biophysically principled algorithm can build quantitative models of protein-DNA binding specificity of unprecedented accuracy from a leading type of high-throughput in vitro binding data.
In Thermoplasma acidophilum, an archaeon without histones, a DNA-binding protein acquired from bacteria via horizontal gene transfer mediates histone-like chromatin architecture.
The RNA-binding protein PTBP1 is recruited to sites near stop codons in retroviral and human mRNAs, shielding them from detection and degradation by the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway.
