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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Neuronal ELAV-like (nELAVL) proteins are associated with non-coding Y RNAs in stressed neurons and in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients, suggesting a new means of regulatory protein sequestration and mRNA target regulation.
