Browse our latest Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics articles

The canonical model that the bacterial replisome tightly holds on to its polymerases is challenged by the visualization of rapid holoenzyme exchange, both in vitro and in vivo.

The near-atomic cryoEM pore complex structure of pneumolysin, the main virulence factor of Streptococcus pneumoniae, shows how the individual domains rearrange during the pore formation.

A cryo-electron microscopy structure of a substrate-bound Vps4-Vta1 AAA ATPase reveals an asymmetric hexameric ring and suggests how nucleotide-induced changes in subunit interfaces translocate polypeptides into the central pore.

Fam20A, a pseudokinase involved in the formation of tooth enamel, binds ATP in an unexpected orientation.

Along with preventing D-amino acids from being incorporated into proteins, D-aminoacyl-tRNA deacylase clears achiral glycine that is incorrectly attached to tRNA^Ala.

Extensive molecular dynamics simulations enhanced by advanced sampling techniques give a detailed view of p38α canonical activation mechanism, which reveals novel key electrostatic interactions that are put in context of existing experimental data.

A few SNARE complexes suffice to fuse membranes, but many more are needed to dilate the nascent fusion pore by molecular crowding for efficient neurotransmitter or hormone release during exocytosis.

After DNA replication, nucleosomes are assembled by two histone chaperone complexes each bound to an H3-H4 histone dimer, suggesting the feasibility for a semi-conservative mode of epigenome inheritance.

The CAF1 complex binds single histone H3-H4 dimers, and two such complexes associate with extended DNA elements to ensure the deposition of H3-H4 tetramers, the first step in the assembly of nucleosomes.

The tripartite drug efflux pump AcrA-AcrB-TolC, representative of a wide group of pumps from Gram-negative bacteria, enters a transport-competent state through long-distance conformational changes that switch the channel from a closed to an open state.