Browse our latest Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics articles

The Bipolar Assembly domain of kinesin-5 comprises an anti-parallel four-helix bundle, which explains how kinesin-5 subunits assemble into bipolar tetramers with two motile ends that transmit forces while crosslinking and sliding adjacent microtubules during mitosis.

A novel innate defense mechanism of cell lysis involves the coordinated oligomerization of a defensin by interaction with the membrane lipid, phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate.

The crystal structure of the MCM helicase bound to single-stranded DNA reveals a binding motif that is critical for cell viability, helicase activation and DNA replication.

The principal potassium ion channel in human sperm, Slo3, is primarily activated by calcium ions and controls the membrane potential of human sperm by intracellular calcium ion levels rather than intracellular pH.

Bacterial cytoplasmic chemoreceptors assemble into a sandwich of two hexagonally packed arrays.

The three-dimensional structures of 50 sensory cilia present in the head of the adult C. elegans hermaphrodite have been reconstructed to provide a foundation for investigations into the mechanisms by which the diversity of cilia structures is generated and how this structural diversity is related to specific sensory neuron functions.

A combination of imaging experiments and computer simulations on a model lipid membrane integrate the 'picket fence' and 'raft' models, and suggest that the interplay between actin binding, lipid phase separation and curvature compartmentalize the membrane.