10 March, 2010
Volume 18, Issue 3

X cover popup

Volume 18, Issue 3

On the cover: Bacteriophage P22 is among the best-studied systems in biology, yet despite more than three decades of research, no atomic description of the capsid protein is available. A combination of methods (trypsin digestion, gold-labeling, cryoelectron microscopy, 3D image reconstruction, and comparative modeling), here highlighted in the cover illustration, have been employed to derive independent, pseudoatomic models of the P22 capsid protein in two states: before and after maturation. Image design by Norman H. Olson, Kristin N. Parent, and Timothy S. Baker.

Announcements

Editorial Opportunities
at Cell Press:


Connect with us!


  • All-New! Cell Press channel on YouTube
    twitter
    Follow our @CellPressNews account and be the first to know about the ground-breaking science published in Cell Press journals.

Annotated Table
of Contents

 

Free Resource

  • Evaluating Techniques in Biomedical Research - A guide for readers from Cell Press and Elsevier.
  • Read this invaluable resource for free.

2009 Nobel Prize Laureates

Nobel PrizePhysiology or Medicine
Cell Press congratulates Cell Editorial Board member Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Cancer Cell Editorial Board member Carol W. Greider, and Chemistry & Biology Editorial Board member Jack W. Szostak for being awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Read the award winners' groundbreaking research published in Cell!

Chemistry
Cell Press congratulates Cell Editorial Board member Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Structure Editorial Board member Thomas A. Steitz, and Cell Press author Ada E. Yonath for being awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.


Job Seekers: View the latest Jobs in Structural Biology on the all-new Cell Career Network!

Employers/Recruiters: Post your vacancies and learn more about our various recruitment advertising solutions. Click here for more information.


Recently Described Tools

The following are recently described tools for structural biologists

Reverse Micelle Encapsulation of Membrane-Anchored Proteins for Solution NMR Studies
Kathleen G. Valentine, Ronald W. Peterson, Jamil S. Saad, Michael F. Summers, Xianzhong Xu, James B. Ames and A. Joshua Wand
Structure 18(1), 9-16
Zernike Phase Plate Cryoelectron Microscopy Facilitates Single Particle Analysis of Unstained Asymmetric Protein Complexes
Wei-Hau Chang, Michael T.-K. Chiu, Chin-Yu Chen, Chi-Fu Yen, Yen-Cheng Lin, Yi-Ping Weng, Ji-Chau Chang, Yi-Min Wu, Holland Cheng, Jianhua Fu and I-Ping Tu
Structure 18(1), 17-27
Averaging of Electron Subtomograms and Random Conical Tilt Reconstructions through Likelihood Optimization
Sjors H.W. Scheres, Roberto Melero, Mikel Valle and Jose-Maria Carazo
Structure 17(12), 1563-1572
On the Relationship between Diffraction Patterns and Motions in Macromolecular Crystals
Peter B. Moore
Structure 17(10), 1307-1315

Current Issue

Volume 18 Issue 3: March 10, 2010

Next issue: April 14, 2010

Included in this issue

  • DNA Sliding Clamp Loader: The Power of One
  • Solid-State NMR to Study Sensory Rhodopsin
  • Isopenicillin N converting Ntn-hydrolase Story
  • BAG-ing Hsp70 ADP-ATP exchange
  • Reelin Recognized
  • Shared Cytokine Recognition
  • Phenylalanyl-tRNA Synthetase Evolutionary Patterns
  • AAA+ Motor for Magnesium Insertion
  • Elbowing Lipids
  • STARs in Translational Regulation Universe
  • P22 Gets its Coat
  • Ras Superfamily, Large and Calculated

    • Click here for the complete table of contents.

    Featured Article

    The Featured Articles are freely available to all readers.

    The C-terminal BAG domain of BAG5 induces conformational changes of the Hsp70 nucleotide-binding domain for ADP-ATP exchange

    Akihiko Arakawa, Noriko Handa, Noboru Ohsawa, Meiri Shida, Takanori Kigawa, Fumiaki Hayashi, Mikako Shirouzu, and Shigeyuki Yokoyama

     
    BAG5, a member of the BAG family, uniquely consists of five consecutive BAG domains. Arakawa et al. now find that the BAG5 C-terminal BAG domain (BD5), but not the other four domains, associates with the nucleotide-binding domain (NBD) of the chaperon Hsp70, and enhances the release of ADP from Hsp70. Crystal structure of the BD5•NBD complex suggests the basis for ADP-release mechanisms. Moreover, the full-length BAG5, as well as the BD5, enhanced the refolding activity of Hsp70, indicating that BAG5 can serve as the nucleotide-exchange factor to enhance the Hsp70 chaperone activity via BD5.

    In this Issue

    SS NMR to Study Sensory Rhodopsin
    Solid-state NMR spectroscopy allowed Etzkorn et al. to study structure and dynamics of a sensory rhodopsin/transducer (SRII/HtrII) complex in a natural membrane environment, revealing roles for residues around the retinal binding site during the early events of protein activation and for an extended SRII-HtrII membrane-embedded interface for optimal signal relay efficiency across the cell membrane.
    Reelin Recognized
    Apolipoprotein E receptor 2 (ApoER2) and very-low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) function as neuronal receptors for a large secreted glycoprotein reelin during brain development. In both receptors, the first LDLR class A (LA1) module is sufficient to bind reelin. Here Yasui et al. report a crystal structure of the reelin receptor-binding fragment in complex with the LA1 of ApoER2.
    AAA+ Motor for Magnesium Insertion
    In chlorophyll biosynthesis magnesium is inserted into protoporphyrin IX in an ATP-dependent reaction catalysed by the enzyme Mg-chelatase, which consists of subunits BchI, BchD and BchH. BchI and BchD belong to the AAA+ superfamily of proteins. Lundqvist et al. now report reconstruction of the complex between BchI and BchD in the ADP- and ATP-states using cryo-electron microscopy.
    P22 Gets its Coat
    Tailed, dsDNA bacteriophage and members of Herpesviridae all have coat proteins with an HK97-like structure that maturates via formation of covalent cross-links among the coat proteins. In this study, Parent et al. report homology models of the P22 phage coat protein in precursor and mature states and reveal how phage can assemble into stable structures without a need for cross-links or auxiliary proteins.

    Focus on Methods

    This month we focus on the method development that enables structural and functional analysis as explored in the recent Resource and other articles published in Structure and other Cell Press journals.

    Research Articles

    Optically Resolving Individual Microtubules in Live Axons
    Harsha V. Mudrakola, Kai Zhang and Bianxiao Cui
    Structure 17(11), 1433-1441, 2009

    Averaging of Electron Subtomograms and Random Conical Tilt Reconstructions through Likelihood Optimization
    Sjors H.W. Scheres, Roberto Melero, Mikel Valle and Jose-Maria Carazo
    Structure 17(12), 1563-1572, 2009

    Profiling the Human Protein-DNA Interactome Reveals ERK2 as a Transcriptional Repressor of Interferon Signaling
    Shaohui Hu, Zhi Xie, Akishi Onishi, Xueping Yu, Lizhi Jiang, Jimmy Lin, Hee-sool Rho, Crystal Woodard, Hong Wang, Jun-Seop Jeong, Shunyou Long, Xiaofei He, Herschel Wade, Seth Blackshaw, Jiang Qian and Heng Zhu
    Cell 139(3), 610-622, 2009

    Global Analysis of the Mitochondrial N-Proteome Identifies a Processing Peptidase Critical for Protein Stability
    F.-Nora Vogtle, Stefanie Wortelkamp, Rene P. Zahedi, Dorothea Becker, Claudia Leidhold, Kris Gevaert, Josef Kellermann, Wolfgang Voos, Albert Sickmann, Nikolaus Pfanner and Chris Meisinger
    Cell 139(2), 428-439, 2009

    The eIF3 Interactome Reveals the Translasome, a Supercomplex Linking Protein Synthesis and Degradation Machineries
    Zhe Sha, Laurence M. Brill, Rodrigo Cabrera, Oded Kleifeld, Judith S. Scheliga, Michael H. Glickman, Eric C. Chang and Dieter A. Wolf
    Molecular Cell 36(1), 141-152, 2009