Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Terminal triple bonds feature in natural products, but their biosynthesis is little known. Now a terminal acetylenase has been characterized for substrate specificity for the first time, and an application to 'bio-click' chemistry has been shown by incorporation of the moiety into natural product scaffolds.
Hydrogen peroxide regulates cell signaling pathways through oxidation of specific thiol proteins. A new study describes a relay system involving peroxiredoxin 2 as a peroxide sensor that oxidizes the mammalian transcription factor STAT3 via a mixed disulfide intermediate.
Understanding how tumor cells utilize metabolic pathways for proliferation may provide useful strategies for combating cancer. A Perspective discusses recent advances in cancer drug development that target specific aspects of mitochondrial biosynthesis and bioenergetics processes.
The small molecule inflachromene was discovered as a microglia-selective inhibitor of the central nervous system proinflammatory response and found to target HMGB2 and HMGB1 to impair proinflammatory signaling in microglia, resulting in neuroprotection.
The dynamic interplay between p53 and Mdm2 triggers cell cycle arrest after DNA damage. A new study reveals that disorder in the transactivation domain of p53 is important for tuning this negative feedback system to ensure normal cellular signaling responses.
Carbohydrate antigens on HIV are important for viral biology as well as for recognition by glycan-reactive broadly neutralizing antibodies such as 2G12. A review of recent strategies targeting HIV glycans discusses the characterization and manipulation of glycopeptide epitopes for use as potential vaccines.
AAA+ proteases are quality control machineries consisting of substrate-binding ATPase modules for protein unfolding and a proteolytic chamber. New research now shows a redox switch in the Escherichia coli Lon protease that controls this process, widening the exit pore and activating proteolysis during transition from anaerobic to aerobic environments.
In the assembly of metalloenzymes, the matching of metals and proteins must occur with absolute precision. When zinc-starved, Chlamydomonas maintains its balance of metals by sequestering copper in electron-dense traps for metals, thus preventing mishaps in protein metallation.
A recent study reveals a new cellular pathway that clears the endoplasmic reticulum of misfolded, GPI-anchored proteins at the onset of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. This mechanism, termed rapid ER stress–induced export, represents a nontranscriptional response to mitigate acute ER stress.
Understanding the mechanisms that determine cell fate under endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress had been hampered by the lack of models to study unfolded protein response (UPR) adaptive phases. The development of an engineered protein to conditionally induce its misfolding allowed the establishment of a resolvable ER stress condition.
Two studies demonstrate that natural killer T-cell adjuvants, covalently attached to either carbohydrate or peptide epitopes, yield effective vaccines.
Biosynthetic gene clusters encode the enzymatic pathways to make secondary metabolites, molecules of great interest for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Access to an increasing number of microbial genomes, coupled with efficient bioinformatic tools, is creating new momentum in secondary metabolite research.
A newly discovered small molecule with broad reactivity against diverse HIV-1 strains prevents the surface envelope glycoprotein from fusing with host cells and offers a potential new anti–HIV-1 target.
Exposure to blue light promotes changes in the protein conformation of flavin photosensors. A review of recent advances in these light sensors discusses key questions in the field and their application to engineer light-mediated molecular switches.
A new family of radical halogenases has been discovered that regio- and stereoselectively chlorinates the unactivated carbon center of indolemonoterpenoid substrates without the prerequisite for the substrate to be bound to a protein carrier.
