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A two-cell setup containing tryptophanase, a flavin-dependent monooxygenase and a regiospecific halogenase (linked to a flavin reductase as a solubility tag) enables the production of 6,6'-dibromoindigo and other indigoid dyes in Escherichia coli.
Metabolic engineering offers the flexibility to meet market demand for bioactive natural products but can be hampered when a necessary protein or intermediate is toxic. In yeast, modifying the subcellular localization of biosynthetic enzymes can alleviate toxicity and increase production titer.
The authors identified a pH-dependent protonated status in the miR-21 precursor, which leads to additional base pairing in its secondary structure, thus affecting Dicer processing and miR-21 maturation.
The helical bundle structure of the CC1 domain of STIM1 of the store-activated calcium channel CRAC is crucial to maintaining the channel resting state, and helix–helix interactions can be manipulated to normalize a disease-linked STIM1 mutant.
Redirecting plant diterpene biosynthesis from the chloroplast to the cytosolic, high-flux mevalonate pathway increases intermediate and product titers to support the elucidation and reconstitution of momilactone biosynthesis.
Structural and kinetic analyses of the transcriptional repressor SqrR in multiple states indicate that its persulfide selectivity is determined by structural frustration in the disulfide form, favoring formation of the tetrasulfide-bridged product.
Screening for substrate preference of the SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 main protease Mpro leads to the development of activity-based probes useful for structural analysis and for visualization of active Mpro in infected patient epithelial cells.
A screening approach finds VH-domain antibodies that bind the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein receptor-binding domain at its interface with host ACE2. Bi-paratopic and multivalent binders have high affinity and potency.
The plant cuticle was initially thought to act as a passive diffusion barrier. Genetic and metabolic analysis reveals that it is also a sink/concentrator for volatiles protecting cells from toxic effects of these hydrophobic compounds.
Targeted protein degradation provides a powerful complement to small-molecule inhibition in modulating protein activity and allows access to otherwise intractable drug targets.
Transfer of ubiquitin onto target proteins requires controlled interplay between E2 conjugating enzymes and E3 ligases. The structure of a trapped E2~Ub/RCR E3 transfer intermediate provides novel insight into the diversity of mechanisms used to fine tune this relay.
Targeted small-molecule inhibition of BRAFV600E faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the clinic, such as rapid emergence of drug resistance. A recent study illustrates the potential of an alternative therapeutic strategy via PROTAC-mediated degradation of the oncogenic BRAF.
This Review summarizes the chemical and physical properties of methylated nucleobases in DNA and RNA, proposes a chemical classification of methylation types, and discusses recent advance in demethylation reactions mediated by dioxygenases.
Increased production of (S)-reticuline and other alkaloids is achieved through alleviating norcoclaurine synthase toxicity by targeting the enzyme to the peroxisome plus enlarging peroxisomes by expression of engineered transcription factors.
