Zika virus is a member of the flavivirus genus that had not been associated with severe disease in humans until the recent outbreaks, when it was linked to microcephaly in newborns in Brazil and to Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults in French Polynesia. Zika virus is related to dengue virus, and we report here that a category of antibodies isolated from dengue patients and targeting...
Tag Archives: basis
Structural basis of N6-adenosine methylation by the METTL3–METTL14 complex
Chemical modifications of RNA have essential roles in a vast range of cellular processes. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is an abundant internal modification in messenger RNA and long non-coding RNA that can be dynamically added and removed by RNA methyltransferases (MTases) and demethylases, respectively. An MTase complex comprising methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) and methyltransferase-like 14 (METTL14) efficiently catalyses methyl group transfer. In contrast to the well-studied DNA...
Structural basis of lenalidomide-induced CK1α degradation by the CRL4CRBN ubiquitin ligase
Thalidomide and its derivatives, lenalidomide and pomalidomide, are immune modulatory drugs (IMiDs) used in the treatment of haematologic malignancies. IMiDs bind CRBN, the substrate receptor of the CUL4–RBX1–DDB1–CRBN (also known as CRL4CRBN) E3 ubiquitin ligase, and inhibit ubiquitination of endogenous CRL4CRBN substrates. Unexpectedly, IMiDs also repurpose the ligase to target new proteins for degradation. Lenalidomide induces degradation of the lymphoid transcription factors Ikaros and...
Structural basis of outer membrane protein insertion by the BAM complex
All Gram-negative bacteria, mitochondria and chloroplasts have outer membrane proteins (OMPs) that perform many fundamental biological processes. The OMPs in Gram-negative bacteria are inserted and folded into the outer membrane by the β-barrel assembly machinery (BAM). The mechanism involved is poorly understood, owing to the absence of a structure of the entire BAM complex. Here we report two crystal structures of the Escherichia coli...
Structural basis for activity regulation of MLL family methyltransferases
The mixed lineage leukaemia (MLL) family of proteins (including MLL1–MLL4, SET1A and SET1B) specifically methylate histone 3 Lys4, and have pivotal roles in the transcriptional regulation of genes involved in haematopoiesis and development. The methyltransferase activity of MLL1, by itself severely compromised, is stimulated by the three conserved factors WDR5, RBBP5 and ASH2L, which are shared by all MLL family complexes. However, the molecular...