research advances

Synopses of important developments in the field of structural biology and structural genomics, including advances from the Protein Structure Initiative. The featured articles and technical highlights are specially written for the Structural Biology Knowledgebase, while the research highlights are taken from NPG publications.

January 2010

featured articles
- Membrane proteins spotted in their native habitat
  
  A modest reshaping of the lipid bilayer allows water molecules to hydrate voltage-gating channels and focus the electrical field.
- First bacterial PH domain
  
  The discovery of Pleckstrin-homology-like domains in prokaryotes suggests an ancient evolutionary origin for the PH superfamily.
research highlights
- Structure Watch
  Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology highlights two recent important structures.
- Seeing double
  Two groups have independently solved the X-ray crystal structures of a c-di-GMP riboswitch from Vibrio cholerae.
technical highlights
- Five good reasons to use single protein production for membrane proteins
  A refinement of the SPP method eliminates lengthy purification steps in the pursuit of membrane proteins suitable for structural studies.
- Spot the pore
  Straightforward web-based software pinpoints the central channel of any transmembrane protein.