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.

February 2011

featured articles
- PASK staying active
  The PAS-domain regulated kinase (PASK) has been implicated in nutrition sensing and signaling to facilitate a metabolic response to changing nutritional status. The crystal structure of PASK now indicates a basis for the unusual activation properties and substrate selectivity of this kinase.
- Inhibiting factor
  Transcription initiation and elongation by RNA polymerase is inhibited by GreA. A recent crystal structure reveals the mechanism.
research highlights
- The birth of a ribosome
  A team of researchers applied a 'discovery single-particle profiling' experimental strategy to visualize the assembly of the ribosome via time-resolved electron microscopy.
- Cell adhesion: Getting to the core
  Interferometric photoactivated localization microscopy provides insights into the ultrastructure of focal adhesions.
technical highlights
- A growing family
  
  Combining structural and computational methods helps to define a family of proteins.
- FERM-ly bound
  
  X-ray crystallography of protein complex resolves a controversy regarding domain interactions.