Acanthamoeba castellanii, a pathogenic amoeba, belongs to an evolutionary branch distinctly removed from humans and fungi. Cryo-EM of the organism’s ATP synthase enzyme using raw mitochondrial lysates...

Chinese researchers are testing DREADDs, a gene therapy to turn down neuronal activity, in the clinic

The approval of the first Protac cancer drug marks a turning point in medicine - but scientists are only beginning to decode the complex molecular language that makes it possible

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 10 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41594-026-01884-7Wang et al. show that the UT3 domain of Ufd1 binds to and unfolds K48-linked polyubiquitin chains without ATP. Simultaneous binding of two ubiquitins to UT3 is key to overcome the energy barrier. This ubiquitin unfolding is critical for Cdc48/p97’s function.

Viruses are intracellular parasites that reprogram the host proteome to promote replication and evade immune recognition. We applied a virome-wide library of ~10,000 open reading frames to discover vi...

Cytoplasmic lattices (CPLs) are filamentous assemblies essential for mammalian embryonic development. They are known to regulate organelle organization, spindle assembly, and protein homeostasis, but ...

YouTube video by The Francis Crick Institute

Macromolecular complexes are cells’ functional units, and their correct and efficient assembly is critical to life’s processes. Complex assembly was c…

Ubiquitin coordinates a complex network of cellular pathways through covalent modification of substrates. Specificity in substrate recognition and modification choice is largely conferred by ubiquitin...

p62/SQSTM1 self-assembles with polyubiquitin into liquid-like condensates (“p62 bodies”) that function as stress-signaling hubs and selective autophagy cargo. We show that TBK1-dependent phosphorylati...

YouTube video by MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Cryo–electron tomography reveals how mitochondria reorganize their translation and folding systems under proteostatic stress.

Cell Death & Differentiation - M1-linked ubiquitination by LUBAC regulates AMPK signalling and the response to energetic stress

Degrons are degradation signals in target proteins to direct recognition and degradation by the ubiquitin–proteasome system. Wang et al. introduce degrons of different types, with an emphasis on high-...

Nuclear protein homeostasis relies on proteasome import into the nucleus. Here the authors identify how assembled human proteasomes are transported across the nuclear pore complex and reveal a mechani...

Cells rely on regulated proteostasis mechanisms to keep their internal compartments functioning properly. When these mechanisms fail, damaged proteins accumulate, disrupting organelles, such as the n....

YouTube video by David Fay

Investigating multiple protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) is critical for unraveling the complexities of protein regulation and the dynamic interplay among PTMs, a growing focus in proteo...

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Riechmann et al. uncover structural features governing ubiquitin transfer from ubiquitin-activating E1 enzymes UBA1 and UBA6 to specific E2...

Proteins lacking defined ligandable pockets remain challenging drug targets. Here, we develop a molecular glue-based PROTAC (MGPROTACs) approach that chemically conjugates a molecular glue stabilizer ...

Chang et al. present a membrane-guided approach for identifying a subset of cytoplasmic ribosomes oriented for protein import on the mitochondrial surface

Heterobifunctional proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) have emerged as a powerful strategy to degrade disease-relevant proteins, enabling targeting of previously "undruggable" proteins. Current d...

The kinase ZAK is activated at collided ribosomes to mediate the ribotoxic stress response.

Degrons are degradation signals in target proteins to direct recognition and degradation by the ubiquitin–proteasome system. Wang et al. introduce degrons of different types, with an emphasis on high-...

Li et al. uncover a connection between metabolic cues and mitochondrial protein degradation, showing that specifically leucine stabilizes outer mitochondrial membrane proteins by inhibiting ubiquityla...

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 06 August 2025; doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01639-wGao, Nardone et al. report the cryo-EM structure of human TXNL1 bound to the proteasome and reveal interactions required for the stress-induced degradation of TXNL1, an abundant protein that may regulate proteasomal activity.

Peroxisomes execute essential functions in cells, including detoxification and lipid oxidation. Despite their centrality to cell biology, the relevance of peroxisomes to aging remains understudied. We...