Single-nucleosome imaging/tracking and super-resolution three-dimensional structured illumination microscopy within euchromatic regions show that cohesin-mediated loops constrain condensed euchromatic...

Cohesin-mediated loop extrusion limits sister-fork coupling and tethers nearby replication forks under replication stress, promoting fork reversal and slowing fork progression to safeguard genome...

Proteasomes are essential for male fertility. Kolata, dos Santos, Dendooven and colleagues show large nuclear proteasomal assemblies segregated from DNA in human sperm, forming after meiosis and with ...

By calibrating Micro-C against live-imaging data in mouse embryonic stem cells, Jusuf et al. quantified 65,929 chromatin loops genome-wide, finding that most loops form pairwise interactions with an a...

Enginefall is a player-driven crafting shooter set on colossal, post-apocalyptic megatrains. Start in the tail alone or with friends as you scavenge, craft, and build your way to First Class. Seize be...

Singh et al. combine cryo-electron microscopy and functional studies to reveal how a single protein complex selects diverse mRNAs for subcellular localization using a combination of shape, positional ...

Singh et al. combine cryo-electron microscopy and functional studies to reveal how a single protein complex selects diverse mRNAs for subcellular localization using a combination of shape, positional ...

Chromatin dynamics govern search times between DNA elements. Using integrated MINFLUX imaging, Mazzocca, Narducci, Grosse-Holz and colleagues track chromatin dynamics over seven orders of magnitude in...

PDS5 proteins regulate genome organization by halting cohesin-mediated loop extrusion. Wutz et al. show that PDS5 promotes NIPBL dissociation from cohesin, enabling CTCF boundary formation and proper ...

Shah, Tortora, et al. show that cells can dial the rate of cohesin loop extrusion by balancing the relative dosage of NIPBL and PDS5. Their models provide a quantitative mechanistic basis for the gene...

In this issue of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, we focus on all things protein homeostasis, highlighting a variety of processes, from protein quality control in translation to autophagy.

The partnership between a leading European research institute, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), and a pharmaceutical company, GSK, has set an example of how to build a successful acad...

METALoci, a new three-dimensional genome computational tool, reveals a major rewiring of regulatory interactions during sex determination. By combining this method with transgenic models, the authors ...

In this review, the authors discuss and contextualize the cellular responses launched after mitochondrial stress and note the importance of the emerging understanding in applying this new knowledge in...

Huang, Rigau and colleagues observe major changes in how DNA is organized in early germ cells before they start developing into sperm or eggs. These results show that germline removes structural ‘memo...

Google’s DeepMind presents AlphaGenome, the largest multimodal DNA sequence model for non-coding regions so far. It advances the state of the art in almost all prediction tasks and offers a new unifie...

Scientists and medical experts are countering climate denialism, vaccine scepticism and wellness pseudoscience on social media.

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 13 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01708-0Kim, Wang, Clow and colleagues show that long-range chromatin loops bringing distal enhancers or super-enhancers together with promoters are cohesin dependent and cell type specific, whereas most short-range and promoter-centric transcriptional loops are cohesin independent and constitutive.

Ahmad et al. show that soluble histone H4 binds at histone genes and acts as a repressor of their expression. These findings suggest that histone H4 is a sensor of ongoing DNA replication. Ongoing chr...

Schooley et al. find that mitotically bookmarked loci drive a transient chromosome folding state during G1 entry that is subsequently modulated by factors inherited through the cytoplasm.

Li et al. further develop a high-throughput peptide-centric local stability assay that speeds up sample preparation 100-fold and extends protein–ligand identification to membrane proteins, tissues and...

Ye et al. define the structure and mechanisms of a bacterial pathway that performs ubiquitination-like protein conjugation, revealing new insights into the evolution and biological roles of ubiquitina...

Li et al. further develop a high-throughput peptide-centric local stability assay that speeds up sample preparation 100-fold and extends protein–ligand identification to membrane proteins, tissues and...

Goel et al. produce high-resolution three-dimensional genome structure mapping from mitosis to G1 phase to show unseen interactions between enhancers and promoters in prometaphase. Polymer modeling in...

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We are delighted to introduce additional content types at Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, which allow us to offer more discussion of societal and scientific issues, better represent the uni...

ISTA (www.ista.ac.at) is seeking a highly skilled Staff Scientist in Computational Structural Biology to support and advance the Institute’s structural biology research through the development and imp...

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 06 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01686-3Here Schwämmle et al. develop CRISPR reporter screens to map transcription-factor-regulatory element interactions at the Xist locus, revealing a two-step mechanism integrating developmental and X-dosage signals to initiate X-chromosome inactivation.

Exile, discovery, and resilience have shaped my journey as a group leader in Mexico. From exploring chromatin architecture to building a lab and community, this is how science became my vocation and my home.

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 25 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01681-8This study reveals how human small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) E1 recruits its E2 partner UBC9 and transfers SUMO1 through large structural changes, uncovering key mechanisms that ensure specificity and fidelity in SUMOylation, an essential protein modification pathway.

We highlight primary research and commissioned content that delve into the biology of ubiquitylation and degradation mechanisms.

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Published online: 09 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41580-025-00898-1Break-induced replication (BIR), a DNA double-strand break repair mechanism, was first studied in the 1960s in bacteriophages, showing that DNA could recombine by a 'break–copy' mechanism.

Post-translational modifications show mechanistic crosstalk, exemplified by the ADP-ribose–ubiquitin hybrid signal, in which one post-translational modification modifies another. This Comment highlights its discovery, mechanistic basis and functional consequences, and outlines critical questions for understanding this emerging signaling paradigm.

Nagano et al. identify the third mitotic cohesin complex, STAG3–cohesin, which, with its unique biophysical properties, weakens insulation and rewires regulatory interactions of spermatogonial stem ce...

Returning to Central Europe was appealing and challenging. Here, I reflect on my part in rebuilding a research career in Czechia and fostering a collaborative scientific community across the region.