Brief Communications in 2023

This study revealed the mechanism by which the E3 ligase Bre1 directs monoubiquitination of histone H2B at K123 by the E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme Rad6. Comparison with other dimeric E3 ligases suggests a pivot-like mechanism in which one subunit ‘tunes’ the specificity for particular histone residues.

Here, the authors present droplet-based Paired-Tag, an improved method to concomitantly map histone modifications and gene expression at single-cell resolution. They functionally benchmark the method and demonstrate its advantages in mammalian cells and primary brain tissues.

Here, the authors demonstrate that the translation of the Drosophila transcript of insulin (dilp2) is regulated by methylation of N⁶-adenosine (m⁶A) in the 3′ UTR, at sites also conserved in mammals. In turn, this results in aberrant, diabetes-like functional phenotypes.

Here, the authors solve the cryogenic electron microscopy structure of a human primosome to shed light on the mechanism by which RNA–DNA primers are synthesized for the initiation of DNA replication and the structural basis of the primer length limitation.

Gabapentinoid drugs are widely used for pain, epilepsy and mental disorders. Chen et al. report the structure of a gabapentin-bound brain and heart calcium channel, revealing the gabapentin binding site and isoform-selective binding determinants.