In this Review, the authors consider how single-molecule biophysical approaches can inform our understanding of the ring-shaped structural maintenance of chromosome (SMC) complexes and their function in chromosome organization.

Asynchronous replication-timing patterns undergo programmed switching between maternal and paternal alleles in embryonic and adult stem cells.

Cryo-EM analyses of human TRPML3 reveal this channel in three different states—closed, agonist-activated and low-pH-inhibited—and suggest mechanisms for regulation.

Although deadenylation induces translational inhibition and mRNA decay, well-expressed transcripts are now shown to possess short, well-defined poly(A) tails, suggesting that pruned tails may be ideal for protective and translational functions.

Roth and colleagues have developed PRESTO-Tango, a new open-source platform for high-throughput screening of the entire human nonolfactory GPCRome, and they show how it can be used to identify new ligands for orphan human GPCRs.

Measuring gene expression in individual cells is crucial for understanding the gene regulatory network controlling human embryonic development. Single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) analysis of 124 individual cells from human preimplantation embryos …

Crystal structures of a chimeric GABA_A receptor define new allosteric binding sites for inhibitory and potentiating neurosteroids within the α subunit transmembrane domain.

Abnormal pre-60S particles are able to escape nuclear quality control and join mature 40S subunits to catalyze cytoplasmic protein synthesis, but the resulting translation defects trigger the cytoplasmic surveillance machineries RQC and the …

The crystal structure of the C-terminal region of Zika virus nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) reveals a fold similar to those of other flaviviruses (dengue and West Nile viruses) but different surface electrostatic features.