NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
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• Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Chemical Biology: Cysteine naturally sweetened
• Mention of papers to be published at the same time with the
same embargo
• Geographical listing of authors
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[1] Chemical Biology: Cysteine naturally sweetened
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.509
A new chemical linkage between proteins and sugars, and an enzyme specific for this linkage, are published online this week in Nature Chemical Biology. This finding significantly alters the conceptual paradigm for the understanding of carbohydrate chemistry and biology.
Carbohydrates, or cellular sugars, are typically connected to proteins via the oxygen or nitrogen atoms found in common amino acids like serine, threonine, or asparagine. However, sulfur atoms, as found in the amino acid cysteine, can also be used to create these same bonds within the test tube. The only prior report of a natural cysteine-linked sugar raised some hopes that this unusual modification existed in biological systems, but the modified molecule has proven difficult to identify again.
Wilfred van der Donk and colleagues have conclusively identified both a sulfur-linked sugar in the natural product sublancin, as well as the enzyme, SunS, that forms this unusual bond. Bioinformatics analysis further suggests that many more enzymes like SunS exist.
Author contact:
Wilfred van der Donk, (University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA)
Tel: +1 217 244 5360; E-mail: [email protected]
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Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature)
[2] c-Jun N-terminal phosphorylation antagonises recruitment of the Mbd3/NuRD repressor complex
DOI: 10.1038/nature09607
[3] Hydrostatic pressure and the actomyosin cortex drive mitotic cell rounding
DOI: 10.1038/nature09642
[4] Ependymal cells of chordate larvae are stem-like cells that form the adult nervous system
DOI: 10.1038/nature09631
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[5] Histone H2B ubiquitylation disrupts local and higher order chromatin compaction
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.501
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[6] Site-resolved measurement of water-protein interactions by solution NMR
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1955
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GEOGRAPHICAL LISTING OF AUTHORS
The following list of places refers to the whereabouts of authors on the papers numbered in this release. The listing may be for an author's main affiliation, or for a place where they are working temporarily. Please see the PDF of the paper for full details.
GERMANY
Dresden: 3
JAPAN
Hyogo: 4
Okinawa: 4
Shizuoka: 4
Tokyo: 2
SWITZERLAND
Basel: 3
UNITED KINGDOM
Cambridge: 2
London: 2
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Illinois
Urbana: 5
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 5
New York
New York: 5
Stony Brook: 5
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 6
Washington
Seattle: 5
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Tel: +1 212 726 9231; E-mail: [email protected]
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Tel: +44 20 7843 4562; E-mail: [email protected]
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Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (New York)
Sabbi Lall
Tel: +1 212 726 9326; E-mail: [email protected]
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