Nature, PLoS obtain new achievements in basic research of molecular biology

Sub biology is a science that studies life phenomena at the molecular level Its main research objects are two major biological macromolecules: nucleic acid and protein Recently, several research groups have obtained some important achievements in the basic field of molecular biology, which lays a foundation for in-depth analysis of the essence of life Researchers from Uppsala University and other places in Sweden solved the mystery of how to terminate the mRNA by terminating the codon They simulated the process by computational analysis and found that the reading results of the terminating codon depended on several previously unrecognized interaction and recognition switches The results are published in nature The termination of protein synthesis can be achieved with high fidelity in bacteria At this time, the termination codon on mRNA combines with the release factors RF1 and RF2, rather than with another tRNA with one amino acid At the same time, a newly synthesized protein is released With the recent publication of the crystal structures of several termination complexes, it is now possible to calculate and analyze the read-out results of the "termination codon" energy state, and at the same time to understand the origin of the high accuracy of the combination of release factors The molecular dynamic simulation of 14 different termination complexes shows that the reading result of termination codon depends on several previously unrecognized interaction and recognition switches, which can not be described by the tripeptide anti codon "tRNA mic" model In addition, researchers from Mount Sinai Medical College and other places in New York published the crystal structure of DNA polymerase η, analyzed the structure and function of human DNA polymerase η, and determined the structure of the catalytic region of human DNA polymerase η DNA polymerase η (pol η) is a damage synthetase that plays an important role in DNA damage caused by internal and external environmental factors In this paper, the researchers cracked the crystal structure of Pol η, which is of great significance to explain the mechanism of diseases such as xeroderma pigmentosum They analyzed the structure and function of human DNA polymerase η and determined the structure of the catalytic region of human DNA polymerase η This shows how large thymine dimers are accommodated at an abnormally large active site and how lesions are stabilized by interactions that do not exist in other polymerases In addition, scientists in Germany have found genes involved in repairing DNA double strand breaks, which will significantly accelerate the search for DNA repair genes and bring new medical applications The research results are published in the journal PLoS Biology The researchers purposely searched for genes involved in repairing DNA double strand breaks in a wide range of genome scans, and found 61 sites in human cells, and found a new gene kiaa0415 related to DNA double strand break repair If the gene is turned off, it will reduce the ability of cells to repair DNA breaks Studies on this gene have shown that it interacts with the mutant gene that causes hereditary spastic paraplegia (H) H is a genetic disease of nervous system with high clinical variability and genetic heterogeneity Its symptoms are chronic walking weakness and chronic spastic paralysis of lower limbs The team speculated that a mutation in the gene kiaa0415 might have caused the disease In collaboration with the medical team of the French National Institutes of health and medicine (IERM), they found mutations in the gene kiaa0415 in H patients, and the gene kiaa0415 was found in g48, which works together with G11 and G15 The researchers looked further and found that when g48 did not work, the substance that destroyed DNA was more likely to succeed.