Antibiotics administered in low doses have been widely used as growth promoters in the
agricultural industry since the 1950s, yet the mechanisms for this effect are unclear. Because
antimicrobial agents of different classes and varying activity are effective across several …

Acquisition of the intestinal microbiota begins at birth, and a stable microbial community
develops from a succession of key organisms. Disruption of the microbiota during maturation
by low-dose antibiotic exposure can alter host metabolism and adiposity. We now show that …

The structure of epothilone A, bound to α, β-tubulin in zinc-stabilized sheets, was determined
by a combination of electron crystallography at 2.89 angstrom resolution and nuclear
magnetic resonance–based conformational analysis. The complex explains both the broad …

Surfactants and membrane lipids readily assemble into complex structures 1 such as
micelles, liposomes or hollow vesicles owing to their amphiphilic character—the fact that
part of their structure is attracted to polar environments while another part is attracted to non …

We have obtained a 3D reconstruction of intact microtubules, using cryoelectron microscopy
and image processing, at a resolution of about 8 Å, sufficient to resolve much of the
secondary structure. The level of detail in the map allows docking of the tubulin structure …

The pathology of Huntington's disease is characterized by neuronal degeneration and
inclusions containing N-terminal fragments of mutant huntingtin (htt). To study htt
aggregation, we examined purified htt fragments in vitro, finding globular and protofibrillar …

During pre-replication complex (pre-RC) formation, origin recognition complex (ORC), Cdc6,
and Cdt1 cooperatively load the 6-subunit mini chromosome maintenance (MCM2-7)
complex onto DNA. Loading of MCM2-7 is a prerequisite for DNA licensing that restricts …

The postsynaptic density (PSD) is crucial for synaptic functions, but the molecular
architecture retaining its structure and components remains elusive. Homer and Shank are
among the most abundant scaffolding proteins in the PSD, working synergistically for …

Binding of Cdc6 to the origin recognition complex (ORC) is a key step in the assembly of a
pre-replication complex (pre-RC) at origins of DNA replication. ORC recognizes specific
origin DNA sequences in an ATP-dependent manner. Here we demonstrate cooperative …

Gram-negative pathogens commonly exhibit adhesive pili on their surfaces that mediate
specific attachment to the host. A major class of pili is assembled via the chaperone/usher
pathway. Here, the structural basis for pilus fiber assembly and secretion performed by the …