Structural Mechanism of Glutamate Receptor Activation and Desensitization Understanding the structural basis of the transition from closed to active and desensitized conformations is central to deciphering the function of ionotropic glutamate receptors NMDA receptors, AMPA receptors, delta receptors, and kainate receptors as mediators of excitatory synaptic transmission in the central nervous system. Ligand binding at the receptor's extracellular surface…
Structure of β-galactosidase at 3.2-Å Resolution Obtained by Cryo-Electron Microscopy The vast majority of high-resolution structures obtained using cryo-EM have been typically restricted to large, well-ordered entities such as helical or icosahedral assemblies or two-dimensional crystals. We show here that emerging methods in single-particle cryo-EM now allow structure determination at near-atomic resolution, even for much smaller protein complexes with…
Prefusion Structure of Trimeric HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein Determined by Cryo-Electron Microscopy HIV-1 Env transitions from a closed to an open state upon binding to its cellular receptor. Single-particle cryo-EM analysis now reveals the closed state of the HIV-1 Env trimer at ~6-Å resolution, featuring three gp41 helices at the center of the trimer. These findings indicate that HIV-1 enters…
Molecular Architectures of Trimeric SIV and HIV-1 Envelope Glycoproteins on Intact Viruses: Strain-Dependent Variation in Quaternary Structure HIV and SIV contact and infect target T-cells following the binding of trimeric Env spikes displayed on the viral membrane with cellular receptors. The conformational changes in trimeric Env that are triggered by the interaction between trimeric Env and cell surface receptors…
Molecular Architecture of Native HIV-1 gp120 Trimers We determined the structure of the native gp120 coat protein of HIV by cryo-electron tomography and molecular modelling. Comparison of gp120 structures in an unbound state, bound to a neutralizing antibody and bound to CD4 cell surface protein provides insight into the conformational changes that occur during antibody neutralization and attachment to…
