Global reorganization of genome architecture at the transition to gametogenesis - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Huang, Rigau and colleagues observe major changes in how DNA is organized in early germ cells before they start developing into sperm or eggs. These results show that germline removes structural ‘memo...

Late to the party, but I wanted to highlight a recent @natsmb.nature.com paper by the Hajkova and Vaquerizas labs, which notably advances our understanding of how chromatin organisations regulates gametogenesis. Very enjoyable and insightful work!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The AlphaGenome deep learning model predicts effects of non-coding variants - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Google’s DeepMind presents AlphaGenome, the largest multimodal DNA sequence model for non-coding regions so far. It advances the state of the art in almost all prediction tasks and offers a new unifie...

An insightful piece worth reading and pondering about by @pedrobeltrao.bsky.social on our pages @natsmb.nature.com on AlphaGenome, www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The science influencers going viral on TikTok to fight misinformation Scientists and medical experts are countering climate denialism, vaccine scepticism and wellness pseudoscience on social media.

These scientists and medical experts are taking to social media to counter climate denialism, vaccine scepticism and wellness pseudoscience

go.nature.com/4rUFb9C

Interplay between cohesin and RNA polymerase II in regulating chromatin interactions and gene transcription Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 13 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01708-0Kim, Wang, Clow and colleagues show that long-range chromatin loops bringing distal enhancers or super-enhancers together with promoters are cohesin dependent and cell type specific, whereas most short-range and promoter-centric transcriptional loops are cohesin independent and constitutive.

New online: Interplay between cohesin and RNA polymerase II in regulating chromatin interactions and gene transcription

Cell-cycle-dependent repression of histone gene transcription by histone H4 - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Ahmad et al. show that soluble histone H4 binds at histone genes and acts as a repressor of their expression. These findings suggest that histone H4 is a sensor of ongoing DNA replication. Ongoing chr...

A striking mechanism in how histone supply is regulated out @natsmb.nature.com which is definitely worth reading, www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Interphase chromosome conformation is specified by distinct folding programmes inherited through mitotic chromosomes or the cytoplasm - Nature Cell Biology Schooley et al. find that mitotically bookmarked loci drive a transient chromosome folding state during G1 entry that is subsequently modulated by factors inherited through the cytoplasm.

Exciting new paper out! @allanaschooley.bsky.social and Sergey Venev led this project that let to the discovery of two chromosome folding programs: one inherited via mitotic chromosomes and one mitotic inherited through the cytoplasm!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Happy to see our HT-PELSA paper now published in @natsmb.nature.com 🎊 Big thanks for the constructive review process! 📖Read the manuscript here (www.nature.com/articles/s41...) & check the thread for additional information ⬇️

Mechanistic basis for protein conjugation in a diverged bacterial ubiquitination pathway - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Ye et al. define the structure and mechanisms of a bacterial pathway that performs ubiquitination-like protein conjugation, revealing new insights into the evolution and biological roles of ubiquitina...

I'd be remiss not to highlight this study www.nature.com/articles/s41... from the lab of @kevincorbett.bsky.social now out @natsmb.nature.com Always striking to see how inventive bacteria are and what an unorthodox ubiquitylation-like mechanism this may be (probably oxyester dependent).

High-throughput peptide-centric local stability assay extends protein–ligand identification to membrane proteins, tissues and bacteria - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Li et al. further develop a high-throughput peptide-centric local stability assay that speeds up sample preparation 100-fold and extends protein–ligand identification to membrane proteins, tissues and...

Very glad to see this work www.nature.com/articles/s41... by the @savitski-lab.bsky.social out @natsmb.nature.com High hopes that HT-PELSA will be a very useful tool to study protein-ligand interactions.

Dynamics of microcompartment formation at the mitosis-to-G1 transition - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Goel et al. produce high-resolution three-dimensional genome structure mapping from mitosis to G1 phase to show unseen interactions between enhancers and promoters in prometaphase. Polymer modeling in...

Very happy that this insightful story by @andersshansen.bsky.social is out @natsmb.nature.com, www.nature.com/articles/s41.... A nice press release explaining the progress also from the home institute @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social here: news.mit.edu/2025/surpris...

The @natsmb.nature.com Returning Home series is now complete, www.nature.com/nsmb/article... with the final piece by Hugo Sepulveda on his return to Chile published. It has been a joy to work on this series and, if our readers appreciate these pieces, I hope that it may continue or evolve!

We @natsmb.nature.com aim to provide a stage for our readers. That includes voicing their experiences and perspectives. We hope this makes us a more attuned and representative outlet for our communities. We launched new content to do so and explain why in our editorial www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Tenure-based Research Staff Scientist Position in Computational Structural Biology ISTA (www.ista.ac.at) is seeking a highly skilled Staff Scientist in Computational Structural Biology to support and advance the Institute’s structural biology research through the development and imp...

here is the correct link: ista.ac.at/en/job/tenur...

Come work with us! 🧪

Reporter CRISPR screens decipher cis-regulatory and trans-regulatory principles at the Xist locus Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 06 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01686-3Here Schwämmle et al. develop CRISPR reporter screens to map transcription-factor-regulatory element interactions at the Xist locus, revealing a two-step mechanism integrating developmental and X-dosage signals to initiate X-chromosome inactivation.

New online: Reporter CRISPR screens decipher cis-regulatory and trans-regulatory principles at the Xist locus

Returning home: a story of chromatin and community - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Exile, discovery, and resilience have shaped my journey as a group leader in Mexico. From exploring chromatin architecture to building a lab and community, this is how science became my vocation and my home.

Our series on scientists Returning Home after working abroad continues here @natsmb.nature.com
Dr. Furlan-Magaril has authored an inspiring and thoughtful piece on her scientific trip leading her back to Mexico. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cryo-EM structures reveal the molecular mechanism of SUMO E1–E2 thioester transfer Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 25 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01681-8This study reveals how human small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) E1 recruits its E2 partner UBC9 and transfers SUMO1 through large structural changes, uncovering key mechanisms that ensure specificity and fidelity in SUMOylation, an essential protein modification pathway.

New online: Cryo-EM structures reveal the molecular mechanism of SUMO E1–E2 thioester transfer

The September @natsmb.nature.com issue is out! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We feature very interesting papers on ubiquitylation and degradation. Really excited to continue to serve the proteostasis and PTMs communities and publish conceptually insightful work.

Learning about break-induced replication from bacteriophages Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Published online: 09 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41580-025-00898-1Break-induced replication (BIR), a DNA double-strand break repair mechanism, was first studied in the 1960s in bacteriophages, showing that DNA could recombine by a 'break–copy' mechanism.

New Online! Learning about break-induced replication from bacteriophages

The rise of ADP-ribose–ubiquitin - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Post-translational modifications show mechanistic crosstalk, exemplified by the ADP-ribose–ubiquitin hybrid signal, in which one post-translational modification modifies another. This Comment highlights its discovery, mechanistic basis and functional consequences, and outlines critical questions for understanding this emerging signaling paradigm.

A captivating read on a very interesting topic, the closer-than-anticipated relationship between ubiquitin and ADP-ribose just out @natsmb.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Image of Niels Mejlgaar (CEO of DNRF), Anja Groth (EpiC director) & Jesper Fisker (CEO of DCS).

We have lift off!! 🚀 Yesterday was the official opening of EpiC! The DNRF Center for Epigenetic Cell Memory at the Danish Cancer Institute!
Our EpiC team with director Anja Groth @groth-anja.bsky.social, were joined by Jesper Fisker, CEO @cancer.dk & Niels Mejlgaar, CEO @dg.dk to celebrate 🎉

Three-Year Funded Postdoctoral Position to study organelle architecture in mammalian oocytes – Terret-Verlhac Lab, CIRB, Collège de France (Starting 2026).
For more information, please contact: marie-helene.verlhac@college-de-france.fr

The mitotic STAG3–cohesin complex shapes male germline nucleome - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Nagano et al. identify the third mitotic cohesin complex, STAG3–cohesin, which, with its unique biophysical properties, weakens insulation and rewires regulatory interactions of spermatogonial stem ce...

This insightful manuscript implicating STAG3 in mitotic, rather than the known meiotic, control of chromatin architecture came out a couple of days ago. Glad to see it in our pages @natsmb.nature.com and I am looking forward to see what the community will think www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congratulations to Masahiro Nagano on his new paper on STAG3-cohesin.

STAG3-cohesin has a much shorter residence time which leads to altered 3D genome organization and STAG3-cohesin is important for male germ cell differentiation.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Returning home: there and back again in Czechia - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Returning to Central Europe was appealing and challenging. Here, I reflect on my part in rebuilding a research career in Czechia and fostering a collaborative scientific community across the region.

@natsmb.nature.com has published three pieces on scientists returning to their country of origin after working abroad. www.nature.com/nsmb/article... Two more will come out. The most recent one by @hanasedlackova.bsky.social hits home for me, a very interesting read.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

📢 Excited to share my World View article, just published in @NatureSMB, where I reflect on returning to Czechia and building research group grounded in collaboration🤝, resilience and curiosity💡. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Another installment of the 'Returning home" series at NSMB.

This time, we're returning to Poland! Read below the piece from Lidia Wróbel from IIMCB, Warsaw

Q&A with Francesca Mattiroli - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Francesca Mattiroli leads a research group at the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht in the Netherlands, delving into the dynamics of chromatin during DNA synthesis. Here we ask her about her research etho...

Out @natsmb.nature.com a great Q&A with @fmattiroli.bsky.social. I really enjoyed reading it and I am very happy that Francesca had the time to work with us. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Q&A with Yael David and Charles Rice on using chromatin biology to understand hepatitis - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Yael David leads her lab focused on studying the fundamental mechanisms of epigenetic regulation of transcription at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Charles Rice is the Maurice R. and Cori...

Did not have time to post about this before vacation. Such a joy to have this chat with @davidlabmsk.bsky.social and Nobel Laureate Charles Rice on Yael's amazing work, capitalising on chromatin biology to understand hepatitis. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Working with collaborators at the Crick Institute and the University of Utah, CSHL's President and CEO Bruce Stillman explores how pre-replicative complexes (pre-RCs)—even earlier than ORCs—assemble to initiate DNA replication in all plants, animals, and fungi.