Alessandra Magistrato

Charting the Structure and Functional Landscape of the SF3B1 Intrinsically Disordered Region

This study characterizes the conformational dynamics and phosphorylation-dependent changes in the SF3B1 N-terminal domain using a combination of biophysical and computational methods.

Glutamine Tautomerization Drives RhoGAP-Aided GTP Hydrolysis in Small Rho GTPases

The paper resolves the mechanism of GTP hydrolysis in the RhoGAP-RhoA complex, revealing a tautomerization-driven process involving Gln63.

U2 snRNP recognizes the branch site through a loaded-spring strand-invasion mechanism

This study reveals a loaded-spring mechanism by which U2 snRNP recognizes the branch site through spontaneous strand invasion driven by conformational energy release.

Exploring Disordered Regions of Human Spliceosome Proteins

The paper analyzes human spliceosome proteins to show that many contain over 40% disordered residues, driven by compositional bias and linked to post-translational modifications and cancer mutations.

Determinants of spliceostatin reactivity at a spliceosomal zinc finger

This study identifies the molecular mechanism by which spliceostatin binds and inhibits the SF3b complex, revealing the role of ZnCys4 coordination and proton relay in covalent bond formation.

Structural flexibility of the human vault protein revealed by high-resolution cryo-EM and molecular dynamics simulations

This study uses cryo-EM and molecular dynamics simulations to reveal structural flexibility in the human vault protein, identifying conformational states and dynamic assembly mechanisms.

Recognition and catalytic mechanism of tRNA m3C methyltransferase METTL6

This study defines the mechanism by which METTL6 and SerRS cooperatively recognize and catalyze tRNA m3C methylation using simulations and in vitro experiments.

Ensemble Refinement of mismodeled cryo-EM RNA Structures Using All-Atom Simulations

The paper refines cryo-EM RNA structures using all-atom simulations and metainference to account for structural flexibility, revealing inaccuracies in single-structure approaches.

All-atom simulations elucidate the molecular mechanismunderlying RNA-membrane interactions

This study uses all-atom simulations to reveal that guanine in RNA has the strongest interaction with membranes, while base pairing reduces membrane binding.