eLife assessment
This important study addresses the mechanisms by which mutations in the PURA protein, a regulator of gene transcription and mRNA transport and translation, cause the neurodevelopmental PURA syndrome. Based on convincing evidence from structural biology, molecular dynamics simulation, biochemical, and cell biological analyses, the authors show that the PURA structure is very dynamic, rendering it generally sensitive to structure-altering mutations that affect its folding, DNA-unwinding activity, RNA binding, dimerization, and partitioning into processing bodies. These findings are of substantial importance to cell biology, neurogenetics, and neurology alike, because they provide first insights into how very diverse PURA mutations can cause similar and penetrant molecular, cellular, and clinical defects.