A set of software tools for building and distributing models of macromolecular assemblies uses an integrative structure modeling approach, which casts the building of models as a computational optimization problem where information is encoded into a scoring function used to evaluate candidate models.

Passive macromolecular diffusion through nuclear pore complexes is thought to decrease dramatically beyond ∼40 kD. Using time-resolved fluorescence microscopy and Brownian dynamics simulations, Timney et al. show that this barrier is in fact much softer, decreasing along a continuum.

A model of the core of the yeast spindle pole body (SPB) was created by a Bayesian modeling approach that integrated a diverse data set of biophysical, biochemical, and genetic information. The model led to a proposed pathway for the assembly of Spc110, a protein related to pericentrin, and a mechanism for how calmodulin strengthens the SPB during mitosis.