Editorial overview: Macromolecular assemblies: clues from structural insights

Nowadays, college biology textbooks teach us that most biomolecules, acting on no matter which biochemical process, generally function not as single entities, but rather, as constituents of macromolecular assemblies of variable complexity, whereby biochemical activities are promoted, regulated and fine-tuned in order to yield precise biological outcomes. In this respect, the past decades have witnessed a broad development of novel experimental approaches that, accompanied by an unprecedented surge of computational capabilities, have enabled extensive and multifaceted analyses on a large plethora of biomolecular interactions. These have substantially fostered our understanding of essential mechanistic and functional aspects underlying the activity of biomolecules that participate in key cellular processes. And in some cases, have provided the clue for deciphering the molecular essence of pathologies arising when such biomolecules go awry.