Article
Polymer Science
Jin Huang, Takehiko Gotoh, Satoshi Nakai, Akihiro Ueda
Summary: In this study, potassium polyacrylate hydrogel was synthesized and its capability to remove sodium ions and supply potassium ions from aqueous solutions was evaluated. The results showed that the KMAA hydrogel demonstrated remarkable efficiency in removing sodium ions and providing potassium ions.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yufan Peng, Wang Zhou, Zixing Wang, Hui Liu, Qingfeng Fu, Kuikui Xiao, Jianfang Wu, Zhiyong Wang, Jian Tu, Peng Gao, Jilei Liu
Summary: This study proposes an anion chemistry strategy to enhance interfacial stability by modulating the F-containing bonds in electrolyte potassium salts. The results show that S-F bonds are more likely to break and form dense, robust, stable and KF-rich SEI films with high ionic conductivity, which effectively stabilizes potassium metal.
ENERGY STORAGE MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
K. Wiwatowski, K. Sulowska, R. Houssaini, A. Pilch-Wrobel, A. Bednarkiewicz, A. Hartschuh, S. Mackowski, D. Piatkowski
Summary: Luminescence thermometry is a powerful technique that allows for non-invasive temperature monitoring through light. This study presents the use of isolated single up-converting NaYF4:Er3+/Yb3+ nanocrystals as functional temperature indicators for monitoring the temperature of a single silver nanowire. The results demonstrate the precise determination of temperature distribution in the nanowire's surroundings using individual nanocrystals, which is an important step for nanoscale luminescence thermometry applications.
Editorial Material
Biochemical Research Methods
Nargess Khalilgharibi, Giulia Paci, Yanlan Mao
Summary: Two new Brillouin microscopes use line-scanning to overcome previous limitations, allowing fast imaging with low phototoxicity of mechanical properties in living embryos and tumor spheroids.
Article
Chemistry, Applied
Tiezhong Liu, Shuang Hou, Youpeng Li, Shoufeng Xue, Junhua Hu, Haikuo Fu, Chenghao Yang, Lingzhi Zhao
Summary: K-deficient layered manganese-based oxides are synthesized and investigated as cathodes for potassium-ions batteries (PIBs) for the first time, showing high discharge capacity and remarkable capacity retention rate. The reversible phase transition during potassium-ions extraction and reinsertion provides a better understanding for potassium storage in K-deficient layered KxMnO2, contributing to the development and application of layered KxMnO2 in PIBs.
JOURNAL OF ENERGY CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yun Zhu, Samantha Schrecke, Shuli Tang, Melanie T. Odenkirk, Thomas Walker, Lauren Stover, Jixing Lyu, Tianqi Zhang, David Russell, Erin S. Baker, Xin Yan, Arthur Laganowsky
Summary: This study reveals the selective modulation of phosphatidylserine (PS) binding to TRAAK by cupric ions, while TREK2 is unaffected. Other ions have no impact on the binding of both channels. Additionally, TRAAK shows stronger binding with Cu2+ and Zn2+ compared to TREK2.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Natasa Zurzul, Bjorn Torger Stokke
Summary: The study presents a potassium sensor based on DNA-aptamer functionalized hydrogel, capable of continuous label-free monitoring of potassium ions with high selectivity in an artificial blood buffer environment.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Yuanhe Sun, Yuanxin Zhao, Zhaofeng Liang, Han Lin, Zhiguo Ren, Zeying Yao, Yaru Yin, Ping Huai, Ke Yang, Jinyou Lin, Yaobo Huang, Wen Wen, Xiaolong Li, Renzhong Tai, Daming Zhu
Summary: This study demonstrates the potential of silicene as an anode material for potassium-ion batteries. Through synthesis and testing, it is shown that silicene possesses efficient potassium-ion insertion/extraction properties and cycle stability.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kasimir P. Gregory, Gareth R. Elliott, Erica J. Wanless, Grant B. Webber, Alister J. Page
Summary: The importance of ion-solvent interactions in predicting specific ion effects cannot be underestimated. However, investigations in nonaqueous systems are limited due to data deficiency. We report a database containing over 3000 simulations to study ion behavior in aqueous and non-aqueous solvent environments.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Yan-Ling Guo, Hai-Yan Sun, Xi Zeng, Tian-Tian Lv, Yue-Xin Yao, Ting-Hui Zhuang, Mei-Ling Feng, Xiao-Ying Huang
Summary: Sr-90 is a dangerous artificial radionuclide that is difficult to remove from complex aqueous environments. This study focused on the efficient removal of Sr2+ ions using potassium phosphatoantimonate (1D-K2SbPO6), which showed excellent adsorption capacity and selectivity for Sr2+ ions. The mechanism of Sr2+ removal was found to be ion exchange between Sr2+ and easily exchangeable K+ ions in K2SbPO6. This work provides a potential solution for radionuclide remediation using antimonate(V)-based ion exchange materials.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Ceramics
Manjeet, A. Kumar, Anu, Ravina, Nisha Deopa, Anand Kumar, R. P. Chahal, S. Dahiya, R. Punia, A. S. Rao
Summary: This study evaluates and analyzes the physical, structural, thermal, and optical properties of Dy3+-doped glasses. The results show the potential application of these glasses in optoelectronic devices such as lasers and white light-emitting diodes (w-LEDs).
JOURNAL OF NON-CRYSTALLINE SOLIDS
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Zahra Mosallanezhad, Mohammad Jalali, Zahra Bahadoran, Parvin Mirmiran, Fereidoun Azizi
Summary: This study aimed to explore the potential associations between dietary sodium, potassium, and sodium-to-potassium ratio with the risk of cardiovascular disease in Iranian adults. The results showed that higher sodium intake was associated with an increased risk of CVD, while higher potassium intake was associated with a reduced risk of CVD.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Chelsea B. Swartchick, Jefferson Chan
Summary: Metal ions play diverse roles in living systems and disturbances in metal homeostasis are associated with various pathological conditions. Therefore, visualizing metal ions in complex environments is crucial. Photoacoustic imaging offers a promising approach for in vivo metal ion detection by combining the sensitivity of fluorescence with the superior resolution of ultrasound. In this review, recent advances in photoacoustic imaging probes for in vivo detection of metal ions such as potassium, copper, zinc, and palladium are highlighted, along with perspective and outlook on this exciting field.
CURRENT OPINION IN CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Rodolphe Grivet, Antoine Monier, Axel Huerre, Christophe Josserand, Thomas Seon
Summary: The freezing process of a water droplet on a cold substrate was experimentally investigated in this study. It was found that the spreading of the droplet stops due to the formation and growth of ice crystals which catch up with the advancing contact line. The study also showed that the thermal properties of the substrate play a major role in determining the frozen droplet radius.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Guang Su, Shufeng Chen, Huilong Dong, Yafei Cheng, Quan Liu, Huaixin Wei, Edison Huixiang Ang, Hongbo Geng, Cheng Chao Li
Summary: By doping K+ into V2O5, this study promotes the diffusion of Zn2+ and enhances the structural stability of the battery; K0.5V2O5 demonstrates excellent electrochemical performance at high rates, long-term cycling, and low temperatures, showing great potential for high-performance cathodes in aqueous ZIBs.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lisa M. Pietrek, Lukas S. Stelzl, Gerhard Hummer
Summary: Disordered proteins and nucleic acids are important in cellular function and disease. This review discusses recent advances in computationally exploring the dynamics of flexible biomolecules. While molecular dynamics simulation has improved, large-scale computing resources and validation are needed for simulating full-length disordered biopolymers. Hierarchical chain growth is a computationally efficient alternative that combines chain fragments into detailed biomolecular structures. Applications to neurodegeneration-linked proteins highlight the use of hierarchical chain growth, and connections to AI-based structural modeling are also discussed.
CURRENT OPINION IN STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Soeren von Buelow, Mateusz Sikora, Florian E. C. Blanc, Roberto Covino, Gerhard Hummer
Summary: Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergence of new variants has hindered the effectiveness of vaccines and made achieving herd immunity difficult. However, through molecular dynamics simulations of a SARS-CoV-2 spike protein model, researchers have found that the accessibility of antibodies to regions beyond the glycan shield can predict mutated positions in important variants like Omicron. This understanding of viral evolution and immune defense can help in predicting future mutation activity and escape from antibody-based immune responses.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Balazs Fabian, Sebastian Thallmair, Gerhard Hummer
Summary: Artificial temperature gradients were observed in MD simulations of phase-separating ternary lipid mixtures using the Martini 2 force field. This was traced back to insufficiently converged bond length constraints caused by default settings and time steps in the linear constraint solver (LINCS). By optimizing the constraint scaffold of cholesterol with equimomental arrangement of virtual sites, the bond constraint convergence can be accelerated while maintaining the original cholesterol force field and dynamics.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL THEORY AND COMPUTATION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Miao Yu, Maziar Heidari, Sofya Mikhaleva, Piau Siong Tan, Sara Mingu, Hao Ruan, Christopher D. Reinkemeier, Agnieszka Obarska-Kosinska, Marc Siggel, Martin Beck, Gerhard Hummer, Edward A. Lemke
Summary: This study investigates the conformation of FG nucleoporin NUP98 inside the mammalian nuclear pore complex. The researchers used synthetic biology and time-resolved fluorescence microscopy to directly probe the structure in live cells and permeabilized cells. They found that the channel provides a "good solvent" environment, allowing the FG domain to adopt expanded conformations and control transport between the nucleus and cytoplasm.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alexis Gonzalez, Adriana Covarrubias-Pinto, Ramachandra M. Bhaskara, Marius Glogger, Santosh K. Kuncha, Audrey Xavier, Eric Seemann, Mohit Misra, Marina E. Hoffmann, Bastian Braeuning, Ashwin Balakrishnan, Britta Qualmann, Volker Doetsch, Brenda A. Schulman, Michael M. Kessels, Christian A. Huebner, Mike Heilemann, Gerhard Hummer, Ivan Dikic
Summary: The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) can be remodeled through a selective autophagy pathway called ER-phagy. This study identified that ubiquitination of the ER-phagy receptor FAM134B promotes receptor clustering and binding to LC3B, stimulating ER-phagy. The results reveal the importance of ubiquitination in enhancing ER-phagy and controlling ER remodeling.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hector Foronda, Yangxue Fu, Adriana Covarrubias-Pinto, Hartmut T. Bocker, Alexis Gonzalez, Eric Seemann, Patricia Franzka, Andrea Bock, Ramachandra M. M. Bhaskara, Lutz Liebmann, Marina E. E. Hoffmann, Istvan Katona, Nicole Koch, Joachim Weis, Ingo Kurth, Joseph G. G. Gleeson, Fulvio Reggiori, Gerhard Hummer, Michael M. M. Kessels, Britta Qualmann, Muriel Mari, Ivan Dikic, Christian A. A. Huebner
Summary: Membrane-shaping proteins containing reticulon homology domains are crucial for dynamic remodelling of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). FAM134B is an example of such a protein, which mediates the degradation of ER sheets through a process called selective autophagy (ER-phagy) by binding to LC3 proteins. Mutations in FAM134B result in a neurodegenerative disorder in humans.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Di Wu, Ahmad R. R. Mehdipour, Franziska Finke, Hojjat G. G. Goojani, Roan R. R. Groh, Tamara N. N. Grund, Thomas M. B. Reichhart, Rita Zimmermann, Sonja Welsch, Dirk Bald, Mark Shepherd, Gerhard Hummer, Schara Safarian
Summary: CydDC is a protein transporter responsible for the transport of heme, a redox-active cofactor, from the cytoplasm to the respiratory chain complexes, playing a crucial role in cellular respiration. Through the integrated use of cellular, biochemical, structural and computational methods, the structure and function of CydDC, as well as its mechanism in the functional maturation of cytochrome bd, have been revealed.
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Correction
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Rong Zhu, Daniel Canena, Mateusz Sikora, Miriam Klausberger, Hannah Seferovic, Ahmad Reza Mehdipour, Lisa Hain, Elisabeth Laurent, Vanessa Monteil, Gerald Wirnsberger, Ralph Wieneke, Robert Tampe, Nikolaus F. Kienzl, Lukas Mach, Ali Mirazimi, Yoo Jin Oh, Josef M. Penninger, Gerhard Hummer, Peter Hinterdorfer
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Luis Borges-Araujo, Ana C. Borges-Araujo, Tugba Nur Ozturk, Daniel P. Ramirez-Echemendia, Balazs Fabian, Timothy S. Carpenter, Sebastian Thallmair, Jonathan Barnoud, Helgi I. Ingolfsson, Gerhard Hummer, D. Peter Tieleman, Siewert J. Marrink, Paulo C. T. Souza, Manuel N. Melo
Summary: Cholesterol plays a crucial role in biomembranes by regulating various properties of lipid bilayers. Martini 3 model offers significant improvements in interaction balance and molecular packing, and includes a new cholesterol model that mitigates some limitations of its predecessor.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL THEORY AND COMPUTATION
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Wout Oosterheert, Florian E. C. Blanc, Ankit Roy, Alexander Belyy, Micaela Boiero Sanders, Oliver Hofnagel, Gerhard Hummer, Peter Bieling, Stefan Raunser
Summary: This study reveals the mechanism of inorganic phosphate (Pi) release from actin through a 'molecular backdoor' by combining cryo-EM, molecular-dynamics simulations, and in vitro reconstitution. The backdoor opens transiently through amino acid rearrangements, explaining the rapid release of Pi from the filament end and slow release from internal subunits. The study also finds that a disease-linked actin variant distorts the backdoor arrangement, resulting in accelerated Pi release.
NATURE STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Clara Lettl, Franziska Schindele, Ahmad Reza Mehdipour, Thomas Steiner, Diana Ring, Ruth Brack-Werner, Baerbel Stecher, Wolfgang Eisenreich, Ursula Bilitewski, Gerhard Hummer, Matthias Witschel, Wolfgang Fischer, Rainer Haas
Summary: Respiratory complex I plays an important role in cellular respiration of both eukaryotic cells and bacteria. The inhibition of complex I by mitochondrial complex I inhibitors can selectively kill Helicobacter pylori, a Gram-negative bacterial pathogen, while leaving other bacteria unaffected. The unique composition of the quinone-binding pocket in H. pylori complex I is responsible for this hypersensitivity, suggesting the potential of developing complex I inhibitors as narrow-spectrum antimicrobial agents against H. pylori.
CELL CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Hendrik Jung, Roberto Covino, A. Arjun, Christian Leitold, Christoph Dellago, Peter G. Bolhuis, Gerhard Hummer
Summary: A machine learning algorithm accelerates the sampling of rare assembly events, uncovers their mechanisms, extrapolates them across chemical and thermodynamic space, and condenses the learned assembly mechanisms into a human-interpretable form.
NATURE COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Hyuntae Kim, Balazs Fabian, Gerhard Hummer
Summary: This study highlights the issues of membrane deformation and pressure imbalance in molecular dynamics simulations when using default parameters. The problems are mainly caused by missed nonbonded interactions and unbalanced pressure tensor, which result from improper parameter settings.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL THEORY AND COMPUTATION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Amir Pandi, David Adam, Amir Zare, Van Tuan Trinh, Stefan L. Schaefer, Marie Burt, Bjorn Klabunde, Elizaveta Bobkova, Manish Kushwaha, Yeganeh Foroughijabbari, Peter Braun, Christoph Spahn, Christian Preusser, Elke Pogge von Strandmann, Helge B. Bode, Heiner von Buttlar, Wilhelm Bertrams, Anna Lena Jung, Frank Abendroth, Bernd Schmeck, Gerhard Hummer, Olalla Vazquez, Tobias J. Erb
Summary: This study demonstrates the potential of using deep learning and cell-free protein synthesis for the rapid and cost-effective production and testing of bioactive peptides. Through computational methods and experimental validation, the authors identified 30 functional peptides, including six with broad-spectrum activity against drug-resistant pathogens.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
Jakob Tomas Bullerjahn, Balazs Fabian, Gerhard Hummer
Summary: This article presents an algorithm for generating random 4D rotation matrices, which has applications in robotics, computer vision, and rigid-body mechanics. The algorithm enables efficient sampling of the SO(4) group of 4D rotations.
