Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Rodrigo Diaz-Espinoza
Summary: Peptides and proteins can form highly ordered amyloid structures that have unique mechanical properties and catalytic activities. Recent advances in the design of amyloids have focused on the development of catalytic activities, such as hydrolysis, as well as novel types of activities. These catalytically active amyloids have great potential for the development of future bionanomaterials aimed at specific applications.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Amelia Brasnett, Inga Pfeffer, Lennart Brewitz, Rasheduzzaman Chowdhury, Yu Nakashima, Anthony Tumber, Michael A. McDonough, Christopher J. Schofield
Summary: The study on human AspH variants reveals insights into its catalytic mechanism, with implications for the functional assignment of 2OG oxygenases and the design of non-protein biomimetic catalysts. The crystal structures show the metal-ligation by only a single protein histidine ligand, indicating a unique approach in Fe-II binding compared to the typical triad of residues. Both H725A and H679A AspH variants exhibit substantial catalytic activity, highlighting their potential applications.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
G. C. Antunes, P. Malgaretti, J. Harting
Summary: This study develops a semi-analytical model for self-diffusioosmotic transport in active pores. The authors investigate the spontaneous symmetry breaking in fore-aft symmetric pores and find that the pumping transition is controlled by three timescales. Introducing asymmetry to the pore reveals a second type of advection-enabled transition.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Medicinal
Juliana Castro-Amorim, Ana Novo de Oliveira, Saulo Luis Da Silva, Andreimar M. Soares, Ashis K. Mukherjee, Maria Joao Ramos, Pedro A. . Fernandes
Summary: Snake venom-secreted phospholipase A(2) (svPLA(2)) enzymes play a crucial role in envenoming by disrupting the cell membrane's integrity and inducing various pharmacological effects. However, the reaction mechanisms of svPLA(2) are still not fully understood. This review presents and analyzes the most plausible reaction mechanisms, including the single-water mechanism and the assisted-water mechanism. The importance of interfacial activation and a potential catalytic mechanism for noncatalytic PLA(2)-like proteins are also discussed.
JOURNAL OF MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xuegang Niu, Yang Zhu, Chenyu Ding, Jing Ma, Penghui Wei, Yuanxiang Lin, Wenhua Fang, Qiu He, Chunwang Li, Junjie Cheng, Jianhua Zou, Lisen Lin, Xiaoyuan Chen, Dezhi Kang
Summary: A self-catalytically enhanced mild photothermal therapy strategy is proposed, which disrupts heat shock proteins to restore tumor cell sensitivity and improve therapeutic effects. AgFeCu nanoparticles with dual-active catalytic centers and near-infrared photothermal properties are developed to catalyze the conversion of hydrogen peroxide into hydroxyl radicals, degrading heat shock proteins and enhancing the efficacy of mild photothermal therapy. Furthermore, the nanoparticles can induce oxidative stress, triggering tumor ferroptosis and resulting in significant tumor elimination.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Isabelle R. Taylor, Laura A. Murray-Nerger, Todd M. Greco, Dawei Liu, Ileana M. Cristea, Bonnie L. Bassler
Summary: This study reveals specific protein interactions involving PqsE and the role of RhlR in these interactions. These findings contribute to the understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms and quorum sensing process in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Priyanka Sharan, Abdallah Daddi-Moussa-Ider, Jaime Agudo-Canalejo, Ramin Golestanian, Juliane Simmchen
Summary: Due to the complexity of active matter systems, understanding their collective properties requires systematic characterization of individual components and their interactions. This study focuses on self-propelled particles and their non-equilibrium behavior, as well as the challenges posed by non-reciprocal interactions. Experimental and theoretical approaches are utilized to extract parameters and predict trajectories, providing insights for the design of active-matter systems.
Article
Polymer Science
Patrick H. Maag, Florian Feist, Hendrik Frisch, Peter W. Roesky, Christopher Barner-Kowollik
Summary: Fluorescent and catalytically active single chain nanoparticle (SCNP) systems can visualize and trace the distribution of catalysts in a reaction system. This study presents a synthetic strategy to produce such SCNPs through a photoactivated reaction under visible light. The compaction of SCNPs is achieved by generating a fluorescent entity, demonstrating a successful reduction in the size of the nanoparticles.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Federica Maschietto, Erik Zavala, Brandon Allen, J. Patrick Loria, Victor Batista
Summary: In this study, computational modeling and solution NMR spectroscopy were combined to identify an allosteric site in MptpA. The findings suggest that this site plays a crucial role in substrate binding and reaction kinetics.
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Huihua Luo, Siyao Guo, Yunfeng Bao, Zhiqing Jia
Summary: Defect-rich CoS porous nanostructures were prepared through solvothermal method for the removal of Cr(VI) from wastewater. The photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) activity of WDCoS-3 was significantly enhanced due to the rich S vacancy defects acting as active sites. WDCoS-3 exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance, achieving a reduction efficiency of 96%, which was five times higher than CoS-Water and better than CoS-DMF.
APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Shay Avisar, Yahel Shner, Raed Abu-Reziq, Inna Popov, Avi Bino
Summary: Nano-alloys, especially nano-porous alloys, have significant potential advantages in heterogeneous catalysis. Despite the synthetic challenge of controlling their precise compositions, previous research has successfully fabricated magnetic nano-porous Co-Pd alloys with controllable compositions. These alloys exhibit improved catalytic activity and can be easily recovered due to their magnetic properties, making them promising candidates for efficient catalysts.
JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Shankar Lalitha Sridhar, Jeffrey Dunagin, Kanghyeon Koo, Loren Hough, Franck Vernerey
Summary: The study shows that enhanced diffusion is possible with active polymers in binding and unbinding events, depending on the relative length of the chains to that of the plate. When the plate is shorter than the chains, diffusion is maximized when many chains have the potential to bind but few remain bound at any one time. Conversely, when the chains are shorter than the plate, diffusion is maximized when more active chains remain transiently bound.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jorge Pedro Lopez-Alonso, Melisa Lazaro, David Gil-Carton, Philip H. Choi, Liang Tong, Mikel Valle
Summary: This study investigates the structure of active pyruvate carboxylase tetramers using cryoEM and reveals the catalytic steps and substrate-product identification. The analysis of catalytically active PC tetramers uncovers the role of certain motions during enzyme functioning and the mechanism for allosteric regulation.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear
Ye-Xia Li, Wen-Long Duan, Jian Luan, Fang Guo
Summary: Here, we present a method for synthesizing highly crystalline Ni particles embedded in a carbon matrix through controlled thermolysis temperature and the addition of auxiliary carbon sources in coordination polymers (CPs). Ni-based CPs were synthesized and used as precursors to prepare single phase, crystalline metal and metal oxide particles embedded in a carbon matrix. Fulvic acid (FA) was used as an antioxidant to enhance purity and catalytic performance. The photocatalytic degradation of dyes by the synthesized materials was studied, and the highest degradation rates were observed for various dyes.
INORGANICA CHIMICA ACTA
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Organic
Pellegrino La Manna, Carmen Talotta, Carmine Gaeta, Yoram Cohen, Sarit Slovak, Antonio Rescifina, Paolo Della Sala, Margherita De Rosa, Annunziata Soriente, Placido Neri
Summary: The confined space inside the hexameric pyrogallol[4]arene capsule can enhance the catalysis of 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions, with different results depending on the solvent used. In non-competitive solvents like benzene, the reaction occurs inside the capsule, leading to strict control over stereochemistry. In contrast, in competitive solvents like chloroform, the reaction mainly occurs outside the capsule or in the bulk solvent.
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY FRONTIERS
(2022)
Editorial Material
Chemistry, Physical
Henry Hess
Summary: Light-activated protein actuators made up of bioengineered motors and molecular scaffolds can perform millimetre-scale mechanical work, showing great potential for applications in microrobotics.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yifei Zhang, Henry Hess
Summary: This article summarizes and discusses the latest observations and theories on active diffusion and swimming, focusing on the characteristics of chemically-driven nanoswimmers and microswimmers, as well as their potential applications and energy conversion efficiency.
NATURE REVIEWS CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Anna C. Impastato, Andrej Shemet, Nynke A. Veprek, Gadiel Saper, Henry Hess, Lu Rao, Arne Gennerich, Dirk Trauner
Summary: In this study, we designed and synthesized five photoswitchable variants with different pharmacophores, and one of them, Azo-EMD, showed enhanced inhibition of Eg5 in its light-induced cis form.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Syeda Rubaiya Nasrin, Christian Ganser, Seiji Nishikawa, Arif Md Rashedul Kabir, Kazuki Sada, Takefumi Yamashita, Mitsunori Ikeguchi, Takayuki Uchihashi, Henry Hess, Akira Kakugo
Summary: This study utilizes high-speed atomic force microscopy to reveal how microtubule deformation regulates the translocation of kinesin-1 protein related to intracellular transport. The bending-induced deformation of microtubules impedes the movement of kinesins along them, attributed to an enhanced affinity of kinesins to the microtubule structural units in deformed microtubules. This advances our understanding of the role of cytoskeletal components in mechanotransduction.
Article
Robotics
Gadiel Saper, Stanislav Tsitkov, Parag Katira, Henry Hess
Summary: This study introduces a nanorobotics system that accelerates end-to-end microtubule assembly using kinesin motors and a circular confining chamber. The mechanical interaction of kinesin-propelled microtubules gliding on a surface with the walls of the confining chamber creates a nonequilibrium distribution of microtubules, leading to an increased number of end-to-end microtubule fusion events.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yan Xiong, Stanislav Tsitkov, Henry Hess, Oleg Gang, Yifei Zhang
Summary: This study establishes a cascade system using reversible DNA-directed colocalization of enzymes on microspheres to directly evaluate the colocalization effect. In a regime of highly dilute microspheres of particular sizes, the colocalized cascade shows enhanced activity compared to the freely diffusing cascade. The findings provide theoretical support for the rational design of highly efficient multienzyme catalysts.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chang Ge, Zheng Yu, Huakang Sheng, Xiaolin Shen, Xinxiao Sun, Yifei Zhang, Yajun Yan, Jia Wang, Qipeng Yuan
Summary: Quorum sensing is a widespread cell-cell communication mechanism that can regulate metabolic fluxes. The regulatory roles of CRP-binding site and lux box to -10 region in controlling QS promoters have been discovered. By varying the numbers of CRP-binding site and redesigning the lux box to -10 site sequence, a library of QS variants with high dynamic ranges and low leakiness has been created.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Robotics
M. Akter, J. J. Keya, K. Kayano, A. M. R. Kabir, D. Inoue, H. Hess, K. Sada, A. Kuzuya, H. Asanuma, A. Kakugo
Summary: Cooperation is a strategy that allows groups of organisms to perform complex tasks more efficiently. Researchers have demonstrated molecular transportation through the cooperative action of a large number of artificial molecular machines, enabling larger scale and longer distance cargo transport, as well as user-defined cargo collection.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Henry Hess
Summary: This is a multi-component nanoscale motor that self-assembles from DNA, spins a rotor using Brownian motion, and can wind up a molecular spring.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Stanislav Tsitkov, Juan B. Rodriguez, Neda M. Bassir Kazeruni, May Sweet, Takahiro Nitta, Henry Hess
Summary: Microtubule breaking often occurs when the curvature of the microtubule increases, and does not necessarily require the presence of severing enzymes.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Biophysics
Yinchen Zhang, Ning Nie, Haoran Wang, Ziyi Tong, Hao Xing, Yifei Zhang
Summary: A strategy is presented to prepare self-precipitating enzyme catalysts using reaction-induced pH decreases. Smart catalysts are constructed using poly(methacrylic acid)-functionalized gold nanoparticles as carriers, enabling homogeneous dissolution during catalysis and spontaneous recovery at the end of the reaction. These catalysts demonstrate high recovery efficiency upon reaching a conversion threshold, offering potential for unsupervised batch/fed-batch bioprocessing with the help of an optical monitoring system.
BIOSENSORS & BIOELECTRONICS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chao Du, Yuling Zhou, Lin Liu, Meixing Wang, Sijing Jiang, Yifei Zhang, Guimin Zhang
Summary: This study constructs an efficient multienzyme catalyst for breaking down recalcitrant polymers into high-value-added chemicals, which is important for sustainable biomanufacturing. By optimizing the copies of SpyC, the linker lengths, and the ratio of BpChiA and BlNagZ, an E. coli surface-assembly (ESA) system is used to colocalize a synthetic chitinosome and improve the loading efficiency and specific activity of the enzymes. The ESA-chitinosome complexes exhibit higher productivity compared to separately assembled enzymes on cell surfaces, providing new insights into the decomposition of recalcitrant polymeric substrates.
ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Spectroscopy
Yan Zhong-Wei, Tian Xi, Zhang Yi-Fei, Li Lian-Jie, Liu San-Ging, Huang Wen -Giat
Summary: This study establishes an online detection model for watermelon SSC, which can achieve online grading of watermelon quality based on SSC. The results show that different postures and SSC prediction of different parts of a watermelon can affect the results of online detection and quality evaluation, and the model should be selected and optimized according to the actual needs of users.
SPECTROSCOPY AND SPECTRAL ANALYSIS
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Applied
Yinchen Zhang, Ning Nie, Yifei Zhang
Summary: The implementation of multiple enzymes for chemical production in a cell-free scenario is a promising field in biomanufacturing. Modular construction has been proposed as an effective approach to coordinate diverse enzymatic reactions. This review introduces the concept of multienzyme modules, categorizes recent developments, and discusses the modularization of multienzyme catalysis at the reactor level.
CHINESE JOURNAL OF CATALYSIS
(2022)
