Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Obed Andres Solis-Gonzalez, Juan Ramon Avendano-Gomez, Aaron Rojas-Aguilar
Summary: The study on the interaction between poloxamers and lipid bilayers found that F127 had stronger affinity than F108, leading to an increase in vesicle size and formation of bilayer discs at low concentrations. The results demonstrated a close association between the copolymers and the membrane, rather than just absorption onto the bilayer surface. These findings highlight the importance of temperature, copolymer concentration, and hydrophobic chain length in the interactions and stability of liposomes.
JOURNAL OF LIPOSOME RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Reyes Nunez-Franco, Gonzalo Jimenez-Oses, Jesus Jimenez-Barbero, Francisca Cabrera-Escribano, Antonio Franconetti
Summary: A multidisciplinary study is conducted to investigate the pi-pi interactions established by pyrylium frameworks as pi-hole donors. The combination of CSD analysis, computational modelling, and experimental NMR spectroscopy data provides essential information on the key parameters characterizing these interactions, paving the way for further applications of this versatile heterocycle.
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Medicinal
Marta G. Lete, Antonio Franconetti, Sandra Delgado, Jesus Jimenez-Barbero, Ana Arda
Summary: This study investigated the interaction between glycosphingolipids (GSLs) and galectins using liposomes as membrane mimicking scaffolds. The results showed different binding capacities of galectins towards glycans depending on whether they were free oligosaccharides or part of GSL inserted into a lipid bilayer.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sara Bertuzzi, Francesca Peccati, Sonia Serna, Raik Artschwager, Simona Notova, Michel Thepaut, Gonzalo Jimenez-Oses, Franck Fieschi, Niels C. Reichardt, Jesus Jimenez-Barbero, Ana Arda
Summary: The molecular recognition features of LSECtin towards asymmetric N-glycans were scrutinized by NMR and compared to glycan microarrays. It was found that both asymmetric LDN3 and LDN6 N-glycans are recognized by LSECtin with similar affinities in solution, contrary to the results obtained on microarrays, where only LDN6 was efficiently recognized by the lectin.
ACS CENTRAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Laura Diaz-Casado, Andres G. Santana, Irene Gomez-Pinto, Alejandro Villacampa, Francisco Corzana, Jesus Jimenez-Barbero, Carlos Gonzalez, Juan Luis Asensio
Summary: NMR spectroscopy is a robust and reliable method for binding detection in drug discovery, but analyzing DNA/RNA targets remains challenging. In this study, the authors explore the perturbation of ligand reactivity caused by complex formation as a binding indicator to identify the best binders within complex mixtures, providing a novel reactivity-based alternative within NMR screening methods.
COMMUNICATIONS CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Francesco Milanesi, Luca Unione, Ana Arda, Cristina Nativi, Jesus Jimenez-Barbero, Stefano Roelens, Oscar Francesconi
Summary: Glycomics research has revealed the essential role of carbohydrates in biological systems and the importance of chemical tools in studying glycan function. While biomimetic receptors can selectively bind to simple saccharides, this study demonstrates the unprecedented recognition of a complex glycopeptide by a biomimetic receptor. The receptor shows high affinity for the core disaccharide of the N-glycan and has the potential for versatile applications in glycoscience.
CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Marta G. Lete, Antonio Franconetti, Sara Bertuzzi, Sandra Delgado, Mikel Azkargorta, Felix Elortza, Oscar Millet, Gonzalo Jimenez-Oses, Ana Arda, Jesus Jimenez-Barbero
Summary: Fluorine (F-19) incorporation into lectins has allowed monitoring of carbohydrate binding through NMR spectroscopy. Galectin-3 (Gal3) and Galectin-8 (Gal8) with one and two carbohydrate recognition domains (CRDs), respectively, were chosen. The presence of fluorine did not significantly affect glycan binding affinity, and allowed differentiation of binding events at different sites within the same lectin.
CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Anna Blasi-Romero, Molly Angstrom, Antonio Franconetti, Taj Muhammad, Jesus Jimenez-Barbero, Ulf Goransson, Carlos Palo-Nieto, Natalia Ferraz
Summary: This study combines the wound-healing properties of KR-12 peptide with wood-derived cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) to create bioactive materials for treating chronic wounds. Different coupling chemistries were used to covalently attach KR-12 derivatives onto CNFs, and the bioactivity of KR12-CNF conjugates was evaluated in terms of antibacterial activities and anti-inflammatory effects. The results showed that thiol-ene chemistry produced the most bioactive conjugates, attributed to favorable peptide conformation and accessibility. This study advances the development of CNF-based materials for chronic wound care and provides insights into the effect of conjugation chemistry on the bioactivity of host defense peptides.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhen Wang, Ana Poveda, Qingju Zhang, Luca Unione, Herman S. Overkleeft, Gijsbert A. van der Marel, Jimenez-Barbero Jesus, Jeroen D. C. Codee
Summary: Researchers have successfully synthesized a series of polysaccharide fragments with a unique structure that can activate T cells and bind to specific receptors. Detailed structural studies have revealed the secondary structure of these fragments, providing a basis for further understanding their mode of action.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Organic
Matteo A. . Tallarida, Fabrizio Olivito, Claudio D. Navo, Vincenzo Algieri, Antonio Jiritano, Paola Costanzo, Ana Poveda, Maria J. Moure, Jesus Jimenez-Barbero, Loredana Maiuolo, Gonzalo Jimenez-Oses, Antonio De Nino
Summary: The synthesis of polysubstituted spirocyclopropyl oxindoles using rare-earth metal (REM) salts, particularly Sc(OTf)3, was achieved with high diastereoselectivity (<= 94:6:0:0) in a multicomponent reaction. Density functional theory calculations on the model reaction confirmed the observed selectivity and demonstrated that the coordinating capabilities and oxophilicity of the metal played a crucial role in inducing the formation of one main diastereoisomer.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Erick Correa-Padilla, Alejandro Hernandez-Cano, Gabriel Cuevas, Yunuen Acevedo-Betancur, Fernando Esquivel-Guadarrama, Karina Martinez-Mayorga
Summary: This study analyzed piperazine-modified nucleozin analogs to increase conformational freedom, contributing to the research of nucleozin analogs' discovery and design. A new synthetic strategy to obtain nucleozin and its analogues was also described, and two of them were evaluated in vitro. Although the analogues were less active, the loss of activity highlighted the significance of the piperazine ring for maintaining the activity of nucleozin analogs. This result agrees with the prediction of anti-influenza activity made with a QSAR model presented in this work. The proposed model and synthetic route will be useful for the further development of nucleozin analogs with antiviral activity.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hans-Christian Siebert, Thomas Eckert, Anirban Bhunia, Nele Klatte, Marzieh Mohri, Simone Siebert, Anna Kozarova, John W. Hudson, Ruiyan Zhang, Ning Zhang, Lan Li, Konstantinos Gousias, Dimitrios Kanakis, Mingdi Yan, Jesus Jimenez-Barbero, Tibor Kozar, Nikolay E. Nifantiev, Christian Vollmer, Timo Brandenburger, Detlef Kindgen-Milles, Thomas Haak, Athanasios K. Petridis
Summary: The global outbreak of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 has provided an opportunity and challenge to accumulate a large amount of biomedical data and test new concepts and strategies to combat the pandemic. This study correlated clinical biomedical data with structural biology and biophysical data to evaluate new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches against SARS-CoV-2. The methods used were effective in identifying potential peptide sequences and carbohydrate moieties to protect the blood-brain barrier and develop new therapeutic approaches against long-COVID symptoms.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Giulio Fittolani, Theodore Tyrikos-Ergas, Ana Poveda, Yang Yu, Nishu Yadav, Peter H. Seeberger, Jesus Jimenez-Barbero, Martina Delbianco
Summary: This article introduces a synthetic glycan molecule that adopts a stable secondary structure not found in nature, called a glycan hairpin. The synthetic glycan is created by combining natural glycan motifs and utilizing unconventional hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions. Nuclear magnetic resonance conformational analysis and long-range inter-residue nuclear Overhauser effects confirm the folded conformation of the synthetic glycan hairpin. The ability to control the 3D shape of glycans has the potential to provide more foldamer scaffolds with programmable properties and functions.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jon I. Quintana, Unai Atxabal, Luca Unione, Ana Arda, Jesus Jimenez-Barbero
Summary: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is widely used to study glycan-protein molecular recognition events, providing qualitative and quantitative information at different levels of resolution and complexity. However, the weak affinity of lectin-sugar interactions is overcome by multivalency in biological processes. The application of NMR methods to monitor multivalent lectin-glycan interactions is challenging due to the disappearance of NMR signals when large macromolecular complexes are formed.
CHEMICAL SOCIETY REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Carlo Pifferi, Leire Aguinagalde, Ane Ruiz-de-Angulo, Nagore Sacristan, Priscila Tonon Baschirotto, Ana Poveda, Jesus Jimenez-Barbero, Juan Anguita, Alberto Fernandez-Tejada
Summary: The overexpression of aberrantly glycosylated tumor-associated mucin-1 (TA-MUC1) in human cancers makes it a major target for the development of anticancer vaccines derived from synthetic MUC1-(glyco)peptide antigens. However, glycopeptide-based subunit vaccines are weakly immunogenic, requiring adjuvants and/or additional immunopotentiating approaches to generate optimal immune responses.