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Oxygenases have long been thought to require a cofactor for catalysis. The structure of a vancomycin biosynthetic enzyme in complex with a substrate analog, and with molecular oxygen bound in its active site, supports the idea that cofactor-independent oxygenases act by mediating direct single-electron transfer from a substrate anion to dioxygen.
Mammalian olfactory receptor genes have been engineered into a yeast expression system. The resulting cells provide a high-throughput screening system for studying receptor specificity and may find use as biosensors.
In addition to expanding the chemical tools for exploring O-GlcNAc protein modifications, an innovative chemical biology approach has yielded new insights into the dynamic nature of this post-translational modification in the rodent brain.
The reversible attachment of an activated form of N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) acts as a molecular switch between the growth and arrest of cells, establishing a new role for cell surface glycans.
The chemical synthesis of natural oligosaccharides by sequentially stitching monosaccharides together remains a major challenge because of the complexity of carbohydrate structures. A recent paper reports a versatile technology for creating selectively protected synthetic intermediates, thus providing easy access to complex oligosaccharides.
New inducers of autophagy—the process by which cells use lysosomes to degrade portions of their cytoplasm—are lead compounds for new drugs targeting neurodegenerative protein aggregation diseases.
Two proteins that together serve as a scaffold for iron-sulfur cluster assembly in the yeast cytosol have been identified, providing the first mechanistic insight into cytosolic cluster assembly.
Simultaneous measurement of multiple analytes in high-throughput assays requires the design of integrated sensory elements. The latest development in this field is an engineering masterpiece based on microfluidics, photolithography and polymer science.
Lysine methylation has been implicated in gene transcription and epigenetic control. Chemical modification of cysteine residues results in a highly similar structural and functional analog of methylated lysine and provides a means to study this important modification in nucleosomes.
Quantitative detection of H2O2, which is increasingly recognized as an intracellular messenger, remains a challenge for cell biologists. The development of molecular probes that fluoresce upon H2O2-mediated removal of a boronate-based protecting group, rather than upon nonspecific oxidation, demonstrates that this challenge is not insurmountable.
A chemical-genetic study indicates that modulation of neurotransmitter signaling affects the self-renewal capacity of neural stem cells in culture. Although the mechanisms of action are not resolved, the research points to a potential therapeutic target class for treatment of brain tumors.
