Structural biology
The latest chemistry news and research on structural biology, including x-ray crytallography, cryoelectron microscopy and bio-imaging, from the Royal Society of Chemistry's magazine, Chemistry World
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Research
First regular molecular fractal in nature
Scientists have identified a protein that has a fractal structure and find that it was simply an evolutionary accident
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Research
Microscopy structures reveal mechanism behind bitter taste
Cryo-EM images provide a detailed picture of bitter taste receptors
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Research
Blueberries’ blue is just skin deep, depending on structure not pigments
Non-spherical nanostructures explain the fruit’s colour
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Feature
More than a mirror-image: left-handed nucleic acids
Now a biological reality, researchers are starting to figure out the many roles of left-handed nucleic acids such as Z-DNA – from immunity to controlling our genetics. Rachel Brazil reports
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Research
Invasive zebra mussels’ unique sticky threads unraveled
New understanding of byssal threads finds similarities with spider silk making them unlike any other mussels’
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Research
Molecular movie captures DNA repair from start to finish
Study spans pico- to microsecond timescales to uncover enzymatic process
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Research
ACE2 receptor not essential for Sars-CoV-2 infection, study shows
Fresh understanding linked to evolutionary plasticity of Covid-19 virus
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Research
Direct imaging reveals individual protein-bound glycans in new detail
Sequences and locations of biomolecule-bound sugar chains studied at the single-molecule level
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Opinion
Moving beyond protein structure
Efforts to understand how intrinsically disordered regions interact have produced a variety of answers
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Research
Mutation studies reveal how Antarctic octopus arms itself with cool enzyme
Understanding cold-tolerant enzyme could help with transplant organ preservation
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Research
Cryo-EM scaffold supports imaging of small proteins previously tricky to study
Improved understanding of the structure of small proteins could aid drug designers
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News
Scientists hope to illuminate unknown human proteins with new public database
‘Unknome’ database contains thousands of understudied proteins
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Research
Protein folding stability set to be unravelled on a massive scale
Technique can analyse a million protein sequences at a time to provide data for machine learning models
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News
Billionaire professor donates ‘transformative’ sum to protein science institute
$210 million endowment from entrepreneur and Moderna investor Tim Springer will support ongoing research
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Research
Optical microscopy with Ångström resolution could revolutionise how we see life
Technique can distinguish between details that are just a few atoms apart
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Research
NMR reveals sialic acid biosynthesis in real time
Using NMR, scientists can directly measure sialic acid enzyme conversion velocities for the first time
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Research
Woodcock feathers’ nanostructure makes them the whitest ever found
The Eurasian woodcock’s white tail feathers reflect up to 55% of light –30% more than those of any other bird
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Feature
Changing the game in protein structure prediction
Have AlphaFold and other machine learning techniques essentially solved the formerly fiendish problem, or is there still more to be done? Clare Sansom reports
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Research
Proteins behind diatoms’ intricate nanoscale-patterned shells revealed
Finding could help pattern materials for photonics, catalysis and sensors
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Opinion
Exploring AlphaFold’s knowledge of energy landscapes
The algorithm needs a little help to find the global energy minimum