Biochemistry – Page 5
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OpinionA citizen science app for teaching botany
App-based tools support botanical literacy and citizen science
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ResearchTheories on origin of enzymes’ catalytic power united
Transition state stabilisation and ground state destabilisation both reduce the energy barrier by enhancing charge density but vary in their timing
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ResearchMystery of how plants make strychnine solved 75 years after characterisation
Three-quarters of a century after Robinson and Woodward cracked structure chemists unravel poison’s biosynthesis
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OpinionFrom prebiotic soup to fine-grained RNA world
Theories about how life emerged need to be closely attuned to conditions on the early Earth
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OpinionAn idea that clicked
Bioorthogonal reactions – doing chemistry inside living cells without blasting everything in sight – are no mean feat
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FeatureThe bioorthogonal revolution
A set of reactions operating silently inside live cells or whole animals are lighting up chemical biology and inspiring new medicines, James Mitchell Crow finds
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FeatureThe incredible antibodies of sharks, llamas and camels
Sharks and llamas share a strange quirk of their immune systems. Hayley Bennett finds out how their ‘nanobodies’ could help us tackle Covid and a host of other diseases
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FeatureLife’s chemistry goes through the looking glass
Chemists were taught that natural systems only use L-amino acids. Andy Extance finds out just how wrong that is proving
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NewsChemistry Nobel laureate Sidney Altman dies at 82
Canadian–American molecular biologist won the 1989 prize for discovering RNA’s catalytic ability
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FeatureA decade of CAR-T cell therapy
Nina Notman looks at the revolutionary treatment already taking on cancer, now aiming for wider use
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ResearchSea sponges own unique chemistry goes beyond that of their bacterial guests
Biologically potent compounds can be made by sea sponges themselves
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ResearchEpigenetic MRI offers a way to understand how the brain learns
First tests in humans could be as little as year away, researchers claim
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ResearchElectric field of ATP synthase suggests enzyme has functions beyond catalysis
Study links energy-making enzyme with proton migration in ATP formation, and reinforces predictions that its catalytic efficiency is around 90%
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FeatureSequencing one cell at a time
New advances that allow scientists to uncover the molecular differences between individual cells could revolutionise medicine, Ian le Guillou finds
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ResearchBiochemical secrets of tarantula’s painful bite could point to perfect painkillers
King baboon spider venom could help scientists develop potent analgesics
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OpinionThe shadow of drug resistance
Why do some medicines stop working, and can we avoid it for Covid-19 antivirals?
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ResearchEngineered enzyme speeds up sedate organic reaction
Biochemical optimisation applied to the Morita–Hillman–Baylis reaction
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ResearchEvolved enzymes carry out new-to-nature radical chemistry
Directed evolution produces enzymes that can ‘tame’ radical intermediates for asymmetric catalytic reactions
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ResearchSingle-celled marine organism first to be found releasing oxygen in the dark
Discovery of new biological pathway in widespread archaea could transform understanding of oceans’ fertility
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ResearchHeavy oil-eating microbe grown in lab for the first time
Archaeon that breaks down long alkanes into methane and carbon dioxide could be used for energy recovery from depleted oil reservoirs