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
Parrots’ vibrant plumage controlled by single enzyme
Mutation in gene reveals control of red and yellow pigments specific to parrots
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Opinion
This year’s chemistry Nobel proves it’s hard to make predictions
It’s been a long journey from the myoglobin model
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Feature
How AI protein structure prediction and design won the Nobel prize
David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper won this year’s Nobel prize in chemistry. Jamie Durrani investigates the origins of a biochemistry revolution
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Research
Study shows how bacterium tweaks its lipopolysaccharides to survive chill of Antarctic lake
Adaptations seem at odds with survival strategies adopted by related species
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News
Explainer: Why have protein design and structure prediction won the 2024 Nobel prize in chemistry?
Research that has taken us from sequence to structure and back again
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News
Protein design and structure prediction wins chemistry Nobel prize
David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper were rewarded for creating computational tools to design proteins and predict their structures that have ‘revolutionised biological chemistry’
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Opinion
Enormous enzymes expand the limits of molecular biology
Identifying the PKZILLAs, used by algae to make toxins, stretched the capabilities of current analytical methods – and the limits of our preconceptions
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Research
Iron coatings help Komodo dragons maintain their sharp ziphodont teeth
Research sheds light on structure–function relationships in teeth of carnivorous reptiles
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Research
Rodents’ striking orange teeth not down to iron-rich enamel as thought
Metal provides strength but the colour is the result of something else
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Research
Ultracold snapshots reveals in exquisite detail how a bacterial flagellum rotates
Studies explain how motor can flip from clockwise rotation to anticlockwise
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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