Biomolecular Structure

Some experts think it could be a "goldmine" for new antibiotics.

Scientists have developed Rhobo6, a light microscopy probe that reveals extracellular matrix structures in live tissues, advancing biological research and disease diagnostics. Rhobo6 is a light microscopy probe that selectively binds to extracellular matrix glycans, increasing its fluorescence an

Microscopes traditionally resolve only the thin layer of cellular activity within a narrow focal plane. Now scientists have worked out how to squeeze an entire cell and all its molecular machinery into this space.

A study on dogs found that chromatin's spatial structure has a significant role in the evolution of social behavior. Chromatin, the compact form of DNA, not only packages genetic material but also plays a crucial role in gene regulation.

What puts the electronic pep in peptides? A folded structure, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

For Lucas Farnung, there is no question more fascinating than how a single fertilized egg develops into a fully-functioning human. As a structural biologist, he is studying this process on the smallest scale: the trillions of atoms that must synchronize their work to make it happen.

Google DeepMind launches AlphaFold 3, the next generation of its molecular structure prediction model that can aid drug discovery and other molecular developments.

"Random DNA" is naturally active in the one-celled fungi yeast, while such DNA is turned off as its natural state in mammalian cells, despite their having a common ancestor a billion years ago and the same basic molecular machinery, a new study finds.

The human immune system is constantly fending off a wide range of invaders—a feat that requires a diverse array of cellular troops and molecular weaponry. Although a great deal is already known about immune defense cells and the strategies they employ, many molecular details have remained elusive.

Some astrocytes, thought to play only a supportive role in the brain, can communicate with neurons

Proteins are important molecules that perform a variety of functions essential to life. To function properly, many proteins must fold into specific structures. However, the way proteins fold into specific structures is still largely unknown. Researchers from the University of Tokyo have developed a novel physical theory that can accurately predict how proteins fold. Their model can predict things previous models…

Once thought to be the trash can of the cell, a little bubble of cellular stuff called the midbody remnant is actually packing working genetic material with the power to change the fate of other cells—including turning them into cancer.

Plastic waste management is a pressing ecological, social, and economic challenge that has looked to diverse chemical-biology strategies to facilitate biodegradation. In a new report now on Science Advances, Mercedes Spinola-Amilibia and a research team in structural and chemical biology, molecular biology, and microbial biology, in Spain, used the saliva of the lepidopteran Galleria mellonella larvae, to oxidize…

Pathogenic viruses that enter the human body can dock onto cells with their tentacle-like extensions, whereupon the cell takes up the viruses. This process, which is already known and occurs in diseases such as HIV, can also be used for therapeutic approaches.

Which structures do complex proteins adopt in solution? Konstanz biophysicists answer this question using the example of ubiquitin dimers as well as a new combination of high-resolution NMR spectroscopy and sophisticated computer simulations.

In the never-ending arms race between bacteriophages and their prokaryotic hosts, prokaryotes have developed diverse defense systems to fend off phage invasions. These defense systems include the restriction-modification (R-M) system and CRISPR-Cas system. The CRISPR-Cas system represents the only adaptive immune system. Consequently, phages have evolved anti-CRISPR proteins to counteract this system.

Transcription factors are known to bind DNA and protein, but new research shows many of them also bind RNA. The work, from MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, illuminates an aspect of gene expression and suggests new therapeutic opportunities.

The new method uses an engineered extracellular matrix free of animal components, improving the neurogenesis of brain organoids.

MIT chemists have gained insight into how Tau tangles form in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. They also identified a potential target for drugs that could interfere with tangle formation.

Researchers at the UZH Center for Dental Medicine have investigated the importance of the Notch pathway for the evolution of tooth morphology. Mutations in this signaling pathway can lead to defective structures in tooth enamel.