Evolution Driven Microscale Combinatorial Chemistry in Intracellular Mimicking Droplets to Engineer Thermostable RNA for Cellular Imaging.

Fluorescent light-up aptamer/fluorogen pairs are powerful tools for tracking RNA in the cell, however limitations in thermostability and fluorescence intensity exist. Current in vitro selection techniques struggle to mimic complex intracellular environments, limiting in vivo biomolecule functionality. Taking inspiration from microenvironment-dependent RNA folding observed in cells and organelle-mimicking droplets, an efficient system is created that uses microscale heated water droplets to simulate intracellular conditions, effectively replicating the intracellular RNA folding landscape.

Cytotoxic and Noncytotoxic Steroidal Constituents of .

(-)-Cryptanoside A () was identified previously as a major cytotoxic component of the stems of collected in Laos, which mediates its activity by targeting Na/K-ATPase (NKA), with hydrogen bonds formed between its 11- and 4'-hydroxy groups and NKA being observed in its docking profile. In a continuing investigation, and its 17-epimer, (-)-17--cryptanoside A (), and the new (+)-2-hydroxyandrosta-4,6-diene-3-one-17-carboxylic acid () and the known (+)-2,21-dihydroxypregna-4,6-diene-3,20-dione or 2-hydroxy-6,7-didehydrocortexone () pregnane-type steroids were isolated from . In addition, (-)-11,4'-di--acetylcryptanoside A () has been synthesized from the acetylation of .

Molecular Networking, Docking, and Biological Evaluation of Licarin A from as a Potential Cancer Chemopreventive Agent.

Currently, clinically available cancer chemopreventive drug options are limited to mostly tamoxifen and its derivatives, such as raloxifene, and approved specifically for breast cancer. Thus, the availability of chemopreventive drug molecules for other types of malignant cancers would be desirable. In previous reports, the arils of (mace) have been found to exhibit cancer chemopreventive activity.

Discovery of Natural Products for Cancer Prevention.

"Cancer chemoprevention" is a term referring to the slowing or reversal of this disease, using nontoxic natural or synthetic compounds. For about 50 years, there has been a strong scientific interest in discovering plant-derived compounds to prevent cancer, and strategies for this purpose using a concerted series of in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo laboratory bioassays have been developed. Five examples of the more thoroughly investigated agents of this type are described herein, which are each supported by detailed literature reports, inclusive of ellagic acid, isoliquiritigenin, lycopene, trans-resveratrol, and sulforaphane.