Crystal structure of Zika virus NS5 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase.

The current Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak became a global health threat of complex epidemiology and devastating neurological impacts, therefore requiring urgent efforts towards the development of novel efficacious and safe antiviral drugs. Due to its central role in RNA viral replication, the non-structural protein 5 (NS5) RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRp) is a prime target for drug discovery. Here we describe the crystal structure of the recombinant ZIKV NS5 RdRp domain at 1.

Friedelin Synthase from Maytenus ilicifolia: Leucine 482 Plays an Essential Role in the Production of the Most Rearranged Pentacyclic Triterpene.

Among the biologically active triterpenes, friedelin has the most-rearranged structure produced by the oxidosqualene cyclases and is the only one containing a cetonic group. In this study, we cloned and functionally characterized friedelin synthase and one cycloartenol synthase from Maytenus ilicifolia (Celastraceae). The complete coding sequences of these 2 genes were cloned from leaf mRNA, and their functions were characterized by heterologous expression in yeast.

HTP-OligoDesigner: An Online Primer Design Tool for High-Throughput Gene Cloning and Site-Directed Mutagenesis.

Following burgeoning genomic and transcriptomic sequencing data, biochemical and molecular biology groups worldwide are implementing high-throughput cloning and mutagenesis facilities in order to obtain a large number of soluble proteins for structural and functional characterization. Since manual primer design can be a time-consuming and error-generating step, particularly when working with hundreds of targets, the automation of primer design process becomes highly desirable. HTP-OligoDesigner was created to provide the scientific community with a simple and intuitive online primer design tool for both laboratory-scale and high-throughput projects of sequence-independent gene cloning and site-directed mutagenesis and a Tm calculator for quick queries.

In vivo and in vitro auranofin activity against Trypanosoma cruzi: Possible new uses for an old drug.

Chagas disease, Sleeping Sickness, Nagana and Leishmaniasis are serious infections caused by protozoa of the order Kinetoplastidae. They were described over a century ago by seminal work of different physician-researchers and, despite the initial discoveries, few drugs have been made available for the treatment of these infections. The drugs available present serious efficacy and toxicity problems.

Determination of lipid content of oleaginous microalgal biomass by NMR spectroscopic and GC-MS techniques.

Direct methods based on (1)H NMR spectroscopic techniques have been developed for the determination of neutral lipids (triglycerides and free fatty acids) and polar lipids (glyceroglycolipids/phospholipids) in the solvent extracts of oleaginous microalgal biomasses cultivated on a laboratory scale with two species in different media. The chemical shift assignments observed in the (1)H and (13)C NMR spectra corresponding to unsaturated (C18:N, N = 1-3, C20:3, C20:5, C22:6, epoxy) and saturated (C14-C18) fatty acid ester components in a complex matrix involving overlapped resonances have been unambiguously confirmed by the application of 2D NMR spectroscopy (total correlation spectroscopy and heteronuclear single quantum coherence-total correlation spectroscopy). The study of the effect of a polar lipid matrix on the determination of neutral lipids by an internal reference blending process by a systematic designed experimental protocol has provided absolute quantification.