Listeria monocytogenes forms right-handed helical rocket tail trajectories during actin-based motility in cell-free extracts, and this stereochemical feature is consistent with actoclampin's affinity-modulated, clamped-filament elongation model [Dickinson and Purich, 2002: Biophys J 82:605-617]. In that mechanism, right-handed torque is generated by an end-tracking molecular motor, each comprised of a filament barbed end and clamping protein that processively traces the right-handed helix of its filament partner. By contrast, torque is not a predicted property of those models (e.g., elastic propulsion, elastic Brownian ratchet, tethered ratchet, and insertional polymerization models) requiring filament barbed ends to depart/detach from the motile object's surface during/after each monomer-addition step. Helical trajectories also explain why Listeria undergoes longitudinal-axis rotation on a length-scale matching the helical periodicity of Listeria's rocket tails.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cm.20050 | DOI Listing |
Front Cardiovasc Med
January 2025
Pediatric Cardiology, Pediatric Heart Center, Skåne University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.
Background: Recurrent coarctation of the aorta (re-CoA) is a well-known although not fully understood complication after surgical repair, typically occurring in 10%-20% of cases within months after discharge.
Objectives: To (1) characterize geometry of the aortic arch and blood flow from pre-discharge magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in neonates after CoA repair; and (2) compare these measures between patients that developed re-CoA within 12 months after repair and patients who did not.
Methods: Neonates needing CoA repair, without associated major congenital heart defects, were included.
Acta Histochem
January 2025
School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
In recent years, a great interest has been focused on the prebiotic origin of nucleic acids and life on Earth. An attractive idea is that life was initially based on an autocatalytic and autoreplicative RNA (the RNA-world). RNA duplexes are right-handed helical chains with antiparallel orientation, but the rationale for these features is not yet known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNature
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Mimicking the superstructures and properties of spherical biological encapsulants such as viral capsids and ferritin offers viable pathways to understand their chiral assemblies and functional roles in living systems. However, stereospecific assembly of artificial polyhedra with mechanical properties and guest-binding attributes akin to biological encapsulants remains a formidable challenge. Here we report the stereospecific assembly of dynamic supramolecular snub cubes from 12 helical macrocycles, which are held together by 144 weak C-H hydrogen bonds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Nano
January 2025
School of Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Institute of Aggregate Science and Technology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen), Guangdong 518172, P.R. China.
Helical structures such as right-handed double helix for DNA and left-handed α-helix for proteins in biological systems are inherently chiral. Importantly, chirality at the nanoscopic level plays a vital role in their macroscopic chiral functionalities. In order to mimic the structures and functions of natural chiral nanoarchitectures, a variety of chiral nanostructures obtained from artificial helical polymers are prepared, which can be directly observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNanoscale
January 2025
CBMN, CNRS, UMR 5248, University of Bordeaux, 33600 Pessac, France.
Cast films of racemic helicene derivatives adsorbed onto the surface of nanometric silica helices with controlled handedness exhibited distinct CD signals, whereas no CD signal was observed in the absence of silica nanohelices. These CD signals originate from the helical supramolecular assemblies formed by the racemic mixture of helicenes, with no evidence of enantiospecific adsorption. Interestingly, when enantiomerically pure forms of these helicenes were drop-cast onto the silica helices, different CD spectra were observed depending on the combination of the helicenes' handedness with that of the silica nanohelices.
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