Rationale: Understanding of the molecular processes that led to the first biomolecules on Earth is one of the key aspects of origins-of-life research. Depsipeptides, or polymers with mixed amide and ester backbones, have been proposed as plausible prebiotic precursors for peptide formation. Chemical characterization of depsipeptides in complex prebiotic-like mixtures should benefit from more efficient ion sources and ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry (UHR-MS) for elemental composition elucidation.
Methods: A sliding freestanding (SF) Triboelectric Nanogenerator (TENG) was coupled to glass nanoelectrospray emitters for the analysis of a depsipeptide library created using 11 amino acids and 3 alpha-hydroxy acids subjected to environmentally driven polymerization. The TENG nanoelectrospray ionization (nanoESI) source was coupled to an UHR Orbitrap mass spectrometer operated at 1,000,000 resolution for detecting depsipeptides and oligoesters in such libraries. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) experiments were performed on an Orbitrap Q-Exactive mass spectrometer.
Results: Our previous proteomics-like approach to depsipeptide library characterization showed the enormous complexity of these dynamic combinatorial systems. Here, direct infusion UHR-MS along with de novo sequencing enabled the identification of 524 sequences corresponding to 320 different depsipeptide compositions. Van Krevelen and mass defect diagrams enabled better visualization of the chemical diversity in these synthetic libraries.
Conclusions: TENG nanoESI coupled to UHR-MS is a powerful method for depsipeptide library characterization in an origins-of-life context.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rcm.8469 | DOI Listing |
Chemistry
January 2025
Shihezi University, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering/State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering, North 4th Road, 832003, Shihezi, CHINA.
An N,N,N-type Cu(Ⅱ) complex-catalyzed desaturation method for converting alcohols, ketones, lactones, and lactams to their α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds is reported. The dehydrogenation reaction can be conducted with a green terminal oxidant O2 without requiring strong acid/base or stoichiometric oxidants. The Cu(Ⅱ) complex/TEMPO/O2 system uses a non-noble catalyst, and a green terminal oxidant as well as demonstrates high activity and functional group tolerance.
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School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, Anhui, 230032, China.
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January 2025
Shanghai Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Zhongshan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Diseases, NHC Key Laboratory of Ischemic Heart Diseases, and Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China.
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View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Cell Biol
January 2025
Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Mitochondria are central to myriad biochemical processes, and thus even their moderate impairment could have drastic cellular consequences if not rectified. Here, to explore cellular strategies for surmounting mitochondrial stress, we conducted a series of chemical and genetic perturbations to Saccharomyces cerevisiae and analysed the cellular responses using deep multiomic mass spectrometry profiling. We discovered that mobilization of lipid droplet triacylglycerol stores was necessary for strains to mount a successful recovery response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Struct Mol Biol
January 2025
Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
Following transcript release during intrinsic termination, Escherichia coli RNA polymerase (RNAP) often remains associated with DNA in a post-termination complex (PTC). RNAPs in PTCs are removed from the DNA by the SWI2/SNF2 adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) RapA. Here we determined PTC structures on negatively supercoiled DNA and with RapA engaged to dislodge the PTC.
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