Consensus-based protein engineering strategy has been applied to various proteins and it can lead to the design of proteins with enhanced biological performance. Histone-like HUs comprise a protein family with sequence variety within a highly conserved 3D-fold. HU function includes compacting and regulating bacterial DNA in a wide range of biological conditions in bacteria. To explore the possible impact of consensus-based design in the thermodynamic stability of HU proteins, the approach was applied using a dataset of sequences derived from a group of 40 mesostable, thermostable, and hyperthermostable HUs. The consensus-derived HU protein was named HUBest, since it is expected to perform best. The synthetic HU gene was overexpressed in E. coli and the recombinant protein was purified. Subsequently, HUBest was characterized concerning its correct folding and thermodynamic stability, as well as its ability to interact with plasmid DNA. A substantial increase in HUBest stability at high temperatures is observed. HUBest has significantly improved biological performance at ambience temperature, presenting very low K values for binding plasmid DNA as indicated from the Gibbs energy profile of HUBest. This K may be associated to conformational changes leading to decreased thermodynamic stability and, therefore, higher flexibility at ambient temperature.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00792-020-01154-4 | DOI Listing |
ChemSusChem
January 2025
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, School of Material and Energy, Qingshuihe Campus:No.2006, Xiyuan Ave, West Hi-Tech Zone, 611731, Chengdu, CHINA.
Modulating the oxidation state of copper (Cu) is crucial for enhancing the electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR), particularly for facilitating deep reductions to produce methane (CH4) or multi-carbon (C2+) products. However, Cuδ+ sites are thermodynamically unstable, fluctuating their oxidation states under reaction conditions, which complicates their functionality. Incorporating interfacial metal oxides has emerged as an effective strategy for stabilizing these oxidation states.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Mater Au
January 2025
Materials Department, University of California Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States.
Of the few weberite-type Na-ion cathodes explored to date, NaFeF exhibits the best performance, with capacities up to 184 mAh/g and energy densities up to 550 Wh/kg reported for this material. However, the development of robust structure-property relationships for this material is complicated by its tendency to form as a mixture of metastable polymorphs, and transform to a lower-energy Na FeF perovskite compound during electrochemical cycling. Our first-principles-guided exploration of Fe-based weberite solid solutions with redox-inactive Mg and Al predicts an enhanced thermodynamic stability of NaMg Fe F as the Mg content is increased, and the = 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeliyon
January 2025
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, 32200, Pakistan.
Chemical structures may be defined based on their topology, which allows for the organization of molecules and the representation of new structures with specific properties. We use topological indices, which are precise numerical measurements independent of structure, to measure the bonding arrangement of a chemical network. An essential objective of studying topological indices is to collect and alter chemical structure data to develop a mathematical relationship between structures and physico-chemical properties, bio-activities, and associated experimental factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Mater
January 2025
Institute of Science and Technology for New Energy, Xi'an Technological University, Xi'an, P. R. China.
Li-ion and Na-ion batteries are promising systems for powering electric vehicles and grid storage. Layered 3d transition metal oxides ATMO (A = Li, Na; TM = 3d transition metals; 0 < x ≤ 2) have drawn extensive attention as cathode materials due to their exceptional energy densities. However, they suffer from several technical challenges caused by crystal structure degradation associated with TM ions migration, such as poor cycling stability, inferior rate capability, significant voltage hysteresis, and serious voltage decay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQ Rev Biophys
January 2025
Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, Italy.
Yeast frataxin (Yfh1) is a small natural protein from yeast that has the unusual property of undergoing cold denaturation at temperatures above the freezing point of water when under conditions of low ionic strength. This peculiarity, together with remarkable resilience, allows the determination, for the whole protein as well as for individual residues, of the stability curve, that is the temperature dependence of the free energy difference between the unfolded and folded forms. The ease of measuring stability curves without the need to add denaturants or introduce destabilizing mutations makes this protein an ideal 'tool' for investigating the influence of many environmental factors on protein stability.
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