Dimerization of the deaminase domain and locking interactions with Cas9 boost base editing efficiency in ABE8e.

CRISPR-based DNA adenine base editors (ABEs) hold remarkable promises to address human genetic diseases caused by point mutations. ABEs were developed by combining CRISPR-Cas9 with a transfer RNA (tRNA) adenosine deaminase enzyme and through directed evolution, conferring the ability to deaminate DNA. However, the molecular mechanisms driving the efficient DNA deamination in the evolved ABEs remain unresolved.

A computational study of the size effect of SiO spherical nanoparticles in water solvent.

Context: This study comprehensively describes the interaction between SiO spherical nanoparticles and water molecules as a solvent medium. Our goal is to provide valuable insights into the significance of nanoparticle size in understanding their behavior and the resulting changes in the physical properties of materials. Our results indicate that SiO nanoparticles exhibit a strong affinity for water, which increases with the nanoparticle size.

Enantiospecificity in NMR enabled by chirality-induced spin selectivity.

Spin polarization in chiral molecules is a magnetic molecular response associated with electron transport and enantioselective bond polarization that occurs even in the absence of an external magnetic field. An unexpected finding by Santos and co-workers reported enantiospecific NMR responses in solid-state cross-polarization (CP) experiments, suggesting a possible additional contribution to the indirect nuclear spin-spin coupling in chiral molecules induced by bond polarization in the presence of spin-orbit coupling. Herein we provide a theoretical treatment for this phenomenon, presenting an effective spin-Hamiltonian for helical molecules like DNA and density functional theory (DFT) results on amino acids that confirm the dependence of J-couplings on the choice of enantiomer.

N-Halogenation by Vanadium-Dependent Haloperoxidases Enables 1,2,4-Oxadiazole Synthesis.

Nitrogen-containing compounds are valuable synthetic intermediates and targets in nearly every chemical industry. While methods for nitrogen-carbon and nitrogen-heteroatom bond formation have primarily relied on nucleophilic nitrogen atom reactivity, molecules containing nitrogen-halogen bonds allow for electrophilic or radical reactivity modes at the nitrogen center. Despite the growing synthetic utility of nitrogen-halogen bond-containing compounds, selective catalytic strategies for their synthesis are largely underexplored.

Light- and Chemical-Doping-Induced Magnetic Behavior of Eu Molecular Systems.

Variable temperature electron paramagnetic resonance (VT-EPR) was used to investigate the role of the environment and oxidation states of several coordinated Eu compounds. We find that while Eu(III) chelating complexes are diamagnetic, simple chemical reduction results in the formation of paramagnetic species. In agreement with the distorted symmetry of Eu molecular complexes investigated in this study, the EPR spectrum of reduced complexes showed axially symmetric signals ( = 2.

Chemoenzymatic Catalysis: Cooperativity Enables Opportunity.

The application of enzymes in synthetic organic chemistry has emerged as a powerful means to generate molecular complexity in a highly selective, efficient, and sustainable manner. While enzymes have increasingly been incorporated into synthetic sequences for numerous academic and industrial applications on their own and in sequential processes, their utility in cooperative catalysis with small molecule catalytic platforms has recently drawn increased attention across the field of organic synthesis. In this review, we present a selection of notable accomplishments in cooperative chemoenzymatic catalysis and provide a perspective on its future directions.

Bio-grafted silica to make an asphalt road a sink for reactive environmental pollutants.

Asphalt-surfaced areas such as roads have been reported as major non-combustion sources of reactive organic compounds in urban areas. Emission of latter compounds from asphalt is exacerbated due to exposure to sunlight and high temperature, contributing to negative human and environmental health outcomes. Furthermore, loss of asphalt components over time is linked to bitumen's aging that reduces service life of roads.

Label-free detection of conformational changes in switchable DNA nanostructures with microwave microfluidics.

Detection of conformational changes in biomolecular assemblies provides critical information into biological and self-assembly processes. State-of-the-art in situ biomolecular conformation detection techniques rely on fluorescent labels or protein-specific binding agents to signal conformational changes. Here, we present an on-chip, label-free technique to detect conformational changes in a DNA nanomechanical tweezer structure with microwave microfluidics.

Structural Insights into Conformation Differences between DNA/TNA and RNA/TNA Chimeric Duplexes.

Threose nucleic acid (TNA) is an artificial genetic polymer capable of heredity and evolution, and is studied in the context of RNA chemical etiology. It has a four-carbon threose backbone in place of the five-carbon ribose of natural nucleic acids, yet forms stable antiparallel complementary Watson-Crick homoduplexes and heteroduplexes with DNA and RNA. TNA base-pairs more favorably with RNA than with DNA but the reason is unknown.