Magnetization Transfer to Enhance NOE Cross-Peaks among Labile Protons: Applications to Imino-Imino Sequential Walks in SARS-CoV-2-Derived RNAs.

2D NOESY plays a central role in structural NMR spectroscopy. We have recently discussed methods that rely on solvent-driven exchanges to enhance NOE correlations between exchangeable and non-exchangeable protons in nucleic acids. Such methods, however, fail when trying to establish connectivities within pools of labile protons.

Cell-Free Synthesis of Selenoproteins in High Yield and Purity for Selective Protein Tagging.

The selenol group of selenocysteine is much more nucleophilic than the thiol group of cysteine. Selenocysteine residues in proteins thus offer reactive points for rapid post-translational modification. Herein, we show that selenoproteins can be expressed in high yield and purity by cell-free protein synthesis by global substitution of cysteine by selenocysteine.

Autonomous synthesis and assembly of a ribosomal subunit on a chip.

Ribosome biogenesis is an efficient and complex assembly process that has not been reconstructed outside a living cell so far, yet is the most critical step for establishing a self-replicating artificial cell. We recreated the biogenesis of small ribosomal subunit by synthesizing and capturing all its ribosomal proteins and RNA on a chip. Surface confinement provided favorable conditions for autonomous stepwise assembly of new subunits, spatially segregated from original intact ribosomes.

Chirality and Spin: A Different Perspective on Enantioselective Interactions.

This review describes a new perspective on the role that electron spin plays in the intermolecular forces between two chiral molecules and between chiral molecules and surfaces. This different role of the spin arises from the chiral induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect which is manifest when electrons are moving in chiral molecules. Namely, it has been shown that as chiral molecules are charge polarized, the electron displacement is accompanied by spin polarization.

Investigating Absolute Stereochemical Configuration with Coulomb Explosion Imaging.

It is a particularly challenging task in stereochemistry to determine the absolute configuration of chiral molecules, i.e. to assign to a given sample the microscopic enantiomeric structure.