Glycans - simple or complex carbohydrates - play key roles as recognition determinants and modulators of numerous physiological and pathological processes. Thus, many biotechnological, diagnostic and ...therapeutic opportunities abound for molecular recognition entities that can bind glycans with high selectivity and affinity. This review begins with an overview of the current biologically and synthetically derived glycan-binding scaffolds that include antibodies, lectins, aptamers and boronic acid-based entities. It is followed by a more detailed discussion on various aspects of their generation, structure and recognition properties. It serves as the basis for highlighting recent key developments and technical challenges that must be overcome in order to fully deal with the specific recognition of a highly diverse and complex range of glycan structures.
A chiral ferrocene-based boronic acid interacts with (R)- and (S)-Binol to form two complexes that exhibit significantly different ferrocene-based electrode potentials. This difference in redox ...behavior can be exploited to demonstrate in principle how high levels of enantiomeric excess in a mixture of enantiomers can be quantified and read-out using an electrochemical method.
Since loss of function mutations of PINK1 lead to early onset Parkinson’s disease, there has been growing interest in the discovery of small molecules that amplify the kinase activity of PINK1. We ...herein report the design, synthesis, serum stability, and hydrolysis of four kinetin riboside ProTides. These ProTides, along with kinetin riboside, activated PINK1 in cells independent of mitochondrial depolarization. This highlights the potential of modified nucleosides and their phosphate prodrugs as treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.
We perform a comprehensive study of Milky Way (MW) satellite galaxies to constrain the fundamental properties of dark matter (DM). This analysis fully incorporates inhomogeneities in the spatial ...distribution and detectability of MW satellites and marginalizes over uncertainties in the mapping between galaxies and DM halos, the properties of the MW system, and the disruption of subhalos by the MW disk. Our results are consistent with the cold, collisionless DM paradigm and yield the strongest cosmological constraints to date on particle models of warm, interacting, and fuzzy dark matter. At 95% confidence, we report limits on (i) the mass of thermal relic warm DM, m_{WDM}>6.5 keV (free-streaming length, λ_{fs}≲10h^{-1} kpc), (ii) the velocity-independent DM-proton scattering cross section, σ_{0}<8.8×10^{-29} cm^{2} for a 100 MeV DM particle mass DM-proton coupling, c_{p}≲(0.3 GeV)^{-2}, and (iii) the mass of fuzzy DM, m_{ϕ}>2.9×10^{-21} eV (de Broglie wavelength, λ_{dB}≲0.5 kpc). These constraints are complementary to other observational and laboratory constraints on DM properties.
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) has been hypothesized to act as a molecular wire due to the presence of an extended π-stack between base pairs, but the factors that are detrimental in the mechanism of ...charge transport (CT) across tunnel junctions with DNA are still unclear. Here we systematically investigate CT across dense DNA monolayers in large-area biomolecular tunnel junctions to determine when intrachain or interchain CT dominates and under which conditions the mechanism of CT becomes thermally activated. In our junctions, double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) is 30-fold more conductive than single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). The main reason for this large change in conductivity is that dsDNA forms ordered monolayers where intrachain tunneling dominates, resulting in high CT rates. By varying the temperature T and the length of the DNA fragments in the junctions, which determines the tunneling distance, we reveal a complex interplay between T, the length of DNA, and structural order on the mechanism of charge transport. Both the increase in the tunneling distance and the decrease in structural order result in a change in the mechanism of CT from coherent tunneling to incoherent tunneling (hopping). Our results highlight the importance of the interplay between structural order, tunneling distance, and temperature on the CT mechanism across DNA in molecular junctions.
A family of ferrocene-based chiral PNP ligands is reported. These tridentate ligands were successfully applied in Mn-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of ketones, giving high enantioselectivities ...(92%∼99% ee for aryl alkyl ketones) as well as high efficiencies (TON up to 2000). In addition, dialkyl ketones could also be hydrogenated smoothly. Manganese intermediates that might be involved in the catalytic cycle were analyzed. DFT calculation was carried out to help understand the chiral induction model. The Mn/PNP catalyst could discriminate two groups with different steric properties by deformation of the phosphine moiety in the flexible 5-membered ring.
The synthesis of a novel modified nucleoside phosphoramidite, Acrylamide-dT-CE phosphoramidite, obtained in three steps from commercially available starting materials, is reported. It was readily ...incorporated into thrombin binding aptamer (
TBA
) sequences using automated solid-phase synthesis under ultra-mild conditions, with the modification shown not to adversely affect duplex stability, G-quadruplex structure, or thrombin binding. The reaction and integration of the modified strands with acrylamide polymers was evidenced by gel electrophoresis. The Acrylamide-dT functional handle promises to be an ideal synthon for preparing DNA-polymer hybrids for use in various macromolecular materials applications.
Nucleoside derivative Acrylamide-dT can be readily synthesised and incorporated multiple times into DNA sequences at any position
via
automated synthesis.
Gliomas are highly malignant brain tumours characterised by extensive areas of poor perfusion which subsequently leads to hypoxia and reduced survival. Therapies that address the hypoxic ...microenvironment are likely to significantly improve patient outcomes. Verteporfin, a benzoporphyrin-like drug, has been suggested to target the Yes-associated protein (YAP). Increased YAP expression and transcriptional activity has been proposed in other tumour types to promote malignant cell survival and thus YAP-inhibitor, verteporfin, may be predicted to impact glioma cell growth and viability. Due to the extensive hypoxic nature of gliomas, we investigated the effect of hypoxia on YAP expression and found that YAP transcription is increased under these conditions. Treatment of both primary and immortalised glioblastoma cell lines with verteporfin resulted in a significant decrease in viability but strikingly only under hypoxic conditions (1% O
). We discovered that cell death occurs through a YAP-independent mechanism, predominately involving binding of free iron and likely through redox cycling, contributes to production of reactive oxygen species. This results in disruption of normal cellular processes and death in cells already under oxidative stress - such as those in hypoxia. We suggest that through repurposing verteporfin, it represents a novel means of treating highly therapy-resistant, hypoxic cells in glioma.
Significance
We report a rapid COVID-19 assay that gives a sample-to-signal time of under 10 min. The current gold-standard COVID-19 assay uses PCR, where strands of DNA are copied (amplified) many ...times to generate a read-out signal. However, as the virus genome is RNA, first conversion into DNA is required using reverse transcription (RT) before amplification. While just as sensitive, our assay is faster because 1) we have designed a method for generating DNA (the trigger strand) from RNA, bypassing the lengthy RT step, and 2) a quicker amplification process than PCR, called exponential amplification reaction (EXPAR), is used to amplify the trigger. This methodology could ultimately be applied to any RNA-based assay, including the detection of other infectious agents.
A rapid isothermal method for detecting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for COVID-19, is reported. The procedure uses an unprecedented reverse transcription–free (RTF) approach for converting genomic RNA into DNA. This involves the formation of an RNA/DNA heteroduplex whose selective cleavage generates a short DNA trigger strand, which is then rapidly amplified using the exponential amplification reaction (EXPAR). Deploying the RNA-to-DNA conversion and amplification stages of the RTF-EXPAR assay in a single step results in the detection, via a fluorescence read-out, of single figure copy numbers per microliter of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in under 10 min. In direct three-way comparison studies, the assay has been found to be faster than both RT-qPCR and reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP), while being just as sensitive. The assay protocol involves the use of standard laboratory equipment and is readily adaptable for the detection of other RNA-based pathogens.
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