: Chemistry Articles
Editorial: A practical philosophyThe expanding biotechnology landscape offers new intersections with traditional strengths in chemical biology. Nature Chemical Biology, vol. 6 #8, pp559-559 |
Commentary: The chemical biology of synapses and neuronal circuitsExcitatory synapses are located in confined chemical spaces called the dendritic spines. These are atypical femtoliter-order microdomains where the behavior of even single molecules may have important biological consequences. Powerful chemical biological techniques have now been developed to decipher the dynamic stability of the synapses and to further interrogate the complex properties of neuronal circuits. Nature Chemical Biology, vol. 6 #8, pp560-563 |
News and Views: Stapled peptides: Magic bullets in nature's arsenalSelectivity is a key obstacle in drug development. A new study describes how ?peptide stapling,? a technique for making peptide ?-helices more potent and cell permeable, allows the design of MCL-1 inhibitors with extraordinary selectivity. Nature Chemical Biology, vol. 6 #8, pp566-567 |
News and Views: Non-covalent interactions: Fold globally, bond locallyProtein structures are considerably stabilized by local interactions. A new computational and structural analysis discovers that n??* interactions between consecutive residues are stabilizing and ubiquitous in a variety of secondary structures. Nature Chemical Biology, vol. 6 #8, pp567-568 |
News and Views: Bioinorganic chemistry: Getting a grip on ironSiderocalin (also known as lipocalin 2) is a component of the innate immune system that binds and sequesters bacterial iron compounds in the blood and urine. A new study identifies iron?catechol complexes as endogenous ligands for siderocalin, which can deliver the iron compounds to the kidney. Nature Chemical Biology, vol. 6 #8, pp568-570 |
News and Views: Microscopy: GPCR dimers moving closerTime-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer (TR-FRET) measurements with selective, fluorescently labeled ligands support the existence of GPCR dimers in native tissues and suggest that activated GPCR dimers are asymmetric. Nature Chemical Biology, vol. 6 #8, pp570-571 |
