Nonfood, plant-based biofuels have potential as a green alternative to fossil fuels, but the enzymes required for production are too inefficient and costly to produce. However, new research is shining a light on enzymes from fungi that could make biofuels economically viable.
Tag: Enzyme
New ‘stealth’ polymer a promising alternative for delivering drugs around the body
Researchers have developed a novel synthetic substance that has the potential to be a more effective and safer way of delivering drugs around the body.
Pineapple Jelly Probiotics Health Drink for Elderly Adults that Can Help Fix Farmers’ Problems
A team of researchers from Chula Faculty of Science in cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University has developed the “Jelly Nata Probiotics” jelly drink made from pineapple to benefit the mental wellbeing of the elderly, add value to pineapple while also solving the oversupply of pineapples.
Blocking enzyme could hold the key to preventing, treating severe COVID-19
Blocking an immune response-related enzyme holds promise in preventing or treating severe COVID-19 symptoms by reducing inflammation, tissue injury and blood clots in the lungs, new research in mice suggests.
Evolutionary ‘time travel’ reveals enzyme’s origins, possible future designs
“The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion,” Albert Einstein wrote. Now, researchers have used evolutionary “time travel” to study how an enzyme has evolved, with implications for future design. They will present their results at ACS Fall 2021.
New study details enzyme that allows coronavirus to resist antiviral medications
A new Iowa State University study details the structure of a critical enzyme present in SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. This enzyme removes nucleoside antiviral medications from the virus’s RNA, rendering many treatments ineffective. Scientists could use data uncovered in the new study to find ways to inhibit the enzyme, possibly leading to more effective treatments.
Study finds promising therapeutic target for colitis
An international research group, led by Jamey Marth, Ph.D., a professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys, has shown that the Neuraminidase 3 (Neu3) enzyme is responsible for the onset and progression of colitis—a chronic digestive disease caused by inflammation of the colon.
University of Portsmouth becomes the first non-US partner of a new project to tackle plastic pollution in the USA
The University of Portsmouth is now a key member of a collaborative effort funded by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and industry to tackle the growing global crisis of plastic waste.
University of Nebraska Medical Center researchers reveal elusive inner workings of antioxidant enzyme with therapeutic potential
The enzyme manganese superoxide dismutase helps maintain human health by keeping the amount of reactive oxygen molecules in cells under control. Using neutron scattering at ORNL, researchers obtained a complete atomic portrait of the enzyme, revealing key information about its catalytic mechanism.
Scientists Discover Cellular Stress Enzyme That Might Play Key Role in Neurodegenerative Diseases Such as ALS
An enzyme called MARK2 has been identified as a key stress-response switch in cells in a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
NUS researchers target ‘undercover’ gene that helps cancer cells proliferate
Researchers from the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore at the National University of Singapore found that little-known genes called “onco-requisite factors” can enlist other genes to assist them in helping cancer cells proliferate. The gene produces an enzyme called aldehyde dehydrogenase that recruits other enzymes to supply cancer cells with energy for growth. As such, depriving cells of aldehyde dehydrogenase may be a possible way to treat cancer.
Study pinpoints new function for histones
Scientists discovered that histones act as an enzyme that converts copper into a form that can be used by the cells. The finding refutes earlier theories that copper spontaneously converts in the body into a usable state.
Targeting SARS-CoV-2 Enzyme with Inhibitors
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, many researchers are studying epidemiological models to predict its propagation. However, a mathematician and expert in complex systems decided to focus on finding targets within SARS-CoV-2 for new drugs to attack. In the journal Chaos, he discusses the dramatic increase in the sensitivity of the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 to small disturbances, which made him suspect there is a role for inhibitors to play in killing the virus.
Helicobacter Pylori Bacteria Lowers Enzyme Levels to Cause Gastric Injury
Article title: Helicobacter pylori infection impairs chaperone-assisted maturation of Na,K-ATPase in gastric epithelium Authors: Elizabeth A. Marcus, Elmira Tokhtaeva, Jossue L. Jimenez, Yi Wen, Bita V. Naini, Ashley N. Heard, Samuel Kim, Joseph Capri, Whitaker Cohn, Julian P. Whitelegge, Olga Vagin…
Discovering the secrets of the enigmatic caspase-6
Researchers identified the mechanisms underlying the innate immune function of the enzyme caspase-6, offering ways to combat viral infection, inflammatory diseases and cancer.
Scientists Look Deeper to See How an RNA-editing Enzyme Evolved into a Genome Editor
Chemists and biochemists at UC San Diego took the first look at the onset of DNA-editing activity in an RNA-editing enzyme called “TadA” that served as the precursor to a class of base editors known as ABEs.
Shaping the rings of molecules
Canadian chemists discover a natural process to control the shape of “macrocycles,” molecules of large rings of atoms, for use in pharmaceuticals and electronics.
First pictures of enzyme that drives new class of antibiotics
Researchers from Arts & Sciences have solved the X-ray crystal structure of the enzyme that makes obafluorin — a broad spectrum antibiotic agent made by a fluorescent strain of soil bacteria. This new class of antibiotics might provide a powerful antidote to the growing scourge of antibiotic resistance.