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Traditional production of therapeutic secretory proteins often experiences delays between protein synthesis and therapeutic effects. An inducible protease-dependent protein secretion technique allows the immediate secretion of pre-translated biotherapeutic agents after exposure to chemical cues, tumor-specific antigens or photons.

Park et al. redesigned the abscisic acid-induced dimerization module to respond to diverse ligands and function orthogonally to the natural modules, enabling synthetic biological circuit design in plants and yeast.

A controllable protease-based protein secretion platform was developed for the rapid delivery of user-defined therapeutic protein secretion in response to FDA-approved drugs, tumor antigen and light, enabling cell-based precision therapies.

We developed a versatile lipid probe — MAO–SiR — to visualize the structure and dynamics of the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM). MAO–SiR assembles in situ from two cell-permeant small molecules to image the IMM selectively, continuously and at super resolution for extended periods of time without extensive photobleaching or toxicity.

A lipid-like small molecule, MAO-N₃, was developed to assemble inner mitochondrial membrane-specific probes for confocal and various super-resolution microscopy techniques, with significantly improved time-lapse capability and minimal toxicity.

The quality of chemical tools and their appropriate use determine the quality and reliability of scientific data based on their use. Now, two papers extend criteria to new modalities and critically review adherence to established guidelines.

Byong-Hun Jeon works in the Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering at Hanyang University, South Korea. His research is focused on biodegradation of environmental contaminants. Nature Chemical Biology spoke to Byong-Hun about the chemical biology of phytoremediation and phycoremediation, and the opportunities that they offer.

Activation of STING-dependent signal transduction results in adaptive immune responses that promote antitumor immunity. A recent study has identified a small-molecule STING agonist that functions by binding to a newly discovered ligandable site to induce high-order STING oligomerization.

Almost all terpenoids discovered so far have backbones made up of multiples of five carbon atoms. Here, the authors combine gene mining with biochemical characterization and chemical structure analysis to unveil an extensive class of terpenoids with 16 carbon atoms in bacteria.

A cell-based phenotypic screen led to the discovery of compounds called NVS-STGs, which bind to the N-terminal domain of STING and act as a molecular glue to induce higher-order oligomerization and activation.

Computational approaches are emerging as powerful tools for the discovery of antibiotics. A study now uses machine learning to discover abaucin, a potent antibiotic that targets the bacterial pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii.

Protein lipidation is an important post-translational modification that can be difficult to study. New amino acids with side chains that mimic naturally occurring lipid modifications stand to facilitate the study of lipidated proteins.