Volume 4 Issue 12, December 2008

Bacterial infections have long been associated with coagulation, but the mechanism is not well understood. New insights into bacterial spatial localization are shedding light on how bacterial clusters can trigger coagulation in a process known as 'quorum acting'.

The berberine bridge enzyme catalyzes the crucial step in the biosynthesis of an important class of alkaloids through a reaction that cannot be carried out using conventional organic chemistry tools. Characterization of the enzyme demonstrates a concerted mechanism that couples two distinct chemical steps—oxidation and proton abstraction—affecting two separate groups of the substrate.

Cell-surface carbohydrates are synthesized in a step-wise fashion, yielding products with unique capping structures. A recent study has shown that carbohydrates at the cell surface can be further remodeled by an endogenous glycosidase to alter the carbohydrate structure, thus generating a new function.

Small-molecule inhibitors of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins and BH3 mimetic peptides are promising anticancer agents. A recent study identifies a Nur77-based peptide that converts anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins into pro-apoptotic molecules, providing another potential cancer therapeutic strategy.

Isoginkgetin has been identified as a general inhibitor of pre-mRNA splicing using an in vivo screening assay. This and related inhibitors will not only be useful as tools to decipher the roles of the individual components of the spliceosome but may also serve as therapeutics.

X-ray scattering from clusters of gold atoms provides a sensitive way of measuring long-range distance information in macromolecules and now reveals a surprisingly soft, stretchy character to double-stranded DNA.