All Proteomics & Enzymology articles
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NewsEnzyme found to have surprising role in earliest infant gut microbiome development
Microbiologists have found that an enzyme, not normally associated with microbial activities in the human gut, to have a role in how some bacteria access key nutrients in breast milk. The findings, published in Nature Communications today (Monday 2 November), provides a new understanding about feeding preferences ...
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NewsHow evolutionary changes in a key enzyme may have tuned the protein synthesis rate
Evolutionary changes in key protein synthesis enzyme, isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase (IleRS), may help bacteria fine-tune how quickly proteins are made, report researchers. Researchers traced the enzyme’s evolutionary history and identified three distinct IleRS clades.
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NewsArmored cells: A mineral shell lets whole-cell biocatalysts run 14 cycles for greener nicotinic acid
Scientists aiming to use whole-cell biocatalysis to manufacture niacin engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum to express a mutant nitrilase from Pseudomonas putida and then encapsulated the whole cells in a biomimetic hybrid shell.
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NewsNew hypothesis drills down into the contributions of phage receptor-binding proteins in recognising a bacterial cell
A new hypothesis reveals how different receptor-binding proteins may make distinct contributions when a bacteriophage recognizes a bacterial cell.
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News£4 million awarded to develop vaccines that protect livestock and tackle growing biosecurity threat
Scientists are set to receive £4 million to help tackle the growing biosecurity threat faced by the UK. The project will develop an mRNA vaccine platform for use across major livestock species. This platform will help prepare for future epidemics, tackle antimicrobial resistance, and accelerate the development of next-generation animal vaccines.
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NewsResearchers engineer the first bacterial biocatalyst of a toolbox to produce greener pharma and food ingredients
To produce pharmaceuticals, food ingredients, and flavours and fragrances, it is often necessary to oxidise alcohols. But there is a more sustainable route: living organisms, including fungi, produce galactose oxidases, proteins that can carry out the same reactions on alcohols and simple sugars under mild conditions, using oxygen.
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NewsResearchers uncover blueprint for more sustainable agriculture
Researchers have revealed an entirely unexpected blueprint for how one of the oldest microbes on Earth processes nitrogen to create ammonia, the building block of fertilizer. They uncovered a previously unknown structure in a key enzyme responsible for biological nitrogen fixation.
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NewsBeetles build with a yellow pigment gene
More than 80 years ago scientists discovered that differences in yellow pigmentation were critical to courtship success and failure for fruit flies. New research has added a deeper perspective to the study of Yellow, showing how in tortoise beetles this protein has been co-opted as a building material to house symbiotic bacteria.
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NewsNobel Prize: Light-seeking algae gave us a switch for nerve cells
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026 is awarded for optogenetics - a method that makes it possible to show how nerve cells shape memories, feelings and behaviours in the living brain. But the road to the award began when Peter Hegemann wondered how the single-celled alga Chlamydomonas, is able to swim towards a light source.
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NewsStudy reveals how a common hospital pathogen senses iron—opening a new avenue for fighting antibiotic resistance
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common culprit in hospital-acquired bacterial infections and is growing more resistant to antibiotics. New findings show how a two-protein system inside the bacterium operates like a sensitive switch: the pair detects iron both outside and inside the cell and then rewrites large parts of the microbe’s metabolism in response.
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NewsEye-eating amoeba resists treatment — understanding its biochemistry could help
Acanthamoeba causes infections in the eye or brain that can lead to blindness or death. New research into the amoeba’s mitochondrial metabolism could lead to safer, more effective treatments.
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NewsA deadly fungus may not live to see the last of us
The battle lines have finally shifted in the war against a deadly fungal disease. The fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus has long been known to cause a severe, rapid respiratory infection, and it has become harder to fight. Researchers successfully killed the pathogen in animal studies by identifying how it resists current therapeutic methods.
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NewsResearch uncovers how bacteria fight viruses, opening the door to better virus-based antibiotics
New research has revealed that bacteria detect viruses when a viral enzyme cuts an important sensor molecule in the bacterium, kicking off the immune response. The discovery paves the way for development of better phage therapies that can evade the bacterial immune system.
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News‘Molecular movie’ fills in blanks of how non-enveloped viruses infect cells
Researchers have answered a longstanding question about how certain non-enveloped viruses punch through the cell membrane to deliver their genetic material. The findings deepen understanding of virology and could aid the biotech industry’s search for ways to deliver relatively large therapeutic agents into cells to treat or prevent disease.
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NewsGut enzyme links microbiota, barrier dysfunction and MASH progression
Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is often viewed through the lens of hepatic lipid accumulation, inflammation and fibrosis. A new study identifies intestinal neutral ceramidase as a gut-derived driver of MASH progression through its effects on microbial metabolism, epithelial signalling and intestinal barrier function.
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NewsPromega launches Paradyme™ 27GY STR System, mnimising stutter artifacts in forensic DNA analysis
Promega Corporation has launched Paradyme™ 27GY STR System, the first commercially available short tandem repeat (STR) analysis kit to include the company’s Reduced-Stutter Polymerase (RSP). This novel enzyme significantly reduces the most common type of confounding artifact in forensic DNA analysis.
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NewsResearch illuminates the bustling molecular communities inside bacterial cells
Scientists have often thought of cells as small bustling cities with parts that resemble factories, power grids, and shipping systems. Past research hasn’t had the tools to probe more deeply into how those different components interact, but researchers have now deployed cryo-electron tomography to visualise how different cellular processes are connected.
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NewsTarget identified in treatment of neuroHIV
NeuroHIV occurs when HIV infection affects the function and structural integrity of the brain and, to some extent, the spinal cord and peripheral nervous system. New research has identified a brain protein driving this damage, pointing toward a possible treatment.
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NewsHow a single viral protein hijacks immune cells to supercharge COVID-19 infection
A new discovery reveals how a SARS-CoV-2 protein reprograms immune cells to accelerate viral spread—and points to a new strategy for therapeutic intervention.
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NewsA classic metabolic enzyme reveals a hidden role in broad-spectrum antiviral defense
Researchers find that the phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) uses its non-canonical protein kinase activity to disrupt a host chaperone required by multiple viruses, suggesting a potential strategy for host-directed antiviral therapy.