Using PETRA III to watch the disabling of a penicillin killer

Scientists observe in detail the binding and formation of covalent bonds of an inhibitor to a bacterial enzyme that disables common antibiotics

31-Jul-2024 - Antibiotic resistance is a major and particularly in recent years a growing challenge in medicine. Scientists around the world are searching for new and efficient compounds to treat bacterial infections, especially infections caused by multi-resistant bacteria. A research collaboration of ...

Key to Improving Cancer Treatments Discovered

Discovery Paves the Way for the Development of Precise Inhibitors

07-Jun-2024 - Some cancer drugs cause severe side effects because they are not working accurately enough. A team at the University of Würzburg led by biochemist Caroline Kisker has now discovered why. The small protein ubiquitin is involved in almost every cellular process in our body: it orchestrates the ...

Imaging the smallest atoms provides insights into an enzyme's unusual biochemistry

This could help in the design of enzymes for the chemical industry

29-Sep-2023 - When your wounds heal and your liver detoxifies a poison such as histamine you ingested, you can thank the class of enzymes known as copper amine oxidases for their assistance. Identifying the exact positions of the smallest hydrogen atoms in these enzymes is challenging with commonly used ...

Time-resolved crystallography for the masses

“The Spitrobot will greatly accelerate research in enzymatic mechanisms"

08-May-2023 - Scientists from four research institutes in the Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld have joined forces to develop a ground-breaking experimental setup. Their new Spitrobot greatly simplifies observing changes in proteins as they carry out their functions. This makes time-resolved crystallography ...

Crystal study may resolve DNA mystery

Rice lab captures unseen details of replication, clues to how mutations can happen

12-May-2022 - When cells reproduce, the internal mechanisms that copy DNA get it right nearly every time. Rice University bioscientists have uncovered a tiny detail that helps understand how the process could go wrong. Their study of enzymes revealed the presence of a central metal ion critical toDNA ...

The protective armor of superbug C.difficile revealed

Spectacular structure of chain-mail may explain the success of C.diff at defending itself against antibiotics and immune system molecules

01-Mar-2022 - The spectacular structure of the protective armour of superbug C.difficile has been revealed for the first time showing the close-knit yet flexible outer layer – like chain mail. This assembly prevents molecules getting in and provides a new target for future treatments, according to the ...

Research team finds possible new approach for sleeping sickness drugs

X-ray laser reveals structure of a key enzyme of the parasite Trypanosoma brucei

04-Feb-2020 - Using ultra-bright X-ray flashes, a team of researchers has tracked down a potential target for new drugs against sleeping sickness: The scientists have decoded the detailed spatial structure of a vital enzyme of the pathogen, the parasite Trypanosoma brucei. The result provides a possible ...

Happy hour for time-resolved crystallography

Researchers simplify time-resolved X-ray crystallography

19-Sep-2019 - Researchers from the Department of Atomically Resolved Dynamics of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science in Hamburg, the University of Hamburg and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) outstation in the ...

Keeping a cell’s powerhouse in shape

12-Jul-2019 - A German-Swiss team around Professor Oliver Daumke from the MDC has investigated how a protein of the dynamin family deforms the inner mitochondrial membrane. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of our cells, generating energy in the form of chemical compounds such as ATP. To do this job ...

How a small molecule promotes removal of excess cholesterol

28-Nov-2018 - Scientists have determined the structure of the activated form of an enzyme that helps to return excess cholesterol to the liver. The research reveals how a drug-like chemical stimulates the action of the lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) enzyme. It also suggests that future drugs using ...