360 papers
Biochemistry explores the intricate chemical processes that power life, bridging the gap between biology and chemistry to explain how molecules like proteins and DNA function within living cells. This field reveals the molecular machinery behind everything from metabolism to genetic inheritance, turning complex biological mysteries into understandable chemical interactions.
On Gist.Science, we bring you the freshest discoveries in this dynamic area directly from bioRxiv. Our team processes every new preprint uploaded to the server, transforming dense academic findings into both clear, plain-language overviews and detailed technical summaries. This dual approach ensures that whether you are a curious beginner or a seasoned researcher, you can grasp the significance of these breakthroughs immediately.
Below are the latest papers in biochemistry, complete with our curated summaries to help you navigate the cutting edge of molecular science.
This study reveals that Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) functions as a copper-dependent thiol oxidase that generates potent thiosulfinates, thereby establishing a dual role for this enzyme in driving both cytotoxic oxidative stress and pro-growth signaling through a newly identified sulfur-based oxidation pathway.
This study utilizes cryo-EM to reveal that the Parkinsonism-associated proteins FBXO7 and PI31 independently bind to and inhibit the proteasome 20S core particle through distinct structural mechanisms, providing a molecular explanation for how disease-linked variants disrupt proteasome regulation and contribute to neurodegeneration.
This paper presents a rapid generative AI method that successfully designs programmable asymmetric -barrel nanopores with tunable dimensions and functionalities, such as ion sensing and DNA translocation, overcoming the limitations of previous uniform lumen structures and expert-dependent design approaches.
Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that deleting the central region of the cellular prion protein disrupts stabilizing intramolecular interactions, causing the N-terminal domain to adopt extended conformations and increase its proximity to the plasma membrane, thereby providing a mechanistic explanation for the neurotoxicity associated with this mutation.
Using proximity-dependent biotinylation (BioID) in *Leishmania tarentolae*, this study identifies three novel VTC binding partners that colocalize and interact with the VTC complex in acidocalcisomes, thereby expanding the organelle's interactome and suggesting new mechanisms for phosphate homeostasis and structural regulation in kinetoplastid parasites.
The paper introduces DiReCT, a StageTip-based workflow that resolves the solvent mismatch between reversed-phase eluates and nanoHILIC/MS/MS by enabling direct injection of solubilized peptides, thereby significantly increasing protein and peptide identification sensitivity for low-input samples.
This paper introduces Arg-C Zero, a high-fidelity recombinant arginyl endopeptidase derived from *Porphyromonas gingivalis* that achieves near-zero missed cleavages and robust performance under diverse conditions, offering a superior alternative to trypsin for specific applications such as mapping histone post-translational modifications and preserving labile ADP-ribosylation sites.
This study presents the first cell type-resolved proteomic atlas of the human body, generated via Deep Visual Proteomics from a healthy female donor, which quantifies thousands of proteins across 27 cell types to reveal a universal core and specialized programs, uncover new cancer-testis antigens, and provide a foundational resource for comparing RNA and protein abundance at single-cell resolution.
This study reveals that lipoic acid exists in distinct free and protein-bound pools within mammalian cells, demonstrating that mitochondrial utilization depends on the mtFAS pathway for protein lipoylation rather than on cellular abundance, thereby challenging the efficacy of lipoic acid supplementation for restoring mitochondrial function in primary disorders.
This study reveals that cells actively synthesize malonate via ACC1 to fuel mitochondrial fatty acid synthesis and support oxidative phosphorylation, demonstrating that malonate serves as a regulated endogenous metabolic intermediate rather than solely as a complex II inhibitor.