388 papers
Biophysics sits at the fascinating intersection where the laws of physics meet the complexity of living systems. This field uses tools like light, electricity, and mechanical forces to decode how cells move, how proteins fold, and how our senses translate the world around us. Rather than just observing biology, biophysicists measure and model life to understand the fundamental machinery that powers every organism.
On Gist.Science, we make these discoveries accessible by curating the latest preprints directly from bioRxiv. Our team processes every new submission in this category, providing both clear, plain-language overviews and detailed technical summaries so readers of all backgrounds can grasp the cutting-edge science. Below are the most recent biophysics papers from bioRxiv, ready for you to explore.
This study utilizes high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy and proteomics to reveal the detailed structural architecture of the Shiga toxin-converting bacteriophage phi24B, characterizing its T=9 icosahedral capsid, complex tail assembly, and unique peripheral features that distinguish it from related podoviruses.
The paper introduces KinConfBench, a curated benchmark revealing that while state-of-the-art cofolding models can classify kinase conformations with moderate accuracy, they fail to capture ligand-induced structural diversity and suffer from severe "apo-drift," highlighting the need for new dynamical evaluation metrics beyond geometric pose fitting.
Using NMR spectroscopy, this study elucidates the distinct roles of the three binding sites within the trivalent CpCBM92A protein, revealing how their cooperative interactions and specific preferences for glucan chain segments enable the cross-linking of scleroglucan chains.
Using cryo-ptychographic X-ray computed tomography alongside electron microscopy, this study reveals the 3D developmental stages of *Gephyrocapsa huxleyi* coccolith formation, demonstrating how intracellular confinement shapes crystal morphology and offering insights into biomineralisation pathways for advanced material design.
This study demonstrates that proton tunneling at the conserved calcium activation site of the ryanodine receptor provides a temperature-invariant stochastic component that stabilizes calcium-induced calcium release, thereby ensuring robust rhythmicity in sinoatrial node cells across physiological temperatures.
This study demonstrates a DNA-based functionalization strategy that renders hydrophobic lanthanide nanoparticles hydrophilic and stable under electron microscopy preparation protocols, enabling multicolor cathodoluminescence imaging for the simultaneous visualization of specific proteins and cellular ultrastructure.
This study reveals that pathogenic SNCA mutations (A53T, G51D) induce distinct left-handed Lewy fold dimer structures with twist reversal in familial Parkinson's disease and dementia, whereas the non-pathogenic H50Q variant and human A53T transgenic mouse models exhibit different filament architectures resembling wild-type or multiple system atrophy folds, respectively.
This study reveals that the KcsA potassium channel achieves high-flux, ultralow energy-consumption transport through a mechanism where hydrated K+ ions undergo resonant energy transfer and tunneling-like motion to shed their hydration shells in two distinct steps without dragging water molecules into the channel.
This study elucidates the structural mechanism and species-specific selectivity of Necrocide 1 in activating human TRPM4 to induce necrotic cell death via sodium overload, providing a foundation for developing TRPM4-targeted cancer therapeutics.
This paper presents thermodynamically consistent bond graph models of the Na+/K+-ATPase to demonstrate that the pump operates at approximately 75% efficiency under physiological conditions, while identifying a critical ATP hydrolysis energy threshold below which its function is severely compromised.