x-ray crystallography tagged posts

Wen Zhou et al. Structure of the Human cGAS–DNA Complex Reveals Enhanced Control of Immune Surveillance. Cell, 2018 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.06.026

Scientists have defined the structure and key features of a human immune-surveillance protein that guards against cancer and bacterial and viral infections. The identification of two human-specific variations in the protein closes a critical knowledge gap in immunology and cancer biology.

The human body is built for survival. Each one of its cells is closely guarded by a set of immune proteins armed with nearly foolproof radars that detect foreign or damaged DNA...

A carbon nanobelt, represented as a ball-and stick model and space-filing model. Carbon atoms are colored in orange and gray and hydrogen atoms are colored in white.
Credit: ITbM, Nagoya University

Synthesis of a carbon nanobelt with potential applications in nanotechnology. Chemists have tried to synthesize carbon nanobelts for more than 60 years, but none have succeeded until now. A Nagoya University team reported the first organic synthesis of a carbon nanobelt in Science. Carbon nanobelts are expected to serve as a useful template for building carbon nanotubes and open a new field of nanocarbon science.

The new nanobelt, measuring 0...

Researchers have reached a breakthrough in understanding how fructose is transported into our cells. This could be a potential benefit for the development of novel treatments against some forms of cancer, obesity and diabetes. The research deals with how fructose, one of the major sugars in our diet, is taken up by our cells from the blood. The researchers have been able to show how the protein GLUT5, at atomic level, transports fructose through the cell membrane.

“By revealing how the fructose transporter functions at the atomic level, we can now begin to understand other things about it. For example, how this gate-keeper is selective to fructose from all other thousands of other molecules our cells are constantly bombarded by,” says Dr...