Search results for "bioinorganic chemistry"
showing 10 items of 30 documents
The First Crystal Structure of Tyrosinase: All Questions Answered?
2006
Hydroxamic Acid: An Underrated Moiety? Marrying Bioinorganic Chemistry and Polymer Science
2020
Even 150 years after their discovery, hydroxamic acids are mainly known as the starting material for the Lossen rearrangement in textbooks. However, hydroxamic acids feature a plethora of existing and potential applications ranging from medical purposes to materials science, based on their excellent complexation properties. This underrated functional moiety can undergo a broad variety of organic transformations and possesses unique coordination properties for a large variety of metal ions, for example, Fe(III), Zn(II), Mn(II), and Cr(III). This renders it ideal for biomedical applications in the field of metal-associated diseases or the inhibition of metalloenzymes, as well as for the separ…
Zn-Enhanced Asp-Rich Antimicrobial Peptides N-Terminal Coordination by Zn(II) and Cu(II), Which Distinguishes Cu(II) Binding to Different Peptides
2021
The antimicrobial activity of surfactant-associated anionic peptides (SAAPs), which are isolated from the ovine pulmonary surfactant and are selective against the ovine pathogen Mannheimia haemolytica, is strongly enhanced in the presence of Zn(II) ions. Both calorimetry and ITC measurements show that the unique Asp-only peptide SAAP3 (DDDDDDD) and its analogs SAAP2 (GDDDDDD) and SAAP6 (GADDDDD) have a similar micromolar affinity for Zn(II), which binds to the N-terminal amine and Asp carboxylates in a net entropically-driven process. All three peptides also bind Cu(II) with a net entropically-driven process but with higher affinity than they bind Zn(II) and coordination that involves the N…
Evagination of Cells Controls Bio-Silica Formation and Maturation during Spicule Formation in Sponges
2011
The enzymatic-silicatein mediated formation of the skeletal elements, the spicules of siliceous sponges starts intracellularly and is completed extracellularly. With Suberites domuncula we show that the axial growth of the spicules proceeds in three phases: (I) formation of an axial canal; (II) evagination of a cell process into the axial canal, and (III) assembly of the axial filament composed of silicatein. During these phases the core part of the spicule is synthesized. Silicatein and its substrate silicate are stored in silicasomes, found both inside and outside of the cellular extension within the axial canal, as well as all around the spicule. The membranes of the silicasomes are inte…
Crystalline nanorods as possible templates for the synthesis of amorphous biosilica during spicule formation in Demospongiae.
2009
In tandem: High-resolution TEM shows that during the initial stages of demosponge spicule formation, a primordial crystalline structure is formed within the axial filament. The recently developed electron diffraction tomography technique (ADT) reveals that the nanorods have a layered structure that matches smectitic phyllosilicates. These intracellular nanorods have been considered as precursors of mature spicules. High-resolution microscopy shows that, during the initial stages of demosponge spicule formation, a primordial crystalline structure is formed within the axial filament. The recently developed electron diffraction tomography technique reveals that the nanorods have a layered stru…
Silicateins - A Novel Paradigm in Bioinorganic Chemistry: Enzymatic Synthesis of Inorganic Polymeric Silica
2013
The inorganic matrix of the siliceous skeletal elements of sponges, that is, spicules, is formed of amorphous biosilica. Until a decade ago, it remained unclear how the hard biosilica monoliths of the spicules are formed in sponges that live in a silica-poor (<50 mu m) aquatic environment. The following two discoveries caused a paradigm shift and allowed an elucidation of the processes underlying spicule formation; first the discovery that in the spicules only one major protein, silicatein, exists and second, that this protein displays a bio-catalytical, enzymatic function. These findings caused a paradigm shift, since silicatein is the first enzyme that catalyzes the formation of an inorga…
How Does Tyrosinase Work? Recent Insights from Model Chemistry and Structural Biology
2000
Bioinorganic Chemistry (Topic 2)
2018
Este documento ha sido elbaorado en el marco de un proyecto de Renovación de Metodologías Docentes concedido por el Servicio de Formación Permanente de la Universitat de València (código de la solicitud: UV-SFPIE_RMD17-725369). Este documento forma parte de la asignatura Química Inorgánica Avanzada impartida en el Máster Universitario en Química. This document forms part of the course of Advanced Inorganic Chemistry belonging to the Master in Chemistry.
Coumarin-Phosphine-Based Smart Probes for Tracking Biologically Relevant Metal Complexes: From Theoretical to Biological Investigations
2016
International audience; Ten metal-based complexes and associated ligands have been synthesized and characterized. One of the metal ligands is a coumarin-phosphine derivative, which displays tunable fluorescence properties. The fluorescence is quenched in the case of the free ligand and ruthenium and osmium complexes, whereas it is strong for the gold complexes and phosphonium derivatives. These trends were rationalized by theoretical calculations, which revealed non-radiative channels involving a dark state for the free ligands that is lower in energy than the emissive state and is responsible for the quenching of fluorescence. For the Ru-II and Os-II complexes, other non-radiative channels…
Catalysis Concepts in Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry
2018
Catalysis has strongly emerged in the field of medicinal inorganic chemistry as a suitable tool to deliver new drug candidates and to overcome drawbacks associated to metallodrugs. In this Concept article, we discuss representative examples of how catalysis has been applied in combination with metal complexes to deliver new therapy approaches. In particular, we explain key achievements in the design of catalytic metallodrugs that damage biomolecular targets and in the development of metal catalysis schemes for the activation of exogenous organic prodrugs. Moreover, we discuss our recent discoveries on the flavin-mediated bioorthogonal catalytic activation of metal-based prodrugs; a new cata…