Phytochromes are a widespread family of red/far-red responsive photoreceptors first discovered in plants, where they constitute one of the three main classes of photomorphogenesis regulators. All phytochromes utilize covalently attached bilin chromophores that enable photoconversion between red-absorbing (P(r)) and far-red-absorbing (P(fr)) forms. Phytochromes are thus photoswitchable photosens...

Streptolydigin (Stl) is a potent inhibitor of bacterial RNA polymerases (RNAPs). The 2.4 A resolution structure of the Thermus thermophilus RNAP-Stl complex showed that, in full agreement with the available genetic data, the inhibitor binding site is located 20 A away from the RNAP active site and encompasses the bridge helix and the trigger loop, two elements that are considered to be crucial ...

Aspartic proteases are a class of enzymes that play a causative role in numerous diseases such as malaria (plasmepsins), Alzheimer's disease (β-secretase), fungal infections (secreted aspartic proteases), and hypertension (renin). We have chosen endothiapepsin as a model enzyme of this class of enzymes, for the design, preparation and biochemical evaluation of a new series of inhibitors of endo...

The representation of a biochemical network as a graph is the coarsest level of description in cellular biochemistry. By studying the network structure one can draw conclusions on the large scale organisation of the biochemical processes. We describe methods how one can extract hierarchies of subnetworks, how these can be interpreted and further deconstructed to find autonomous subnetworks. The...

Biochemistry and genetics are both required to elucidate the function of macromolecules. There is no question that metallothioneins (MTs) have unique biochemical properties, but genetic experiments have not substantiated the importance of MTs under physiological conditions. Even after thousands of studies describing the structure, biochemical characteristics, tissue distribution, induction, and...

Studies on fruit maturity of avocado and related topics of subsequent storage and handling procedures have resulted in a substantial literature concerning the morphological and biochemical sequences which occur in the fruit structure. The unique high oil content of the fruit has stimulated extensive investigations into the nature of the constituents which are involved in the development of this...

Fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) transduces biochemical signals via lateral dimerization in the plasma membrane, and plays an important role in human development and disease. Eight different pathogenic mutations, implicated in cancers and growth disorders, have been identified in the FGFR3 transmembrane segment. Here, we describe the dimerization of the FGFR3 transmembrane domain in ...

Network Science has provided predictive models of many complex systems from molecular biology to social interactions. Most of this success is achieved by reducing multivariate dynamics to a graph of static interactions. Such network structure approach has provided many insights about the organization of complex systems. However, there is also a need to understand how to control them; for exampl...