Mg2+-induced DNA compaction, condensation, and phase separation in gene delivery vehicles based on zwitterionic phospholipids: a dynamic light scattering and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopic study

Discovery of Plasma Membrane-Associated RNAs through APEX-seq

In addition to nucleic acids, a variety of other biomolecules have also been found on the plasma membrane. Although researchers have realized that RNA has the ability to bind to membrane vesicles in vitro, little is known about whether and how RNA connects to the plasma membrane of the cell. The combination of high-throughput sequencing and in situ labeling methods provides an innovative approach for large-scale identification of subcellular RNAs. Here, we applied the recently published method APEX-seq and identified 75 RNAs related to the plasma membrane, in which lncRNA PMAR72 (plasma membrane-associated RNA AL121772.1) has a considerable affinity with sphingomyelin (SM) and localizes within distinct membrane foci. Our findings will provide some new evidence to elaborate the relationship between RNA and the plasma membrane of mammalian cells.

Gas-phase hydration of Mg2+ complexes with deprotonated uracil, thymine, uridine, and thymidine

The gas-phase hydration of Mg²⁺ complexes with deprotonated uracil (U), thymine (T), uridine (U_r , uracil riboside), and thymidine (T_dr , thymine deoxyriboside) was studied. The aim of the work was to analyze the hydration of product ions (eg, [2U-H+Mg]⁺ ) formed as a result of the collision induced dissociation of the respective parent ion (eg, [3U_r -H+Mg]⁺ ). The efficiency of gas-phase hydration of the ions [2U-H+Mg]⁺ and [2T-H+Mg]⁺ was similar. However, the efficiency of gas-phase hydration of the ion [U+U_r -H+Mg]⁺ was much higher than that of gas-phase hydration of the ion [T+T_dr -H+Mg]⁺ . On the basis of the mass spectra obtained and the performed molecular modelling, it was concluded that in the ion [T+T_dr -H+Mg]⁺ , we deal with a steric hindrance due to the presence of a sugar moiety, which affects water attachment. In the ion [U+U_r -H+Mg]⁺ , the position of the sugar moiety does not affect water attachment.