Transmission electron microscopy enables the reconstruction of the catenane and ring forms of CS2 hydrolase

Creating de novo peptide-based bioactivities: from assembly to origami

DNA origami has created complex structures of various spatial dimensions. However, their versatility in terms of function is limited due to the lower number of the intrinsic building blocks, i.e. nucleotides, compared with the number of amino acids. Therefore, protein origami has been proposed and demonstrated to precisely fabricate artificial functional nanostructures. Despite their hierarchical folded structures, chain-like peptides and DNA share obvious similarities in both structures and properties, especially in terms of chain hybridization; therefore, replacing DNA with peptides to create bioactivities not only has high theoretical feasibility but also provides a new bottom-up synthetic strategy. However, designing functionalities with tens to hundreds of peptide chains using the similar principle of DNA origami has not been reported, although the origami strategy holds great potential to generate more complex bioactivities. In this perspective review, we have reviewed the recent progress in and highlighted the advantages of peptide assembly and origami on the orientation of artificially created bioactivities. With the great potential of peptide origami, we appeal to develop user-friendly softwares in combination with artificial intelligence.

Hydrolytic cleavage of both CS2 carbon-sulfur bonds by multinuclear Pd(II) complexes at room temperature

Developing homogeneous catalysts that convert CS₂ and COS pollutants into environmentally benign products is important for both fundamental catalytic research and applied environmental science. Here we report a series of air-stable dimeric Pd complexes that mediate the facile hydrolytic cleavage of both CS₂ carbon-sulfur bonds at 25 °C to produce CO₂ and trimeric Pd complexes. Oxidation of the trimeric complexes with HNO₃ regenerates the dimeric starting complexes with the release of SO₂ and NO₂. Isotopic labelling confirms that the carbon and oxygen atoms of CO₂ originate from CS₂ and H₂O, respectively, and reaction intermediates were observed by gas-phase and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, as well as by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. We also propose a plausible mechanistic scenario based on the experimentally observed intermediates. The mechanism involves intramolecular attack by a nucleophilic Pd-OH moiety on the carbon atom of coordinated µ-OCS₂, which on deprotonation cleaves one C-S bond and simultaneously forms a C-O bond. Coupled C-S cleavage and CO₂ release to yield [(bpy)₃Pd₃(µ₃-S)₂](NO₃)₂ (bpy, 2,2'-bipyridine) provides the thermodynamic driving force for the reaction.

Natural supramolecular protein assemblies

Supramolecular protein assemblies are an emerging area within the chemical sciences, which combine the topological structures of the field of supramolecular chemistry and the state-of-the-art chemical biology approaches to unravel the formation and function of protein assemblies. Recent chemical and biological studies on natural multimeric protein structures, including fibers, rings, tubes, catenanes, knots, and cages, have shown that the quaternary structures of proteins are a prerequisite for their highly specific biological functions. In this review, we illustrate that a striking structural diversity of protein assemblies is present in nature. Furthermore, we describe structure-function relationship studies for selected classes of protein architectures, and we highlight the techniques that enable the characterisation of supramolecular protein structures.