There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

抗原变异可使得多种致病微生物易于逃避宿主免疫应答。表达在感染红细胞表面的恶性疟原虫红细胞表面蛋白1（PfPMP1）与感染红细胞、内皮细胞、树突状细胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用，在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作用。每个单倍体基因组var基因家族编码约60种成员，通过启动转录不同的var基因变异体为抗原变异提供了分子基础。

疟原虫var基因转换速率变化导致抗原变异[英]／Paul H, Robert P, Christodoulou Z, et al//Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Inference of macromolecular assemblies from crystalline state.

Chitin and chitosan: Properties and applications

Antimicrobial host defense peptides are produced by all complex organisms as well as some microbes and have diverse and complex antimicrobial activities. Collectively these peptides demonstrate a broad range of antiviral and antibacterial activities and modes of action, and it is important to distinguish between direct microbicidal and indirect activities against such pathogens. The structural requirements of peptides for antiviral and antibacterial activities are evaluated in light of the diverse set of primary and secondary structures described for host defense peptides. Peptides with antifungal and antiparasitic activities are discussed in less detail, although the broad-spectrum activities of such peptides indicate that they are important host defense molecules. Knowledge regarding the relationship between peptide structure and function as well as their mechanism of action is being applied in the design of antimicrobial peptide variants as potential novel therapeutic agents.

Peptide Antimicrobial Agents

In this work, β-thiogalactoside mimetics bearing 1,1-diarylmethylene or benzophenone aglycons have been prepared and assayed for their affinity towards LecA, a lectin and virulence factor from Pseudomonas aeruginosa involved in bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation. The hit compound presents higher efficiency than previously described monovalent inhibitors and the crystal structure confirmed the occurrence of additional contacts between the aglycone and the protein surface. The highest affinity (160 nM) was obtained for a divalent ligand containing two galactosides. The monovalent high affinity compound (Kd = 1 μM) obtained through structure-activity relationship (SAR) showed efficient antibiofilm activity with no associated bactericidal activity. 

/pdf/discovery-of-potent-11-diarylthiogalactoside-glycomimetic-2fetexo7.pdf

Discovery of potent 1,1-diarylthiogalactoside glycomimetic inhibitors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa LecA with antibiofilm properties.

Precise protein assemblies not only constitute a series of living machineries but also provide an advanced class of biomaterials. Previously, we developed the inducing ligand strategy to generate various fixed protein assemblies, without the formation of noncovalent interactions between proteins. Here, we demonstrated that controlling the symmetry and number of supramolecular interactions introduced on protein surfaces could direct the formation of unspecific interactions between proteins and induce various nanoscale assemblies, including coiling nanowires, nanotubes, and nanosheets, without manipulation of the protein's native surfaces. More importantly, these nanoscale assemblies could spontaneously evolve into more ordered architectures, crystals. We further showed that the transformation from the introduced supramolecular interactions to the interactions formed between proteins was crucial for pathway selection and outcomes of evolution. These findings reveal a transformation mechanism of protein self-assembly that has not been exploited before and may provide an approach to generate complex and transformable biomacromolecular self-assemblies.

Spatiotemporal Landscape for the Sophisticated Transformation of Protein Assemblies Defined by Multiple Supramolecular Interactions.

The title compound, C6H8N2O3S2·H2O, was synthesized from l-erythrulose and the structure of the enantiopure (4R,9S) diastereo­isomer has been determined. The structure is a hydrate and the water mol­ecules establish a hydrogen-bond network that involves the hydroxy­methyl group as well as one N and one S atom.

Anne Imberty

Papers

Discovery of potent 1,1-diarylthiogalactoside glycomimetic inhibitors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa LecA with antibiofilm properties.

Spatiotemporal Landscape for the Sophisticated Transformation of Protein Assemblies Defined by Multiple Supramolecular Interactions.

(4R,9S)-4-Hydroxymethyl-3,8-dioxa-1,6-diazaspiro[4.4]nonane-2,7-dithione monohydrate

Allosterische, Wirkstoff‐zugängliche Bindestellen in β‐Propeller‐Lektinen

Tuning specificity and topology of lectins through synthetic biology.