A research team at Uppsala University has resurrected several billion-year-old enzymes and reprogrammed them to catalyse completely different chemical reactions than their modern versions can manage. The method can be […]
biochemistry
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Press Release
Reconstructed Ancient Nitrogenases Suggest Mo-specific Ancestry
The nitrogenase metalloenzyme family, essential for supplying fixed nitrogen to the biosphere, is one of life’s key biogeochemical innovations. The three isozymes of nitrogenase differ in their metal dependence, each […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Press Release
Building Blocks Of All Life Gain New Understanding
New research on an enzyme that is essential for photosynthesis and all life on earth has uncovered a key finding in its structure which reveals how light can interact with […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Press Release
Early Life On Earth Limited By Nitrogenase Enzyme
The enzyme-nitrogenase-can be traced back to the universal common ancestor of all cells more than four billion years ago. Found only in bacteria today, nitrogenase is nevertheless essential for the […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Pre-life Building Blocks Spontaneously Align In Evolutionary Experiment
When Earth was a lifeless planet about 4 billion years ago, chemical components came together in tiny molecular chains that would later evolve into proteins, crucial life building blocks. A […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Press Release
A Chemical Clue To How Life Started On Earth
Earth didn’t always harbor life. But around 4 billion years ago, something in the environment changed, and systems with biological properties began to emerge. Many scientists believe a lively dance […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
New Chemistry May Help Explain The Origins Of Cellular Life
Before life began on Earth, the environment likely contained a massive number of chemicals that reacted with each other more or less randomly, and it is unclear how things as […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry
Could There Be Life Without Carbon? (video)
One element is the backbone of all forms of life we’ve ever discovered on Earth: carbon. Number six on the periodic table is, to the best of our knowledge, impossible […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Press Release
The Plausibility of Diamidophosphate (DAP) on the Early Earth
A recent study explores the potential for diamidophosphate (DAP) to form naturally on the early Earth. DAP has been shown to aid in the phosphorylation of molecules that are thought […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Press Release
How Manganese Played a Pivotal Role in Photosynthesis and Oxidation Protection
New research has identified manganese as an unsung hero in the evolution of life on Earth, as it enabled a form of pre-oxygen photosynthesis and helped protect against cellular oxidation. […]