Category: Science
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How to Learn Pyrenoids and Algal Carbon-Concentrating Mechanisms: From Rubisco Condensation to CO₂ Delivery and Crop Engineering
Wait, What? Many Algae Put the World’s Most Important Carbon-Fixing Enzyme Into a Liquid-Like Droplet Rubisco fixes CO₂. Rubisco can also react with O₂. That unwanted oxygenation reaction contributes to photorespiration. Many algae improve Rubisco’s chemical environment using a CO₂-concentrating mechanism (CCM). At the centre of many algal CCMs is a pyrenoid—a Rubisco-rich compartment inside…
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How to Learn Cellulosomes and Cohesin–Dockerin Nanomachines: From Cellulose Binding to Multienzyme Lignocellulose Deconstruction
Wait, What? Some Bacteria Build a Molecular Demolition Crew Instead of Releasing Cellulases One by One Cellulose is chemically simple: glucose linked to glucose linked to glucose. Yet crystalline cellulose is extremely difficult to digest. Its chains form hydrogen-bond networks, ordered microfibrils and surfaces that enzymes must physically access. Some anaerobic bacteria solve this by…
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How to Learn Archaeal Ether Lipids and Tetraether Membranes: From the Lipid Divide to GDGT Monolayers and Extreme-Environment Adaptation
Wait, What? Archaea Build Membranes Backwards—and Some Join Both Sides Into One Molecule Most textbook membranes are made from phospholipids containing glycerol, fatty acids and ester bonds. Archaea use a chemically distinct solution. Many archaeal membrane lipids contain sn-glycerol-1-phosphate (G1P) rather than the usual bacterial/eukaryotic G3P stereochemistry, ether bonds rather than ester bonds, and isoprenoid…
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How to Learn Microbial Rhodopsins and Retinal-Based Phototrophy: From Bacteriorhodopsin Proton Pumps to Proteorhodopsin Ecology and Optogenetics
Wait, What? Some Microbes Harvest Light Without Chlorophyll A familiar photosynthesis story begins with chlorophyll, photosystems and electron-transfer chains. Microbial rhodopsins reveal a different solution. A rhodopsin is a membrane protein that binds retinal, a light-sensitive molecule derived from carotenoid metabolism. When retinal absorbs a photon, it changes shape. That tiny molecular event can drive…
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How to Learn Scattering-Type Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscopy (s-SNOM) and Nano-FTIR: From Tip-Enhanced Near Fields to Nanoscale Infrared Chemistry and Polaritons
Science Hub Route Science Hub · Complete Science Index
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How to Learn X-Ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS): From Coherent Speckle Fluctuations to Nanoscale Dynamics, Glassy Aging and Ultrafast X-Ray Correlations
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