Institute of
bioorganic chemistry

Proteins and other biopolymers can form in solution macrocomplexes, which at certain conditions are visible under the microscope («coacervate droplets»). The latter process is known to shape subcellular organization and for a century is considered to also impact plausible life-origin scenarios. Researchers from IBCh RAS and University of Vienna present a newly derived fractal model to describe atomistic structure of such protein condensates and using the N-terminal disordered fragment (80 residues) of the yeast transcription regulator Lge1 as a test system. The proposed theoretical model describes protein condensates across various scales in line with the general principles of colloidal system self-organization. The study combining complementary results of microsecond molecular dynamics simulations and in vitro biophysical experiments has been published in eLife. Learn more

Researchers from the Laboratory of Antibiotic Resistance and the Laboratory of Molecular Design and Synthesis at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry RAS, have compiled a comprehensive overview of the latest strides in phenotypic bacterial screening. The progress in novel physicochemical approaches for such screening, along with enhancements in data processing methodologies, is perspective for comprehensive frameworks to characterize microbial morphology. Notable areas of vigorous advancement encompass novel microbial profiling principles, the integration of machine learning strategies for data interpretation, and the miniaturizing of phenotyping techniques using microfluidic systems. This study was supported by the RSF grant No. 23-24-00409 and has been published in the Antibiotics journal.

Scientists from the Laboratory of Molecular Bases of Embryogenesis at the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with researchers from the Kharkevich Institute for Problems of Information Transmission, Russian Academy of Sciences, have pioneered a method for wide-scale identification of genes whose loss or emergence during evolution correlates with the disappearance or emergence of distinct phenotypic or physiological traits. As a proof of concept, the team pinpointed genes involved in limb regeneration among fish and amphibians, traits absent in reptiles, birds, and mammals lacking this regenerative ability. The developed approach provides an extensive range of opportunities for investigating the intricate interplay between the changes in phenotypic and physiological traits and the specific genetic transformations that occur throughout evolution. This research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant 23-74-30005 and published in the journal Biology Direct. Learn more

Diabetes is one of the significant risk factors for ischemic stroke. Hyperglycemia exacerbates the pathogenesis of stroke, leading to more extensive cerebral damage. It is logical to assume that more extensive tissue damage during ischemia should somehow correlate with the severity of oxidative stress. A team of scientists from the IBCh RAS and other Russian institutions record for the first time the real-time dynamics of H2O2 in the brain tissues of rats during development of ischemic stroke under conditions of hyperglycemia. To accomplish this, a highly sensitive HyPer7 biosensor and a fiber-optic interface technology were used. Authors demonstrated that a high glycemic status does not affect the generation of H2O2 in the tissues of the ischemic core, while significantly exacerbating the consequences of pathogenesis. For the first time using Raman microspectroscopy approach, scientists have shown how a sharp increase in the blood glucose level increases the relative amount of reduced cytochromes in the mitochondrial electron transport chain in neurons under normal conditions in awake mice. The results are published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine journal.

Researchers from the Laboratory of neuroreceptors and neuroregulators of IBCh RAS have improved the method of genomic DNA preparation from fungi for PCR diagnostics. The authors constructed special chaotropic mixtures for obtaining highly purified cell envelopes included DNA by high-temperature extraction from yeast biomass. Chaotropic mixture consisted from 7M urea, 1% SDS, 100 mM ammonia, 25 mM sodium citrate shown best effectiveness. This mixture provided almost complete removal of RNA and lipids, as well as most of the proteins, followed single-stage production of DNA-containing cell envelopes suitable for PCR. The approach developed in this study is promising for PCR diagnostics and taxonomic studies of yeast and other microorganism having stable cell wall. The study is published in the journal Analytica Chimica Acta. Learn more