 In our first Issue of the year, S. Walker and co-workers discuss wall teichoic acid function, biosynthesis, and inhibition. Wall teichoic acids have profound effects on the physiology of Gram-positive organisms and impact antibiotic susceptibility and survival within a host. L. Ma and S. L. Cockroft review the advances in nanopore-based techniques for single molecule biophysics (see picture). Their Minireview describes how these techniques will also provide valuable contributions to the emerging fields of nanobiotechnology and synthetic biology. In his concept article, A. Deiters covers the principles and applications of the photochemical control of cellular processes. He presents different approaches for caging small molecules, DNA, and proteins, and discusses the requirements for efficient light regulation of cellular processes by using caged molecules. In the original research section, M. J. Dickens and K. J. Franz describe a new boronic ester-masked prochelator that is activated under conditions that mimic early Alzheimer's pathology. Once activated to its unmasked form, the released chelator diminishes copper's pro-oxidant reactivity and inhibits amyloid-β aggregation. Rounding out the original research section, J. P. Snyder and co-workers examine the possibility of a second, low-affinity binding site for taxane ligands in both tubulin dimers and oligomers. Using molecular dynamics simulations and structural considerations of the microtubule pore and tubulin dimer, they conclude that postulation of a low-affinity site is unnecessary to explain the available experimental data. ChemBioChem wishes you a productive 2010. Browse Issue 1/2010 now.
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