Cyanobacteria play pivotal roles in global biogeochemical cycles and aquatic ecosystems due to their widespread distribution and significant contributions to primary production. Yet, the interactions ...

This work introduces the concept of pseudoglucosinolates (psGSLs) and reports the synthesis and evaluation of nitroreductase-responsive psGSLs. These compounds represent a complementary prodrug strat....

Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) utilizes light, oxygen and a photosensitizer (PS) to enact cell death via the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This mechanism of cell death, via o...

Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) utilizes light, oxygen and a photosensitizer (PS) to enact cell death via the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This mechanism of cell death, via…

Communications Chemistry, Published online: 29 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s42004-025-01654-4N-acyl tyrosines are key biomolecules produced by diverse bacterial phyla, yet their biosynthetic pathways remain largely unknown. Here, the authors identify a pathway for N-acyl dehydrotyrosine biosynthesis in members of the phylum Planctomycetota based on conserved genes encoding a putative adenylyltransferase/cyclase, nitroreductase and the hallmark protein N-acyl amino acid synthase (NasY).

Improved nitroreductase variants, optimized prodrugs, and careful experimental design enable scalable, precise cell ablation across model systems for disease modeling, regeneration studies, and high-throughput...

Bone metastasis is a leading cause of mortality in breast cancer patients. Monitoring biomarkers for bone metastasis in breast cancer is crucial for the development of effective interventional treatments. Despite being a highly vascularized tissue, the bone presents a particularly hypoxic environment. Tumor

Structures of NAD(P)H nitroreductases from Klebsiella pneumoniae have been determined at resolutions of 1.97, 1.90 and 1.35 Å.

The enzyme nitroreductase I (NTRI) has been implicated as the primary gene responsible for resistanc

**초록:** 본 연구는 니트로레덕타제(Nitroreductase, NTR)의 촉매 반응에서 나타나는 양자역학적 터널링 현상이 반응 속도 및 선택성에 미치는 영향을 정밀하게 분석하고, 양자-고전 결합 효과를 수학적 모델링 및 실험적 검증을 통해 최적화하는 방안을 제시한다. 특히, 효소 활성 부위 내 양자 코어화 현상의 형성과 소멸에 따른 터널링 확률 변화를 정량화하고, 이를 기반으로 반응 속도론적 상수(rate constant)의 정확한 예측 모델을 개발한다. 본 연구는 효소 촉매 반응의 효율성을 극대화하고, 새로운 촉매 디자인 전략을 제시함으로써 환경 오염 물질 제거 및 바이오 연료 생산 분야에 핵심적인 기여를 할 것으로 기대된다.

A New PET Imaging Tracer Lights Up the Hypoxic Heart of Tumors Researchers have developed a novel class of radiotracers for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging designed to specifically detect tumor hypoxia. This approach leverages nitroreductase enzymes, which are overexpressed in hypoxic tumor microenvironments, to activate the imaging agent. The study, published in *Molecular Pharmaceutics*, details the synthesis and preclinical validation of these responsive tracers, which offer a potential method for non-invasively mapping oxygen-deficient regions within cancers.

The ability to induce cell death in a controlled stereotypic manner has led to the discovery of evol

The enzyme nitroreductase I (NTRI) has been implicated as the primary gene responsible for resistanc

The ability to induce cell death in a controlled stereotypic manner has led to the discovery of evol