Background
The interactions occurring between biomolecules rely on sophisticated, dynamic molecular mechanisms that must be tightly controlled within very crowded environments, such as cellular compartments. Interestingly, flexible molecular surfaces, as opposed to rigid ones, have evolutionarily been selected to perform the tasks of recognition/regulation/signaling. This may justify the huge functionality and affinity of biomolecules towards their partners, be it small molecules, ions or macromolecular complexes. The molecular mechanisms underlying the role of receptors, chaperones and enzymes, for example, depict the importance of this concept well. Unveiling the molecular tenets of the interactions between proteins, nucleic acids, peptides, lipids, small molecules and ions is not only propaedeutic to understand the biological basis of life, but also impactful on research fields of the XXI century. These modern disciplines include synthetic biology, supramolecular chemistry, and computational molecular design, where single molecular “building-blocks” are arranged to create biological or hybrid complexes with novel structural and/or functional features thus suggesting application in the biotechnology and bionanotechnology fields.
Goal
This Research Topic is addressed to report on examples of interactions between bio-inspired materials (such as nanostructures) and biomolecules, and between biomolecules themselves, in order to reproduce in vitro naturally occurring complexes or assemble new, hybrid structures exhibiting novel structural and/or functional properties. Namely, the Topic welcomes both fundamental and applied studies where naturally occurring supramolecular complexes, or between biomolecules and non-natural materials (including nanoparticles, bioinspired structures and carbon-based materials as well as nanostructured surfaces) are assembled. There will be a special emphasis on the characterization of the interactions between the partners.
Due to the growing interest in the last few years towards materials based on biological building-blocks for many applications, such as plasmon-enhanced next-generation sequencing, biomolecular detection and biosensing, this Topic aims to provide new ideas for both fundamental and applied science at a molecular level.
Scope and information for Authors
This Research Topic welcomes articles that explore, but are not limited to, the following themes:
• Advanced techniques and strategies for biomolecular surfaces investigation and bio-inspired materials assembling
• Novel biological assemblies (e.g., protein-protein, protein-nuclei acids, peptide-nucleic acids, etc.)
• Novel hybrid bio-organic and -inorganic assemblies (e.g., protein-nanoparticles, DNA-graphene, etc.)
• Biological or hybrid assemblies obtained by switchable interactions (pH-, acid-, ligand-induced, etc.)
• Biochemical and computational analysis of interacting biomolecular surfaces
• Applications in biotechnology and/or bionanotechnology
Dr. Ardini holds patents related to the Research Topic, all other members of the Editorial Team declare no competing interests.
Background
The interactions occurring between biomolecules rely on sophisticated, dynamic molecular mechanisms that must be tightly controlled within very crowded environments, such as cellular compartments. Interestingly, flexible molecular surfaces, as opposed to rigid ones, have evolutionarily been selected to perform the tasks of recognition/regulation/signaling. This may justify the huge functionality and affinity of biomolecules towards their partners, be it small molecules, ions or macromolecular complexes. The molecular mechanisms underlying the role of receptors, chaperones and enzymes, for example, depict the importance of this concept well. Unveiling the molecular tenets of the interactions between proteins, nucleic acids, peptides, lipids, small molecules and ions is not only propaedeutic to understand the biological basis of life, but also impactful on research fields of the XXI century. These modern disciplines include synthetic biology, supramolecular chemistry, and computational molecular design, where single molecular “building-blocks” are arranged to create biological or hybrid complexes with novel structural and/or functional features thus suggesting application in the biotechnology and bionanotechnology fields.
Goal
This Research Topic is addressed to report on examples of interactions between bio-inspired materials (such as nanostructures) and biomolecules, and between biomolecules themselves, in order to reproduce in vitro naturally occurring complexes or assemble new, hybrid structures exhibiting novel structural and/or functional properties. Namely, the Topic welcomes both fundamental and applied studies where naturally occurring supramolecular complexes, or between biomolecules and non-natural materials (including nanoparticles, bioinspired structures and carbon-based materials as well as nanostructured surfaces) are assembled. There will be a special emphasis on the characterization of the interactions between the partners.
Due to the growing interest in the last few years towards materials based on biological building-blocks for many applications, such as plasmon-enhanced next-generation sequencing, biomolecular detection and biosensing, this Topic aims to provide new ideas for both fundamental and applied science at a molecular level.
Scope and information for Authors
This Research Topic welcomes articles that explore, but are not limited to, the following themes:
• Advanced techniques and strategies for biomolecular surfaces investigation and bio-inspired materials assembling
• Novel biological assemblies (e.g., protein-protein, protein-nuclei acids, peptide-nucleic acids, etc.)
• Novel hybrid bio-organic and -inorganic assemblies (e.g., protein-nanoparticles, DNA-graphene, etc.)
• Biological or hybrid assemblies obtained by switchable interactions (pH-, acid-, ligand-induced, etc.)
• Biochemical and computational analysis of interacting biomolecular surfaces
• Applications in biotechnology and/or bionanotechnology
Dr. Ardini holds patents related to the Research Topic, all other members of the Editorial Team declare no competing interests.