Li Yuan - Novel probe helps to detect deep sea biological macromolecules: https://phys.org/news/2023-03-probe-deep-sea-biological-macromolecules.html #RamanScattering #InsertionProbe #RiPSERS #AcetylCoA #βCarotene #AminoAcids #BiologicalMacromolecules #CAS #Spectroscopy #DeepSea #SeepVents #Biomolecules #Biology #Oceanology

Researchers at the University of Notre Dame have observed for the first time a chiral water superstructure templated around a biomolecule. Although many studies have demonstrated the direct interaction of water with highly important macromolecules like DNA, the latest study is a final confirmation that water forms a unique and enduring super-structure around the DNA double helix -- stabilizing the molecular conformation, mediating its functionality and interaction with important information intermediaries like RNA polymerase. Taken in consideration with other recent reports, such as the direct mapping of molecular couplings and energy exchange between DNA backbone vibrations and water with femtosecond infrared spectroscopy, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the central role of water in some of the most important of biological functions. Water forms hydration patterns around biomolecules via hydrogen bond interactions -- and is so crucial in organizing and orchestrating the cellular environment that researchers like Gerald Pollack have even highlighted its importance as the possible progenitor to the cellular membrane -- giving birth to the first cells of life. https://www.resonancescience.org/blog/Chiral-water-super-structure-forms-around-DNA