Biomolecules such as amino acids and sugars occur in two mirror-image forms -- in all living organisms, however, only one is ever found. Why this is the case is still unclear. Researchers have now ...

Scientists have long wondered how the first complex biomolecules arose from the abiotic ooze. After all, life on Earth today requires enzymes to make basic biomolecules such as peptides—short chains ...

Amino acids are the building blocks of life and are encoded by DNA. Enzymes and structural proteins are made of amino acids, and are used as precursors for other important biomolecules in the body. In ...

A team led by distinguished chemistry professor Graham Cooks published a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that examined a mechanism for peptide-forming reactions that occur in ...

In recent years, scientists have found amino acids and proteins — the building blocks of life as we know it — on pristine space rocks, suggesting that the biomolecules can form in space. Now, new ...

Scientists have succeeded in reconstructing biomolecules in their mirror-image form. The researchers' goal is to create a mirror-image artificial protein synthesis system. Their aim is to produce ...

Harvard University postdoctoral researcher Erkin Kuru’s journey in biological sciences started back in his undergraduate days in his home country of Turkey. Eventually, he decided to pursue a PhD in ...

The first amino acid, discovered in 1806, had a disarmingly ordinary source: asparagus juice. Hence the name asparagine. The next amino acids to be discovered had sources that were, if anything, even ...