Themed collection Biophysics and biophysical chemistry in PCCP

Microsecond protein folding experiments and computation combine to provide validated atomistic pictures of folding for small proteins.

Current state-of-the-art in X-ray crystallography, quantum chemistry and molecular simulation studies of the nucleic acids backbone is reviewed.

Structure and organisation of detergent clusters using ion mobility mass spectrometry. Mechanism of gas-phase detergent release from membrane protein complexes.

The parameters governing the rate, yield, and mechanism of DNA-mediated charge transport are explored in a variety of experimental systems.

Small synthetic fluorophores termed ‘molecular rotors’ were used for quantitative measurements and imaging of microviscosity in live biological cells.

Dock-and-coalesce is the unifying mechanism for the binding of intrinsically disordered proteins, and allows for calculation of binding rate constants.

The physical chemistry of lipids in lipid membranes is entering a new era.

Descriptions of protein folding as diffusion along low-dimensional reaction coordinates capture the observed simulation dynamics and help interpret single-molecule experiments.

Rugged RNA folding landscapes give rise to multiple native states that may impart adaptive advantages on an evolving RNA quasispecies.

Recent developments in the theory of charge effects in biological DNA-related systems are discussed.

Oligonucleotide building blocks with tailored properties for controlled self-assembly complex structural motifs.

Using a combination of optical trapping, fluorescence microscopy and microfluidics allows studying individual proteins binding to DNA with a localization accuracy of better than 10 nm.

Time bunching effect, implying that conformational motion times tend to bunch in a finite time window, is identified to be associated with substrate-enzyme complex formation in T4 lysozyme conformational dynamics under enzymatic reactions.

A critical review of theoretical approaches to explain protein search for targets on DNA is presented.

Optical imaging of single molecules using azimuthally and radially polarized laser modes gives a new insight into excited-state tautomerization.

Single-molecule enzyme studies are discussed in the context of complementary ensemble averaged experimental techniques.

This article discusses the non-specific binding problem in developing cellular imaging nanoprobes and the role of coating chemistry to solve it.

Mitochondria, considered the “powerhouse” of the living cell, can do bioelectrocatalysis of pyruvate, fatty acids, and amino acids at electrode surfaces for biofuel cell applications.

Supported lipid bilayers at different surface charge and composition as nanoplatforms for the electrostatically-driven immobilization of ferritin.

The lipid distribution in a mixed supported lipid monolayer was directly measured with high lateral resolution in the first full-spectral image on phase separated lipid domains.

Heavy metal glue: metallophilic attraction and the metal⋯base interactions reinforce stability of Hg^II–nucleic acid.

We present a novel method for single molecule tracking which results in reliable trajectories even for blinking molecules of low intensity.

We performed theoretical calculations to investigate the stability of the guanine–cytosine base pair under the influence of electric fields. Our results demonstrate that the base pair geometry might be tuned by modulating the intensity of the field, which in turn governs the promotion of selective mutations of DNA.

Time-resolved physicochemical properties of phospholipid bilayers are influenced by the presence of D₂O: molecular dynamics simulations are verified by fluorescence measurements.

Atomistic simulations and new theoretical concepts help to rationalize the surprising charge transfer pathway in a blue light receptor protein.

A systematic comparison of the AMBER, GROMOS and OPLS force fields on small Aβ_16–22 oligomers.

A 2-hydroxyazobenzene platform is used to reversibly photo-generate up to one unit pH drops in pure water under UV illumination.

Confocal microscopy and single-molecule spectroscopy reveal the working action and principles of antifading agents (ROXS and commercially available compounds such as Vectashield and Ibidi-MM) used for fluorescence-based biological imaging and general fluorescence applications.

Conformational isomerization occurs during supersonic expansion with solvents.

The combination of the single-molecule and the ensemble-averaged spectroscopy is necessary to provide convincing and comprehensive assignments of protein kinetics.

The energy landscape of the p53-Mdm2 complex is derived from the Jarzynski identity by analyzing the unbinding and stretching data.

Two-dimensional infrared spectra of N₃ vibrations of 2′-azido-2′-deoxyuridine establish its vibrational frequency–frequency correlation function in water and THF, and its improved sensitivity compared with nitriles.

Selective encapsulation and transport of amino acid from solution to the gas phase.

A new self-consistent procedure to construct temperature-dependent multidimensional conformation space networks from single molecule time series.

The main contributions to interactions of enzymes with typical ionic liquids are electrostatic interactions with anions and van der Waals interactions with cations.

Tracking individual molecules in cells reveals subdiffusion with apparently random amplitudes—we here analyse time averages and discuss data analysis methods.

Power law blinking of single TDI molecules can be suppressed by red excitation, increasing the photostability by two orders of magnitude.

The fluorescence of single 20 nm diameter gold nanoparticles is increased several orders of magnitude upon a controlled moderate local heating by a laser beam.