The Patent - Invention Magazine
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biochemistry

Biology

Ancestral Enzyme Variant Generates ATP with Fewer Amino Acids

Biochemists at Waseda University and the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences have engineered a simplified ancestral enzyme that generates cellular energy without the amino acid traditionally required for the reaction. The biological invention, an engineered variant designated Arc1-12KR, produces adenosine triphosphate by combining two precursor molecules at a rate 7,500 times faster than earlier synthetic models. Described in research released in October 2026, the work provides a structural framework for designing stripped-down catalytic proteins.

Letizia Giugliano

Chemistry

Soil Bacterium from Iran Yields Two New Chemical Compounds

Biochemists in Germany have isolated two previously unknown natural molecules, lavasamycin A and B, from a bacterial strain collected in Iran. The study shows that lavasamycin A stops the growth of Bacillus subtilis, pointing to chemical structures that could aid the invention of new antimicrobial agents.

Giovanni Sapere

Makers

Study Finds Plastics Generate Reactive Radicals in Water

A scientific study published in Nature has disproven the longstanding assumption that plastics remain chemically inert in aquatic environments. Researchers led by Naixin Qian discovered that common polymers generate reactive hydroxyl radicals upon contact with water, causing measurable damage to living cells.

Letizia Giugliano