Environ Geochem Health. 2026 Jul 2;48(10):430. doi: 10.1007/s10653-026-03332-3. ABSTRACT Improper discharge of untreated textile effluents comprising synthetic azo-dyes which are characterised by azo bond (-N = N-), poses severe environmental and public health concern due to persistence, toxicity and resistance towards conventional treatment techniques. This has created pressing need for low-cost, eco-friendly alternatives where microbial…

Nat Commun. 2026 Jul 2. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-75180-9. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Steroidal medicines are a vital class of pharmaceuticals, with their active ingredients primarily derived from natural steroids. A key step in their biosynthesis involves the isomerization of ∆5-3-ketosteroids to ∆4-3-ketosteroids, catalyzed by ketosteroid isomerase (KSI). In this study, we discover that KSI exhibits…

Anal Bioanal Chem. 2026 Jul 3. doi: 10.1007/s00216-026-06640-w. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Nanozymes (primarily peroxidase mimics) coupled with glucose oxidase (GOx) have emerged as an important approach for glucose sensing. However, the widespread application of this strategy is hampered by a critical pH mismatch, as most such nanozymes require an acidic environment for high…

Analyst. 2026 Jul 2. doi: 10.1039/d6an00405a. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is considered a potent carcinogenic mycotoxin and is commonly found in cereals and food products; therefore, its ultrasensitive detection is of great importance to public health. In this study, we developed an innovative dual-mode fluorescent aptasensor based on the entropy-driven strand…

ACS Synth Biol. 2026 Jul 1. doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.6c00196. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT The dynamic coupling relationship between the distal region and the region adjacent to the active site in enzymes is still poorly understood. The resultant trade-off among stability, catalytic activity, and enantioselectivity remains a big challenge in developing robust enzymes in agrochemistry. Here,…

Bioorg Chem. 2026 Jun 30;180:110193. doi: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2026.110193. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Biocatalytic CH bond activation offers a sustainable approach for the selective transformation of inert hydrocarbons. Unspecific peroxygenase (UPOs) are cofactor-free alternatives to P450 monooxygenase, capable of performing diverse oxygenation reactions on a broad range of substrates. In this study, we characterized a hypothetical…

Anal Chem. 2026 Jul 1. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.6c02955. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Interfacial energy level mismatch and inefficient charge extraction at bioelectrochemical interfaces have remained major bottlenecks for enzymatic biofuel cell-based self-powered sensing systems. Here, we reported a built-in electric field (BIEF) enabled self-powered sensing platform for intelligent dual-mode detection of 17β-estradiol (E2), featuring an…

Nat Prod Rep. 2026 Jul 1. doi: 10.1039/d6np00042h. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Covering: up to 2026Over the past decades, research on S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM)-dependent methyltransferases (MTs) has led to their emergence as highly selective biocatalysts for late-stage methylation reactions, serving as new tools within the chemoenzymatic synthesis of complex natural products and chemical scaffolds. Studies…