ACS Catal. 2026 Sep 4;16(17):17275-17283. doi: 10.1021/acscatal.6c04391. Epub 2026 Aug 24. ABSTRACT Enzyme engineering serves as a powerful tool in biocatalysis, enabling the development of enzymes with improved stability, activity, and specificity for a range of academic, industrial, and pharmaceutical applications. However, a limited understanding of sequence-structure-function relationships in terpene synthases, the enzymes that form…

FEMS Microbes. 2026 Aug 22;7:xtag045. doi: 10.1093/femsmc/xtag045. eCollection 2026. ABSTRACT The Altiplano-Puna plateau lies at ∼4000 m above sea level in the volcanic Andes cordillera. Together with the adjacent Atacama Desert, it forms one of the most hyperarid regions on the planet. Wetlands are rare, influenced by hydrothermalism and, due to high evaporation rates, dominated…

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2026 Sep 10:e8298635. doi: 10.1002/anie.8298635. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT The 59th Bürgenstock Conference brought together emerging concepts in photochemistry, catalysis, supramolecular chemistry, polymer science, biocatalysis, medicinal and extraterrestrial chemistry. Across diverse topics, the meeting explored how biological principles, light, molecular organization, and mechanistic understanding can inspire new approaches to…

Plant Commun. 2026 Sep 9:102094. doi: 10.1016/j.xplc.2026.102094. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Soybean (Glycine max) is a photoperiod-sensitive legume whose latitudinal adaptation depends on the precise control of flowering time and plant height. Histone demethylases of the JmjC domain-containing (JMJ) protein family have been implicated in these processes across plant species, but their specific roles…

J Agric Food Chem. 2026 Sep 9;74(35):27795-27807. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.6c09373. ABSTRACT Rare ginsenoside Rh2 has attracted increasing interest for its antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and metabolic regulatory activities. Enzymatic biotransformation provides a green and selective route for Rh2 production, but current systems suffer from inefficient cascade conversion and limited enzyme stability. Here, two β-glucosidases enabling the stepwise and…

J Agric Food Chem. 2026 Sep 9;74(35):27840-27849. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.6c10592. ABSTRACT Glycosylation of natural compounds modulates their bioactivity as well as their physicochemical properties, making glycodiversification a valuable strategy for identifying glycosidic derivatives with improved functional profiles. However, the use of glycosyltransferases (GTs) for their synthesis is constrained by stringent sugar nucleotide donor selectivity, which limits…

J Agric Food Chem. 2026 Sep 9;74(35):27743-27756. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.6c07673. ABSTRACT Enzyme engineering drives green biocatalysis but lacks diagnostic tools to distinguish transport-limited from binding-limited catalytic bottlenecks, causing unnecessary trial and error. We developed the combined pocket-tunnel diagnosis (CPTD) framework to identify the rate-limiting step. It integrates static structural analysis with molecular dynamics to diagnose geometric…

J Agric Food Chem. 2026 Sep 9;74(35):27731-27742. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.6c06400. ABSTRACT Cyclodextrin glucanotransferase (CGTase)-catalyzed glycosylation is an effective approach to improve flavonoid solubility and bioavailability, while poor substrate solubility and low selectivity often limit its practical application. Herein, a polysaccharide-based sugar-aqueous system coupled with cascade glycosylation-hydrolysis was developed for selective glycosylation of trilobatin. Compared with conventional…

J Agric Food Chem. 2026 Sep 9;74(35):27687-27697. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.6c05159. ABSTRACT Mannans are abundant plant hemicelluloses, and endo-β-mannanases are important biocatalysts for their conversion into functional manno-oligosaccharides. Here, we report the structural and functional characterization of a glycoside hydrolase family 134 β-mannanase from Aspergillus nidulans (AnGH134) and a structure-guided engineering strategy to improve its performance on…