Mitochondrion, the powerhouse of the cells, has emerged as one of the unorthodox targets in anticancer therapy due to its involvement in several cellular functions. However, the development of small molecules for selective mitochondrial damage in cancer cells remained limited and less explored. To address this, in our work, we have synthesized a natural product inspired cyanine-based 3-methoxy pyrrole small molecule library by a concise strategy. This strategy involves Vilsmeier and Pd(0) catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reactions as key steps. The screening of the library members in HeLa cervical cancer cells revealed two new molecules that localized into subcellular mitochondria and damaged them. These small molecules perturbed antiapoptotic (Bcl-2/Bcl-xl) and pro-apoptotic (Bax) proteins to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). Molecular docking studies showed that both molecules bind more tightly with the BH3 domain of Bcl-2 proteins compared to obatoclax (a pan-Bcl-2 inhibitor). These novel small molecules arrested the cell cycle in the G0/G1 phase, cleaved caspase-3/9, and finally prompted late apoptosis. This small molecule-mediated mitochondrial damage induced remarkably high cervical cancer cell death. These unique small molecules can be further explored as chemical biology tools and next-generation organelle-targeted anticancer therapy.

Protein folding is a very complex process and to this date, the mechanism of folding still intrigues the research community. Despite a large conformational space available O(10^{143}) most proteins fold...

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Reduced activity of enzymes upon immobilization is a major challenge for the industrial use of enzymes. Enzyme–surface interactions and interactions between the immobilized enzymes are thought of as primary reasons for the reduced activity. In the current paper, we study the thermal and structural stability of proteins on a patterned hydrophobic surface in the framework of a hydrophobic–polar lattice model. Our results indicate that, while a homogeneous hydrophobic surface denatures the proteins, carefully patterned surfaces can dramatically increase the stability of adsorbed proteins. The size, shape, and the distance between surface patterns play a significant role in determining the stability of proteins. When the spacing between the patterns is large, maximum stability is observed when the surface pattern is complementary to the exposed hydrophobic domain of the protein, while at smaller spacing, patterns with lower hydrophobicity stabilize the protein more compared to the complementary pattern. The findings from the paper can be rationalized to design novel enzyme-specific surfaces for immobilization with enhanced enzymatic activity.

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