ArticleScientific reports2021
Perchlorate salts confer psychrophilic characteristics in α-chymotrypsin.
Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Remarks on Life Feasibility on the Red Planet.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- Emergent ribozyme behaviors in oxychlorine brines indicate a unique niche for molecular evolution on Mars.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Preservation of Bacillus subtilis' cellular liquid state at deep sub-zero temperatures in perchlorate brines.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Crystal Structure, Raman, FTIR, UV-Vis Absorption, Photoluminescence Spectroscopy, TG-DSC and Dielectric Properties of New Semiorganic Crystals of 2-Methylbenzimidazolium Perchlorate.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Studies of salt effects on enzyme activity have typically been conducted at standard temperatures and pressures, thus missing effects which only become apparent under non-standard conditions. Here we show that perchlorate salts, which are found pervasively on Mars, increase the activity of α-chymotrypsin at low temperatures. The low temperature activation is facilitated by a reduced enthalpy of activation owing to the destabilising effects of perchlorate salts. By destabilising α-chymotrypsin, the perchlorate salts also cause an increasingly negative entropy of activation, which drives the reduction of enzyme activity at higher temperatures. We have also shown that α-chymotrypsin activity appears to exhibit an altered pressure response at low temperatures while also maintaining stability at high pressures and sub-zero temperatures. As the effects of perchlorate salts on the thermodynamics of α-chymotrypsin's activity closely resemble those of psychrophilic adaptations, it suggests that the presence of chaotropic molecules may be beneficial to life operating in low temperature environments.
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Registered trials
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