Each year, over 300,000 people die of African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis). Researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) connected to the Free University of Brussels are making strides in the battle against this disease. They have coupled the human protein ApoL-1 with a nanobody in order to very specifically eliminate the infection caused by the pathogenic parasites, against which our defense mechanism is powerless. Tests on mice are already promising. The r
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have added a gene in the bacterium Salmonella to the short list of genes regulated by a new mechanism known as the riboswitch.
The Salmonella riboswitch is the first to sense and respond to a metal ion, substantially expanding the types of molecules that riboswitches can detect to help cells assess and react to their environment.
First identified in 2002, riboswitches sense when a protein is needed an
Researchers at the Institute of Biotechnology of the University of Helsinki have for the first time identified an internal electron transfer reaction that initiates the proton pump mechanism of the respiratory enzyme. These new results are published in the Thursday (April 6th) issue of Nature.
The functions of the lungs, the blood circulation, and the red blood cells in respiration are only an overture to the physicochemical reaction in the cells where oxygen is reduced to w
Biochemists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have made a surprising discovery about the inner workings of a powerful virus – a discovery that they hope could one day lead to better vaccines or anti-virus medications.
Reporting in the April issue of the Journal of Virology, the researchers have identified a protein that plays an important role in the ability of the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) to invade healthy cells and reproduce itself. The finding could play a
Dr. David Bentley (University of Colorado School of Medicine) and colleagues have developed a new, unified model for transcription termination by RNA Poymerase II. Over the years, research into the mechanism of poly(A) site-dependent transcription termination has generated two different models: the allosteric and the torpedo models.
The allosteric, or antiterminator, model proposes that transcription of the poly(A) site triggers conformational changes that destabilize the elongating RN
New discovery could help improve some forms of chemotherapy
The study is being published in an advance online version of the journal Molecular Cell.
The research looked at XPB helicase from an archaea, a single cell organism similar to bacteria. Helicases are enzymes that unwind or separate the strands of the nucleic acid double helix, an action that is critical to transcription and nucleotide excision repair (NER), as well as other cell processes.
“XPB was initial
Competition and conflict between males and females start inside the egg in some species, say scientists.
Birds, butterflies, and snakes have a genetic war between the sexes that influences the way they evolve, according to a new theory published in the April 7 issue of the journal Science.
“Genetic conflict is of great interest in evolutionary biology,” explained first author Paige M. Miller. Miller is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and
Research pioneers understanding of uranium toxicity
Low-grade uranium ore is nicknamed “yellowcake” for its color and powdered consistency. The Navajo have another name: Leetso, or “yellow monster.”
The yellow monster surfaced on the Navajo Nation with uranium mining that started in the 1940s and continued for the next several decades. In its aftermath came illnesses such as lung cancer among mine workers and worries about environmental contamination among people who l
A single dose of adult donor stem cells given to animals that have neurological damage similar to that experienced by adults with a stroke or newborns with cerebral palsy can significantly enhance recovery from these types of injuries, researchers say.
Using a commonly utilized animal model for stroke, researchers administered a dose of 200,000-400,000 human stem cells into the brain of animals that had experienced significant loss of mobility and other functions. The stem
Neural pathway could provide future drug targets for eating disorders
Researchers have discovered how the protein Hap1, which is abundant in the brain’s hypothalamus, serves as the link between circulating insulin in the blood and the neural circuitry that controls feeding behavior in mice. Illumination of the neural pathway used by hormones to regulate appetite and eating behavior could eventually provide new drug targets for treating eating disorders and obesity. The res
How long can you hold your breath? Scientists at the University of Oslo have recently discovered how the Crucian Carp, a close relative of the goldfish, is able to live for months without oxygen. The researchers hope that understanding how some animals cope with a lack of oxygen might give clues as to how to solve this problem in humans.
“Anoxia related diseases are the major causes of death in the industrialized world. We have here a situation where evolution has solved the problem of
A 37-year-old-mother, who gave birth to a low-weight preemie at 24 weeks, exhibited the first-found link in a human between bacteria found in the mouth and the amniotic fluid of a woman in preterm labor.
Using new DNA finger-printing techniques to find bacteria that cannot be cultured and grown in the lab, researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland made the
Provides new perspectives on disease associated with HIV/AIDS
Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have identified a critical human cell surface molecule involved in infection by Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV), the virus that causes Kaposi’s sarcoma and certain forms of lymphoma. Kaposi’s sarcoma is a major cancer associated with HIV/AIDS, and it typically manif
Researchers at the Institute of Biotechnology of the University of Helsinki have for the first time identified an internal electron transfer reaction that initiates the proton pump mechanism of the respiratory enzyme. These new results are published in the Thursday (April 6th) issue of Nature.
The functions of the lungs, the blood circulation, and the red blood cells in respiration are only an overture to the physicochemical reaction in the cells where oxygen is reduced to water.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh are to study the effects of nanoparticles on the liver. In a UK first, the scientists will assess whether nanoparticles –already found in pollution from traffic exhaust, but also used in making household goods such as paint, sunblock, food, cosmetics and clothes– can cause damage to the cells of the liver.
Nanoparticles are atoms and molecules 80,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, with various properties according to their compo
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and two other institutions have unraveled the structure of an important new drug target from the virus that causes SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome.
“By unlocking the three-dimensional structure of this enzyme — known as papain-like-protease (PLpro) — we now have a molecular road map to design new drugs that could potentially treat SARS-infected patients, or perhaps patients suffering from other SARS-related illnesses s
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