Experiment offers fresh insights into the origins of life on Earth
This “evolutionary conversion” provides a modern-day snapshot of how life as we understand it may have first evolved out of the earliest primordial mix of RNA-like molecules-sometimes referred to as the “pre-RNA world”-into a more complex form of RNA-based life (or the “RNA world”) and eventually to cellular life based on DNA and proteins. Nucleic acids are large complex molecules that store and convey genetic
Researchers develop new tool to find gene control regions
Researchers at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins have invented a cost-effective and highly efficient way of analyzing what many have termed “junk” DNA and identified regions critical for controlling gene function. And they have found that these control regions from different species don’t have to look alike to work alike. The study will be published online at Science Express March 23
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered how a protein called Pmel17 is sorted by pigment cells in the skin and eye to make a fiber matrix that eventually sequesters melanin, the dark pigment found in skin, hair, and eyes. Understanding the molecular steps prior to fiber formation – and when this process goes awry – may lead to a better understanding of melanoma and Alzheimer’s disease. Pmel17 is a major target within the immune system in current anti-mela
A virus of ocean origin that can cause a range of diseases in several animal species has been found in human blood samples. The virus, or antibodies to it, was found most often in the blood of individuals with liver damage, or hepatitis of unknown cause related to blood exposure.
A study on these findings was published Wednesday in the online edition of the Journal of Medical Virology, by scientists from Oregon State University, the Center for Pediatric Research at Eastern Virginia Medic
Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have synthesized chemicals that are up to 10 times more effective than isoniazid, the leading anti-tuberculosis drug. The finding could lead to badly needed new drugs for combating tuberculosis bacteria, which each year kill an estimated 2.4 million people worldwide. The study appears in the March issue of Chemistry & Biology.
One of the chemicals, 2-HA, was found to be four times more lethal than isoniazid a
Finding leads to new conclusions about marine environment
New evidence from open-sea experiments shows there’s a constant shuffling of genetic material going on among the ocean’s tiny plankton. It happens via ocean-dwelling viruses, scientists report this week in the journal Science.
Conducted by biological oceanographers Sallie Chisholm and her colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the research is uncovering a new facet of evolution and helpi
Everyone is equipped with a biological clock, a region in the brain the size of a corn kernel, which dictates our sleep-wake cycles, and plays a major role in our physical and mental health. Pioneering research conducted by Kent State professor Dr. David Glass has shown the body’s clock can be re-set – good news for people who work swing shifts, experience jet lag or take anti-depressants.
Glass, known internationally as the first researcher to measure serotonin release from the brai
Unique public-private partnership creates RNAi-based inhibitors for nearly every human and mouse gene, makes them available to all genetic researchers
An international public-private research team led by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard announced today the construction and availability of an extensive library of molecular reagents to silence most human and mouse genes. As described in the March 24 issue of Cell, this library consists of small RNA molecules t
New research led by biologists at the University of Warwick has revealed a new technique that could become a valuable way of identifying badger setts that harbour TB diseased and infectious badgers in regions where TB in cattle, caused by Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), is problematic.
The research paper published on Thursday 23rd March 2006, in the Royal Society’s scientific journal Biology Letters entitled “Is Mycobacterium bovis in the environment important for the
A new experiment has shed more light on the multi-decade debate about how the brain knows where limbs are without looking at them.
You don’t have to watch your legs and feet when you walk. Your brain knows where they are. For decades scientists have debated two options for how the brain achieves this:
(1) the outflow hypothesis says that the brain monitors signals it sends to the muscles telling them how strongly to contract, and uses this to predict where the limb has m
A recent study from Scandinavia shows that the well-known differences between individuals in the efficiency of converting energy stored in food to work done by muscles are related to muscle fibre type composition and to the content of specific molecules in muscle.
When muscles contract they use energy that is derived from food. It is a two-step process. The first step occurs in mitochondria, where the energy from molecules like glucose or fats is locked away in ATP (adenosine triph
Results from a large, randomised clinical trial for patients with breast cancer show that those who received bevacizumab (Avastin) in combination with paclitaxel (Taxol) survived without the disease getting worse for almost twice as long as patients who received paclitaxel alone. The results were announced today at the 5th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-5).
A total of 722 patients with locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer were enrolled in the study. Patients were random
The Scientific Advisory Committee of the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) has approved six new alternative testing methods that will reduce the need for certain drugs and chemicals to be tested on animals. The new tests use cell cultures rather than animals to establish the toxicity of cancer drugs and identify contaminated drugs. The tests approved today will not only reduce the number of animals needed for testing, but will also increase the accuracy of the tes
Researchers at Uppsala University have made the surprising discovery that the smallest possible mutation in a detoxification enzyme can alter what type of chemical reaction it will catalyse. The results has been published online by the respected journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS.
In all living organisms, molecules are transformed into new chemical substances through processes which are catalysed by enzymes. Enzymes are proteins whose catalysing cap
A new skin cream has shown promising results in the treatment of psoriasis and eczema. The cream contains fish enzymes and gelatine and is under development by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim and the University of Bergen, Norway.
Enzymes from roe
An important ingredient in the product is the enzyme zonase, which is found in fish eggs. The enzyme can break down dead skin cells without harming living cells. Used in th
The songs of the humpback whale are among the most complex in the animal kingdom. Researchers have now mathematically confirmed that whales have their own syntax that uses sound units to build phrases that can be combined to form songs that last for hours.
Until now, only humans have demonstrated the ability to use such a hierarchical structure of communication. The research, published online in the March 2006 issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, offers a new
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