Mitochondria are the cell’s equivalent of power stations. A power station burns fuel to build up steam pressure and uses that pressure to drive a turbine linked to a dynamo. This in turn generates electricity. In mitochondria, the fuel is oxidised and builds up a pressure of hydrogen ions (protons). These force through molecular turbines and enable the cell to generate ATP, an energy unit that can be used throughout the cell.
Just as you can work out a power station’s efficiency by seeing
Placing your foot accurately is a complicated process. If something moves where you plan to place your foot then you can adjust your step while your foot is swinging through. Experts thought previously that if nothing changed in the path, or in your plans, then the place where your foot will land is fixed before it even leaves the ground. In this case, you would make no use of immediate visual information during each step.
Researchers monitored the accuracy with which subjects could step
Researchers at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease have identified a potential new way to stop brain cell death related to Alzheimer’s disease.
Working with cell cultures, the scientists investigated how amyloid beta proteins, which build up in the brain tissue of people with Alzheimer’s disease, kill neurons. The cell cultures were established from brain tissue of laboratory rats. Study findings showed that amyloid beta could be prevented from causing neuronal c
Study suggests that histone deacetylase enzymes cooperating with CBP/p300 histone acetylases trigger expression of many genes that respond to hypoxia, according to St. Jude
A biochemical mechanism that cells use to cope with hypoxia (lack of oxygen) actually cooperates with a less well-known mechanism that helps increase the expression of those hypoxia-sensitive genes, according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The two mechanisms each enab
Study sheds new light on this critical protein’s involvement in autoimmunity and chronic, corrosive joint inflammation
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the joints, which gradually erodes the cartilage and bone. The agents of destruction include inflammatory cells, cytokines, and protein-degrading enzymes known as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). The vicious cycle begins when inflammatory cells infiltrate the tissue
The mutation was not found in patients’ parents’ DNA
Gene mutations in the HRAS sequence are present in most patients affected with Costello syndrome, according to a new study in the American Journal of Medical Genetics. The mutations occurred de novo in patients, meaning, they were not observed in their parents’ genes. The study is published in the December issue of the journal, which is published by John Wiley & Sons. It is also available online via Wiley Inters
From a Russian volcanic island, a hot new find
Take a pot of scalding water, remove all the oxygen, mix in a bit of poisonous carbon monoxide, and add a pinch of hydrogen gas. It sounds like a recipe for a witch’s brew. It may be, but it is also the preferred environment for a microbe known as Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans.
In a paper published in the November 27th issue of PLoS Genetics, a research team led by scientists at The Institute for Genomic Researc
Findings may help in development of new anti-inflammatory compounds
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers studying the enzyme that triggers inflammation have found that it may be a target for a new class of anti-inflammatory drugs to treat arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis, lung and colon cancers and Alzheimer’s disease.
In the December issue of the Journal of Lipid Research, researchers examined the structural make-up of ceramide which is a target molecule for
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have found that changes in the plasma lipoprotein profile of patients with severe periodontitis – a condition characterized by chronic infection and inflammation of the gums – may contribute to these patients’ elevated risk for heart disease and stroke.
The findings suggest that it may be beneficial to test periodontitis patients for changes in their plasma lipoprotein profiles, so that available medication can be taken if necessary.
Lake Superior has a new native resident. It’s been hanging around the shore for years, but until now it was regarded as an intercontinental drifter, not a homegrown local. So say Rebecca Bixby of the University of Georgia and fellow researchers Mark Edlund of the Science Museum of Minnesota and Eugene Stoermer from the University of Michigan. In the latest issue of Diatom Research, the scientists describe a new species of diatom, Hannaea superiorensis, found primarily in Lake Superior. Prior to
A University of Oregon chemist has “supersized” carbon-rich molecules, enabling researchers for the first time to test theories about the useful properties of synthetic forms of carbon. The discovery by Mike Haley will be published as the cover story in the Dec. 9 edition of the Journal of Organic Chemistry (JOC). The article also appears on the JOC website.
Scientists have long predicted that unnatural forms of carbon could have many technologically useful properties, much like
Memory formation follows a dynamic pattern, allowing for retrieval from different areas of the brain, depending on when an organism needs to remember, said a researcher at Baylor College of Medicine.
That is what Dr. Ron L. Davis, professor of molecular and cellular biology at BCM, theorizes, based on his most recent report on the topic that finds a memory trace in Drosophila or fruit flies is formed in a pair of neurons called the dorsal pair medial neurons, but only 30 minutes
Using a new form of microscopy to penetrate living lymph nodes, UCSF scientists have for the first time viewed immune cells at work, helping clarify how T cells control autoimmunity.
The technique, known as two-photon laser-scanning microscopy, was able to focus deep within the lymph node of a diabetic mouse, allowing the researchers to show that immune cells known as T regulatory, or Treg, cells control the destructive action of rogue autoimmune cells when each of the two cel
In a series of experiments in animals, researchers at Johns Hopkins have successfully used a technique that tracks mesenchymal stem cells via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to monitor the progress of the cells in repairing tissue scarred by heart attack.
The Hopkins findings, presented in November at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions and published in a supplement to the journal Circulation, are believed to be the first demonstration of how the technique,
Scientists have a tough time visualizing the tiny hatchways that allow nutrients to pass into our cells, but a group of Purdue University biologists may have found the next best thing: a glimpse into the workings of the “motor” that opens and closes them.
A research team led by Jue Chen has clarified the connection between these minuscule gates – which are called membrane transport proteins – and the steps by which they use a cell’s energy to permit or deny materials entry
Scientists have uncovered key new information towards understanding the crucial first step in protein synthesis, the process by which the genetic code, harbored within DNA and copied into RNA, is translated into the production of proteins. This new information also helps to explain how viruses, such as Hepatitis C, are able to highjack protein synthesis machinery in humans for their own purposes.
Biochemist Jennifer Doudna and biophysicist Eva Nogales, both of whom hold j
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