A team of researchers has discovered a molecular missing link that helps explain why fasting brings on acute attacks of the genetic disease hepatic porphyria, according to a new report in the 26 August issue of the journal Cell. The finding could help improve treatments for those suffering from the disease, which may have been the culprit behind the “madness” of King George III of England.
Porphyria disease is caused by defects in the enzyme pathway that produces heme, a critical iron
Achieving equality between the sexes can be a challenge even for single cells. Since evolution began removing bits of male DNA to create the “Y” chromosome, males have had a single copy of certain key genes on the X chromosome, whereas females have two. Normally this would lead females to produce twice the amount of some proteins, which could be fatal, but cells have developed ways to prevent this. Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg have now made a bre
The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum uses different pathways to invade red blood cells, evading the body’s immune system and complicating efforts to create effective vaccines against the disease. A research team led by Australia’s Alan F. Cowman, an international research scholar with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has identified a gene that the parasite uses to switch back and forth between invasion pathways.
Researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in La
A newly discovered protein not only is vital to the immune system’s ability to fight off viral infections but also has been found in an unexpected location within the cell, causing researchers to rethink previous notions about the workings of the human immune system.
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center said their findings may lead to new therapies aimed at preventing and treating viral diseases such as the flu, hepatitis, West Nile virus and SARS. The study is avai
PGC-1 mediates effects of nutrition on blood disease porphyria
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers say they have uncovered a molecular explanation for the episodic attacks of irrational and demented behavior in porphyria, the disease believed to have afflicted “Mad” King George III, the British ruler blamed for the loss of the American colonies in the Revolutionary War.
The mental and physical symptoms of porphyria, a rare genetic blood disease which a number of
Researchers have discovered how the abnormal repetition of a genetic sequence can have disastrous consequences that lead to the death of neurons that govern balance and motor coordination. The studies bolster the emerging theory that neurodegenerative disorders can be caused by having extra copies of a normal protein, not just a mutated one.
People who are afflicted with the rare neurodegenerative disorder spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) suffer damage to cerebellar Purkinje
Three confocal microscopic images of a cell stained with an antibody that detects the protein MAVS (left), Mito-Tracker (center), and an overlay of the green and red images (right) that indicates the mitochondrial localization of MAVS.
Researchers have discovered a surprise lurking inside mitochondria, the power plants that are present in every cell. It turns out that these powerhouses also contain a protein that triggers the immune system to attack viral invaders.
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Five years ago x-ray crystallography made it possible for the first time to study ribosomes in cells, where the all-important synthesis of proteins takes place. But it hasnt been understood just how amino acids are joined together to form proteins. Now researchers at Uppsala University have discovered the only possible mechanism and have used it to explain a number of biochemical experiments.
The new findings, being published in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National
The brain plays an important role in the maintenance of proper bone density, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have revealed.
The results of this research, involving a study of the activity of the protein interleukin 1 in the brain, comprise not only a breakthrough in understanding the regulation of bone density by the brain but also hold promise for the development of future treatment for osteoporosis, say the researchers. An article about their work appears in th
The sense of smell in women who are on the pill is tuned in to food, while women who are not on the pill are better at picking up the odor of male sweat. This is shown by Swedish and American researchers in the latest issue of Biological Psychology.
It has long been known that the use of hormones affects the sense of smell in humans, but this influence has been seen as general, that is, that the sensitivity to all smells is impacted to the same extent. The researchers study at th
An international team of transplant physicians has shown that the investigational drug belatacept (LEA29Y) preserves transplanted kidney function as effectively as cyclosporine, the drug most commonly used to prevent the immune system from rejecting transplanted organs. At the same time, belatacept avoids many of the toxic side effects that adversely affect kidney function, blood pressure and cholesterol levels of patients undergoing long-term anti-rejection therapy with immunosuppressant drug
New research from Sweden has shown that psychological stress does not appear to influence the outcome of IVF – good news for women who fear that the understandable anxiety that they suffer during fertility treatment might damage their chances of conceiving.
“This means that we can use these findings to reassure women and this information should, in itself, help to reduce their stress and worry levels,” said lead author Dr Lisbeth Anderheim whose team’s research is reported t
Chemists at Ohio State University have gained new insight into how sunlight affects DNA. And what they found overturns ideas about genetic mutation that originated decades ago.
In the current issue of the journal Nature, Bern Kohler and his colleagues report that DNA dissipates the energy from ultraviolet (UV) radiation in a kind of energy wave that travels up the edge of the DNA molecule, as if the energy were climbing one side of the helical DNA “ladder.”
The f
Using muscle tissue from tarantulas, an HHMI international research scholar and his colleagues have figured out the detailed structure and arrangement of the miniature molecular motors that control movement. Their work, which takes advantage of a new technique for visualizing tissues in their natural state, provides new insights into the molecular basis of muscle relaxation, and perhaps its activation too.
“We have solved the structure of the array of miniature motors that for
Cornell researchers say double knocks may be ’soundprints’ of ivory-bills
The public is invited to join in, listen and help decipher the sounds of the ivory-billed woodpecker By Simeon Moss
Now hear this: After analyzing more than 18,000 hours of recordings from the swampy forests of eastern Arkansas, researchers at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University have released recordings offering further evidence — including the legendary bird’s dist
Rutgers’ Bonnie Firestein likens nerve cells to trees — some are short and bushy with many branches while others are tall with a few branches coming out of one or two main trunks. Different branching patterns correlate with specific disorders and Firestein’s quest is to discover how these dissimilar patterns come about and why.
A new paper by Firestein and her colleagues at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, examines the role of the protein snapin in ner
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