Researchers from the University of Freiburg have identified the HAN molecule as an important regulator that controls plant growth in conjunction with WOX5. Understanding this mechanism is relevant for breeding more resilient or higher-yielding crops. Plants form new leaves, flowers and roots at the tips of shoots and roots, in specific growth regions known as meristems. These meristems contain stem cells that divide as needed and form new cells that develop into specialised tissue. Using the example of plant roots,…
ISTA scientists predict—and witness—evolution in a 30-year marine snail experiment. It is 1988. The Koster archipelago, a group of islands off the Swedish west coast near the border with Norway, is hit by a particularly dense bloom of toxic algae, wiping out marine snail populations. But why would anyone care about the fate of a bunch of snails on a three-square-meter rock in the open sea? As it turns out, this event would open up the opportunity to predict and…
From brighter TV screens to better medical diagnostics and more efficient solar panels, new Curtin-led research has discovered how to make more molecules stick to the surface of tiny nanocrystals, in a breakthrough that could lead to improvements in everyday technology. Lead author Associate Professor Guohua Jia from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences, said the study investigated how the shape of zinc sulfide nanocrystals affected how well molecules, known as ligands, stick to their surface. “Ligands, play an…
Researchers at LMU University Hospital have discovered a new molecular switch that protects against cell death. Programmed cell death protects the body against cancer and other diseases. A team of researchers led by Professor Alexander Bartelt from the Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK) has decoded a new mechanism by which oxidative stress influences cell death. The researchers hope this discovery will lead to novel approaches for targeting cancer cells and other diseases. Their findings were recently published in the journal…
The protein GBP1 is a vital component of our body’s natural defence against pathogens. This substance fights against bacteria and parasites by enveloping them in a protein coat, but how the substance manages to do this has remained unknown until now. Researchers from Delft University of Technology have now unravelled how this protein operates. This new knowledge, published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, could aid in the development of medications and therapies for individuals with weakened immune systems. So-called…
Messenger RNA, or mRNA for short, serves as a blueprint for proteins. When mRNA is no longer needed, it has to be degraded. Director Elena Conti and her team at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich have now been able to show that the various molecular machines that translate and degrade mRNA are physically linked to each other and jointly form a supercomplex. This supercomplex consists of the ribosome, the SKI complex and the exosome and…
Imagine yourself sometime in the far future aboard a routine rocket to Mars. Someone just spilled their drink. Without gravity, it collects in floating blobs that ripple right before your eyes. Now freeze. What you see might look something like the above image from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s (CSHL’s) Cheadle lab. But those purple and green blobs aren’t the floating remains of somebody’s drink. They’re mysterious cells in the brain’s visual cortex called OPCs. The visual cortex processes everything we…
Study by researchers from Freie Universität Berlin and the University of California, Santa Barbara published in “Nature” delivers new insights into how fruit flies process visual information and use it to navigate the world around them. An international team comprised of researchers from Freie Universität Berlin and the University of California, Santa Barbara have carried out the first-ever systematic analysis of all synaptic connections in the brain of an adult animal. This pioneering research focused on the connectome – a…
New findings on the function of cells published in Nature. Cellular droplets function in more diverse ways than previously known: The ability to fission membranes in cells was previously attributed solely to certain proteins. In a new publication in the renowned journal Nature, an international research team now shows that small cellular droplets, so-called biomolecular condensates, can also split membranes without the help of proteins. Simulations by mathematician Prof Sebastian Aland of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg illustrate how the droplets…
Researchers at the University of Liverpool and collaborators have discovered new understanding of bacterial photosynthesis. Using cutting-edge techniques, investigators have unveiled intricate detailed images of the key photosynthetic protein complexes of purple bacteria. These images shed new light on how these microorganisms harness solar energy. The study, published today, not only advances scientists’ understanding of bacterial photosynthesis but also has potential applications in the development of artificial photosynthetic systems for clean energy production. Like plants, many bacteria have evolved the…
Bacteria that cause diseases, so-called pathogens, develop various strategies to exploit human cells as hosts to their own advantage. Together with medical professionals and experts for structure determination and imaging, a team of biologists from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has uncovered the attack strategies employed by the bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae (for short: C. pneumoniae). In the scientific journal Nature Communications, they describe which molecular mechanisms the bacterium utilises. Chlamydia infect human and animal host cells. C. pneumoniae, for example,…
Researchers from Bonn and Aachen elucidate the role of individual brain neurons in human odor perception. We often only realize how important our sense of smell is when it is no longer there: food hardly tastes good, or we no longer react to dangers such as the smell of smoke. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn and the University of Aachen have investigated the neuronal mechanisms of human odor perception for the first time. Individual…
EMBL Heidelberg and University of Virginia scientists have discovered a curious way in which cells adapt to starvation – a mechanism with potential cancer implications. What can stressed yeast teach us about fundamental processes in the cell? A lot, according to scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). The team studies, among other topics, how cells adapt to stress — such as nutrient deprivation. One of their favourite test subjects is the yeast species S. pombe, for centuries used…
Some genetic factors predisposing people to diabetes might change the way pancreatic cells respond to molecular stress, researchers at The Jackson Laboratory discovered. The cells in your pancreas, like people, can only handle so much stress before they start to break down. Certain stressors, such as inflammation and high blood sugar, contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes by overwhelming these cells. Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) have now discovered that DNA sequence changes known to increase a…
A team from UNIGE and EPFL has demonstrated how Hsp70 chaperone proteins help proteins move within cells. Proteins control most of the body’s functions, and their malfunction can have severe consequences, such as neurodegenerative diseases or cancer. Therefore, cells have mechanisms in place to control protein quality. In animal and human cells, chaperones of the Hsp70 class are at the heart of this control system, overseeing a wide array of biological processes. Yet, despite their crucial role, the precise molecular mechanism…
The α-latrotoxin, which is dangerous for humans, causes severe muscle contractions and spasms. Researchers from the University of Münster showed in detail how the molecule is structured and how it affects nerve cells. They used high-performance cryo-electron microscopy and molecular dynamics computer simulations. The black widow spider is one of the most feared spider species. Its venom is a cocktail of seven different toxins that attack the nervous system. These so-called latrotoxins specifically paralyse insects and crustaceans, but one of…
Feedback
