Researchers reveal Argonaute2 as the catalytic engine of mammalian RNA interference
RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as a fundamentally important biological phenomenon and as a versatile, powerful tool for biomedical research. In organisms from fungi and flies to plants and mammals, RNAi plays a multifaceted role in molecular biology by silencing genes through chromatin remodeling, interfering with protein synthesis, and–in its best-studied mode of action–quashing gene expressio
Scientists have produced a prion protein that can trigger the development of a neurological disorder in mice that is similar to “mad cow” disease, according to a new study supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a part of the National Institutes of Health. The findings demonstrate that prions, an unusual class of infectious proteins, can make copies of themselves without the presence of viral DNA or RNA, damage brain tissue, and cause neurological diseases.
The work by Nobel Lau
The genetic machinery for proper cell division
Researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have solved one of genetics’ mysteries – how a segment of protein on each of the body’s DNA-carrying chromosomes is able to form a rigid structure called a centromere, leading to proper cell division and the faithful inheritance of genes.
Published in the July 29, 2004 issue of the journal Natur
When a male fruit fly encounters a prospective mate, he initiates courtship by following her around and gently tapping her with his leg. If she seems interested, he serenades her with a love song. Singing is followed by more intimate acts that sometimes lead to successful mating.
Now Stanford University scientists have discovered that this elaborate courtship behavior is actually choreographed by a cluster of nerve cells embedded in the central nervous system of the male fly. When t
ATP, the vital energy source that keeps our body’s cells alive, runs amok at the site of a spinal cord injury, pouring into the area around the wound and killing the cells that normally allow us to move, scientists report in the cover story of the August issue of Nature Medicine.
The finding that ATP is a culprit in causing the devastating damage of spinal cord injury is unexpected. Doctors have known that initial trauma to the spinal cord is exacerbated by a cascade of molecular e
Fewer absorbent ion channels / new morbidity mechanism
To date epilepsy research has mainly concentrated on the transmission of the nerve cell signals to what are known as the synapses. However, recent observations by medical researchers from the US, France and the University of Bonn support the idea that in ’falling sickness’ the signal processing in the nerve cells (neurons) is altered: normally specific ion channels absorb the neuronal activity. In rats suffering fr
Finding identifies how estrogen-blocking ability of gene inhibits tumor growth
A UC Irvine researcher has found a novel tumor- suppressor function for a gene that, when mutated, often triggers breast cancer in women. The work also provides further evidence about how estrogen helps activate a disease that afflicts thousands of American women each year.
Dr. Ellis Levin, a professor of medicine, biochemistry and pharmacology at UCI, and colleagues at the Long Beach Veterans Ad
Characterize intermediates at atomic level
University of Toronto scientists are helping to answer one of the most important questions in biochemistry, one that has implications for treating neurodegenerative diseases: how do proteins fold into their three-dimensional structures?
In research published in the July 29 issue of Nature, U of T post-doctoral fellow Dmitry Korzhnev and his supervisor, Professor Lewis Kay of the Department of Biochemistry, become the first researchers
Reproductive technology is an issue that grows more complicated and more controversial each day. Some experts believe that imminent reproductive techniques, like human cloning and germ-line genetic engineering, pose the risk of injuries so frequent and so serious that they should be prohibited completely. Others believe this technology has endless medical possibilities and should be used to its fullest potential. A new book by a University of Missouri-Columbia researcher helps create a road map for
Even though we have lost much of our fear of tuberculosis in the industrialized countries, according to the WHO about 2 mio. people worldwide die each year of this infectious disease. Researchers at the University of Leeds have now discovered a carbohydrate with an unusual structure in the cell walls of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. This could be a new starting point for pharmaceutical research.
The main component of the cell walls of mycobacteria is a l
Scientists at Johns Hopkins are calling for simultaneous evaluation of both genetic and epigenetic information in the search to understand contributors to such common diseases as cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Writing in the August issue of Trends in Genetics, available now online, the scientists provide a framework for systematically incorporating epigenetic information into traditional genetic studies, something they say will be necessary to understand the genetic and environmental factors be
Trees and grass are usually the only “heroes” that come to mind for consuming carbon dioxide and producing oxygen for planet Earth, but they have allies in the water: phytoplankton, or in another word, algae.
Phytoplankton are mostly single-celled photosynthetic organisms that feed fish and marine mammals. They are responsible for nearly 50 percent of the earth’s annual carbon-dioxide consumption and more than 45 percent of the oxygen production. Despite the important roles of modern p
Emory University scientists have for the first time used a new class of luminescent “quantum dot” nanoparticles in living animals to simultaneously target and image cancerous tumors. The quantum dots were encapsulated in a highly protective polymer coating and attached to a monoclonal antibody that guided them to prostate tumor sites in living mice, where they were visible using a simple mercury lamp. The scientists believe the ability to both target and image cells in vivo represents a significant s
Scientists at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University have uncovered the genes that enable plants to interact with beneficial soil dwelling fungi and to access phosphate delivered to the roots by these fungi — a first step, they say, toward enhancing the beneficial relationship for crop plants , while reducing fertilizer use and phosphate pollution in the environment.
Discovery of the phosphate-transport genes was announced today (July 28, 2004) by Maria Har
When a Kopi Luwak coffee bean, the world’s most expensive coffee, comes out the other end of a large cat after it’s been eaten by the animal – called a civet or Luwak – the micro-structural properties of the beans are altered, according to new research by a University of Guelph scientist published in Food Research International.
They’re harder, more brittle and darker in colour than the same type of bean that hasn’t been eaten and digested by the three- to 10-pound tree-climbing animal foun
E. coli, the bug made famous by food poisoning outbreaks, can be used to point the finger of blame at the right culprit when our waterways become polluted. E. coli live in the guts of animals and are already used to indicate whether food and water are contaminated with faecal material. However, according to a recent article in the August 2004 issue of Microbiology Today, the quarterly magazine of the Society for General Microbiology, this work can be extended to use the bugs to detect and find the s
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