Group of compounds found in red wine, vegetables simulate benefit of low-calorie diet
Mice, rats, worms, flies, and yeast all live longer on a low-calorie diet, which also seems to protect mammals against cancer and other aging-related diseases. Now, in yeast cells, researchers at Harvard Medical School and BIOMOL Research Laboratories have for the first time found a way to duplicate the benefits of restricted calories in yeast with a group of compounds found in red wine and vegetable
Anyone who made it to high school biology has learned about mitosis, or cell division. One cell divides into two, two into four and so forth in a process designed to pass on exact copies of the DNA in chromosomes to daughter cells. New research, by a University of Georgia team, shows how the genes that control this process are regulated.
The study is important for cancer research because the regulation of cell division goes awry in tumors and normal cell growth and behavior are lost. Unders
A group of scientists led by Dr. Elaine Fuchs at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the Rockefeller University have uncovered an unexpected new role for the well-known transcription factor, GATA-3, in hair follicle development. GATA-3 was previously identified for its role in coaxing hematopoietic stem cells towards a T-cell fate. Now, Dr. Fuchs and colleagues reveal that GATA-3 is also involved in epidermal stem cell specification. This finding lends valuable insight into hair follicle generatio
The process by which a cell reads the genetic code in its DNA in order to manufacture a protein is complex, involving dozens of enzymes and other biological molecules working together.
Now, research at Cornell University, using the fruit fly as a model system, has confirmed a theory about one step in the process by showing that a protein complex known as FACT is positioned in living cells at sites where chromosomal DNA is unpacked so that its code can be read. It is part of what the resear
The genetic signal that makes a honeybee male or female has been identified by researchers in Germany, the U.S. and Norway. The finding, published in the August 22 issue of the journal Cell, shows how male bees can have no father, a scientific puzzle going back over 150 years and the explanation for why bees, ants and wasps often form colonial societies. It could also make it easier to breed honeybees.
The researchers found that female bees have two different versions of a gene called csd,
In the United States, nearly 2.6 million couples have been treated for infertility with about 40 percent of those cases thought to be due to male infertility. Now, a study published in the August 22 issue of Cell identifies a new protein that is required for a sperm to bind to an egg during the process of fertilization. This research provides important new insight into the molecular mechanisms that are involved in the initial events of sperm-egg association and may shed light on what underlies some i
University of Utah biologist finds HIV gene makes a human gene turn bad
A human gene named ATR normally protects people by preventing the replication of cells damaged by radiation or toxic chemicals. Now, Utah and New York researchers have discovered how a gene in the AIDS virus hijacks the human gene and turns it into a weapon that prevents reproduction of immune-system white blood cells, leaving AIDS patients vulnerable to deadly infections and cancer.
The new study “puts
Two important questions face biologists studying the infectious proteins called prions: What stops prions that infect one species from infecting another species and what causes the invisible transmission barrier between species to fail sometimes?
In experiments with yeast prions reported in this week’s issue of Nature, Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have shown how point mutations in prions — which do not compromise their infectivity — can nevertheless cause prions to alter
Are there ’social behavior’ genes?
A rare genetic disorder may lead scientists to genes for social behavior, a Salk Institute study has found.
The study zeros in on the genes that may lead to the marked extroverted behavior seen in children with Williams syndrome, demonstrating that “hyper-sociability” – especially the drive to greet and interact with strangers — follows a unique developmental path.
The path is not only different from typical children bu
New discoveries about tiny genetic components called microRNAs explain why plant leaves are flat.
The study may be a first step, researchers say, in revolutionizing our understanding of how plants control their morphology, or shape. A plant’s ability to grow structures with a specific shape is critical to its normal function of capturing energy from the sun and producing products like grain and fiber.
As such, these findings could ultimately have profound implications fo
How vastly different animals arrive at the same body plan or pattern of ornamentation has long been a conundrum of developmental biology.
But now, thanks to the colorful derriere of a wild fruit fly, captured on a compost heap by a University of Wisconsin-Madison post-doctoral student, scientists have been able to document a rare example of molecular convergence, the process by which different animals use the same genes to repeatedly invent similar body patterns and structures.
W
The advantages of production in plants
According to Navarre Public University lecturer, Angel Mingo, this novel system of protein production is highly advantageous, not only due to its reduced costs with respect to cell cultures in bioreactors, but also because the method is free of the health risks associated with animal cell culture.
Moreover, the technology involved is easily accessible and enables targeting the accumulation of protein to specific compartments and organs
The complete genome sequence of a leading bacterial plant pathogen offers new ways to stave off agricultural loss and perhaps foil animal or human infection, says a Cornell University researcher.
According to Alan Collmer, Cornell professor of plant pathology, the sequencing (that is, determining the base sequence of each of the ordered DNA fragments in the genome) could help farmers repress tomato speck and other plant diseases. Medical researchers could be aided in comparing a related b
Imagine a virus and its cellular target as two spacecraft – the virus sporting a tiny docking bay that allows it to invade its victim. Purdue University researchers have taken a close-up picture of one virus’ docking bay, work that could have implications for both medicine and nanotechnology.
Using advanced imaging techniques, an international team of biologists led by Michael Rossmann of Purdue, Vadim Mesyanzhinov in Moscow and Fumio Arisaka at the Tokyo Institute of Technology has an
Findings similar to results with embryonic and neural stem cells
University of Minnesota researchers show that adult bone marrow stem cells can be induced to differentiate into cells of the midbrain. The findings, published in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that adult bone-marrow-derived stem cells may one day be useful for treating diseases of the central nervous system, including Parkinson’s disease.
The potent
There has been some controversy in the media and within the scientific research community concerning whether Icelanders are genetically homogenous or heterogeneous relative to other European populations.
Following an article published in Annals of Human Genetics in January 2003 by E. Árnason, who concluded that Icelanders were one of the most heterogeneous populations in Europe, researchers from deCODE Genetics and the University of Oxford, have published an article in Annals of Human Geneti
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