Sexual reproduction has many advantages — some most pleasurable — and probably leads to the long-term survival of the species concerned. During the formation of reproductive cells or gametes, sexual reproduction is accompanied by an exchange of genes between the two chromosomes inherited from the parents. Each individual arising from these gametes thus receives a veritable mosaic of parental and grandparental characteristics, and so at one and the same time resembles and differs from the parents.
For years, the comparison of simulated and experimental protein folding kinetics has been a “Holy Grail” for biologists and chemists. But scientists seeking to confirm protein-folding theory with laboratory experiments have been unable to cross the microsecond barrier. This obstacle in time existed because experiments could not be performed fast enough, nor simulations run long enough, to permit a direct comparison.
Now, measurements from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and m
Two parts of the body’s immune system are critical for its normal functioning. One of these, the innate immune component, must defend the body against onslaughts from foreign substances it has never before seen. Failure of the immune system can result in cancer, autoimmune disease, or life threatening viral infections. Scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have identified a gene called MEF that is essential to the development of Natural Killer cells and Natural Killer T-cells, whi
The world speed record for protein folding apparently goes to an unusually tiny specimen that traces its origins to Gila monster spit.
So reports a team of University of Florida researchers in a paper published this week in the online edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Though significant mainly from a purely scientific standpoint, the finding eventually may be important in researchers’ understanding of the underlying causes behind a host of maladies.
Prote
The animals and plants of our planet are becoming extinct under the pressure of civilization. The scientists have counted that one species vanishes from Earth every hour. The mammoth, passenger pigeon, gare-fowl, Steller`s sea cow – these are the most well-known of extinct species, but hundreds of species are next in turn. Can the scientists forecast what species is the first in this succession and what species is not under the threat of complete extinction? If the answer is known, the effort and fun
Researchers have found that a primitive type of ion channel similar to those found in mammalian nerve cells helps bacteria resist the blast of acid they encounter in the stomach of their hosts.
The discovery suggests a plausible mechanism whereby bacteria can fend off stomach acidity long enough to establish themselves in the intestine. More broadly, said the scientists, the finding represents the first insight into why bacteria have forms of the same ion channels — proteins that control t
Our bodies contain proteins that are made of smaller molecules that can be either left- or right-handed, depending upon their structure. Regardless of which hand we use to write, however, all human beings are `left-handed` at the molecular level. Life on Earth uses the left-handed variety and no one knows how this preference crept into living systems. In 2012, ESA`s Rosetta lander will land on a comet to investigate, among other things, if the origin of this preference lies in the stars.
Liv
Studies published in International Journal of Toxicology
In its September/October issue, the International Journal of Toxicology is pleased to publish the last in a series of four studies examining possible reproductive and developmental health effects from two byproducts of drinking water chlorination. These studies fill significant data gaps identified by a Federal Advisory Committee formed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on drinking water regulations.
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Research published in the online journal, BMC Biotechnology reports on a new, large-scale technique for distinguishing between male and female ostrich chicks using DNA extracted from feathers. This new technique will remove the need for invasive procedures currently in use to sex-type ostriches and allow breeders to discover the sex of their chicks much earlier. Details of this new technique can now be read by all interested parties because of the decision of the authors to publish in the open access
The disorder Maedi-Visna that is detected in sheep affects on mammary gland. As it says in the source language, Icelander, it affects lungs and nervous system. The disorder is produced by the lentivirus Maedi-Visna, which belongs to the family of Aids. This virus infects sheep, and until now, there is no evidence of the transmission to humans. This virus, which is known since many years, causes a very slow evolution of the disorder. Therefore, shepherds often do not detect the infection, because shee
In a discovery with implications for treatment of anxiety disorders, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute investigators have identified a distinct molecular process in the brain involved in overcoming fear. The findings will be published in the Oct. 15 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience .
The study of how mice acquire, express and extinguish conditional fear shows for the first time that L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (LVGCCs) — one of hundreds of
A theory that suggests the aging process might be safely slowed by targeting genes that are quiet early but threaten damage later in life has gotten a boost from new findings from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The researchers don’t promote such tinkering in their paper, which appears online this week in advance of publication by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Rather they detail their tests, based on models of mathematical prediction, of the two l
Foxd3 joins the small, but growing list of stem cell regulating genes
In the search to understand the nature of stem cells, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a regulatory gene that is crucial in maintaining a stem cell’s ability to self-renew. According to their findings, the Foxd3 gene is a required factor for pluripotency – the ability of stem cells to turn into different types of tissue – in the mammalian embryo. Their research is
Researchers have discovered how a recently identified family of plant proteins assists in stopping gene function, a finding that may help produce plants resistant to environmental stresses such as saline soil, drought and cold.
The proteins, AtCPLs, apparently play a crucial role in triggering a gene that controls plants’ reactions to stressful conditions, said Purdue University researchers. They, along with collaborators at the University of Arizona, published their findings in two pap
USDA Forest Service research confirms that chemicals in the leaves of the American chestnut suppress the growth of other trees and shrubs-and probably played a part in the species’ past dominance of the southern Appalachian forest.
Southern Research Station ecologist Barry Clinton (Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory)-with fellow researchers from Clemson University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill-tested the effects of fallen chestnut leaves on five tree species that historica
Findings could lead to new understanding of diabetes, Crohn’s, and more
Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, and other institutions have identified the function of a protein, dubbed aire, that is critical to helping immune cells learn to recognize–and avoid attacking–the far-flung organs and tissues of the body. The protein appears to work by turning on in the thymus, which lies beneath the breast bone, the production of a wide array of proteins from the bo
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