The group of Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen has identified a gene that is partly responsible for the different patterns found in closely related Danio species, as they report in the journal Nature Communications today. The gene, Obelix, codes for a potassium channel, belonging to a class of proteins that control numerous cellular processes, which are disturbed in a number of human diseases. „[…] from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful…
That carbon nanotubes fluorescence is no longer a surprise. Finding a second level of fluorescence is surprising and potentially useful. How does it work? Wait for it. The Rice University lab of Bruce Weisman, a professor of chemistry who led the pioneering discovery of nanotube fluorescence in 2002, found that single-walled nanotubes emit a delayed secondary fluorescence when triggered by a multistep process in a solution with dye molecules and dissolved oxygen. The delay is only microseconds, but it’s enough…
How can you build neuronal networks that are more complex than anything known today? Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany, have mapped the development of inhibitory neuronal circuitry and report the discovery of distinct circuit formation principles. Their findings enable scientists to monitor the change of neuronal network structure with time, capturing moments when an individual grows and adapts to its environment. Researchers are starting to better understand the complexity of neuronal networks found…
Correctly Delivered and Integrated Heidelberg researchers determine the three-dimensional architecture of a molecular machine that inserts essential proteins into biomembranes Over a quarter of all proteins in a cell are found in the membrane, where they perform vital functions. To fulfil these roles, membrane proteins must be reliably transported from their site of production in the cell to their destination and correctly inserted into the target membrane. Researchers from the Heidelberg University Biochemistry Center (BZH) have succeeded in determining the…
The living cells of all organisms contain a cytoskeleton that stabilises their internal structure and external shape. This also applies to magnetotactic bacteria. They produce magnetic nanoparticles which are concatenated into intracellular chains and enable them to orient themselves to the Earth’s magnetic field. Microbiologists at the University of Bayreuth have now discovered a protein in the cytoskeleton of these bacteria which plays a central role in these structuring processes. The protein CcfM influences both the formation of the cellular…
Scientists discover a neuropeptide that reflects the current state of a fish’s social environment. Have you recently wondered how social-distancing and self-isolation may be affecting your brain? An international research team led by Erin Schuman from the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research discovered a brain molecule that functions as a “thermometer” for the presence of others in an animal’s environment. Zebrafish “feel” the presence of others via mechanosensation and water movements – which turns the brain hormone on. Varying…
Neurological diseases of the brain such as dementia, autism and schizophrenia are now a growing social problem. Nevertheless, studies on their definitive cause are still insufficient. Recently, a POSTECH research team has identified the mechanism in which such neurological diseases occur, thus solving the enigma to treating them. In the case of neurological diseases of the brain, problems arise when certain effects modify the synaptic plasticity and signal transmissions of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which has a profound effect…
For the first time ever, expansion microscopy allows the imaging of even the finest details of cell membranes. This offers new insights into bacterial and viral infection processes. Expansion microscopy (ExM) enables the imaging of cells and their components with a spatial resolution far below 200 nanometres. For this purpose, the proteins of the sample under investigation are cross-linked into a swellable polymer. Once the interactions between the molecules have been destroyed, the samples can be expanded many times over…
Researchers at IST Austria gain deeper knowledge of plant growth by treating seedlings with painkillers like Aspirin and the like. New study published in Cell Reports. For centuries humans were using willow barks to treat a headache or an inflamed tooth. Later, the active ingredient, the plant hormone salicylic acid, was used to develop painkillers like Aspirin. But what happens, if plants are treated with these painkillers? By doing so, Scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria…
A team led by cell biologist Prof. Erez Raz from the University of Münster has investigated the role of the cell-cell adhesion protein E-cadherin in the targeted migration of germ cells in zebrafish embryos and found out that the protein mediates the interaction of the cells with their environment. It supports the localisation of certain proteins in a specific region of the cells by indirectly coupling these proteins to the surrounding cells. The study has been published in the journal…
Antibiotics have revolutionized medicine by providing effective treatments for infectious diseases such as cholera. But the pathogens that cause disease are increasingly developing resistance to the antibiotics that are most commonly used. Scientists at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany have discovered a molecule that influences the antibiotic-resistance of cholera bacteria. They have published their results in the scientific journal “Nature Communications”. Antibiotics work in different ways. Some, including penicillin, attack the cell wall of the bacteria by inhibiting their…
Scaffold of sub-cellular structures identified after a hundred years. Nuclear speckles are tiny agglomerations of proteins in the nucleus of the cell that are involved in the processing of genetic information. Berlin researchers have now discovered how nuclear speckles are constructed and were able to close a long-standing gap in research. When the famous Spanish physician Santiago Ramón y Cajal looked through his microscope in 1910, he discovered irregular and “transparent lumps” that appeared throughout the nucleus of a neuron….
A ‘game changing’ study deciphering the genetic material of the desert locust by researchers at the University of Leicester, could help combat the crop-ravaging behaviour of the notorious insect pest which currently exacerbates a hunger crisis across many developing countries. It is hoped that the study will provide the basis for developing ‘intelligent pesticides’, that act with surgical precision by tapping into locust-specific signals in the nervous system, to either kill or disable their swarming behaviour, without harming other organisms….
Enzymatic photocaging for the study of gene regulation through DNA methylation. The addition and removal of methyl groups on DNA plays an important role in gene regulation. In order to study these mechanisms more precisely, a German team has developed a new method by which specific methylation sites can be blocked and then unblocked at a precise time through irradiation with light (photocaging). As reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the required regent is produced enzymatically, in situ. Although they…
With new insights into how the genetic tool CRISPR – which allows direct editing of our genes – evolved and adapted, we are now one step closer to understanding the basis of the constant struggle for survival that takes place in nature. The results can be used in future biotechnologies. In 2020, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for their discoveries of the molecular mechanism behind CRISPR-Cas and the use of the technology…
The researchers proposed a new approach by analysing the interaction of calcium acetylide with water and dimethyl sulfoxide on the atomic scale. Calcium acetylide was discovered more than 150 years ago. It is a yellowish-white, beige, or grey solid, a compound of calcium and carbon. Calcium acetylide is currently used to produce gaseous acetylene. In industry, it is widely used in the production of acetic acid and ethyl alcohol, as well as it can be used in the production of…
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