Life Sciences and Chemistry

The gene for an enzyme that is key to natural disease resistance in plants has been discovered by biologists at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI) and at Cornell University. The researchers say that by enhancing the activity of the enzyme they might be able to boost natural disease resistance in crop plants without resorting to pesticides or the introduction of non-plant genes.

The research, reported in the latest (May 16) issue of the journal Cell , describes the discov

Dutch PhD student Cathelijne Kloks has discovered that the so-called Cold Shock domain of the human YB-1 protein looks like a bucket with two extra ears. These ears lead the DNA to the binding site on the protein and keep it there.

Kloks investigated the structure and function of one of the three domains of the human protein YB-1. This protein plays an important role in the production of new proteins. The central domain, the so-called Cold Shock domain, ensures the binding of the protein to

Dutch chemist Ivan Buijnsters from the University of Nijmegen has successfully produced a diamond layer on a steel substrate. This opens up the possibility of wear-resistant tools. The secret to this technique is an adhesive layer between the steel and the diamond layer.

Buijnsters made diamond layers by allowing methane gas diluted in hydrogen gas to dissociate on a hot wire just above the substrate. The carbon atoms present in the methane dropped onto the substrate and formed a thin layer

Detecting the presence of hazardous lead paint could become as simple as pressing a piece of paper against a wall and noting a color change.

Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a highly sensitive and selective biosensor that functions in much the same fashion as a strip of litmus paper. The researchers report their discovery in a paper that has been accepted for publication in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and posted on its Web

Findings may aid the development of drugs to treat thyroid disorders

Structural analysis has revealed for the first time how a key messenger in the body’s chemical communication system hooks up with one of the proteins that delivers it to sites of action in the body.

Using X-ray crystallography, scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Hawaii have identified the location of four binding sites on human serum albumin (HSA), the principal protein in bl

Brief activation of signaling protein stimulates hair follicle growth phase

University of Michigan graduate student David Van Mater knew something strange was going on when he noticed stubble on the shaved skin of experimental mice in his laboratory. Instead of the tumors he had originally expected to see, the mice were growing hair.

Van Mater had stumbled on the discovery that beta-catenin (“bay-tuh-kuh-TEEN-in”), a signaling protein involved in embryonic development and se