Researcher Discovers Plant Genes For Phosphate Uptake
...lop more roots. Some produce and release organic acids and enzymes that can pry the nutrient away from the attraction of the soil clay and organic matter. And in some plants, Raghothama says, phosphorus starvation flips a genetic switch that changes certain molecules in roots and makes plants better at a...Promising Fatty Acid Research Leads To MS Clinical Trial
...l,London will present work on the effects of fatty acids in experimental models ofMS. Dr Harbige, working w...arbige and his colleagues think that certain fatty acids work by dampening downthe damaging effects of the immune system. The next stage is to find out whet...STS-89 Will Carry Five Science Payloads From NASA/Marshall
...est yet for so large a protein (more than200 amino acids in size), and will also allow the first protein crystalstudies by even finer neutron diffraction. Returning on STS-89 willbe the Interferometer Protein Crystal GrowthApparatus (IPCG) , a device placed aboard Mir by the STS-86 mission.IPCG uses a co......undhog Day has more to do with the makeup of fatty acids inhis body than being scared by his own shadow. ...hibernation, while balanced combinationsof the two acids provide a restful sleep. "When Punxsutawney Phil is pulled from his burrow on Groundhog Day...Infants, Toddlers Should Not Restrict Fat Intake, Experts Say
...ts mental development. "For example, omega-3 fatty acids -- which come from fish and certain plant oils -- ...cial concern for these researchers. "Certain fatty acids are found only in human milk. They are not found in sufficient amounts in infant formulas," Hennig s...Biologists Get First Look At DNA-Protein Binding Structure In An Archaeon
...rotein binds to DNA, we now understand which amino acids on the surface of the protein interact with the DNA," said Andrew H.-J. Wang, a professor of cell and structural biology. "The DNA-protein binding structure has been elusive. The way this protein binds to DNA, and how it distorts the DNA, is a very...Rapid Progress Reported On New Class Of Anti-Cancer Drugs
...edversions of FTase with selectively altered amino acids in the active site totest hypotheses about which amino acid residues are important in binding thefarnesyl and Ras molecules and in carrying out the catalytic reaction to attachthe two. "We now have a very good idea of exactly how the chemistry ...How Did Life Begin? Biochemical Evolution On Chemical Surfaces
... No experiment has yet demonstrated how the amino acids assembled into proteinand ribonucleic-acid (RNA) c...c, silica-rich organophilic zeolite. Amino acids occur naturally in right-handed and left-handed forms, but only theleft-handed forms are found in th...Stanford Microbiologist Receives Lifetime Achievement Award
...tiated,produces translatable messanger ribonucleic acids or is terminated beforereaching the structural genes. He was nominated by Robert Landick, University of Wisconsin, Madison. The American Society for Microbiology, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is theoldest and largest single biological......nd-selective by introduction of amino acids recognized to be crucial for the ligand-specificity of frog CRF-R1. The strategy and results of these experiments have very recently been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Frank M. Dautzenberg...Protein Implicated In Multiple Sclerosis
...nized one of the peptides --corresponding to amino acids 95 to 117 of PLP -- was at least four times morecommon in the patients' blood. "There also were enough of these T cells to causedisease," Trotter says. In contrast, the immune cells of MS patients do not recognize myelinbasic protein more fre...Biochemists Gain Crystal-Clear Insight into 'Ancient' Enzyme
...he cell's protein-making machinery,where the amino acids are chemically attached to one another in long stringlikemolecules that fold into the cell's working proteins. Specifically, ribonuclease P is a molecular scissors that helps turna newly synthesized precursor into a functioning tRNA molecule by snip...Plants - Factories Of The Future
...ids," he said. "Currently, these modified fatty acids are produced from non-renewable petroleum or by c...ficant levels of either epoxy or acetylenic fatty acids in their seeds. "We now need to incorporate other genes which will help the plants produce highe...University Of Cincinnati Biologists Find Evidence For Unusual DNA Repair InArchaea
...e conditions are death tomost proteins and nucleic acids from other organisms." In fact, Grogan's rough estimate indicates Sulfolobus DNA is at 1,000times higher risk of damage than E. coli. His work has been supported bythe U.S. Office of Naval Research....Molecular "Fossils" Of Early Life
... limited role." The discovery that nucleic acids can raid the tool box of proteins means"the RNA World could have been a very sophisticated place," Breaker said. "Theearliest RNA could have had access to all of these chemical helpers now used byproteins. Instead of working from a very primitive p...Chemical In Oyster Shells May Help Clean Oil Spills
...es professor at ClemsonUniversity, said that amino acids in the shells form gels that can absorb 80-100times their weight in water. By analyzing the chemical structure, he anduniversity co-workers created new polymers that are attracting industryattention because they could help clean oil spills, speed wat...Life In Antarctic Ice May Compare To Mars
... you can get fairlycomplicated molecules and amino acids from the interaction of basic chemicalsand electricity." Giovannoni has studied bacteria all over the Earth, from the basaltrocks of deep sea floors to Antarctic ice cores, Yellowstone National Park hotsprings and the bacterial plankton of Or...A Synthetic Peptide Destroys Brain Plaque Implicated in Alzheimer's Disease
...cine, a custom-designed sequence ofjust five amino acids completely blocked the formation of amyloid in the...teral sclerosis orLou Gehrig's disease." Amino acids hook together to form peptides and proteins. Amyloid plaque isdeposited in the brain as sheets, expl...Denatured Proteins Rescued By Trio Of Chaperones
... which are made ofchains of molecules called amino acids precisely folded into spirals, loops andsheets, begin to loose their shape. Sticky bits from the interior of theprotein get exposed, and adhere to each other, forming disordered globs, oraggregates (this is why egg whites change from a clear liquid-...... patients may result from the insertion of 4 amino acids into a regionof this newly discovered gene that may have a role in neurodevelopment.Further studies are in progress to understand the relationship of this newmutation to mental retardation. Contact author: Robert A. Philibert National Institute of...