Toxic compound opens potentially important cell gates
...ly use Nudix proteins as "housecleaners"that break apart potentially harmful derivatives of nucleoside diphosphates, but Bessman's group has also shown Nudix proteins have been adapted to a variety of other functions. Scharenberg sent clones of the Nudix genes he'd found to Bessman, and Dunn transferred th...Researchers find 'north pole' of the molecular world
... exchange takes place, however, depends on how far apart the marker molecules are and how their "poles" are oriented. Biochemists will now be able to know exactly what the markers orientations are, and so know exactly how far the protein has folded when the emitted light changes. This puts a powerful new t...Putting randomness to work: unique form of nanoscale random motion may drive key cellular functions
...bules include sites approximately 8 nanometers apart where kinesin heads can bind chemically. To move along this pathway, Fox argues that the kinesins use "rectified Brownian motion" in the following steps: ATP binds to the leading head that is initially tightly bound to the microtubule ...Gene chips accurately diagnose four complex childhood cancers
...tumors used in this study can be difficult to tell apart because they look alike under the microscope; their similar appearance can lead to misdiagnosis and improper treatment. Gene chip technology, on the other hand, analyzes the pattern of activity of thousands of genes inside any cell type, including ca...... the virus must also have a mechanism for breaking apart its vimentin cage so that completed viral particles can be released. Wileman and colleagues are now interested in how this cycle of assembly and disassembly is controlled....Researchers study muscle cell damage that occurs when astronauts return from space
...ed tire is patched, muscles cells literally ripped apart by use after even a week of disuse appear to patch themselves in a matter of seconds, according to researchers at the Medical College of Georgia. "Nature has retained the economy of the patch," said Dr. Paul L. McNeil, cell biologist. "In nature, c...Study finds new way that brain detects motion
...or example, just because two people appear to move apart does not mean that you are moving toward them. By monitoring how quickly objects grow or shrink, however, you can derive much more reliable information about how fast you are approaching. Complicating Knills work is the fact that size change and opt...Quick, easy, color-coded technique will speed identification of drugs for diseases
...e receptors were activated, these tags would drift apart and they would show up as cyan under the microscope. Using a one-celled amoeba called Dictyostelium, whose GPCRs serve as docking bays for a chemical known as cyclic AMP (cAMP), the researchers added alpha and beta analogs to the genome of the amoe...Key enzyme responsible for fat development discovered
...the three in the fat development process. To tease apart the players from the non-players in the remodeling steps that prepare for fat cell development, the research team used both genetic techniques and approaches that block specific enzymes. Charles Craik, PhD, UCSF professor of pharmaceutical chemistry ...Genes-to-protein connection may have new twist
...gins when a molecule known as RNA polymerase pries apart DNA, which is shaped like a twisted ladder. RNA polymerase moves in one direction along one strand of the halved ladder, using the stumps of the rungs on that side as a guide for building a molecule called messenger RNA. Messenger RNA later goes thro...DNA deletion offers new evidence of mammals' origins
...er hand, a group known as Archonta should be split apart according to Springer et al. "The molecular data are really convincing that this isn't a group," said DeBry. "Bats are somewhere completely different. They're closer to pigs and cows than rodents and primates. Micro- and mega-bats go together with he...Atmospheric chemistry key to global and local air pollution
...problems and eye irritation. Sunlight breaks ozone apart resulting in the creation of the very reactive hydroxyl radical which begins the process that removes some pollutants from the air. However, when hydroxyl radicals break down some compounds, they produce other hydrogen oxides, which react with other ......nly way we could safely begin chipping these finds apart was by knowing exactly where the pieces were joined and what lay within." Dr. Michael Walker, a radiologist and professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine, offered an analysis of CT scans from the two artifact conglomerates, held together by cor...New sub-cellular structure discovered
...cell division in plants and animals is the pulling apart and segregation of chromosomes into the two daughter nuclei, allowing genetic material to be passed on from cell to cell. Scientists have known for many years that a spindle-like structure formed by polymerized tubulin from the cytoplasm plays an im...New lab-made stem cells may be key to transplants
...n embryoid body. After teasing the embryoid bodies apart using gentle enzymes, the scientists cultured the separated cells in one of six "very simple growth environments." Sample cells from each environment now called embryoid body derived cells were grown again, this time in culture solutions that fav...Midwest geologists propose new view of ancient continental collisions
...continents which formed Gondwana collided and came apart to form what is now North and South America. Un...ca went through a massive collision, before moving apart into their present-day locations. "We don't agree with that model," said Huff. "Technically, it's po...UCSF researchers reveal a fundamental decision-making unit of cells
...le of integrating signals. They used this to tease apart the essential steps in cellular decision-making. "Much as we can understand how a computer works by breaking it down to its transistors and other components, so we can understand the complex circuits of a cell by studying its signaling proteins like......y kinase function -- just what is needed to tease apart the unique role of one kinase from all others. The new technique can chemically switch on or off individual kinases among many hundreds found in every cell. Until now, changing the structure of proteins to study their function has been the hallma...Research paves the way for faster, better, cheaper DNA detection method
...rget DNA. At this point, any mismatches will break apart because partially matched strands are more weakly bound than strands of perfectly matched DNA. Only the perfect matches remain, each with a gold nanoprobe attached and acting as its signal. The signal is then amplified using modified photographic d......y the number of ways each structure could be taken apart halfway; that is, until only about 50 percent of the bonds remained intact. They found that the naturally occurring structures had many more of these half-formed configurations than did the artificial structures without any secondary motifs. "It i...