Optical Microscopy Shines Light On Biology
...ical molecules. "It's important to see what single proteins do and map their distribution in a system," he said. "If you can understand that, it can lead to a better understanding of how protein changes affect biological processes." By studying a single molecule, "we can examine how the molecule moves very pr...Fast Measurement Technique Reveals Early Steps In Protein Folding
...ng missed by other techniques." Understanding how proteins fold is a necessary first step toward the eventual... of tailoring designed proteins. But, to study how proteins fold, researchersfirst must unfold them. Gruebele and his colleagues -- graduate students Richard ...Disease Resistance Mechanism Identified in Plants
...tance in plants is triggered by the interaction of proteins produced by both a resistance gene in the plant and an "avirulence" gene in the disease-causing microorganism. The avirulence protein acts much like an antigen in animals, eliciting an immune response from the plant. Researchers suspect that the re...Mechanism For Disease Resistance Identified In Plants
...tance in plants is triggered by the interaction of proteins produced by both a resistance gene in the plant and an "avirulence" gene in the disease-causing microorganism. The avirulence protein acts much like an antigen in animals, eliciting an immune response from the plant. Researchers suspect that the re...Researchers Find How Disease-resistant Plants Recognize Bacteria
... not by invading the cell wall, but by introducing proteins directly into the host cell's cytoplasm. Scientist...zed that this pathway would explain why the kinase proteins are found in the plant cell cytoplasm, instead of on the cell wall. Experiments in Martin's laborato...New Finding Suggests "HATs" Are Key To Gene Activation Puzzle
...omatin. Because the DNA is wound around spool-like proteins called histones, the proteins thatcontrol DNA replication and expression cannot access the DNA to do their jobs. It's the job of e...A Sensor, A Switch, A Zipper: Protein Engineers Design Potential Tool
...s a carcinogen, said Dr. Alber. Additional proteins could be designed to detect other environm...y also allow scientists to attach specific proteins together. In nature, coiled coils "zip" together two or more subunits of a protein. To take ...Proteins Interacting With RNA And DNA Are Surprisingly Similar
...erial infection,is remarkablysimilar to a class of proteins that bind to DNA. The proteins have the same general shape, and they use a similarmethod tobind to RNA and DNA. Those similarities ...Researchers Corral Millions Of Microscopic Membranes
... powerful methods for determining the structure of proteins is X-ray crystallography. For this method to work,...e the material. This has proven very difficult for proteins associated with membranes because they cannot be easily separated from the membrane material. "There...Scientists Determine 3-D Crystal Structure Of Cancer-Causing Protein
...ies of Molecular Biophysics. Cells rely on proteins to regulate their differentiation and growth. Mutationsthat alter the normal function of control proteins result in unchecked growthand differentiation--cancer. In a process called phosphorylation--often th...Team Identifies Switch For Tumor Suppressor Gene
...f cells growing out of control, and genesthat make proteins that speed up or slow down cell growth areoften pi...of the RB protein suppresses growth byknocking out proteins that a cell needs to proliferate. When theRB protein is decorated with phosphate groups, as it is in...... at that point in theprocess of producing eggs. If proteins and other essential nutrients werenot being consumed, the Medfly might call upon nutrient reserves that normallywould be used for body maintenance and repair. That notion is supportedby the fact that the early-life surge in the death rate is not seen...Prostate Cancer's Aggressiveness May Be Predicted Early By The Ratio Of Free To Total PSA
...hyperplasia (BPH) or cancer. Part of the PSA binds proteins in the blood and some PSA remains free or unbound. Free and bound PSA make up total PSA in serum. Men whose total PSA levels are high may have an infection, prostate enlargement, or cancer. Earlier studies have found that the rate of increase in tot...Cell-Membrane Proteins Appear To Play Key Role In Squid's Swiftness
...versity scientists,involves sodium channels proteins in nerve-cell membranes that generatethe electrica...n fellowship. Gilly, who studies membrane-channel proteins in the signaling of nerveand muscle cells, was surprised by the findings: "I was trained tothink sod...Herpes-Based Gene Therapy Is Key To Promising Liver Tumor Vaccine
...ve developed specially inresponse to the tell-tale proteins found on the surface of cancercells. In theory, the sheer numbers of these cells should wipeout any stray cancer cells that escaped the surgeon's knife. Acompound that does this, such as the vaccine cocktail puttogether by Drs. Federoff and Fong, is ...Herpes-Based Gene Therapy Is Key To Promising Liver Tumor Vaccine
...e developed specially in response to the tell-tale proteins found on the surface of cancer cells. In theory, the sheer numbers of these cells should wipe out any stray cancer cells that escaped the surgeon's knife. A compound that does this, such as the vaccine cocktail put together by Drs. Federoff and Fong,...Emory Researchers Advance Gene Therapy Studies For Metastatic Melanoma Treatment
...ttack melanoma tumor cells. Cytokines are natural proteins made by all cells, both normal and malignant. A single cell produces many cytokines; some influence the cell itself (an autocine effect), while others stimulate neighboring tissue, such as immune cells, for a local effect. GM-CSF is produced natura...Biosensor Is A Model For Widespread Testing Of Chemicals, Molecules
...ang and Sheryl Gere. The idea of exploiting proteins to use as molecular diagnostic deviceshas been aro..., and now had created a small family of engineered proteins which,when combined together, can measure maltose over a very wide range of levels.Using genetic eng...Scientists Use Magnetic Field As Alternative To Space-Based Zero Gravity
...ctricity. The procedure worked because the water, proteins and lipids inside theembryos created a weak magnetic field that repelled them slightly from thepowerful field inside the solenoid. The result was a force that levitated theembryo-laden drop inside the solenoid for several minutes until the current wa...A gene known to control production of proteins believed to allow plantcells to elongate during gr...of genes formerly shown tocoordinate production of proteins appropriately named "expansins."These expansin proteins, identified so far in cucumbers, rice, tomat...