New Finding Suggests "HATs" Are Key To Gene Activation Puzzle
...cribing DNA into RNA, themolecule that serves as a template for protein production. This is the first HAT discovered that has a known role intranscription. "These findings suggest a distinct mechanism by which gene activation is occurring: The cell's transcriptionalapparatus has chromatin-unfolding prope...Penn State Wetlands Project Seeks Scientific Evaluation Criteria
...escribe our work is that we are creating a sort of template or blueprint that can best match the characteristics of a certain type of wetland to the site where you intend to replace or restore a wetland." The project identified 51 sites as reference wetlands and categorized them into types, such as ripa...Researchers Find Production Point Of Key Protein In Fragile X Syndrome
...ansported to a distant synapse whereit serves as a template for producing the fragile X protein, said Greenough,who also is a professor of psychiatry and of cell and structural biology. "The function of the fragile X protein, and the reason that peoplewho could not make the protein exhibit developmental dela...Research Team Discovers Key Gene For Telomerase Enzyme In Humans
...s known as reversetranscriptases that use RNA as a template for creating DNA. Retroviruseslike HIV also belong to this class. Since reverse transcriptases share acommon amino acid sequence, they are expected to have similarthree-dimensional structures. This indicates that variants of "inhibitorssuch as AZT...Newly Discovered Human Protein Provides Important Target For Cancer Therapy
...chemical cousin of DNA and, in this case,acts as a template for the production of new telomere segments). Pre... subunit that actually transcribestelomerase's RNA template into DNA proved to be an elusive goal. "The maindifficulty in isolating telomerase proteins has bee...Study: Hydrogen Bonds Aren't Key To DNA Pairing After All
...that showed that when thymine is replaced in a DNA template by difluorotoluene, a ring-like molecule that very...adenine is the base mostcommonly inserted when any template base is damaged or missing, Kool and his partners turned the tables and studiedwhether a polymerase ...DNA Enzyme Works In Crystal Form; Yields New Insights Into Gene Copying
...ow the polymeraserecognizes mismatches between the template and the new strand -- like misshapenpieces jammed into a puzzle -- and contorts itself to halt the DNA copyingprocess to allow corrections. "I think this is the most critical thing to understand -- how the enzymecan distinguish between a corr...'Rolling Circles' Provide New Way to Amplify and Detect DNA
..." -- that can crank out more copies of the genetic template less expensively than methods now at scientists' d... The new method of DNA production uses as its template a single piece of circular DNA far smaller than that found in eventhe tiniest of organisms. Like a ...Long-Standing Puzzle Of Immune System Is Solved By UCSF Researchers
...es as atemplate for making new DNA. Sometimes the template is misread and thewrong building block is inserted into the new strand. DNA-repair enzymesthen step in to repair the damage before it becomes fixed. When DNA-repair enzymes detect a mismatch, they use several cluesto distinguish the old, co...How Did Life Begin? Biochemical Evolution On Chemical Surfaces
...thone-dimensional channels could have provided the template for assembly of onlyone version of the amino acids into the first primitive proteins. Smith plans a trip to Australia, where some of the oldest andleast-metamorphosed rocks and minerals are found, to look for more naturallyoccurring organophi......ontact with the machinery necessary to provide the template (messenger RNA) to produce proteins within a cell according to the DNA blueprint. This machinery is called the transcriptional apparatus and contains an enzyme called RNA polymerase II complex, which is necessar...Dismantling Dangerous Genetic Codes With A Faster, More Flexible RNA Mimic
...base pairs. This blocks the mRNA from acting as a template forprotein production. A key recent change to Bashkin's ribozyme mimics is the incorporation of a smallchemical fragment near the catalyst that replaces an actual DNA base pair. Bashkin says the replacement gives the ribozyme mimics their flexibility...Scientists Discover New Players On The Gene-Activation Team
...g a copy of its code, which the cell thenuses as a template for making whatever protein the gene is designed toproduce. "Each cell turns on only the particular genes it needs for whateverfunction it needs to perform," Workman explains. Scientists already knew some of the players on the gene-copying team,which...When Genes "Breed" In The Lab, A Suprising Number Of Their Offspring Are Supergenes
...f the DNA-buildingpolymerase chain reaction. Short template or "primer" sequences ensure that thefragments are stitched together in the correct order to produce a functioninggene. The daughter genes can then be inserted into bacteria or fungi, where theybegin making protein. To make superior v...Researchers Announce Breakthrough In Transgenic Animal Technology
...ng reverse transcription, in which RNA isused as a template for copying and inserting a DNA gene into a cell. Early steps in the research were performed by Anthony Chan, then a graduatestudent in Bremel's lab at the UW-Madison's College of Agricultural and LifeSciences, and the work was completed by Bremel an...Growing Up On Their Own: Smart Plastics Organize Themselves Into Useful Optical Devices
...drilling tiny holes into a material, orproviding a template to begin the assembly process, then somehow removi...mework and air pockets,doesn't require any sort of template and isn't so much fabricated as grown. Likeopals, gems in which air and silica pack together to prod...'Altered state' may be responsible for creating important brain chemicals
...the synthesis of messengerRNA), which is used as a template for assembling proteins in biological systems. The system works this way: When the enzyme making RNA, called RNApolymerase, moves along the DNA double helix, it leaves behind underwound DNA. Selected sequences in this DNA temporarily become l...Unique study reveals new details on how genes are transcribed
...e's base-pairs, catalyzing the creation of an mRNA template in the process. Previous studies have shown that this elongational growth/transcription is discontinuous; the RNAP may pause at various points along the way for a few seconds or a few minutes. Transcription may even stop entirely, with the RNAP goin......rs have not understood what specifies the enzyme's template boundaries, preventing unbridled spinning of telomeric DNA onto the ends of chromosomes. In the current study, the researchers determined that the limitation on DNA synthesis is controlled by a small segment of RNA nestled up adjacent to the downstre...