Penn receives grant for initiative to help understand genes' effects on medications
...e scope of investigation, yield fresh and possibly unexpected insights, and create solutions to biomedical problems that have not been solved using traditional, disciplinary approaches," says NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, MD. The NIH initiative, fronted by the National Center for Research Resources, is part o...Biologists ID molecular block for social 'cheaters'
...tests to determine whether the dimA mutants had an unexpected competitive disadvantage that was skewing the results of the experiment. One of those tests involved looking for a marker gene expressed only in prestalk cells. Using this marker gene, they determined that many cells in the spores were wild type cell...New version of tumor-suppressor linked to progression of childhood cancer
Researchers have discovered an unexpected role as a tumor promoter for a molecule that was previously thought to function exclusively as a cancer suppressor in neuroblastoma (NB), a highly aggressive and deadly childhood cancer. The study, published in the October issue of Cancer Cell, revea...Clues to improving TB treatment
...ystal structure revealed that EthR was bound to an unexpected partner--a compound called HexOc. The presence of HexOc alters EthR's structure, opening up a wider gap between two key DNA recognition areas on the protein. The wider gap disrupts EthR's ability to bind to DNA and limit the production of the EthA en...Darwin's greatest challenge tackled: the mystery of eye evolution
...tive cells of our eyes, the rods and cones, are of unexpected evolutionary origin they come from an ancient population of light-sensitive cells that were initially located in the brain. "It is not surprising that cells of human eyes come from the brain. We still have light-sensitive cells in our brains today w...Crucial evolutionary link points to origins of modern cells
... and colleagues extended this analysis and made an unexpected discovery: They showed that the Nup84 complex shares its structure with three major classes of molecules called "vesicle-coating complexes," which are responsible for shuttling membrane-bound packages to various sites in the cell. The Rockef...High-predator environment has unexpected impact on aging in fish
...he researchers give three possible reasons for the unexpected results. All of these reasons are derived from newer theories for the evolution of senescence that have yet to receive serious consideration. The first hinges on body size and fertility. Guppies in the high-predator environment grew more quick...Global warming: Informal networking is the key to a swift response
A recent report on an unexpected sharp rise in atmospheric CO2 levels has raised th...anisations more able to recognise and adapt to the unexpected shocks that are accompanying climate change," says Mark Pelling. ...Researchers discover molecular timekeeper in bone development
...lson, senior author of the study. "This was a very unexpected discovery. We were studying the role of the HDAC4 gene in the control of heart growth. When we created genetically modified mice lacking the HDAC4 gene, we found that they had excess bone and died because their cartilage was converted into bone," sai...New study by UGA researcher shows that Salmonella uses hydrogen as an energy source
...r findings that major human pathogens are using an unexpected energy source," said Maier. "This new work expands our knowledge that molecular hydrogen is very important in the process of diseases caused by these organisms." Such enteric pathogens as Salmonella are responsible for an estimated 2 million death...Findings show how toxic proteins rob Alzheimer's patients of memory
... to ADDLs, and those changes were sustained for an unexpected long time. Our next step is to understand why ADDLed synapses have trouble staying connected and storing memories." ADDLS are small, soluble aggregated proteins. The clinical data strongly support a recent theory in which ADDLs accumulate at t...JCI table of contents, December 1 2004
...ls that they kill. This observation offers new and unexpected insight into the direct interaction between NK cells and T cells and suggests an APC-like activating function for human NK cells. TITLE: Novel APC-like properties of human NK cells directly regulate T cell activation AUTHOR CONTACT: Ofer Mandelboim T...Strange ocean wave patterns raise questions about beach erosion
...n they bargained for recently when they discovered unexpected wave behavior in the water along an east coast shoreline. The finding could ultimately cause researchers to re-examine ideas about beach erosion and the repair of beaches that are damaged by tropical storms. "It could just be that the physics of the ...U. of Colorado research team discovers life in Rock Glacier
...rozen lakes in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. The unexpected discovery of microbes in that hostile Antarctica region has enthused scientists hunting for life in inhospitable environments, he said. Both the amount of dissolved organic matter and nitrate levels from microbial activity in the rock glacier ros...Research team discovers first evidence of microbes living in a rock glacier
...rozen lakes in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. The unexpected discovery of microbes in that hostile Antarctica region has enthused scientists hunting for life in inhospitable environments, he said. The Green Lakes Valley watershed is part of the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site supported b...Microbe's genome reveals insights into ocean ecology
...acteria make a living in the ocean. One unexpected finding from the genomic analysis was evidence of "lithoheterotrophy," the ability of marine bacteria that typically rely on organic carbon fixed by primary producers as their source of cell material to also use inorganic compounds (in this case, car...Scientists find impaired chromatin structure formation & imprinted gene involvement in Rett Syndrome
...e and how this regulation goes awry in RTT. In an unexpected twist, the scientists found that methylation of CpG islands had no impact on expression of DLX5. In fact, the CpG islands associated with DLX5 were unmethylated in both paternal alleles. Some other mechanism must therefore be responsible. Imagine DNA...Suspect protein found to play protective role in chronic lung disease
... as a potential troublemaker in the lungs plays an unexpected protective role mitigating the damage caused by chronic pulmonary diseases such as asthma, University of Texas Medical School at Houston scientists report in the January edition of The Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI). Genetically knocking the...Human complexity and diversity spring from a surprisingly few (relatively speaking) genes
...xity and diversity arise in higher life forms? The unexpected finding, says Stefan Maas, necessitates a clearer understanding of the role played in protein diversity by processes that take place after DNA is transcribed to RNA and after RNA is translated to proteins. Maas, an assistant professor of biological s......the lack of back-up cell lines caused trouble when unexpected patterns appeared in the DNA sequence, says Eichler. Ideally, researchers would like to have both cell lines and a variety of frozen samples from each animal that has been sequenced. This would not only preserve the original genome for checking, but ...