Steroid discoveries could add bulk to crop harvests
... In a second study, the researchers identified and clarified the function of specific transcription factors, which are proteins that regulate genes involved in the cell's response to steroids. The researchers reported their findings in articles published in the January 13, 2005, issue of the journal Nature a...Genome of social amoeba shows its importance as research model
...e sequencing effort has, over the past five years, clarified the place this unusual organism occupies in the hierarchy of existence. "It is more closely related to fungi and animals than we had previously thought," he said. Dictyostelium is used as a model organism for studying cell polarity, how amoeba move a...Biologists determine genetic blueprint of social amoeba
...lium, the first amoeba genome to be sequenced, has clarified the place that Dictyostelium occupies in the hierarchy of life. "It is more closely related to fungi and animals than we had previously thought," says Adam Kuspa, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Baylor College of Medicine in Hous......ntual release of identifiable information could be clarified and fears allayed. "As yet there is no published policy from the HFEA regarding the plans for information release. Although it is effectively 18 years from now, current donors ought to have at least some idea of how that is to be managed." She added...Purdue biologists clarify how a cellular 'spacecraft' opens its airlock
...d closes them. A research team led by Jue Chen has clarified the connection between these minuscule gates - which are called membrane transport proteins - and the steps by which they use a cell's energy to permit or deny materials entry into the interior of the cell from the outside world. In what the team per...Targeted virus compels cancer cells to eat themselves
...d, Kondo says the international research team also clarified the mechanism by which such conditionally replicating adenoviruses (CRAs) infect and kill cancer cells. Autophagy is a protective process that cells employ to consume part of themselves when nutrients are scarce or to destroy some of their organelle...Scientists uncover potential key to brain blood-flow disorders
Scientists at the University of Vermont have clarified the cellular process responsible for signaling regional blood flow changes in the brain, thereby uncovering possible causes for such disorders as stroke, migraine, and Alzheimer's disease. The study was published November 1, 2006 in the journal Natur......A can play a role in certain cancers, but have not clarified the genes responsible. Looking to find a promising target for an individual microRNA, Christine Mayr, a postdoctoral researcher in the Bartel lab, picked Hmga2, a gene that is defective in a wide range of tumors. In these tumors, the protein-pr...Elastic interactions of membrane proteins
...y, and one which these scientists have excellently clarified by computational techniques. Tristan Ursell and colleagues have examined the elasticity of the membrane, which changes thickness to accommodate the proteins embedded within it. Proteins respond to stimuli by altering their shape to perform specific...Huntington's disease study shows animal models on target
...rent conditions and disease stages. These profiles clarified the role of different forms and dosages of the protein hungtintin in the transcriptional activity of neurons. They then designed and implemented novel computational methods for quantifying similarities between RNA profiles that would allow for compar...A study by the MUHC and McGill University opens a new door to understanding cancer
...mistry at McGill University. In that study we have clarified the structure of some of the proteins involved and their connections, which allows us to understand the consequences of these interactions. This is, in fact, a feat that merits close attention, because it means that researchers can now see elements s...