Studies reveal how cells sense oxygen
...e consequences of that inactivation for the cell's defenses against low oxygen. In mouse cells lacking mitochondrial activity, oxygen sensing fails and a component of element of hypoxia response, HIF-1a, is degraded as it is under normal oxygen, Simon's team reported. Treatment with hydrogen peroxide stabiliz...Fossils tell the hole story of killer drillers and their prey
...escalating evolutionary arms race. As prey develop defenses against their attackers, predators go them one better, devising new ways of penetrating their victims' defenses. But it doesn't always happen that way, and investigating systems in which prey don't respond to predation by upping the ante can be as i...Leukemia, infection tied to aging stem cells, Stanford researchers say
...roduce immune cells, leaving older mice with fewer defenses against infection. These new findings, published in the June 20 online issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, add to mounting evidence that many pitfalls of aging result from either older stem cells or stem cells responding to thei...UNC plant researchers discover proteins interact to form hair-trigger protection against invaders
... tug-of war or teeter totter-fashion to keep plant defenses in a state of constant readiness," said Dr. Jeffrey L. Dangl, John N. Couch professor of biology in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences. Previously, he and others believed that the proteins -- RAR1, SGT1 and HSP90 -- were required for what is called s...Purdue researchers find key to rice blast fungus
...eas. Learning how the fungus tricks rice's natural defenses against pathogens to penetrate the plant is an important part of controlling the disease, said Jin-Rong Xu, a Purdue molecular biologist. Xu, Xinhua Zhao, Yangseon Kim and Gyungsoon Park, all of Purdue's Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, foun...Virginia Bioinformatics Institute researcher receives USDA functional genomics grant
...the plant pathogen Phytopthora sojae overcomes the defenses of its host soybean. Phytophthora species and related pathogens cause tens of billions of dollars of damage every year to a wide range of both agriculturally and ornamentally important plants and also cause severe damage to forests and threaten entir...A new molecule discovered in the battle between plants and disease
...e, signaling to the rest of the plant to raise its defenses at the first sign of an infection. They also discovered the receptor protein to which Pep1 binds to exert its protective effects. Pep1 was isolated from the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, which is a species favored by investigators for attributes that ...Variation in HIV's ability to disable host defenses contributes to rapid evolution
...eat is its rapid evolution. Understanding how host defenses and viral countermeasures contribute to that evolution is vital. Host cells produce two proteins that mutate HIV DNA and interfere with the virus's ability to replicate. But HIV produces a protein, called Vif, that can disable the two defensive p...Immune system's distress signal tells bacteria when to strike back
...ion starts when a weakened host tries to boost its defenses against any possible invasion. The host's T cells release chemical signals that activate the immune system. One of those signals, interferon-gamma, is intercepted by a protein, called OprF, found on the outer membrane surface of Pseudomonas. This s...K-State professors discover enzyme responsible for creation of a beetle's hard shell
...rotein as a way of weakening the beetle's physical defenses against mechanical, chemical and biological injuries, Muthukrishnan said. Better insecticides could be developed as a result of having a more insect-specific target like laccase-2, Kramer said. "Gaining knowledge about a molecular process required fo...Sticky mutant proteins implicated in Lou Gehrig's disease
... sticky forms of SOD1, they might be able to boost defenses in tissues known to be susceptible to mutant SOD1 accumulation....Native plant eaters have gourmet palates
... by these consumers, they may lack the appropriate defenses to ward them off, essentially going from the fryin...longside their native consumers, they've developed defenses to them. Since the newly introduced plants haven't evolved with the native consumers, they may lack ...Frog peptides block HIV in lab study
...mmunology, who has been studying the antimicrobial defenses of frogs for about six years. Frogs, she explained...d her team will be investigating the antimicrobial defenses of declining frog populations that are facing a particular skin fungus. Postdoctoral fellow Douglas ...CU's Torres discusses avian flu and policy
...mizing its effects and allowing the body's natural defenses to get rid of the infection. Government policy leaders are considering contracting with drug companies to make millions of doses of such antivirals. However, there is concern that indiscriminate use of the drug would allow the H5N1 virus to develop r...Computer models aid understanding of antibody-dependent enhancement in spread of dengue fever
...e viruses' ability to exploit the human body's own defenses to increase their replication may be both a blessing and curse, according to the findings of a study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The process is known as antibody-dependent enhancement. Scientists b...Study suggests way to re-energize immune response to chronic viral infection
...human patients, reinvigorating the immune system's defenses against chronic viral infections ranging from hepatitis to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. "CD8 T cells that have fought viral infections retain a 'memory' of the viruses they've encountered, so they can rapidly respond to new infections from those...Argonne researchers contribute 1000th structure
...ation triggers cell responses ranging from raising defenses to fight disease and other perceived threats to cell death. Thrombospondins are a family of extracellular glycoproteins that regulate cellular behavior during tissue genesis and repair such as wound healing. These functions are mediated by its inter......ll our competitors, says Sussman. "One of the main defenses against predators by animals without physical defenses is living in groups," says Sussman. "In fact, all diurnal primates (those active during the day) liv......y native plant eaters, they may not have the right defenses and are often easier prey than the native herbivores' usual meal. Moreover, most previous assessments of this "natural enemies hypothesis," have focused on the effect that specialized insects have on plants. However, Parker notes that insects commonl...