Rising ocean temperatures, pollution have oysters in hot water
...ry activity, the animal's blood oxygen content and mitochondrial function. The 28C cadmium-exposed group spent more time in respiratory activity, trying to take in oxygen. Their shells were open significantly longer than any of the other groups, a measure of the amount of time they spend "breathing." (When oyste...Few clues about African ancestry to be found in mitochondrial DNA
...gy reveals that fewer than 10% of African American mitochondrial DNA sequences analysed can be matched to mitochondrial DNA from one single African ethnic group. There has been a growing interest in the use of mitochondr...Scientists identify switch for brain's natural anti-oxidant defense
...tion. "With this mechanism, the body can speed up mitochondrial formation and at the same time suppress the creati... diseases that have been associated with defective mitochondrial function," the authors wrote. As a result, finding drugs that increase PGC-1a in the brain "could re...Metabolic disorder underlies Huntington's disease
...tington's disease and is particularly sensitive to mitochondrial dysfunction. The researchers found that tissue ta...es controlled by PGC-1. They further found reduced mitochondrial function in the brains of Huntington's mice. The findings suggest a link between two theories to ex...Viral marker of human migration suspect
...constructed history of human populations, based on mitochondrial DNA. "If the virus had been with humans since we were a single population, and we have almost strictly transmitted it to our children, you may expect that as populations became isolated, the virus lineages diverged as well," Shackelton noted. Howe...Scientists: New phylum sheds light on ancestor of animals, humans
...llaborators identified about 1,300 genes including mitochondrial genes helped to reveal a surprise: Xenoturbella belongs to its own phylum, a broad class of organisms lying just below kingdom in taxonomic classification. It is one of only about 32 such phyla in the animal kingdom. "During the last 50 to 60 years,...News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
...on activity-induced changes in the fluorescence of mitochondrial flavoproteins. The authors measured transcranial fluorescence in the visual cortex of anesthetized mice before and after one eye had been sewn shut for days or weeks. As expected, monocular deprivation led to decreased light responses from the depriv...Different coat color may not mean different species for lemurs
...lleagues at other universities, used analysis of a mitochondrial gene, cytochrome b, to test the genetic relationsh...parate species. These researchers chose to compare mitochondrial cytochrome b as a gene marker that is known to change at a rate similar to that of speciation. Other...Lemurs' fur color may not define species
...s from other institutions in the USA to sequence a mitochondrial gene called cytochrome b, in 70 mouse lemurs. The lemurs were thought to belong to up to three different species because they live in different forest habitats and have distinctive coat colours. However, surprisingly, Heckman et al.'s phylogenetic...Neanderthal genome sequencing yields surprising results and opens a new door to future studies
... However, these studies were based on analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), genetic material that lies outside the nucleus of the cell. Although mtDNA tends to remain preserved longer than nuclear DNA, it provides limited biological information. The vast majority of the genome is comprised of nuclear DNA, whic...Genetic study of Neanderthal DNA reveals early split between humans and Neanderthals
...of the Max Planck Institute, sequenced Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA in 1997 and first suggested that Neanderthals did not make a substantial contribution to the modern human gene pool. This new study, headed up by Edward Rubin of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, reinforces that long-debated theory. "Wh...APS names UC Davis professor 'Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist'
...nergic) stimulation of energy expenditure role of mitochondrial uncoupling proteins in energy balance and oxidative stress physiological basis of altered metabolism during various stages of aging Instilling her students with fascination of science, passion for physiology, and a strong scientific ethic are ...Study finds oysters can take heat and heavy metals, but not both
...ism. The researchers found that cadmium affects mitochondrial function by reducing the efficiency of the metabolic cycle in producing adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the main molecule that cells use to transfer energy. The inefficiency is particularly pronounced as temperatures approach or exceed 30 degrees centi...History-hunting geneticists can still follow familiar trail
...the approach, which involves tracking sequences of mitochondrial DNA, also known as mtDNA. "The study of mtDNA ha...called "natural selection," preferentially affects mitochondrial diversity, making mtDNA less useful for population size estimates. "From a conservation perspectiv...How appetite-stimulating brain cells work overtime during fasting
...r thermogenesis, in brown fat is the activation of mitochondrial uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) by T3, the researchers...g-induced, T3-mediated UCP2 activation resulted in mitochondrial proliferation in the neurons, an event that was critical for the brain cells' increased excitability...'Marathon mice' elucidate little-known muscle type
...wild-type controls," indicative of their increased mitochondrial content, the researchers now report. Upon further examination, the researchers were surprised to find that the fibers showed a reduction in I, IIA, and IIB MHCs and as much as a 5-fold increase in IIX MHC. Nearly 100% of muscle fibers in the trans...News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
...xons. Many cases of CMT2 arise from mutations in a mitochondrial fusion protein mitofusin 2 (MFN2). This week, Balo...pose that MFN2 mutations cause disease by altering mitochondrial trafficking. The authors expressed mutant MFN2 in cultured dorsal root ganglion neurons. Fragmented ...Hofmeyr skull supports the 'Out of Africa' theory
...number of genetic studies (especially those on the mitochondrial DNA) of living people indicate that modern humans evolved in sub-Saharan Africa and then left between 65,000 and 25,000 years ago to colonize the Old World. However, other genetic studies (generally on nuclear DNA) argue against this African origin a...Researchers develop new method for fighting leukemia
...cooperates with other pro-death proteins to induce mitochondrial damage, culminating in the dramatic onset of apoptosis. "Our findings are significant because we were able to employ pharmacologic agents to recapitulate the death process that occurs in normal cells, and which is impaired in their neoplastic coun......t children with inborn errors of metabolism due to mitochondrial diseases. Mitochondria, the energy producing units... and began testing DCA, which activates a critical mitochondrial enzyme, as a way to "revive" cancer-affected mitochondria. The results astounded him. Michelakis a...