Visualizing the end of the human genome
... thousands of base pairs long, and is made up of a repeating sequence of six nucleotides. The final 100 to 300 ...roteins that recognize and bind to DNA or RNA. The repeating six-nucleotide telomeric unit fits precisely within this fold, with many POT1 molecules binding to e......g what they heard (ABCDE) in short-term memory and repeating it. The nine birds in this experiment could not string the segments together in the right order to sing the entire song ABCDE. Next, eight young sparrows were played two segments or snippets of their song at a time. Each pair of segments was in the...Baby songbirds and human infants learn sounds in similar ways
...hat remain unknown. Some infants focus at first on repeating individual words and others go through a stage of short, jumbled phrases, mostly unintelligible, with the cadence and inflection of adult speech. Eventually the individual words become clear. "In both infants and zebra finches vocal learning does no...Study in Royal Society journal on first evidence for magnetic field detection in sharks
...e routes home, which remain surprisingly indirect, repeating these routes precisely. Our results call into question the established view that pigeons use only their compasses from familiar locations, suggesting instead that their familiar area map is based on the use of visual landmarks. Contact: Dr Jessica Me...Sinking coastlines may precede large subduction zone quakes
...the species of foraminfera present indicated three repeating sequences of high marsh transitioning to low marsh as the land began to sink, then tsunami sand without foraminifera, followed by a return to high marsh as the land relaxed after the earthquake. (Sand deposited by tsunamis can be distinguished from s...Gorilla diet tips -- Have we 'evolved to eat mush'?
... the therapist to understand themselves," he said, repeating a bit of wisdom he often shares with his students in the classroom. "They go into biological anthropology because they want to understand what the human species are all about." This AAAS session was organized by Mark Teaford of the Johns Hopkins Univ...Scientists discover that three overlapping signals in embryo help get the backbone right
...nists, noggin, in 1992, confirming its activity by repeating Spemann and Mangold's experiment but injecting noggin instead of implanting an organizer from another embryo. They also discovered xnr3, and other researchers isolated three more factors - chordin, follistatin and cerberus. While Harland and his UC B...Rodent social behavior encoded in junk DNA
...hen and where a gene turns on. The length of these repeating sequences once dismissed as mere junk DNA in the... were particularly intrigued with microsatellites, repeating sequences of letters in the genetic code peppered throughout these regulatory areas of the vasopress...New U. of Colorado polymer has applications for dentistry, electronics, automobiles
...entical molecules linked by chemical bonds to form repeating chains or webs -- generally show an increase in strain and stress when they are treated with heat or chemicals to cure them. But the new polymer, which has a complex chemical formula like most polymers, maintains its strength even while showing redu...Scripps research scientists solve structure of a critical innate immune system protein
...ilson and his colleagues have solved shows how the repeating leucine-rich repeat motifs assembled in TLR3 in never-before-seen detail. The portion of TLR3 the scientists solved lies on the outside of the membrane and reveals the potential binding site for its ligand, double-stranded RNA. TLR3 forms a large hor...New discovery blurs distinction between human cells and those of bacteria
...an Beeby. The structure of the carboxysome shows a repeating pattern of six protein molecules packed closely together. "We didn't know six would be the magic number," Yeates said. "What surprises me is how nearly these six protein molecules fill the space between them. If you take six pennies and place them in...SciFinder 2006 launches powerful new substance search capablities
...s permit drawing a variable attachment point and a repeating group; Reaction Searching - finding reaction information has been enriched with new content and features; these include reaction conditions and identifying intermediate reactions in a multi-step reaction. Scientists can also click any substance in ...Computers close in on protein structure prediction
...ers upped their odds of finding the right match by repeating the two-step process with 50 homologs of the proteins from other genomes, such as a mouse or fly. The protocol was first tested on a blind annual prediction test considered to be the highest standard for removing bias from protein structure predictio...'Underground' tunnels discovered as means for communication between immune system cells
...rlier results, the researchers anticipated that by repeating the experiment with macrophages there'd be no response. But as luck would have it, the microscopic bacteria sample somehow got clogged inside the tip, and before Dr. Watkins realized the need to pull away from the cell, he had already given it a jab....Study provides insight into cellular defenses against genetic mutation
...e cap is attached to the 5-prime end and a tail of repeating adenosine molecules to the 3-prime end. The cap and the tail protect the mRNA from enzymes that would otherwise destroy it from both ends. Along with its protective role, the 5-prime cap is designed to bind to a complex of two linked cap-binding prot...Sisyphean movement of motor proteins may help preserve DNA integrity
...it an obstacle they snap back to where they began, repeating the process over and over, possibly playing a preventative role in keeping the genome intact. Taekjip Ha, a professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, likens the biologic...Picking particles faster than one at a time
...rying to coax molecules to arrange themselves in a repeating crystalline structure, as is necessary for x-ray crystallography, cryo-EM uses individual molecules frozen in random orientations. Capturing two-dimensional images of the molecule from many different angles allows powerful computers to recreate the s...Weizmann Institute suggests that immune cells help to maintain cognition and brain cell renewal
...ntly fewer new cells were formed in those mice. On repeating the same experiment, this time with mice possessing all of the important immune cells except for T cells, they again found impairment of brain-cell renewal, confirming that the missing T cells were an essential requirement for neurogenesis. They obse...Experimental evolution of yeast in the lab may illuminate early events in speciation
...two yeasts from the reference population, died. By repeating this selection process for 36 generations, the researchers produced evolved populations that were five times more likely to mate to other evolved cells than they were to the reference population. Analysis of the evolved populations suggested that th......est known natural compound that is not made out of repeating units. "Out of our conversations came the idea that bluB might be required for an unknown part of the pathway," Walker said. "B12 is a big, complicated molecule. Researchers have been unable to crack the problem of how to make the lower ligand," a s...