Stressed cells spark DNA repair missteps and speed evolution
...osome and rejoins the broken ends around the newly synthesized genetic material. "It fixes the hole in the DNA by copying similar information," said Rosenberg. However, when the process goes wrong, the repair process introduces errors into the DNA. When graduate student Rebecca G. Ponder set up a system so tha...Coming to the Arctic near you: The longer, hotter summer
...amatic summer warming in arctic Alaska, scientists synthesized a decade of field data from Alaska showing summer warming is occurring primarily on land, where a longer snow-free season has contributed more strongly to atmospheric heating than have changes in vegetation. Arctic climate change is usually viewed a...Structures of marine toxins provide insight into their effectiveness as cancer drugs
.... The recent findings will enable the toxins to be synthesized in a lab instead of harvested from the depths of the ocean floor, meaning that the drugs can be engineered to be as effective as possible. "In order to chemically synthesize a better drug, it is a good idea to know how the natural compound works," ...VCU researchers design new receptor and enhance bioassay to advance drug discovery process
...d online on September 27, researchers designed and synthesized a new cyclen-based receptor, and demonstrated its ability to strongly bind the fluorescent dye, pyranine, under near-physiological conditions. Furthermore, researchers were able to improve upon the currently applied membrane leakage assay used to ev...Leading lampreys to slaughter: Pheromone for scourge of Great Lakes identified
...ng wanted to identify the pheromone so it could be synthesized and used to control the sea lamprey, which laid wa...ed the three major components of the pheromone and synthesized the principal one, a novel steroid akin to a shark steroid that possesses anticancer activity. This ...A fatty acid found in milk may help control inflammatory diseases
...cal mechanism by which this occurs." CLA, which is synthesized by microbial fermentation in the rumen of dairy cows, exists naturally in a number of structural forms. Cook's team determined that one of the variants inhibits the COX-2 protein by blocking a key cellular pathway. The COX-2 protein is known to play...Innovative research set to push boundaries of cancer care
...., Instructor of Medicinal Chemistry, designed and synthesized DNA-binding agents using a modular approach and searched for topoisomerase II poisons that could circumvent transport proteins efflux, hypothesizing that this will allow entry into both the blood-brain barrier and glioma tumor cells. Out of 400 DNA ...Biotechnology's newest chemical tool
...anner. To try out their technique, the scientists synthesized molecules that mimicked AdoMet, but had chemical groups with longer carbon chains in the position where the methyl group was usually located. The enzymes were able to grab the bulkier group and transfer it to DNA. Since the family of DNA methyltransf...The unfolding of amyloid's true colors
... pigment, melanin, in mammalian cells. Melanin is synthesized in organelles called melanosomes, which reside in specialized skin cells (melanocytes) and the eyes (retinal pigment epithelium), to produce and traffic pigments for coloration, ultraviolet protection, and chemical detoxification. The researchers is...Pretreating rogue cancer cells with aspirin cripples their resistance to targeted therapy
...s one of the more promising of these agents, and a synthesized form of TRAIL has been shown in cell cultures and animal models to induce apoptosis alone and in combination with other drugs. Unfortunately, studies have found that not all cancers are sensitive to TRAIL. In fact, many tumor cells are completely res...Switching to new anti-bacterial targets: Riboswitches
...binations of drugs. The analog, pyrithiamine, was synthesized decades ago to study the then new field of vitamin nutrition. It was quickly found to be toxic but the mechanism was incompletely understood. Breaker and coworkers show that pyrithiamine is metabolized and binds to the riboswitch controlling thiamine...LIAI initiatives battle influenza; Potential bird flu treatment among their findings
...H5NI avian flu virus, along with a number of other synthesized virus pieces, to analyze the effectiveness of the human anti-M2 antibodies, which had been created from theTranschromosomic mice TM . "In laboratory (in vitro) testing, they found that the anti-M2 antibodies bound to several different influenza stra......ss at the Metabolic Research Laboratory. Leptin is synthesized primarily by the adipocyte, but there also exist other tissues capable of synthesizing this cytokyne. In addition, the functional receptors of leptin are found in a great quantity of organs, such as, for instance, the liver. Our hypothesis is that l...JCI table of contents: December 22, 2005
...ilitate further study of this protein. Perforin is synthesized as an inactive precursor and must undergo proteolytic processing to achieve the active form. The authors analyzed 21 different missense mutations in human perforin and revealed that these mutations result in 3 different classes of perforin protein: (...Role of the nervous system in regulating stem cells discovered
...eported that a second compound, fucoidan, which is synthesized by certain seaweeds, could also spur the stem cells into action. The group speculated that the seaweed derivative might work by imitating a similar compound, called sulfatide, naturally present in mammalian tissues. To test the idea, the researchers ...Discoveries may advance stem cell therapy for Parkinson's, cancer patients
...eported that a second compound, fucoidan, which is synthesized by certain seaweeds, could also spur the stem cells into action. The group speculated that the seaweed derivative might work by imitating a similar compound, called sulfatide, naturally present in mammalian tissues. To test the idea, the researchers ...Argonne researchers contribute 1000th structure
...e of the structures have revealed how proteins are synthesized inside the cell (ribosome), how we see light (rhodopsin), how cells communicate (integrin) and how cells differentiate (gene regulatory factors). Other findings have shed insight into origins of diseases including cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, and ...JCI table of contents, February 1, 2006
...n the form of glucose from two sources: from newly synthesized glucose (gluconeogenesis), or from the breakdown of glycogen (glycogenolysis). Similarly, after a meal the increased blood glucose levels stimulate the production of the pancreatic hormone insulin, which allows cells of the body to internalize this p...Heparin prepared synthetically could replace animal-derived drug
...elaer and UNC-Chapel Hill researchers successfully synthesized hundreds of milligrams of heparin by developing a large-scale process involving engineered enzymes and co-factor recycling. The new, scaleable process can be applied to synthesize other heparin-based structures that regulate cell growth and may have ...Creation of antibiotic in test tube holds promise for better antibiotics
...ance occurring, van der Donk said. The researchers synthesized nisin simply in a test tube by using a single cyclase enzyme to re-create the process that normally occurs in a strain of the bacterium Lactococcus lactis found naturally in milk. They demonstrated how just one protein (NisC) makes 10 new chemical bo...