Today’s Popular Posts
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Tag Archives: protein
Synthetic biology: Making new proteins with E. coli by adding DNA
Sometimes big advances in science happen without much public notice. That’s often because at the time they didn’t look like big advances in science, or just as likely, they were considered marginally workable, so nobody wanted to highlight them. Here’s one such case to consider: Researchers at Yale University (Connecticut, USA) and publishing in the [...]
Posted in Impact: Synthetic Biology Also tagged biochemistry, DNA, E. coli, epigenetics, phosphorylation, phosphoserine, synthetic biology, Söll 1 Comment
Neuroscience: Memory tied to a specific protein complex
At times it must seem to neuroscientists that the enigma of memory reveals its secrets to them as if they were the proverbial blind men describing an elephant. “Ah yes, it has a hose, a very thick hose, so thick it’s almost like a tree trunk!” If only it were as easy to get the [...]
Posted in Impact: Neuroscience Also tagged axon, CaMKII, memory, memory formation, neuron, neuroscience, NMDAR, protein complex, synapse 1 Comment
Proteins and quantum transition: Instant shape-shifting
Every once in a great while a piece of very interesting science comes along, quietly, until more and more people notice that not only is important but it may be right. Then scientists get into high gear and start doing more intensive experimenting. Sometimes the science press or even the popular media catch wind of [...]
Posted in Impact: Proteomics Also tagged amino acids, biochemistry, configuration, DNA, Lu, Luo, protein folding, proteomics, quantum folding, quantum mechanics, quantum transition Leave a comment
Discovery: An immune system within cells
The human body has a pretty good immune system. Because it’s so crucial to our health, scientists and doctors have been studying the immune system intensely for a long time. A good deal is known about it, even down to the molecular level. This study of the immune system, besides being good for a general [...]
Posted in News: Cell Biology Also tagged antibody, cell biology, cytosol, immune system, TRIM21, tripartite motif-containing, viral infection, virus Leave a comment
Stem cells: Myc does much more
To put it mildly, not thinking beyond assumptions can lead to surprises. This also applies to science. For many years scientists thought that the gene known as Myc (“mick”) plays a role in causing cancer – an oncogene – and that was all it did. It does play a role in cancer; Myc somehow lengthens [...]
Posted in Impact: Stem Cells Also tagged cancer, cell biology, cell differentiation, GATA6, molecular biology, Myc, oncogene, pluripotent, stem cell 1 Comment
New proteomics: Fat isn’t inactive
Most people think of fat as stuff that just sits there – like the pendulous beer belly or the not so cute love handles. Scientists too have long thought of fat…and fat cells…as simply repositories of lipids (fats), which are storehouse material for energy that can be used by the body. Recent work, however, is [...]
Posted in News: Proteomics Also tagged adipokines, adipose, endocrine, fat, hormone, lipid, obesity, proteomics 1 Comment
A new role for a key cell protein
We know from our experience, intuition, and scads of studies that the body reacts to stress – often negatively. For the most part, long term stress is harmful. There are many muscular, neurological, vascular, and digestive reactions (to name a few) that if not significantly relieved by some point, turn toward physical degeneration and disease [...]
Posted in Impact: Proteomics Also tagged AMPK, DNA, histone, kinase, metformin, nucleus, p51, p53, phosphorylation, proteomics Leave a comment
Extending life with diet or insulin has trade-offs
Over the last decade or so, two of the most promising avenues of research in gerontology (the study of aging) and the search for means of extending human life have been on the effects of restricting diet and the activity of the hormone insulin. Numerous studies have shown that caloric restriction (not starvation, but a [...]
Posted in News: Extending Lifespan Also tagged aging, C. elegans, CREB, diet restriction, DNA, flatworm, insulin, lifespan, memory, memory loss, mRNA, RNA, sRNA Leave a comment
New study: Steps toward understanding the ferritin ‘nanocage’
Proteins are the building blocks of cells, tissues, and the larger creations of life (such as humans), which makes them important. That doesn’t make them easy to understand. In fact, studies such as one about the protein ferritin, just released by researchers at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, tend to [...]
Posted in News: Proteomics Also tagged amino acid, enzyme, ferritin, nanoarchitecture, nanocage, nanoparticle, nanostructure, proteomics Leave a comment
Learning the secrets of spider silk storage and spinning
Science has been trying to learn the secrets of spider silk – and imitate it – for a long time. It’s a worthy goal. Nothing else, artificial or natural, is quite like it. It has five times the tensile strength of steel and triple the strength of the best synthetic fibers. Scientists are beginning to [...]
Posted in News: Nanotechnology Also tagged crystalline structure, epoxy, molecular biology, NMR, spider silk, synthetic materials, tensile strength Leave a comment
Discovery: Cell protein transport and an approach to cancer
The center of this story, in more ways than one, is the Golgi apparatus (pronounced ‘goal jee’). As a crude analogy, think of the Golgi apparatus as a re-packaging operation inside of living cells. It receives packages (called vesicles, which are like tiny bubbles) of proteins from the parts of the cell where proteins are [...]
Posted in Impact: Cell Biology Also tagged cancer, cell biology, cell membrane, Golgi body, mitochondria, palmitoylation, palmostatin B, proteomics, RAS, transport Comments closed
Genetic pause control
Did you know that the genetic production process (gene expression) can be paused? A few years ago, most geneticists didn’t know either, and now it appears that the ability to pause genetic expression is not limited to a handful of genes (as originally thought) and may be a general capability for cells at all stages [...]
Posted in News: DNA Decoding Also tagged c-Myc, chromosome, DNA, DSIF, genes, genetics, mRNA, NELF, nucleus, polymerase enzyme, stem cells, transcription Leave a comment
Evolution treats transcription factors differently than DNA
People with reddish hair have genes for that, but what gets the job done – that is, growing reddish hair – isn’t the DNA or gene, it’s the transcription of the genes by molecules of protein, mainly RNA polymerase transcribing into messenger RNA (mRNA), which takes the designs coded in DNA and guides the production [...]
Posted in News: Proteomics Also tagged DNA, epigenetics, evolution, genes, genetics, molecular biology, proteomics, speciation, species, transcription, tRNA Leave a comment
Protein pathway competition regulates embryo development
One thing I’ve noticed in following scientific developments for a long time is that when something unexpected is discovered it very often adds to the complexity. Here’s a recent case in point, first, I’ll let a piece of the announcement speak for itself, and then I’ll explain the context: Until now, scientists believed these pathways [...]
Posted in Impact: Cell Biology Also tagged cell biology, DNA, enzyme, genes, MAPK, microbiology, pathways, proteomics Leave a comment
Brain memory is actively cleared
We forget, a lot. It’s always been assumed that we forget either because new information is coming in and ‘overwrites’ (replaces) older memories, or because memory just sort of degrades. There’s some kind of selection at work, of course, because some things we forget more readily than others. A new study by a team from [...]
Posted in News: Neuroscience Also tagged brain, memory, molecular biology, neurons, neuroscience, Rac Leave a comment
Plants, animals, and proteins between them
Horizontal movement of DNA (genes passing between species) is well-known and the basis of major research (and disagreement). Less known and much less researched is a similar sharing of proteins between species. Virtually unknown and probably under-researched is protein shared between plants and animals. New work by Wendy Peer at Purdue University (Indiana, USA) could [...]
Posted in News: Proteomics Also tagged DNA, epigenetics, genes, genetics, plants, proteomics Leave a comment
Prions: Not alive but they can evolve
Prions are mostly protein. Although protein is a fundamental component of living cell material, prions are not alive. The behave something like viruses, without DNA or RNA yet able to reproduce by forcing living cells to do the reproduction for them. Prions were hypothesized in the 1960’s (Alper and Griffith) but not discovered until 1982 [...]
Posted in News: Cell Biology Also tagged adaptation, cell biology, DNA, evolution, mad cow disease, prions Leave a comment
DNA nanosensors