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Tag Archives: RNA
Small RNA: New pathways for gene regulation?
Sometimes research discovers more than expected. (It could be called serendipity.) In this case, researchers from the Max Planck Institute in Berlin (Germany) were exploring the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which is a microscopic beasty that lives in the gut of about 50% of humanity. H. pylori, as it is abbreviated, has been linked to a [...]
Posted in Impact: DNA Decoding Also tagged biochemistry, DNA, genetics, Helicobacter pylori, junk DNA, pathogen, sRNA, transcription Leave a comment
Four-letter codons: A new synthetic biology playground
All life (that we know of) is built from the 4 nucleotides of DNA (Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, Thymine and in RNA Uracil instead of Thymine), which provide the code for creating 22 amino acids, which are then combined into proteins. An important part of the process is the reading of the DNA code by RNA [...]
Posted in Impact: Proteomics Also tagged codons, DNA, genetics, microbiology, nucleotides, proteomics, transcription, tRNA Leave a comment
Update: Genetic variations associated with aging
The DNA Dude has a background blog on telomeres and the genetic variation study, with illustration. The most recent and exciting news in this story was just published. It deals with the observation that telomere lengths differ in people of the same age. Although there is certainly an environmental affect on telomere length, it’s also [...]
For RNA, the junctions dictate geometry
Did you know that RNA (ribonucleic acid) has an anatomy? In fact, it has anatomical properties that are sometimes analogous to the human body; especially joints. Just like human joints such as the elbow, knee, and shoulder allow bending but only in certain directions; RNA has ‘joints’ (junctions) in its chemical structure, and these too [...]
From Prussian blue, the compounds of life
Piecing together the story of life’s origin just got more colorful. (I couldn’t help using this trite journalistic phrase, sorry.) Prussian blue, the famous blue color used in dyes and blueprints, is also one of the oldest complex organic compounds known. Now, thanks to recent research at the Astrobiology Centre (INTA-CSIC, Madrid, Spain), it appears [...]
Posted in News: Origins of Life Also tagged DNA, organic chemistry, origin of life, prebiotic, Prussian blue, urea Leave a comment
Basic finding: Proteins don’t need to unfold to change
We’re talking proteins in the cells of all living things. They don’t have to unfold to change shape. If that sounds cryptic, it’s because that finding is about some of the most fundamental processes of life, and we’re just beginning to learn about them. In this case, proteins – which are the building blocks of [...]
Posted in News: Cell Biology Also tagged amino acids, atomic chemistry, cell biology, chemical pathways, DNA, folding, molecular biology, proteins Leave a comment
Biological clocks: RNA keeps time
It was suspected for centuries and confirmed by scientific studies decades ago – animals, including human beings, have internal ‘clocks.’ That is, many of our biological processes run on a schedule, and that schedule is maintained by some kind of biological equivalent to a clock. Now, in work that is highly characteristic of ‘the molecular [...]
Posted in News: DNA Decoding Also tagged biological clock, chronobiology, circadian rhythm, miRNA, neurobiology Leave a comment
Cracking the bacterial immune system
Until a few years ago, biologists did not know that bacteria have their own immune system. It was known that most bacteria are killed by invading viruses, called bacteriophages, and it wasn’t a stretch to imagine that bacteria had developed some way of combating the attacks, but the details of such an immune system were [...]
Posted in News: Cell Biology Also tagged bacteria, bacteriophage, CAS genes, DNA, immune system, proteins Leave a comment
NASA re-creates key component of RNA
What happens to water-ice on a comet passing through a zone of intense ultraviolet radiation? If the water-ice contains any molecules of pyrimidine, some of it will be transformed into uracil. How do we know this? NASA has recreated the process in the lab. So what? Most water-ice in comets contains various organic molecules, pyrimidine [...]
Posted in News: Origin of Life Also tagged asteroids, comets, DNA, NASA, origin of life, pyrimidine, uracil Leave a comment
Forming the double helix – learning more about hybridization
Our knowledge of cell biology, of genetics, indeed of life itself has centered on the role of DNA. Yet since the structure of DNA was first elucidated by Watson and Crick more than fifty years ago, we are still attempting to explain the intricate processes involving DNA. One of these processes, DNA hybridization, is the [...]
Posted in News: Cell Biology Also tagged biochemistry, biology, cell biology, DNA, double-helix, genes, hybridization Leave a comment
Nanomotor punches new pores
An RNA-powered nanomotor, employed by researchers at the University of Cincinnati, can create an artificial pore in lipid membranes that is big enough to transmit DNA. Lipid membranes, for example the ‘walls’ of cells, naturally have channels that selectively transmit materials. These channels are one of the ways in which organisms regulate the flow of nutrients, control chemicals, DNA and [...]
Posted in News: Nanomedicine Also tagged cell biology, DNA, lipids, nanomotor, nanotechnology Leave a comment
Ribozymes and the origin of life