Biology
Scientists find new gene markers for cancer risk
March 27, 2013 2:37 pm | by Malcolm Ritter, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsA huge international effort involving more than 100 institutions and genetic tests on 200,000 people has uncovered dozens of signposts in DNA that can help reveal further a person's risk for breast, ovarian or prostate cancer, scientists reported Wednesday. The potential payoff for ordinary people is mostly this: Someday there may be genetic tests that help identify women with the most to gain from mammograms, and men who could benefit most from PSA tests and prostate biopsies.
Computer simulations yields clues to cell interactions
March 22, 2013 2:20 pm | News | CommentsCell interact with their surroundings using proteins called integrin, which reside in a cell’s outer plasma membrane. Despite their importance—good and bad—scientists don’t exactly know how integrins work. Scientists have yet to obtain the entire crystal structure of integrin within the plasma membrane, so a computer model of integrin that reveals its molecular dynamics has been developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers.
Bacterial byproduct offers route to avoiding antibiotic resistance
March 22, 2013 8:43 am | News | CommentsAs public health officials sound the alarm about the global spread of drug-resistant bacteria, researchers are working to develop more effective antibiotics to counter this dangerous trend. Now, results from a team including a Princeton University scientist offer a possible solution that uses the bacteria's own byproducts to destroy them.
Findings to help in design of drugs against virus causing childhood illnesses
March 21, 2013 11:12 am | News | CommentsNew research findings may help scientists design drugs to treat a virus infection that causes potentially fatal brain swelling and paralysis in children. The virus, called enterovirus 71, causes hand, foot, and mouth disease and is common throughout the world. Although that disease usually is not fatal, the virus has been reported to cause fatal encephalitis in infants and young children, primarily in the Asia-Pacific region. Currently, no cure exists for the infection. However, new findings show the precise structure of the virus bound to a molecule that inhibits infection.
Common test may overestimate mercury exposure from dental fillings
March 21, 2013 8:16 am | News | CommentsA common test used to determine mercury exposure from dental amalgam fillings may significantly overestimate the amount of the toxic metal released from fillings, according to University of Michigan researchers. Scientists agree that dental amalgam fillings slowly release mercury vapor into the mouth. But both the amount of mercury released and the question of whether this exposure presents a significant health risk remain controversial.
Researchers discover third type of motor found in nature
March 20, 2013 3:21 pm | News | CommentsScientists have cracked a 35-year-old mystery about the workings of a revolving molecular motor that is now serving as a model for development of a futuristic genre of synthetic nanomotors that pump therapeutic DNA, RNA, or drugs into individual diseased cells. Their report reveals the mechanisms of these nanomotors in a bacteria-killing virus—and a new way to move DNA through cells
Cryo-electron microscopy unlocks biochemical methane production
March 20, 2013 2:17 pm | News | CommentsThe biological sources of methane are wide-ranging. However, the conditions have to be always oxygen-free and the exact mechanism has been unclear. A team of researchers in Germany has gained insight into microbiological methane production by explaining the structure of a hydrogenase used by archaebacteria to split hydrogen to produce methane
Novel Amgen virus-vaccine shrinks melanoma tumors
March 20, 2013 1:53 pm | by LINDA A. JOHNSON - AP Business Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsShares of drugmaker Amgen Inc. are rising on news its innovative melanoma drug, which uses a virus as a Trojan horse to infiltrate and destroy tumors, shrank far more tumors than a standard treatment in a late-stage test. The results, released late Tuesday, show there's promise for similar vaccines other companies are developing.
How proteins read meta DNA code
March 19, 2013 10:40 am | News | CommentsThree-quarters of the DNA in evolved organisms is wrapped around proteins, forming the basic unit of DNA packaging called nucleosomes, like a thread around a spool. The problem lies in understanding how DNA can then be read by such proteins. Nowphysicists have created a model showing how proteins move along DNA, in a paper just published in EPJ E
Ocean plankton sponge up nearly twice the carbon currently assumed
March 18, 2013 10:38 am | News | CommentsAccording to new research, models of carbon dioxide in the world’s oceans need to be revised. Trillions of plankton near the surface of warm waters are far more carbon-rich than has long been thought global marine temperature fluctuations could mean that tiny microbes digest double the carbon previously calculated.
Drug-resistant MRSA bacteria here to stay
March 18, 2013 9:07 am | by Catherine Zandonella, Office of the Dean for Research | News | CommentsThe drug-resistant bacteria known as MRSA, once confined to hospitals but now widespread in communities, will likely continue to exist in both settings as separate strains, according to a new study. Researchers at Princeton University used mathematical models to explore what will happen to community and hospital MRSA strains, which differ genetically.
Study reveals how animal swarms respond to overcrowding
March 18, 2013 9:02 am | News | CommentsSwarming is the spontaneous organized motion of a large number of individuals. It is observed at all scales, from bacterial colonies to animal herds. Physicists in Ireland have uncovered new collective properties of swarm dynamics that could ultimately guide efforts to control swarms of animals, robots, or human crowds.
Researchers divide enzyme to conquer genetic puzzle
March 14, 2013 1:38 pm | News | CommentsRice University researchers have found a way to divide and modify enzymes to create what amounts to a genetic logic gate. The researchers have created a library of AND gates by mutating a protein from a bacterial virus. The well-understood protein known as T7 RNA polymerase (RNAP) is a strong driver of transcription in cells.
Predictability: The brass ring for synthetic biology
March 14, 2013 8:43 am | News | CommentsPredictability is often used synonymously with “boring,” as in that story or that outcome was so predictable. For practitioners of synthetic biology seeking to engineer valuable new microbes, however, predictability is the brass ring that must be captured. Researchers with the multi-institutional partnership known as BIOFAB have become the first to grab at least a portion of this ring by unveiling a package of public domain DNA sequences and statistical models that greatly increase the reliability and precision by which biological systems can be engineered.
Mysterious bacterium found in Antarctic lake
March 13, 2013 9:57 am | by Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press | News | CommentsA new form of microbial life has been found in water samples taken from a giant freshwater lake hidden under kilometers of Antarctic ice, Russian scientists said Monday. In a prepared statement, the researchers said that the "unidentified and unclassified" bacterium has no relation to any of the existing bacterial types. They touched the lake water Sunday at a depth of 12,366 feet (3,769 m), about 800 miles (1,300 km) east of the South Pole in the central part of the continent.
Polar insects help scientists make gene expression discovery
March 13, 2013 9:44 am | News | CommentsAlthough they live in similarly extreme ecosystems at opposite ends of the world, Antarctic insects appear to employ entirely different methods at the genetic level to cope with extremely dry conditions than their counterparts that live north of the Arctic Circle. Aside from the significance of the specific discovery, the new finding shows how relatively new and developing scientific techniques, including genomics, are opening science in what was thought to be a relatively uniform, sterile environment.
Biological wires carry electricity thanks to special amino acids
March 12, 2013 10:11 am | News | CommentsIn nature, the bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens uses a type of natural nanowire, called pili, to transport electrons to remote iron particles or other microbes. The benefits of these wires could also be harnessed by humans for use in fuel cells or bioelectronics. A new study reveals that a core of aromatic amino acids are required to turn these hair-like appendages into functioning electron-carrying biological wires.
Researchers build new tools for finding new species
March 11, 2013 2:20 pm | News | CommentsFor hundreds of years, naturalists and scientists have identified new species based on an organism’s visible differences. But different species can often show little or no visible differences. Evolutionary biologists have recently combined traditional morphological tests with genetic techniques to distinguish these genetically different but outwardly similar organisms, which are dubbed “cryptic” species.
Study finds length of DNA strands can predict life expectancy
March 11, 2013 8:46 am | News | CommentsCan the length of strands of DNA in patients with heart disease predict their life expectancy? Researchers from the Intermountain Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City, who studied the DNA of more than 3,500 patients with heart disease, say yes it can.
Scientists manipulate protein activity with newly found enzymes
March 11, 2013 8:43 am | News | CommentsProtein activity is strictly regulated. Incorrect or poor protein regulation can lead to uncontrolled growth and thus cancer or chronic inflammation. Researchers in Switzerland have identified enzymes that can regulate the activity of medically important proteins. Their discovery enables these proteins to be manipulated very selectively, opening up new treatment methods.
Scientists improve transgenic “Enviropigs”
March 8, 2013 3:48 pm | News | CommentsA research team in Europe has developed a new line of transgenic "Enviropigs." Enviropigs have genetically modified salivary glands, which help them digest phosphorus in feedstuffs and reduce phosphorus pollution in the environment. After developing the initial line of Enviropigs, researchers found that the line had certain genes that could be unstable. The new line of pigs is called the Cassie line, and it is known for passing genes on more reliably.
How to thrive in battery acid and among toxic metals
March 8, 2013 9:50 am | News | CommentsLike the extraterrestrial creature in the movie Alien, the "extremophile" red alga Galdieria sulphuraria can survive brutal heat and resist the effects of toxins. Scientists were previously unsure of how a one-celled alga acquired such flexibility and resilience. But recently they made an unexpected discovery: Galdieria's genome shows clear signs of borrowing genes from its neighbors.
Scientists find previously unknown purpose for cellular “gateway”
March 7, 2013 3:46 pm | News | CommentsA research team with members and Canada and the United States have discovered that a "gateway" known to control the movement of molecules in and out of a cell's nucleus appears to play another critically important role. Its second job is the ability to control the structure of chromosomes and the DNA linked to those chromosomes. This impacts what genes produce or express.
New hypothesis formulated to explain bacteria’s increasing toughness
March 7, 2013 10:38 am | News | CommentsA researcher has recently attempted to answer to an enigma in medical science: How are bacteria becoming more resistant to antibiotics? According to his theory, bacteria that are non-resistant to antibiotics acquire this resistance accidentally. This occurs because they take up the DNA of other bacteria that are resistant because of their exposure to stress.
Circuitry of cells involved in immunity, autoimmune diseases exposed
March 7, 2013 10:09 am | by Haley Bridger, Broad Communications | News | CommentsNew work from the Broad Institute and partnering organizations has expanded the understanding of how one type of immune cell—known as a T helper 17 or Th17 cell—develops, and how its growth influences the development of immune responses. By figuring out how these cells are “wired,” the researchers make a surprising connection between autoimmunity and salt consumption.
