Carbohydrate in Biological News

Iowa State chemist synthesizes carbohydrates, launches startup company

... it's very difficult to synthesize specific carbohydrate molecules for study. To date, that's been a slow, ... It can even handle the production of complex carbohydrate molecules with multiple branches and long chains ... her process can fabricate a custom-order, complex carbohydrate molecule in 24 hours. Current commercial ...

Researchers apply systems biology and glycomics to study human inflammatory diseases

... systems biology approach to understanding the carbohydrate structures in cells is leading to new ways to ... the glycome -- the complete set of an organism's carbohydrate structures in cells -- in ways that lead to the ... Sciences. "Our goal is to find ways to alter carbohydrate structures or glycans on the surfaces of white ...

Researchers create safer alternative to heparin

... in the Chinese heparin, a structurally similar carbohydrate called oversulfated chondroitin sulfate. ... together the various molecules and grow a complex carbohydrate that is naturally created in the body in the lab. The carbohydrate backbone for the new heparin comes from the ...

Post-exercise caffeine helps muscles refuel

... more rapidly when athletes ingest both carbohydrate and caffeine following exhaustive exercise, new ... shows. Athletes who ingested caffeine with carbohydrate had 66% more glycogen in their muscles four hours ... exercise, compared to when they consumed carbohydrate alone, according to the study, published by The ...

SEX4, starch and phosphorylation

... and shelter. However, to be usable, the starch carbohydrate stored in plants must be broken down to component ... has similarities to glycogen, the soluble storage carbohydrate accumulated in animals, fungi, and bacteria. The ... important in adjusting the balance of protein and carbohydrate in plants needed to feed a growing global ...

Sugar linkage could lead to better treatment for autoimmune diseases

... Glycomics Center have helped identify a specific carbohydrate structure that confers anti-inflammatory ... active molecule with a slight modification to a carbohydrate residue. These carbohydrate structures are linked to the immunoglobulin and ...

'Bad carbs' not the enemy, University of Virginia professor finds

... analyzes peer-reviewed, scientific research on carbohydrate consumption, glycemic index and body weight and ... glycemic index, a measure of the quality of the carbohydrate in terms of how much it raises blood sugar. Foods ... control, but it is not a reliable description of carbohydrate quality, Gaesser says. Digestion is a complicated ...

LSUHSC's Kolls awarded $1.8 million to improve vaccine strategies for P. carinii pneumonia

... National Institutes of Health to study whether antibodies that recognize carbohydrate (sugars) and proteins on the surface of the fungus that causes ... organ transplant recipients. Earlier research by Dr. Kolls found that carbohydrate antibodies are part of the natural response to the Pneumocystis fungus. ...

DOE awards UGA $3.1 million to support complex carbohydrate study nationwide

... The Department of Energy has awarded the University of Georgia Complex carbohydrate Research Center a four-year, $3.1 million grant to continue as a national ... biotechnology companies, universities and government agencies send carbohydrate samples derived from animal, plant, and microbial sources to the DOE ...

Low-carb diets can affect dieters' cognition skills

... the blood stream and used immediately by nerve cells for energy. Reduced carbohydrate intake should thus reduce the brain's source of energy. Therefore, ... on the low-carb diet. "The data suggest that after a week of severe carbohydrate restriction, memory performance, particularly on difficult tasks, is ...

State fund advances titanium powder research, 9 other Iowa State projects

... Pohl will work with LuCella Biosciences Inc. of Ames to advance a carbohydrate synthesis technology for biologists and pharmaceutical scientists. The technology can fabricate a custom-order, complex carbohydrate molecule in 24 hours; current technology requires six to 12 months for the ...

Salt-tolerant gene found in simple plant nothing to sneeze at

... collaborating with an international team. Complex-N-glycan, a carbohydrate linked to a protein in plant cells, was previously thought to have no ... or development of a plant. However, the team discovered that this carbohydrate may, in fact, be responsible for a plants ability to contend with salt ...

Insects take a bigger bite out of plants in a higher CO2 world

... build new tissues, but adult insects can survive and reproduce on a high carbohydrate diet. So it made sense that more adults would migrate to the high CO2 ... Delucia said. The leaves are no longer adequately defended. The higher carbohydrate content of the leaves and the lack of chemical defenses allowed the adult ...

Carnegie Mellon scientists develop nanogels that enable controlled delivery of carbohydrate drugs

... their most recent advance, the Carnegie Mellon team incorporated the model carbohydrate drug rhodamine isothiocyanate-labeled dextran into the nanogels uniform mesh core. When the nanogels degraded, the model carbohydrate drug was released over time. The experiments were carried out with Jung ...

Ozone depletes oil seed rape productivity

... a group of toxic compounds within oilseed rape plants. Combined with the results of previous studies which have shown a decrease in oil, protein and carbohydrate content of oilseed rape seeds in high ozone, these results (to be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Main Meeting in Glasgow on ...

Ozone depletes oil seed rape productivity

... a group of toxic compounds within oilseed rape plants. Combined with the results of previous studies which have shown a decrease in oil, protein and carbohydrate content of oilseed rape seeds in high ozone, these results (to be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Main Meeting in Glasgow on ...

Omega-3 fatty acids appear to impact AMD progression

... published by Taylor and Chiu suggests that daily substitution of five slices of whole grain bread for white bread out of a total intake of 250 g of carbohydrate might cut out almost 8% of advanced AMD over five years. This is readily achievable with little diet behavior modification. Eating two to three ...

New study finds lowfat chocolate milk is effective post-exercise recovery aid for soccer players

... training, chocolate milk drinkers had significantly lower levels of creatine kinase an indicator of muscle damage compared to when they drank the carbohydrate beverage. There were no differences between the two beverages in effects on, soccer-specific performance tests, subjective ratings of muscle ...

Plastic that grows on trees, part two

... block for plastics and fuels cheaply and efficiently. In new research, chemists have successfully converted cellulose -- the most common plant carbohydrate -- directly into the building block called HMF in one step. The result builds upon earlier work by researchers at the Department of Energy's ...

DOE funds bio-inspired solar fuel center at Arizona State

... to meet the world's energy demands. Plants and similar organisms use photosynthesis to oxidize water, producing oxygen and fuel compounds such as carbohydrate and hydrogen. The system to be developed in the ASU center will be designed using principles borrowed from natural processes. Making a fuel ...

Research suggests vegetable juice may help people with metabolic syndrome lose weight

... of recommendations Vegetable juice drinkers significantly increased their intake of vitamin C and potassium, while decreasing their overall carbohydrate intake "Diet and body weight are key modifiable factors in changing the course of metabolic syndrome," said John Foreyt, PhD, study author and ...

Rensselaer receives more than $2 million from New York State to fund stem cell research

... in the body and preventing them from maturing into potentially dangerous cell types, Linhardt said. Linhardt has already determined that the carbohydrate structure surrounding an embryonic stem cell gets much larger and more complex as the cell matures. With this funding, the team will now analyze ...

Gladstone scientists reveal key enzyme in fat absorption

... that the lack of Mgat2 may reduce the uptake of fat in the small intestine and delay its entry into the blood. This process may dissociate fat from carbohydrate absorption and insulin secretion and ultimately lower the amount of fat stored and used. How this happens is not clear. One possibility is that the ...

Cell-building discovery could reduce need for some animal research

... Engineering. The earlier study highlighted the invention of a 3-D Petri dish about the size of a peanut-butter cup and made of agarose, a complex carbohydrate derived from seaweed with the consistency of Jell-O. Morgan and students in his lab developed the dish, creating a product where cells do not stick ...

Caltech researchers get first 3-D glimpse of bacterial cell-wall architecture

... PASADENA, Calif.--The bacterial cell wall that is the target of potent antibiotics such as penicillin is actually made up of a thin single layer of carbohydrate chains, linked together by peptides, which wrap around the bacterium like a belt around a person, according to research conducted by scientists at ...

Growing fuel and medicine: Advancing biofuels and plant-produced therapeutics

... are currently available from plants possessing inherently large concentrations of sugar as this method uses most of the available biomass. Complex carbohydrate structures such as lignin and hemi-cellulose pose a formidable technical barrier to releasing fermentable sugars from plant-derived feedstock. ...

Pectin power

... Other food carbohydrates such as beta glucans are considered to be bioactive and their anti-cancer action can be attributed to different types of carbohydrate - mammalian protein interactions. "For a whole combination of different effects it is best to consistently eat a range of fruits, vegetables and ...

More research needed to make good on biofuel promise, experts say

... All these practices help retain soil nutrients and offer benefits like wildlife habitat and natural pest suppression. Cellulose, a complex carbohydrate present in all plant tissues, is more abundant in plants than starch. Humans also are unable to digest cellulose. This means cellulosic feedstocks ...

NIH extends commitment to transformative research with 2008 Pioneer, New Innovator Awards

... Western Reserve University School of Medicine assistant professor of pathology, who will develop new tools to study how the immune system recognizes carbohydrate molecules and how they may be used in vaccine development. Ronald D. Cohn, M.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine assistant professor ...

Killer carbs -- Monash scientist finds the key to overeating as we age

... said the reduction in the appetite-suppressing cells could be one explanation for the complex condition of adult-onset obesity. "A diet rich in carbohydrate and sugar that has become more and more prevalent in modern societies over the last 20-30 years has placed so much strain on our bodies that it's ...

Catalysis takes center stage at chemistry conference

... applied to improving alternative sources of energy, including production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a key intermediate between biomass-based carbohydrate chemistry and petroleum-based industrial organic chemistry. (For past PNNL research in this area, see http://www.pnl.gov/news/release.asp?id=255 .) ...

US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute announces new genome sequencing projects

... player, as well as basic research and evolutionary model system. "These plants produce biomass faster than any other flowering plant, and their carbohydrate content is readily converted to fermentable sugars by using commercially available enzymes developed for corn-based ethanol production," said Rubin. ...

Mate choice in plants

... to the S locus are also required in the genera Nicotiana (tobacco), Solanum (tomato) and Petunia. Three other glycoproteins, proteins with attached carbohydrate components, have been found to be associated with pollen tubes. These proteins, transmitting-tract-specific (TTS), 120 kDa glycoprotein (120K), and ...

Sleep restriction results in increased consumption of energy from snacks

... intake. According to the results, when bedtimes were restricted to five-and-a-half hours study subjects consumed more energy from snacks. The carbohydrate content of ingested snacks also increased for this group. The authors concluded that factors such as longer exposure to an environment with ...

Certain form of tomatoes could be key to prostate cancer prevention

... or drying dramatically increases their nutritional value and cancer-fighting potential. Mossine and his colleagues found that FruHis an organic carbohydrate present in dehydrated tomato products exerts a strong protective effect against prostate cancer. Rats, injected with prostate cancer-causing ...

Magnet Lab researchers make observing cell functions easier

... developed over the past few years and are being used by scientists around the world to study a variety of functions, including programmed cell death, carbohydrate metabolism, cell division, hormone stimulation, acidity changes -- just about any cellular process that can occur. In FRET, two molecules that are ...

Deadly dose: Rensselaer heparin expert helps uncover source of lethal contamination

... the team led by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), described the source in the journal Nature Biotechnology -- a complex carbohydrate named oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, which has a structure so similar to heparin it was nearly undetectable to less advanced technology. "Days ...

Monell scientist Mark Friedman awarded Guggenheim Fellowship to study diet and obesity

... The Guggenheim award will enable Friedman to expand his research on how diet composition in particular the interaction of dietary fat and carbohydrate affects metabolism to cause overeating and obesity. The findings will serve as the basis and provide direction for a larger program of research to ...

Wellmune WGP supplementation alleviates

... healthy subjects, aged 18-65. The subjects were treated daily with either 250mg of Wellmune WGP or a placebo for 90 days. Wellmune WGP is a natural carbohydrate that activates key immune cells, including macrophages and neutrophils, to more quickly recognize and kill foreign challenges. The product engages ...

Nutrition research unveiled this week shows pistachios are smart for the heart

... to the American Diabetes Association). Glycemic Response of Pistachios A Dose Response Study and Effect of Pistachios Consumed with Different Common carbohydrate Foods on Postprandial Glycemia, led by University of Torontos Dr. Cyril Kendall and Dr. David Jenkins, found that pistachios, when eaten with some ...