chain

A gene's first 'kiss' sets off that affair known as puberty

...eleasing hormone (GnRH) is secreted and sets off a chain reaction of chemical messages. Inside the hypothalamus, nerve cells release GnRH in a 'round-the-clock,' pulsatile fashion. With each secretion, the pituitary gland is stimulated to secrete its own messengers, lutenizing hormone (LH) and follicle-sti...

Man and mouse share genome structures

...round bundles of histone proteins, and resembles a chain of beads which is then compressed into a working chromosome. Chemical tags placed on the histones alter the way chromatin is organized, thus allowing the right combination of genes to be turned on. In their study, the researchers analyzed the chroma...

Scientists ID molecular 'switch' in liver that triggers harmful effects of saturated and trans fats

...f triglycerides and cholesterol, but the molecular chain of events from eating fats to the buildup of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood were unknown. "What we have found is a missing link, a mechanism by which saturated fats and trans fats can do their dirty work," said Spiegelman, who carries ou...

Learning to fight an adversary that won't stay down

...m. Innovations such as highly efficient polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have made it possible to identify and study the many genes responsible for antibiotic resistance in hospitals and the environment. "What has been found is that there are more antibiotic resistance genes around than we ever realized," ...

Researchers reveal the infectious impact of salmon farms on wild salmon

...d the direct transmission. This study captures the chain of events." "Part of the contentious debate about sea lice is that there hasn't been this level of precision in the sampling and modeling," says coauthor Mark Lewis, a mathematical ecologist from the University of Alberta known for his work on West ...

Color-blind method opens new doors in DNA sequencing

...king series of bacterial cloning and/or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) steps, reduce its length to a manageable size of thousands of nucleotides. Using natural replicating enzymes, the DNA is tagged with four fluorescent dyes, each corresponding to a particular nucleotide. This tagging process, called San...

NYC's First Rapid HIV Drug-resistant AIDS Case Prompts Call to Step Up HIV Prevention

...al health services -- if we are to truly break the chain of infection through effective prevention, testing and treatment efforts." ...

Researchers develop rapid diagnostic tool for pathogen identification

...built on an established method known as polymerase chain reaction that allows amplification of genetic sequences and on a technology previously used for DNA sequencing and detection of genetic polymorphisms. Genetic probes for pathogens were coupled to markers known as mass codes. After amplification, inco...

Multiple Campylobacter Genomes Sequenced

...s to monitor and control Campylobacter in the food chain and in human infection. ...

Advances in the characterisation of the oyster mushroom genes

...its of cellobiose from either end of the cellulose chain and the b-glucosidases hydrolyse the cellobiose molecules, producing glucose as end product. In her PhD thesis Arantza Eizmendi Goikoetxea has analysed the activity of one of these types of enzymes: the cellobiohydrolases. To this end, she cloned, i...

HIV-1 spread through six transmission lines in the UK

...980s. The average number of infections across each chain was 445, approximately 2.5% of the infected popula...ctions respectively. The most recent transmission chain identified by the study shows a faster doubling time in 2003 than the other five. Current surveillan...

Gray wolves maintain the food chain in winter

... Wilmers and Getz's study shows that a robust food chain - including this still embattled top predator - may be even more important as ecological conditions deteriorate. ### Citation: Wilmers CC, Getz WM (2005) Gray wolves as climate change buffers in Yellowstone. PLoS Biol 3(4): e92. ...

Researchers make gains in understanding antibiotic resistance

...in the ribosome, through which the growing peptide chain moves during synthesis. This tunnel is normally blocked by macrolide antibiotics. In the mutant form, the tunnel widens, which may explain why macrolide antibiotics are no longer effective. According to Steitz, insights about the ribosomal origins o...

Master gene controls healing of skin in fruit flies and mammals

...head as the master gene that initiates the genetic chain reaction that results in cuticle repair. Wounds in mutant flies that lack the grainyhead gene fail to heal. "The genes involved in cuticle repair are activated very quickly, within 30 minutes after injury," said Joseph Pearson, a graduate student wo...

Stealth Worms May Improve Insect Pest Control

...ugh molecular screening, including PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and DNA sequence analysis. The researchers determine the nematode's temperature and moisture requirements, the insect hosts it colonizes and other characteristics. Lists of EPN evolutionary associations, called phylogenies, are assembled t...

Currents could disrupt ocean food chain

...e scientists predict ?the effect on the ocean food chain in the Atlantic and other oceans could be severe, ...rst to examine what would happen to the ocean food chain if such a disruption did take place. "Phytoplankton are the basis of the entire marine food web," S...

To Stop Evolution: New Way Of Fighting Antibiotic Resistance Demonstrated By Scripps Scientists

...rine proteases and works by cutting the amino acid chain of other proteins. Romesberg and his colleagues showed that LexA's action was necessary for the evolution of resistance to the antibiotics in vitro. The effect in vivo was dramatic. Blocking LexA in rodent models of E. coli infections halted the gro...

'Smart drug' targets deadly brain cancer

... Knowing that this protein is a key player in the chain of events that determines drug activity could be useful in screening patients to help determine the best candidates for the drug. Says Dr. Galanis, "This could allow us to customize drug administration to the patients most likely to benefit from it, ...

Researchers Identify Cause of Early Bird Sleep Disorder

...altering a single base-pair in the gene's long DNA chain is enough to change a person's sleep behavior. Evidence from tissue culture experiments with the second gene suggests the change causes a protein -- an enzyme called a kinase that is made by the gene - to be less active than normal. The lead author ...

Lipids get new comprehensive classification system

...ps are drawn on the right side and the hydrocarbon chain extends to the left. In the simplest case of the f...drawn on the right and the hydrophobic hydrocarbon chain is on the left. Another part of the classification system is a 12 digit identifier for each unique ...

Critical step traced in anthrax infection

...mplex on the surface of the host cell to set off a chain of events leading to cell toxicity and death. Protective antigen (PA) is one of these proteins, and after binding to the cell, seven copies of it assemble into a specific complex that is capable of forming a pore in a cellular membrane. The pore perm...

Proteomics brings researchers closer to understanding microbes that produce acid mine drainage

... probably the first step in the electron transport chain associated with the metabolism of the organism." Interestingly, many of the proteins produced by the biofilm bacteria are responsible for maintaining correctly folded proteins and defending against free radicals, "suggesting that these are significa...

Researchers develop promising new gene network analysis method

.... When a deadly "oncoprotein" is switched on, what chain reaction of gene activity does it set off? The pr...dy this web of connections would be to set off the chain reaction and study it over time. To make that happen, Brown researchers came up with a clever experi...

Newly discovered genetic disease sheds light on body's water balance

...when vasopressin binds to the V2R, it stimulates a chain of events inside the cell. Vesicles containing the water channel Aquaporin 2 (AQP-2) are shuttled from the cytoplasm to the apical membrane of the collecting duct kidney cells. This process increases water permeability and diminishes urine output fro...

New protein vital for immune response is found in surprise location

...ron, which in turn fights off the virus. But the chain of events between RIG-I's encounter with the virus and the interferon response is not known. Researchers have been trying to identify and characterize the proteins involved in an effort to better understand the nature of viral infection and how to co...

Aptamer-based Biosensor screens Air Force personnel and equipment

...ped biochemical assay based on aptamers, or single chain DNA fragments. "We've used our lab's expertise to develop an instrument that's complementary to the Air Force's technology and that simultaneously satis? es the speed, specificity, sensitivity, portability, durability, health and safety needs," said...

A molecule impedes the destruction of the 'Brucella' bacteria

...ophage. Here the bacteria multiply and establish a chain of events that determine the illness. Brucellosis, the illness caused by these bacteria, is of great importance worldwide, with millions of human beings and domestic animals affected. This discovery not only means new useful ideas for other research...

Virologist finds contagious equine flu in dogs

... highly sensitive test -- called a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) that amplifies and detects small amounts of DNA or RNA in a blood or tissue sample -- ruled out avian flu strains H5 and H7. The isolate was then sent to the CDC where Ruben Donis, Cornell Ph.D. '87, one of Dubovi's former graduate studen...

Microbe has huge role in ocean life, carbon cycle

...nic molecules, creating the foundation of the food chain and producing oxygen. About half of photosynthesis and the resulting oxygen on Earth are produced by algae in the ocean, and microbes like SAR11 recycle organic carbon - producing the nutrients needed for algal growth. "Ultimately, SAR11 through its...

Proposal would allow wild animals to roam North America

...idence shows that animals near the top of the food chain play important roles in structuring ecological systems and maintaining biodiversity, according to the paper. These keystone species -- animals that contribute to diversity of life and which the rewilding researchers would like to reintroduce -- play ...

UIC developing drug for SARS

... steps in that process is the production of a long chain of proteins, all of which are needed for the virus... to propagate. Two enzymes, or proteases, clip the chain to release the individual proteins, the parts needed to assemble a mature virus. These two protease...

'Underground' tunnels discovered as means for communication between immune system cells

... the slightest poke to a single cell can set off a chain reaction whereby cell after cell discharges bursts of calcium. In their earlier studies, they described how dendritic cells unfurl hidden veils - membranes that are so thin they can barely be imaged - and use these veils to move in on and capture th...

No small feat: First ever gene therapy success for muscular dystrophy achieved

...rround muscle cells and is an integral link in the chain of proteins that regulate the cell's normal contraction and relaxation. If the protein is defective, or is lacking, this outside scaffold, called the extra-cellular matrix, disintegrates, and the muscle cells become vulnerable to damage. Simply repl...

Results of world's first gene therapy trial for arthritis show approach safe, feasible

...vial cells, and hence, setting off the destructive chain reaction that follows. In essence, they needed a way to plug up the receptor and found such a device in a gene encoding the IL-1 receptor antagonist, or IL-1 Ra. Because it was the first trial of its kind and safety was a key concern, the protocol w...

Whisky fans can drink to crop research

...op is used to make beer and whisky with the supply chain from farmer to product employing over 13,000 people, mainly in rural communities. Whisky is consistently the biggest food and drink export earner for the UK. The new £1.8m project "Association Genetics of UK elite Barley" is sponsored by BBSRC, the ...

Firefly protein lets researchers monitor molecule linked to cancer

... point in the middle of an important set of linked chain reactions known as the NF-KappaB pathway. The pathway can start at many different receptors on cell surfaces; its finish changes the activity levels of varying genes. The result, according to Piwnica-Worms, is that the potential reaction patterns in ...

New study finds how cells with damaged DNA alert the immune system

..., has found that damage to a cell's DNA sets off a chain reaction that leads to the increased expression of a marker recognized by the body's immune system. The new findings, to be published July 3 in an advanced online issue of Nature, shed light on a long-standing question of how the natural killer (NK)...

Renewed hope for Parkinson's patients

..., has found that damage to a cell's DNA sets off a chain reaction that leads to the increased expression of a marker recognized by the body's immune system. The new findings, to be published July 3 in an advanced online issue of Nature, shed light on a long-standing question of how the natural killer (NK)...

Life in deadly conditions

...e energy metabolism - for example, the respiratory chain - are embedded in the cell membrane and have to be...r whether Natronomonas pharaonis has a respiratory chain and which ions would play a role in its functioning. The bioinformatics expert Michaela Falb and bio...

Seafloor creatures destroyed by ice action during ice ages

...tal shelf or starved to death as links in the food chain were broken by the permanent ice cover. There would have been no refuge for shallower living animals further down the continental slope, as huge sediment slides would have buried them. Typically these ecosystems would have been made up of sponges, ur...

Gene therapy may protect normal tissues during radiation retreatment for lung cancer

...tal shelf or starved to death as links in the food chain were broken by the permanent ice cover. There would have been no refuge for shallower living animals further down the continental slope, as huge sediment slides would have buried them. Typically these ecosystems would have been made up of sponges, ur...

Molecular cabal contributes to stroke damage

...and acidotoxicity have discovered how an insidious chain of molecular events contributes to its damage. In an article in the November 23, 2005, issue of Neuron, Jun Gao and colleagues say that their findings could contribute to the development of drugs to protect against the molecular "cabal" that produces...

Sickle cell disease corrected in human models using stem cell-based gene therapy

... RNA specific for beta S-globin, the globin mutant chain that causes sickle cell disease. "An innovative and sophisticated approach was needed to genetically engineer hematopoietic stem cells using a practical and clinically applicable process. The transferred gene must not disrupt the cells' normal func...

Bacteria which sense the Earth's magnetic field

...to evidence that genetics regulate the magnetosome chain exactly. The structure is one of the most complex ...etosome crystals have to be strung into a straight chain inside the cell, thereby summing their magnetic moments. Only such a chain structure allows the magn...

First big influenza genome study reveals flu evolution

... Nature paper, says the new work illustrates this chain of molecular events. "The study demonstrates that these influenza subpopulations, or variant strains, represent a pool of genetic resources that the influenza virus can draw upon," says Salzberg, a researcher at TIGR and also director of the Universi...

Free-energy theory borne out in large-scale protein folding

...0,000 or more of them. Each of these proteins is a chain of amino acids strung end-to-end like beads in necklace. For longer proteins, the chain can contain hundreds of amino acids. Thanks to modern genomics, scientists can use DNA to decipher ...

Synthetic Protein Eases Arthritis Symptoms in Mice

...tor alpha (TNF-alpha). TNF-alpha starts a chemical chain reaction leading to inflammation by binding to two cell surface receptors, TNFR-1 and TNFR-2. Naturally occurring PLAD helps both forms of TNFR assemble and prepare to receive TNF-alpha. Synthetic PLAD, the scientists hypothesized, would bind to its ...

Novel enzyme offers new look at gene regulation

...hylase identified, called LSD1, could not remove a chain of three methyl groups from a histone, or a trimethyl group. Secondly, common baker's yeast does not have LSD1, although it does have proteins adding methyl groups to histones." Zhang devised a biochemical strategy to isolate proteins that could rem...

Plants, too, have ways to manage freeloaders

... strains. Using a technique called the polymerase chain reaction to identify the bacteria in individual nodules, the researchers found that many plants nodulated both strains that were offered. On average, however, within individual plants, the poorly performing bacteria inhabited small nodules, while the...

Wisconsin scientists discover a master key to microbes' pathogenic lifestyles

...obal regulator that sends signals down a molecular chain of command and governs a series of vital genetic programs," Klein explains. "It leads to changes in the organism's metabolism, cell shape, cell wall composition, and changes in virulence gene expressions." These changes, according to Klein, are real...

Mouse study reveals human X-SCID gene therapy poses substantial cancer risk

... provides instructions for making the common gamma chain protein. This powerful protein, found on the surface of immature blood cells in the bone marrow, works with other proteins to direct the growth and maturation of a number of different immune system cells, including T cells, B cells, and natural kille...

Gene needed for butterfly transformation also key for insects like grasshoppers

...that attaches itself to a specific region of a DNA chain and controls which other genes will be copied. The researchers suspect that broad must be present for the physical changes contained in those areas of DNA to be expressed. Suppressing broad prevents the changes from occurring. "Humans don't have the...

Scientists discover interplay between genes and viruses in tiny ocean plankton

...sizing bacteria form an important part of the food chain in the oceans, supply some of the oxygen we breathe, and play a role in modulating climate. It's important that we understand what regulates their populations. Genetic diversity seems to be an important factor." In one report, Chisholm and scientist...

Evidence for omega 3 fats less conclusive than we thought, say experts

...gularly, say the researchers. Consumption of long chain omega 3 fatty acids, found in oily fish and fish oils, and a shorter chain omega 3, found in some plant oils, is thought to protect against heart disease. UK guidelines encour...

MIT: Oceans are a major gene swap-meet for plankton

...izing bacteria "form an important part of the food chain in the oceans, supply some of the oxygen we breathe, and even play a role in modulating climate. So it's very important that we understand what regulates their populations. And now genetic diversity seems to be an important factor," said Chisholm, wh...

Waking a sleeping virus

...revealed that one copy of ZEBRA plugs a large side chain into a deep pocket in the other. "This is an ideal type of structure to try to target with a drug," Petosa says. "If we can find a molecule to block access to the cavity, the copies wouldn't be able to bind to each other and dock onto DNA." Morand a...

Study in Science holds promise for a new approach to drug therapy

...he shape of the dock in a such a way as to set off chain reactions inside the cell, enabling the cell to respond to the message. Ligands can be nutrients, toxins, hormones, etc. The workhorses of this signaling process are transmembrane receptors like GPCRs. These proteins weave into and out of a human ce...

'Word-vision' brain area confirmed

... evidence that the VWFA plays a causal role in the chain of neural events that underlie normal reading." ...

Earth Rx: A microbial biotechnology prescription for global environmental health

... in the early 1980s, with the advent of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of microbial DNA and a new view of the evolution of organisms based on their ribosomal RNA. These technologies have advanced into high-throughput genomic and proteomic protocols that can detect specific genes and their m...

Protein 'nanosprings' most resilient found in nature

...tein structures, characterized by a single, spiral chain of amino acids stabilized by hydrogen bonds. "We live in a world of forces," Bennett continued. "For example, every time a neuron pushes its way through body tissues to its target, every time a heart beats, or a bicep muscle contracts, forces are ge...