lipids

Scientists Replicate Hepatitis C Virus in Laboratory

...have the HCV viral envelope, a protective shell of lipids and proteins that surrounds the viral RNA in fully-formed HCV. The naked HCV construct was then placed into human liver cells in a cell culture medium. The NIDDK scientists found evidence of HCV proteins and HCV RNA within the human liver cells in t...

The secret lives of whales

...worldwide. Because of their ability to break down lipids in cold water, these animals and their bacterial garden may hold a key to better cold water washing detergents. But more importantly, study of whale worms and other whale-fall species help scientists understand how life has diversified in specialized...

Researchers identify target for cancer drugs

...ssor protein PTEN keeps Akt in check by destroying lipids in the cell membrane that normally draw Akt to the surface. In a sense, PTEN keeps a leash on Akt and thus suppresses cell division. But when PTEN is mutated and unable to function, Akt breaks free. It makes its way to the cell membrane where other ...

Tiny scaffolding allows stem cells to become working fat cells

...lete. At that point, the cells were able to absorb lipids a hallmark task of fat cells. Researchers were able to extract RNA from the cells, just as they can from naturally occurring fat cells, and from that proved that the cells expressed the normally expected array of genes, and subsequent proteins and d...

Scientists discover that host cell lipids facilitate bacterial movement

...ized from PIP2 by an enzyme called PI3-kinase. The lipids attract and modify the functions of proteins invol... his colleagues decided to explore the roles these lipids play in Listeria infection. "We had expected to see PIP2 and PIP3 only at the very back of Listeria...

Molecule that usually protects infection-fighting cells may cause plaque deposits inside arteries

... worsen plaque buildup in arteries. "The oxidized lipids are cleared out by macrophage cells, but the lipids themselves are very toxic to cells and promote apoptosis (cell death)," Dr. Miyazaki said. "Therefor...

Anammox bacteria produce nitrogen gas in oceans' snackbar

...beled nutrients, depth profiles of unique membrane lipids (ladder molecules), fluorescence microscopy and DNA analyses of water samples was used to proof the abundance of anammox bacteria in the Atlantic Ocean. The discovery of anammox bacteria in the open ocean has major consequences for our understanding ...

Natural Killers Could Lead to New Hepatitis Treatments

...th a witches' brew of nutrients, toxins, proteins, lipids and other chemicals. Thus, immune guardians that patrol the liver must tolerate many foreign molecules, yet respond readily to infection. “It wasn't clear how NKT cells survey (tissue), or even if they survey at all,?said Littman. To visualize the a...

Lipids get new comprehensive classification system

In response to the growing number of lipids expected to be discovered through lipidomics and i...rstanding of the structure and function of all the lipids within a cell. The consortium is a large collaborative effort led by the University of California, S...

Insulin pulses keep the liver lean

...ver, insulin promotes the synthesis and storage of lipids and carbohydrates and blocks their breakdown and r... to alleviate chronically elevated blood and liver lipids in patients with diabetes. Najjar et al.: "Insulin acutely decreases hepatic fatty acid synthase ac...

Beyond genes: Lipid helps cell wall protein fold into proper shape

... Dowhan said. "People used to assume that specific lipids made no difference." In the JBC paper, Dowhan and colleagues looked at how a protein called GabP, which transports an amino acid across the membrane of the bacterium E. coli, is affected by the presence of a phospholipid named phosphatidylethanolami...

'Cookbook recipes' would cure disease with nontoxic DNA delivery systems

...he structure and interaction of negatively charged lipids and DNA molecules have created a "cookbook" for a ... comprehensive study to see how negatively charged lipids stick to negatively charged DNA and self-organize into structures. "Many research groups have made ...

Newly recognized gene mutation may reduce seeds, resurrect plants

...ng seed development. Scientists already know that lipids play an important role in signaling developmental changes in plants and animals, and that other plants and animals, including humans, have genes similar to RST1. Jenks and his team now want to determine the exact role of RST1 in lipid signaling that ...

Baby's genes affect mom's cholesterol levels

...is composed of proteins called apolipoproteins and lipids such as cholesterol and triglycerides." explains D...at these lipoproteins are the forms that carry the lipids to the placenta. The researchers looked at several genetic variations (also known as polymorphisms...

Technique offers new view of dynamic biological landscape

..., interconnected pathway synthesizes and regulates lipids and secreted proteins in yeast. Weissman and his colleagues also needed a way to quantify the epistatic effects of interacting mutant genes on the cells' viability. Since yeast form round colonies when grown in culture dishes, they could measure th...

Liquid ventilation

...lack surfactant, a compound formed by proteins and lipids that avoids the lungs folding in on themselves before the baby gets stronger. The respirators usually employd in these cases provide artificial surfactant, but not always in sufficient amounts to provide correct therapy. In order to alleviate this...

Wrinkled membranes create novel drug-delivery system

...a drug inside lipid bilayer membranes. Some of the lipids are then "sewn together" through a polymerization process. Cooling the capsules by 10 degrees Celsius causes the capsules to crumple and collapse like deflated beach balls, releasing the drug. "The release rate can be controlled by the amount of wri...

Measuring artery repair cells could become new heart disease test

...isk factors we could measure, such as cholesterol, lipids and some new markers like c-reactive protein," Povsic continued. "We're learning that atherosclerosis is a balancing act between damage and repair, and now we may have a test that gives us insight into the repair portion of the equation." "If the re...

Mushrooms as good an antioxidant source as more colorful veggies

...sed rates of oxidation, which can damage proteins, lipids carbohydrates and DNA. She adds, "The ORAC assay does not tell what happens in the human body but this assay is currently under investigation as to how it can predict physiological activity." The Penn State study showed that the anti-oxidant effe...

First 'encyclopedia' of nuclear receptors reveals organisms' focus on sex, food

...ol many processes, such as the use of diet-derived lipids as fuel for the body. "You see that certain receptors have similar patterns in certain tissues. The common themes suggest that those receptors together regulate a similar regulatory circuit," said Dr. Mangelsdorf, an investigator in UT Southwestern...

Sandia work launched on space shuttle shows live cells influence growth of nanostructures

...eria. During drying, the cells actively organize lipids into a sort of multi-layered cell membrane that not only serves as an interface between the cell and the surrounding silica nanostructure, but acts as a template helping to direct the formation of the surrounding silica nanostructure. This improved...

Ammonia-loving archaea win landslide majority

...than copies of the bacterial gene. High amounts of lipids specific to crenarchaeota confirmed the organism's presence. At Penn State, Schuster used a novel technique to directly sequence only the transcribed portion of the genomes from soil organisms, thus giving proof that crenarchaeota are in fact act...

Compound in dairy products targets diabetes

... a health benefit, one must also be aware of other lipids present in these products, such as trans fatty acids. Instead, he suggests that in addition to a well-balanced diet, it is advantageous to incorporate CLA as a dietary supplement, or to seek out new products that enrich foods such as butter, margarin...

No cell walls, no new cancer cells

...tein called SREBP1 that regulates the synthesis of lipids needed for new cell walls was regulated during the...cer cells divide uncontrollably, so their need for lipids is more urgent and continuous than normal cells. Treatment with an inhibitor of SREBP1 might reduce ...

Researchers report technique for freezing and preserving genetically enhanced pig embryos

...f their sensitivity to cold due to a high level of lipids in the cells of the embryos. It was expected that ...tacles to freezing swine embryos by first removing lipids from unfertilized eggs before fertilizing them with muscle cells from a male pig containing modified...

With record resolution and sensitivity, tool images how life organizes in a cell membrane

...ry Kraft of Stanford, who isotopically labeled the lipids used in the experiments, prepared the samples and ...o reveal its lateral organization. First they used lipids with either ''short'' or ''tall'' chemical structures to create phase domains, or membrane features ...

A new understanding of how cells defend themselves against bacterial pore-forming toxins

... metabolism leads to cell survival," she says. The lipids are probably used to repair the cell membrane, sto... for example, this pathway would be triggered. The lipids formed in the metabolic pathway would enable the cell to enlarge its membrane to accommodate the ext...

Walking not enough for significant exercise benefits

... two-hour glucose tolerance test and various blood lipids were unaffected by either exercise program. "Our concern is that people might think what matters most is the total number of daily steps accumulated, and not pay much attention to the pace or effort invested in taking those steps," Dr. Harber said. ...

Dragonfly's metabolic disease provides clues about human obesity

...er lipids. The researchers also found that unused lipids accumulated in the dragonflies' thorax. Humans with metabolic disease tend to accumulate fat around skeletal muscle tissue. Marden and Schilder's experiments also found the hemolymph carbohydrate concentrations in parasite-infected dragonflies ...

From hot springs to rice farms, scientists reveal new insights into the secret lives of archaea

...ovel organic compounds recently extracted from the lipids of contemporary archaea. It is likely that many of these compounds have ''chemical structures that are new to science,'' he said. Karyn Rogers of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will discuss the effect of temperature and chemistry on arch...

How mammals fuel milk production may have implications for cancer

...pathways—as well as deactivate pathways that break lipids down—in order to have the metabolic capacity to synthesize large quantities of milk. Earlier studies by the researchers found that the protein kinase Akt1 rises in concentration during pregnancy and lactation, suggesting a potential developmental ...

Organic is healthier: Kiwis prove that green is good

... a significant reduction in the increase in plasma lipids caused by cholesterol feeding. "This is potentially beneficial to health with regards to heart disease", he added. Casey Gauthier reports on this story in Chemistry & Industry. ### Please acknowledge Chemistry & Industry and / or th...

Tears reveal some of their deepest secrets to researchers

...chers describe, for the first time, a new class of lipids ?a type of fat ?that make up part of the film. The...nsuring that our eyes stay moist. Finding these lipids may help scientists better understand the causes of eye-related disorders such as dry eye disease, w...

Stopping plants from getting sick

...s he saw when he was a child. The fungi also sense lipids and phosphorous in the plant, meaning the right kind of fungicide might be developed to target that ability and block infection. "These pathogens provide us with the best of both worlds in terms of research ?we can study them in the field, but we ...

Penn study on lung-infecting bacterial enzyme suggests new approach to cystic fibrosis treatment

...by certain respiratory tract bacteria, breaks down lipids surrounding CFTR and thereby suppresses CFTR’s chloride-passing function. To make matters worse, the products of the lipid breakdown are also known to trigger inflammation and cell death. Together, these facts compellingly suggest that SMase play...

Twin studies reveal genetic components leading to cardiac and kidney disease

...rd obesity or diabetes, elevated blood glucose and lipids ?were just amorphous risk factors before," said O’Connor. "Now we know that they run in families, not only because of a shared environment, but because they are determined in part by particular genes. "Behavioral studies with twins have been cond...

Stem cells act through multiple mechanisms to benefit mice with neurodegenerative disease

...t six months in human infants. The accumulation of lipids in brain tissue destroys the brain cells instrumen... 50 diseases rooted in the inability to metabolize lipids or other materials. While Sandhoff and Tay-Sachs are relatively rare, one person in 5,000 is affecte...

Bacterial walls come tumbling down

...ber of a family of enzymes that remove sugars from lipids and attach them to other sugars. This process is used in a wide range of biochemical reactions, including allergic responses and cell signaling in cancer. ...

Fat overrides effects of vitamin C

...ming compounds in the stomach is less than when no lipids are present. “Our results illustrate how diet can ...gen to reform nitrosating species. The presence of lipids therefore overrides the protective effect of vitamin C against the formation of harmful compounds....

Chemical maps hint at drug's effects on schizophrenia

...with Lipomics Technologies, measured 300 different lipids in blood drawn from 50 patients with schizophrenia...ic patients were found to have lower levels of the lipids used to make membranes involved in storing and communicating information in the brain. These lipid c...

Fat screen delivers plant-derived chemical with antidiabetic effects

...onoz said. "If the body becomes less able to store lipids in fat, it may deposit in other tissues," where it can spur disease. Despite their efficacy, the development and clinical use of TZDs is limited by adverse effects such as fluid retention, weight gain, congestive heart failure, liver toxicity, and...

A cherry on top: Tart cherries may alter heart/diabetes factors

... it, and it is important in the formation of blood lipids like LDL, typically known as the "bad cholesterol"...in muscle, and on the production of specific blood lipids like LDL and HDL. In addition, they will characterize cherries chemically, to assess the levels of p...