Ribonucleic in Biological News

Small molecules might block mutant protein production in Huntington's disease

... the problem is important, it's worth doing," he said. In the current study, the researchers created short lengths of molecules that resemble ribonucleic acid (RNA), the chemical cousin of DNA. These mimics, called PNAs and LNAs, were specifically designed to bind to CAG repeats, preventing cells from ...

Genetic switch potential key to new class of antibiotics

... and carry its messages. In the classical view of gene expression, instructions stored in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) chains are copied into messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs). The mRNAs are then transported to ribosomes that pair them with transfer RNAs that contribute amino acids into a protein chain, ...

Small RNAs can play critical roles in male infertility/contraception

... based upon the impact factor. The study findings indicate that the X chromosome in developing sperm cells encodes numerous tiny ribonucleic acids called microRNAs despite the fact that that most of genes on the X chromosomes are suppressed. This unprecedented observation implies that ...

To fight drug addiction, UB researchers target the brain with nanoparticles

... in drug addiction. DARPP-32 is a protein in the brain that facilitates addictive behaviors. Silencing of the DARPP-32 gene with certain kinds of ribonucleic acid (RNA), called short interfering RNA (siRNA), can inhibit production of this protein and thus, could help prevent drug addiction. "When you ...

Earth's original ancestor was LUCA, not Adam nor Eve

... ideas about LUCA. In particular, they are much more compatible with the theory of an early RNA world, where early life on Earth was composed of ribonucleic acid (RNA), rather than deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). However, RNA is particularly sensitive to heat and is unlikely to be stable in the hot ...

UQ research targets West Nile virus and dengue fever

... a small molecule which, among other functions, controlled the host's response to viral infection. This molecule, called a subgenomic noncoding ribonucleic acid (sfRNA), is a part of the virus genome. "To develop new and effective antiviral strategies, we have to know as much as possible about the ...

LSUHSC research identifies key contributor to Alzheimer's disease process

... at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, is the lead author of a paper identifying, for the first time, a specific function of a fragment of ribonucleic acid (RNA), once thought to be no more than a byproduct, in regulating inflammation and the development of Alzheimer's disease. The paper, An ...

Corn researchers discover novel gene shut-off mechanisms

... grow in the lab, have provided a lot of what scientists know about gene silencing in plants. An important key to the process is short sequences of ribonucleic acids known as "small RNAs" which act like biochemical switches that shut off genes, thus playing a fundamental role in plant development. ...

RSV may hide in the lungs, lead to asthma, UT Southwestern researchers report

... infections throughout life. There is currently no vaccine available. Dr. Ramilo said the team's findings contradict the current thinking that ribonucleic acid viruses like RSV are easily destroyed. "Whether RSV persists in children remains to be seen, but the fact that the virus persists in mice is ...

RNA molecules, delivery system improve vaccine responses, effectiveness

... vaccines against infectious diseases has been developed by biomedical engineers at The University of Texas at Austin. The findings use specific ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules to significantly bolster a vaccine's effectiveness while tailoring it based on the type of immune response that is most ...

Using novel tool, UD researchers dig through cell 'trash' and find treasure

... and the ease with which the plant can be cultured and grown in the lab. The researchers' focus was the cellular targets of tiny molecules of ribonucleic acid (RNA) known as "microRNAs," which play a critical role in how a plant cell develops and responds to stress. MicroRNAs bind to messenger RNAs, ...

Children's Hospital researchers identify genetic mutation that may predict organ rejection

... Over 500,000 known mutations spanning the entire genome are evaluated in one type of microarray. The substructure of gene products known as ribonucleic acid, or RNA, is evaluated for all known genes in another type of microarray. The mutation associated with rejection was first identified by ...

Biodegradable polymers show promise for improving treatment of acute inflammatory diseases

... for such inflammatory illnesses as acute lung injury, acute liver failure and inflammatory bowel disease by delivering drugs, proteins and snips of ribonucleic acid to disease locations in the body. "The polyketal microparticles we developed are simply a vehicle to get the drugs inside the body to the ...

Researchers observe spontaneous 'ratcheting' of single ribosome molecules

... the messenger RNA as the protein is built, releasing the "deacylated" tRNA through an exit site. A ribosome is made up of two subunits composed of ribonucleic acids (RNAs) and about 50 individual proteins. The ribosome was once considered a static "workbench" for the assembly of new proteins. A recent ...

UMass Medical School's Craig Mello elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

... Institution of Washington DC and is now at Stanford University, published research findings in Nature demonstrating that a particular form of ribonucleic acidRNA, the cellular material responsible for the transmission of genetic informationcan silence targeted genes. This process, RNAi offers ...

Researchers discover critical detail of cellular defense against genetic mistakes

... is that humans do more with fewer genes. While genes consist of chains of deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA), they are put into practice by chains of ribonucleic acid chains (RNA), which are modified copies of DNA. Messenger RNA (mRNA) is transported to cellular factories called ribosomes that receive ...

UD researchers discover novel 'gene toggles' in world's top food crop

... in the March 25 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Composed of short lengths of ribonucleic acids (RNAs), on the order of about 20 nucleotides long, these novel molecules, called natural antisense microRNAs (nat-miRNAs), target the genes ...

Researchers discover the structural alphabet of RNA

... de Montral (UdeM) report in the March 6th edition of Nature the discovery of a structural alphabet that can be used to infer the 3D structure of ribonucleic acid (RNA) from sequence data, providing new tools to understand the role of this important class of cellular regulators. The folding of a ...

Case researcher in RNA biology makes waves by challenging current thinking

... Kristian E. Baker, Ph.D. challenges molecular biologys established body of evidence and widely-accepted model for nonsense-mediated messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) decay. With her collaborator, Ambro van Hoof, Ph.D. of The University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Baker directly tested the faux 3 ...

U. Mass Medical School and Carnegie announce licensing agreements with Oxford BioMedica

... patent rights have been issued in Australia and other US and foreign applications are pending. This seminal patent covers a process by which ribonucleic acid (RNA), the cellular material responsible for the transmission of genetic information, can silence a targeted gene within a living cell. The ...

UMMS and CIW grant key RNAi rights to Oxford Biomedica

... patent rights have been issued in Australia and other US and foreign applications are pending. This seminal patent covers a process by which ribonucleic acid (RNA), the cellular material responsible for the transmission of genetic information, can silence a targeted gene within a living cell. The ...

New hypothesis for origin of life proposed

... provided the isolation needed for Darwinian evolution. Some think that the first biomolecules were simple proteins, some think they were RNA, or ribonucleic acid, said Hansma. Both proteins and RNA could have formed in between the mica sheets. RNA plays an important part in translating the genetic ...

Small RNA plays parallel roles in bacterial metabolism

... are often overlooked, and were once thought to be too small to contribute much to major cellular processes, but in recent years the study of small ribonucleic acids (sRNA) has gained momentum. Now a team from the University of Illinois has identified the unique metabolic activities of one of these bit ...

Researchers expand efforts to explore functional landscape of the human genome

... years); Comprehensive Characterization and Classification of the Human Transcriptome. This group will identify protein-coding and non-protein-coding ribonucleic acid (RNA) transcripts using microarrays, high-throughput sequencing, sequenced paired-end ditags and sequenced cap analysis of gene expression tags. ...

UD leads $5.3-million research project on rice epigenetics

... builds on Meyers' previous awards from the NSF Plant Genome Research Program, as well as ongoing investigations of small RNAs--short lengths of ribonucleic acids that act as gene regulators--performed in collaboration with Pamela Green, the Crawford H. Greenewalt Endowed Chair in Plant Molecular Biology ...

UD leads $5.3-million research project on rice epigenetics

... builds on Meyers' previous awards from the NSF Plant Genome Research Program, as well as ongoing investigations of small RNAs--short lengths of ribonucleic acids that act as gene regulators--performed in collaboration with Pamela Green, the Crawford H. Greenewalt Endowed Chair in Plant Molecular Biology ...

Biologists develop large gene dataset for rice plant

... Meyers and colleagues examined both normal gene expression (via messenger ribonucleic acids, or mRNAs) as well as small ribonucleic acids (small RNAs) in rice. The analysis of rice was based on gene ...

Common cancer gene sends death order to tiny killer

... in p53's uncanny ability to kill cells likely to become malignant because of damaged genes in their nuclei. MicroRNAs are small chains of ribonucleic acid (RNA) made by the same machinery that produces other types of RNA in the cell, such as the messenger RNAs that carry the instructions to make ...

Renegade RNA -- Clues to cancer and normal growth

... piece of genetic code apparently goes where no bit of it has gone before, and it gets there under its own internal code. A report on the renegade ribonucleic acid, and the code that directs its movement, will be published Jan. 5 in Science. MicroRNAs, already implicated in cancer and normal ...

Parallel evolution: Proteins do it, too

... and take up nutrients that are released in the process. The monkeys, in turn, digest the bacteria to recover the nutrients, such as protein and ribonucleic acid (RNA), a particularly important source of nitrogen in leaf eaters. Zhang focused his attention on RNASE1, a pancreatic enzyme that breaks ...

Study shows that cells have a natural defense against HIV

... repair proteins while trying to answer a different question. Before HIV infects a cell, it carries its genetic material in the form of RNA, or ribonucleic acid. Once inside a cell, the virus makes a copy of its genes in the form of DNA. This DNA copy ?known as cDNA ?then travels to the cell nucleus. ...

Polymer aids in blood clotting, pointing way to new treatment

... movements within cells, said Arthur Kornberg, who won the 1959 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for discovering mechanisms in the synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid. "Roberto has discovered a novel structure of major metabolic importance that regulates the levels of calcium and ...

Yale participates in global human genome initiative

... The initiative is sponsored by Dharmacon, Inc. , manufacturer of the first complete human genome siRNA library, or compilation of short, interfering ribonucleic acid sequences. The library is designed to determine when individual genes are functioning. It uses a format that is accessible to researchers for ...

SLU researchers uncover direct evidence on how HIV invades healthy cells

... by SLU researchers in 1978, is one of three HIV proteins crucial to the infection's survival. The first protein, reverse transcriptase, converts the ribonucleic acid (RNA) in HIV into deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Integrase then inserts the HIV DNA into the immune cell's DNA, making it a permanent part of ...

Delaware scientists make significant advance in study of small RNAs

... Scientists from the University of Delaware have made a significant advance in the study of small ribonucleic acids (RNAs), discovering 10 times more small RNAs in the plant Arabidopsis than previously had been identified. The advance is reported in the Sept. ...

Study provides insight into cellular defenses against genetic mutation

... and carry out its functions. While genetic instructions are stored in chains of deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA), they are put into practice by ribonucleic acids (RNA). Messenger RNA (mRNA), a modified copy of DNA, is transported to cellular factories called ribosomes that receive instructions for ...

New book expands biological classifications to account for 'alien' life

... three domains within a larger dominion, which he calls "terroan" to signify Earth origins. Another dominion he calls "ribosa" because it is based on ribonucleic acid, or RNA. Other dominions could be formed to cover life discovered to have a different base than DNA or RNA. The dominions would be placed ...

Life's origins were easier than was thought

... first nucleic acid chains, which were the first elements able to self-replicate. According to one of the more accepted theories, these molecules were ribonucleic acid (RNA) chains, a molecule that is practically identical to DNA and that today has the secondary role in cells of copying information stored in ...

RNA project to create language for scientists worldwide

... Research into ribonucleic acids (RNA)--the building blocks of life--is exploding as scientists worldwide discover the roles of RNA in genetics, health, disease and the ...