Transporter in Biological News

Scripps research scientists identify blood component that turns bacteria virulent

... factors. Without the presence of the bicarbonate transporter in the bloodstream, the scientists found, the ... treatment more urgent. Now, the bicarbonate transporter pathway may be investigated as a potential new ... a previously unknown ATP-binding cassette transporter (ABC-transporter)which is identified by the gene ...

Likely cause of postpartum blues and depression identified

... Ganapathy first reported evidence of serotonin transporter gene expression in the placenta back in 1989 in ... polymorphisms or variations of the serotonin transporter gene which already have been linked to ... have some of the same variations of the serotonin transporter gene already identified with non-pregnancy ...

N.Y. research team discovers how antidepressants and cocaine interact with brain cell targets

... the drug molecules bind in the neurotransmitter transporter -- their target in the human nervous system. ... was the realization that two binding sites on the transporter molecule need to be filled simultaneously and ... used the crystal structure of a bacterial transporter that is very similar to human neurotransmitter ...

News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience

... 1. Dopamine transporter Efflux in ADHD Michelle S. Mazei-Robison, Erica ... Elevated dopamine efflux through the dopamine transporter may underlie some forms of attention-deficit ... The authors identified a mutant form of dopamine transporter in two siblings with ADHD and expressed the ...

UCLA researchers clarify function of glucose transport molecule

... made during the determination of the glucose transporter structure was the possibility for structural ... with a previously crystallized neurotransmitter transporter molecule. Exploiting these similarities, along ... examining the manner in which inhibitors of the transporter proteins modulate function with the goal of ...

Defining gene's role may lead to prevention of dangerous corn toxin

... verticillioides - has a number of putative sugar transporter genes that are expressed during its growth on ... of ZFR1 also affects expression of the sugar transporter genes." Woloshuk and his colleague, Bert ... glucose recognition and the expression of sugar transporter genes. From this information, Woloshuk and his ...

Brain protein central to both Parkinson's, drug addiction identified

... addictive drugs. The action of the protein, known as organic cation transporter 3 or oct3, fills a longstanding gap in scientists' understanding of the ... dopamine neurons. That's where another molecule known as the dopamine transporter picks it up and brings it into the neuron itself. When the team blocked ...

The genetics of fear: Study suggests specific genetic variations contribute to anxiety disorders

... in two genes thought to play a role in anxiety disorders: the serotonin transporter gene and the gene for the enzyme COMT. Serotonin is a brain chemical ... that while the participants with the shorter version of the serotonin transporter gene developed a very strong physiological fear response to picture A, ...

Researchers iron out new role for serotonin

... novel traits linked to subtle genetic variation. The serotonin transporter protein (SERT) regulates serotonin availability in the brain and ... was eliminated (SERT "knock-out" mice) verified a critical role for the transporter in controlling brain iron levels. "Because SERT is such an important drug ...

Toxic bile damages the liver

... unknown and the appropriate treatment cannot be initiated. Defective transporter protein makes the bile toxic The Heidelberg University Hospital team, ... or at an adult age and lead to death. The gene ensures the production of a transporter protein that is responsible for the excretion of phosphatidylcholine into ...

Protein transports nutrients believed to protect against eye disease

... cells absorb these nutrients from the diet, and believed that the same transporter would be needed to help the nutrients travel to cells in the eye as well. ... inhibit the uptake of xanthophylls. So that certainly suggests that this transporter is involved in that process," Harrison said. ...

Genetic variation linked to sugary food

... Toronto, Canada. Their study, entitled Genetic Variant in the Glucose transporter Type 2 (GLUT 2) is Associated with Higher Intakes of Sugars in Two ... the entry of sugar (glucose) into cells. The gene is called glucose transporter type 2 or GLUT2. The researchers tested the effects of the genetic ...

Brain study may lead to improved epilepsy treatments

... increased synthesis of P-glycoprotein in these experiments. Increased transporter expression was abolished in COX-2 knockout mice or by COX-2 inhibitors. ... barrier signals that increase P-glycoprotein expression rather than the transporter itself suggests a promising way to improve the effectiveness of drugs that ...

Protein protects brain against compound in lead poisoning, liver disease

... with the PEPT2. PEPT2 is part of a class of membrane proteins called transporter proteins. The research focuses on understanding how these proteins work so that eventually, transporter proteins can be used to deliver different compounds to or from areas of ...

Study reveals possible genetic risk for fetal alcohol disorders

... of Health, Schneider investigated two forms of a gene called the serotonin transporter gene promoter, which helps regulate the brain chemical serotonin. Past ... determined whether they carried the short or long form of the serotonin transporter gene promoter. What the researchers found is that fetal alcohol-exposed ...

Carnegie donates landmark clones to biology

... in the July 6, Journal of Biological Chemistry . In the previous work, the scientists looked at the end of the protein Arabidopsis ammonium transporter (AMT1;1). This protein portion is called the C-terminus and it regulates the interactions of the pore-like structures at the membrane surface in ...

Got zinc? New zinc research suggests novel therapeutic targets

... taken from the zinc-supplemented group had higher activation than those from the placebo group. Specifically, cell activation stimulated the zinc transporter in T cells called "ZIP8," which transports stored zinc into the cell cytoplasm where it then alters the expression of a T cell protein in a way ...

Early initiation of Arctic sea-ice formation

... their survival," said Catherine Stickley. Moreover, their analysis of quartz grain textural characteristics further supports sea ice as the dominant transporter of ice-rafted debris at this time. "It is likely that sea ice formed in autumn and winter and melted in spring and summer, as seasonal sea ice ...

Tryptophan deficiency may underlie quinine side effects

... Their screen revealed that strains unable to make tryptophan were extremely susceptible to quinine poisoning, which led them to identify a tryptophan transporter as a key quinine target (yeast that cannot make their own tryptophan have to rely exclusively on external sources, and thus die if tryptophan ...

New study reveals the protein that makes phosphate chains in yeast

... now show that in yeast a protein called Vtc4p is responsible for the production of polyphosphates. Vtc4p is part of a protein complex called vacuolar transporter chaperone complex (VTC) that is usually found in the membranes of vacuoles pouches in which cells store molecules for later use, transport or ...

Jefferson researcher awarded Landenberger Foundation grant for ALS research

... disease, rendering pharmacological treatments for ALS mostly ineffective. This grant will support research towards finding ways to inactivate these transporter proteins to counteract their negative effect on ALS therapy. We are extremely grateful to the Margaret Q. Landenberger Research Foundation for ...

Research uncovers promising target to treat chronic abdominal pain

... The scientists at Ohio State University found that nearly twice the normal amount of this protein, called EAAT2, or excitatory amino acid transporter 2, decreased what is called visceral pain, or pain from internal organs, in mice. The protein acts on glutamate, an amino acid and ...

Saving wheat crops worldwide

... says a senior principal research scientist at CSIRO Plant Industry, Dr Evans Lagudah. "The newly identified resistance gene product known as Lr34 transporter protein is the first of its kind to be found in a commercial crop that is capable of delivering broad-spectrum control of multiple pathogens." ...

'Neurological work-arounds' offer hope to people with monoamine-related disorders

... Krantz, Simon and colleagues bred fruit flies with what should have been a devastating, life-threatening mutation in the vesicular monoamine transporter gene. This mutation caused their brain cells to be unable to release monoamine neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine. Fruit flies were ...

GEN reports on strategies to overcome blood-brain barrier

... small molecule drugs across the BBB involves targeting endogenous nutrient transporters. These transporters are members of the solute carrier (SLC) transporter superfamily. Transport of small molecules across the BBB by these membrane proteins is known as carrier-mediated transport (CMT). In order to ...

Genes determine whether sugar pills work

... who directed the study. The study also analyzed two genes that influence the reabsorption and synthesis of serotonin in the brain (the serotonin transporter gene and the tryptophan hydroxylase-2 gene). The findings showed that only individuals who had certain variants, alleles, of these genes had a ...

SNPs affect folate metabolism in study of Puerto-Rican adults

... folate uptake and retention: folate hydrolase (FOLH1), folate polyglutamate synthase (FPGS), γ-glutamyl hyrdolase (GGH), proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT), and reduced folate carrier (RFC1) in a cohort of 991 Puerto Rican adults residing in and around Boston. In addition, four SNPs in two genes ...

Swamping bad cells with good in ALS animal models helps sustain breathing

... system. Work at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere has shown their crucial role in keeping the CNS in healthy balance. Not only are the cells studded with transporter molecules that mop up glutamate; they also maintain proper ion levels and nutrient support of nerve cells. The study showed that at least a third ...

Forsyth scientists trigger cancer-like response from embryonic stem cells

... blood vessels, liver, heart, and neural tube, leading to a deeply hyper-pigmented tadpole. The body's natural biophysical signals, driven by ion transporter proteins and resulting in endogenous voltage gradients and electric fields, have been implicated in embryonic development and regeneration. The data ...

Study reveals specific gene in adolescent men with delinquent peers

... significant association between an affinity for antisocial peer groups and a particular variation (called the 10-repeat allele) of the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1). However, the study's analysis of family, peer and DNA data from 1,816 boys in middle and high school found that the association ...

Iron-moving malfunction may underlie neurodegenerative diseases, aging

... muscle cells, need iron," Xu said. "We wondered what happens in those cells where DMT1 isn't found, and we thought there must be an unidentified iron transporter protein, possibly TRPML1." Unfortunately, TRPML1 isn't the easiest protein to study. Instead of residing in the cell's easily-accessed outer ...

Obesity predisposition traced to the brain's reward system

... are most likely caused by reduced expression of the genes encoding two proteins, one that is involved in dopamine synthesis, and another that is a transporter responsible for packaging dopamine into vesicles from which it is later released upon stimulation." "Obesity has so far been approached mostly as ...

Can you be born a couch potato?

... between high-active and low-active animals in peripheral (muscle) tissue," Lightfoot said. "So the suggestion that by over-expressing a glucose transporter we can increase activity doesn't seem to be the explanatory factor." Subsequent studies have led the team to suspect that genetic differences are ...

Sociological research shows combined impact of genetics, social factors on delinquency

... pair (bp) promoter-region with a variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) in the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene, (2) the 40-bp VNTR in the dopamine transporter 1 (DAT1) gene and (3) the Taq1 polymorphism in the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) gene. MAOA regulates several brain neurotransmitters important in ...

RNA emerges from DNA's shadow

... RNA, the transporter of genetic information within the cell, has emerged from the shadow of DNA to become one of the hottest research areas of molecular biology, with ...

Arsenic and new rice

... arsenite in cells could have an important role to play in the detoxification of plants, especially coupled with possibility of engineering a transporter that discriminates against arsenite uptake in the first place." ...

Rusty worms in the brain

... in the brain contribute to certain forms of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsons, Huntington s, and Alzhiemers. A malfunction of the blood transporter transferrin may be to blame. A team led by Peter J. Sadler at the University of Warwick (Coventry, UK) and Sandeep Verma of the Indian Institute of ...

Genetically modified carrots provide more calcium

... a report that appears today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Slightly altering the gene (sCAX1) to make it a more active transporter allows for increased bioavailable calcium in the carrots- , said Dr. Kendal Hirschi, professor of pediatrics-nutrition and principal investigator of ...

Biophysical Society announces winners of 2008 Student Travel Awards

... of Individual RecBCD Molecules. Thomas Chadwick, North Carolina State University, Molecular Mechanism of Phospholipid Transfer by Lipid transporter Protein Sec14p. Hao Chen, Purdue University, Predicting the Error of Template-Based Protein Structure Modeling by Suboptimal Alignment ...

Purdue researchers obtain a snapshot clarifying how materials enter cells

... is a very clear picture of how things work." The research team used X-ray crystallography to obtain a picture of a special protein, called an ABC transporter protein, as it moved material through the cellular membrane. The work was published in last week's issue of Nature. In addition to Davidson, ...