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Tag: "scripps" at biology news

Scripps scientists find potential for catastrophic shifts in Pacific ecosystems

Opening the door to a new way of understanding ocean processes and managing and protecting marine resources, a group of researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, has developed a groundbreaking analysis of the North Pacific Ocean and how dramatic changes can unfold across its waters. . The study, published in the May 19 issue of the journal Natu...

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

A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of Wisconsin have demonstrated a new way of fighting antibiotic resistance: by stopping evolution. .. In the June issue of the open-access journal PloS Biology, the team describes how a protein called LexA in the bacterium Escherichia coli promotes mutations and helps the pathogen evolve resistance to antibiotics. The scien...

Scripps research scientists identify infertility molecule

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute are reporting that mice created to lack a certain type of molecule known as an LPA receptor have fertility problems, which suggests that these receptors play a major role in conception. .. In the latest issue of the journal Nature, the scientists detail how mice that lack LPA receptors, which normally appear on the surface of cells in a mouse's womb, h...

Scripps research scientists solve structure of a critical innate immune system protein

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have solved the structure of a crucial human immune system molecule called TLR3, an acronym for Toll-like receptor three. In an upcoming issue of the journal Science, the protein is described as a large horseshoe-shaped coil composed of 23 leucine-rich repeats (LRRs). .. . "We don't know functionally...

New Scripps Oceanography project to study sediments and ecosystem restoration in Venice lagoon

Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, in conjunction with Italy's Venice Water Authority, Consorzio Venezia Nuova and Thetis SPA, has launched a multifaceted scientific program aimed at providing fundamental information about the effects of sediment translocation in Venice lagoon, a vital facet of the historic city of Venice, Italy. . The new effort, a tw...

Scripps Research study reveals new activation mechanism for pain sensing channel

The researchers found that TRPA1, a protein that helps transmit pain signals, is a direct sensor of reactive chemicals. "While many noxious and pungent compounds were known to activate this pain receptor, we discovered that they do so by directly and irreversibly binding to the cysteine amino acids of this protein," said Ardem Patapoutian, a Scripps Research scientist whose laboratory conducted...

Scripps research team discovers a chemical pathway that causes mice to overeat and gain weight

The Scripps Research team, led by neuroscientists Manuel Sanchez-Alavez and Tamas Bartfai, discovered that mice genetically altered to lack a molecule known as the EP3 receptor tend to be more active during their normal sleep cycle and to eat more. In the study, this led to weight increases of up to 30 percent relative to mice with the receptors. . The EP3 receptor is one of four types of recept...

Scripps research study reveals structural dynamics of single prion molecules

The new findings, which are being published the week of February 12 in an online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offer significant insights into normal folding mechanisms as well as those that lead to abnormal amyloid fibril conversion. The new insights may lead to the discovery of novel therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases. . Intriguingly, certain pr...

Scripps research study shows humans and plants share common regulatory pathway

The study was published in an advance online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of April 9, 2007. . The study provides new evidence that Nod1, a member of the Nod-like Receptor (NLR) protein family, is activated by the protein SGT1, which also activates Resistance (R) proteins in plants; R proteins protect plants from various pathogens. The study also c...

Scripps research team sheds light on long-sought cold sensation gene

The discovery, reported in the May 3 issue of the journal Neuron, might one day lead to the development of drugs that induce cold sensation as an analgesic, or block it to prevent certain forms of chronic pain associated with cold sensation. . "This study represents the first demonstration that a single gene is responsible for most cool temperature sensation," says team leader Ardem Patapoutian,...