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Tag: "acting" at biology news

Study illuminates how the plague bacteria causes disease

...rupt cell structure. The domain paralyzes cells by acting as an "off-switch" for host proteins involved in modifying cell shape, Stebbins said. Mutations that prevented the bacterial proteins' interaction with the host protein significantly impaired YpkA's ability to disrupt the cytoskeleton. Moreover, a m...

Genetic surprise confirms neglected 70-year-old evolutionary hypothesis

...lit in two turns out to be accurate after all, and acting in nature. The finding, reported in today's issue of Science, reveals that scientists must reassess the process involved in the origin of species. The beginnings of speciation, suggests the paper, can be triggered by genes that change their location...

RNA map provides first comprehensive understanding of alternative splicing

...tively small number of regulatory splicing factors acting in concert on a single transcript can potentially generate a large number of different protein variants," says Darnell. "There is a converging set of observations indicating that as neurologic diseases are better understood, alternative splicing i...

Who gives stem cells their marching orders?

... same, and exposed to the same environment ?end up acting in such different ways, and in so orchestrated a manner? Understanding the choreography involved in this mysterious cellular signaling dance is crucial to our ability to coax stem cells to grow into specific tissues outside the body. And it is also i...

Male contraception: One door opens, another closes

...s were very excited when they realized that it was acting as a contraceptive in their male mice at a tenth of the disease-treatment dose. With safety testing already out of the way, they thought this male "Pill" could potentially be brought to market very quickly. Because of the growing public interest i...

Fake pesticides threaten food safety

...currently investigating two companies suspected of acting illegally. Jean Train, spokesperson for the Pesticides Safety Directorate, told C&I "We are in the process of gathering evidence with intention to prosecute". This will add to the list of successful action PSD have already taken against companies...

Unicellular microRNA discovery

...s have been identified in both plants and animals, acting as key regulators of multicellular development. Dr. Qi and colleagues now extend the range of miRNAs into unicellular organisms, with their discovery of a large number of miRNAs in green algae. The researchers showed that unicellular miRNAs share...

MIT: Pulsing light silences overactive neurons

...t periodically give their brains an electric jolt, acting as a defibrillator to shut down overactive neurons. This new research opens up the possibility of an optical implant that could do the same thing, using light instead of electricity. The Media Lab neuroengineering group plans to start studying such d...

Scientists unravel clue in cortisol production

... is to get rid of it or mutate it so that it's not acting normally. Then you compare it with one that is acting normally," said Sewer. In this study, they focused on a protein known as steriodogenic factor 1 (...

Racing neurons control whether we stop or go

...sease. "We think of people who are impulsive as acting too quickly," Logan said. "Kids with ADHD are actu...g neurons. If so, then how could "go" and "stop?be acting independently as required by the race model? "The model proposes that there are two processes hap...

Natural gut hormone offers hope for new obesity drug

...l. These hormones are released when a person eats, acting as neurotransmitters to indicate to the brain to stop eating. In particular, the researchers are interested in pancreatic polypeptide (PP), which they believe may provide a solution to appetite suppression and is the most likely candidate for transla...

Cancer tip -- Nanoparticles can damage DNA, increase cancer risk

...ell and causing DNA damage directly or if they are acting on the membrane and inducing a cascade of events resulting in DNA damage," Pacheco said. "Once we understand the mechanisms by which nanoparticles induce their toxicity, we will be better able to prevent or mitigate their harmful effects." In the...

Homing pigeons get their bearings from their beaks

...ield in a very sensitive and specific manner, thus acting as a three-axis magnetometer. The study suggests that the birds sense the magnetic field independent of their motion and posture and thus can identify their geographical position. The researchers further believe that this ability is not unique ...

Putting an old drug to a new use

...nifedipine exerts its effect on iron metabolism by acting on a molecule called DMT-1. DMT-1 transports iron across cell membranes. This transport is increased ten to 100-fold by nifedipine, but how exactly the compound brings about its effect is still unknown. Nifedipine is known to block membrane channels...

Trusting your instincts leads you to the right answer

... off their higher-level cognition by, for example, acting quickly." Tracking participants' eye movements, the team controlled the time allotted to each individual's search for their target. The visual display screen was switched off at various time intervals either before or after the subjects' eyes lande...

New protein inhibitor impedes growth of cancerous cells

...f any effective inhibitors have been identified as acting specifically and effectively against one particular cell-division kinase, known as Plk1. In the new work, Steegmaier et al. isolated a chemical compound, which they term BI 2536, that they demonstrate to be a potent inhibitor of Plk1, and show tha...

Bacteria control how infectious they become, study finds

...e defenses. “E. coli seems to prevent RfaH from acting unless the microorganism absolutely needs it,?Artsimovitch said. That's because bacteria like E. coli are caught in a delicate balancing act. With too little RfaH, bacteria grow too slowly. But too much RfaH, and they will die. While RfaH's contro...

Scientists find hormone activity explains adolescent mood swings

... This hormone normally acts like a tranquilizer, acting at sites in the brain that "calm" brain activity. In the adult, this stress hormone helps the individual adapt to stress, with a calming effect produced half an hour after the event. Specifically, the GABA-A receptor is the target for steroids, s...

NT researchers discover breakthrough in malaria treatment

...Chinese herbal extract (artemisinin) with a longer acting antimalarial drug. The researchers found that b...r Price. "It also provides evidence that longer acting drugs can prevent patients, who remain at risk of further infections, from getting sick again within...

Deconstructing brain wiring, one neuron at a time

...disguised" as bird cells and the rabies virus ?now acting like a bird virus ?will infect them. "The bottom line is that you need two genes expressed in the cell or cell type of interest: TVA, to get the rabies virus in, and the missing viral gene so the virus can spread to connected cells," says Wickers...

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