Tag: "factor" at biology news

A new mechanism of regulating RNA degradation

... Significantly, altering the amount of another NMD factor didn't affect these RNAs. Thus, Staufen1 and Upf1, together, degrade RNAs by a previously undescribed mechanism, which the team called Staufen1-mediated degradation (SMD). Preliminary results suggest that SMD activity affects numerous transcripts an...

FDA Approves Human Hookworm Vaccine for Phase I Safety Trials

... Significantly, altering the amount of another NMD factor didn't affect these RNAs. Thus, Staufen1 and Upf1, together, degrade RNAs by a previously undescribed mechanism, which the team called Staufen1-mediated degradation (SMD). Preliminary results suggest that SMD activity affects numerous transcripts an...

Protein discovery could unlock the secret to better TB treatment

...ture of a protein known as resuscitation promoting factor (Rpf). Five versions of the Rpf protein exist in TB bacteria. The paper's unveiling of the molecular structure of Rpf could be crucial to the treatment of TB in the future. Dr John Ward, Dept of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UCL, said: "The ...

W.M. Keck Foundation funds study of friendly microbes

...unities among different people may be an important factor that influences predisposition to obesity and obesity-related disorders such as diabetes and heart disease. Unfortunately, comprehensive analysis of the composition and functions of these microbial communities, in health and in disease, has been ham...

It's not all genetic: Common epigenetic problem doubles cancer risk in mice

...eered to have a double dose of insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) develop more so-called precursor cells within the lining of the colon than normal mice. When these mice also carried a colon-cancer-causing genetic mutation, they developed twice as many tumors as those with normal IGF2 levels, the researche...

Poor prenatal nutrition permanently damages function of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas

...to become overweight, eliminating this common risk factor for diabetes. The only difference was that the mot... to minimize insulin resistance -- the other major factor involved in triggering type 2 diabetes. "In particular, someone who was a low-birth-weight baby can...

Emory Study Tests Bone Marrow Stem Cells to Improve Circulation in Legs

...trial will be given an injection of either agrowth factor called GM-CSF (granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulatingfactor) or placebo (sterile salt water) three times a week for twoweeks. The level of EPCs in the volunteers' blood will be measuredbefore, during and after administration of the drug or placebo...

Fox Chase Cancer Center scientists identify immune-system mutation

... a point mutation in the zinc finger transcription factor Th-POK. We show that when the normal form of this factor is active in all developing lymphocytes, it can redirect would-be killer cells to the CD4 helper T c...

Newly-discovered class of genes determines ?and restricts ?stem cell fate

...fferentiation. The ability of a single biochemical factor or complex of factors to have this dual role may represent a new general paradigm for developmental and stem-cell biology. "My idea is that this is a new family of genes--they can both determine the cell type, but also put the breaks on differentiati...

Novel Enzyme Shows Potential As An Anti-HIV Target

...rvices of its skeleton crew. The HIV transcription factor Tat (“transactivator of transcription?, for example, is an essential regulator of HIV gene expression. Without Tat, HIV transcripts don’t reach full length and can’t effect viral replication. In a new study, Melanie Ott and colleagues identify an enz...

Mitochondrial DNA mutations play significant role in prostate cancer

...ggesting that this may be an importantcontributory factor in the mitochondrial enhancement of prostate cancertumor growth. Because the study found that COI mutations were common inthe general population (7.8 percent), but very infrequent (<2percent) in men without prostate cancer, the investigators noted...

An HIV Protein Plays a Surprising Role in Gene Activation

...ne (A) named the TATA box. The first transcription factor to associate with the TATA box is called TFIID, a large protein complex containing a protein that binds the TATA box (aptly named the TATA-box-binding protein, or TBP) and several cofactors called TBP-associated factors (TAFs). PIC assembly sometimes...

Scientists collaborate to assess health of global environment

...aran Africa, environmental change is the principal factor causing poverty, according to the assessment. Implications The assessment represents more than a catalog of environmental problems, Mooney noted. By evaluating the trade-offs that accompany decisions about ecosystem services, it will identify prior...

Scientists decipher genome of fungus that can cause life-threatening infections

...o 10 days following diagnosis."The major virulence factor of C. neoformans is its extensivepolysaccharide ca...ofCryptococcus and will continue to be an enormous factor in the pace ofdiscovery and in the scope of questions that can be asked about thebasic biology of Cr...

Scientists discover the cellular roots of graying hair

...kin it isoften fatal. Sun exposure is a major risk factor in the disease, whichhas been increasing in the past several decades.Melanocytes, which manufacture and store the pigment that combines withhair-making cells called keratinocytes to color the hair, arespecialized cells spawned by colorless melanocyte...

Fundamental Finding Yields Insight into Stem Cells, Cancer; Opens Door to Drug Discovery

...kin it isoften fatal. Sun exposure is a major risk factor in the disease, whichhas been increasing in the past several decades.Melanocytes, which manufacture and store the pigment that combines withhair-making cells called keratinocytes to color the hair, arespecialized cells spawned by colorless melanocyte...

Scientists rid stem cell culture of key animal cells

...n conditions, a protein known as fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) accomplishes the same critical role that feeder cells are thought to play: ensuring that the stem cells remain in their undifferentiated state and capable of proliferation. "We've got it down to the mechanism," Xu says. Moreover, Xu made t...

Weizmann Institute scientists develop a new approach for directing treatment to metastasized prostate cancer in the bones.

...kin it isoften fatal. Sun exposure is a major risk factor in the disease, whichhas been increasing in the past several decades.Melanocytes, which manufacture and store the pigment that combines withhair-making cells called keratinocytes to color the hair, arespecialized cells spawned by colorless melanocyte...

First 'atlas' of key brain genes could speed research on cancer, neurological diseases

...g different parts of the brain,which transcription factor (TF) genes regulate the development of thatbrain region, and which of them to investigate as possible causes ofbrain tumors and other diseases.The Dana-Farber researchers already have homed in on specific TF genesregulating nerves involved in pain se...

New Study from Affymetrix Laboratories Points to Changing View of How Genome Works

...Using tiling arrays to map new human transcription factor binding sites ...

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