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Tag: "functions" at biology news

Complex gene interactions account for autism risk

...or three GABA receptors. Since one of the primary functions of GABA is to inhibit nerve cells from firing, it plays a key role in telling the body to "slow down.". The GABA system therefore acts as a sort of information filter, preventing the brain from becoming over-stimulated, the researchers explained. "I...

New study to explore cellular circuitry

... researchers now believe that modules with related functions are grouped together in networks. "With most genes redundant and related to other genes and proteins in predictable ways, we can begin to identify the function of unknown cellular players based on their neighbors and associates," said Eric M. Phizic...

Study hints at role of stem cell genes in testicular, breast cancers

...earchers, will be to "dig deeper" to determine the functions of the genes in the cells that make up the tumors. Another step will be to explore whether the genes are expressed in other cancers, such as prostate cancer. The genes are known as OCT 4, NANOG, STELLAR and GDF3. The researchers focused on seminom...

MicroRNAs have shaped the evolution of the majority of mammalian genes

...f evolution many mRNAs, in order to maintain their functions and ensure fitness of the organism, have quickly lost sites that pair up with microRNAs. In addition to the thousands of cases where genes have avoided microRNA targeting, Farh also investigated the opposite extreme, cases where genes have maintaine...

Scientists crack 40-year-old DNA puzzle and point to 'hot soup' at the origin of life

...lst some amino acids, which have equally important functions and are translated in the same amount, have just one. The new theory builds on an original idea suggested by Francis Crick - one of the discoverers of the structure of DNA - that the three-letter code evolved from a simpler two-letter code, although...

Human cerebellum and cortex age in very different ways

...Berkeley. "Our analyses suggest that the different functions of different regions of the brain influence how they age, and that we can learn about functional variation and evolution by studying gene expression changes with age." The researchers used data from gene chips to look at gene expression -- the degre...

Plant genes identified that can form basis for crops better adapted to environmental conditions

... and anchor plants in the soil − two crucial functions for a plant's growth and further development. The formation of capillary roots is vital to the root system and determines how much water and minerals a plant can absorb. As early as 1937, scientists knew that it takes only 4 months for a single rye p...

A bug's life: Exceptional genomic stability yet rapid protein evolution in a carpenter ant mutualist

...bility may prevent the reacquisition of those lost functions or the evolution of new ones. In addition, rapid protein evolution seems to degrade the genes that remain." In the future, major areas of research will include understanding the forces driving this mode of genome evolution, as well as the consequenc...

Scientists characterize proteome of human cornea

... highly organized group of cells and proteins. Its functions include shielding the eye from germs, dust, UV light, and other harmful matter and acting as the eye's outermost lens. Approximately 120 million people in the United States wear eyeglasses or contact lenses to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness...

Zebrafish may hold key to improved cancer research

...om worms to fruit flies, fish and humans. When it functions normally, B-myb appropriately regulates cell proliferation. When it becomes mutated, either through genetic predisposition or environmental influences, the formation of tumors can dramatically increase, scientists say. The gene appears to be particul...

New molecule may aid in production of biofuels and fungi-resistant plants

...ery may lead to discovery of proteins with similar functions in cellulose processing. This may be of major important for the cellulose field and production of biofuel." ...

Seeing the forest and the trees

...rests provide," said DeClerck. "The more ecosystem functions you look at, the more important diversity becomes." The study was based on data from the 120-acre Forest Dynamics Plot, a tropical forest on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal run by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute that has been s...

Mammalian Transcriptome Mapped

...screen through hundreds of RNA molecules for their functions within cells. For details on these results, see the Scripps Research news release at http://www.scripps.edu/news/press/090105a.html Antisense Transcription--What Is It? Another major finding of the transcriptome project is that there are far more a...

Research Permits First-Ever Visualization of Psychological Stress in the Human Brain

...o associated with the ability to perform executive functions -- such as working memory and goal-oriented behavior -- that permit humans to adapt to environmental challenges and threats. "The message from this study is that while stress may be useful in increasing focus, chronic stress could also be detrimental...

Embryonic stem cells accrue genetic changes

...analyses of the changes and what they mean for the functions of embryonic stem cells." "Embryonic stem cells are actually far more genetically stable than other stem cells, but our work shows that even they can accumulate potentially deleterious changes over time," adds Anirban Maitra, M.B.B.S., an assistant...

Life in deadly conditions

...les, anchoring it to the cell membrane. Important functions of the energy metabolism - for example, the respir... other organisms that grow in alkaline conditions, functions with a "normal" proton. The Max Planck researchers could thus refute the paradigm, dominant until no...

Sickle cell disease corrected in human models using stem cell-based gene therapy

...lity and a study co-author. The new gene had two functions -- produce normal hemoglobin and suppress the generation of sickle shaped hemoglobin S. The therapeutic gene was engineered into a lentiviral vector and introduced into hematopoietic stem cells. After the cells received the treatment, they made norma...

Plant gene related to cancer treatment may foster new oncology drugs

...h team reported that another P-glycoprotein, PGP4, functions in the opposite direction, providing the boost needed to import the hormone auxin into cells and to increase the amount transported. "With these two studies, we've shown for the first time that both the uptake and release of molecules are mediated b...

Bacteria which sense the Earth's magnetic field

...structure. This is further evidence of the diverse functions that cytoskeletal structures in bacteria seem to have, and which, for a long time, have only been known in eukaryotes -- i.e., organisms whose cells have nuclei. The fact that the chain structure of bacterial nanomagnets is exactly regulated by gene...

New study examines how sense of smell affects mating and aggression in mice

...We hope that such basic knowledge of how the brain functions will eventually be useful in understanding how the human brain generates behaviors in humans," he adds. The UCSF study focused on the sexual and aggressive behaviors triggered by the rodent's olfactory system. The findings are published in the Dece...

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