Tag: "lengths" at biology news

DNA Molecules Used To Assemble Nanoparticles

...assembled in many configurations by using attached lengths of single-stranded DNA molecules, which naturally ...fferent kinds of single dendrimers, these dangling lengths of DNA, typically 34-66 bases long, found complementary sequences on other dendrimers and knitted to...

Purdue researchers use enzyme to clip 'DNA wires'

... be used in the future to cut DNA wires of varying lengths for building electronic devices. Ivanisevic and f... has been stretched onto silicon oxide surfaces at lengths up to 35 microns, or millionths of a meter, and 2 nanometers wide," Kinsella said. "When coated with...

DDT-resistant insects have additional genetic advantage that helps resistance spread

... and Biochemistry at the University, went to great lengths to make sure that DDT resistant and susceptible strains differed only by the resistance gene itself. Using antibiotics they also 'cured' the flies of the microbes that are known to affect their ability to reproduce and could affect the results. In ...

Cracking the perception code

...ps with a vibrating but painless probe for varying lengths of time. The monkeys were first taught to respond to varying vibration frequencies; in a training session, the scientists touched the monkeys twice in a row, with the probe vibrating at a different frequency each time. The monkeys signaled to the exp...

Researchers make long DNA 'wires' for future medical and electronic devices

...e the comb, they leave behind strands of different lengths and shapes. "Basically, we're doing nanotechnology using only a piece of rubber and a tiny droplet of DNA solution," Guan said. Computer chips that bridge the gap between the electronic and the biological could make detection of certain chemicals e...

New DNA 'fingerprinting' technique separates hemp from marijuana

..."marker" DNA sequences that act like bookends. The lengths of the fragments within the bookends were found to...ing to the cultivar. Thus, the pattern of fragment lengths adds up to a composite picture of each cultivar. "With this technique, we find hundreds of markers ...

Protein 'nanosprings' most resilient found in nature

...tion motifs in nature. Ankyrin repeats of varying lengths appear in more than 400 human proteins expressed in many tissues, Bennett said. For example, ankyrin repeats are found in association with specialized hair cells of the inner ear, where they play a critical role in converting sound (a mechanical stim...

Researchers unravel DNA tangles and enzyme seamstresses

...cut strand so that DNA can separate into untangled lengths that are the chromosomes: the topoisomerases only have to cut and reconnect at hooked-like but not other touching points. If this process were disrupted, however, the cell would be in serious trouble. "One link could keep the cell from dividing. Two ...

Mussels evolve quickly to defend against invasive crabs

...that had been exposed to the predators for varying lengths of time," says Freeman. "We wanted to know, how is it that these mollusks can recognize a crab that is historically not present in North America?" Freeman exposed mussels native to the northern ?above mid-coast Maine ?and southern New England to bo...

Tyrannosaur survivorship -- tough times for teens

...th year of life, at which point they reached total lengths of six metres or 60 per cent of their maximum recorded size. At that point, mortality rates escalated to more than 23 per cent a year. 70% of the animals surviving to two years of age were still alive at age 13, which would help explain why so few ...

Female guppies risk their lives to avoid too much male attention

...s of many species face, and some may go to extreme lengths to avoid it. In a new paper from the June issue of the American Naturalist, Darren Croft (University of Wales) and a research team from the University of Leeds suggest that female guppies, a popular aquarium fish, may risk their lives to avoid too ...

Recent, rapid climate change is driving evolution of animal species

...rous plants are using shorter, more "southern" day lengths to cue the initiation of larval dormancy. In contrast, the authors write that no studies have found genetic changes in populations relating to the generally expected direct effects of increasing temperature. There are no examples in animal populati...

Researchers find that bumblebees' flower choice matters

...ossible by dispersing pollen. But why go to such lengths to map the flight of the bumblebee? It may seem random and inconsequential. But it is neither, says Karron, an associate professor of Biological Sciences. The bees are pivotal players in determining which plant populations survive through successfu...

One signal elicits thousands of answers

...cell cultures were stimulated by EGF for different lengths of time. The "Epidermal Growth Factor" is known for causing the phosphorylation of a multitude of enzymes and proteins along a signal transduction pathway. In the following step all proteins were isolated from the cells, divided into different fracti...

Penn researcher shows that DNA gets kinky easily at the nanoscale

...unt of energy necessary to bend DNA over nano-size lengths (about a million times smaller than a printed lett...ct measurement of the energy it would take to bend lengths of DNA just a few nanometers long. The technique involves dragging an extremely sharp tip across th...

Osteoarthritis may be sign of faster 'biological ageing'

...ngly, the findings showed that white cell telomere lengths were associated with chronological age. The older a person was, the shorter they were. But among the 160 people with hand osteoarthritis, the telomere length was significantly shorter than among those without the disease, even after taking account ...

Molecular motors and brakes work together in cells

...he cell can make microtubule structures of defined lengths stable by coordinating the sliding of the motors and the slowing of the brakes." If microtubule-based structures are not formed properly because of failures in brakes or motors, such basic functions as cell division and cell transport can go awry,...

Human preference for other species could determine whether they survive

...r because of similar factors. "I went to great lengths to ensure that what I was looking at was a purposeful set of pictures and not one just based on logistics," he said. The popularity rankings were similar across all four books, he added, which suggests that human preferences could be widely shared. ...

Protein averts cell suicide but might contribute to cancer

..., Fiala developed a new way to sequence very short lengths of DNA. "This allowed us to pin down exactly what mistakes Dpo4 makes," he says. The findings reveal why the enzyme makes mistakes. DNA resembles a spiral staircase that is made from separate halves, with half-steps protruding from each. The ...

Vaccine to cope with viral diversity in HIV

...ess the variation found in many viral strains into lengths suitable for vaccine immunogens. "We can capture 62% of the variation found in the Nef protein and 81% of the variation in the Gag protein into immunogens of three gene lengths", says Nickle. These short-length immunogens are potentially useable ...

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