Tag: "notorious" at biology news

Novel Therapy Tested in Mice Could Chase Away Cat Allergies

...nd a human protein together. The feline end is the notorious protein (called Fel d1) found in cat dander and saliva that causes so much misery in allergy sufferers. On the other end sits a piece of human antibody (called IgG Fcg1) that docks to a cell receptor that can be recruited to stop allergic reactions. ...

Searching the depths of the straits of Florida for disease cures

...d islands 30 miles north of Cuba. Cay Sal was once notorious for its role in illegal drug smuggling, but resear...ns in Cuba, just 30 miles away. Later, it became a notorious stopping point for narcotics smugglers, though regular patrols have all but eliminated that reputati...

UNC scientists discover new role for protein as fundamental inhibitor of cell movement

... other activators of PAK1 include relatives of the notorious Ras family of tumor promoters, the GTPases Rac and Cdc42. CIB1 activation of PAK1, however, is different from these GTPases. "CIB1 activates PAK1 before Rac and Cdc42," said Dr. Leslie V. Parise, UNC professor of pharmacology, member of UNC Lineberg...

Genetic defenders protect crops from fungal disease

...topthora infestans, the fungus responsible for the notorious Irish Potato Famine of the mid-19th century. "The resistance mechanisms operating at the cell wall seem to be surprisingly simple," Somerville said. "This suggests it might be possible to reverse engineer crops like wheat with Arabidopsis PEN genes...

'Biobullets' fight harmful mussels

...Lakes in the late 1980s, zebra mussels have become notorious aquatic pests, fouling water intake pipes at hydroelectric stations, nuclear power plants and industrial facilities. In addition, zebra mussels can anchor themselves to other mollusks, making it impossible for native species to thrive. In some case, ...

Potato blight pathogenicity explained by genome plasticity

...volving at the present time. " P. infestans is notorious for its ability to change in response to R genes," says Dr. Francine Govers, the principal investigator on the project. "These changes are probably facilitated by its underlying genomic plasticity. Field isolates of P. infestans are known to be...

A human taste for rarity spells disaster for endangered species

...hen Colin Watson, widely considered Britain's most notorious illegal egg collector, died after falling from a 12-meter tree, allegedly while hunting a rare egg. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds estimates that up to 30 of Britain's most vulnerable species are targeted by collectors. Classical econo...

Asia's odd-ball antelope gets collared

...or filter air during Mongolia's frigid winters and notorious dust storms. Today saiga numbers have plummeted by 95 percent from an estimated one million animals just 15 years ago, due to poaching for Chinese medicines and competition with livestock. In an effort to safeguard remaining populations, WCS, alo...

New UD technology removes viruses from drinking water

... deliver a chemical "knock-out punch" to a host of notorious pathogens, from E. coli to rotavirus. The new technology could dramatically improve the safety of drinking water around the globe, particularly in developing countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over a billion people--one-s...

Notorious cancer gene may work by destroying messenger

A new study suggests how a notorious cancer gene may contribute to tumor growth. The insight emerged from a long-running study of a protein called PMR1, the key player in an unusual mechanism that cells use to quickly stop production of certain important proteins. Researchers disc...

Synthetic peptide targets latent papilloma virus infections

...rvix, but three variants - HPV-16, 18 and 31 - are notorious as the primary causes of cervical cancer in the world. The virus hides out in epithelial stem cells, which are naïve cells at the base of the skin that can turn into many of the various types of cells that make up the skin. As these cells divide and ...

Bacterial walls come tumbling down

...he researchers focused on Staphylococcus aureus, a notorious human pathogen. An epidemic strain of the bacteria known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is resistant to several common antibiotics, including penicillin and amoxicillin, and is a great cause for concern among hospital infectious disea...

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