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Tag: "packages" at biology news

Marine phytoplankton changes form to protect itself from different predators

...ods, for example, the carbon becomes part of fecal packages that sink into the deep ocean where a portion of that carbon is sequestered – thereby reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas. If consumed by smaller creatures like ciliates, less of the carbon sinks to the deep sea and more re...

DNA repair proteins monitored at double-strand break

... NBS1 cooperate to disrupt nucleosomes—the compact packages formed when strands of DNA wind around proteins, called histones, like thread around a spool. Disruption of the nucleosome at the site of a double-strand break allows the DNA to unravel and expose the area to repair proteins; the loss of functioning ...

Male-killing bacteria makes female butterflies more promiscuous

...the female butterflies instinctively know that the packages are smaller and that their chances of having been impregnated after mating are lower than usual. This just makes them more rampant!" The male-killling bacterium is transmitted from mother to son and actually kills the son before the embryo hatches...

Grape expectations for healthier wine

...w technique that involves exposing macroperforated packages of grapes at 0 degress C to cycles of 0.1 micro liters per liter of ozone. They found that ozone treatment was 90% as effective as SO2 at preventing decay. In addition, ozone-treated grapes had up to four times more antioxidants than untreated grap...

Biologists prove critical step in membrane fusion

...rgo bound in vesicles, miniscule membrane-enclosed packages of proteins and other chemicals. Before the swap c...must fuse with another membrane, creating channels packages can pass through. This process, known as membrane fusion, is fundamental to health and disease. It ...

Ultrathin films deliver DNA as possible gene therapy tool

...mers designed to bundle the genes into small tight packages that cells can import. Once inside, the genes instruct the cells to make proteins. Lynn and his colleagues create the films one layer at a time using a dip-coating method, dunking first in one solution, then another. The individual layers are s...

Molecular motors and brakes work together in cells

...of sorts, upon which molecular motors move protein packages for waste removal and nerve transmission. In the Cell study, the investigators, working with fission yeast cells, showed that stable end-to-end arrays of microtubules can be achieved by a balance between the sliding by a molecular motor called kl...

One-of-a-kind imaging probe reveals secrets useful for drug discovery

Good things may indeed come in small packages for scientists eager to find natural substances to help cure diseases. The challenge is to analyze material that is smaller than the proverbial gnat's eyelash. But using a refined version of nuclear magnetic resonance technology, or NMR, scientists ...

Silence of the amoebae

...of DNA "packing" proteins, causing the DNA-protein packages to become more tightly coiled ?something like a tangled telephone cord ?and causing an irreversible silencing of gene expression. In a recent paper published in PLoS Pathogens, the Weizmann scientists report the silencing of two additional virulence ...

Sea slug mixes chemical defense before firing at predators

...roduces the purple dye in the secretion. "Aplysia packages these innocuous precursors separately and then releases them simultaneously into its mantle cavity at the precise time when they are needed," explained Derby. "This mechanism insures the secretion's potency against attacking predators to enable sea s...

Stem cells from brain transformed to produce insulin at Stanford

...changing their electrical properties and releasing packages of proteins. In the case of islets, that protein is insulin. What's more, some neurons in mice and humans take the first steps toward producing insulin. In insects such as fruit flies, the cells that produce insulin and regulate blood sugar are, in ...

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