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Tag: "switch" at biology news

U-M researchers discover gene switched off in cancer can be turned on

...ather that it was just silent – essentially like a switch that had been turned off. Knowing that a class of ...M expression could be restored – like flipping the switch back on. While the existing HDAC inhibitors did return BRM expression, the effect was short-lived...

Study investigates 'divorce' among Galapagos seabirds

...ff the coast of Ecuador. Many Nazca booby females switch mates after successfully raising a chick, according to a Wake Forest University study scheduled for publication in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences June 13. This is surprising because there is an advantage to sta...

Weizmann Institute scientists develop a general 'control switch' for protein activity

...w technique may find many additional uses. The switch has a genetic component and a chemical component: Using genetic engineering, the scientists insert a short segment of amino acids into the amino acid sequence making up the protein. This segment is capable of binding strongly and selectively to a par...

Turn-ons and turn-offs for neurons

...t makes use of reversible gene expression tools to switch genes on and off. Neuroscientists need such gene switches to investigate the cause-and-effect relationship between gene activity, neuronal physiology, and animal behavior. Hence, this new research is an important step in both the development of highl...

Hawaiian treasure, macadamia nuts good for the heart

...fat and protein in the diet. For example, we could switch skim milk for 2 percent milk and add some macadamia nuts." Macadamia nuts are native to Australia, but were imported to Hawaii and thrived. The first commercials crop of Hawaiian macadamia nuts was harvested in 1956. ...

Salk scientists hammer out a pathway that promotes muscle cell survival in mice

...signals. In this particular pathway, a molecular switch turns on a set of muscle-specific genes in response to exercise by releasing a brake that normally keeps these genes off. Learning how this pathway affects cellular responses may provide clues for improving cellular health in diseases affecting muscl...

More recycling on the farm could reduce environmental problems

...ce farming's reliance on oil imports and water. A switch to regenerative agriculture would involve a variety of changes, including reduced use of inorganic fertilizers and more on-farm energy generation from wind and fermentation of biosolids. It would also reduce overcropping and leakage from manure stora...

Scientists: As rainfall changes, tropical plants may acclimate

... terrain that characterizes some rainforests, they switch to another form of nitrogen that becomes more avai...alfway through the rainfall gradient, and they all switch to this other form for their nutrition," Schuur said. That's a surprise partly because of the uni...

Switching genes to overdrive improves muscular dystrophy symptoms in mice

...demonstrated that manipulating a genetic molecular switch increased the genes?activity in the muscles of mice with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, slowing the disease-associated muscle wasting. The authors caution that they have not yet found a way to tweak the switch, known as PGC-1alpha, in humans. “I thi...

Leukemia drug turns mini-molecules up, cancer genes down

...re important because they tell us that some miRNAs switch off genes that promote cancer," says first author Ramiro Garzon, a hematologist and oncologist at Ohio State's James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute. Acute promyelocytic leukemia occurs when cells that give rise to a form of white b...

Out-of-body experiences may be caused by arousal system disturbances in brain

...een the REM sleep state and wakefulness, the brain switch blends these states into one another. To survey out-of-body experiences that occurred during sleep transition, patients were asked, "Just before falling asleep or just after awakening, have you had the sense that you are outside of your body and ...

Beyond the DNA: Chemical signatures reveal genetic switches in the genome

...predict the 'promoter' and 'enhancer' regions that switch on transcription, the first step in gene expression. This study is an important step towards large-scale functional annotation of 'enhancers,' which establish the rate at which gene expression occurs and determine the tissues in which genes are expre...

Nanotextured implant materials: blending in, not fighting back

...orm a single, solid layer, they stop piling on and switch to producing the proteins collagen and elastin. In one experiment, published with Purdue University graduate student Saba Choudhary in the journal Tissue Engineering , Webster and Haberstroh pressed together titanium particles that were less than...

New player in commitment to life as a fat cell

...rsity, screened fat precursor cells for genes that switch on early in the path to fat formation. Using a novel method to rank genes, they found that XOR was at the top of the list of genes that fit the profile of a fat generator. Indeed, they found evidence that XOR controls PPAR-gamma a transcription fa...

New mechanism for nutrient uptake discovered

... how plant ammonium transporters are controlled. A switch domain in the protein facilitates rapid and sensitive control of ammonium transport to preclude over-accumulation of an ion that is beneficial at low concentrations, but potentially toxic at high concentrations. This is a major advance in the field o...

Trusting your instincts leads you to the right answer

...mproved their performance if they had been able to switch off their higher-level cognition by, for example, acting quickly." Tracking participants' eye movements, the team controlled the time allotted to each individual's search for their target. The visual display screen was switched off at various time ...

Shedding new light on proteorhodopsin

...ired, bacterium equipped with proteorhodopsin will switch to solar power to carry out vital life processes. "Our research shows that proteorhodopsin contributes to a bacterial cell's energy balance only under certain environmental conditions, namely when the cell's ability to respire has been impaired,...

Iowa State University botanists identify new species of North American bamboo

...e North American bamboo species ?commonly known as switch cane and river cane ?in an important way: It drops...and Triplett set off for the Southeast to find the switch cane and river cane in their native habitats. "Once we actually saw the plants in the field, we ...

Global 'sunscreen' has likely thinned, report NASA scientists

...des, suddenly started to rebound around 1990. This switch from a "global dimming" trend to a "brightening" trend happened just as global aerosol levels started to decline, Mishchenko said. While the Science paper does not prove that aerosols are behind the recent dimming and brightening trends ?changes i...

How genetic malfunction causes a form of retardation

... are caused by a genetic mutation in a biochemical switch called SHP-2. SHP-2 is involved in molecular pathways regulating development of brain cells. The NS mutations cause SHP-2 to be constantly activated. Specifically, SHP-2 plays a role in the pathways governing differentiation of immature precursor ...

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