Penn researchers link cell's protein recycling systems
...ome pathway marks unwanted proteins with ubiquitin tags and shuttles them for rapid breakdown to a complicated structure called the proteasome. The second is the autophagy-lysosomal system, a more general process in which proteins are surrounded by membranes inside the cell for bulk digestion. “The dog...Tracking sperm whales and jumbo squid
...these animals probably take place." Electronic tags The MEPS study was conducted in fall 2004 near.... Unlike the instruments used on whales, the squid tags were designed to detach at a predetermined time, then float to the surface and transmit stored data ...Scientists use nanoparticle to discover disease-causing proteins
...lls and then label specific proteins with isotopic tags while cells are still alive. This allows the scientists to determine the activities of proteins that play roles in specific diseases. Proteins carry genetic messages throughout the cell causing biochemical changes that can determine whether a cell be...Liposuctioned fat stem cells to repair bodies
...overing the nature and location of these molecular tags could allow scientists to pull off the ultimate trick of taking a patient’s own fat cells and using them for therapy, Collas told researchers gathered at the EuroSTELLS Workshop ‘Exploring Chromatin in Stem Cells?held on January 23-24, in Montpellier...Selecting life: Scientists find new way to search for origin of life
...he ToF-SIMS. This eliminates the need for chemical tags whose own properties could influence the results." David Deamer, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at U.C. Santa Cruz, commented that "Bob Hazen is boldly asking a fundamental question related to the origin of life. We know that organic comp...Nanotech tools yield DNA transcription breakthrough
...ine and then monitored changes in distance between tags in single molecules as transcription occurred. The researchers showed that, during initial transcription, the machine does not move to reach adjacent DNA segments; nor does it stretch to reach adjacent DNA segments (as had been proposed two decades a...UCLA researchers unravel a mystery about DNA
...stance separating -- pairs of fluorescent chemical tags attached to key structural elements of RNAP and th...ss. The changes in the distances between these tags confirmed that transcription proceeds initially through a "scrunching" mechanism in which, much like...Biofuel cells without the bio cells
...team to isolate sufficient amounts of protein. The tags also allowed fast measurements of protein-mineral binding. The researchers supplied the protein with energy--directly as electrons or in the form of a natural cellular fuel called NADH--and only during binding detected charge-transfer from protein...Stem cell activity deciphered in the aging brain
... the researchers attached easy-to-spot fluorescent tags to the neuronal stem cells in the hippocampus in young, middle-aged and old rats. They found that in young rats, the hippocampus contained 50,000 stem cells -- and, significantly, this number did not diminish with aging. This finding, the researche...How many genes does it take to learn? Lessons from sea slugs
...ings, scientists identified more than 175,000 gene tags useful for understanding brain functions, increasing by more than 100 times the amount of genomic information available for study, according to Moroz and 22 other researchers from UF and Columbia University. More than half of the genes have clear cou...Scientists solve sour taste proteins
... In their study, the researchers used fluorescent tags to label the subsets of cells that are known to be responsible for bitter, sweet, and umami taste, as well as the subsets of cells that express PKD1L3 and PKD2L1. By "reading" the tags, they found no overlap between the subsets of cells involved in t...Gene screen for breast cancer better than pathologist's 'eye'
...id, then sifts through the cells' DNA for chemical tags on certain genes associated with cancer. Reporti...st searches for unusually high amounts of chemical tags embedded by a process called methylation within critical regions of DNA. The tags attach to the "on...Experimental RNA-based drug kills prostate cancer cells effectively and safely
... specific cancer-causing protein, called PLK1, and tags it for destruction. This eventually leads to the death of the cancer cell. The researchers first tested the drug in culture dishes containing cancer cells. They found that the drug effectively bound to prostate cancer cells, entered them and shut o...Ecologists home in on how sperm whales find their prey
...iversity of St Andrews attached acoustic recording tags to the dorsal surface of sperm whales with suction... towed hydrophone array. The researchers used the tags to record the sounds that sperm whales produce while foraging. As sperm whales descended from the su...How satellite tracking revealed the migratory mysteries of endangered Atlantic loggerhead turtles
... to track turtle migrations. Satellite transmitter tags are attached to the shell of the turtle so that every time the turtle surfaces to breathe, the tag transmits the turtle's position, as well as other information (e.g. depth and duration of dives), to satellites orbiting above, which then relay the da...Creating a window on 'oceans in motion'
... process of tracking large open ocean animals with tags that report in via satellite whenever they surface. TOPP has to date tracked thousands of individual Pacific Ocean animals spanning 21 top predator species, including whales, tuna, elephant seals, seabirds, sea turtles and sharks. "Tiny microproces......and migration patterns. As fishermen discover the tags on the fish they catch, they are instructed to measure and release the fish, note their whereabouts, and notify the program of the recapture via the phone number provided. This was the case on Dec. 29, when Dr. Brian Harris, a dermatologist from For...New method for identifying microbes
..."single point" reference gene. By sequencing these tags and comparing the sequenced code with databases of...tter," van der Lelie said. "In fact, because these tags are so short, we 'glue' 10 to 30 of them together to sequence all at one time, making this a highly ...Sea coral's trick helps scientists tag proteins
...ch it is attached. The green turns to red when the tags are zapped with an intense pulse of visible blue light. The dramatic color change "makes it possible to precisely label an object, such as a cell, organelle, or protein, with a flash of light and then to follow the object's movement over time," said...HortResearch science reveals the natural potential of apples
... - referred to by scientists as expressed sequence tags (ESTs). These are DNA sequences from active genes in the plant; genes that govern such characteristics as fruit colour and taste. By identifying and investigating only these active genes, researchers can avoid the high costs and long timeframes asso...