Activation

An HIV Protein Plays a Surprising Role in Gene Activation

Retroviruses are expert manipulators when it comes to co-opting their host's cellular resources. A great deal of human complexity stems from the vast repertoire of proteins and mechanisms dedicated to the business of regulating gene expression, and retroviruses like HIV have evolved myriad ways of redirecting that machinery to their own benefit. Humans and other eukaryotes have three type...

Activation of thermoreceptors mediates raw garlic's burning pungency

The worldwide popularity of garlic as a food ingredient and its therapeutic stature in folklore both stem in part from the distinctive pungency associated with its raw, uncooked state. Researchers this week report that this pungency, manifested as a characteristic mixture of burning and prickling sensations and flavor, can be ascribed largely to the effects of a particular compound and its abilit...

Activation of a protein solidifies fear memory in the brain

When activated, a specific protein in the brain enhances long-term storage of fearful memories and strengthens previously established fearful memories, Yale School of Medicine researchers report this week in Nature Neuroscience. "This report is the first to demonstrate evidence of enhancements in memory reconsolidation in the brain," said the senior author, Jane Taylor, associate professor...

EGF receptor activation prevents microbes from going more than skin deep

Our skin not only serves as a physical barrier against infection but skin cells themselves can mount an immune response to kill invading microbes by producing antimicrobial polypeptides (AMPs). As overt infection in the skin is a rare event, researchers have theorized that AMPs must not only help fight infection, but play a role in preventing infection from developing in the first place. I...

Activation of microRNA inhibits cancer gene in human cancer cells

Scientists report that tumor cells display a dramatic reduction of cancer-causing genes when a newly discovered method is used to activate the expression of protective microRNAs in the cancer cell genome. The research, published in the June issue of Cancer Cell, demonstrates that agents known to regulate gene expression can also impact regulatory RNAs that may function as tumor suppressors in nor...

UCSD researchers create roadmap to integrin activation

Calling it an important technical advance in the study of the complex receptors and pathways of the body's cellular system, researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have reconstructed the signaling pathways that impact activation of a receptor that is critical to the control of bleeding and to the thrombosis that occurs in heart attacks and strokes. <p...

Scripps Research study reveals new activation mechanism for pain sensing channel

The researchers found that TRPA1, a protein that helps transmit pain signals, is a direct sensor of reactive chemicals. "While many noxious and pungent compounds were known to activate this pain receptor, we discovered that they do so by directly and irreversibly binding to the cysteine amino acids of this protein," said Ardem Patapoutian, a Scripps Research scientist whose laboratory conducted...

St. Jude study shows genes play an unexpected role in their own activation

The “on switch,” a protein called CREB, is a transcription factor—a molecule that binds to a section of DNA near a gene and triggers that gene to make t...