Reveale

Elusive HIV shape change revealed; Key clue to how virus infects cells

Structural biologists at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School have shown how a key part of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) changes shape, triggering other changes that allow the AIDS virus to enter and infect cells. Their findings, published in the Feb. 24 issue of the journal Nature, offer clues that will help guide vaccine and treatment approaches. Researchers led...

Timing is everything: First step in protein building revealed

Timing is everything, it seems, even inscience. A team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has unraveled the firststep in translating genetic information in order to build a protein,only to find that it's not one step but two.In a series of experiments, the scientists found that when yeast'sprotein-building machinery recognizes the starting line for a gene'sinstructions, it first alters its str...

Iron exporter revealed that may explain common human disorder

The first direct evidence that a single protein is critical in the cellular export of iron may help to explain human hemochromatosis, researchers report in the March issue of Cell Metabolism. Hemochromatosis--which affects one in every 200 to 300 people in Western populations --causes tissues of the body to become overloaded with iron. Left untreated, the hereditary disease can lead to org...

Vitamin A's paradoxical role in influencing symmetry during embryonic development revealed

In this week's journal Nature, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies report that they have solved one of the "holy grail" puzzles of developmental biology: the existence of a mechanism that insures that the exterior of our bodies is symmetrical while inner organs are arranged asymmetrically. In research with zebra fish, as a model for human biology, Juan-Carlos Belmonte a...

Malaria mechanism revealed

By determining the molecular structure of a protein that enables malaria parasites to invade red blood cells, researchers have uncovered valuable clues for rational antimalarial drug design and vaccine development. The findings are reported in the July 29 issue of the journal Cell. Malaria causes approximately 400 million clinical cases and 2 million deaths annually, with more than 80% of...

How satellite tracking revealed the migratory mysteries of endangered Atlantic loggerhead turtles

Their journeys are among the longest in the animal kingdom and they have largely remained a mystery until now. An international team of scientists led by the University of Exeter have uncovered the migratory secrets of endangered loggerhead turtles in West Africa and the results could have huge implications for strategies to protect them. In a paper in the journal Current Biology, Dr Brend...

An essential regulator of body weight revealed

Scientists are one step closer to unraveling the complex mechanisms in the brain that regulate body weight. Working with mice -- whose appetites are controlled by systems very similar to those in humans -- they have identified a specific type of neuron that is essential for feeding behavior. Without these neurons, adult mice stop eating and undergo rapid weight loss. Remarkably, the rese...

Underlying cause of massive pinyon pine die-off revealed

The high heat that accompanied the recent drought was the underlying cause of death for millions of pinyon pines throughout the Southwest, according to new research. The resulting landscape change will affect the ecosystem for decades. Hotter temperatures coupled with drought are the type of event predicted by global climate change models. The new finding suggests big, fast changes in ecos...

Shorter colds, milder flu may follow from newly revealed immune mechanism

Enlisted to help fight viral infections, immune cells called macrophages consume virus-infected cells to stop the spread of the disease in the body. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have uncovered how macrophages keep from succumbing to the infection themselves. Boosting this mechanism may be a way to speed recovery from respiratory infections. The r...

Image of myosin-actin interaction revealed in cover story of Molecular Cell

Scientists from the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the University of Vermont have captured the first 3-dimensional (3D) atomic-resolution images of the motor protein myosin V as it "walks" along other proteins, revealing new structural insights that advance the current model of protein motility and muscle contraction. The culmination of four years of work, this collaboration among bi...

Mechanism for memory revealed in neurons of electric fish

Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin studying electric fish have gained new insight into how memory is stored at the level of neurons. Dr. Harold Zakon, Dr. Jörg Oestreich and colleagues show that when electr...

Ticks, flukes, and genomics: Emerging pathogens revealed

Ehrlichiosis is no star of science. This emerging disease has an awkward name, vague flu-like symptoms, and a nasty habit of being caused by bacteria that live inside ticks and flatworms. But in the current issue of the journal Public Library of Science Genetics (PLoS Genetics), scientists put ehrlichiosis under the genomic spotlight--and discover some brilliant biology. Led by scientists...

Healing honey: The sweet evidence revealed

Substantial evidence demonstrates that honey, one of the oldest healing remedies known to medicine, produces effective results when used as a wound dressing. A review article in the most recent issue of SAGE Publications' International Journal of Lower Extremity Wounds summarizes the data. Scientists performed 22 trials involving 2,062 patients treated with honey, as well as an additional...

The molecular mechanism of a diabetes vaccine revealed

A team of researchers led by Prof. Irun Cohen of the Weizmann Institute of ScienceImmunology Department has revealed the molecular mechanism of a vaccine for Type 1 diabetes. The new findings should help amplify the effectiveness of the vaccine, which is currently in advanced stages of clinical trials. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the bod...

Bedsores and bald hides: Novel roles revealed for a 'scaffolding' protein

A protein long thought to provide only mechanical support for keeping cells and tissues from literally falling apart turns out to have much wider utility. In a pair of reports, the protein K17 has been found to also influence wound healing and maintain the structural integrity of hair follicles, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. The wound-healing work, published in the May 18 issue o...

Prozac's target revealed

Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island have identified which among several different kinds of cells in the brain is the chief target of the widely prescribed antidepressant Prozac. This discovery might enable a new generation of more specific treatments for depression, with fewer side effects, to be developed. The findings also lay the foundation for many studies of th...

Key to lung cancer chemo resistance revealed

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered how taking the brakes off a "detox" gene causes chemotherapy resistance in a common form of lung cancer. Products made by a gene called NRF2 normally protect cells from environmental pollutants like cigarette smoke and diesel exhaust by absorbing the materials and pumping them out of the cell. Another gene called KEAP1 encodes products that sto...

New bird, bat species revealed by extensive DNA barcode studies

To Robert C. von Borstel, cancer is a metaphorical example of the perfect invasion by a founder species. Like the first pregnant finch that landed on a deserted island in the Galapagos Archipelago, the first cancer cell in the human body has to undergo many mutations through many generations to establish itself as an invader of different organs in the body. But once it is there, like any newly st...

Human's ecological footprint in 2015 and Amazonia revealed

A recent study shows human population size and affluence are the main drivers of human-caused environmental stressors, while urbanization, economic structure and age of population have little effect. Modeling global average productivity to compare environmental tradeoffs and human-induced stressors in the environment Thomas Dietz (Michigan State University), Eugene Rosa (Washington State U...

Toxoplasmosis infection trick revealed by scientists

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease, primarily carried by cats. It is transmitted to humans by eating undercooked meat or through contact with cat faeces. It is particularly dangerous for pregnant women, whose foetuses can be infected via the placenta, and those with a weakened immune system, such as people infected with HIV. In severe cases, toxoplasmosis can cause damage to the brain and eyes,...

Genetic roots of bipolar disorder revealed by first genome-wide study of illness

The likelihood of developing bipolar disorder depends in part on the combined, small effects of variations in many different genes in the brain, none of which is powerful enough to cause the disease by itself, a new study shows. However, targeting the enzyme produced by one of these genes could lead to development of new, more effective medications. The research was conducted by scientists at...

Revealed -- Mosquito genes that could be controlling the spread of killer viruses

The immune system of this mosquito is of great importance as scientists believe it plays a key role in controlling the transmission of viruses that cause yellow and dengue fevers – diseases that infect over 50 m...