role

Mitochondrial DNA mutations play significant role in prostate cancer

Mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) playan important role in the development of prostate cancer, according toresearch by scientists at Emory University School of Medicine and theUniversity of California, Irvine. The findings are published onlinethis week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(PNAS). Mitochondrial DNA, which is separate from nuclear DNA, is foundin the hun...

Female sex hormones play a vital role in defense against sexually transmitted diseases

Two McMaster University studies, to be published in the Journal of Virology, show that sex hormones have a profound effect on susceptibility of female mice to the herpes simplex virus, type 2 (HSV-2 ), one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. Charu Kaushic, assistant professor and supervisor of the studies, says the implication of this work is quite significant. "The research...

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...

Critical role in programmed cell death identified

Dartmouth Medical School geneticists have found links in the cell death machinery of worms and mammals, opening new avenues for studying and targeting a process vital to development and implicated in cancer and autoimmune diseases. The work, reported in the February 17 issue of Nature, demonstrates the role of mitochondria, the cellular power plant, in prompting worm cells to self destruc...

White blood cell waste disposal system plays critical regulatory role

A new research study identifies a critical inhibitory step that is a key component of the feedback circuit regulating the balance between neutrophil production and destruction. The research, published in the March issue of Immunity, suggests that the process for disposal of dying neutrophils is actively linked to neutrophil production. A clear understanding of the processes that control neutrophi...

Epstein-Barr virus protein crucial to its role in blood cancers

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a link between a critical cancer pathway and an Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) protein known to be expressed in a number of EBV-associated cancers. Their findings demonstrate a new mechanism by which EBV transforms human B cells from the immune system into cancerous cells, which can lead to development of B-cell lymphomas....

UCSD-Salk Team Show Protein’s Gene-Silencing Role In Development of Nervous System

The first evidence that a group of proteins called phosphatases play a key role in the development of the nervous system, has been shown in fruit flies and mice by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, in collaboration with scientists at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, California. The phosphatases are required for maintenance of neural stem cells and for...

Researchers report new pro-inflammatory role for anti-inflammatory enzyme

Part of the immune system's pro-inflammatory response to bacterial invasion is to increase nitric oxide levels with an enzyme called inducible nitric oxide synthase. In a study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, scientists report that the predominantly anti-inflammatory enzyme, endothelial nitric oxide synthase, is also involved in nitric oxide production in response to infection....

White Blood Cell 'Waste Disposal' System Plays Critical Regulatory Role

A new research study identifies a critical inhibitory step that is a key component of the feedback circuit regulating the balance between neutrophil production and destruction. The research, published in the March issue of Immunity, suggests that the process for disposal of dying neutrophils is actively linked to neutrophil production. A clear understanding of the processes that control neutrophi...

Conserved amino acids play both structural and mechanistic roles in sandwich-like protein

The question of whether amino acids in sandwich-like proteins are there to stabilize the structure or to speed up the protein-folding process is best answered by "all of the above," according to researchers at Rice University in Houston. This discovery, reported in today's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could benefit future research on treatments for disease...

Discovery clarifies role of peptide in biological clock

A biologist at Washington University in St. Louis is giving the VIP treatment to laboratory mice in hopes of unraveling more clues about our biological clock. Erik Herzog, Ph.D., Washington Un...

Molecular messengers perform a crucial role in the ability of injured nerve cells to heal themselves

Weizmann Institute findings might advance search for new therapies for injured nerve fibers. Long distance messengers star in many heroic tales, perhaps the most famous being the one about the runner who carried the news about the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in the fateful battle of Marathon. A team of researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science has now discovered how molecular m...

U of T researchers map role of Epstein-Barr virus in cancer

Researchers at the University of Toronto have mapped the molecular details that show how a viral protein coded in the Epstein-Barr virus immortalizes cells and causes them to continuously grow, thereby predisposing people to certain types of cancer. "Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is one of the most common human viruses in the world and is strongly linked to certain b-cell cancers like Burkitt's...

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...

Enzyme's newly discovered role may make it target for arthritis treatment

Scientists have found a new role for a previously identified enzyme that may make it a target for anti-inflammatory treatments. The finding by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that an enzyme known as cathepsin G regulates the ability of immune cells known as neutrophils to secrete chemicals that attract other immune cells and start the local infla...

Circulating stem cells play small role in lung repair

Circulating stem cells play a minor role in repairing lung damage, according to a team of scientists who used male and female chromosomal differences to analyze the repair process in lung transplant patients. Reporting in today's edition of the journal Transplantation, lead author Dani Zander, M.D., of The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, and colleagues at the University of F...

Specialized immune-system B cells play double-barreled role

A specialized subpopulation of the antibody-producing B cells of the immune system plays a "double-barreled" role in triggering both kinds of immunity -- innate and acquired, Duke University Medical Center immunologists have discovered. The division of labor between B-1a and B-1b cells they have uncovered offers basic insights that could contribute to more rational development of vaccines, they s...

New study expands understanding of the role of RNA editing in gene control

For many years, scientists thought gene activity was relatively straightforward: Genes were transcribed into messenger RNA, which was processed and translated into the proteins of the body. Certainly, there were many factors governing the transcription process, but gene control happened at the level of the DNA. In the past few years, however, evidence for a more nuanced understanding of th...

FSU biologists describe key role of signal-transcribing gene during cell cycle

Study in Oct. 1 'Development' shows when, where Alzheimer's, some cancers and genetic ills beginT. Biologists at Florida State University have uncovered the pivotal role of a gene called "Cut" that acts as a sort of middleman in cell-to-cell communication. A DNA-binding protein, Cut interprets and transcribes the developmental signals sent through the "Notch" gene, which regulates a layer...

Micro-molecule plays big role in birth defects

University of Florida researchers have learned how to selectively shut down a flyweight-sized genetic molecule that packs a heavyweight punch, a discovery that may help doctors better understand cancer, birth defects and other health problems. The finding, which will be reported this week in the online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, deals with tiny strands of genetic mate...

Reversal of role for a viral protein associated with the development of lymphoma

Important messages require accurate transmission. Big genes are especially challenging because they combine many coding segments (exons) that lie between long stretches of non-coding elements (introns). During processing, introns are snipped out and exons pasted together to form a template for proteins called messenger RNA (mRNA). Mistakes in RNA processing can reduce the expression of a function...

Microbe has huge role in ocean life, carbon cycle

Researchers at Oregon State University and Diversa Corporation have discovered that the smallest free-living cell known also has the smallest genome, or genetic structure, of any independent cell - and yet it dominates life in the oceans, thrives where most other cells would die, and plays a huge role in the cycling of carbon on Earth. In nature, apparently, bigger is not always better.</...

Marine bacterium suspected to play role in global carbon and nitrogen cycles

Scientists successfully grow 'dwarf belonging to the sea' in laboratoryScientists are now revisiting, and perhaps revising, their thinking about how Archaea, an ancient kingdom of single-celled microorganisms, are involved in maintaining the global balance of nitrogen and carbon. Researchers have discovered the first Archaea known to oxidize ammonia for energy and metabolize carbon dioxide by su...

Sleeping beauty plays a significant role in identifying cancer genes

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, have discovered a new method that could accelerate the way cancer-causing genes are found and could lead to a more accurate identification of the genes, according to two studies in the July 14, 2005, issue of Nature. The gene identification method was...

Why do aneurysms form? New studies suggest leading role for white blood cells

Each year, 200,000 Americans find out that the largest blood vessel in their body, the aorta, may burst open at any time. About 20,000 die suddenly from such a rupture. And another 36,000 have surgery to repair or replace the swelling section of aorta before time runs out. But despite the deadly toll of this condition, called abdominal aortic aneurysm or AAA ("triple A"), experts know very...

UCSD study clarifies insulin's role in blocking release of energy in patients with type II diabetes

Chronically high levels of insulin, as is found in many people with obesity and Type II diabetes, may block specific hormones that trigger energy release into the body, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. Their findings, which may point to new approaches to developing improved treatment options for the disease, will be published in the Se...

Newly Discovered Role for Heart Response Enzyme May Yield Better Heart Failure Therapy

Duke University Medical Center researchers have identified a new protein that plays a critical role in enabling the heart to respond to such external stimuli as exercise or stress, as well as in the progressive loss of heart function that is heart failure, the researchers said. Their findings, they said, suggest new approaches to prevent or reverse heart failure, which affects two to three...

Flies on speed offer insight into the roles of dopamine in sleep and arousal

Methamphetamine, the drug of choice for long-distance truckers and college students pulling all-nighters, appears to do a similar trick for fruit flies, too. This finding is one of several in a new study that demonstrates a critical role for the neurotransmitter dopamine in the modulation of sleep, wake, and arousal states. The work is reported by Dr. Ralph Greenspan and colleagues at The...

Elusive salamanders have role in developing new sampling models

Rare salamanders at a Georgia military base are the guinea pigs for Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers whose goal is to develop methods to better determine whether a species has vanished. After not finding any flatwoods salamanders since 2001, Fort Stewart biologists were a bit concerned and were looking for a better survey method, said Mark Bevelhimer, an aquatic ecologist and mem...

Micro RNAs play role in egg making

Researchers at Northwestern University and Carnegie Mellon University have found that a recently described class of molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in regulating oogenesis, the process by which females make eggs. MiRNAs silence genes by binding to genetic elements called messenger RNA and preventing them from making new proteins -- the molecules primarily responsible fo...

UNC scientists discover new role for protein as fundamental inhibitor of cell movement

Scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a protein that may inhibit cellular movement, or migration. Cell migr...

Study hints at role of stem cell genes in testicular, breast cancers

UCSF scientists have discovered that the activity of several embryonic stem cell genes is elevated in testicular and breast cancers, providing some of the first molecular evidence of a link between embryonic stem cells and cancer. The finding, reported in the November issue of Cancer, suggests that the genes may play a role in the development of tumors or serve as valuable markers of tumor...

Mechanism for Epstein-Barr virus protein's role in blood cancers discovered

Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine identified a link between a critical cancer pathway and an Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) protein known to be expressed in a number of EBV-associated cancers. Their findings demonstrated a new mechanism by which EBV can transform human B cells from the immune system into cancerous cells, which can lead to B-cell lymphom...

Role of microRNA identified in thyroid cancer

The presence of only five tiny strands of RNA is enough to clearly distinguish cancerous thyroid tissue from otherwise normal tissue, scientists say. The findings provide more evidence that an emerging set of RNA genes called microRNA (miRNA) is a powerful regulatory force in the development of cancer and other diseases. The study is published online in the Dec. 19 Proceedings of the Nati...

Penn study finds direct role for glial cells in brain cross-talk

Findings may help elucidate mechanisms of wake-sleep transitions and epileptic seizures Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated that star-shaped glial cells in the brain called astrocytes are directly involved in regulating communication between neurons. A central finding of the study is that astrocytes modulate the level of a signaling molecule...

Scientist measures role of science's coolest player: The snow

What would the Earth be like if one fine day all the snow melted away? Obviously, it would be a much warmer place. But what's interesting is how much warmer, says Stephen Vavrus, an associate scientist at the Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Working with computer-generated simulations, Vavrus found that in the absence of snow cover, global temperatures w...

MicroRNA may have fail-safe role in limb development

A tiny strand of molecules plays a role in how our arms and legs develop and grow - a finding that sheds light on perplexing bits of material once dismissed as genetic "junk," say scientists at the University of Florida and Harvard University. The research, available today in the online edition of Nature, may help scientists understand whether bits of RNA called microRNAs act as protective...

Cholesterol gets 'thumbs up' for role in digit development

When a new mother counts her newborn's fingers and toes, she probably doesn't realize that cholesterol may be to thank for baby's complete set of 20 digits. Although cholesterol has a bad rap as the sticky, fatty substance responsible for clogging arteries, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers recently found that the attachment of cholesterol to an important developmental prot...

Vital ocean prey play active role in environment

Although Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are one of the best-studied organisms of the open sea, key aspects of their life cycle have remained murky. Understanding krill is important because they are vital prey for fish, birds, and marine mammals, yet they are vulnerable to fishing pressure and environmental change. In the February 2006 issue of BioScience, the monthly journal of the Am...

Study fishes out new role for prostaglandins

Prostaglandins ?the fat-derived compounds linked to pain, inflammation, reproduction and cancer ?can add another biological function to their extensive catalog. A new study by Vanderbilt researchers reveals that prostaglandins help choreograph the intricate cell movements during early embryonic development in zebrafish, highlighting how perturbations in this pathway might influence human d...