switches in Biological News

Researchers discover that gene switches on during development of epilepsy

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. A discovery made by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine while studying mice may help explain how some people without a genetic predisposition to epilepsy can develop the disorder. In a study published this month in the Journal of Neuroscience , senior ...

Plant biologists discover gene that switches on 'essence of male'

Biologists at the University of Leicester have published results of a new study into plant sex and discovered that a particular gene switches on 'the essence of male'. The study takes to a new level understanding of the genes needed for successful plant reproduction and seed production. Pro...

Control switches found for immune cells that fight cancer, viral infection

July 9, 2008 -- Medical science may be a significant step closer to climbing into the driver's seat of an important class of immune cells, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report in Nature Immunology . The researchers showed that a single protein, HS1, enabl...

Search for the 'on' switches may reveal genetic role in development and disease

DURHAM, N.C. -- A new resource that identifies regions of the human genome that regulate gene expression may help scientists learn about and develop treatments for a number of human diseases, according to researchers at Dukes Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP). The majority of DNA in...

Researchers find signal that switches on eye development -- could lead to 'eye in a dish'

Researchers at the University of Warwick, funded by Wellcome Trust, have uncovered a crucial signal that switches on eye development. This discovery will greatly assist researchers looking at stem cells connected to eye development and opens up an avenue of research that could eventually lead to a...

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

Investigators from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have made a breakthrough in identifying functional elements in the human genome, according to a report published online today in Nature Genetics. While the DNA...

'Exercise pill' switches on gene that tells cells to burn fat

By giving ordinary adult mice a drug - a synthetic designed to mimic fat - Salk Institute scientist Dr. Ronald M. Evans is now able to chemically switch on PPAR-d, the master regulator that controls the ability of cells to burn fat. Even when the mice are not active, turning on the chemical switch...

Gene therapy research switches off joint inflammation; switches on genetic process of joint repair

Scientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Albany Medical College, together with Rainforest Nutritionals, Inc. have demonstrated in a mini symposium held today at the 14th International Conference of the Inflammation Research Association (IRA) that a blend of natural botan...

Flick of a protein switches immune response

A single protein can turn on and off a key component of the immune system by changing partners in an elegant genomic dance, said researchers at the University of Southern California and Harvard Medical School. Because autoimmune diseases ?such as arthritis, allergies and dozens of other illnesse...

Nano machine switches between biological and silicon worlds

"Frankly, some researchers didn't think what we were attempting was possible," says Dr Keith Firman, at Portsmouth University and Mol-Switch project coordinator, funded under the European Commission's Future and Emerging Technologies initiative. "However, we got our molecular switch to work." The...

Fujitsu Expands Support for Ethernet Networks With New Additions to XG Switch Product Line

...e XG family of Fujitsu high-performance Ethernet switches enabling the seamless integration of existing Et...heir storage environments." The Fujitsu XG switches offer excellent throughput, low latency, and extre...t for Enterprise deployment. Adding the 1GbE/10GbE switches to the company portfolio will further strengthen i...

Study reveals a reprogrammed role for the androgen receptor

... scientists demonstrates how. The shift from androgen-dependent to androgen-independent cell growth occurs, in part, because the androgen receptor switches on an entirely different set of genes in the latter group than in the former, the researchers report in the July 24 issue of Cell. In contrast to an...

DNA template could explain evolutionary shifts

...ic material. In some cases, the process seeks a different template, often copying another similar but significantly different stretch of DNA before it switches back to the appropriate area. In this newer report, Lupski and colleagues describe how this process called fork stalling and template switching (F...

University of Florida study provides insight into evolution of first flowers

...am Soltis, study co-author and curator of molecular systematics and evolutionary genetics at the Florida Museum. Better understanding of these genetic switches could one day help scientists in other disciplines such as medicine or agriculture, including help in growing plants used to fight disease or developi...

MIT reels in RNA surprise with microbial ocean catch

...rieties of small RNAs snippets of RNA that act as switches to regulate gene expression in these single-celled...nd abundance of these small RNAs, which can act as switches to regulate gene expression, will allow us to get ...om carbon dioxide then the sRNAs are the internal switches that turn on and off the factories' production lin...

Major international study challenges notions of how genes are controlled in mammals

...tellite paper for publication in the journal Genome Biology. "The dogma right now is that there are so-called 'master regulators,' a series of protein switches that sit in specific places on the genome and induce genes. This is supposed to lead to a cascade that leads to cellular differentiation. "The FAN...

Diet secrets of 'the Royals'

... SALT LAKE CITY, April 13, 2009 Two weeks after the rains begin, an elephant family named "the Royals" usually switches to a grass diet to bulk up for pregnancy and birth. But when they wandered off their African reserve one rainy season, cattle grazed the grass so shor...

Redefining what it means to be a prion

...ous prions in the yeast cells may switch from inactive to active or active to inactive to help the cells survive under water. Some of those activation switches help the yeast, but some do not. "We think that the fact that prions are sometimes beneficial and sometimes detrimental for the yeast is at the hea...

Scripps research scientists 'watch' as individual alpha-synuclein proteins change shape

...mimics, the protein reacts to what is in effect a different binding partner, even though it is the same small molecule at different concentrations. It switches back and forth into different states. "This is perhaps the most complex protein folding-binding system that has been studied to date using single-m...

Discovering the secret code behind photosynthesis

...ins: "We already know that two-component systems act as a type of on/off switch for genes in bacteria. But the survival of these bacterial-type on/off switches in chloroplasts suggests a new model for gene regulation in plants." Professor Allen adds: "To many, it will be shock to learn that some messages a...

'Experiment of nature' examines how mother's diet may impact on child's health

...ange. These so-called "epigenetic" effects can occur through a process known as DNA methylation, where methyl caps bind to our DNA and act like dimmer switches on our genes. Now, Dr Branwen Hennig and colleagues from the Medical Research Council (MRC) International Nutrition Group based at the London Schoo...

Changing sexes on the sea floor

...n ― currently threatened by global warming. In times of stress like extreme hot spells, the female mushroom coral (known as a fungiid coral) switches its sex so that most of the population becomes male. The advantage of doing so, says the world-renowned coral reef researcher, is that male corals can...

Link between unexploded munitions in oceans and cancer-causing toxins determined

...off the sea floor and delivers them safely to a lift basket for surface disposal or deep sea burial. It is operated remotely with proportional toggle switches that allow much more fine control of the delicate undersea operation than an on/off button. The system relies on an underwater hydraulic system desig...

Long-sought protein structure may help reveal how 'gene switch' works

...that is accomplished, we'll be able to see the identical protein from the same organism in both states, which may give us the means to explain how CRP switches from its asymmetric form [inactive state] to its symmetrical [active state] form." The work detailed in the Journal of Biological Chemistry paper...

New method monitors critical bacteria in wastewater treatment

...en mostly speculation in the literature that copper was even at the site," Porterfield said. "So, by doing an experiment where we can turn biochemical switches on and off in the bacteria we have validated the fact that copper is indeed at the active site, while at the same time demonstrating the power of this...

Don't go changing: New chemical keeps stem cells young

...for activity in the stem cells.The researchers found that the chemicals worked by blocking an enzyme, called GSK3, that can control when the stem cell switches to a more specialised cell type. Professor Nelson, who is Director of the Astbury Centre at the University of Leeds, said: "This research is a gre...

CSHL scientists find a new class of small RNAs and define its function

...long RNA fragment. This is followed by the clipping of the end of the capped long RNA to produce a short RNA product. Small RNAs can act as "off" switches at "on" sites Now that these new capped small RNA types have been discovered, the question naturally arises: what do they do? Using a human gene c...

Tilting at wind farms

...at times when wind speeds are too high for system stability. Technology to smooth the power supply and prevent blackouts due to the tripping of safety switches when electricity frequency deviates wildly is also essential. Despites its deficiencies, a report from the US Department of Energy suggests that in...

Studies offer guide as protein interaction mapping comes of age

...oughput yeast two-hybrid (HT-Y2H) procedures, which use robotic equipment to screen thousands of proteins to see which bind to each other (the binding switches on a "reporter" gene that can be chemically detected); compilations of published studies on small numbers of protein interactions; and studies that pr...

Epilepsy drug shows potential for Alzheimer's treatment

... NEP gradually switching off in later life. One of NEP's roles is to clear the toxic peptide from the brain, and plaques begin to form as it gradually switches off, leading to the death of the brain's nerve cells. The research team examined changes in chromatin the 'packaging' that genes are contained wi...

Multiple sclerosis research charges ahead with new mouse model of disease

...ccurs. Previous research had identified that an enzyme known as peptidylarginine deiminase 2, or PAD2, is increased in patients with MS, and that PAD2 switches a charge on a protein key to myelin stability. Therefore, Abdiwahab A. Musse and colleagues at the University of Guelph and the Hospital for Sick Chil...

Human genes sing different tunes in different tissues

...switch involves a metabolic enzyme and contributes to cancer cells burning large amounts of glucose and growing more rapidly. Learning more about such switches could lead to potential cancer therapies, Burge said. Until now, it has been difficult to study isoforms on a genome-wide scale because of the high...

Corn researchers discover novel gene shut-off mechanisms

... gene silencing in plants. An important key to the process is short sequences of ribonucleic acids known as "small RNAs" which act like biochemical switches that shut off genes, thus playing a fundamental role in plant development. Understanding how small RNAs work is a continuing quest for geneticists see...

ASU researchers receive NIH awards for studies of malaria and emergent disease

...e genetic variation that may be under positive selection by the host immune system." Escalante says that he is "particularly interested in how host switches may lead to molecular adaptations in parasites and pathogens and how the demographic history of parasite and pathogen affects its adaptive variation."...

Johns Hopkins researchers detect sweet cacophony while listening to cellular cross-talk

...e point, the work has implications for finding new treatments for a number of diseases such as diabetes, neurodegeneration and cancer, because the new switches form yet another potential target for manipulation by drugs. "Like dark matter in the cosmos, it's hard to find even though it's very abundant," sa...

MSU scientists find new gene that helps plants beat the heat

...the research team, the scientists were looking for genes that turn other genes on and off and are tied to cell membranes. These membrane-tethered gene switches are seen in animals but hadn't been studied in great detail in plants. "The bZIP28 protein is anchored in the endoplasmic reticulum, away from its ...

Early-stage gene transcription creates access to DNA

...t whether or not to express a gene, in this case fbp1, which encodes an enzyme. What they found was a preliminary transcription phase with a flurry of switches flicked "on" and then "off" as seen by the synthesis of non-coding RNA before the final "on" switch is tripped. The non-coding RNAs initiate over o...

Food for thought -- regulating energy supply to the brain during fasting

...rovide control for patients with insulin resistance," says Montminy, "as typically their blood sugars are elevated after overnight fasting because the switches that regulate the glucose-producing enzymes are too active." Perhaps, then, a pharmacological rescue package for patients whose lending systems have b...

Cancer-causing gut bacteria exposed

...nd signalling based on the unique metabolism of E. faecalis. This suggests that cells of the lining of the colon are rapidly affected when E. faecalis switches to fermentation. It also indicates that E. faecalis may have developed novel mechanisms to encourage colon cells to turn cancerous. Intestinal canc...

Scientists find 'redesigned hammer' that forged evolution of pregnancy in mammals

...g young and to ensure they were not exposed to an unpredictable environment, like their egg-laying relatives. This study identified one of the genetic switches that tempered the immune system and allowed formation of the placenta and internal development of young. By analyzing DNA from many species of mam...